Pakistan

I see Pakistan is showing it's true colors:

Five suspected informants have been detained by Pakistan on accusations they helped the CIA monitor Osama bin Laden's hideaway in the weeks before he was shot dead in a US raid, Pakistani and American officials said.

...

At the same time the US continues to accuse them of aiding militants. Last week, Leon Panetta, director of the CIA confronted the Pakistani military leadership with video surveillance showing militants evacuating two bomb factories in Waziristan days after the US had passed on their co-ordinates to Islamabad.

And those colors are more pro-al Qaida than red, white, and blue. Maybe that shouldn't be shocking, but it's good to be clear on that.

(Source: Rob Crilly for The Telegraph)

Pakistan

I see Pakistan is showing it's true colors:

Five suspected informants have been detained by Pakistan on accusations they helped the CIA monitor Osama bin Laden's hideaway in the weeks before he was shot dead in a US raid, Pakistani and American officials said.

...

At the same time the US continues to accuse them of aiding militants. Last week, Leon Panetta, director of the CIA confronted the Pakistani military leadership with video surveillance showing militants evacuating two bomb factories in Waziristan days after the US had passed on their co-ordinates to Islamabad.

And those colors are more pro-al Qaida than red, white, and blue. Maybe that shouldn't be shocking, but it's good to be clear on that.

(Source: Rob Crilly for The Telegraph)

Quote of the Day

If every word a person says has to be right and balanced and fair, I will jump off a tall thing onto a hard place.

-- Louis C. K.

This has to do with the Tracy Morgan controversy. I don't even know what he said, except that it was apparently hateful toward gays, but if what Louis also says is true, it was part of his comic act and it wasn't meant.

Personally, I appreciate the cultural sensitivity we have about invidious discrimination, but life is raw on the street, away from the cameras and microphones, and I don't see why that shouldn't be reflected in our art. Should a political leader, or anyone in responsible positions, give vent to such expressions? Probably not. But comic acts and movies are another thing, no?

Incidentally, we have posted some stuff by Louis before. I'm not a big fan of the 'white asshole' act, myself, but I'd hate to see him jump off a tall place.

Quote of the Day

If every word a person says has to be right and balanced and fair, I will jump off a tall thing onto a hard place.

-- Louis C. K.

This has to do with the Tracy Morgan controversy. I don't even know what he said, except that it was apparently hateful toward gays, but if what Louis also says is true, it was part of his comic act and it wasn't meant.

Personally, I appreciate the cultural sensitivity we have about invidious discrimination, but life is raw on the street, away from the cameras and microphones, and I don't see why that shouldn't be reflected in our art. Should a political leader, or anyone in responsible positions, give vent to such expressions? Probably not. But comic acts and movies are another thing, no?

Incidentally, we have posted some stuff by Louis before. I'm not a big fan of the 'white asshole' act, myself, but I'd hate to see him jump off a tall place.

Facebook

When I saw the news that Facebook's traffic has declined, I started smiling, but then I resumed frowning when I read Farhad Manjoo's explanation:

If it's not privacy and it's not a new rival, why is Facebook losing customers in America? Because there's no one left to go after. As Inside Facebook's Eric Eldon points out, Facebook's growth always stalls when it hits 50 percent market penetration within a country. Facebook is now experiencing something unprecedented in the short history of social networking—it has captured every plausible user in several countries, and the only people who are left are folks without Internet access, people who do have access but don't spend a lot of leisure time online, and the few lonely die-hards who swear they'll never join the site no matter how many times I exhort them to do so.

I don't know what you can do better on Facebook than you can do on LiveJournal. I can only suppose that LJ became defined by its dominant clientele of high school and college students, and Facebook just effectively marketed itself to the mainstream population and then sucked up everyone. Whatever.

Facebook

When I saw the news that Facebook's traffic has declined, I started smiling, but then I resumed frowning when I read Farhad Manjoo's explanation:

If it's not privacy and it's not a new rival, why is Facebook losing customers in America? Because there's no one left to go after. As Inside Facebook's Eric Eldon points out, Facebook's growth always stalls when it hits 50 percent market penetration within a country. Facebook is now experiencing something unprecedented in the short history of social networking—it has captured every plausible user in several countries, and the only people who are left are folks without Internet access, people who do have access but don't spend a lot of leisure time online, and the few lonely die-hards who swear they'll never join the site no matter how many times I exhort them to do so.

I don't know what you can do better on Facebook than you can do on LiveJournal. I can only suppose that LJ became defined by its dominant clientele of high school and college students, and Facebook just effectively marketed itself to the mainstream population and then sucked up everyone. Whatever.

Would-Be Charles Bronson

You know what? I, for one, am tired of putting up with this crap. And you want to know why I moved out of Atlanta and only spend a couple of weeks a year in this town? That's one of the reasons. Carjackings, violence, people getting shot. It's ridiculous. This city harbors an urban culture of violence. And I want you to look around. You drive into the city. The railroad overpass is on the downtown connector covered with graffiti. And that-- That is just an advertisement for everybody coming into this town that we really don't give a damn about those who would screw up our quality of life around here. We really just don't care. We don't care enough to paint over graffiti on the overpasses that come into our city, advertising welcome to Atlanta, here's some of our finest graffiti, from some of our finest urban thugs and their little gang signs. And pick up the paper tomorrow morning. Read about all the carjackings. Read about the innocent people shot for the pure de-hell of it.

This town is starting to look like a garbage heap. And we got too damn many urban thugs, yo, ruining the quality of life for everybody. And I'll tell you what it's gonna take. You people, you are - you need to have a gun. You need to have training. You need to know how to use that gun. You need to get a permit to carry that gun. And you do in fact need to carry that gun and we need to see some dead thugs littering the landscape in Atlanta. We need to see the next guy that tries to carjack you shot dead right where he stands. We need more dead thugs in this city. And let their -- let their mommas -- let their mommas say, "He was a good boy. He just fell in with the good [bad?] crowd." And then lock her ass up.

-- Neal Boortz

We're reminded again of just how ugly free speech can be, though this does sound at least closer to incitement. We're in a little trouble as a country.

Would-Be Charles Bronson

You know what? I, for one, am tired of putting up with this crap. And you want to know why I moved out of Atlanta and only spend a couple of weeks a year in this town? That's one of the reasons. Carjackings, violence, people getting shot. It's ridiculous. This city harbors an urban culture of violence. And I want you to look around. You drive into the city. The railroad overpass is on the downtown connector covered with graffiti. And that-- That is just an advertisement for everybody coming into this town that we really don't give a damn about those who would screw up our quality of life around here. We really just don't care. We don't care enough to paint over graffiti on the overpasses that come into our city, advertising welcome to Atlanta, here's some of our finest graffiti, from some of our finest urban thugs and their little gang signs. And pick up the paper tomorrow morning. Read about all the carjackings. Read about the innocent people shot for the pure de-hell of it.

This town is starting to look like a garbage heap. And we got too damn many urban thugs, yo, ruining the quality of life for everybody. And I'll tell you what it's gonna take. You people, you are - you need to have a gun. You need to have training. You need to know how to use that gun. You need to get a permit to carry that gun. And you do in fact need to carry that gun and we need to see some dead thugs littering the landscape in Atlanta. We need to see the next guy that tries to carjack you shot dead right where he stands. We need more dead thugs in this city. And let their -- let their mommas -- let their mommas say, "He was a good boy. He just fell in with the good [bad?] crowd." And then lock her ass up.

-- Neal Boortz

We're reminded again of just how ugly free speech can be, though this does sound at least closer to incitement. We're in a little trouble as a country.

Pic of the Day

I thought we could use something more upbeat today.

(Courtesy of Pousez)

Pic of the Day

I thought we could use something more upbeat today.

(Courtesy of Pousez)