Hard to be a kid in the US

The "parents" involved here arnt evil..though there are people like that out there too. These people are just dumb, or ill or culturally broken and completely unworthy of the responsibilities given to them. These kids are potential citizens too and its the governments job to make sure they get to live to their age of maturity. This biblical based belief that sperm/egg doners aka "family" are such a great choice instead of schools to raise children needs to be put in the museum along with monarchies and leeching. Z82P5HEKW2NR

8yo driver
1yo dies in a bucket
2yo takes pills
parents "opt out" of vaccines
mom high on pills goes for a drive
mom beat kids due to lack of pot

"What we are doing is not illegal"

Says the spokewoman for a San Fransisco company that places cookies on your computer you cant delete.

Thundercats

Just watched the season premier. It was pretty dang good and I think the rediscovering technology will make for a good plot if they follow it. I'd like to see the lord of the thunder cats more an inventor than a warrior. I'm looking forward to seeing what they do. On a sad note, the writer for the 80s cartoon apparently was chopped up by his roomates after surviving cancer and battling homelessness. How do you go from being the writer of one of the most beloved cartoons ever to all that is found of you is a severed arm in the van you were living out of? Sheesh.

First Nasa now James Webb

Remember how Russia now has 4x the equivalent of of Hubble in space now ? Well just to salt the wound our wonderful government is planning to de-fund America's replacement for Hubble, the James Webb telescope.

We are now planet bound and soon to be blind to the universe around us but thankfully we've spent our 100 times more than space programs would cost liberating Libya, Iraq and Afganastan. Hope and Change people!

"Reliability and Credibility"

This one is making the rounds..but I'll mirror it..geez have we been spinning in the same circles since 1987?

Phineas and Ferb Mexican-Jewish culture festival

This show is..interesting..I dont want to like it because it rips off so many characters from other shows..but Phineas and Ferb is prob the best cartoon on tv atm

PS : the New Thundercats show primers this friday at 8/7pm  

Do media companies pick the president?

Gary Johnson, my republican you should get behind is in trouble.
Apparently he will be left off the ballot due to not receiving enough votes in 5 national polls. Now I gotta ask - who is being polled here? I've never in my life been polled and I'm guessing the demographic that votes for underdogs like Johnson arnt the type that get contacted by pollsters. Now argueably I wouldnt have known about Gary if I hadnt gone looking for him..so he needs to step up the advertising or something. But the system seems totally rigged if the guy ends up not being on the ballot because 5 media corporations only poll certain populations. And yes I'm registered to vote. My Tin foil hat tells me that the pollsters get their contact numbers from the political parties..which would seriously disenfranchise non members if these polls determine who gets on the ballet.

12 yo boy designs dresses for Obama

Cool story about the life and family of a talented dress designer. The video interviews with the kid and his mother are really well done. I'd be curious to know how a 12 yo boy learns to judge how fabric "falls" on a woman's body heh.

Family placement goals?

Here is a great example of the chaos and dysfunction Children's services and the court system has to put up with on a daily basis from "families". Now I'm sure your saying "Joe are you defending caseworkers?" and my answer is NO. Children's services policy to put keep kids with their parents if at all possible is what leads to this BS. I can only imagine the effect this  stupid adult dispute is having on the kids. If these kids were in public boarding schools yes they'd still have to deal with their parents breaking up (or maybe not since the stress of parenting on people who arnt qualified causes many breakups) but they wouldnt have to be pawns in it or live through in on a day to day basis. Sadly the situation is getting worse not better.

CNN ask is dog meat healthy

Via Fark a CNN report on the Dog meat industry. Well..I'm a cat owner now..what did you expect? And yes..puppybeef.com does sell dog meat.

Free Speech Zones ?

I wasnt aware all that was required to shut down the constitution was to declare an area a "zone" of no application. Boy is this a slippery slope.

SotW : Kutless - What Faith Can Do

Dedicated to the poor folks in Norway. The word for lifetime incarceration in Norway is "Forvaring" for anyone who says he'll only get 21 years.

Winnipeg Jets new logo

Via ESPN..

"Parents" dont work in modern society

It is time to move on from the two (if that) parent household as societies optimum place for raising a child. Take it from this this 4yo or from this one or this one. Being a kid is hard enough with only one or two set of eyes on you. We need to reinvent the concept of family as a people/place kids visit on the weekend when not in boarding school. The more adults who are paid to have eyes on the kids the few chances the kid will fall victim to one of those adults failures, urges or evils. The more kids who are viewed as wards and not property or spawn the better off kids will be.  Everyone wants to have their kids around - but its a selfish want. Your family might be the brady bunch but the family of 10 other kids out there isnt so nice. We need to give up our kids to justify taking theirs. And just think...if those 10 kids are raised in a boarding school maybe one of them wont be the one that kills your family in a robbery to get cash for drugs or whatever

State Dept. shuts down oversight of Blackwater groups

I told you we should be worried about these guys. Apparently now the Clinton's State Dept doesnt want Congress to know what the mercenary armies we've trained are actaully doing. If it was anything legal or good I'm sure they'd be shouting it from the hills.

The Return of Cornholio

Beavis and Butthead, the show that birthed animate comedy like the Simpsons and arguably made MTV about more than just music, will apparently be making a comeback. Little did you know that you've been watching it all this time and prob didnt know it.

Navy scraps 300 million dollar ships it never used

Via Fark :: We REALLY need to do something about the military budget.

Florida DMV legally sells personal information

Via Fark :: a really good reason NOT to get my drivers license changed to Florida state

More likely to die then be fired

A study has found that government employees are more likely to die of old age than be fired. Now thats job security. Ya the cartoon doesnt exactly fit...but i liked it.

Old dogs got new tricks

Proving 60 is the new 40 - a 61 year old woman is planning to swim 103 miles through shark infested watersto Cuba from Florida.

Sex lives of cats

I was looking up info on neutering (Vinnie goes in on Wednesday) and I came across this.

Kitten video

Found this on youtube..so cute!!! This is how my previous cats were about feeding...Vinnie not so much

News Roundup

Missed a few posts due to my internet being down..free, fast yet unreliable is still better than reliable at 50$ a month. Anyhoo let me get you caught up ::

Russia launched its 1st of 4 super space telescopes
George RR Martin's Dance with Dragons is finally out, the HBO series roxxor'd
China had a bee-wearing contest
Michele Bachman (#2 in the polls) gets even scarier..and btw her husband is gay
James Spader will join the office and BD Wong will be joining the cast of Awake.. a new show which looks interesting
Harry potter ended with a thumbs up -  beware one scene is a bit too gory for kids IMHO
Soccer still sucks though there is an argument out there that they threw the game. US is now 22-1 all time against Japan.
Therapists confirm life is suffering and if you spare the rod you will spoil the child
Police are hard at work making kids cry while keeping hookers in business
Your tax dollars are going to study penis size
Obama - according to his own justice dept - ignored the law regarding Libya. But I guess we've got the money because he's defunded NASA Oh and remember that whole bank failure problem we had? Obama caved to the banks by not assigning E.Warren to head the accountability commission she basically invented.

Seattle has a black man clean up your shit

Via Dori Monsen show PSA your WA tax dollars funded

Dont vote - hire a lobbiest

I'm not big on voting. There are too many morons out there for my vote to count - thats the nature of the bell curve. Not a very democratic position - but this isnt a democracy. Its a Capitalist Republic. The very nature of which is that you vote (or hire) someone who excels at that role to represent you. If you look at the spending involved in the last legislative session in Wa, you will see that it wasnt voters who were involved it was interest groups of voters. Or rather people who who paid to promote a certain opinion to legislators. What interesting to me is the cost of their efforts. While they didnt all get what they wanted at least their issues got discussed. At an average cost of $500k.

If getting the legislature to discuses foster care only costs ~$500k I say lets do it. At one sixth the cost of my parents "golden calf" apartment, the potential life saved comes super cheap.

Users of wireless internet are dumb

Google knows it and was caught datamining home networks. 

Our boys overseas

 Via Wired, some wonderful images of your taxpayer dollars at work. These are the private contractors being paid exceptionally more than "the troops" and living it up it appears. And when we "bring the troops home" these are the guys we are going to continue to be paying millions of dollars to for many many years to come. And this is why the world hates America. Our decadent culture and irresponsible populace allows this to go on every day.

Vincent "My Cousin Vinnie" Lecavalier (the kitten)

Vinnie is a 4 month old platinum point Tonkinese or "Tonk" who was named by my mother after the movie and the Tampa Bay hockey player respectively. I've had him for a bit now and figured it was time for an introduction.

Baby steps towards the death of freedom

Apparently the major internet services providers in the US have agreed to start enforcing copyrights over the internet.

New sports arena to be built in Bellevue

I'd like to say the money should go to teachers or social services but they waste it on pensions for bad employees. So go ahead...build another arena

GOP candidate wants to legalize pot

Gary Johnson, former gov of New Mexico, who I have suggested you support in a previous post, has come out in favor of legalizing marijuana. The only way this guy is going to get elected as the GOP candidate is if respocible people get involved and outnumber the crazies in the republican primary.

Bug's penis emits loudest sound in nature

Via Wired, the interesting case of a bug that chirps (loudly) with its junk.

Boy in cage records his torture

Horribly sad sad sad sad sad account of a child whos parents abused him and made him live naked in a cage. CPS has of course been to the home a dozen times and did nothing. The child's body was found 2 years after his death buried in the ground and covered in concrete.

Corruption in Illinois

Diane Rehm of NPR made a very good point today on her show. No matter how much you might think  Barak Obama is deserving of your trust, there is no way he could have made a political career in Illinois without befriending mobsters, thugs and criminals

Life is suffering

Via the Local, this story is an example of how far we are drifting into self indulgence. Children are not property and shouldnt be horribly abused. However, a little discomfort is necessary in carrot/stick parenting. Its not enough to say the stove is hot, kids need to touch it and learn once in a while.