Double douche, doubles down.
drugs
Supreme Court Expands Corporate “Person” Rights, Cuts Down Real People’s Privacy
This Roberts Supreme Court of Bush’s is the most corporate friendly piece-of-crap I think I’ve ever seen. This is a court where one of the Justices is getting straight-up kickbacks vis his wife, and lavish gifts from wealthy friends who run big companies.
Is it any surprise at all they feel these corporate “people” have rights that trump actual, living, breathing people? Is it any surprise at all that when it comes to the steps living, breathing, people have to take to keep living, and breathing, not sharing that information is *actually* a violation of the rights of the corporations?
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)–The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a Vermont law that barred the sale of doctors’ prescription data to drug companies, ruling the law interfered with the pharmaceutical industry’s First Amendment right to market its products.
Data companies such as IMS Health Inc. gather information from pharmacies on which medicines doctors are prescribing and how often. Drug makers buy the data, using it to refine their marketing pitches and measure which salespeople are the most effective.
A 2007 Vermont law effectively banned the practice in the state. It said data-mining companies can’t sell the prescription information for marketing purposes, and drug makers can’t use it, unless the prescribing doctor consents. Vermont lawmakers said the measure would protect the privacy of doctors and patients and help to control health-care costs on expensive brand-name drugs.
The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 opinion written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, said the law was an unconstitutional restriction on drug makers’ free speech rights.
Said it before, and I’ll say it again, we need a new constitutional amendment that protects the privacy of living, breathing, citizens. The current interpretation of the 4th Amendment is so woefully lacking, it’s barely worth considering at this point in this context.
Whole boatloads of Awesome
If you’ve missed the ICP hilarity over the past few months, you can catch up here.
Shaggy 2 Dope: Come on, a rock that pulls metal towards it or pushes it away? Yeah, it has to do with the magnetic polar caps and [stuff]. But for real? Come on, man. You’re just holding a U-shaped thing that pushes metal away or attracts metal or something. The North and South Pole makes a rock magnetic, and if you touch a piece of metal with it, that becomes magnetic? That’s crazy.
Seriously, read the whole thing here, it’s great.
If you need inspiration…here ya go. Miracles, motherfucker.
World This Week, Obama, Stewart, China, Russia, Cheney, Rush, Summers
Part 1:
Part 2:
Here’s the links for the video…
Jon Stewart slamming Jim Cramer and CNBC.
China on the offensive in the Impeccable.
China on that $1,000,000,000,000 note of ours.
Russian bombers and new bases.
World Bank on global economy shrinkage.
Cheney being Cheney, which is to say, a dick.
Why Rush is Wrong: David Frum.
Initial reactions to My First Book
So I’ve had enough people read some of my book to realize a couple things.
First, pretty much everyone who reads it says that I’m a quote “good writer.” Thanks, everyone. Really. It’s hard to tell sometimes and get honest feedback. I had ONE professor in college (a Vietnam vet who taught a class on media interpretations of war) who told me the same thing. That was really the only encouragement I needed. Yea, sure, it still took me ten years to actually write a book, but I made it. And it’s a good read.
The OTHER thing that happens when people read the book is that they stop looking at me the same way they did before they read it. It’s weird…really weird…my mind is an interesting place. And I’m not afraid to play with the words a bit. Which is to say…my book is a mind fuck, and after I’ve mindfucked you…our relationship will most likely change.
No ONE…yet…has read the book in full and asked me honest questions about what it means. No one. You might be the first.
The first two people to read it in full had me committed to a mental hospital. Everyone who has read my “conversation with the Turtle” gets this weird…”my brain just melted”…look on their face. They look…and I mean this sincerely…dazed and confused after reading it.
Like I said…i’m a good writer…and I write *REAL* philosophy. You probably haven’t ever read a real philosophy book. Ludwig Wittgenstein wrote the last one, IMHO, and it mindfucked the world for nearly a hundred years.
The first time I read it…I started doing corrections.
The White Russian, The Dude’s Favorite Drink
The following is a conversation about a girl I met in the final moments of 2008 {the white “Russian”. She mentioned a passion for Russian literature, and that’s how I remember her.}. I gave her my card, but I’m not sure if she’ll call. She is a quiet girl.
I’ll be playing the role of “the Dude.” A friend of mine will be playing a dead queen, Queen Elizabeth of England. [I “talk” to dead people some times, and yes, I can “see” them too.]
To continue…
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[Roy lamenting about the girl who won’t call. The white “Russian”. The Dude’s favorite drink. We pick up the conversation, already in progress… ]
I’m Still Trying to Come Up With a Title for My Book
I just thought of another good one, “Philosophy is an Action.”
If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. I’ve already written down some predictions of what people will think of it, and I want to check my work.
Joel, you first. 🙂
The 1st Book Is Going to Be 50,000 Words Long
I like the number 50.
A comment on Facebook is 1000 characters long, so I’ve been training my ability to be efficient.
So, 50 comments is about a book, right? [UPDATE: C’mon, I need somebody to check my math. My book isn’t going to be 50,000 characters long (it went past that in the first week) but 50,000 word words and 50,000 picture words. Sorry for the confusion.]
50 is one of my favorite numbers.
On the number scale I try and introduce in Chapter 2 of the book, it is “1” on the scale of 1-100 (relatively, when 1=0 and 100=infinity) .
I really like that number.
And I think I’m going to limit it to 100 footnotes.
This is all for Version 1 (V1). I figure I’ll have to expand it later but that’s the limit, 50,000 words in month.
{note: this is to give me a “stopping point”. I’m going to write about 56 or 60 and then edit it down by Stephen King’s Recommended 10%. Since I actually want to sell this one, I followed his story telling advice. I think he’s pretty good at it.}
Oh, and pictures don’t count as words. Well, they count as 1000 words, so maybe, if I can find the right publisher for a 100,000 word “memoir(e)” book, I’ll include the pics. If I do self-publishing lulu route, including the pictures would make the book rather expensive (like in the $100 range).
Hmmmm, that give me an idea….
The First Two Chapters Are Up
As mentioned a little while back, I am putting the blog on hold and writing a book.
O.k. I didn’t do such a good job of that (as the latest posts can testify) but that hasn’t stopped the book from coming along nicely.
I’d love to get some feedback on what I’ve done so far. There is contact information in that post as well, if anyone wants more information.
The most of the book I am going to post online for free is the first three chapters (and very few graphs, and no appendices, which is where the pudding is, so to speak). I am currently going between editing and writing (editing takes a lot longer).
I’ve always been a fan of the shareware model for software distribution and something of a fan of the street performer protocol as a way to make money and give stuff away at the same time. That’s the only reason for the tease and, quite frankly, it’s high time I tried to sell a bit of my writing rather than just giving it away for free, as I have done for a good long while now.
Thanks, and I hope you enjoy it!
I Come From a City Full Of Terrorists
It turns out I have a lot closer ties to terrorism than even I thought. You might too.
If you have ever given money to a hospital, you might be a terrorist.
If you have ever helped the poor, especially some of the poorest in the world, you might be a terrorist.
If you have ever given money, or donated services, to a school, you might be a terrorist.
Even if you have never advocated a violent action, or done one, or given money to someone who does, you STILL might be a terrorist.
And this is considered one of the greatest “victories” by Bush in the Global War on Terror.
U.S. District Judge Jorge A. Solis announced the guilty verdicts on all 108 counts on the eighth day of deliberations in the retrial of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, once the nation’s largest Muslim charity. It was the biggest terrorism financing case since the attacks of Sept. 11.
The convictions follow the collapse of Holy Land’s first trial last year and defeats in other cases the government tried to build. President George W. Bush had personally announced the freezing of Holy Land’s assets in 2001, calling the action “another step in the war on terrorism.”
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Holy Land wasn’t accused of violence. Rather, the government said the Richardson, Texas-based charity financed schools, hospitals and social welfare programs controlled by Hamas in areas ravaged by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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Prosecutors labeled Holy Land’s benefactors — called zakat committees — as terrorist recruiting pools. The charities, the government argued, spread Hamas’ violent ideology and generated loyalty and support among Palestinians.
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Holy Land supporters told a different story. They accused the government of politicizing the case as part of its war on terrorism, while attorneys for the foundation said Holy Land’s mission was philanthropy and providing much-needed aid to the Middle East.
They reminded jurors that none of the zakat committees are designated by the U.S. as terrorist fronts, and that Holy Land also donated to causes elsewhere, including helping victims of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.
For those completely ignorant of Islam (like most of the Texas jurors in the case) “zakat” is one of the five pillars upon which the religion is based. The word literally means “alms for the poor.” The cultural translation to the Western world would be “tithing” (at least in those religions where tithing isn’t really optional if you want to be a member in good standing.)
Regardless, you can probably guess that “zakat communities” are composed of some of the poorest folks around. And when you take the poorest people in one of the poorest “countries” in the world, you are talking fairly destitute.
One would think that it would be the “Christian” thing to do to help them. Maybe try and build schools and hospitals?
Well, if one thought that, one would be thinking like an actual Christian, not an American one. In the U.S. it is a terrorist act to help the poor.
At least in Bush’s America.
Note: This is the second trial for these folks. The first was declared a mistrial. Why? Hmmm, how to explain this….ah here we go….23% of Texans still thought Obama was Muslim before the election. Understand what I’m dealing with here? Good, glad that’s clear.
Here’s some excerpts from a story about the first mistrial….
The U.S. Justice Department suffered a major setback in another high-profile terrorist prosecution Monday when its criminal case against five former officials of a now-defunct Islamic charity collapsed into a tangle of legal confusion.
U.S. District Judge A. Joe Fish declared a mistrial, but not before it became clear that the government’s landmark terrorism finance case – and one of its most-costly post-9/11 prosecutions – was in serious trouble.
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His decision came after jury verdicts were read to a packed courtroom indicating that none of the defendants had been found guilty on any of the 200 combined counts against them. Jurors had acquitted defendants on some counts and were deadlocked on charges ranging from tax violations to providing material support for terrorists.
However, during routine polling of the jurors to determine that their votes were accurately reflected in the findings, two said they were not. When efforts to reconcile the surprise conflict failed, Fish declared the mistrial.
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The case presented to a Texas jury of eight women and four men relied heavily on Israeli intelligence and involved disputed documents and electronic surveillance gathered by federal agents over a span of nearly 15 years.
[I’m sorry, but how is foreign intelligence colllected using Mossad tactics admissable in U.S./Texas courts? Just curious if anyone knows…]
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Juror William Neal, 33, who said his father worked in military intelligence, said that the government’s case had “so many gaps” that he regarded the prosecution as “a waste of time.”
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The jury forewoman, who like the other jurors was not identified, told the court she could not explain the positions of the two panelists. “When the vote was [taken]… no one spoke up” about any differences, she said. “I really don’t understand where it’s coming from… all 12 made that decision.”
The judge excused the jurors to work out the discrepancies. About 40 minutes later, they returned to court and the two female jurors both continued to maintain that their verdicts had not been tallied accurately.
As a result, Abdulqader’s acquittal on all counts was set aside, forcing him to face a potential retrial with the others.
Both women had been noted dozing off during court proceedings, and juror Neal said one of them also fell asleep during deliberations. The latter, he said, voted guilty from the beginning, was confused by the evidence and much of the time declined to participate in deliberations.
This is probably the part that kills me the most. Some idiot racist decided by looking at the defendants they were guilty and skipped the actual trial and evidence part (and that assumption of innocence). So the acquittal gets set aside, the government gets to play some Double Jeopardy, and do a better job picking idiots to the jury.
In 2004, the government alleged that Holy Land and its officials funneled about $12 million to Hamas through local charities called zakat committees. The government argued that from its inception Holy Land was intended to be a fundraising tool for Hamas, a contention that was never documented in court.
So it looks like the government argument here was very similar to the Bush Administration argument for invading Iraq; “Sure, these particular people didn’t attack us and aren’t a threat to us…but they sure do look like people who are.”
It was wrong then, and it’s wrong now.
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On the personal note, I grew up in Richardson, Texas, THE HOTBED OF TERRORIST FINANCING IN THE U.S.
No wonder I ended up being a flippin’ RobotPirateNinja, those were some hard streets.
Should I just turn myself in now? Or wait for them to come get me? After all, I am now it would seem, defending terrorists convicted for helping the poor and sickly.
Curious world Bush gave us.
Why I Voted For Barack Obama (and who I fought with about it)
Here is the follow-up to the previous video, “Why I’m Voting for Barack Obama.” Astute readers and viewers will note the change in tense and the change in tone of the videos.
The first topic in the rant has to do with the with some of the reactions I witnessed here in Dallas, TX. There were…shall we say….different than the vast majority of the world.
The second topic in the rant is why this election and this candidate…above and beyond all the political b.s., was so important to me personally.
Robot Pirate Ninja 