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“Securing” America

Between the TSA’s 2010 holiday gropefest (brought to you by Michael Chertoff and Rapiscan) and Cleveland’s misguided efforts to confiscate/ban anti-LeBron apparel for their December 2 matchup with LeBron’s tepid Heat (brought to you by a misguided city who thinks it still has an image to protect and/or David Stern), what do you think – […]

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Where in the Constitution is the separation of church and state?

Christine O’Donnell, during a debate with Democratic opponent Chris Coons at Delaware’s Widener School of Law
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To quote Spider Jerusalem and Jeff Tweedy, “I Hate It Here”

To quote Spider Jerusalem and Jeff Tweedy, “I Hate It Here”

We sit through months and months of discussion of the Arizona immigration law, but 99/100 of those reports didn’t bother to mention one crucial detail – the state doesn’t actually have the autonomy to deport people themselves; only the federal government can do that.  So they can ask for their papers, they can detain them, they can report them, they can force them to appear in front of an immigration judge, but they can’t actually send them home.

A fact conveniently omitted from most discussions, because it makes the story far less salacious, and thus less interesting to the gossip-loving, drama-hungry throngs of broadcast and cable TV news viewers.

Ugh.

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Gee, I wonder why California’s $23 billion in the hole?

Gee, I wonder why California’s $23 billion in the hole?

From the L.A. Times last week:

He may have become reviled in working-class Bell for his nearly $800,000-a-year salary, but Chief Administrative Officer Robert Rizzo could have the last laugh.

Should he be forced from his job, he would immediately gain a new title: highest-paid retiree in the state’s CalPERS retirement system.

Rizzo, 55, would be entitled to at least $600,000-a-year pension for the rest of his life, according to retirement calculations made by The Times that were reviewed by pensions experts.

For those of you not familiar with Southern California and unable to pick up the clue from the “working-class” descriptor in the first line: Bell isn’t some ultra-rich community with funds to burn, we’re talking about a steamy pile.  Which may seem like an ideal fit for a maggot like Rizzo to feast on, but you still have to feel for the people of Bell, who could certainly use that money for something other than lining the pockets of a sleazebag.

[Thanks to Colin for the link.]

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I’m sorry. We’re sorry for the massive disruption it’s caused their lives. There’s no one who wants this over more than I do. I’d like my life back.

BP CEO Tony Hayward. Pardon the lack of British-style civility in my response, but seriously Tony – cool your fucking jets. At best you guys screwed up royally, at worst you deserve to rot the rest of your life away in prison on hundreds of counts of criminal negligence and massive fraud perpetrated against your shareholders. I know having to cut your weekly caviar intake down is a bummer, but bitching about the lack of quality time in your existence right now is about the dumbest thing you could do. And trust me, we know, b/c you’ve already done things 2-10 on the Dumb Bucket List. [Thanks to Steve for the link.]
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F*ck Michael Powell. Let him sue us.

An unnamed Home Depot executive, talking about a potential patent infringement by Home Depot, who was accused of stealing Powell’s design for a protective cover for radial saws. Powell did sue, and today won a $25 million judgment against the home improvement monolith. Whoops.
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Why Is Dodd’s Banking Bill Messing With Venture Funding?

Why Is Dodd’s Banking Bill Messing With Venture Funding?

Typical – a bill that’s supposed to be about banking reform throws in some new rules about startup funding that have nothing to do with banks.  The two provisions, which seemed designed to keep anyone near the middle  from having any chance of being an angel investor in a startup:

1) Changing the definition of a “qualified investor” in angel and venture deals. Not just anyone can invest in a startup company. You have to be a qualified investor. A qualified investor is currently defined as anyone with a net worth of over $1mm or net income of over $250k. Dodd’s bill would increase that to $2.3mm and $450k respectively. And then index those numbers to inflation.

2) Eliminate the existing federal pre-emption over state regulation of “accredited offerings.” Angel and venture financings could be regulated state by state creating a fairly burdensome set of rules and regulations that each financing would need to be subject to. Currently there is a federal pre-emption that makes getting these kinds of deals done fairly easy.

I’d call it surprising, but Democrats have time and time against proven themselves to be about as anti-small business (in policy, not in rhetoric, where they love to put the small businessman on a pedestal when it serves their cause) as Republicans are anti-gun control.

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Pope Knew of Sex Abuse of Wisconsin Deaf Boys, Did Nothing

Pope Knew of Sex Abuse of Wisconsin Deaf Boys, Did Nothing

If all of this is true, if Catholics are willing to forgive their Pope for ignoring cries for help from sexually-abused children, then is there anything he couldn’t get away with in the name of the church? I think we can all agree, outside of cold-blooded murder, there isn’t any act more unforgivable and wrong than playing a role in the abuse of a child. When you’ve reached the point where even that won’t be held against you, ‘above the law’ doesn’t even begin to describe the power you’ve summoned over your indoctrinated.

You can mock other beliefs as cults, laugh at all the far-out Xenu stories you want – from where I’m sitting, all of this sounds at least AS crazy, if not 10x crazier than any portion of L.Ron’s Scientology canon.