The Daily Rant ©

The Rant© is up! (7.40 / 5)

What a maroon.

But examination of the available data leads only to the conclusion that the biggest beneficiary of the Bush Presidency is Warren Harding. (Steve Mirsky, "Antigravity", SciAm 10/05)
Lex clavatoris designati rescindenda est. (Latin for All Occasions)

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by: mirrim @ Mon Aug 25, 2008 at 09:21:56 AM CDT

One of my favourite scenes in that sappy Meg Ryan movie (9.00 / 2)

When A Man Loves A Woman -- which really kinds of treats alcoholism way too sappily, if you ask me -- is when she and her husband go downstairs and EGG THE PORSCHE when its alarm goes off for the millionth time.

I love that fucking scene.

--7.88, --6.56      If I can't rant, I don't want to be part of your revolution.

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by: Maryscott O'Connor @ Mon Aug 25, 2008 at 10:55:16 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

California (0.00 / 0)

Always ahead of the curve,  California is pushing legislation to increase noise pollution, demanding, as it does, that electric and hybrid autos make noise similar to gasoline vehicles.

If I were a California legislator, I'd attach an amendment requiring such vehicles to also make the sound of a car that has one of those souped up stereos with the big subwoofers.

btw, if the car is protected space, then my bet is that it is where all the fragile sensibilities and inv4ented indignity supplied when anyone says anything non-positive about Obama is stored.  Can't have too much of that, it seems.

"Doubt is not an agreeable condition, but certainty is an absurd one." -Voltaire
Ah, my dear Voltaire, doubt is an acquired and cultivated taste, like Laphroaig Whisky or fine truffles, and quite as exquisite.

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by: Madscientist @ Tue Aug 26, 2008 at 00:03:07 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Promoted by the Federation for the Blind (6.50 / 2)

which promoted similar federal legislation in earlier in the year. It seems blind people rely on their hearing to know that moving cars are close by. The law of unintended consequences.  

to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance .  G. Washington

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by: Kane in CA @ Tue Aug 26, 2008 at 00:20:23 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I suppose this means (0.00 / 0)

that the deaf suppoorters will want to require all cars to have face recognition software on board, and a bright light that will flash into the face of anyone nearby.


"Doubt is not an agreeable condition, but certainty is an absurd one." -Voltaire
Ah, my dear Voltaire, doubt is an acquired and cultivated taste, like Laphroaig Whisky or fine truffles, and quite as exquisite.

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by: Madscientist @ Tue Aug 26, 2008 at 00:52:15 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

It would seem unlikely (0.00 / 0)

Almost silent cars eliminate a cue on which the blind have come to rely. Before cars, I suppose horses probably provided a similar cue. Unless the next generation of hybrids, in addition to being much quieter, are also less visible.  

to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance .  G. Washington

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by: Kane in CA @ Tue Aug 26, 2008 at 01:28:10 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I get it (7.00 / 1)

We should have cars emit the odour of horse manure!

"Doubt is not an agreeable condition, but certainty is an absurd one." -Voltaire
Ah, my dear Voltaire, doubt is an acquired and cultivated taste, like Laphroaig Whisky or fine truffles, and quite as exquisite.

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by: Madscientist @ Tue Aug 26, 2008 at 01:44:18 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

This car wasn't moving (0.00 / 0)

Trust me, it was sitting in the asshole's driveway.

But examination of the available data leads only to the conclusion that the biggest beneficiary of the Bush Presidency is Warren Harding. (Steve Mirsky, "Antigravity", SciAm 10/05)
Lex clavatoris designati rescindenda est. (Latin for All Occasions)

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by: mirrim @ Tue Aug 26, 2008 at 11:01:32 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Just clothes-pin playing cards where they can clack on spokes of the wheels? (n/t) (0.00 / 0)

"I'll hire half the working class to kill off the other half."-- Jay Gould, robber-baron  

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by: konopelli @ Tue Aug 26, 2008 at 16:52:50 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Voter Disenfranchisement (7.50 / 4)

Florida has seemed to be working toward fixing some of its voting problems.  They eliminated the Diebold machines and have gone back to optical scan ballots.  So far, so good.

Fifteen months ago, Gov. Charlie Crist announced changes to the state clemency program, which would allow many convicted felons to restore their voting rights.  No arguments there.

But as usual, the devil is in the details.  The follow-up after the initial announcement has been pretty poor, and has resulted in only about 8 percent of the 112,000 people who have had their voting rights restored actually registering to vote.

Crist's office refused to include a voter-registration form with the notification letters. And despite suggesting the state might launch a public-awareness campaign to let ex-felons know they could vote, Crist's office never did so.

Color me cynical, but in a presidential election between a black man and the guy actively supported by the state's governor, the foot-dragging surprises me not one whit.

Insert witty quote here.

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by: puzzled @ Mon Aug 25, 2008 at 11:13:16 AM CDT

Been wondering, puzzled (9.00 / 1)

How you were doing with the Great Fay Inundation.

Glad to see you made it, and seem to have electricity! Everything else OK?

But examination of the available data leads only to the conclusion that the biggest beneficiary of the Bush Presidency is Warren Harding. (Steve Mirsky, "Antigravity", SciAm 10/05)
Lex clavatoris designati rescindenda est. (Latin for All Occasions)

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by: mirrim @ Mon Aug 25, 2008 at 11:31:58 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Thanks for asking (9.50 / 6)

We're lucky--the worst of the flooding is all around us, but the metro area here was spared.  We did have four or five days of non-stop rain, but the ground seems to be able to absorb it.

No major power outages, just a few temporary glitches, thank the gods.  The princess dogs are happy the rain has ended; they really don't like walking in the wet grass, poor things.

Looking on the bright side, I'm hoping all the rain will recharge the horribly depleted aquifer, and I'm wondering if any of the mushrooms currently sprouting in my yard have any utiity. ;-)

Insert witty quote here.

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by: puzzled @ Mon Aug 25, 2008 at 11:54:42 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I know I should write a whole essay about it, and shit... (2.80 / 5)

But I'm so fucking shredded right now I can barely sit up straight...

Totally trying not to just go down to the freeway and pick some goddamned white oleander and put it in a fuckin' smoothie.

Nothing's ever going to CHANGE, man.

And why, exactly, am I quitting smoking?

Oh, yeah. Can't breathe and I'm on the pill and haven't stopped bleeding for 13 days now...

Yeah. That's it. Got a cardiologist appointment tomorrow and an ob/gyn appointment in two weeks.

Lovin' LIFE, man!  Hope and Change, man! Yeah! No more genocide and the big bad corporations will never ever try to step on the little people again once OBAMA is in office, right? People will join hands and sing kumbaya and cancer will be cured and it will be the five rings forever, hell, we won't even NEED the Oympics anymore, right?

Fuck.

--7.88, --6.56      If I can't rant, I don't want to be part of your revolution.

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by: Maryscott O'Connor @ Mon Aug 25, 2008 at 12:22:22 PM CDT

You call the cops (7.00 / 3)

I wonder if you can have the car towed as a public nuisance, if the alarm has been going off repeatedly like that. Worth a shot.  

If that doesn't work, I'm sure your local grocery would like to get rid of those expired eggs.

In loving memory: Sophie, June 1, 1993-January 17, 2005. My huckleberry friend.

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by: Paul in San Francisco @ Mon Aug 25, 2008 at 12:25:08 PM CDT

A new CNN poll shows (5.00 / 2)

Twenty-seven percent of Hillary supporters have switched their allegiance to McCain.

I have no words to describe my disgust.  Ok, two words:

SUPREME COURT!!!

Fuck.

Insert witty quote here.

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by: puzzled @ Mon Aug 25, 2008 at 12:34:59 PM CDT

I don't get it. (9.00 / 1)

Every cycle someone wins the primary and the rest lose.

Why is this year so different?

Why do so many Hillary supporters refuse to accept the simple fact that she lost?

Do they feel that she was treated unfairly by Barack?

Well, Hillary and Bill better get off their asses and tell their friends in no uncertain terms that Barack has their full support.

This is just moronic.

It's spiteful, is what it is.




Lord of the Karmafishes

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by: Karmafish @ Mon Aug 25, 2008 at 12:49:43 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Although I'm not sure (4.00 / 1)

if anyone has done a statistical analysis, the same thing (without the polling and vocal notice) may have occurred in the past.

As I recall, Jesse Jackson ran creditable campaigns in 1984 and 1988.  Both times he lost.  And both times the Democratic Party was destroyed in the general election.

Now it may have been the Reagan and GHW Bush were just that popular.  And it may have been that Dukakis and Mondale were just terrible candidates.

Or maybe, without telling anybody, the disaffected African-American voters who normally vote D, just stayed home.

IIRC there was a hue & cry that Jackson should have been made the VP Candidate in 1988 because he placed second at the convention.

Remind you of anything?

DA is The Most Interesting Man in the World. - Karmafish

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by: devilishadvocate @ Mon Aug 25, 2008 at 13:03:05 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Fuck CNN and their bullshit polls (9.00 / 2)

If 27% of actual Hillary supporters have switched their allegiance to John McCain, I will eat the ENTIRE HAT DEPARTMENT OF BLOOMINGDALES.

Now find a way to prove that poll.

--7.88, --6.56      If I can't rant, I don't want to be part of your revolution.

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by: Maryscott O'Connor @ Mon Aug 25, 2008 at 12:59:51 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Two other words... (7.33 / 3)

...with even more importance

Climate change.

I'd like some of his Hillary supporters to tell me what they think McCain will do about it.  If he wins, I'd especially like those in, for instance, NYC and Miami to take the time to tell me while they evacuate their apartments before they're innundated in 30 feet of water.

The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present...As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.

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by: Raybin @ Mon Aug 25, 2008 at 13:43:07 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

McCain's two-faced (9.00 / 1)

Literally and figuratively.  He started out talking like the first green Republican, but now it's "drill, drill, drill."  

Like there's no connection between drilling for/using more oil and climate change.

The good news is, if the seas rise high enough, not only will they take out New York and Miami, but Washington DC as well.


Insert witty quote here.

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by: puzzled @ Mon Aug 25, 2008 at 15:42:15 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Calm Down, puzzled (0.00 / 0)

He started out talking like the first green Republican, but now it's "drill, drill, drill."  

We expect a president to chew gum and rub his stomach at the same time.  We also expect him to think about different problems at the same time.

Here we have two problems.  The first is our reliance on foreign oil.  The solution for the problem lies in doing two things: first, increasing domestic production; seconde, decreasing use.  Drilling is a commonsense solution to this problem.

If we were to increase production domestically but use remained the same (or, perhaps, remained on the same curve it was already on), then the "green effect" would be neutral.  McCain and everyone else with a brain have also proposed alternative fuels.

So,

Like there's no connection between drilling for/using more oil and climate change.

So far as i know (you will correct me if I'm wrong), no one has proposed drilling as a solution for Global Climate Change.  So to accuse McCAin fo doing so is like accusing Obama of proposing solving Global Climate Change by eating more popsicles.

"Doubt is not an agreeable condition, but certainty is an absurd one." -Voltaire
Ah, my dear Voltaire, doubt is an acquired and cultivated taste, like Laphroaig Whisky or fine truffles, and quite as exquisite.

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by: Madscientist @ Tue Aug 26, 2008 at 00:14:22 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Double fuck the fuckers then. I hate 'em. (0.00 / 0)

Speechless.

"I tire of this banal chat...now is the time on Sprockets when we dance." ~Dieter/SNL

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by: Cheryl @ Tue Aug 26, 2008 at 08:45:10 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

NOW, someone explain to me why so many gullible liberals are BUYING these bullshit polls. (7.50 / 2)

Including, I might add, you poor MLW saps.

--7.88, --6.56      If I can't rant, I don't want to be part of your revolution.

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by: Maryscott O'Connor @ Mon Aug 25, 2008 at 13:01:03 PM CDT

Maybe because... (0.00 / 0)

...polls are conducted based upon tried and tested mathematic methodologies and are generally pretty accurate within a few percentage points?

27 percent does seem a bit high, though, so it's highly likely this could be statistical noise.  I'd like to see a second one done by a different pollster.

The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present...As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.

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by: Raybin @ Mon Aug 25, 2008 at 13:39:02 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

CNN polls? (0.00 / 0)

Yeah, right.

--7.88, --6.56      If I can't rant, I don't want to be part of your revolution.

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by: Maryscott O'Connor @ Mon Aug 25, 2008 at 13:51:34 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Raybin, I doubt its accuracy (6.00 / 4)

It was probably a call-in poll, not a poll conducted by calling random phone numbers. Which means, if I can extrapolate from medical studies here, a highly skewed sample consisting of a) people who watch CNN and b) people who were pissed enough to call in.

In other words, the die-hard "Our Hillary was robbed because of sexism, so fuck you!" crowd. Frankly, I agree there probably was sexism involved...but Obama had racism against him, so it evened out. (Kwitcherbitchin' and suck it up, ladies. She has.)

Or if it wasn't, if it was a sampling by called phone numbers, it would have been based on land-line numbers...which means it was skewed by age, since a lot of you young'uns don't have land lines.

But examination of the available data leads only to the conclusion that the biggest beneficiary of the Bush Presidency is Warren Harding. (Steve Mirsky, "Antigravity", SciAm 10/05)
Lex clavatoris designati rescindenda est. (Latin for All Occasions)

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by: mirrim @ Mon Aug 25, 2008 at 15:58:40 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Thankee, mirrim. (0.00 / 0)

"I tire of this banal chat...now is the time on Sprockets when we dance." ~Dieter/SNL

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by: Cheryl @ Tue Aug 26, 2008 at 08:47:02 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Please, someone, fix the FP (0.00 / 0)

it's like two and a half screens wide....

"Fascism is attracting the dregs of humanity- people with a slovenly biography - sadists, mental freaks, traitors." - ILYA EHRENBURG

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by: durrati @ Tue Aug 26, 2008 at 06:46:42 AM CDT

Not on my computer (0.00 / 0)

Any idea where the problem is?

"What fresh hell is this?" -- Dorothy Parker

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by: Curmudgette @ Tue Aug 26, 2008 at 07:38:36 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Frankly, I just about wash my hands of the whole thing. (0.00 / 0)

I don't give a damn.

Ahhhh....Life goes on.

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by: independentminded @ Tue Aug 26, 2008 at 11:57:30 AM CDT