Johnny Volcano Rewrites History

I didn't see Game Change this weekend on HBO, I basically live blogged it while it was happening in reality, folks.  No need to relive that dark chapter in American history and how it set back the country a good 10 years.  Still, it's interesting to see how FOX News Sunday was all about how the film hurt John McCain's tender, tender fee-fees.

Fox News host Chris Wallace on Sunday asked the Arizona senator to respond to HBO’s movie “Game Change,” which implies that he only selected Palin because she was a woman.

“I thought she was the best qualified person,” McCain insisted. “I thought she had the ability to excite our party, and the kind of person that I wanted to see succeed in the political arena. She was a very effective and successful governor [of Alaska]. Again, I look forward and not back.”

“What I don’t understand, even in the tough world of politics, why there continues to be such assaults on a good and decent person, Sarah Palin, a fine family person, a person whose nomination energized our campaign,” he said. “We were in the lead and they continue to attack and disparage her character and her person.”

But it was the way he was portrayed by actor Ed Harris that seemed to most get under McCain’s skin.

“I’m portrayed as using an exceeding amount of coarse language,” the failed nominee explained. “I don’t use course language very often. I have a larger vocabulary than that.”

If Sarah Palin was the most qualified person as veep in 2008, why is she not running now in 2012?  Also, McCain didn't actually watch the film either, he says.  That's cool.  He didn't vet Palin, too.  He's not done a lot of things in hindsight he probably should have, which is why he lost to Barack Obama.

Dipstick.

Cold Hard Cash In Iceland

It's rather refreshing to hear a European country say these days that they want into the euro currency rather than out of it, but that's what Iceland is considering.  However there's a long, ugly slog ahead for Reykjavik's government to finish the transition.

Iceland will either adopt the euro after joining the European Union or drop the krona and unilaterally adopt another currency as “the situation can’t remain unchanged,” said Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir.

“The choice is between surrendering the sovereignty of Iceland in monetary policy by unilaterally adopting the currency of another country or become a member of the EU,” Sigurdardottir said in a speech delivered at a Social Democrat Alliance party convention today in Reykjavik, the capital. EU membership will allow Iceland to “cooperate with EU countries as a sovereign nation, which has a say in the decision and policy making in all fields of cooperation.”

Iceland started EU-entry talks in July 2010 and will probably vote on accession in early 2013. Of a total of 35 negotiating chapters for EU accession, Iceland has opened 11 and completed eight, the EU said in December. The primary challenges facing the talks relate to agriculture, the environment and fisheries, according to EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule.

A Capacent Gallup poll last month showed that about a quarter of the island’s voters support joining the bloc, or 26.3 percent, while 56.2 percent oppose EU membership. 

And it's that last part, where a vast majority of Icelanders want no part of the EU that is going to get a lot more play over the next 12 months or so before the vote.   Unless something incredible happens, Iceland won't be joining the EU anytime soon without some serious government economic coercion.  Whatever form will it take, it will most certainly involve the euro currency.

We'll see.

StupidiNews!

• Syrian opposition forces say over 100 people were killed in Syria by the al-Assad regime on Sunday, including 45 women and children in Homs.
• A fourth day of Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza strip continued as Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu vowed not to let up on Palestinian rockets and those firing them into Israel.
• Washington State Dem Jay Inslee will leave the House to pursue running for Governor full time to suceed term-limited fellow Democrat Christine Gregoire in November.
• Japanese chemical firm Asahi Kasei will pay over $2 billion for US Zoll Medical as Japan gets into the American medical technology business ahead of its own senior population boom.
• Some honeybees have "personality traits" according to a new study, with some bees preferring adventure and exploration more than others.

Last Call

Another awful tragedy in Afghanistan.  I have no idea why we're still there.

Western forces shot dead 16 civilians including nine children in southern Kandahar province on Sunday, Afghan officials said, in a rampage that witnesses said was carried out by American soldiers who were laughing and appeared drunk.

One Afghan father who said his children were killed in the shooting spree accused soldiers of later burning the bodies.

Witnesses told Reuters they saw a group of U.S. soldiers arrive at their village in Kandahar's Panjwayi district at around 2 am, enter homes and open fire.

The incident, one of the worst of its kind since the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, is likely to deepen the divide between Washington and Kabul.

You think?

Bring them home, Mr. President.  All of them.  The "power vacuum" we'd leave behind cannot be any worse than us killing Afghan kids in their damn beds.  It cannot be.  Period.

Bring them home. Al-Jazeera has more:

Senior US officials were scrambling to determine what caused the soldier to go on a shooting spree after leaving his base in southern Afghanistan, apparently heavily-armed and carrying night-vision equipment.

Officials confirmed that the soldier was being detained in Kandahar and that the military was treating at least five wounded.

One US official said the soldier, an Army staff sergeant, was believed to have acted alone and that initial reports indicated he returned to the base after the shooting and turned himself in.

General John Allen, the top US commander in Afghanistan, issued a statement pledging a "rapid and thorough investigation" into the shooting spree, and said the soldier will remain in US custody.

The US embassy in Kabul sent out an alert to its citizens in Afghanistan warning that as a result of the shooting "there is a risk of anti-American feelings and protests in coming days".

And they would have every right to.  We have no justifiable moral, legal, or  national security reason tobe occupying the country anymore.  This was butchery.  JM Ashby notes that 60% of Americans says the Afghanistan war was not worth it, and that was taken before this awful event.

Bring. Them.  Home.  There's nothing left for us being there. We need to be out by the end of this year, not next.

My Favorite Martians

So, saw John Carter this weekend, and I have to say it was pretty impressive for a Disney action flick. Edgar Rice Burroughs's world comes to CGI life and it's a hell of a ride.  Carter, played by Friday Night Lights Taylor Kitsch, is a brooding Confederate vet, tired of war after it cost him his family.  In the Arizona Territory the US Government wants him to fight for the country against the Apache nation and he resists (violently).  His escape leads him into a series of events that put him on Mars, smack in the middle of a civil war between a moving city-state crawling across the blasted landscape and the last free city-state left. 

Mars is known as Barsoom by the natives, including the red-skinned human inhabitants, and the 9 foot tall reptilian four-armed Tharks, and Carter is even less inclined to find himself in yet another civil war under any circumstances.  Only the problem is being used to Earth's gravity, John is a titan on Barsoom, where he can make 100-foot leaps and smash people to flinders with his relative super-Barsoomian abilities.  Everyone wants John Carter to fight for them, including the beautiful Princess Dejah Thoris (played by Lynn Collins), the vicious Sab Than (played by The Wire's Dominic West) and the Tharks led by Tars Tarkas (voiced by Willem Dafoe).

Things get a hell of a lot more complicated when Carter discovers that a group of powerful Barsoomians with advanced technology are behind this civil war and their leader Matai Shang (played by Mark Strong) is pulling the strings.  It's a fun film, high on adventure and not terribly preachy about the horrors of war, but the entire movie shows that even when Burroughs was writing these stories a hundred years ago that the horrors of war will always be a rich source of material for entertainment.

We're just wired that way.  John Carter is worth a early bird matinee show at least.

What Were They Thinking?

A fifteen-year-old from New Mexico was kicked out of school for becoming pregnant.  Surprise, the school was quickly reminded that the law doesn't allow for that.  The school insisted that she would be a "bad example" for students and requested she attend school elsewhere.  Again, they were reminded of those pesky laws.

So what did they do?  Well, they started with making her go into a school assembly and announce her condition.  Faster than you can say "holy lawsuit, Batman!" the ACLU has jumped on board and will help her fight this.  In other words, when the law wouldn't support what they wanted, they tried to shame  her, make her so miserable she would do what they wanted anyway.

How was this done without her mother's permission?  Who decided this was the way to handle it?  I almost  feel sorry for that person, except they are clearly an asshole with no ability to understand a young woman's situation.

I also notice the father wasn't forced to stand before an entire school and submit himself to judgment.  One has to wonder if he's a student at the school, it would be a logical question to ask.

Teen pregnancy is difficult enough.  This is beyond cruel and unusual, and you bet it was a violation of her rights.  To be forced to discuss anything medical, to stand before a crowd at fifteen, to have one's peers sit and look in judgment on a girl who is still processing the news is just despicable.  To force a minor to do anything whatsoever without the parent's knowledge and consent should be enough to win the case.

Asking her to leave that school was shameful.  Even if one did buy the bad example argument, putting her out to be someone else's bad example shows just how this school handles problems.  Making her switch and pretending it never happened isn't much of a solution, but then neither is publicly shaming her and encouraging fellow students to either pity or judge is even worse.  They played every student in the school to obtain a result that was (rightfully) prohibited by law, and should be ashamed.

New Tag: Kid Stupidity

The stupidity theme for tags makes it tricky once in a while.  I realize now I am going to have several child-related articles on here, as I have personally adopted a few topics that I am going to follow.  The treatment of kids, crimes against kids, ways to help kids, kid success stories, school-related issues, anything at all that involves kids is going to bear the tag.  And yes, stupid stuff kids do will likely end up there also.  I watch Tosh too much to say I'll never share a kid on a skateboard moment.

Anyway, having said that I am going to go ahead and talk about the latest in school stupidity.  I go into this with the same attitude I have towards police stories: I do not seek the evil, I just read the news.  I am totally down with giving kudos when I find the occasion.  But stories like the one I am about to share should show the clear reason for why we have to pay special attention to schools:

(CNN) -- A Minnesota middle school student, with the backing of the American Civil Liberties Union, is suing her school district over a search of her Facebook and e-mail accounts by school employees.

The 12-year-old sixth grade student, identified in court documents only as R.S., was on two occasions punished for statements she made on her Facebook account, and was also pressured to divulge her password to school officials, the complaint states.

"R.S. was intimidated, frightened, humiliated and sobbing while she was detained in the small school room" as she watched a counselor, a deputy, and another school employee pore over her private communications.

The lawsuit claims that her First Amendment rights were violated by employees at Minnewaska Area Middle School, in west-central Minnesota, as well as her Fourth Amendment rights regarding unreasonable search and seizure.

The Minnewaska School District denies any wrongdoing.

The link fills in many details, but my main concerns are with what I quoted above.  Passwords are a relatively new addition to our lives.  We need to decide now how protected that information should be, and how it will be checked.  A child saying she "hated" someone who she had an argument with is not ideal, but totally legal.  Yes, folks, that's right.  Kids don't have to like everything said or done to them in life.  It's not an offense, and a girl this age can't be held accountable for having a fairly simple vocabulary.  One would expect a professor to have a better grasp on definition than a sixth-grader, for example.

Forcing her to give up her password, reading her private correspondence (the law seems to frown upon that) and taking it upon themselves to punish her for what was said in private correspondence... where to begin?  Coercing any information from a child without their parents being notified should be enough to send this through the courts, but whatever happened to treating children like human beings?  She typed a swear word, and it's not up to the schools to monitor what she does online.  The article clearly states the girl never used school property to update her status.

The mother wasn't notified.  The first rule of kid fight club is you always call the parents.  From that we have valid violations and serious boundary issues.  Caught in the middle is a kid who never had a chance, because we drill obeying school staff into their heads from the first day of kindergarten.

Radio-Free Rush

Jane Fonda, Gloria Steinem and Robin Morgan have an op-ed at CNN calling for Rush Limbaugh's firing.  Needless to say, the wingers are going completely ballistic.

If Clear Channel won't clean up its airways, then surely it's time for the public to ask the FCC a basic question: Are the stations carrying Limbaugh's show in fact using their licenses "in the public interest?"

Spectrum is a scarce government resource. Radio broadcasters are obligated to act in the public interest and serve their respective communities of license. In keeping with this obligation, individual radio listeners may complain to the FCC that Limbaugh's radio station (and those syndicating his show) are not acting in the public interest or serving their respective communities of license by permitting such dehumanizing speech.

The FCC takes such complaints into consideration when stations file for license renewal. For local listeners near a station that carries Limbaugh's show, there is plenty of evidence to bring to the FCC that their station isn't carrying out its public interest obligation. Complaints can be registered under the broadcast category of the FCC website: http://www.fcc.gov/complaints

This isn't political. While we disagree with Limbaugh's politics, what's at stake is the fallout of a society tolerating toxic, hate-inciting speech. For 20 years, Limbaugh has hidden behind the First Amendment, or else claimed he's really "doing humor" or "entertainment." He is indeed constitutionally entitled to his opinions, but he is not constitutionally entitled to the people's airways.

It's time for the public to take back our broadcast resources. Limbaugh has had decades to fix his show. Now it's up to us.

My main question is where these fine ladies were on Rush 20 years ago when he was going after Hillary and Chelsea Clinton, or a decade ago going after Al Gore, or even five years ago when he was singing songs about Barack Obama "The Magic Negro."  But apparently going after a white female Georgetown law student was the last straw for El Rushbo, go figure.

The tidal wave of invective coming from the right this morning about Fonda and Steinem especially is as bad, if not worse than what Rush has been saying on the air lately.  The difference?  Rush is bleeding advertisers and he's scared.  The entire right is scared.  And they're lashing out.

If Rush goes down, all bets are off on what the unhinged wingers do next.

Daylight Savings Stupidity

Don't forget to set your clocks ahead an hour before going to bed! Also, drive carefully for the next few days, as there is evidence that suggests that tired drivers may not be as alert or more prone to take risks behind the wheel.

Losing an hour of sleep sucks, but being late to work Monday is even worse!

My name is Bon The Geek, and I approve of this message.

Last Call

And Slick Rick wins Kansas.  Because everyone else bailed.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, whose top two foes essentially conceded the state, will win Saturday's GOP caucuses in Kansas, CNN projected.

The victory came on the heels of three Santorum victories on Super Tuesday. His campaign said the Kansas win showed that tea party loyalists and conservatives continue to rally around him.

Santorum, campaigning in Springfield, Missouri, on Saturday afternoon, went after President Barack Obama, criticizing the president's stance on energy, health care, Iran and the debt. The Republican candidate also talked about entitlement programs.

"In the eyes of the president, America is a great country because government redistributes wealth," Santorum said.

Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich abandoned plans to campaign in Kansas and instead focused on Tuesday primaries in Mississippi and Alabama. Texas Rep. Ron Paul campaigned in Kansas on Friday and Saturday.

With 99% of the Kansas vote tallied, Santorum had 51%, Romney, 21%, Gingrich, 14% and Paul 13%.

It's funny.  Jesus's message of  "Whatsoever you do to the least of my people, that you do unto me" is 2012 is now "socialist wealth redistribution" and should be shunned and hated along with those who practice it.  It irritates me that Republicans don't believe in America, they believe in whatever they can gain for themselves.

Oops! Extra Cheese Edition

(CNN) -- A mother of 10 who threw a birthday party for her 5-year-old daughter at a Chuck E. Cheese's restaurant in suburban Houston, Texas, apparently forgot about the girl, went home without her and failed to realize her mistake until the next day, police said Friday.

"She was remorseful. She was upset," Pearland police investigator Jeff Mink said by phone. "But the question still arises, how and why the child was left behind? And why it took so long for the mother to realize the child was still missing?"

A restaurant worker alerted police to the abandoned child at 10:50 p.m. Thursday, but the mother did not report her missing until 7:50 a.m. Friday, Mink said.

The woman left the restaurant at 10 p.m. with her other nine children and it wasn't until she was getting them ready for school the next morning that she realized her mistake, Mink said. He added that the mother, a relative and a friend were the only adults involved in hosting the event, which was attended by 19 children.

Every kid dreams of being left to enjoy a place like Chuck E. Cheese, to have the entire place to themselves. For this little girl it nearly came true.

Mother of ten? I do feel for the woman. I could barely manage three, but I would assume one has checks and balances in place. I still can't get into the car without doing a head count, but one slip is all it takes.

I don't quite know what to think about this one, folks. What about you, does a mother of ten get a break or intervention?

Zero Tolerance For Stupidity

JACKSON — A 16-year-old student who used pepper spray when two girls started a fight with her Thursday will face an expulsion hearing.

The two other students, a 17-year-old and an 18-year-old, involved in the fight have been suspended but will not face expulsion, said Jackson Public Schools Assistant Superintendent Ben Pack and T.A. Wilson Academy Principal Deven Moore.

"A fight in school is one thing. ... The law is another," Moore said of the girl who used the pepper spray. "She should not have possessed that in the first place, let alone used it."

Moore said the two students accused of fighting are not being charged with assault. The fight started over issues at school between the three girls.

Is this how we protect kids from bullying? Two girls attack one, they are both older, and she defends herself. There is no logic that allows for them to be suspended while the victim faces a far worse punishment.

Weapon free? Okay, but protect the kids while they're there, dammit. Otherwise, how can parents possibly send their kids to school and feel okay about it? What about kids who walk home? Pepper spray isn't a knife. You can't kill someone with it, and it would make sense for a concerned parent to give their kids something to use in case they feel threatened. As long as it isn't used against an innocent person, pepper spray (at least in my opinion) is an alternative to a weapon, a compromise that lets everyone feel safer without fearing a fatal or devastating outcome.

You know, like when two people gang up on a girl with the intent to do physical harm.

A Special Place In Hell: Let Us Kneel

Polk County deputies have arrested a husband and wife who they say made a 13-year-old boy kneel on the bathroom floor for nine hours a day for more than a week as punishment for bad behavior.

Deputies arrested Albert and Nancy Cusson, of Lakeland, on Thursday and charged them with aggravated child abuse.

Deputies said the Cussons made the boy kneel with his hands behind his back from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. for 10 days straight, ending Saturday. He wasn't allowed to stretch, take breaks, eat or use the bathroom in those nine hours, according to the report.

They never say what this boy did to deserve this punishment. Another child, a girl, was also forced to kneel for long periods, and sleep in the bathtub. Nancy Cusson made him a high calorie shake made from pureed meat and vegetables, and that was all he was allowed.

When told he would have to kneel for ten days, the boy ran away after a week of time served. He was incredibly sore from having sat on his knees on a hard floor, and was treated at a local medical center. There was no mention of the girl being treated, but she wasn't punished for nearly as long as he was.

If they did this, there is no telling what else these kids have endured. I notice the article goes out of its way not to refer to them as parents, or even foster parents, so I don't know their relationship with the child. Not that it matters in the end, but I was curious.

Follow The Money, Honey, To R-money

Probably not a shock to anyone reading this, but DC lobbyists overwhelmingly prefer Mitt Romney to his GOP opponents, judging by where they are putting their donations.

Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney has cast himself as an outsider to Washington's political gridlock, and his rivals as insiders who have been part of the problem in the nation's capital.

But when it comes to financing his campaign, Romney has courted a key symbol of Washington's establishment: its lobbyists, the quietly powerful forces who are hired to try to influence government decisions.

And like financial titans on New York's Wall Street, the political insiders on Washington's K Street are investing heavily in a potential match-up between President Barack Obama and Romney.

Nearly 390 registered lobbyists and lobbying political action committees (PACs) have contributed more than $1.5 million to Romney's campaign and Restore Our Future, the independent Super PAC that backs Romney, according to a Reuters analysis of filings with the Federal Election Commission and the Senate Office of Public Records.

Now, why is that, you wonder?  Oh yes.  They're investing now for a big payout later due to his tax plan.

Under the plan, someone in the richest 1 percent of Americans would receive a $60,000 tax cut, while someone in the richest 0.1 percent — those making $1.7 million or more — would receive a $264,000 tax cut.

This analysis actually understates how much of the benefit would go to the wealthy under Romney’s plan, because the TPC included in its model a 20 percent reduction in the Alternative Minimum Tax, whereas Romney would abolish the AMT completely. Meanwhile, Romney’s cuts would cost $10.7 trillion over ten years, four times the cost of the Bush tax cuts.

Loot the treasury, crash the economy, get bailed out again, repeat.  The people who REALLY make the laws in Washington want them some Mitt Romney bad enough to spend millions for him.  When trillions are at stake, we call that a wise investment.

StupidiNews, Weekend Edition!

• US officials caution that despite the defection of Syria's deputy oil minister this week, there is no evidence of a Libyan-style mass exodus from the al-Assad regime.
• South Carolina GOP Lt. Gov. Ken Ard has resigned on the eve of being indicted on seven counts of misusing campaign money for allegedly purchasing iPads and trips for his family.
• Ohio's Department of Natural Resources says that disposal of fracking waste water in underground wells has contributed to earthquakes in the Youngstown area over the last year.
• The Federal Reserve is dumping cold water on banks repurchasing stock and paying dividends rather than keeping reserves of cash on hand as another round of stress tests are due nest week.
• Another hacker has hit Google's Chrome browser at the annual Pwn2win conference and could walk away with a $60,000 prize.