• With more time on his hands, he could concentrate more on his true passion, spreading the clap.
  
  
• With enough state-funded jobs, eventually all disease would be eradicated.

- posted by Brian J. @ 11:27 AM   0 comments

The County Council voted Tuesday night to require such inmates to set up installment repayment plans within six months after they get out of jail. Failure to do so could spur the county to seize and sell the ex-offenders' property to get some money back.

The County Council voted Tuesday night to require such inmates to set up installment repayment plans within six months after they get out of jail. Failure to do so could spur the county to seize and sell the ex-offenders' property to get some money back.

The council also passed a pay increase for council members elected later this year and a bill requiring council approval for naming or renaming most county buildings.

- posted by Brian J. @ 5:38 AM   0 comments

Jennifer Bresee was infuriated by the note she found tucked beneath the windshield wiper as she finished shopping at Wal-Mart.

If you're truly handicapped, you can get a license plate indicating such at the Missouri Department of Revenue license office. If you are merely enjoying the convenience of parking here at the inconvenience of a handicapped person, shame on you.

Bresee did indeed have handicapped plates. But the note's author apparently noticed only how healthy Bresee looked as she got out of her car and walked into the store. Had the accuser waited a bit longer, the person would have seen Bresee limping all the way back to her car.

"I have multiple sclerosis, which is most times very invisible," said Bresee, 26, explaining that even a short trip to the store can exhaust her and cause severe leg pain. "Many times, walking back out of the Wal-Mart you can tell, rather than walking into the Wal-Mart."

It also would make abuse of the privileges a Class A misdemeanor, punishable up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. The legislation would impose the same penalty on doctors who write notes for people who don't need the special plates.

The measure (SB 1144) was approved 30-0 by the state Senate this week and now awaits a House vote.

- posted by Brian J. @ 5:20 AM   0 comments

It's more important for the state to be able to regulate casinos than to let the public see the records, Lautenschlager's opinion says.

- posted by Brian J. @ 5:13 AM   0 comments

• Ravenwood on better ideas for a constitutional amendment.
  
  
• Dean Esmay on the reason for the Electoral College.

- posted by Brian J. @ 7:53 PM   0 comments

In Gibson's version of events, the only earthly reason our hero is subjected to this interminable flogging is because he was betrayed by Jews. Those who feared that "The Passion of the Christ" would have an anti-Semitic subtext will have their worst fears confirmed. The unmistakable villain of the movie is Caiaphas (Mattia Sbragia), the leering, lip-smacking high priest who orders Jesus arrested and pays hecklers to demand that he be crucified. By comparison, the Roman overlord Pontius Pilate (the excellent Hristo Shopov) is a fair-minded if fretful bureaucrat who only consents to have Jesus executed to avoid civil unrest.

In a scene that has been the subject of much prerelease debate, Gibson plays it coy, eliminating the subtitle when the Jewish onlookers shout, "Let his blood be upon us and our children," but retaining the offending line in Aramaic.

Except for Jesus' disciples and the two Marys (Maia Morgenstern and Monica Bellucci as the mother and Magdalene, respectively), the Jewish characters are sinister and slovenly. Even some Jewish children are demonized, as they morph into monsters and drive the apostle Judas to suicide.

Like his father, who claimed last week that the Holocaust is mostly fiction, Mel Gibson is neither a theologian nor a scholar. Historians - the kind who look at evidence - surmise that Jesus of Nazareth was executed because he fought back when his Middle Eastern homeland was occupied by the world's most powerful army. That doesn't fit the obviously heartfelt agenda of the director, who adheres to an embattled offshoot of Catholicism and often portrays a martyr in his movies.

- posted by Brian J. @ 9:22 PM   0 comments

I noticed that you read, reviewed, and enjoyed my book, The 50 Best (and Worst) Business Deals of All Time. Let's not get into WHY I'm doing a Google search of my name. Just call it a sickness that goes with being an author.

Thank you for the kind words. When I complete the next book - it's about the highest-stakes poker game ever played - I'll shoot you a copy. And if that doesn't work, I'll just mail it to you.

- posted by Brian J. @ 7:14 PM   0 comments

Claim:   Fecal matter sprayed by flushing toilets can collect on toothbrushes.

People tend to leave frequently-used articles where they are normally put to use, which means most of us unthinkingly deposit our toothbrushes on the sink or counter in the bathroom. A better strategy would be to place them in the medicine cabinet between brushings. It pays to keep in mind that while you may remember to close the lid before flushing, not everyone else in the household will always be as diligent.

- posted by Brian J. @ 9:14 PM   0 comments

Tall People are more likely to be paid more money. Each additional inch adds $789 annually to your paycheck. The natural conclusion: If you want a new car, figure out the payments, then head off to Tijuana for an illegal shin augmentation.

- posted by Brian J. @ 8:53 PM   0 comments

Gum has CARBS, you know. And carbs are from SATAN.

- posted by Brian J. @ 8:15 PM   0 comments

Last great book I read: "I read all of the Ayn Rand books in a month."

• Anthem
• The Fountainhead
• Atlas Shrugged
• We The Living
• The (aforementioned) Early Ayn Rand
• The Virtue of Selfishness
• Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal
• Philosophy: Who Needs It?
• For the New Intellectual

- posted by Brian J. @ 9:24 PM   0 comments

Yahoo on Wednesday raised the stakes in the internet search wars as it abandoned Google in favour of using an in-house search engine on its own web sites.

With Microsoft waiting in the wings to launch a rival technology of its own, the move sets up a three-way struggle that will challenge Google’s recent dominance of internet searching.

The coming battle reflects the emergence of search as the internet’s “killer application” since the rise of Google. With more people using a search engine as the starting point whenever they go online, whether to find information or products to buy, control of search has become central to the ambitions of all three companies.

- posted by Brian J. @ 8:41 PM   0 comments

And no, this is not an "I have a friend with a problem" thing, it really was my cousin. I'm in QA - I don't have to deal with people outside of the company.

- posted by Brian J. @ 7:40 PM   0 comments

• The big corporations are squeezing out the small labels.
  
  
• The big corporations are putting out crappy music because.....
  
  
• Music executives don't sign new artists that audiences really want because....
  
  
• The big retailers are squeezing out the small record shops by stocking crappy music at high prices, but too low for small record shops to make a profit meaningful contribution.

• Will Collier on VodkaPundit (lots of posts--start here and scroll down).
  
  
• James Joyner on Outside the Beltway.

- posted by Brian J. @ 9:38 PM   0 comments

Washington -- Sitting at his home in Virginia Beach, Va., Joe Yuhasz almost reached for his wallet when an e-mail message popped into his inbox and told him America Online needed to verify his credit card information.

The site linked to the e-mail looked identical to AOL's billing center, until Yuhasz noticed the domain name was a fake -- a scam commonly known as phishing.

- posted by Brian J. @ 9:22 PM   0 comments

If passed, this fund would allow ordinary citizens and every special interest in the state to contribute additional tax dollars to their favorite cause, program, or policy. It would afford the average hard working taxpayers the luxury of avoiding to pay higher taxes in these difficult times, but permit all those people and interests who believe state government should be bigger and should allocate more resources to contribute generously.

- posted by Brian J. @ 9:18 PM   0 comments

The shootings remind a lot of people of 2002's sniper attacks in the suburbs around Washington, D.C., which left 10 people dead before two men were arrested and charged with the killings.

The Ohio sniper case has garnered what appears to be less publicity, perhaps because only one person has died.

- posted by Brian J. @ 5:28 PM   0 comments

Headline in last week's paper: "Walker's attendance falls by 30%; Official blames 9/11 for decline in tourism."

I have a theory, and I'll admit it might be controversial: It's possible that no one wanted to see the exhibits."

Well, you say, you just don't like modern art. Not true. I hate modern art. No, that's not right, either. I may be a philistine, but I am a learned one. I have a complex and nuanced response to modern art, be it the rigors of De Stijl, the furious assertions of Abstract Expressionism, the romantic angularity of Lionel Feininger, the anguished gashes of Clifford Still, the whimsical recontextualizations of Lichtenstein and other Pop Art painters; I understand the challenges that Action Painting made to the outmoded bourgeoise notions nurtured in the dusty attics of the beaux-arts mind-set, and I appreciate the connection between surrealism and post World War I disenchantment with rationality, why Dali was a bit of a poser, why Klee makes us nervous, why Bacon horrifies, and Beckmann can best be understood in the climate of Weimar. All this I know. And my opinion is simple: Eh. If it's not ugly, it's banal. If it's not banal, it's pretentious. If it's not either, it's pointless. Sometimes it's good. Sometimes it's great. (Like Feininger.) But in general:

Eh.

- posted by Brian J. @ 5:14 PM   0 comments

This is a growth industry in our state, and it is an area that attracts the high wage jobs that we need in Missouri," Holden said.

• Computer science students who end up as supervisors for UPS.
• Liberal arts students who work as shipping receiving clerks, but who can recite the Porter scene from Macbeth when the delivery truck drivers ring his bell.
• Drama students who serve coffee at Borders with flourish unmatched by others?

- posted by Brian J. @ 10:05 PM   0 comments

This program is one of the most important ways I know to improve the educational opportunities for children in your community.

When I was growing up in the hills of East Tennessee, I knew my dreams would come true. I know there are children in your community with their own dreams. They dream of becoming a doctor or an inventor or a minister. Who knows, maybe there is a little girl whose dream is to be a writer and singer.

The seeds of these dreams are often found in books and the seeds you help plant in your community can grow across the world.

I hope you'll agree to become a champion of the Imagination Library in your community. You will be amazed at the impact this simple gift can have on the lives of children and their families. We have seen it work in our own backyard and I'm certain it can do the same in your community, too.

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library is all about inspiration and imagination. It was developed in 1995 by Dolly for her hometown of Sevier County, Tennessee. Dolly wanted every preschool child to have their own library of books. The effort received numerous awards and extraordinary media attention which generated interest from across the country. After much thought, Dolly decided to offer her Imagination Library for replication in any community that would support it.

Each month, from the day the child is born until his/her 5th birthday, a carefully selected book arrives at the mailbox. Kids across the country have shared the excitement of running to the mailbox to retrieve their book. More often than not, the child wants the book read to them now - not later, not tonight and not tomorrow. Right now!

- posted by Brian J. @ 5:28 PM   0 comments

1 Eliminate the two line pass offside. This really is the only change you have to make.
2 On a penalty kill the short-handed team can no longer ice the puck.
3 A player has to serve the full two minute penalty even if his team is scored upon.
4 Move the nets back to their original location (they are talking about doing this)
5 Impose a weight tax on teams so that they pay extra if they draft big dumb slow players - the Leafs gave up a perfectly good defensemen Jason Smith and tried to turn oversized Chris McAllister into an NHL player. The only thing he had going for him was size - a trait that NHL GM's are over enamored with and in the end he failed miserably. Bring in a weight tax.

- posted by Brian J. @ 7:43 PM   0 comments

You find me a soul on this earth who will publicly admit to liking any part of that halftime show, and I will run through West County Mall wearing a tutu and asking passers-by to please call me Nancy.

- posted by Brian J. @ 7:34 PM   0 comments

I think the memes are ways for unknown bloggers to get their name [sic] out.

You, Michele, seem to be among the creme de la creme and not need such tawdry devices.

- posted by Brian J. @ 7:08 PM   0 comments

Freedom includes the freedom to be offensive, but in other media, we'd much rather make our own choices than let the government choose for us. The only TV Michael Powell should have the power to regulate is the one in his living room.

- posted by Brian J. @ 6:54 PM   0 comments

"We try to hire the best, smartest people available," Brandon said of his philosophy hires. "If, as John Stuart Mill said, stupid people are generally conservative, then there are lots of conservatives we will never hire.

"Mill's analysis may go some way towards explaining the power of the Republican party in our society and the relative scarcity of Republicans in academia. Players in the NBA tend to be taller than average. There is a good reason for this. Members of academia tend to be a bit smarter than average. There is a good reason for this too."

Burness also noted that the humanities may be particularly oriented toward Democratic minds. "If you were to look at most business schools, you might find more people that were Republican than Democratic," he said. "If you look at the humanities in general, there's a great deal of creativity that goes on. In a sense it's innovation, and a perfectly logical criticism of the current society, in one form or another, that plays itself out in some of these disciplines. It doesn't surprise me that you might find people in humanities are more liberal than conservative." [Emphasis mine, and I wanted to embolden the whole thing because each word made me madder.]

Fock you!

Burness added that the course imbalance Kitchens described was also not surprising. He argued that, because gender and race are lively forms of scholarly inquiry today, it is natural that a number of courses should treat these subjects.

- posted by Brian J. @ 8:57 PM   0 comments

Jobs lost in the first 8 months January 20th to September 11th is pegged at 1.2 million. How much of this is actually attributable to President Bush is the question. In April of 2001, the U.S. lost 423, 000 jobs. Can someone tell me exactly which policy was responsible for this?

Jobs were lost due to the teror attacks of September 11th (obvious ones like travel and lodging industry, aerospace, transportation). Boeing cut 30,000 jobs. New York City alone lost over 80,000 jobs due to the attack in the year after 9/11 . 22,000 jobs were in the vicinity of the World Trade Center. 800,000 jobs were lost in November and December of 2001.

The fact is that a lot of jobs were lost over the last few years for many reasons; however, it will be tough for Democrats to accurately pin them on the Bush Administration and not a world-wide recession, the dot-bomb bust, corporate corruption (Enron, World-Com) and 9/11.

Now, what about recovery?

The biggest indicator of an economic turn around, IMHO, is my place of employment. We were directed by our (very conservative) board to cut 20% across the company on October 1, 2001. I lead the IT Department. It didn’t matter if one department had a greater need or not, everyone had to cut 20%. This was a defensive reaction to September 11th. No one knew what would happen to the economy (which was already weak), and, when there is economic uncertainty, jobs get cut through various means - for example, hiring freezes and position consolidations. Also, think about your own spending after September 11th. Did you change your vacations, savings, will, retirement plan because of September 11th? I did. I put more into savings and spread it out among different banks. When you spend less money, less items are bought. When less items are bought, supply goes up and productivity goes down. When productivity goes down, jobs get cut.

Jobs lost blah blah blah blah blah is actually attributable to President Bush blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah ?

Jobs were lost blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah 800,000 jobs were lost blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.

blah blah blah blah blah a lot of jobs were lost blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah accurately pin them on the Bush Administration and blah blah blah blah blah corporate corruption (Enron, World-Com) blah.

blah what blah recovery?

blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah cut 20% across the company on October 1, 2001. blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah the economy blah blah weak, blah blah blah blah blah economic uncertainty, jobs get cut blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah jobs get cut.

- posted by Brian J. @ 4:51 PM   0 comments

PALMYRA, Mo. - First came the early morning rap on the door. Then came the coughing, the burning eyes.

In the frantic moments that followed a May 17, 2003, hydrochloric acid spill on nearby U.S. Highway 61, Shorti Garner and her husband, Steve, woke their children and piled them into the family camper to flee their home.

"My kids - in blankets and all - I scooped them up," Shorti Garner said.

- posted by Brian J. @ 8:34 PM   0 comments

• Educational standards in 1970 meant that viewers knew that much about Mexican history.
  
  
• Western fans might be expected to know enough history to have picked that up.
  
  
• Who cares why? It's Clint Eastwood!

- posted by Brian J. @ 11:28 AM   0 comments

1. Fashionable Worries If Meat Is Murder, Are Eggs Rape?
2. Overpopulation Just Enough of Me, Way Too Much of You
3. Famine All Guns, No Butter
4. Environment The Outdoors and How It Got There
5. Ecology We're All Going to Die
6. Saving the Earth We're All Going to Die Anyway
7. Multiculturalism Going from Bad to Diverse
8. Plague Sick of It All
9. Economic Justice The Hell with Everything, Let's Get Rich

- posted by Brian J. @ 10:35 AM   0 comments

Three men from the West Coast were hauling more than horses Tuesday afternoon in their trailer, authorities said - they also had $835,500 in cash stashed in a hidden compartment.

An Illinois State Police trooper and U.S. Customs agents found the money after the trooper pulled the 1999 Dodge pickup over for speeding about 3:50 p.m. Tuesday on Interstate 55, north of Litchfield, said Trooper Doug Francis, a spokesman for the agency's District 18.

The discovery wasn't mere happenstance. U.S. Customs had tipped off police that the trailer might contain cash, Francis said.

When the three men allowed police to search the truck and trailer, a drug-sniffing dog alerted on the vehicle, Francis said. Officers did not find drugs, Francis said, but "something was there at one time or another."

The Illinois State Police seized the cash pending further investigation.

Lt. Brian Hollo, the district's interim commander, said that state and federal statutes give police the power to seize money if they believe it is drug-related.

Hollo said it was the largest cash seizure ever for the district, which covers Calhoun, Greene, Jersey, Macoupin and Montgomery counties.

But police had no legal reason to hold the men or their three horses, so they were free to continue their trip, Francis said.

As for the money - Francis said, "If they can come up with proof that the money is theirs, we'll give it back to them."

At night, the police presence is most evident. On the city's central streets, they make high-speed patrols, at times in groups that make the task appear more like a joyride. There are no other cars to be seen and there's virtually no one on the streets, save the employees of Baghdad's single 24-hour shop and the handful of restaurants that stay open late, mostly to serve the cops.

The police, however, do not receive credit for the apparent drop in crime. "It's because no one stays out," said Hassan Mahdi, the owner of the 24-hour shop. "The police are no good."

But just because the streets are filled with police does not necessarily mean they're safe. A journalist walking back to his hotel at around 3am on a recent morning made the mistaken assumption that it would be fine because only police were out. He was stopped and asked for his identity card three times during the 10-minute stroll. The third group of police also took US$100 from his wallet, after he showed an American passport.

I'm reminded of the joke about the man who offered a woman $1 million to sleep with him - her resonse was a hasty "Sure!" When he countered with an offer of only $50, her response changed to "Absolutely Not! What kind of woman do you think I am?" His response ... "Lady, we've already settled that question - now we're just haggling over price!

- posted by Brian J. @ 8:15 PM   0 comments

You are 38% geek

You are a geek liaison, which means you go both ways. You can hang out with normal people or you can hang out with geeks which means you often have geeks as friends and/or have a job where you have to mediate between geeks and normal people. This is an important role and one of which you should be proud. In fact, you can make a good deal of money as a translator. Normal: Tell our geek we need him to work this weekend. You [to Geek]: We need more than that, Scotty. You'll have to stay until you can squeeze more outta them engines! Geek [to You]: I'm givin' her all she's got, Captain, but we need more dilithium crystals! You [to Normal]: He wants to know if he gets overtime. Take the Polygeek Quiz at Thudfactor.com

- posted by Brian J. @ 7:59 PM   0 comments

Inbound letters and calls are ‘issue coded’. For example, if you write a letter to your representative in which you urge the member to support gun control legislation, the staff members who open and read the mail enter a record of the correspondence and select a gun control issue code. If you address multiple topics you get multiple codes.

The staffer at that point has the option of creating a response (which as I recall they usually do) by picking one or more items from a list of issue talking points.

- posted by Brian J. @ 7:27 PM   0 comments

I'm halfway to a Republican.

- posted by Brian J. @ 7:14 PM   0 comments

To blight: (tr.v.) To condemn, as a city, the lawful property of one person or corporation to hand it over to another corporation or person, to enhance the revenue of the governing municipality.

The Board of Aldermen in December 2002 agreed to blight the Target site, allowing the city to ask a judge to condemn it.

- posted by Brian J. @ 7:08 PM   0 comments

Increased use of off-campus sites for JCC programs, turning the JCC into a center "without walls."

- posted by Brian J. @ 6:06 PM   0 comments

"Lyndon LaRouche? You're the dude from those dippy TV specials!"

- posted by Brian J. @ 8:13 PM   0 comments

To comply with federal and state clean water requirements, shall The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (MSD) issue its sewer system revenue bonds in the amount of Five Hundred Million Dollars ($500,000,000) for the purpose of constructing, improving, renovating, repairing, replacing and equipping new and existing MSD sewer facilities and system, including acquisition of easements and real property related thereto, the cost of operation and maintenance of said sewer system and the principal of and interest on said revenue bonds to be payable solely from the revenues derived by MSD from the operation of its sewer system, including all future extensions and improvements thereto?

- posted by Brian J. @ 7:18 PM   0 comments