A Quick Question for kos and a few Stray Thoughts

- Why would you hire a semi-literate crazy person to do your polling?  Seriously, read this article from TPM and the statement contained therein from Del Ali, president of Research 2000, regarding the lawsuit that Greg Sargent reports will be filed by Daily Kos against them for fraud in their polling.  It's pretty mind boggling.  (His lawyers at high-priced and allegedly high-powered firm Howrey & Simon aren't appreciably better in their attempts to muzzle Nate Silver.  I'd be happy to defend you Nate!) 

Update:  It appears that Del Ali ("a statistical wiz I am not") has a B.A. and an M.A. in Recreation from the University of Maryland.  Recreation!  And this clown is going to threaten Nate Silver?  I.Don't.Think.So.  A statistical wiz he may not be, but he does appear to be a first rate deadbeat.   Finally, the company does not appear on the list of registered corporations in Maryland but Ali claims that he incorporated with "self-proprietorship" back in 2000.  And a corporations wiz I might not be, but I can tell you that there is no such entity as that described by this clown.  I hope Markos gets someone else to run the search for his next polling firm.  the Great Orange Satan is too big time to be dealing with a clown like this.    

- I don't think Nate is intimidated.

- At the risk of screwing up future employment at the Post, let me just note that if Matt Drudge were to set himself on fire, I'd make s'mores. 

- If you are in need of an emergency emetic, I'd suggest reading this comment thread to an article about Google's decision to compensate its gay employees who get taxed on the value of their family benefits in a way that heterosexual couples are not.  It's a truly demented, sickening, hateful display. 

- Give yourself a Fourth of July treat and read the Onion's Patriotic Issue.  It's both funny and eerily true.

- If you watch the World Cup game tomorrow between Brazil and the Netherlands, do yourself a favor and focus on Arjen Robben for a while.  I was lucky enough to go to a Chelsea FC game a few years ago, when they were the two time defending champions of the English Premier League and featured such heavyweights as Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack, John Terry, Peter Cech, and Andriy Shevchenko.  Of all of this talent, it was Robben who stood out in my novice's eye.  He plays out on the wing and creates havoc for opposing defenses with his speed (pace as we soccer aficionados say) and ball handling ability, and his tremendous passing and striking ability.  Unfortunately, Robben has a knack for getting hurt -- nagging and persistent little injuries, lots of pulled hamstrings and tweaked ankles.  As a result he missed a huge number of games for both Chelsea and subsequently Real Madrid.  Last year he landed at Bayern Munich in Germany's Bundesliga where he remained healthy and ended up being the player of the year.  He is the guy who could shock the Brazilians tomorrow.  (And Brazil gets waxed!) 

Time to walk Stanley on this oh so lovely evening.  Consider this an open thread.

  

  

Comments

[low-tech cyclist]

if Matt Drudge were to set himself on fire, I'd make s'mores.

A campfire and some s'mores would be just perfect on a crisp, cool evening like this!

Now, if Mr. Drudge would kindly oblige...

[Prup (aka Jim Benton)]

Add to the ugliness that is Arizona:
From Joe.My.God. A Republoco Candidate for a seat on the Arizona Corporation Commission has proposed to save the state money but cutting off all public utility service to 'illegal aliens.'

If undocumented immigrants have their utilities turned off, Wong predicts it would keep costs down for everyone else. "The [state] constitution gives the Corporation Commission specific authority to deal with rate-making which is setting the price that we pay for the electric, natural gas, telephone service, private water companies," Wong said. Wong, whose grandparents immigrated to the United State from China, said his plan would start off by having utility companies verify the immigration status of new customers. He would then focus on finding existing customers in the country illegally.

And, given Arizona's frequent 110 degree days, cutting off air conditioning -- and water, and refrigeration -- might do well to reduce their numbers as well. Not perhaps as quickly as gas ovens, but that might raise the rates on other customers too much.

Soetimes the deadly consequences of acts -- like cutting off unemployment checks or some of the ugliness in unreformed health care -- can be hidden. Sometimes, though...

The effort it takes for someone to make himself blind to his own evil makes me disgusted to share the same planet.

[litbrit]

C, I will help you eat those s'mores. Dark chocolate, please, and extra marshmallows on mine.

Prup, that is one of the sickest, most evil things I've read in a while. And that's saying something. My Mum wrote me a note the other day which concluded with her wondering how there could be such an enormous, unrelenting, neverending incoming tide of evil flooding everywhere--weren't we due for an ebb sometime soon?

[rs glod]

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[Prup (aka Jim Benton)]

Spammer alert, here and in previous thread.

[Prup (aka Jim Benton)]

Deb: Let me try a late-night take on it, to be improved in the morning. But the key is that evil is an absence, far more often than a presence. Evil is lacks; lack of the ability to perceive other people as real, lack of the ability to associate one's actions with their consequences, lack of empathy, self-consciousness, self-criticism, and critical thinking.

Because i have absolutely no doubt that, while I accurately implied the result of Mr. Wong's idea, that he had no intention of causing such a result, and that were his plan to be activated and he were shown a morgue-full of heat-killed corpses, he still wouldn't understand the connection. He not only would deny this was his plan, he'd -- perfectly sincerely, the saddest fact of all -- blame the victims, and when you accused him of responsibility, he would be confused and astounded that anyone could think he'd be responsible for such a result.

And that, and not the comic book version, is almost always where the true evil lies. (Excluding the true sociopathic killer or the like.)

[Prup (aka Jim Benton)]

For another look at evil.

[litbrit]

Prup, bless you, but you give these people far too much credit sometimes.

I don't think Wong suffering from a lack of awareness and empathy is his problem, although he clearly lacks both.

My ten-year-old child knows full well what people go through when they don't have shelter, or enough food, or proper medical care. How could a full-grown adult be simply missing those things?

Wong, like a lot of Republicans is suffering from a surfeit of "I've got mine; fuck you". In other words, he's evil.

At least, by my definition of the word, he is. And the irony is that many of these folks like to quote Jesus a good deal, yet from what I remember of all those years of study, Jesus was pretty clear about not loving your neighbor, and "Othering" people in order to heap scorn upon them, being the very manifestations of evil.

[low-tech cyclist]

And the irony is that many of these folks like to quote Jesus a good deal, yet from what I remember of all those years of study, Jesus was pretty clear about not loving your neighbor, and "Othering" people in order to heap scorn upon them, being the very manifestations of evil.

I think one of the most remarkable aspects of what the Gospel writers have told us about Jesus is his denial, by repeated example, that there should be an 'other.' Women, children, Samaritans, Roman soldiers, Pharisees, lepers, cripples, rich, poor - nobody was 'the other' to him; no one, to him, belonged to a different tribe. No one was outcast or unclean.

A Christianity that has forgotten that basic and elemental truth is a Christianity that's forgotten Christ.

[oddjob]

A Christianity that has forgotten that basic and elemental truth is a Christianity that's forgotten Christ.

That's why Sully refers to said as "Christianism" instead of "Christianity".

[kathy a.]

This is an open thread, right? I'm having unkind thoughts about my wonderful but freaking stupid state right now. The annual budget rodeo and standoff is underway in CA, and I hate it as much as ever, and we haven't even run out of money quite yet. When we get close to running out of money, the state just stops paying various items besides employee wages until there is some resolution. Speaking from experience, those IOUs don't do much for paying the bills.

Our years of citizen initiatives [plus the bullheadedness of "hold 'em hostage, damn the torpedos" partisanship] have resulted in something like permanent gridlock; we alone require a 2/3 supermajority to even approve a budget, much less approve taxes. Howard Jarvis continues to be cruel, years after his passing from the mortal coil.

A couple of years back, we had an excellent fistfight: the governator announced he was reducing wages of state employees to minimum wage until there was a budget, and the state controller refused to follow that order, on account of it violating various laws and exposing the state to liability. Woot! Yesterday, the gov made the same announcement, partly to force some employee unions into contract concessions. And today, the court of appeal decided the case from 2008 in his favor -- says he can "defer" wages until the budget is in place.

Oh, sure, there'll be some more litigation. And everyone from the governator on down will be flooded with commentary about this latest beastliness. I can hardly wait to hear CEO Queen Meg's pronouncements. But damn, this kind of thing gets really tiresome.

[kathy a.]

here's a breakdown of the over 200,000 employees the governator plans to stiff: education, mental health, appellate courts, prisons, the justice department, consumer protection, the DMV, vets agencies, the highway patrol. employees in his own office.

[oddjob]

But damn, this kind of thing gets really tiresome.

I have thought that myself, and I haven't ever lived in California. I can't imagine how awful it now must be to be a California state employee!

The idea of requiring that much agreement between factions is fine - in theory.

And then there's the unending hell it creates when it becomes the law!

[kathy a.]

I was wrong about the highway patrol -- their union and some other small ones [~39,000 employees in total] are not facing the salary hold-back because they agreed to contract concessions. So, this is meant to bludgeon the other employee unions [~200,000] into submission.

SC knows a lot more about union contract negotiations that I do, so maybe he has thoughts about this.

[Crissa]

Part of a truly tasty s'more is the smoke, and I really wouldn't put my tasty treat anywhere near the toxic fumes of Drudge.

[Crissa]

Oh, kathy a: In California, minimum wage and unemployment are about the same. :P

[fast easy runescape]

Life is a pure flame, and we live by an invisible sun within us.