Author: RagManX

Political facts

I’ve been reading FactCheck.org for a few years now, and have been subscribed to their email newsletter as long as I’ve been reading the site. The site, a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, works to point out the misleading statistics, factual inaccuracies and errors, and flat-out lies spread by politicians and the organizations that support them. I’ve learned so much about politics over the years just from learning where politicians have mislead us (the general public).

While catching up on my FactCheck reading today, I learned that there is another source of political fact checking on the web now – PolitiFact. Going beyond FactCheck’s more reserved misinformation corrections, PolitiFact gives you the Truth-o-meter to simplify evaluating statements from the bearers of (mis)truths.

PolitiFact is a project of the St. Petersburg Times and Congressional Quarterly to help you find the truth in the presidential campaign. Every day, reporters and researchers from the Times and CQ will analyze the candidates’ speeches, TV ads and interviews and determine whether the claims are accurate.

I think it is worth taking 2-3 minutes to read more details on the Truth-o-meter to see how it works and why it is worth checking. Interested in who is lying or misleading us? Well, here are a couple of quotes for you to check out for factual accuracy. I’ve chosen individuals from both sides of the US political debate, and selected short quotes with short PolitiFact responses or analysis.

  • Sen. Joe Biden: “The president is brain-dead.”
    Wednesday, July 4th, 2007 in Des Moines, Iowa.
  • Sen. John McCain: Sen. Clinton said “the surge of troops in Iraq was ‘working.’ Now…. Sen. Clinton says the surge ‘has failed’ and that we should ‘begin the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops.'”
    Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 in a news release

I appreciate the fact that those running the site have enough of a sense of humor to even include the Biden comment, and the linked article includes links off-site to explanations of what exactly constitutes brain death. Each story has a graphical label for true, barely true, pants on fire (i.e., liar), and so on. I wanted to include the images for the above stories, but haven’t received permission from PolitiFact yet to do so. If I get a response, I’ll update my article with the images.

[tags]PolitiFact, FactCheck, Truths and Lies from politicians, The watcher watchers[/tags]

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Put a smile on your man’s face

Oh, you perverts. We’re not talking about that kind of smile. We’re talking pineapple smiles that last all day.

MM_delmonte-clip.jpg

If you want to change grouches to grins – give that man of yours Del Monte Pineapple Juice. Cater to his fondness for flavor.

Men like the rich, ripe taste of this juice – the definite pineapple flavor it has. They like its freshness-the bracing refreshment it always brings.


See, it’s the taste of that juice we like. The pineapple juice is what we’re talking about.

Honestly, I don’t even know why I post these things for you perverts.

[tags]Man juice smiles, Put a smile on your man’s face, It’s the taste of the juice[/tags]

Out with the old. In with the boob?

All over the news today: Alberto Gonzales resigns.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is resigning, Bush administration officials said, after months of accusations that he politicized the U.S. Justice Department and misled Congress over the firing of U.S. prosecutors and wiretapping of suspected terrorists.

The officials, who requested anonymity, confirmed a New York Times report that Gonzales is stepping down. Gonzales will hold a news conference at 10:30 a.m. Washington time. Solicitor General Paul Clement, the administration’s top courtroom lawyer, is expected to take over on a temporary basis until a permanent replacement is named, Justice Department officials said.

Rumor has it that he is to be replaced by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. Oh, and the “In with the boob?” bit in the heading was just an attempt to make a less drab title – I don’t know of anything that actually suggests Chertoff would be a bad choice. He’s experienced and seems to have done a decent job in his current position.

[tags]Gonzales resigns[/tags]

Dan talks tools

If you don’t have the right tools, you just can’t do the job right. At least, that’s the view Dan expresses in his tool talk for techies/geeks.

If you haven’t got tools – the right tools – then you’re not a geek.

Sorry. It’s the truth.

Let’s take it as read that you already know about screwdrivers and pliers. Even hammer technology is not beyond your ken.

Here’s some gear you might not have heard of, but without which your PC-fiddling toolbox is not complete.

So get there and find out just how lacking you are in geek-cred. Oh, and Dan’s Australian, so some of the links he gives for tracking down the tools won’t be useful for you, but he has the decency to give pricing in US dollars. Only fitting, since the world revolves around US (yes, I’m kidding).

[tags]Tools, Dan’s Data, You are not a geek[/tags]

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Bioshock response

Since I’ve recently spoken out against buying Bioshock given its secret, auto-install, trojan-like software and lifetime 2 system install limit, I felt it was appropriate to show this signature image from the 2K forums in the thread discussing the issue.

sig_bioshock

Really not as meaningful to non-purchasers of the game (and good for you, by the way), but that’s a chop of the introduction to the game in the manual.  It made me laugh.

[tags]Bioshock, Free installation of virus-like program with purchase, Securom, I chose piracy[/tags]