Reminder for Windows users: today is Patch Tuesday. If you don't have Windows Updates set to run automatically, you know what to do.
This month was a mild one: one rated "critical," and two others rated "important," by Microsoft, according to Ryan Naraine.
Naturally, the previous post makes us wonder: What's doing over at that great online reference site that isn't poisoned by liberal bias?
Turns out their own section on the COLB "issue" is stale and remains surprisingly tame. Hope!
Ah, maybe not. Here are some partial screen grabs from the front page of Conservapedia, as of this moment:
They're not even trying to keep up a pretense of objectivity anymore, are they?
Gateway Pundit, never a well-hinged individual to begin with, long a card-carrying member of the Cult of the COLB, is now sadly (and by sadly, I mean hilariously) reduced to complaining about Wikipedians deleting mentions of supposed "ineligibility" from the Barack Obama page.
Does this mean Obama is JUST LIKE STALIN???
(h/t: Instapundit. Yeah, I went there, looking at another classic case of the Ole Perfesser approvingly linking to other wingnuts more willing to carry his water.)
[Added] And following along with my small-type thoughts, here's David Weigel:
UPDATE: See, here’s why I post about this stuff. Two hours after my write-up, Instapundit links Gateway Pundit with the headline “Still airbrushing Obama’s Wikipedia page.” And thus, a false story from a conspiracy web site gets promoted by a mainstream author and law professor.
[Added] Terry Krepel of ConWebWatch fame adds some interesting wrinkles to the story of this nontroversy. He focuses on WingNutDaily's "reporting," which was Gateway P's source for his blog post.
If you love the inside baseball, you'll enjoy Sean Quinn's post on the never-ending game of musical chairs in the White House Briefing Room.
Bonus: at the bottom of the post is a good John Oliver clip from the Daily Show, on that same topic.
(h/t: Jim Newell/Wonkette)
The smartest thing George Bush ever did was to convince people he believed in the Constitution.
Calling into question the legitimacy of all the signing statements that former President George W. Bush used to challenge new laws, President Obama on Monday ordered executive officials to consult with Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. before relying on any of them to bypass a statute.
And a bonus:
Mr. Obama’s directions marked the latest step in his administration’s effort to deal with a series of legal and policy disputes it inherited from the Bush administration. It came the same day that Mr. Obama lifted restrictions Mr. Bush had placed on federal financing for research that uses embryonic stem cells.
The Bush Legacy, emphasis added:
Mr. Bush frequently used signing statements to declare that provisions in the bills he was signing were unconstitutional constraints on executive power, claiming that the laws did not need to be enforced or obeyed as written. The laws he challenged included a torture ban and requirements that Congress be given detailed reports about how the Justice Department was using the counter-terrorism powers in the USA Patriot Act.
Dating back to the 19th century, presidents have occasionally signed a bill while declaring that one or more provisions were unconstitutional. Presidents began doing so more frequently starting with the Reagan administration.
But Mr. Bush broke all records, using signing statements to challenge about 1,200 bill sections over his eight years in office — about twice the number challenged by all previous presidents combined, according to data compiled by Christopher Kelley, a political science professor at Miami University in Ohio.
And don't think we've forgotten about you, Charlie Savage.
[Added] More on the stem cell decision here.
(Swiped from O Hell Nawl, via Tommy Christopher)
On a related note:
On the one side, the president of the United States: soft-spoken and conciliatory, never angry, always invoking the recession and its victims. This president invokes the language of "responsibility," and in his own life seems to epitomize that ideal: He is physically honed and disciplined, his worst vice an occasional cigarette. He is at the same time an apparently devoted husband and father. Unsurprisingly, women voters trust and admire him.
And for the leader of the Republicans? A man who is aggressive and bombastic, cutting and sarcastic, who dismisses the concerned citizens in network news focus groups as "losers." With his private plane and his cigars, his history of drug dependency and his personal bulk, not to mention his tangled marital history, Rush is a walking stereotype of self-indulgence …
-- David Frum(!), via pampl
(h/t: Desertphile | previously, previously)
[Added] You just know I have to remind you of my all-time favorite hip-hop video.
(h/t: TC, via email | background)
And please enjoy some pictures, a couple of which I swiped for everyone's clicking and enlarging pleasure:
... because Sarah Palin never warned me.
I had to learn about it by stumbling across some nice Canadian person's blog! Can you imagine? How can we trust Sarah Palin if she's failing to do the one thing she said she could do?
Following up on Friday's wingnut outrage du jour: Jon Swift weighs in. You'll be glad you clicked.
How's that for a dog bites man headline?
Blue Texan has an update on Don McLeroy, whom we've noticed before.
Reading the Statesman story that BT linked to indicates that McLeroy is more than just a moron. He appears to be quite the slippery character, able to cloak his creationist urges in nice "concern for science" talk. If you remember nothing else, remember this: if you hear someone say "gaps in the fossil record call the theory of evolution into question," you know that person is either stupid, lying, or both. (A) The theory of evolution is based on a lot more than the fossil record, (B) there is no reason to expect that every animal that died turned into a fossil, (C) absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, and (D) no matter how many transitional forms are found in the fossil record, the trained wingnut will only see each one as introducing two more gaps. And this guy is the chairman of the Texas State Board of Education, and what he says will likely affect textbooks sold throughout the country.
Also from BT: sign the Texas Freedom Network's Stand up for Science petition.
Just in case department ...
• For a discussion of the "gaps" claim that creationists so love, see TalkOrigins; e.g., section CC200. You might also visit the biological section page and search for "fossil."
• For a quick overview of the other bases upon which the theory of evolution rests, there's a nice introduction at Palomar Collge's site. Berkeley has a more comprehensive site. Start with the page titled "What is the evidence for evolution?."
• Want more? PZ Myers is happy to discuss evidence and talk about the gaps. And here is an excerpt from one of his posts with links to still more:
The world of blogs is full of information on evolution. In addition to The Panda's Thumb and Pharyngula, there are quite a few blogs out there that discuss the science of and evidence for evolution, and that are often written by highly qualified scientists themselves. Try browsing Aetiology, Afarensis, All-Too-Common Dissent, Ask The Scientician, The Daily Transcript, De Rerum Natura, Evolgen, Evolution 101, EvolutionBlog, Evolving Thoughts, Good Math, Bad Math, The Intersection, Living the Scientific Life, The Loom, Mike the Mad Biologist, The Questionable Authority, Recursivity, The Scientific Activist, Stranger Fruit, Thoughts from Kansas, and Thoughts in a Haystack, just to get you started. The advantage of weblogs is that you can engage the author and other readers, leaving comments and having a conversation about the subject.
If you don't trust web sources, there are plenty of books to help you out. I've made a long list of evolution books suitable for kids and general readers.
Just in case you read over the last line of Phil Plait's post mentioned in my last, all I can say is: so much for "teach the controversy."
Smells like payback for the Ben Stein disinvitation at UVM (cf.) to me, if I may be permitted a leap of faith to attribute rational motives to creationists. But seriously, what is it with these Oklahoma legislators?
(Update: Added pic -- it's a screen grab from this video)
From reading Phil Plait's pun-filled post on the resolution by the Illinois state legislature to (re)declare Pluto a planet (that part is serious, hilariously), I followed a link to a Wikipedia page. If you're at least a mild geek, you knew Pluto has a moon named Charon. But did you know about Nix and Hydra? I did not.
Gotta be a way of making some coin on bar bets with this info; e.g., betcha there's an object in our solar system with three moons that isn't a planet, as long as we're not near Chicago.
Very cool pix on the Wikipedia page, too.
(h/t: Buzz Out Loud)
P.S. On a related note, I listened to this a while ago: Neil deGrasse Tyson, interviewed by Moira Gunn, talking about the heat and hate he's had to deal with from the Plutards. He's always entertaining.
No, not Marx. (This time.) It's better.
Did you know that Obama's plan for health care reform is just like Karl Rove plotting with George Bush to invade Iraq? It is, according to the Diehl World View.
[Added] See also.
Following up on an earlier post, here's some more Joe Nocera. This time, he's joined by Adam Davidson of NPR, and the two of them are interviewed by Brooke Gladstone on this week's On The Media. The three discuss what's involved in trying to report and explain the current financial apocalypse.
A cynic (pas moi!) might dismiss the conversation with a shorter -- nobody knows nuthin' -- but there's actually something to be gained by listening, I think. It's about nine minutes long, not counting the introductory forty second NPR promotional yap-yap.
The invaluable hilzoy reports on the latest Republican obstructionism: two of Obama's top nominees for the White House Council of Economic Advisers, and two more of his nominees, destined to be among his top science advisers, are all prevented from doing any work thanks to anonymous holds being placed on their confirmation votes in the Senate.
The Party of No, once again. Maybe they'll lift the holds if all of us DFHs say something nice about Rush Limbaugh? Here's my contribution: "That black on black outfit he wore at CPAC made him look less fat than he usually does."
(h/t: John Cole)
Earlier this evening, I was catching up on some past episodes of The Daily Show. One of them featured Joe Nocera as a guest.
Nocera, if you don't already know, is a business reporter and columnist for The New York Times, and he's a good one. Jon Stewart said during the interview that Nocera's piece on AIG was the first thing he'd read where he actually felt like he understood what that company had done. I just read it, and I agree -- it's a good one.
In terms of clarity, I mean. You're not going to feel anything besides an urge for torches and pitchforks by the end. But if you're in the boat I'm in -- mystified by how it all happened, reluctant to try to understand it, hoping there's some sort of reason to keep giving them money -- this is a good place to start.
The wingnuts' OUTRAGE!!!1! of the day? Michelle Obama went to help out at a soup kitchen, and some guy took a picture of her with a cell phone. "How do those homeless people have cell phones?" shrieked the usual suspects, perhaps obviously not considering the possibility that the guy was not homeless, and came in just to see the First Lady. Or, if he was, that maybe fallout from the Bush Administration's handling of the economy for the past eight years has only recently put him in that position.
Wonkette and War Room have more details.
I would love for Michelle Malkin, Kathryn Jean Lopez, and Kathy Shaidle to spend a few months not knowing where their next meals were coming from.
Actually, I'd like them to die in fires, but that seems like a mean thing to say.
Yeah, right:
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday threw out a lawsuit questioning President Barack Obama's citizenship, lambasting the case as a waste of the court's time and suggesting the plaintiff's attorney may have to compensate the president's lawyer.
[...]
[U.S. District Judge James] Robertson ordered plaintiff's attorney John Hemenway of Colorado Springs, Colo., to show why he hasn't violated court rules barring frivolous and harassing cases and shouldn't have to pay Obama's attorney, Bob Bauer, for his time arguing that the case should be thrown out.
(h/t: Jim Newell/Wonkette)
I don't know if I can even laugh at them anymore. They're just too far gone.
Apparently, the latest "outrage" is the "snub" given to the British PM and his wife when they visited the White House. There were complaints about the toys for each other's children that Mrs. Obama and Mrs. Brown exchanged, and then this, about a photo of the two women:
“The White House released one picture of the two women and it does not appear to have been selected with any kind of special relationship in mind. There is a menacing bunch of pink peonies in the foreground …"
A menacing bunch of pink peonies. Seriously.
If you must see the whole article, it's the third item in this Sadly, No! post. Don Surber doesn't deserve a link. But trust me, you really don't want to read that poison.
Mozilla has released a patch that closes several security holes -- three of them critical -- and fixes some stability bugs (details). This brings the latest release to version 3.0.7.
If you don't have automatic updates or notifications enabled, do Help → Check for Updates. The whole process went off without a hitch, and took less than a minute, for me.
(h/t: Ryan Naraine)
[Added] Reminder: If you're still using Firefox version 2, despite my vigorously shaking finger, here is the word from Mozilla:
Please note: If you’re still using Firefox 2.0.0.x, this version is no longer supported and contains known security vulnerabilities. Please upgrade to Firefox 3 by downloading Firefox 3.0.7 from getfirefox.com.
Most days, I worry about the loss of newspapers. Then there are days when I happen across articles like today's effort by Helene Cooper, and I ask myself, "Really, what is there to worry about?"
Thanks for easing my mind, Ms. Cooper.
(h/t: Jim Newell/Wonkette)
Just started listening to the Poli-Sci-Fi Radio podcast recorded two days ago. If you need a shot of enthusiasm for Obama, or liberalism in general, in the face of all the howler monkeys from the right who have been clamoring for your attention lately, you'd be hard-pressed to find a more effective boost than the one delivered by Steve Benen.
After musing for awhile on how the GOP presidential aspirants will sort themselves out in 2012 and 2016,* Robert Farley concludes:
Then again, I'm glad I never published the post I wrote in 2005, with the excerpt "Wes Clark should coast to victory in the 2008 Democratic primary, but can he beat George Allen in the general?"
* Don't roll your eyes. We're all junkies about something. You probably watch soap operas or reality TV or participate in a Rotisserie League.
And speaking of the ever-diminishing testicular fortitude of every Republican official in the nation, here is your brave new Chairman of the RNC!
Saturday 28 February 2009:Monday 2 March 2009:Steele: Rush Isn't The GOP's Leader -- He's An Entertainer
Check out this interview Michael Steele did Saturday night with D.L. Hughley on CNN, in the wake of Rush Limbaugh's speech at CPAC proudly proclaiming that he wants President Obama to fail.
Finding himself in unfriendly territory, Steele said that Rush is not the leader of the Republican Party -- Steele is:
[video at link]
"Let's put it in the context here," said Steele. "Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. Rush Limbaugh, his whole thing is entertainment."
"Yes, it's incendiary," Steele added. "Yes, it's ugly."
Steele Apologizes To Limbaugh, Praises His Leadership
In the new game of chicken between Michael Steele and Rush Limbaugh, the loser is...Michael Steele, who now says he never meant to diminish the voice and leadership of Limbaugh.
In an interview with the Politico, Steele said: "My intent was not to go after Rush - I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh. I was maybe a little bit inarticulate...There was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership."
[...]
"I went back at that tape and I realized words that I said weren't what I was thinking," said Steele. "It was one of those things where I thinking I was saying one thing, and it came out differently."
If the GOP can't stand up to Rush Limbaugh, how will they ever stand up to the turrurists???
(cross-posted at BH.tv)
Assuming that those nice Minnesota-nice people will at some point do the rest of us the courtesy of tossing Norm Coleman into one of their many fine lakes once and for all, I hereby add the following to TS's cold storage:
If you cross FOX NEWS CHANNEL, it's not just me, it's [FOX President] Roger Ailes who will go after you. I'm the street guy out front making loud noises about the issues, but Ailes operates behind the science, strategizes and makes things happen so that one day BAM! The person gets what's coming to them but never sees it coming. Look at Al Franken, one day he's going to get a knock on his door and life as he's known it will change forever. That day will happen, trust me.
-- Bill O'Reilly
Thanks to TBogg, who pointed to that document full of goodness for other Blowhardian reasons.
Following up from an earlier note: Ken Layne reads more carefully into the report connecting pornography consumption and religious/political leanings, realizes that the data are from "anonymised credit-card receipts from a major online adult entertainment provider," and falls over in disbelief:
These people are paying for pornography, on the Internet.
Of course you want to read the whole thing. Worth visiting just for the great McCain pic.
The latest entry on the Poli-Sci-Fi Radio blog:
We will be doing our new PSFR episode in the dark today. The Radiator (the low power FM radio station where we broadcast the show) is having some funding shortages that have resulted in a loss of telecom services — meaning no live stream/chat for PSFR. We are broadcasting (in Burlington, Vermont) today and recording the episode for the podcast (online tomorrow), but in the meantime, the Radiator could use your support.
Please consider donating to the Radiator or underwriting some programming so we can avoid these problems in the future. Thank you.
King Wonkette Ken Layne puts the snark on pause for a moment and gets it exactly right:
Maybe, after eight years or so, we will not be particularly moved by, say, Stevie Wonder playing for the president and first lady. But for now, we will enjoy this pleasant novelty, especially when your Barack Obama is singing along.
Head on over to see a great performance of "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" and "Superstition." And then watch a video of Barack Obama presenting Stevie Wonder with the Library of Congress Gershwin Award. Quite moving.
And you gotta love a president who can say "give it up" and "cover band" unselfconsciously.
Or, if you prefer, head on over to PBS's site, and watch the hour-long video, "In Performance at the White House – Celebrating the Music of Stevie Wonder," featuring both Wonder and other artists singing his songs.
Good sound quality in all cases -- it looks like the YouTube clips on Wonkette were made from the PBS show.
[Added] Sadly, the producers of the show did not see fit to invite the best choice for covering "Higher Ground" -- the White House perhaps not quite ready to embrace slam-dancing -- but Mary Mary tore it up pretty good.
