PhotoDude.com

After waiting for the local governmental bodies to make their decision on the building of the Cordoba House near the former site of the World Trade Center, the White House, currently occupied by someone who was a professor of constitutional law, finally spoke to the issue:

“I understand the emotions that this issue engenders. Ground zero is, indeed, hallowed ground,” the president said in remarks prepared for the annual White House iftar, the sunset meal breaking the day’s fast.

... » Full Article, 450 words »

Has it really been a month and a half since I posted here? I’d like to tell you that it’s due to twitter. If I have a passing thought I think is worth sharing, rather than flesh it out into a blog post, it gets edited to 140 characters or less. But twitter is only partially the cause.

Anything of note in the news lately has been too depressing or mad-making to bother writing about. As if you or anyone really needs my input anyway, when our media cup runneth over.

... » Full Article, 1666 words »

This morning on ABC’s “This Week,” Nancy Pelosi tried to diminish the idea of offshore drilling by stating it wouldn’t affect prices for a decade, whereas a release of some of the 700+ million barrels of oil in our Strategic Petroleum Reserve would have an impact on price within 10 days.

When it comes to the impact on pricing, she is correct (though, in my neck of the woods the price of a gallon of gas has already dropped 25-30 cents from its peak). But otherwise that idea is entirely wrong.

... » Full Article, 631 words »

Apparently, being a liberal female author and screenwriter, like Nora Ephron, gives one license to engage in what might be considered sexist racist talk about people who look different from you:

This is an election about whether the people of Pennsylvania hate blacks more than they hate women. And when I say people, I don’t mean people, I mean white men.

... » Full Article, 871 words »

This topic is a real pet peeve of mine, on the basis of responsibility to your fellow travelers. But often the only way things change is when it hits the wallet.

Vanessa McGrogan never noticed the car ahead of her own speeding vehicle until it was too late. Jeffrey Stasium didn’t see the auto crossing the intersection until his pickup truck slammed into the driver’s door. The crashes, separated by three years and 160 miles, had two things in common. Both drivers were distracted by their cellphone use, according to lawsuits filed against them. And their employers wrote big checks in recent months to settle those suits in Fulton County.

... » Full Article, 638 words »

I woke up this morning, and within ten minutes of looking over the news, I wondered just what country I had woken up in.

First I read that “Senate Democrats and Republicans reached agreement with the Bush administration yesterday on the terms of new legislation to control the federal government’s domestic surveillance program, which includes a highly controversial grant of legal immunity to telecommunications companies that have assisted the program.”

... » Full Article, 306 words »

Fred Wilson apparently decided to spend part of his weekend making old people sputter.

I’ve been reluctant because I don’t want to pick at this scab of a meme. I really don’t want to be the guy who made it harder for anyone older than 30 to get funded in the web services market.

Who is developing this “clearer idea”? Who is developing the set of “design patterns”? It’s the younger generation. And its important to understand why.

... » Full Article, 737 words »

Curmudgeon Alert: a cranky posting, just because the crankiness has gotta go somewhere. Somewhere hopefully non-damaging (I’ve wanted to bitch-slap certain “medical professionals” over the past few days).

If you are a patron of the online casino who sees fit to disrupt every major sporting event including the closing ceremonies of the Olympics with either ugly streakers or microphone jostling hecklers, karma now dictates you will lose your ass, and I hope that it’s twice as ugly as the one their streaker bares on TV. I must repeat my advice:

... » Full Article, 275 words »

In the aftermath of Katrina, there are so many demonstrable points of failure, from parish officials to city officials, from the state government to the federal government. All have their share of blame, despite those who’d love to convince you otherwise. There have been a lot of shameful moments and disgraceful performances by leaders at all levels, on both sides of the aisle. But in that cavalcade of shame, there is one story that stands out to me as far more monstrous and cruel than the others. Absolutely fascist.

... » Full Article, 1255 words »

The levels of frustration and desperation are growing. If FEMA could issue checks like they normally do to victims, these victims have no bank to deposit it in, no power to get cash from an ATM. They might as well use it as toilet paper. These people need help from the government, for sure. But right now, they need our help. They need your help, and luckily, they need it from the one thing you control.

... » Full Article, 494 words »

It’s a story that started just a few miles up I-85 from me, has since gone around the world ... and is now close to moving completely out of control.

... » Full Article, 694 words »

In the past, I’ve cynically wondered if certain boneheaded Democratic tactics meant that Karl Rove had placed a mole among them. So I guess it’s appropriate to wonder if Howard Dean has infiltrated Fred Phelp’s infamous group, then turned them loose deep in Red Country

... » Full Article, 706 words »