Going Galt AND IT’S ONLY PART 1!!!1!

Roy has the preview of Atlas Shrugged up over at his place. The comments are hilarious, as you would expect.

Also, tweeted by @driftglass:

1,000 pages of Bad Science Fiction about sock-puppets stabbing strawmen with tax cuts.

It's the new Wolverines!!!1!

[Added] More goodness from TBogg and his commenters. LOL @ gbear:

Enough is enough! I have had it with these motherfucking flakes on this motherfucking train!

[Added2] Susan of Texas, in comments at Roy's, speaks of the man behind the movie:

What's really awsome is that some Objectivist businessman, John Aglialoro, put up all the money himself--$10-15 million, plus marketing. And he co-wrote the screenplay (!) .. So this is a labor of love and will probablybe exactly like the boring, unreadable book.

A quick Google on Agliaro yielded this bit of delicious reminder:

Susan Paris: Is Angelina Jolie firmly committed to the project?

John Aglialoro: Yes, she is. Here is what she told us: “Dagny Taggart is the most relatable character to me of all the extensive literature I have ever read.”

SP: Has she signed a contract?

Aglialoro: We have a letter of intent.

Congratulations, Blue Gal and Driftglass!

Sounds like things worked out better than it did for the couple in v1.0 of your podcast poster. Here's hoping, anyway!

News broken in the 2/11 show. (Never forget!)

Stream it from the site, or right-click and save this direct MP3 link.

[Added] Ring pic there. (Click it to big it.)

"It's in bite-sized Top Ten form, and goes down easy. Tell your friends!"

Okay!

Roy tells us that he has a new article up at AlterNet: "10 Historical 'Facts' Only a Right-Winger Could Believe."

Found: Leonard Pierce

Not that he was actually hiding, I guess. But somehow, I lost track. The guy I knew from Sadly, No! stopped posting (as frequently?) there, and I guess the last time I thought to Google him, I didn't find what I was looking for.

Anyway, if you're not already way ahead of me on this, you may remember the name from the 13-part series of undercover reporting from CPAC 2008. Truly an effort for which the word epic should be reserved, and incisive and hilarious from end to end.

Also, for example, this.

The new blog is LudicLive, and the Twitter feed is @leonardpierce. Stalkers are go!

Meanwhile, as long as the Internet is still up ...

... this story is a nice antidote to the doom and gloom of the previous post.

It seems that a company called HBGary Federal, "which does classified work for the U.S. federal government among other security work," made a big noise about being hot on the trail of the "real identities of top members of Anonymous," whereupon they were promptly pwned by Anonymous.

Among other things, Anonymous:

... seized control of the internet security firm's website, defaced its pages, acquired 60,000 company e-mails, deleted backup files, seized [HBGary Federal employee Aaron] Barr's Twitter account, and took down the founder's website rootkit.com. Anonymous also acquired this document, which HBGary was set to provide to the FBI at a scheduled meeting tomorrow.

Just another reminder that those who promise to deliver security and protect liberty often fail at both.

(pic. source)

[Added] Nate Anderson at Ars Technica has a long post detailing the unraveling. And a follow-up.

[Added2] Some disturbing revelations come to light.

Internet Kill Switch?

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Another one of those FoxNews memos leaked

Remember a couple of months ago, when news broke about memos to FoxNews staff from their Washington managing editor Bill Sammon? One, sent in the middle of the HCR debate, told staff to use terms like "government option" and never to say public option; the other was a directive to maintain a tone of "skepticism" when discussing global warming. Turns out another one came to light last week:

During the final days of the 2008 presidential race, Bill Sammon used his position as a top Fox News editor to engage in a campaign to link then-Sen. Barack Obama to "Marxists" and "socialism," internal Fox documents and a review of his televised appearances show.

On October 27, 2008, Sammon sent an email to colleagues highlighting what he described as "Obama's references to socialism, liberalism, Marxism and Marxists" in his 1995 autobiography Dreams From My Father. Shortly after sending the email, Sammon -- then the network's Washington deputy managing editor -- appeared on two Fox News programs to discuss his research and also wrote a FoxNews.com piece about Obama's "affinity to Marxists" that was disseminated throughout the conservative blogosphere.

[...]

By that evening, the subject line of Sammon's email had been inserted -- word-for-word -- into show notes written in preparation for the next morning's Fox & Friends, which featured an appearance by Sammon.

Eric Boehlert is right -- it is a little hard to realize for those of us who had been following the election so closely, and so were familiar with the hysterical anti-Obama messaging, but it really is rather amazing, in retrospect, how vehemently anti-Obama the wingnuts were and how unified they were in their talking points, from the get-go. This hammering by FoxNews on the OBAMA THE MARXIST!!!1! theme, from October 2008 on, helps explain why.

(h/t: Poli-Sci-Fi Radio)

"Tea Party History Lesson"

Part 1:

The lesson continues here.

(x-posted)

Interview of Scientology article author

Lawrence Wright, whose lengthy New Yorker article on Paul Haggis and Scientology we noted yesterday, was interviewed on Fresh Air by Terry Gross today. The interview is about twenty minutes long, and there is a summary post at that link.

If you've read the entire article, there's not a whole lot of new information, although I found it interesting to hear him questioned about some of the aspects of the article. If you haven't read the article, listening to the interview may persuade you to, although it might be a bit of a spoiler for some -- I liked the way the article unfolded toward some of the points that are discussed right away in the interview.

(h/t: Substance McGravitas, in Comments under yesterday's post)

"Turns Out Steaming Bullshit Will Melt Ice, But You Need An Awful Lot Of It"

The odd confluence of Ronald Reagan and the Super Bowl: a great post.

(Or effluence, as you prefer.)

Freudian Slip of the Day

The mask of objectivity slips at the NYT?

Paring with AOL will lift The Huffington Post’s traffic.

Happy 100th! Latest Wingnut Wrap-Up from Roy Edroso Now Available

Headline:

Rightbloggers Celebrate Reagan's 100th Birthday; Attack His Son, Ron Jr.; Cheer His Daughter, Sarah Palin

Intro here, full column here.

Oh, and intro to the intro here.

(x-posted)

"The Apostate: Paul Haggis vs. the Church of Scientology"

You may recall mention last month of a Lawrence Wright book and New Yorker article on Scientology, "to be 'told through the eyes of director and apostate Paul Haggis.'"

I don't know if he's found a book publisher yet, but at least the New Yorker piece is now available, and it looks like a detailed one.

I haven't had a chance to read it yet, so, note to self, etc. But I thought some of you might like to know right away.

(h/t: @johnmcquaid)

[Added] Follow-up post.

Eric Alterman has a new book out

This, from his home page, appears to be the thesis:

“Presidents can pretty easily pass tax cuts for the wealthy and powerful corporations. They can start whatever wars they wish and wiretap whomever they want without warrants. They can order the torture of terrorist suspects, lie about it and see that their intelligence services destroy the evidence. But what they cannot do, even with supermajorities in both houses of Congress behind them, is pass the kind of transformative progressive legislation that Barack Obama promised in his 2008 campaign.”

In addition to analysis, there are proposals:

Alterman offers a clear game plan for potential change, expounding his belief that “with regard to almost every single one of our problems, we need better, smarter organizing at every level and a willingness on the part of liberals and leftists to work with what remains of the center to begin the process of reforms that are a beginning, rather than an endpoint in the process of societal transformation.”

The book description also says that this is a "revised, updated, and much-expanded version of Alterman’s July 2010 online essay for The Nation." That essay lives here.

Click the pic to go to the book's page on Amazon.

(x-posted)

The High-Brow Version of Twitter Flaming

I am late in passing along this Scott McLemee note, but it's too funny not to:

"Crimes Against the Intellect"

Last month, in France, playboy philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy was indicted for fraud, hucksterism, and general ridiculousness, and there will be a trial tomorrow. Sort of.

Somehow I doubt this is going to affect his standing at The Huffington Post.

Related:

Developing ...

(x-posted)

Not that we didn't already think Jennifer Rubin was a hack ...

... but this is just inexcusable.

As low as the WaPo has been known to go, I'm still surprised they're letting her get away with it.

All together now ... IOKIYAR!

(previously)

(pic. source | x-posted)

Reaganomics

Swiped from Instaputz.

A Guilty Pleasure

This week's Professional Left Podcast, with Driftglass and Blue Gal, has a good analysis of how and why the wingnuts are floundering in their attempts to spin Egypt to their advantage.

It won't be to everyone's taste, but if you're in the mood for some laughs and some bashing of the Beck/Palin®/Limbaugh crowd, you'll probably enjoy it. I did.

Stream it from their site, subscribe on iTunes, or download an MP3 by right-clicking and saving on this link here. About 36 minutes. Mildly NSFW, due to language.

An inspiring conversation

This Bloggingheads diavlog between Kathryn Clancy of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and John Hawks of University of Wisconsin-Madison is quite good. I especially recommend it to any young women considering a career in science and to any young academic considering a start in blogging, but I think anyone who is interested in science will like it.

Topics include:

• Kate’s study of ladybusiness in Poland
• News for women with “abnormal” menstrual cycles
• Does academic blogging fit a university’s mission?
• Pitfalls for women scientists
• Did anthropology declare itself to be non-science?
• Science: not just another way of knowing

(alt. video link)

If you'd rather not sit here and stream it, click the alt. video link to download audio or video files.

As if anyone needed another reason not to use Bing, not to mention Internet Explorer

It looks like Bing has been tuning their search results by watching what people search for on Google and what they click on the results page.

Some people are concerned about the privacy aspect. Me, I gave up believing what I typed into the Internet wasn't going to be stored and analyzed nine ways from Sunday years ago. I'm appalled here at Microsoft's cheating. I mean, we've known for decades that Microsoft has a habit of letting others do the innovation, and then absorbing them into the Borg (yeah, I'm still mad about how they ruined Equation Editor), or copying the competition from scratch and then crushing them with their monopolistic clout (you remember Netscape, right?). But this really takes things to a whole new depth. Anyone who works at Microsoft on this should be ashamed.

(h/t: Robert Waldmann)

__________

[Added 2011-02-07 01:04] TechCrunch has an article with selections from the Twitter fight the above produced. Some good zingers. More importantly, that article gives a link to the Techmeme entry for the story, in case you want to read another nine thousand pieces of commentary on this.

I got your Decision Point right here

How can we miss him, when he'll never leave?

Reuters:

Former President George W. Bush has canceled a visit to Switzerland, where he was to address a Jewish charity gala, due to the risk of legal action against him for alleged torture, rights groups said on Saturday.

Bush was to be the keynote speaker at Keren Hayesod's annual dinner on February 12 in Geneva. But pressure has been building on the Swiss government to arrest him and open a criminal investigation if he enters the Alpine country.

Criminal complaints against Bush alleging torture have been lodged in Geneva, court officials say.

[...]

"He's avoiding the handcuffs," Reed Brody, counsel for Human Rights Watch, told Reuters.

[...]

Brody is an American-trained lawyer specialized in pursuing war crimes worldwide, especially those allegedly ordered by former leaders, including Chile's late dictator Augusto Pinochet and Chad's ousted president Hissene Habre. Habre has been charged by Belgium with crimes against humanity and torture, and is currently exiled in Senegal.

"President Bush has admitted he ordered waterboarding which everyone considers to be a form of torture under international law. Under the Convention against Torture, authorities would have been obliged to open an investigation and either prosecute or extradite George Bush," Brody said.

There's more.

(h/t: @Mrxk and @pwire | pic. source | x-posted)

Journamalism Watch: kausfiles has found a new home

(embiggen)

TBogg has passed along some sad news.

[Added] Wolcott has now heard about it, too.

(x-posted | pic. source, pic. source, pic. source, pic. source)

Some stories about Egypt, and other important matters

The first half hour of this week's On The Media is devoted to coverage of Egypt, and coverage of that coverage. Five segments, all quite good.

The last twenty minutes of the show concern anonymous holds in the Senate and whistleblower protection. The two stories are related.

Stream or download an MP3, both at the above link, right near the top of the page. Transcripts available early next week.

(x-posted)

Some 100th Birthday Antidotes

Paul Slansky's 1989 book, pictured above, is now once again available! This time, it's an e-book, and you can pay whatever you want for it, thanks to socialism. Ken Layne gives it a glowing recommendation.

And don't forget the ongoing series available at Bats Left Throws Right: "Ronald Reagan: The Myth and the Myth." This is always 100% free, thanks to communism. The latest in the series is specific to this most glorious of all birthday celebrations: "Great. Something Else To Look Forward To."

Sweet!

But remember, he's with us on everything except the war

Soon-to-be ex-Senator Joe Lieberman, pictured at left during an earlier tryst with some other IDiot, will be co-authoring a book with David Klinghoffer, a Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute. Pallin' around with creationists now, eh, Joe?

Klinghoffer's other books include How Would God Vote?: Why the Bible Commands You to Be a Conservative, published in July 2008, which may or may not have had anything to do with Holy Joe's choices during that year's presidential campaign.

As Roy Edroso reminds us, Klinghoffer also pens the occasional anti-science screed for National Review. If you'll recall the goals of the Disco'tute, this will not surprise you.

Which headline more perfectly summarizes CPAC?

Rumsfeld to receive ‘Defender of the Constitution Award’ at CPAC

Tucker Carlson to receive media "accuracy" award

One thing's for sure: in either case, we can blame Teh Gheys.

New Jersey Fat Cats Given Second Helpings

The headline:

Christie: N.J. to invest $260M in stalled casino project

Tax-payer funded bailouts!!!1!

And this part (emph. added) is especially rich:

[New Jersey Governor Chris] Christie made the announcement at a ceremony at the unfinished Revel site to sign legislation turning over control of this struggling gambling mecca's casino district to the state …

Socialism!!!1!

A classic IOKIYAR moment if there ever was one.

It'll be interesting to see if the Christie fanboys try to explain how this is Totally Different, or if he'll be summarily labeled a RINO and booted off the list of RealConservative Rockstars.

[Added] Twin catches a bunch of other incongruities.

(h/t: Twin | x-posted | pic. source)

"POLITICO announced that it has decided to skip the 2012 election cycle entirely"

A shocking exposé from deep inside the bowels: Michael Kinsley reports on the secret agenda of the horserace 'n' gossip biz.

And thereby Wins The Morning™, of course.

(h/t: @jeffjarvis)

The Odd Confluence of High Energy Physics and Low-Down Drunks

Swiped from Substance McGravitas:

Large Hadron Colada

(Post title: pretty much stolen, too.)

Close this Facebook Security Hole in Your Account. (It's easy.)

Last week, Ryan Tate at Gawker called attention to a serious flaw in Facebook that potentially exists for anyone who visits the site using a wireless connection. Geek details at the bottom of this post, but let's get to the important part first: prompted by the attention that this hole received, Facebook has come up with a fix. It's quick and easy to do, and you should do it right away, especially if you're in the habit of visiting Facebook while at your favorite coffee shop or other public WiFi hotspot.

MORE »