Yes, it’s a great tragedy, but this is all I could think of (NSFW):
Edit to add: Yes, that is my Fark greenlight. No, I didn’t realize this was the anniversary of the JFK assassination until somebody pointed it out. I already assumed I was getting an aisle seat on the express to Hell for making light of the tragedy anyway…
You may have noticed that the race for Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives is getting hot and heavy. So it’s no surprise to see current Speaker Joe Straus campaigning to retain his role. However, I must say it was something of a surprise to see him advertising (via Google ads) on Powerline. Here’s a capture of the ad I saw there (no doubt triggered by the fact my IP address is inside Texas):
The irony is that there are numerous voices in the Texas conservative blogosphere complaining that Strauss isn’t conservative enough:
This chart suggests Straus is the least conservative of the three candidates running.
Ken Paxton seems to be the choice of most conservatives who have chimed in on the race.
I was going to say that I had not studied the issue enough to be for or against Straus. But then I came across this Austin-American Statesman piece praising Straus for being “nonpartisan” and “moderate,” which is pretty much the kiss of death as far as I’m concerned, and a solid reason to vote for someone else as speaker, advertising on Powerline not withstanding.
(Sigh) I may have mentioned that I have to clear out a fair amount of comments spam that Akismet catches every day.
Well, whoever programs bot seemed to have figured out at least that this is a political blog, as I’ve been getting a lot of generic anti-Charlie Rangel comments on threads that have nothing to do with Charlie Rangel. Close, but no cigar bot guys. (Or, to put it in your own bot language, “Your cigar with excellent closeness you fail to reach.”)
But I can see a day when bot spam may start to mimic at least a semi-competent troll. As usual, there’s an XKCD for that:
Time for another LinkSwarm, with a good dollop of Texas political news:
Waiting for word on the Solomon Ortiz-Blake Farenthold recount? You’ll have to wait until Monday, since they stopped recounting for the weekend. Farenthold still leads by just under 800 votes.
This state gains four districts. The Republicans used their mid-decade redistricting to create extremely Republican districts, forcing longtime Democratic incumbents out. They will probably relax these districts a bit now. With population trends, two districts will have to be in Houston, one in Dallas, and one in Austin; the growth is in heavily-Republican areas. The only real questions are how much they can shore up Blake Farenthold in the 80 percent Hispanic 28th, and whether they try to go after Democrat Lloyd Doggett in Austin, who had a surprisingly close 2010 race.
On the other hand, the Washington Post notes that Republicans already dominate the Texas congressional delegation so extensively that gaining more than one or two additional seats will be very difficult to do.
Not only are Democrats poised to lose Senate seats in 2012, but some of the seats they are most likely to lose are those of their least liberal Senators.
Many Democrats claimed during fall campaigns that they were going to vote against Pelosi, but how do we know? It’s quite possibly that they said they were voting one way while casting their vote for Pelosi far away from the public’s eye.
Until they publish an actual roll-call vote, you should assume that any Democratic House member voted to keep Nancy Pelosi as their leader unless they can prove otherwise.
Jihad waits for no man, so here’s another roundup of news:
It takes very special skills to take someone with a sworn confession of involvement in the murder of 224 people, and to bungle the prosecution so badly that you’re only able to convict him on one count of conspiracy. But Eric Holder and the Obama Justice Department are just that special.
North Korea is reportedly “supplying banned nuclear and ballistic equipment to Iran, Syria and Myanmar. Well, isn’t that just lovely?
Judges rules that no, cops didn’t violate a Somali’s families rights when refusing to let them put on hajibs during a drug bust. (Whether our time and money is best spent arresting people for possession of khat is a topic for another time…)
Secretary of State Clinton complains that Europe isn’t accommodating enough to the Religion of Peace. That would be the same Clinton that would be required to wear a burqa in Iran or Saudi Arabia, not the Clinton that could legally have multiple wives; him I figure could get used to it…
Quest for Honor is a new documentary by Mary Ann Smothers Bruni about the quest to eradicate honor killings in Kurdistan. It seems to be getting a bit of Oscar buzz.
And researching that, I came across this site http://www.stophonourkillings.com/, which I hope to take a closer look at when I have more time.
The Bots Are Getting Smarter. (And Leon is Getting LARGER!)
November 21st, 2010(Sigh) I may have mentioned that I have to clear out a fair amount of comments spam that Akismet catches every day.
Well, whoever programs bot seemed to have figured out at least that this is a political blog, as I’ve been getting a lot of generic anti-Charlie Rangel comments on threads that have nothing to do with Charlie Rangel. Close, but no cigar bot guys. (Or, to put it in your own bot language, “Your cigar with excellent closeness you fail to reach.”)
But I can see a day when bot spam may start to mimic at least a semi-competent troll. As usual, there’s an XKCD for that:
Tags: Administrative, bot, Charlie Rangel, comment spam, Site Administration, spam, XKCD
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