tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54510992012-02-28T15:34:32.249-05:00where i blather on about stuff and you read it and like itupyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comBlogger53811100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-50908453218433854382012-02-28T08:24:00.005-05:002012-02-28T15:34:32.255-05:00

after watching mittens jettison every single position he has ever held to survive the republican primary (sometimes several times over), today he finally told us what he won't do to get the nomination. ...at least until he flip-flops into a pro-head-on-fire stance. ...and now rush is upset that mitt isn't willing to ignite his own head for limbaugh's people. i think the only solution is for

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-50791513402438756202012-02-27T17:34:00.002-05:002012-02-27T14:25:00.849-05:00

the iranian state media is just doing what americans always do: playing to the home audience. sure, from where we are standing it looks like the iranian state media is gratuitously destroying their opportunity to show what iranian culture has to offer for the world. but it isn't talking to us, it's talking to its own reader/viewership. it's just like how american politicians and media

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-19625256146063385072012-02-27T08:58:00.004-05:002012-02-27T11:21:15.680-05:00

isn't SCAF the second ugliest sounding acronym of any ruling cabal ever? the ugliest sounding one is still SLORC, who came to their senses and renamed themselves the more reasonable sounding SPDC in 1997 ("SLORC" always made me think of the sound that a pack of marrow-sucking zombies would make when they fed). so that makes SCAF the ugliest sounding acronym of any currently ruling cabal. (also,

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-43722617337617382642012-02-27T08:41:00.003-05:002012-02-27T11:27:25.248-05:00

it took several weeks after i left kazakhstan in 2010 before my gmail and facebook ads went back to being in english. then today for some reason, the banner ad on my gmail account is in chinese. supposedly the ads are generated by keywords in my email. but i haven't ever received any emails in chinese on my gmail account and to the best of my knowledged i haven't emailed anyone in china lately

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-47819149075254517272012-02-27T08:29:00.004-05:002012-02-27T11:20:07.601-05:00

similarly, the statement "upyernoz is the president of the united states" is two-thirds true. after all, to be president all you need is: (a) to be 35 or older, (b) to be a natural born citizen, and (c) to have received a majority of votes in the electoral college in the last election. woo-hoo! thanks poli"facts"!!!

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-88534895297688862812012-02-26T15:20:00.003-05:002012-02-26T15:25:55.386-05:00

i thought the same thing when i peeked at memeorandum this morning. spreading santorum has been around for 8 years. it's the gift that keeps on giving.

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-11901736202003545852012-02-24T08:55:00.001-05:002012-02-24T13:45:21.003-05:00

if greece rejected the terms of the latest bailout, what would happen next? greece would default, i get that. so everyone's greek bonds would not be worth anything anymore. and apparently, even with its entire debt canceled the greek government still wouldn't be able to pay its bills, so some form of austerity would be in the cards, especially since post-default, no one would be anxious to lend

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-30092175512595904972012-02-24T08:30:00.001-05:002012-02-24T12:16:02.570-05:00

i know i've asked this question before, but this morning i once again wondered why more world leaders don't step down willingly. both abdoulaye wade and vladimir putin seem well positioned to become the kind of respected elder statesman if they just decided to retire. both can claim they guided their country through a difficult period. and just by leaving on their own accord, they would garner a

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-51004283982470302192012-02-23T08:45:00.002-05:002012-02-23T12:50:11.967-05:00

i think what newt means by "reforming the federal civil service system" is replacing all federal workers with volunteers who pay the federal government for the privilege to work for uncle sam. that's the kind of outside-the-box thinking that makes gingrich the intellectual for the republican party.

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-21427573846611210992012-02-23T08:35:00.004-05:002012-02-24T12:16:34.811-05:00

with all the dreadful news coming out of homs, i went through the photos from my 2005 syria trip on the train this morning. i didn't spend any significant time in homs. for country filled with sights to see, homs was more of an industrial/transit center. if i remember correctly, all i did was change buses there. anyway, this is the only photo i took in homs, from the homs bus station: and i

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-57853345666402154492012-02-22T08:41:00.003-05:002012-02-22T13:41:36.743-05:00

this isn't a bad idea. finally we can use these drones for something that isn't evil and/or creepy. UPDATE: okay, apparently it's completely unrealistic. the drones can't carry enough food and supplies to do a meaningful humanitarian airlift. drones are back to being evil.

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-691044376730440442012-02-21T17:50:00.001-05:002012-02-21T16:10:45.102-05:00

why bother with a one candidate election? i understand why despotic regimes hold elections to create the pretense of democracy. but any self-respecting sham election requires at least one sham opposition candidate. (turkmenistan's election last week, for example, had six pretend challengers to the incumbent president). but when you don't even have the illusion of choice on the ballot, what's

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-22767277534980122072012-02-20T17:57:00.000-05:002012-02-20T14:30:17.151-05:00

when forced to name the "one country" that is the united states' "greatest enemy", it's not surprising that a lot of people chose iran. but why assume that this country needs an enemy?

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-88737139087250843932012-02-20T17:53:00.002-05:002012-02-20T16:39:36.070-05:00

the NYT looks into something i've been talking about here for a while: whether it is technically feasible for israel to bomb iranian nuclear sites. the usual rule is that when israeli politicians speak openly about attacking a country, that means it's not going to happen. israelis weren't talking to the media about attacking iraq in 1981 and they weren't talking about attacking syria in 2007. if

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-33257453889446858462012-02-20T08:18:00.001-05:002012-02-20T12:25:13.071-05:00

i think it's time for me to let the world know that i am personally opposed to presidents' day being a holiday. i realize that today is really just the hybrid holiday of what used to be the washington's birthday holiday grafted onto what used to be the lincoln's birthday holiday. i'm not trying to diss either of those former presidents. it's just that once you change it from honoring a particular

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-78062345678643691892012-02-18T07:24:00.004-05:002012-02-18T07:28:50.411-05:00

only russian-made toys have the right to protest in russia.

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-69966709031257578522012-02-17T17:51:00.002-05:002012-02-17T17:04:08.236-05:00

i bet this will set off a minor shitstorm.

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-18425445024174829462012-02-16T20:52:00.002-05:002012-02-16T20:55:04.729-05:00

i'm pretty sure the republican party is trying to make sure it doesn't receive a single female vote this year. that's the only explanation i can come up with for today.

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-3601608805965981652012-02-15T17:54:00.002-05:002012-02-15T16:01:17.943-05:00

i've been semi-interested in the current conservative push against media matters for america. not because it raises any real issues, but because of how little there seems to be in their charges. take this, for example. holy shit! the organization raised more money in 2010 than it did in 2009!!! it pays its CEO a six-figure salary!!! it has a ten year lease!!! doesn't seem like much to me, but

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-60315825160463316852012-02-15T08:45:00.000-05:002012-02-15T14:35:03.145-05:00

i've said it before elsewhere, but i really don't mind if mormons want to baptize people posthumously, even if the deceased would not have wanted it. as a non-believer i think baptism has no significance whatsoever. so if doing some ceremony makes them happy, why would i care? the main argument i have seen against posthumous baptisms is that it's somehow disrespectful to the deceased. but the

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-87351618876530775332012-02-13T17:42:00.001-05:002012-02-13T15:44:07.291-05:00

what are the odds of getting mrs. noz to see that, given the kazakhstan connection? okay, it's still pretty low odds, but i bet it's ever so slightly better than zero!

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-72218826866002628282012-02-13T08:36:00.001-05:002012-02-13T09:49:13.508-05:00

it is true that when most pundits say that "we must do something" about a problem in a foreign country, they usually mean doing something that involves killing people. ideas that do not involve killing people or arming other people so they can kill people is what they call "doing nothing." do these hawkish pundits follow that logic in their personal life? are they spending their days "doing

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-17935299722686684632012-02-10T17:53:00.001-05:002012-02-10T13:54:17.288-05:00

figure out all the pop stars who are popular in israel but wouldn't approve of an israeli strike and schedule them to play in tel aviv.. (via memeorandum)

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-62459762994812264182012-02-10T08:55:00.000-05:002012-02-10T12:00:38.832-05:00

years ago i was talking to an administrator of a health plan about that december 2000 EEOC rule. the administrator told me that he thought the insurers that wanted to exclude birth control coverage were crazy. covering birth control costs very little but in the long run has all kinds of savings on things that costs the plan real money in the long run, like maternity coverage and extension of

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-28563124552681047862012-02-10T08:33:00.003-05:002012-02-10T10:16:35.267-05:00

last month, when i first became aware that people were talking about someone named tebow, i thought they were talking about tibor and got excited by what i thought was a really obscure simpsons reference. i still don't know who tebow is, but i still think of tibor whenever the name comes up.

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-57878559447603987252012-02-09T17:45:00.000-05:002012-02-09T13:05:32.715-05:00

(via B&T)

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-82064902150404573572012-02-09T08:12:00.004-05:002012-02-09T20:56:29.130-05:00

in a move reminiscent of the simmering yet stupid persian gulf/arabian gulf controversy., a legislator in mississippi has introduced a bill to rename the "gulf of mexico" the "gulf of america". i guess its inevitable that this country would jump on nationalistic renaming bandwagon. no one out-stupids america! UPDATE: snarky points out in the comments that the proposal is satire. representative

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-22874901104580078282012-02-08T08:47:00.003-05:002012-02-08T13:23:07.781-05:00

the donald on CNN: Rick Santorum was a sitting senator who in re-election lost by 19 points, to my knowledge the most in the history of this country for a sitting senator to lose by 19 points. It’s unheard of. Then he goes out and says oh ‘okay’ I just lost by the biggest margin in history and now I’m going to run for president. Tell me, how does that work? ... That’s like me saying I just

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-83820978863236628272012-02-08T08:19:00.000-05:002012-02-08T09:38:15.922-05:00

is this the bestest primary ever, or what?!?!?! mittens the inevitable nominee got third place in minnesota! he didn't win a single county in both missouri or minnesota! and newt, the guy who recently was the most plausible not-romney just ten days ago, did even worse. 12.8% was gingrich's best showing last night (he wasn't even on the ballot in missouri) every time the steams runs out of the

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-66998055994024725682012-02-07T17:39:00.003-05:002012-02-07T15:47:52.307-05:00

the most interesting part of karen handel's resignation letter is the second to last sentence: "While I appreciate your raising a possible severance package, I respectfully decline." severance payments are always in exchange for something, usually that something is a release and a covenant not to sue, sometimes it also includes a confidentiality agreement. by not accepting any payoff on her way

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-39783961124370531712012-02-06T17:26:00.000-05:002012-02-06T14:26:38.518-05:00

considering that the habitats are kept at 27 degrees C (about 80 F) and they're not giving it to babies or pregnant ones, who cares? it might not help with the flu, but why not let those monkeys have a little fun?

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-63620343330421584432012-02-06T08:53:00.003-05:002012-02-06T09:35:46.499-05:00

what a mess. when i visited mali in 2001 i heard a lot about the tuareg rebellion. (pictured above is the remains of a camp for tuareg refugees, then flooded, outside mopti). i never learned much about the details of the rebellion, but everyone described it as pretty brutal and they seemed happy to have it behind them. by that time, there was still a bit of "banditry" in the north perpetrated

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-53257579937879794102012-02-06T08:36:00.000-05:002012-02-06T08:58:51.111-05:00

if the malls are being demolished or turned into something else, how will we be ready for the zombie apocalypse?

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-55386792656355443912012-02-04T14:54:00.004-05:002012-02-04T19:58:11.028-05:00

how long has western europe been this dependent on russian natural gas? i can't imagine it was like this during the cold war (if it was, that would have been a pretty serious vulnerability to the USSR. maybe that's why they called it the "cold war"! har har har, oh, never mind) and if it wasn't like this during the cold war, why don't they go back to whatever they were doing for heat 25 years

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-25357166173785766152012-02-04T14:48:00.001-05:002012-02-04T14:55:47.097-05:00

i don't get it: 1. how does the greek premier have any control over private wages? (unless they are just talking about lowering the minimum wage, which is discussed in the article. but it's not clear if that is all they mean, since it starts with that broader lede that implies a wider cut in private earnings) 2. wouldn't lower greek wages mean lower tax revenue for the state, which means it

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-76417205479025518632012-02-03T21:20:00.002-05:002012-02-03T21:20:59.662-05:00

was he really "naked" if he was wearing all that chocolate and peanut butter?

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-83817671969365762562012-02-03T17:42:00.002-05:002012-02-03T16:39:07.446-05:00

it's too early to say for sure, but i think that the komen foundation will not soon recover from this week's controversy. it may never get its mojo back. as i noted below, komen's decision to cut off planned parenthood changed it from a non-political organization to a political organization in the public's mind. once you're viewed as political, it's not easy to go back. before, criticism of

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-67548287459189750002012-02-03T08:50:00.002-05:002012-02-03T14:35:47.745-05:00

my arabic studies have basically stopped in the past two years. first i stopped before leaving for kazakhstan and then when that adventure was finally over and noz jr. was in da house, i haven't had time for classes or tutoring. but i still have all these arabic apps on my phone, one of them is this free arabic-english-arabic dictionary. the app has a "word of the day" feature. i turned it on a

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-4286190792115181722012-02-03T08:27:00.002-05:002012-02-03T09:36:34.054-05:00

Mr. Romney, unfortunately and through no fault of his own whatsoever, is almost the ideal caricature for the ‘divide America’ strategy of Barack Obama. It’s going to be important for him to be aware of that... My only admonition to Mr. Romney is to be aware of it and to be cautious [that] what he says doesn’t play into that.quoteth representative trent franks, on the very day that mittens was

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-79301870890923159772012-02-01T17:57:00.000-05:002012-02-01T14:06:39.131-05:00

since construction began in the 1990s, the west bank separation barrier has been controversial. the critics slammed the wall, which in places extended deep into the west bank to encompass various settlements, as nothing but a land grab, to create a de facto border seizing palestinian land to improve israel's position at the bargaining table. the other side, claimed that the barrier wasn't related

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-87628322544831374832012-02-01T08:54:00.005-05:002012-02-01T20:54:58.203-05:00

it's not just that i disagree with the politics behind the move. putting aside my thoughts about the abortion issue, i think the komen foundation made a really stupid move. part of their success is that the organization was not entangled in partisanship or the culture wars. most people, from every corner of the political spectrum, have friends or loved ones who have fought the breast cancer. the

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-44467268429577383022012-02-01T08:44:00.002-05:002012-02-03T16:35:46.474-05:00

if this is true, why isn't there more news coverage coming out of "liberated syria"? when rebels took control of benghazi, libya, al jazeera set up operations there and western news organizations quickly followed their lead. so why is coverage of syria still limited by the assad regime's refusal to issue visas to journalists? i'm guessing that the opposition is exaggerating things a bit. either

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-10604588434567391712012-01-31T20:32:00.005-05:002012-02-01T12:51:55.891-05:00

now that that's over, romney can go back to not caring about hispanics.

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-28281735044093353762012-01-31T08:28:00.000-05:002012-01-31T09:43:53.362-05:00

stephen walt splashes some cold water on bergman article from sunday's NYT magazine. really all walt is asking is that we keep in mind the motives of the people being quoted. people have been predicting that israel is about to attack iran every year for the past decade. as i said earlier, an israeli strike on iran is more likely in 2012 than it has been before (but that's more about iraqi

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-11442688245286566382012-01-30T20:09:00.000-05:002012-01-30T20:09:08.009-05:00

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-86725315609500923392012-01-28T15:29:00.000-05:002012-01-28T15:29:53.495-05:00

ali abdullah saleh resigned months ago and yet news articles continue to call him "president". i'm not faulting the news organizations. it's hardly clear whether the resignation was real. i just find it interesting thato any articles just seem to assume that the "resignation" was basically horseshit. saleh is both president and a former president, depending on who is talking about him.

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-25803513872860810212012-01-27T08:38:00.001-05:002012-01-27T09:52:39.825-05:00

last night, after seeing josh marshall's post that "I think this debate is a bigger mess than any of the previous one", i actually tuned in for a bit. man, that was terrible. maybe i didn't see the good bits. i did see the part where the palestinian american identified himself as a republican and asked what the candidates would do for the palestinian cause. mitt's answer was that everything bad

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-74760623182860965972012-01-26T17:43:00.000-05:002012-01-26T14:05:13.971-05:00

awesome: Newt would show up at the campaign headquarters with an empty bucket in his hand — that was a symbol of some sort for him — and I never did know what he was doing or why he was doing it, and I’m not certain he knew either.

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-34154856747754640492012-01-26T08:41:00.005-05:002012-01-26T16:52:04.851-05:00

the this american life episode i mentioned two weeks ago has both prompted a response from apple, and has gotten the NYT to start reporting on the labor practices that produce apple products. this comes just as apple posted record profits. apple's $13.1 billion is the second most profitable quarter for any company anywhere in all of recorded history and it has made apple the most valuable u.s.

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-77015608022629940532012-01-26T08:35:00.004-05:002012-01-26T16:54:13.809-05:00

i've been a sci fi geek for as long as i remember. so it kills me a little inside to come out as anti-permanent moon base. but that's where i am. i just don't see what is to be gained from having one. sure, there are probably lots of unforeseen benefits to a crash program to establish a moon base. the apollo space program resulted in all kinds of technological advances that no one expected.

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-58703810024286506092012-01-24T20:21:00.002-05:002012-01-25T10:31:38.696-05:00

well lookit that! it's time for my annual post about how much i dislike the state of the union address. or not. what could i possibly say now that i haven't whined about in any of my eight prior posts? except i've even already said that, i already talked about how i've already aired all my complaints in prior posts in last year's post. have my state of the union whines reached a new

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-2426579888624662412012-01-24T17:42:00.000-05:002012-01-24T16:21:07.122-05:00

believe it or not, it looks like this site is not a parody. and so a bunch of teatards, who are probably unaware that prior to 1921 the u.s. did not bar anyone (other than chinese people and other asians) from legally settling in the u.s. because they were from a foreign country, might go ahead and "deport" themselves to some place they have never been before.

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-86677615597592838782012-01-24T08:34:00.003-05:002012-01-24T10:58:05.675-05:00

it also bans stem cell research, which is much less funny.

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-20883165111038083092012-01-23T19:58:00.000-05:002012-01-23T19:58:22.561-05:00

i guess in the post-citizens united world, you can't run a successful national political campaign without a patron.

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-76563557435241846862012-01-23T08:33:00.002-05:002012-01-23T11:06:38.485-05:00

i'm still convinced that romney will ultimately be the GOP nominee. putting aside the fact that newt is simply too good to be true, eventually republicans are going to notice stuff like this, people like barney frank saying "I never thought I’d live such a good life that I would see Newt Gingrich be the nominee of the Republican party.," or this widely disseminated photo on facebook: when push

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-87548732784983136902012-01-21T20:38:00.003-05:002012-01-21T20:56:33.690-05:00

just a couple of days ago, it looked like the republicans were finally getting around to settling for romney. it's been obvious all along that is what they would do eventually. but then just a few days ago. there was another shift in the winds and newt began his surge through south carolina. so why did is this twice written off widely disliked disgraced former speaker once again threatening

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-66276702989747969152012-01-20T17:16:00.001-05:002012-01-21T13:20:22.802-05:00

romney has a point. an ethics report about a would-be president is even more relevant than the candidate's personal tax returns. err, never mind.

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-77052774337753164072012-01-19T20:59:00.001-05:002012-01-19T20:59:17.775-05:00

unsurprisingly, the favorite to win the GOP nomination has not yet heard about the end of the soviet union (or for that matter, the hyper-capitalism of modern china)

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-26354593348629388952012-01-19T00:01:00.004-05:002012-01-19T00:01:00.197-05:00

sometimes i don't post anything all day as part of a massive web-based boycott to protest stupid legislation that threatens the internet as we know it. and sometimes i don't post anything all day because i don't feel like it.

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-40564975801656304532012-01-17T20:27:00.003-05:002012-01-17T20:34:59.714-05:00

TPM highlights this exchange:Blitzer: On this specific issue of Erdogan and the other turkish leaders, in your words they’re Islamic terrorists? Are you saying that? Perry: I say if they are treating their citizens that way, that they approach that terminology. When you allow for honor killings, wolf — I mean, I hope you’re not defending honor killings as an appropriate act in any country, much

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-4558093813056104992012-01-17T08:35:00.005-05:002012-01-17T13:18:46.432-05:00

one thing i wish got reported more often is the reaction to off-the-cuff ignorant remarks by american politicians about foreign countries by the people who live in that country. a related issue is the persistent double standard about how we talk about other nations. american candidates regularly and openly discuss which foreign countries they want to attack. but if a foreign leader or potential

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-67420629358777389672012-01-17T08:21:00.002-05:002012-01-17T15:47:41.172-05:00

the article mentions (as many others have before) that queen elizabeth is "one of the world’s richest women". it also mentions how she "shed a tear" when the british government took away her last yacht in 1997. if she misses having a yacht so much, why does she need british taxpayers to buy one for her? maybe being the queen means that she isn't really in control of how her wealth is spent?

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-67873084106284874962012-01-16T18:07:00.001-05:002012-01-16T16:07:33.025-05:00

download the whole thing

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-88968006210772462502012-01-16T17:46:00.001-05:002012-01-16T14:53:04.562-05:00

this makes no sense. i thought under the post-citizens united regime, superPACs are supposed to be third party entities that don't coordinate with any campaigns, even when they essentially act as one of the campaign's hired guns. so how can the campaigns agree for the superPACs to hold their fire without coordinating with them? if the superPACs are really acting independently and aren't taking

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-37746597191367441772012-01-16T08:56:00.003-05:002012-01-16T12:08:23.493-05:00

as glomarization pointed out on FB, a federal district court has implicitly held that rick perry, rick santorum, newt gingrich, and jon huntsman are "[f]ringe candidates and crackpots" (see the top of page 12 (pdf)). however they do get to be called "honorable" in the caption.

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-90084460806324098072012-01-16T08:42:00.006-05:002012-01-16T13:59:56.065-05:00

The Colbert Report Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive yeah, i know everyone posted this already. but it's really too great not to post. i just wish embedded comedy central videos played on iOS devices.

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-60915220404957242942012-01-16T08:32:00.021-05:002012-01-16T14:27:18.160-05:00

as i sat on my semi-empty train to work this morning, i realized that i have never had martin luther king day off (at least i've never had a day off because it was martin luther king day). MLK day became a federal holiday through an act of congress that was signed by the president in 1983 but didn't go into effect until january 1986. in january 1983, i was in 7th grade. even though the law

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-10543244091147104682012-01-16T07:16:00.001-05:002012-01-16T08:53:45.737-05:00

as you've probably heard, huntsman is out. poor guy. he's the only one of that arbitrary group of "major candidates" (i.e. the ones who were invited to the debates) who never got a turn to be deemed a "front runner." which is pretty pathetic when you consider what a gang of yahoos it was. as Tim F said, huntsman was betting in the fact that there were still a significant number of sane

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-26915899243294092642012-01-11T20:54:00.002-05:002012-01-11T21:00:58.658-05:00

i must admit, i felt a little sick listening to this week's TAL episode on my iphone. now i'm posting about it from my ipad. if you use any apple products, or actually any electronic product at all (or at least one that was made in the past decade), you really should listen to it. (mike daisey's blog is here)

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-50428790413898007682012-01-11T17:43:00.000-05:002012-01-11T15:03:25.804-05:00

a lot of the reasons the world used to be cooler seem to involve animals. (via elayne)

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-63220075613765045282012-01-11T08:37:00.002-05:002012-01-11T14:19:23.687-05:00

via memeorandum, i see that ron paul is getting a big head after his second place finish in the new hampshire primary  yesterday (i don't remember him asking everyone but santorum to drop out when ricky essentially tied romney in iowa). but i wonder how much yesterday's results can be attributed to the free state project. the free state project was started in 2001 by libertarians who were tired

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-26589176596805876052012-01-10T17:45:00.002-05:002012-01-10T17:00:25.147-05:00

touchdown jesus quicksand jesus smited by lightning bolt jesus! (via glomarization on FB)

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-47027282670378719262012-01-10T08:31:00.000-05:002012-01-10T09:18:02.153-05:00

i understand why mittens and other demagogues on the right want to frame the issue that way, but is it really putting "free enterprise on trial" when you question the behavior of a particular individual within a free enterprise system? supporting the overall system does not mean you have to approve of everything anyone might ever do within that system. is that too complicated a distinction for

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-39055035277265116802012-01-10T07:53:00.001-05:002012-01-10T08:59:39.077-05:00

starting tomorrow, we can all go back to thinking that new hampshire is a small relatively insignificant state for another three years.

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-34118400957641719972012-01-09T20:09:00.001-05:002012-01-09T20:10:26.811-05:00

the psychic monkey has spoken. once again the lesson is that everybody hates mittens, even grampa the psychic monkey. (via the ex-blogger roxpop)

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-25864606792477776382012-01-09T17:30:00.001-05:002012-01-09T16:38:08.382-05:00

it's amazing how after not posting for just a few days, it already seems like i haven't written anything here for forever. and yet, even with my recent lack of posts, the column of posts on the left side hasn't yet grown shorter than the column of links on the right. (thanks to all those long-winded posts around new years) so i guess i still have time before i can be officially charged with blog

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-59693550022599964062012-01-06T17:50:00.000-05:002012-01-06T13:50:51.186-05:00

...but the PBGC pays a company's unfunded pension liabilities from its own funds, not from the u.s. treasury. so it's not really accurate to say that "the taxpayers lost", at least not in the sense that the PBGC payments were taxpayer funded. as the wikipedia entry notes, the PBGC is funded mostly by premiums paid by ERISA-regulated defined benefit pension plans, with some funding also coming

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-63064172204406637982012-01-06T08:43:00.001-05:002012-01-06T11:17:12.363-05:00

this is why people should not say that mitt romney won the iowa caucuses. i'm not saying that because edward true's error shows that santorum really won it by 12 votes instead of romney by 8. i'm saying that because when the margin is that close, we don't know who got the most votes. every vote has some degree of human error. just about everything that humans do have errors. people make mistakes

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-31821491726474179372012-01-05T17:43:00.004-05:002012-01-05T22:52:39.102-05:00

this crazy conspiracy theory seems unmoored even for a conspiracy theory. i mean, birthers may be nuts, but if they were right (that is, if the president really weren't born in the u.s. and if the law would not automatically grant him citizenship through his mother no matter where he was born), then obama would not be eligible to be president of the united states. if, on the other hand, obama had

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-10976965387918218312012-01-05T08:56:00.001-05:002012-01-05T11:51:13.504-05:00

while i don't blame herman cain for trying, the only real question is whether the media pulls another palin and continues to pay a lot of attention to the guy even though he has no real chance of ever holding a political office. surely there is a saturation point for these kind of useless media darlings. they can't give cain a full-palin while also palining palin, can they?

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-3921339916604071822012-01-05T08:42:00.000-05:002012-01-05T11:30:48.045-05:00

as ismail haniyeh does his tour of the middle east. i keep wondering how he got out of gaza. i assume he crossed into egypt at rafah (rather than through the various crossings into israel). but that means that egypt let him pass, which itself is significant. and i wonder if there will be another standoff when he tries to come back, like there was in 2006.

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-69247800735516468792012-01-05T08:38:00.001-05:002012-01-05T09:13:58.601-05:00

alfie lopez is about to be a delegate in the VA general assembly?

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-16645794566687166832012-01-04T08:24:00.001-05:002012-01-04T15:14:14.187-05:00

it looks like things are rapidly wrapping up, with some of my favorites hinting that they will drop out. i guess the question is where the perry and bachmann supporters will go. they are probably around 15% of the primary/caucus voters. i doubt if paul will get many. and as two not-romney candidates, mittens probably won't get them either. which means ricky and newt may end up with a small boost.

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-10107838325751184212012-01-03T20:39:00.005-05:002012-01-04T09:05:45.546-05:00

i predict that buddy roemer, who is still running tho nobody knows it, will get fewer votes than herman cain, who has effectively dropped out. buddy might even get less than "no preference." UPDATE (1/4/2012): and herman beats buddy with almost double the votes (58 cain to 31 roemer)! and no preference creams them both at 135.

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-4159633612201204272012-01-03T17:54:00.000-05:002012-01-03T13:54:37.822-05:00

it is remarkable how little the W comes up in the current GOP presidential race. it is a testament to how president bush has become quietly discredited, in the eyes of many republican voters, even if the party leadership has never actually said so. on the other hand, most of bush's most controversial policies (e.g. indefinite detention, guantanamo, the wars in afghanistan and iraq, tax cuts,

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-16584379609253925352012-01-01T20:40:00.000-05:002012-01-01T21:13:07.942-05:00

here, in no particular order, are my predictions for the coming year. as always, the following is what i think is likely to happen and not what i necessarily want to happen: 1. the republican party nomination fight will end no later than the day after "super tuesday" (super tuesday being march 6th, i mean march 7th) 2. mitt romney will be the republican presidential candidate. 3. mitt not pick

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-7622322766659217952011-12-31T23:59:00.295-05:002012-01-01T20:44:26.398-05:00

one year ago, i posted 22 predictions for 2011. wanna see how naive and foolish i was back then? i do too. so here goes. 1. president obama's approval ratings will be roughly the same (within the margin of error) on december 31, 2011 as they were on december 31, 2010 (for the purposes of measuring success in this prediction, i will use the gallup daily presidential job approval poll and for

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-7808294296415727042011-12-31T14:33:00.002-05:002011-12-31T18:09:04.917-05:00

yesterday (or maybe today) samoa moved from one side of the international date line to the other. on that island december 30, 2011 never happened and december 29th slid right on over to december 31st. presumably they chose that date because they wanted the change to become effective with the new year, but they didn't want to erase the new year's holiday in the process. so why didn't they just

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-25777988626095807202011-12-31T13:23:00.003-05:002011-12-31T15:44:31.499-05:00

i usually keep my new year's resolutions. most people don't. i'm convinced that my success has less to do with my willpower than they way that i come up with my resolutions. and so, by request of no one, here are my thoughts on getting a good new year's resolution. the typical new years resolutions is something like "i will lose x pounds" or "i will finally finish reading that book.'" the

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-24420025990385054922011-12-30T08:39:00.002-05:002011-12-30T09:42:49.949-05:00

it's hard to argue with this. sorry santa...

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-73946759054217540562011-12-29T17:26:00.000-05:002011-12-29T13:27:04.005-05:00

check out this average of polls for iowa. the yellow line is the only one with a clear upswing. could this finally be the long-promised santorum surge?

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-3252968193167194972011-12-29T08:51:00.009-05:002011-12-29T15:50:51.800-05:00

watching a bunch of americans rap in a language they don't know. the song title, "men kazakhpyn", means "i am kazakh". which i guess is what makes it extra funny. people singing "men kazakhpyn" seems to have replaced "qara zhorga" dance videos as the current kazakh youtube fad.

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-4063872342071698652011-12-29T08:43:00.001-05:002011-12-29T09:23:29.445-05:00

how exactly did the catholic church, which on paper at least is about a whole variety of issues, become little more than an anti-abortion/anti-gay organization in this country? i don't get it. the church has all kinds of stances about things like income inequality, social justice, the death penalty, labor rights, aid to the poor, etc. but these days if i see an article about the catholic church

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-72618096527887667752011-12-29T08:33:00.000-05:002011-12-29T08:55:19.159-05:00

so much for that theory.

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-27187065224445268232011-12-28T08:40:00.000-05:002011-12-28T09:48:16.451-05:00

i was a little suspicious whether observer missions like the arab league's current one in syria do any good anymore. in ye olden tymes, observer missions had value even if they didn't do anything but show up and report what they saw. that's because the missions would place outside eyes in a troubled region, threatening to tell the world if they found anything nasty and thus deterring regimes from

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-77206622712084176472011-12-27T17:36:00.002-05:002011-12-27T13:59:16.296-05:00

what i've never understood about north american union-based conspiracy theories, is why a single country comprised of a merged u.s., canada and mexico would be so scary. obviously, if the resulting country were an oppressive dictatorship, that would be scary. but that's because i don't want to live under a dictatorship, not because the geography would include places that are currently in mexico

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-85330979930786617042011-12-27T08:41:00.003-05:002011-12-27T10:29:23.968-05:00

good news for ron paul: with possibility that he might win in iowa, the media is finally starting to pay serious attention to him. bad news for ron paul: the media is finally starting to pay serious attention to him.

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-27450605840666433482011-12-27T08:32:00.002-05:002011-12-27T09:13:32.790-05:00

more and more i am seeing the debt crisis in europe as a relatively straightforward wealth transfer. investors bet on the greek economy (i.e. bought greek bonds) and lost. rather than take their losses, the political system is coming to their aid and are forcing other people to pay for the investor's mistake. no default will happen, investors will get the full returns for the bonds they bought,

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-12761871449759332752011-12-25T00:01:00.003-05:002011-12-25T00:01:01.962-05:00

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5451099.post-5191487043817222952011-12-24T13:30:00.003-05:002011-12-24T14:14:17.435-05:00

assuming they follow the letter of the law, only mittens and paul will be on the virginia primary ballot. personally, i have my doubts whether VA will resist the pressure to change the rules given that several so-called "major" candidates didn't qualify. atrios suggests that this means the candidates who didn't qualify aren't really serious about running for president. but i think it's more a

upyernozhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13468075957480441353noreply@blogger.com