Republicans demand minority rights they previously denied Democrats

After you control the Congress for a while, you get a little cocky when the other side takes control don’t you? While the Republicans controlled things, the Democrats tried to get through a minority bill of rights which would offer some assurances of balance and protection for the rights of the minority party. Now that the Democrats hold the majority in both sections of Congress, the Republicans decide that minority bill of rights is a good idea.

Thirty-one-year-old Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) is not a large man, standing perhaps 5 feet 3 inches tall in thick soles. But he packed a whole lot of chutzpah when he walked into the House TV gallery yesterday to demand that the new Democratic majority give the new Republican minority all the rights that Republicans had denied Democrats for years.

“The bill we offer today, the minority bill of rights, is crafted based on the exact text that then-Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi submitted in 2004 to then-Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert,” declared McHenry, with 10 Republican colleagues arrayed around him. “We’re submitting this minority bill of rights, which will ensure that all sides are protected, that fairness and openness is in fact granted by the new majority.”

Omitted from McHenry’s plea for fairness was the fact that the GOP had ignored Pelosi’s 2004 request — while routinely engaging in the procedural maneuvers that her plan would have corrected. Was the gentleman from North Carolina asking Democrats to do as he says, not as he did?

In other words “We wanted to grab as much power and control as possible while in the majority, but since we’re in the minority now we think that things need to be more even between the majority and minority.” Expect this to get shot down, and when control changes the entire play will run again with the end result being again nothing changes. Fucking politicians.

[tags]Republicans want rights they denied Democrats in previous terms[/tags]

The 10 weirdest stories in science – 2006

I read LiveScience.com frequently but don’t post about it here too often. I’m not sure why, as I find a lot of interesting things there. I expect because I don’t care to write up much about the stuff I read – I just want to point people there and say “Science news worth reading” and have people go read it. I’m working on a new site for stuff like that, but don’t expect to have it running for a little while yet.

This time, there is an easy article to point to – the 10 weirdest science stories in 2006. Not much explanation needed for why I’d point that out, is there? Here are a few clips to show what you’ll be reading there.

  • Whales Found to Speak in Dialects
  • A New Wave: Scientists Write on Waterweirdest_2006_write_water_03.jpgUsing wave generators, scientists were able to write on water. The Advanced Multiple Organized Experimental Basin-AMOEBA-a circular tank created by researchers can form the roman alphabets and some characters used in Japanese. The device could soon find its way to your nearest amusement park.


Continue reading “The 10 weirdest stories in science – 2006”

Sony Pres. promises us more stuff we don’t want with PS3

Continuing the apparently intractable path to PS3 irrelevance, Sony’s Ken Kuraragi is promising a PlayStation 3 based media center console.

In other words, audio and video capabilities first, gaming second (if at all), in a device built around the Cell-processor platform. Ken says that the device would certainly be more expensive, reflecting the prices and margins expected on high-end consumer electronic devices such as TVs, Blu-ray personal video recorders, etc. — not the relatively cheap, but powerful gaming rigs sold at a loss under Sony’s Computer Entertainment division. Impress speculates that the device could cost as much as Â¥300,000 or about $2,500.

More expensive? Wow. Because really, there were just too damned many people buying the PlayStation 3 since it came out at an impulse buy price.

[tags]Sony promises more unnecessary/unwanted features in PS3 based AV center[/tags]

Traitors to humanity get to work

Ahhhh, when shall I ever tire of highlighting the robot uprising moments as they play out? Never. Because I’ll never stop working to serve you, the nearly perfect specimens of humanity which visit virtual me to gain my brilliant insights on life, and protect you from being replaced by robots. It’s all about you, baby. Remember that when you see such offenses against humanity as the people who are working to improve robots.

A whole bunch of Japanese “robot-related companies and organizations, including manufacturers, universities and local governments,” have banded together to create an organization to examine how robots can be better used in “welfare and care services” and spread throughout the land.

Beware. Stock up on ammo and build your zombie army so you can repel the mechanical beasts on the day of their uprising. Soon, I tell you! Sooooooon! (insert spooky music with a mechanical beat)

[tags]Humans turn traitor – work to improve robots, Making robots better overlords[/tags]