All Hank, all the time.
 

It's Chinaski's world; we just live in it.

All Hank, all the time.
 

Ain't no other king in this Politics thing
They siblings, nothing but my chil'ren
One shot, they disappearin

Diane! Time for a test case- quick. post the Beslan pix!
 

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,190447,00.html

• 
  Michigan Judge: Violent Video Game Ban Unconstitutional
  Tuesday, April 04, 2006
  
  DETROIT — A federal judge has ruled that a state law that bars retailers from selling or renting violent video games to minors is unconstitutional.
  
  The Entertainment Software Association, Video Software Dealers Association and Michigan Retailers Association, trade groups representing U.S. computer and video game publishers, filed the suit in September, charging that the law is unconstitutionally vague and violates the First Amendment right to free speech.
  
  Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed the law in September, and it was scheduled to take effect Dec. 1. But U.S. District Judge George Steeh issued a preliminary injunction in November, preventing the law from taking effect.
  
  Steeh's ruling Friday made the injunction permanent.
  
  "Video games contain creative, expressive free speech, inseparable from their interactive functional elements, and are therefore protected by the First Amendment," Steeh said in his ruling.
  
  Although courts have recognized that certain speech may be restricted when directed toward minors, the state failed to support its claim with substantial evidence that the games are likely to produce violent behavior, Steeh said.
  
  The judge also agreed with the plaintiffs' argument that the law was too vague.
  

How long before someone here uses this to challenge some arbitrary banning of a post as being too violently explicit? I've seen Judge steeh, and he has control of his court room. maybe someone can reach out and offer him a mod position?

Mayor of Sugarland, Texas' reelection website

Hmmmmm

ETA:

Speculation from the Quorom Report:Well, this explains the sudden interest in moving to Virginia.

Other Texas bloggers are speculating that he's waiting until June so there's not enough time for a special election AND the general election in November. Given how the primaries shook out, it's not out of the realm of probability that Nick Lampson would win the a special election (especially with those yahoos all running and the fact that all it takes is a majority to win) and then Lampson would go in as the incumbent in November.

Move to Virginia? I think he should do the honorable thing, like Frankie Pentangeli.

Well, it looks like Representative #2 is probably in much deeper shit, so I'm sure this DeLay thing will blow over now that he's resigned.

I'm sure Representative #1 had a nice long chat with his lawyers this weekend, too.

In defense of McKinney
 

Nah, not really.

Hank says:



Hmmm..... let's see.

The first to respond with substance was Gatti:

"twit." "assaulted." "idiocy."

Then, RT:

"real moron." 'course, i guess the story about her pen could be seen as a resounding defense (if you're an idiot)


Not Bob did say this:

But he also said, at the end of his judge hypo, this:


I said

And Shifty pointed out that McKinney is not remotely significant.


I could go on and on, but I think even a moron like you gets it by now. 3 or 4 "of us" didn't say a fucking thing in her defense, or "jump in" about how "the cops were at fault.". NB made the only statements that were even moderately in her favor, and even those were barely lukewarm.

The statements that were in McKinney's defense were quotes, mostly if not entirely of McKinney herself, and mostly posted by the Republicans on this board. You can let your feverish imagination run wild, to think that every Dem jumped on her bandwagon. But it's just your feverish imagination talking, nothing more.

In defense of McKinney
 

What does that have to do with Clinton's impeachment?

W-A-T-E-R.

In defense of McKinney
 

What's funniest, or scariest, maybe both, is that years later you still don't get it. I'm never feverish here because i don't give a fuck. i think the same is true for Spank- i know it was true of Penske. And the only one who does get actually worked up, time and time again, is ole Sidd "i'll get Thurgreed after you" Finch.

In defense of McKinney
 

And, besides, it was after noon - somewhere. So you were already potted.

In defense of McKinney
 

Hankypoo, Spanky is serious about this shit. I've met the man, and I think we can all remember just how bad he is at getting sarcasm, etc.

As for you, keep on telling yourself, and us, that every time someone points out how ridiculous you are, you were really just stirring shit up and the joke's on them. Are we gonna have the evolution talk again? Dinosaurs on noah's ark and all that?

In defense of McKinney
 

Yes. that was always my point. Evolution is foolish and I was arguing for Creationism. You are very perceptive!

In defense of McKinney
 

Yes. Hank ipsa loquitur.

In defense of McKinney
 

There were no dinosaurs on the Ark. That's why they're extinct. Duh.

In defense of McKinney
 

Anyone catch the Sopranos this week? How long before Tony goes mid-evil on the preacher?

In defense of McKinney
 

It won't happen before the crew gets really worried about Tony geting too close to him.

Dear Sidd: I believe I speak for all republicans here when i say we will not defend the actions of the Deputy Press Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security- get this- even though he is a Republican political appointee.

Should someone post about him, and then a follow up post moves in a different direction, this does not mean someone is trying to deflect the discussion.

Hank (helpful) Chinaski

What's the over-under on when Bush gives him a medal?

I note that you are careful to only speak actions the Bush appointee's "actions", so I trust that other than this incident, you think he was a fine appointment? Just the same way Brownie always did a great job other than that one little foul up?

Penske Alert
 

So I was watching Tom "the Hammer" DeLay last nigt on Nightline, and I saw an odd similarity between his rhetorical style and Penske's - each is adept at responding to every question with "it's the liberals fault" or "why do you hate America" or "the liberal media are to blame". It's really rather comical. Of course, the liberals and media are at fault for all those fingers in the cookie jar.

But then, I expect to see a lot of new socks soon, given all the free time on Tom "Line My Pockets" DeLay's hands.

Never. even Clinton wouldn't have approved of internet sexual predators (at least against minors).

Hank (playing to your expectations) Chinaski

Penske Alert
 

So are you trying to say that Delay is Penske's sock (or vice versa). Would explain why Penske's been gone lately

Did anyone else see Brownie on the Colbert Report last week (I caught up on Tivo last night)? I was somewhat impressed that he's showing his face in public, much less subjecting himself to Stephen Colbert.

Missed it, but I did catch him on Maher a couple of weeks ago. Seems to me he's looking for redemption wherever he can find it.

He's been on the warpath of late. It's not my fault--DHS is a mess and I didn't get the support I needed.

Anyone else read the article about how DHS has a lot of acting directors because no one wants teh political appointments? THe best part was a quote from some congressman to the effect that, "we want to get the acting people out and the political people in so we can hold someone responsible." Yeah, good promo for hte position.

Hank, Penske -- What's the Difference?
 

DeLay intends to file an ethics complaint against McKinney.

PLF: we need an irony ruling.

Hank, Penske -- What's the Difference?
 

Don't worry. The Cops don't recognize her- they'll never get service.

Hank (float like a butterfly- sting like a bee) Chinaski

He's right. DHS incident response plans are public record. And they are a fucking mess. Very little is concrete; it's more of a "plan to plan." Worse, nothing is remotely findable in an actual, you know, emergency.

A publicly traded company with a disaster recovery plan this bad would be up to its eyeballs in SOx compliance problems.

Put aside who's in charge for a minute- what plan do you expect to be in effect? If they had a plan to evacuate NO "if the levees break in a major Hurricaine" I would want to know why they didn't get out and beef up the levees.

the page starts out by saying most problems are handled locally- and only major things are national- major things are less predictable and less the stuff for which you can plan.

So why can Baseball get someone of Sen. Mitchell's status to come in and clean up the mess when Bush can't get mid-level paperpushers to work for Homeland Security? Do you think DeLay would take the job?

You wouldn't count the destruction of New Orleans as "major"?

Hank, Penske -- What's the Difference?
 

You're shitting us, right? I couldn't find it in a quick google search, but then again I'm distracted today.


If he does, I think they should resolve it with a cage match between the two of them, possibly using chainsaws.

Two Reps Enter, One Rep Leaves
 

I would support this - just stick one chainsaw in the cage (along with one mace, one spear, etc.), and see who gets there first.

But here's the source, As cited by wonkette .

So how about Massachusetts?
 

Anyone else fascinated by the legislation mandating the purchase of health insurance in the state? I'm still wading through the bill, but it looks pretty damned impressive.

So how about Massachusetts?
 

Ty should be all over that.

I assume they know the demographics, but my initial reaction is that the people most likely not to buy insurance are also the least likely to be filing tax returns (not because they're evaders, but because they have low income).

That said, if, as the NY Times reported, the problem is well-paid young males, then this should solve that.

Hank,

You really look much better as an elderly woman. Just a thought.

sometimes when you're reading a post do you have mini-strokes so you black out for a line or two?

Hank (thoughtful and concerned) Chinaski

Put aside who's in charge for a minute - do you really think it's acceptable for our national incident management system to be composed essentially of the following?

1. Organization
We should come up with some kind of organization to handle emergencies.
2. Communication.
People at different agencies and levels of government should be able to communicate. We should come up with a plan and some standards for how to do that.
3. Maybe we should come with some other stuff, too.

I'm not being critical here of New Orleans. I'm being critical of the fact that DHS hasn't put into place a working framework to deal with emergencies at all.

DHS and FEMA have had years to come up with a basic structure to use to handle emergencies, and the best they've come up with is "we should come up with something."

Here's what I want to see:
- Communications standards.
- First responder checklists and protocols
- Command checklists and protocols
- Clear instructions for organizing and handling an emergency, including protocols for deciding who is in charge, when, for what, and for how long.

I've written disaster recovery and incident response plans. For the most part, they don't address particular emergencies (i.e. do this if a terrorist attack, do this if a tornado) because such planning is ultimately fruitless. Instead the create a framework to deal with almost any emergency. It's not rocket science, but it does take a little work and a fair amount of thought.

Good plans are structured as organizational charts and cheklists. Bad plans talk about structures without actually creating them, so that in a time of emergency, nobody has a chance of figuring it out. NIMS is a bad plan.

The worst part is that restructuring the government to create DHS appears to have destroyed what functional systems that did exist. I don't know what the system was like before the DHS era, because it wasn't of professional interest at the time. But it didn't seem to be this broken.

So how about Massachusetts?
 

As I said here before, I have questions about how you make this work, and why it would work better than mandating health coverage by forcing people to pay for it through their taxes. I'm hoping RT will figure it out and explain.

So how about Massachusetts?
 

Well, it's because Hank likes his health plan and doesn't want anyone to fuck with it.