Congratulations, Illinois!

Posted on March 9, 2011 by Michael

Illinois has entered the mid-20th century:

Illinois abolished the death penalty Wednesday, more than a decade after the state imposed a moratorium on executions out of concern that innocent people could be put to death by a justice system that had wrongly condemned 13 men.

Gov. Pat Quinn also commuted the sentences of all 15 inmates remaining on death row. They will now serve life in prison with no hope of parole.

It’s always satisfying when one finds out that planned murder has been thwarted.

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Limbaugh and Hannity involved in fraud?

Posted on March 7, 2011 by Michael

The above question mark is ironic: like FOX Noise, I’m really outright claiming what I wrote. However, unlike FOX Noise, what I’m claiming has evidence:

But according to an online account, Premiere [the radio company that employs Limbaugh and Hannity] is hiring actors to fake on-air calls to radio shows who do not divulge the scam. Before being abruptly removed, their website read:

“Premiere On Call is our new custom caller service… We supply voice talent to take/make your on-air calls, improvise your scenes or deliver your scripts. Using our simple online booking tool, specify the kind of voice you need, and we’ll get your the right person fast. Unless you request it, you won’t hear that same voice again for at least two months, ensuring the authenticity of your programming for avid listeners”.

As reported, once the actor “passed the audition, he would be invited periodically to call in to various talk shows and recite various scenarios that made for interesting radio.” In addition, the source was specifically told there would be no on-air disclosure of the fabricated nature of the call. He subsequently landed the job, at $40 per hour and a minimum one hour of work per day.

This suggests an array of radio clients is broadcasting bogus calls by actors, categorized by their accents or vocal qualities. Next time you hear a “gruff”, “clean”, “crisp”, “deep”, or “textured” voice, you might just be hearing a Premiere On Call actor secretively playing a real person.

This report stems from an accidental posting that appeared on Premiere’s website. I can’t say I’m surprised at the revelation. Both hosts have a history of being very selective about what information they present; the fact that they would hire actors to demonstrate specific points makes sense. They just aren’t honest guys and this is perfectly within their characters.

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Kid Rock and the Confederate flag

Posted on March 6, 2011 by Michael

Some NAACP supporters (not the organization itself) is boycotting a fundraiser honoring Kid Rock. The reason is his continued use of the Confederate flag:

But Adolph Mongo, a longtime political consultant and head of Detroiters for Progress, said he and others will sit out over Kid Rock’s use of the controversial Confederate flag during performances.

“It’s a slap in the face for anyone who fought for civil rights in this country,” Mongo said Thursday. “It’s a symbol of hatred and bigotry.”

Of course, Kid Rock stands by his use of the flag, calling it a symbol of southern rock.

I don’t see what’s so hard to get about this. Whether the flag means one thing or another to a specific person, it has the larger representation of the slave-holding South. It means, at its very core, the preservation of slavery. Honestly. I recall convincing a Confederate flag-supporting friend that it had very little to do with anything remotely positive or representative of modern Western values. All it took was a website explaining its basic history in a matter of a few lines. And that was when we were maybe 14 years old. What excuse do adults have?

But all this aside, I feel that a far more valid reason for boycotting anything honoring Kid Rock is that he makes shitty music.

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Professor apologizes to fragile children

Posted on March 6, 2011 by Michael

The professor who allowed a live sex act as part of an after-class event originally had this to say:

I certainly have no regrets concerning Northwestern students, who have demonstrated that they are open-minded grown ups rather than fragile children.

That was great. Treat adults like adults. Wonderful.

But this is America:

“I regret allowing the controversial after class demonstration on February 21st,” Professor J. Michael Bailey, who teaches a popular class on human sexuality, wrote in a statement.

“I regret the effect that this has had on Northwestern University’s reputation, and I regret upsetting so many people in this particular manner. I apologize,” he wrote.

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Gov. Walker backs down on tax cuts

Posted on March 6, 2011 by Michael

Wisconsin governor Scott Walker looks to be backing down on the massive tax cuts he wants to give big business:

Walker’s spokesman, Cullen Werwie, wrote in an e-mail Saturday that Walker wouldn’t publicly comment on the negotiations but was focused on balancing the budget and following through on his campaign pledge to create 250,000 new jobs. Walker has said he wouldn’t compromise on the collective bargaining issue or anything that saves the state money.

I can only presume by that final line that he isn’t going to waste everyone’s time by letting unneedy people hoard money.

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Northwestern students given live sex show

Posted on March 4, 2011 by Michael

And all the (relevant) responses have been amazingly mature:

More than 100 Northwestern University students watched as a naked 25-year-old woman was penetrated by a sex toy wielded by her fiancee during an after-class session of the school’s popular “Human Sexuality” class.

The woman said she showed up at the Feb. 21 lecture in the Ryan Family Auditorium in Evanston expecting just to answer questions, but was game to demonstrate. The course’s professor on Wednesday acknowledged some initial hesitation, but said student feedback was “uniformly positive.”

And Northwestern defended the class and its professor.

“Northwestern University faculty members engage in teaching and research on a wide variety of topics, some of them controversial and at the leading edge of their respective disciplines,” said Alan K. Cubbage, vice president for University Relations. “The University supports the efforts of its faculty to further the advancement of knowledge.”

Fantastic. Several students and the couple consented to the showing. And it happened. I find this incredibly refreshing. I’m sure there’s plenty of rage from the sexually immature Christian right, but who cares? They aren’t relevant to adult discussions on sexuality anyway.

I agree with other comments in the article that this is rather shocking, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s reality. People really do have sex and they really do use toys and they really do role play and they really do engage in fetishes. Not everyone is required to be comfortable discussing or viewing any of these things, or even doing many of them themselves, but I think it’s great that there are people out there – especially school administrations – that are mature enough to allow this. I think the ending quote from the class professor, John Michael Bailey, sums things up nicely:

“Do I have any regrets?” he wrote on Wednesday. “It is mostly too early to say. I certainly have no regrets concerning Northwestern students, who have demonstrated that they are open-minded grown ups rather than fragile children.”

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Supreme Court: Westboro Church can picket funerals

Posted on March 2, 2011 by Michael

I can’t say I’m very surprised with this recent Supreme Court ruling:

The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a grieving father’s pain over mocking protests at his Marine son’s funeral must yield to First Amendment protections for free speech. All but one justice (Samuel Alito) sided with a fundamentalist church that has stirred outrage with raucous demonstrations contending God is punishing the military for the nation’s tolerance of homosexuality.

The 8-1 decision in favor of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., was the latest in a line of court rulings that, as Chief Justice John Roberts said in his opinion for the court, protects “even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate.”

I find myself torn very slightly on this one. Deep down I knew the Westboro Church was going to win, but I hoped they would lose. I hoped it would be found that they were harassing families, not exercising their free speech rights. Because, come on. That really is what they were doing. But, still, I’ve been torn. As far as the law is concerned (something the church pretends to know something about), they weren’t targeting anyone. Even though everyone knows they were.

I appreciated when I read that Bill O’Reilly offered to pay the legal bills of the family. But that was when the costs were relatively low. Now the family may be in debt to the church for around $100,000. I wouldn’t expect O’Reilly to pay that amount, but I hope he does. And if not him, then someone. The Westboro Church is made up of pure scum, one step above the religious fanatics who physically harm others. Maybe they deserved this court victory, but they don’t deserve the sick satisfaction from further hurting the families who have lost loved ones.

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Last American WW1 vet dies

Posted on February 28, 2011 by Michael

Frank Buckles, America’s last surviving WW1 veteran, died yesterday at 110.

Born in Missouri in 1901 and raised in Oklahoma, Buckles visited a string of military recruiters after the United States entered the ‘war to end all wars’ in April 1917.

He was repeatedly rejected before convincing an Army captain he was 18. He was only 16 and a half at the time.

He said: ‘A boy of (that age), he’s not afraid of anything. He wants to get in there.’

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God is criminally liable for abortions

Posted on February 25, 2011 by Michael

Rep. Bobby Franklin of Georgia wants to hold women criminally responsible for miscarriages if they are unable to prove there was no human causation.

Under Rep. Franklin’s bill, HB 1, women who miscarry could become felons if they cannot prove that there was “no human involvement whatsoever in the causation” of their miscarriage. There is no clarification of what “human involvement” means, and this is hugely problematic as medical doctors do not know exactly what causes miscarriages. Miscarriages are estimated to terminate up to a quarter of all pregnancies and the Mayo Clinic says that “the actual number is probably much higher because many miscarriages occur so early in pregnancy that a woman doesn’t even know she’s pregnant. Most miscarriages occur because the fetus isn’t developing normally.

As one may easily guess, Franklin is a religious nutbag. So if we take his buggered perspective on reality, all these fetuses that are getting aborted naturally the fault of God. Thus, under his bill, God is a baby murdering fiend, responsible for more baby deaths than any human. Ever.

So I have to cheer on Franklin’s attempt to take down the most evil character that has ever existed in all of fiction. Sometimes symbolic justice is important. Go Franklin!

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A real Kochsucker

Posted on February 24, 2011 by Michael

If Harry Baals can be honest about how to pronounce his last name, so can the Koch brothers. At least that would help make sense of this story.

In a phone conversation that a prankster recorded, Republican Governor Scott Walker suggested he hoped to lure to the Capitol the 14 Democratic Senators who fled to Illinois to stall his proposed legislation, which they say will cripple the unions.

A transcript of the call, posted on a website, also showed Walker had said he had “thought about” hiring outside agitators to disrupt the two weeks of demonstrations by thousands of union members against the bill.

In the call, Walker believed he was speaking with billionaire conservative David Koch. Walker’s campaign received $43,000 last year from the Political Action Committee of Koch Industries, owned by Koch and his family. Koch is known for contributions to conservative causes.

You got that? If you’re middle class and only willing to help solve the, ya know, real problems of Wisconsin, not the ideological ones, Walker won’t talk to you. But if you’ve got billions of dollars and want nothing more than to see victory for FREEEEEEEDDOOOOOOMMM!!!!11!!!, then sure, he’s all ears.

Oh. And by “freedom” I mean “greedy fucking corporate whims”.

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