Haven’t been saying much here, have I? Well, after picking up the second and third parts of Harry Turtledove’s Great War series, I’ve spent a bunch more time reading about the Roanoke Front, interrupter gears, and rolling out the barrels than, say, watching the Dodgers.
Rewriting the ToME 3 item list has become slow work once again. I figured the scroll list would be easy, but it’s not because the scroll activations haven’t been kept up to date with the T Engine. So, I get to reimplement a good many of them or something.
Meanwhile, DG and I want me to do this new little module: The E Team. Think of the A Team, only with Ents. “I love it when a plan comes together… slowly.”
Fellow comrades: Our great and patriotic national election of people’s deputies approaches, therefore the time has come to unify. Divisive “free speech” intended to rise up counter-revolutionary passions is forbidden. Only approved Truth Outlets and People’s Governmental Agencies may pay to discuss the coming election.
Long live the Revolution.
You may notice I stopped doing the updates as the RS Fantasy Football draft went on. That’s because the pace went up, as we rushed to get the draft done in time for week 1, and as the later rounds went on it got a bit dull.
I’m still giving it my all though, seeing what one can do knowing just the numbers.
Senator John McCain (Carnivore-Ariz.) is at it again, fighting for the rights of terrorists and against the War on Terror, judging by this bit in the Washington Times (my mistake) this Associated Press account:
Aides said the legislation being introduced on Bush’s behalf later Wednesday on Capitol Hill insists on provisions covering military tribunals that would permit evidence to be withheld from a defendant if necessary to protect classified information.
Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham have drafted a rival proposal. It would guarantee certain legal rights to defendants, including access to all evidence used against them.
“I think it’s important that we stand by 200 years of legal precedents concerning classified information because the defendant should have a right to know what evidence is being used,” said McCain, R-Ariz.
Yes, let’s tell Al-Qaeda everything they want to know. Mmm hmm. Tough on terrorism that Senator is.
Governor Schwarzenegger says he’ll veto the Democratic bill to ban health insurance and institute a “single payer” socialist medical care system. He even appears to get the reasons right, according to the AP:
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced Tuesday that he will veto a universal health care bill that is headed for his desk, claiming the measure would set up a “vast new bureaucracy” that would be too expensive.
The Republican governor said the single-payer system proposed by Sen. Sheila Kuehl would “cost the state billions and lead to significant new taxes on individuals and businesses, without solving the critical issue of affordability.
New taxes indeed. The line the Democrats have been trying to sell is that we’ll all pay the same amount we already pay. But when the system would end competition, end customer leverage, create a huge new government bureaucracy, and would become a magnet for money the way the school system is now, there’s no doubt that a steady stream of tax hikes would come about to fund the system.
Even if the Democrats had no chance to get the tax hikes through the legislature, thanks to the stalwarts of the Republican minority, all they would have to do is turn to Rob “Meathead” Reiner. He loves to have new initiatives written to put tax hikes directly on the ballot, and I’m sure he wouldn’t shy away from proposing a new one “for children’s health.”
And again as a side note, the AP shows just how radical this bill really was:
Schwarzenegger’s Democratic opponent, state Treasurer Phil Angelides, did not take a formal position on the measure. However, he has said that if he were elected governor, he would work with Kuehl to move toward universal coverage.
When the Democrat at the top of the ticket in California refuses to back you, you’ve veered so far left, you’re on the slow lane of the other side of the freeway.
Fidel Castro allegedly wrote a letter saying he’s much better now. But if that’s true why hasn’t he a) retaken power from Raul and b) appeared on television to say he’s feeling better?
I wish that awful, evil old man would just no longer be a problem for us. Ever again.
Still drafting in the RS league. My picks so far (Updated with the next round now):
- Edgerrin James, RB, Arizona (Bye: 9)
- Chad Johnson, WR, Cincinnati (Bye: 5)
- Jake Delhomme, QB, Carolina (Bye: 9)
- Mike Bell, RB, Denver (Bye: 4)
- Lee Evans, WR, Buffalo (Bye: 8)
- Heath Miller, TE, Pittsburgh (Bye: 4)
- Adam Vinatieri, K, Indianapolis (Bye: 6)
- Indianapolis Defense (Bye: 6)
- Marion Barber III, RB, Dallas (Bye: 3)
- Maurice Hicks, RB, San Francisco (Bye: 7)
- David Carr, QB, Houston (Bye: 5)
Mostly I’m recording these here to be able to have them in one place.
I’m not surprised to learn it, but I never would have guessed this exactly way that the poverty statistics in this country are skewed: the EITC isn’t included when calculating poverty!
So if poverty numbers haven’t gone anywhere, despite years and years of effectively negative income tax levels creating pure income redistribution, we know why. And we also know what to tell the Democrats when they demand action.
Slade 2 isn’t finished yet, but I already like it more than Slade 1. Because you see, Slade 1 wasn’t quite working correctly in PPC land. Slade 2 proved easier to fix, though, and I have it working. It loads, it edits, it saves, and everything is happy.