The funniest thing you'll see today

Click here.

Safe for work, has sound.

I'm in tears.

Required Reading

If for no other reason than to say I told you so.

Tom Engelhardt with 21 Questions on Iraq.

I have a question: What, exactly, is victory in Iraq?

More on Trans Fats

When other people say it better, might as well just link to them.

And it starts...

In NYC, restaraunts will be required to reduce trans-fats over the next 18 months.

What's next?

Who thinks this is a good idea? That the government can tell a restaraunt what it can and can not serve. I would say it's unbelievable, except that I fully expected it.

Welcome to the new nanny/police state.

Airport stupidity, er, I mean security

Oh, thank the TSA, we can now take toothpaste and personal lubricant in our carryon!

Of course, only 3 oz containers, and only in a clear quart ziplock bag.

The FBI and other laboratories tested a variety of explosives and found that tiny amounts of substances so small they fit into a quart-size plastic bag can't blow up an airliner, Hawley said at a news conference at Reagan National Airport.

Because, as we know, the terrorists never work in teams

Passengers will have to take out the clear bags with toiletries in them so they can be checked separately by the X-ray machine. Though the machines can't identify whether a substance is an explosive, they can pick out anomalies that may indicate a substance is intended for use in a bomb.

Let me get this straight - we can't even tell if it's an explosive?

So this regulation exists so we all feel better? Or just because they can?

A musical comedy?

Generally not my thing. But I tell you, the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee was fantastic. Very, very funny.

We have season tickets to the Hippodrome. Next up is 12 Angry Men, one of my favorite plays.

3-0!?!?

Oh my goodness!!

Two blowouts and a nailbiter. I'm a touch concerned about the offense, but a win is a win, and any win on the road in the AFC North is a good one.

I didn't get to watch, as we were at a play.

This kind of stuff drives me nuts

All around in health news, are headlines like this: "Smoking Increases Risk of HIV Infection."

But when you read the information on the study, all it does is show that many people who get HIV are smokers, which shouldn't suprise anyone. Why? Because one of the largest factors in smoking is having children, and people generally at risk for HIV infection don't have kids and aren't trying to have kids.

The article I link above even points it out, yet they still run the headline, I guess for the shock value.

The consistency of the findings is striking and represents a major strength of this review," Dr. Furber and colleagues said, noting that while the studies vary, many had large sample sizes and were of high quality.


On the other hand, the researchers said, the methodologies used -- epidemiological and observational -- can't make causal connections and are "prone to confounding."

So there isn't a causal relationship, and saying 'increases risk' would be, well, incorrect.

Has NASCAR jumped the shark?

That's Racin' reports that for all but two races this year, ratings are the same or down compared to last year.

I said in an earlier post that I'm not watching any more. Apparently I'm not the only one. Coverage is terrible, the points system makes most of the first 26 races irrelevant to the championship, and it's mostly now just a soap opera of drivers.

It's pretty clear when there are questions that pretty major operations are having trouble securing sponsors that the sport may be in a little trouble.

Wanna fix it? Go back to the old championship format, change the points so that you get more points for winning and eliminate points for low finishers (finish worse than 30th, get no points), and publish the rules.

I normally don't post stuff like this..

But this video is funny.

Should be worksafe, but it has sound.

There's hope!!!

A college admissions essay from a young Libertarian.

The basic moral premise of libertarianism is as follows: Every human has a right to life and property, and the initiation of force in violation of these rights is wrong. This is very simple.

And simple is good.

Find out about it quickly, Ben.

One of Ben Cardin's staffers got fired for being a racist moron. She's got a blog, and some of the comments on that blog didn't really reflect well on the Senate Candidate.

Now, she posts that an intern in the office was letting the office use his Wal Mart (a Democrat who shops at Wal Mart?) employee discount card.


When asked about the post on the blog, Cardin was befuddled.

The staffer, Ursula Gruber, who was fired by the candidate's campaign for making racially charged comments in her blog, also mentions in her blog a Wal-Mart discount card that she says was used illegally by people in the office.

"I am not sure of what you are talking about, I'm not sure of what you are talking about," said Cardin when he was asked by WBAL's Scott Wykoff if that allegation would be investigated by his campaign.

"I'll check out what you are talking about, I'm not familiar with what you are talking about," said Cardin.

The best quote of all time:

One day earlier, Cardin told WBAL's Chip Franklin and Clarence Mitchell IV on WBAL's 'The Buzz', "We know anything that gets out on a blog we are going to know about it immediately, and every other campaign knows about it immediately."

"Let me tell you something," said Cardin on WBAL on Monday. "When you put something out on a blog you find out about it pretty quickly."

Why is that such a great quote? Read the blog (it's been removed from Blogspot, but Wizbang has the cached page). You may note the post. Dated August 13, 2006.

From dictionary.com:

im‧me‧di‧ate‧ly  /ɪˈmidiɪtli/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[i-mee-dee-it-lee] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation

–adverb 1. without lapse of time; without delay; instantly; at once: Please telephone him immediately.
2. with no object or space intervening.
3. closely: immediately in the vicinity.
4. without intervening medium or agent; concerning or affecting directly.
–conjunction 5. Chiefly British. the moment that; as soon as.

Or within 6 weeks or so. *chuckle*

2-0

With a victory over the Raiders, 28-6.

You know what happened the last time the Ravens went 2-0? They won a the Superbowl.

With Trent Dilfer.

Next week, the Browns. 0-2 or not, it's a road game in the division, and might be tough.

Training Update

Just finished my first full week of training, after an extended layoff. I'm not anywhere near where I want to be, but that's the reason for doing it.

Updates can be seen here.

Pay it forward

One of the most important aspects of the Iron Game is the responsibility of those in it to pass along what they have learned to others. It's one of the great traditions of people who train with weights, and even in today's commercialized climate, it continues.

But it doesn't continue as much as you'd like. Everywhere there are people claiming to be 'natural' 'professional' bodybuilders, when the last contest they won was in 1992 in a now defunct orgainization, just so they can promote their super special training protocol, which, when evaluated using a rudimentary level of physiological understanding is, well, crap.

Luck for us, there are still people out there who are giving back. Read this article by James Smith, and if you have the interest, participate in the conference calls.

James is moving the Game forward as it should be done... and he's still able to make a living doing it. How about that.

Missed opportunity.

Listening to K666 on the Sonos this evening, and in the midst of the Entombed, Judas Priest, AC/DC, COC, etc, they played Slayer - Necrophobic.

I should have named my blog that. Cool blog name.

Unfortunatley, Necrophobic.net is already taken. Gotta love the Swedish Death Metal.

Not good for the Maryland Democrats

They are going to end up with an all white male upper ticket, and not a single interesting close local race. Not much diversity there at all.

Might be good news for the incumbent Governor and Mr Steele.

Positive coverage

Here's a link to a video of some local news coverage of Bob Smither, a Libertarian running for Tom Delay's old seat. The guy the Republicans are not supporting in favor of a write in candidate.

It's nice to see coverage at all, and nice to see that it's positive. Smithers seems like a good face for the party.

Off to a great start

27-0!!

Ravens looked good today, all the pieces in place. I was sure this would be a closer game, but now I think the Bucs might be a little overrated.

Oakland comes to Baltimore next week. Sure would be nice to start off 2-0.

Losing something we never had

Radley Balko over at the Agitator posts about Libertarians losing the Right and the Left where our positions align with theirs.

We are losing the Right on the free market, and the Left on personal liberty.

Thing is, I don't think we ever had them. The key difference between Libertarians or Classical Liberals and Republicans and Democrats: Non Statists vs Statists.

Republicans and Democrats, first and foremost, are Statists. They may disagree on what the State should be doing, but they absolutley agree that the State should have more power, not less. We can talk all we want about winning the hearts and minds of Republicans with a free market, less regulation, more economic freedom position, but they don't really want to be free. Democrats love to hear about decriminalization of drugs, and civil liberty protections, but they want the government to take care of them.

You can clearly see this any time you talk to a Republican or a Democrat. Ask them where their rights come from, and almost without fail, they will say 'The Constitution'. Which is wrong. They all think they get their rights from the state, from their luck in life of being born in the US, or having met some arbitrary requirment to gain citizenship. And this is where we need to start winning them. Explain that our rights come from our humanity. That the Constitution simply explains what the government is allowed to do, not what we are.

Then move to the places we agree, and then explain how that leads to the places we don't, but why another option might be better than theirs.

I think it can be done. It'll take a while.

On Nascar

There was a time when, for about 11 months out of the year, my Sundays were spent watching either racing or football.

No more.

NASCAR has taken all of the interest out of their sport, at least for me. This year was really the tell tale year, as I think I watched 3 or 4 races (the Daytona 500, both Bristol races) from start to finish, and tuned in for parts of only a handful of others.

When NASCAR instituted the 'Chase for the Championship', I was pretty upset - I don't like it, I think it atrificially creates 'drama' where there is none, and I think it screwed up the sport. I became less interested in most of the season, and I'm more interested in who scores the most points in the season, not who scores the most in 10 races.

The held on to me last year because my guy, Rusty, was still around, and still competitive. This year, I have pretty much no one to root for. So interest has waned. (It doesn't help that NBC and TNT coverage is terrible.)

Last night's race at Richmond, a race I did not watch, determined that Tony Stewart, last year's champ (legitimatley so, by the way, as he scored the most points over the entire 36 races) is in 11th, and out of the 'Chase'. In years past, no one would care about this, and would instead be following the tight race between first and second in points, as well as watching who would end up in the top ten at the end of the year, which is quite a logjam.

Want me back, NASCAR? Get rid of the chase. Give more points for winning if you want. Take boring races off the schedule (California). Oh, and race in Darlington on Labor day weekend.

I told you so

Senate finally determines what I said 3 years ago... Iraq and Al Qaeda were not linked.

As a matter of fact, as I said then, Hussein was distrustful of Islamic exremists, as a secular leader.

If I knew this before the invasion, I'm pretty sure someone in the White House knew, too.

Training Update

Back in the gym today. Read the details here.

Please be quiet

We're trying to have an election here.

Welcome to your 60 days of suspension of the First Amendment.

So you and I can not purchase air time to discuss issues, only approved candidates can, unless you get clearance from a court ahead of time. Because THAT's freedom, dammit.

Tackling the important issues

On the one hand, I don't understand why Congress is debating the practice of horse slaughter. I mean, I like horses and all, but they are animals, and can indeed be used as food. I'm especially concerned by this line of reasoning:

"Horses are an integral part of our country's culture, and they do not deserve to be slaughtered under brutal conditions," said Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif. "American horses deserve better treatment."

Debate began Thursday morning on whether to ban horse slaughter, and a vote was expected by evening.

"It is one of the most inhumane, brutal, shady practices going on in the U.S. today," said Rep. John Sweeney, R-N.Y., a sponsor of the ban.

Sweeney argues that the slaughter of horses is different from the slaughter of cattle and chickens because horses such as Mr. Ed, Secretariat and Silver are American icons.

If only Betsy the cow had made it through the auditions.

On the other hand, the more time Congress spends on this, the less likely it is they'll ban internet poker.

Heavy

Sleep - Dopesmoker.

63 minutes of the heaviest music, ever.

Are Environmentalists causing climate change?

A very enlightened post by Warren Meyer over at Coyote Blog regarding Urban Heat Islands.

He asks an important question: Are the policies that environmentalists support which move us towards more urban living actually harming the environment? I wonder if they thought about it.

It used to be bad...

Gene Healy finds some old gems at Freerepublic. I heart teh internets.

Sucks that people can point stuff like this out, doesn't it.