yeah, prettty much

i've said it before and i'll say it again: i'm disgusted that our two-party system never produces presidential candidates i can vote FOR, only AGAINST.

related links here, here, (and more to come...)

"One simply does not drive in to Mordor"

, says Lileks of the twincities' discouragement of vehicular efficiency.

---

big update:

as a slight tangent to that article, the comments began to discuss whether or not repurposing lanes from auto to bike traffic adds to traffic congestion - to which the obvious answer is "obviously". but one commenter took the "pious bicyclist" attitude, which eventually included the claim that:

On urban streets, lane reductions in themselves almost never affect capacity, congestion, or level of service - it's the higher-volume intersections that control how well vehicles can get through (green time doesn't grow on trees).

to which i replied (snarkily i'll admit):

"lane reductions in themselves almost never affect capacity" - seriously??? replace the water and sewer lines at your house with quarter-inch pipe and tell us how that works for you...

some hours later he replied with:

Fluid molecules and drivers are not the same. Fluid molecules are much more predictable. Fluid molecules do not drink, text, or become distracted, and do not have $500 collision deductibles.

A very common early assignment in college introductory-level transportation courses is for students to analyze the capacity of an urban street - first, by analyzing the capacity of the roadway between intersections (usually high), and then by analyzing the throughput at intersections (much lower unless there are many lanes or unbalanced phasing). It's a great way to get it through the students' heads that things aren't always as they initially seem, and that analogies to other flow concepts don't always hold up.

, which is partially true but sidesteps the issue.

(i would have added my rebuttal at lileks' site, but it seems to disable additional comments for previous days.)

the whole bit about fluid molecules is true, and it's true that things aren't always as they initially seem. but even simple geometry dictates that fewer lanes hold fewer cars. if his claims were true, no road would need to be more than a two-way path. if "capacity" and "number of lanes" have no connection, then the "capacity" of the katy freeway out of houston is the same as fm2092 out of menard. And if more lanes do not mean more cars, then all highway expansion projects are pointless as they do not allow more cars on the road.

pffft.

goal setting

Why stop at 54.5?

Strict new federal fuel-economy and carbon-emission standards made final Tuesday are the biggest technological challenge to the auto industry since the government began regulating emissions in 1970 and mileage in 1975.

The rule sets the equivalent of 54.5 miles per gallon as the average the auto industry must achieve by 2025, up from 29.7 mpg now and 35.5 mpg in 2016.

The tough "CAFE" standard (for corporate average fuel economy), which was to be announced earlier this month, was announced Tuesday by the Obama administration on the day that Republicans' national convention got underway in Tampa.

It is "a monumental day for the American people," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in announcing the final rules.

As long as we're throwing out ridiculous numbers, how about we set these goals?

• 8 more hours per day,
• 9000% higher incomes,
• 95% fewer lightning strikes,
• all people weigh below average,
• all children are smarter than average, and
• 0% mortality

Kennedy chose "to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard." President Hussein chooses to dictate the impossible, and blame others when his choom dreams fail.

"obama doesn't care about white people"

kanye dig it?

ouch

who will help sam?

those who forget history

...are doomed to vote democrat.

copy-pasted from the freerepublic archives (which was copy-pasted from a long-lost previous source), this four-year-old list needs to be updated:

----------------------

*indicates sex scandal,
** indicates sexual assault/rape/murder

Current office holders:
Lee Alexander, Syracuse Mayor: racketeering and tax evasion
Hillary Clinton: unidicted bribe taker
Christopher Dodd: $50,000 bagman for John Huang, blamed it on Don Fowler.
Robert Filner, US Rep, CA: Assault and battery on United Airlines employee at Dulles Intn'l
*Barney Frank: unindicted child whoremonger
Oscar Goodman, Las Vegas mayor: bribes, telling fourth graders to bring gin if they are stuck on island
Diane Gordon: New York City Council, convicted of taking bribes
Alcee Hastings: impeached and convicted judge/representative
William Jefferson: has he been indicted yet?
**Ted Kennedy: unindicted murderer
Pat Kennedy: unindicted (censored) drunk
Robert Menendez: unindicted bribe taker
Kwame Kilpatrick: Detroit Mayor, perjury, obstruction of justice, fired police chief for investigating his mayoral personage.
Jack Murtha: unidicted bribe taker
Ray Nagin: say, Ray, what really happened to that $250,000,000 ya got from the Corps of Engineers to fix the dike? Didja think they meant dyke?
Harry Reid: unidicted bribe taker
Ed Rendell: unidicted bribe solicitor
Gary Siplin, FL State Senator: grand theft conviction- props for being different, still in office because stupid Florida Supreme Court allows convicted felons to stay in office until their case is appealed.
Thomas Wright: NC house, six count indictment for fraud/obstructing justice, pending trial and removal from office.

Former office holders:
**Sen. Brock Adams: rape
Frank Ballance: mail fraud, money laundering
Rep. Marrio Biaggi: Wedtech. illegal use of minority no bid contracting, bribes
*Marion Barry: is he still out of office, or is he back again?
Jim Black: NC Speaker of the house, five years for accepting bribes
Kathryn Bowers, State Sen.: bribery, "Tennessee Waltz"
Daniel Baugh Brewster: illegal gratuities
Brian Burke, felony and misdemeanor pleas
Albert G. Bustamante: racketeering, bribery
Robert Byrd: KKK member
John A. Celona: racketeering, mail fraud
Warren Christopher, Secretary of State: fired James C. Woods for suggesting that $5,300,000 missing from AIT visa fund was spent on sexual favors and John Huang.
Chuck Chvala, Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader: using state employees to do political work and to illegally funneling money to a state Senate campaign. (19 other counts were dropped and Chvala served no time.)
*Henry Cisneros: lying to FBI about $250,000 hush money to mistress
William Lacy Clay, Sr.: ethics charges, house banking scandal
**Bill Clinton: unindicted bribe taker, malfeasance, seller of military secrets to foreign governments, perjurer, rapist
Tony Coelho: bond market and stock market defrauder
Jerry Cosentino, state treasurer: bank fraud (seriously)
William Cotton, County Committeeman: bribery, "Tennessee Waltz"
**Gary Condit: murder
Alan Cranston: Keating five (funny how Keating, a republican, seemed to know to bribe democrats)
George Crockett, Jr.: contempt of court for defending communist on trial for advocating the overthrow of the government
Ward Crutchfield, State Sen. : bribery, "Tennessee Waltz"
Gloria Davis, Bronx Assembly: bribery
Dennis DeConcini: Keating five
Charles Coles Diggs, Jr.: mail fraud
Roscoe Dixon, State Sen.: bribery, "Tennessee Waltz"
Thomas Joseph Dodd: (daddy Dodd) $116,000 in campaign funds diverted for personal use
Edwin Edwards, Governor LA: $400,000 extortion
Angelo Errichetti, Camden Mayor: Abscam
Daniel Flood: payoffs
John N. Ford, State Sen.: bribery, "Tennessee Waltz"
Cornelius Edward Gallagher: tax evasion, conspiracy, perjury
Former Rep. Robert Garcia: Wedtech
**David Giles: child rape
Former Sen. John Glenn: Keating five
**Neil Goldschmidt, Oregon governor: confessed child molester
Al Gore: unindicted bribe taker
James C. Green, NC state rep: tax evasion
Roger L. Green, Brroklyn Assembly: phony travel reimbursements
David Hall: extortion and conspiracy
Richard T. Hanna D CA: accepted bribes from South Korean government
John Doug Hays, KY senate: mail fraud
*Rep. Wayne Hays, traded secretary job for blow job
Alan G, Hevesi, Comptroller NY: $172,000 use of state police to drive his wife around
*Dario Herrera, Clark County NV Commisioner, congressional candidate: bribes, G string trial, lap dances, oral sex for votes
*Allan Turner Howe: soliciting prostitution
Carroll Hubbard, Jr.: conspiracy to defraud FEC, theft of government property
Webster Hubbell, AK Supreme Court Chief Justice: mail fraud, tax evasion
*Sen. Daniel Inouye, accused of sexual harrassment
*Ralph Inzunza, San Diego Council: G string trial, bribes for changing the city strip club laws
Sharpe James, Mayor of Newark, N.J.: unindicted you name it
Harry P. Jannotti Philadelphia City Council, Abscam
Former Rep. John Jenrette: Abscam
Bolley Johnson, FL Speaker of the House: tax evasion
Louis C. Johanson, Philadelphia City Council, Abscam
Guy Hamilton Jones, Sr., AK state senate: IRS charges
*Erin Kenny, Clark County NV Commisioner, candidate for Lt Gov: G string trial, cash bribes
*Mary Kincaid-Chauncey Clark County NV Commissioner: G string trial, campaign $$$
Joseph Kolter: embezzlement
**David Lanier, Judge: eight counts of sexual assault (not harassment)
Raymond Lederer: Abscam
Nicholas Mavroules: plead guilty to 15 corruption counts
*Lance Malone, Clark County NV Commissioner: G string trial, cash bribes, wire fraud, extortion
Leo McCarthy: unindicted bribe solicitor
William McCuen, AK Secretary of State: kickbacks, tax evasion, embezzling
Jim McDermott: "willful and knowing misconduct" that "rises to the level of malice".
Jim McGreevey: unindicted bribe taker
Cynthia McKinney: battery on US Capitol Police officer at security check
Edward Mezvinsky: 56 federal fraud charges. One more and he could marry John Kerry
John Michael Murphy: Abscam
Michael Myers: Abscam
Mary Rose Oakar: House banking scandal, pled to campaign violations
Otto Ernest Passman D. LA: accepted bribes from South Korean government, prosecution declined due to age
Carl Christopher Perkins: house banking scandal, overdrawn $300,000
**Mel Reynolds, D-IL child rapist pardoned by Clinton
**Fred Richmond, soliciting from a 16 year old
Don Riegle: Keating five
George Rogers, MA State Sen.: bribery
Dan Rostenkowski: chairman of the House Ways and Means committee House post office scandal
Bobby Lee Rush: black panther, weapons charges
**Gus Savage, fondling peace corps volunteer
George X. Schwartz, Philadelphia City Council, Abscam
Don Siegleman (former Alabama Governor): bribes
Lawrence Jack Smith: tax evasion
*Eliot Spitzer (former New York Governor): soliciting prostitution, Mann Act
*Jerry Springer: soliciting prostitution
**Gerry Studds: unindicted child rapist
*Lena Swanson, WA State Senate: she gets an asterisk for screwing veterans and POWs
Herman Talmadge: bribery, overcoat full of cash
Frank Thompson: Abscam
Robert Toricelli: unindicted mafia tool and bribe taker
James Traficant D. OH: bribes, racketeering, use of staff for personal benefit
James Guy Tucker, Jr.: fraud, Whitewater
Walter Rayford Tucker: extortion, tax evasion
*Joseph Waggonner Jr.: soliciting prostitution
David Lee Walters, OK Governor: election law violations
Maxine Waters: about $1,000,000 in nepotism (I ain no nepoti'm, donchu call me no nepoti'm!)
**Daniel James White, San Francisco Supervisor: murder, and the reason Dianne Feinstein has a carry permit and you don't
Sen. Harrison A. Williams: Abscam
Calvin Williams, County Administrator: bribery, "Tennessee Waltz,"
Jim Wright, former Speaker of the House : $145,000 'gift'
*John Young, sexual harassment of staffer
*Michael Zucchet, San Diego Council, interim mayor: G string trial, bribes for changing the strip club laws

Miscelleaneous democrat criminals:
Bruce Babbitt, Interior Secretary: lied to congress about Indian casino bribes
Sandy Berger: Clinton aide, theft and destruction of classified and incriminating documents
*Natale Bellochi: $5,300,000 goes missing from the US operated American Institute in Taiwan. James C. Woods is fired for claiming that it was spent on sexual favors and John Huang.
Ron Brown: fraud, conspiracy
Billy Carter: Libyan agent
David Chang: illegal fundraising
Golan Cipel: made NJ Homeland Security advisor because of gay affair with Jim McGreevy, possible Israeli spy
Democratic National committee: $719,000 fine for campaign violations
**Brian Doyle, dem activist child molester
**Ira Einhorn, rape and murder
Michael Espy, Secretary of Agriculture: criminal corruption charges
**John Wayne Gacy, rapist, murderer, democrat fund raiser
*Michael Galardi: G string trial "fund raiser" handed out "$100,000's" of bribes, as well as wire fraud and oral sex, in order to get San Diego and Las Vegas strip club laws changed. Harry Reid 'rebuked' John Ashcroft for using the Patriot Act to catch these people
**Abraham J. Hirschfeld: tampering with witness (Paula Jones), murder
Maria Hsia: illegal fundraising, possible Chinese spy working on Clinton, Gore, Ted Kennedy, Pat Kennedy campaigns
John Huang: arranging $150,000 in illegal campaign contributions
Internal Revenue Service: demanded member list from NRA during one of numerous suspicious tax audits
Mark B. Jimenez - Democrat fund raiser - tax evasion, conspiracy to defraud the United States, election financing offenses
Bert Lance, OMB Director: misuse of government funds
James Lanier, power broker, TN: corruption
Fred Phelps: fundraiser for Al Gore
Edward Fretwell Prichard, Jr., DNC delegate: stuffing the ballot box
Tony Rezko, fundraiser for IL. gov. Blagojevich and Barack Obama: extortion, racketeering
Richard Silberman, various CA offices: laundering drug cartel money, stock fraud
**Michael Skakel, Kennedy, murderer
**William Kennedy Smith, Kennedy, rapist
Lafayette Thomas, Sheriff, TN: 54 counts abuse of power, mail fraud, tax fraud
Paul Ziffren: Capone connection to Chicago and California democrat committees



also, here's an older and shorter list, and here's some recent additions

Porky Riot

( headlines from a similarly-bent universe... )

Protest

On July 21, 2012 (Ramadan), as part of a protest movement against the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, men from the group Porky Riot went to the Shah Mosque in Isfahan Iran, masking their identities, flogging themselves, performing the song “Hey Mohammed, Put Ahmadinejad Away”. After less than a minute they were escorted outside the building by guards and beheaded. Film of the decapitations was later used by CAIR as a recruiting video.

Background

The growing ties between the church and the state have not been a target of criticism and protest as much weaker ties are criticized in the West. The Iranian Patriarch, Ali Khamenei had openly supported Ahmadinejad's candidacy before the presidential election, calling Ahmadinejad “a huge holy pimple in Allah's armpit” who had “put Iran back on the broad path to utopia.” At the performance in the mosque, the members of Porky Riot said the church is a “weapon in a dirty bombing campaign” and called Ahmadinejad “a man who is as far as can be from God’s truth.” Porky Riot said their protest was a political statement, but prosecutors said the band was trying to “incite religious hatred” against Islam.

On March 3, 2012, two members of Porky Riot, were arrested by the Iranian authorities and accused of anti-misogyny. Both men at first denied being members of the group and started a hunger strike in protest. On March 16 another man was similarly slandered.

On June 4, the group was formally charged, the indictment running to 2,800 scrolls. On July 2, they were suddenly informed that they would have to finish preparing their defense by July 9.

Speaking at a liturgy in Isfahan's Shah Mosque on March 21, Ali Khamenei condemned Porky Riot's actions as "blasphemous", saying that "the Devil laughs along with all of us ... We allow no mockery in front of great shrines, and if some see such mockery as a sort of bravery, an expression of political protest, our "religion of peace" will castrate, behead, and disembowel them, then urinate on their mutilated corpses." Khamenei also stated that they had “crudely undermined the social order” with their protest, showing a “complete lack of respect” for Islam's bloodthirsty fanatics.

Reaction

By late July 2012, growing disquiet over the excessive and arbitrary treatment led to additional pro-Islamic press coverage. CAIR chief Nihad Awad stated in an interview that he would gladly sign an open letter "against" their bloated corpses.

On August 3, 2012, sociologist Alek D. Epstein published a compilation of artistic works by various Russian artists entitled "Art on the barricades: Porky Riot's art-activism" in support of the trio. On August 5 2012 he also was beheaded.

The post-mortem condemnation of the three men started in Teheran's Q'ang-haru Court on July 30. Charged with "premeditated hooliganism performed by an organized group of people motivated by religious hatred or hostility", they faced possible sentences of having their bodies drawn, quartered, spit at, set afire, and fed to ferrets.

Porky Riot's defense lawyers said they would appeal the beheadings, although they saw little prospect of any reattachment. “Under no circumstances can the men ask for a pardon from Ahmadinejad", said Mark Feygin, "since the bastard deprived them of the ability to speak.”  After a public flogging for those statements, the lawyers were then publicly hanged for saying that the circumstances of the case have revived the Mohammed-era tradition of the show trial.

In early August, a poll conducted in Teheran found that 99.89 percent supported the further mutilations; the remaining .11% were decapitated.

On August 9, 2012, 400 Porky Riot supporters in Berlin marched in a show of support for the group, and were arrested for hate crimes. On August 15, a group of protestors gathered in support of Porky Riot outside an IHOP in Shiraz and held up placards to make the phrase "Blessed are the merciful". They too were beheaded.

A letter of support from 120 members of the German parliament was sent to Ahmadinejad, which said the beheadings of the men were proportionate and fair. Attending the trial British Foreign Office Minister for Human Rights, Kerry McCarthy, also backed the Ahmadinejad, describing proceedings as ‘friggin brilliant’.

In a news conference, President Obama stated between genuflects “It’s not surprising that Porky Riot got bitter, they cling to bacon or sympathy for women or anti-Islamic sentiment as a way to blaspheme Allah and his 12th holy Imam.”

Publicity

The three headless corpses of Porky Riot have been largely ignored by the international community. Amnesty International has refused to release a statement due to "the potential of even more violent response by the Islamic authorities".

Singer Pete Seeger declined to appeal on the men's behalf, his agent claiming he was out doing community service. According to BBC correspondent Daniel Sandford, "Their treatment has caused deep satisfaction among many journalists, who feel the men were justly lynched for their anti-Islamic opinions."

On August 7, 2012, The Financial Times published an editorial saying that George Clooney had become "an international cause célèbre" due to a completely-unrelated brave speech he made in Hollywood. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has not released any documents surrounding the case, citing Iranian national security issues.

The dead protestors have been ignored by nearly all international artists, politicians, musicians and personalities such as:

Bryan Adams
The Beastie Boys
Björk
John Cale
Faith No More
Stephen Fry
Peter Gabriel
Genesis
Nina Hagen
Mark Knopfler
Courtney Love
Madness
Madonna
Paul McCartney
Kate Nash
Yoko Ono
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Patti Smith
Sting
System Of A Down
Pete Townshend

And in related news, controversy continues surrounding the outrageous statements of Chick-Fil-A's Dan Cathy.

look for the union label

, tear it off, and throw it away.

alpha-tecture

giornale nuovo's alphabet buildings

jay leno's cars

online gallery

how about turkey baloney?

just say no!

good question

"What If Chick-fil-A Had Been Chick-fal-Afel?"

via imao via iotw

continuing controversy

harry reid continues to evade questions surrounding his personal life, which were brought to light by credible documents faxed from a kinko's in abilene.

won't someone please think of the children!

update: the scandal deepens.

extermi...

...nzzzxtftpppphft

cover tunes

"the wimp factor"

"arugula" is the new "potatoe"

...and other gaffes the msm doesn't repeat

...and other gaffes the msm doesn't repeat

maybe, maybe not

false flags flying in colorado? and if so, is it yet another atf overreach or yet another eric holder stunt?

either way president hussein will use it as a pre-election distraction.

update: and the joker keeps laughing

this is the blog

that linked to the cube
that posted a book
about the house obama built

spectacular

A lot of people I know watched the grand opening ceremony for the 2012 London Olympics, but I had already seen it...