Weird Stuff

Not just regular weird, but an Art Bell level of weird.

An opinion piece on Forbes.com:

Is Barack Obama the "promised warrior" coming to help the Hidden Imam of Shiite Muslims conquer the world?

The question has made the rounds in Iran since last month, when a pro-government Web site published a Hadith (or tradition) from a Shiite text of the 17th century. The tradition comes from Bahar al-Anvar (meaning Oceans of Light) by Mullah Majlisi, a magnum opus in 132 volumes and the basis of modern Shiite Islam.

According to the tradition, Imam Ali Ibn Abi-Talib (the prophet's cousin and son-in-law) prophesied that at the End of Times and just before the return of the Mahdi, the Ultimate Saviour, a "tall black man will assume the reins of government in the West." Commanding "the strongest army on earth," the new ruler in the West will carry "a clear sign" from the third imam, whose name was Hussein Ibn Ali. The tradition concludes: "Shiites should have no doubt that he is with us."

In a curious coincidence Obama's first and second names--Barack Hussein--mean "the blessing of Hussein" in Arabic and Persian. His family name, Obama, written in the Persian alphabet, reads O Ba Ma, which means "he is with us," the magic formula in Majlisi's tradition. ...

Transcript of Obama Discussing the Constitution and Redistributive Change

Here's the transcript from 2001.

MODERATOR: Good morning and welcome to Odyssey on WBEZ Chicago 91.5 FM and we're joined by Barack Obama who is Illinois State Senator from the 13th district and senior lecturer in the law school at the University of Chicago.

OBAMA: If you look at the victories and failures of the civil rights movement and its litigation strategy in the court, I think where it succeeded was to vest formal rights in previously dispossessed peoples. So that I would now have the right to vote, I would now be able to sit at the lunch counter and order and as long as I could pay for it I'd be okay.

But the Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth and sort of more basic issues of political and economic justice in this society. And to that extent as radical as people tried to characterize the Warren court, it wasn't that radical. It didn't break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the founding fathers in the Constitution, at least as it's been interpreted, and the Warren court interpreted it in the same way that generally the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties. It says what the states can't do to you, it says what the federal government can't do to you, but it doesn't say what the federal government or the state government must do on your behalf. And that hasn't shifted. One of the I think tragedies of the civil rights movement was because the civil rights movement became so court focused, I think that there was a tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing and activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalitions of power through which you bring about redistributed change and in some ways we still suffer from that. ...

MODERATOR: Let's talk with Karen. Good morning, Karen, you're on Chicago Public Radio.

KAREN: Hi. The gentleman made the point that the Warren court wasn't terribly radical with economic changes. My question is, is it too late for that kind of reparative work economically and is that that the appropriate place for reparative economic work to take place – the court – or would it be legislation at this point?

OBAMA: Maybe I'm showing my bias here as a legislator as well as a law professor, but I'm not optimistic about bringing about major redistributive change through the courts. The institution just isn't structured that way.

You just look at very rare examples during the desegregation era the court was willing to for example order changes that cost money to a local school district. The court was very uncomfortable with it. It was very hard to manage, it was hard to figure out. You start getting into all sorts of separation of powers issues in terms of the court monitoring or engaging in a process that essentially is administrative and takes a lot of time.

The court's just not very good at it and politically it's very hard to legitimize opinions from the court in that regard. So I think that although you can craft theoretical justifications for it legally. Any three of us sitting here could come up with a rational for bringing about economic change through the courts.

Christmas Idea

(NR)

Liberal Fascism

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUEQz5dltmI

Douglass K. Daniel is an Ass and Should Be Fired Forthwith

Douglass K. Daniel is an editor for AP who devised this wretched analysis:

Palin's words carry racial tinge.

Palin's words avoid repulsing voters with overt racism. But is there another subtext for creating the false image of a black presidential nominee "palling around" with terrorists while assuring a predominantly white audience that he doesn't see their America?

In a post-Sept. 11 America, terrorists are envisioned as dark-skinned radical Muslims, not the homegrown anarchists of Ayers' day 40 years ago. With Obama a relative unknown when he began his campaign, the Internet hummed with false e-mails about ties to radical Islam of a foreign-born candidate.

Whether intended or not by the McCain campaign, portraying Obama as "not like us" is another potential appeal to racism. It suggests that the Hawaiian-born Christian is, at heart, un-American.

Most troubling, however, is how allowing racism to creep into the discussion serves McCain's purpose so well. As the fallout from Wright's sermons showed earlier this year, forcing Obama to abandon issues to talk about race leads to unresolved arguments about America's promise to treat all people equally.

John McCain occasionally looks back on decisions with regret. He has apologized for opposing a holiday to honor Martin Luther King Jr. He has apologized for refusing to call for the removal of a Confederate flag from South Carolina's Capitol.

When the 2008 campaign is over McCain might regret appeals such as Palin's perhaps more so if he wins.

What a disturbing Rorschach.

Mr. Daniel is a goddam lunatic to see a racial overtone to her statement. This is the kind of mephitic commentary more appropriate for the cesspool that is DailyKos.

Blame it on Al

" The supercomputers housed in the data centres, which can be the size of football pitches, use massive amounts of electricity to ensure they do not overheat. As a result the internet is not very green. [Emphasis added.]"

Thanks for warming the planet with your nefarious invention, Al Gore.

Venting Re: Palin and Obama

Not only is Palin is far more qualified to be Vice President than that fraud is to be President, she even has better experience than he does for the highest office in the land.

McCain was right on the View, Obama chooses his words very carefully, and he purposefully chose to use that lipstick comment as a personal attack. It looks even worse given the sentence he spewed out next, that you can wrap an old fish in newspaper and it will still stink. I think he had McCain in mind.

If Palin is a pig and McCain is old fish, then Obama is a polished turd and the media are sycophantic worms deserving a new Canto dedicated to them in Dante's Inferno.

I have really grown to despise that arrogant, vainglorious man over the course of this year. This event has shown that he performs exceedingly poorly under pressure and is not a man to be trusted with the levels of power of the Presidency.

OMG PANIC!

The World Meteorological Organization has declared the first half of 2008 to be to be the coldest in the last five years.

Algore better start logging some air miles to help offset this fearful trend.

CNN - Moost Unusual?

Garfield Minus Garfield

Funny stuff...
http://garfieldminusgarfield.net/

Presidential Debate Moderators

Drudge has a report:

FLASH 8/5/08 11:31:52 AM ET: Presidential debate moderators: Jim Leherer of PBS, Tom Brokaw of NBC, Gwen Ifill of PBS and Bob Scheiffer of CBS

Give me a break. These nominees aren't as bad as those creeps on MSNBC but they are still a bunch of dinosaur-media lefties. Couldn't they throw in someone to provide some balance? Brit Hume, perhaps.

New Futurama DVD

Wired.com has reviewed the next Futurama direct-to-DVD movie. Sounds raunchy:

It packs plenty of sharp, punchy one-liners and a plethora of geeky references -- and ups the ante with dirty jokes that wouldn't fly on television. "It's disturbing," said head writer and executive producer David X. Cohen of Beast With a Billion Backs. "There is certainly more of an adult theme in this film than the average Futurama episode."

Before I decide to purchase it, I think I'll check it out on Netflix to see whether Gresham's Law applies to the quality of the show's humor. Network censors were a constant source of gripes in the episode DVD commentaries, but I'll say this for them: they forced the writers to be more creative rather than shooting constantly for the easy, cheap, LCD laugh.

If Google Ruled the World

Good Google-themed photoshop contest.

Changes to eMusic Pricing

Just got this notification:

As eMusic members know, there has never been a better time to be a music fan than right now. So many amazing artists are making vital, inspiring music and it's here for you, at eMusic. In the past four years, eMusic's catalogue has exploded from 250,000 to nearly 4 million tracks covering every genre imaginable. Think of how much music that is—more than we could listen to in a lifetime, and all of it available here for less than you would pay anywhere else. That won't change, but the price of eMusic will. Effective June 17th 2008 for new subscribers the price for eMusic's Monthly Basic Plan will increase from $9.99 to $11.99 for 30 downloads. This increases the price per download to $0.40 for new members—still the best price per song going.

What it Means for You

Your price will also go up, effective July 17th 2008. But because you are a valued eMusic member, you will receive an additional 10 downloads per month. Your new “grandfather” plan means you actually pay less per download. Here's how it breaks out:

	Cost per month	# of Downloads	Cost per Download
Your Current Plan:	$9.99	40	$0.25
Your New Plan:	$11.99	50	$0.24

And on August 17, all active, grandfathered members will receive a one-time, special 10-track booster pack (good for 30 days) as our way of saying thanks for being a loyal subscriber.

Good Things to Come

We're adding thousands of new songs and artists to eMusic every day, and our editorial team will continue to guide you to the best music and audiobooks. And we will be making the eMusic website and experience friendlier, easier and more powerful in the coming months as well, including a new and improved download manager, a site redesign and many more of the features that you have asked for.

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I tried to teach the 4-and-a-half year old some pig latin, but he said:

It makes my head hurt and it makes the things I know go away!

News for the Boy - Major Dino Find

"SALT LAKE CITY - A newly discovered batch of well-preserved dinosaur bones, petrified trees and even freshwater clams in southeastern Utah could provide new clues about life in the region some 150 million years ago.

The Bureau of Land Management announced the find Monday, calling the quarry near Hanksville "a major dinosaur fossil discovery."

An excavation revealed at least four sauropods, which are long-necked, long-tailed plant-eating dinosaurs, and two carnivorous ones, according to the bureau. It may have also uncovered an herbivorous stegosaurus."

Link to rest of story.

Shocking

Dominion Virginia Power wants to hike electricity rates by 18 percent.

That would be the largest one-time rate increase for the utility since the 1970s, although Dominion customers would still pay less, on average, than many electric customers in Maryland.

That last part doesn't make me feel any better. Besides, Viriginia seems headed toward the same sort of burdensome regulatory and taxation policies that make things more expensive in Mary-Land.

In Demand: Google Tasks

Google's Calendar is very handy, I've now got most of the office using it, and the wife, too!

The next thing Google needs to release is a Google Tasks application. Some bloggers think it is already in development but there is no official word yet, that I am aware of.

In the meantime, I think I will set up a Google spreadsheet for my burgeoning task list.

Cool Stuff?

1.New GMail features, and more info.

2.Google Charts.

3. Facebook hacks and tips.

News for the Boy

Last week I read an article to my 4 1/2 year old son about the effect of the China earthquake on a panda conservation facility. Apparently they've since airlifted several pandas to Beijing...
Saw this photo in Yahoo!News earlier: