Defiantone.com

My opinion hasn’t changed in the past few months. I think Bluecoat is a horribly coded web filter that does a poor job of characterizing content. Much to my surprise, they have tweaked the algorithm and I’ve seen some noticable changes. First off, they no longer categorically block websites that have the word blog in the URL. Yes, somebody out there heard the clamouring from the masses (or the screaming minorities as it may be in this case) and made some changes to the what they define as a personal page. Surprisingly, my website is no longer considered a personal page. To think about it, I think they might be right. If I write about something thats going on with me its often centered around something else going on in the world. I rarely write directly about me aside from whatever asprirations I may have in life. My website is chock full of right off the top of my head uncensored goodness - if you’re in to that kind of stuff. If you’re not, why the heck haven’t you navigated away…. at this moment 9/10 readers will have left this page to find something else. Good for them - thats the joy of the internet.

I still loathe bluecoat - and I may never stop. I’m just glad they decided to tweak the code.

Political correctness has been on a rampage for years and it’s time to give it a rest. Giants of industry have been sued for their description or portrayal of minorities or individuals with disabilities. It’s high time that these people stop wearing their hearts on their sleeves and start growing a backbone. What has drawn my ire today? The Down Syndrome Association of Los Angeles and the Disability Rights Coalition is up in arms about the upcoming Ben Stiller flick ‘Tropic Thunder.’

Tropic Thunder

In the movie, Stiller’s character makes reference to a movie where he portrayed a retard in a fake movie called Simple Jack. (note: at one point there was a spoof movie site - the hubub has caused someone to think twice and remove it) The coalition isn’t too happy with Stiller’s portrayal. It’s a shame when people are born with disabilities and it downright sucks - but - the movie wasn’t making fun of disabilities. There were making light of how actors will attempt to gain favor with Oscar and Emmy voters by taking a challenging role of a disabled person. Has anyone ever seen Rainman?

Their demands are quite extensive - they want free screenings, public apologies, film editing, removal of specific film promotions, specifically created trailers, a national educational and advertising campaign, and a film studio summit.

This situation is just ridiculous. Feel free to read all of the gory details at Film School Rejects

I’ll give you a second to let all of that sink in. You’re probably wondering what I was when I first heard about this - uhh…. what happened to free speech? They aren’t exactly yelling “FIRE” in a crowded theater. People aren’t being hurt by the movie. If you don’t like it, don’t watch it.

This particular post was not inspired by some random urge to write about the state that for the longest time I knew as my home. In fact, I’m only writing about Iowa because someone else did all of the hard work for me.

The Iowa State Fair is probably going full swing right now and it’s quite an event if you should ever happen to be stuck in the midwest in the hottest (and muggiest) part of the year. The fair, as far as I know, is probably the largest and most iconic in America - I may be incorrect but I’m not going to bother a google search to find out if I’m wrong - I’m going to rely on someone leaving a comment and pointing out the error of my ways. What you may not know about the state fair, aside from where you can find Iowa on a US map (when someone is unable to name a state based upon the shape alone I get annoyed - don’t they teach geography anymore? I can probably still name all of the state capitals to a 80% accuracy and I doubt that I will ever travel to Montpelier (the capital of VT)), is that they love to hold contests of all sorts - some of them quite bizarre. If you’re traveling to the fair from the east via I-80 you’re bound to pass another Iowa oddity - the worlds largest truck stop

I love Iowa - I just don’t think I could live there and maintain my sanity - I do like to visit when I’ve got a chance - They have great pies (thank you Amana colony pie lady), great vegetables (hooray for corn!), fantastic thunderstorms (the damn mountains greatly diminish the odds of thunderstorms in this part of the country), and…. oh yeah, most of my family still resides in Iowa.

Jessica and I have been trying to study this past week but distractions are slowing down our efforts. She has got a few days left of school and she is cramming to get it done. She pulled her first late night session of trying to get it all done - I told her that that almost made her a real college student. If we had cans of natty ice sitting around the house she would could complete the college experience.

I’m studying for a test that I take Thursday morning. If I do well enough I get promoted. If I don’t, I take the test again next year. Its my first time testing so I’ve got to make most of the points from the test - the bar is set at 69.5% on each test - a fact that I know simply because I’m testing out of cycle. You would think that I should be able to attain my goal - but - these tests are hard and they cover a large range of material. I’ve got my work cut out for me.

Friday I’m going to “volunteer” to help out for the airshow that I won’t be watching. Someone above me either mandated or volunteered six people from my flight to help. There are really only six of us. I knew that I was going to be on leave at the time but I feel obligated to help out. This situation highlights what we’re facing at work - we are always short manned while constantly being farmed out to additional duties. We’re behind at work but the additional extra-curricular taskers never seem to slow.

When my “volunteer” work is complete on base we’re off to the ocean for two days of camping. Jeff and Leanne (Jessica’s sister and brother-in-law) will be joining us. It should be a fun and hopefully relaxing time. I want to wear a custom screen printed shirt with “Voluntold” simply written on the back - most would look and think volunteer - I want them to know the real story. I don’t think it would be appropriate but it would be comical.

I’ve got projects around the house that I need to do - I’m not quite sure when I’m going to work them in. Maybe next week? Only time will tell.

I received this article earlier today and I’ve got to say that I think that the author is absolutely insane!
I am still amazed that closed minded people still exist - this probably comes from the same people that think that minorities are the cause of ALL of our economic and social woes. Read below for the biggest piece of crap I’ve read in the past six months. Jessica read it and is freaking out because she “Barracks the vote” I’m sure Ann Coulter’s satanic tail is twitching as she digs into this one believing that we are going to fall into a jihad in America if Obama won the general election. The reality is that she and other like her are bat-shit insane for believing this kind of crap.

Rich Carrol - I hope you don’t have children - in fact, I hope that you have a freak accident that removes your ability to breed because you are a fool.

I searched for responses to this crap and found a few gems

Man your rants got me real shook! World will end if Obama is elected! Muslims will steal my daughter and wife!! US will be forced to not drink!! UN will rule our parking lots! And other crazy crap that you know doubt have thought of too!!! Wow! Facts to back up your paranoid rant would be a real plus!! Good luck during the coming apocalyptic jihad!!! Salaam Alekum!

The only saving grace of this article is that it will only be taken seriously by those who believe that Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly are serious political commentators.

Conspiracy theory is not political commentary.

The Jihad Candidate - by Rich Carroll

Conspiracy theories make for interesting novels when the storyline is not so absurd that it can grasp our attention. ‘The Manchurian Candidate’ and ‘Seven Days in May’ are examples of plausible chains of events that captures the reader’s imagination at best-seller level. ‘What if’ has always been the solid grist of fiction. Get yourself something cool to drink, find a relaxing position, but before you continue, visualize the television photos of two jet airliners smashing into the Twin Towers in lower Manhattan and remind yourself this cowardly act of Muslim terror was planned for eight years.

(more…)

We have the option of using headsets and talking to anyone we desire via VOIP with the computers in the internet “cafe”. Normally, I can blank out any other conversations but the guy next to me is a complete and total idiot. The person on the other end of the conversation has got to be slightly retarded. He spends most of the time explaining, in intricate detail, the most mundane and commonly known things. He has talked about how phones are great because you can call anywhere in the world (duh), he has cried about mortar attacks (whiner - there aren’t that many), and how hard it is over here (it isn’t). I’m surprised that he hasn’t yet discussed how the sun tends to heat the middle east to seasonably warmer temperatures due to its proximity to the equator. Maybe after that he’ll talk about how consuming water will keep you alive. If nothing else, he might talk about how dropping heavy objects on your foot can be painful.

If there were justice someone - me maybe - would punch him in the back of the skull and tell him to think before he utters another word. Maybe I’m in a bad mood, maybe I sound like this on the phone - but, then again, this guy could be the biggest tool in Iraq. No, let me take that back - he is more than a tool, more than a tool box, more than a tool shed. I think this guy qualifies as a tool emporium.

Odds are is that he is an officer - oh well

I’ve been reviewing some of my old posts and I noticed that I spend most of my time writing about things that cause me grief. So, I’m going to break off some of those onto a new blog called How I loathe thee

I do need some other bloggers so if you’ve got something that grinds your gears let me know and I’d be happy to share the space with you. Topic choice is up to the author and you are free to write pretty much whatever you wish. Feel free to check it out - I’ll be writing some stuff there on occasion.

This story pissed me off

Iraqi police officers voluntarily turned over their weapons to members of al-Sadr’s representatives in the Madhi Army.

If you were to surrender like this in the US military and were later caught they would probably charge you with treason. They would court martial you and shoot you. I’ve read quite a few stories about Iraqis taking more of a lead and asking for less help. In the past they would often run at the first sign of danger and leave it all to the coalition forces to do the dirty work. Lately, they’ve been able to do much more with less of our help. They are constrained by supply problems and a lack of air support - if we could get them more of what they needed and provide them with on time air support until their military is able to take over it would help them out quite a bit. When police officers surrender like this it absolutely pisses me off. Why the hell am I in your country when you don’t even want to fight?

This is a bunch of shenanigans and its got to stop.

At the end of a deployment the will of the masses dwindles and more mistakes are made. I have been a scapegoat as of late so I am trying to stay out of everything. I’m sure that in a day or two I’ll be blamed for not being a scapegoat because somebody else did something wrong and it wasn’t me. It really doesn’t matter - I just want to get out of here. I only have a problem with one or two people on my shift and its not a personality conflict but a conflict of interest. I have lots of problems with the people on day shift because they are gunning for me. When you’re in charge of the overwhelming majority of operations (80-90%) most of the mistakes - although minor - happen when you’re in charge. I’m not even sure if mistakes are being made but they’re blaming me. I don’t like to make mistakes and I take it personal - so - I’ve been quite paranoid as of late. I don’t even talk to ANYONE on day shift for fear of spawning further hate and scapegoatism -

This paranoia takes a lot out of me and I haven’t been sleeping well - hopefully it will pass - or maybe I’ll just go home.

Fuck ‘em I say. Let them be assholes - I just won’t deal with them anymore.

Ok, I had some free time on my hands after watching the Drake Bulldogs getting beat at the buzzer - by a three pointer no less - so I let my imagination run wild for a few minutes. Eventually, I needed to call in reinforcements to reel it back in but I had traveled down an interesting bunny trail. Oil prices are high and gas prices are the highest I’ve ever seen them. What can we do to lower oil prices in the short term while looking for a long term energy solution?

If you’ve read Atlas Shrugged you’ll know that you can’t always win when trying to do something for the “public good.” In the book, the government decided to nationalize D’Anconia Copper and found, much to their dismay, that it had already been dismantled and that nothing was left. They got too greedy for their own good and took everything away from those who worked for it in pursuit of a socialist state. A few revolted and set up a unique society where each earned his own - and charity was never given. We could find that if we take over the oil industry that there may be nothing left - we could have already reached Hubbert’s Peak - the point in which oil production will only decrease because we have used 50% of the available reserves.

My thought was what would happen if we nationalized the US oil industry? There isn’t much precedent for the nationalization of an industry in the United States and through my research I only found two examples. During WWI we nationalized the rail industry but promptly privatized it following the end of the war. The other example is of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Following the 9-11 attacks in NY City, the private run airport security industry was transferred to government control. Both were done in due to a national interest and only one of the two returned to private control. Venezuela recently privatized Exxon and took control of the production facilities within its border. While they only control a fraction of the market for oil they have leveraged it to create more strain on the system - thus raising prices.

Can we nationalize an industry in America by force? No - we’ve got to provide adequate compensation for the industry in accordance with UN Laws

In 1962, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 1803, “Permanent Sovereignty over National Resources,” which states that in the event of nationalization, the owner “shall be paid appropriate compensation in accordance with international law.” In doing so, the UN rejected both the traditional Calvo-doctrinist view and the Communist view. The term “appropriate compensation” represents a compromise between the traditional views, taking into account the need of developing countries to pursue reform even without the ability to pay full compensation, and the Western concern for protection of private property.

Occasionally, the nationalization of an industry does not work to the advantage of the public as it can lead to corruption and the downfall of the industry. Mexico nationalized Pemex and it has been a failure ever since. Since the government took over they have not explored for more sites or increased production on existing sites. In fact, the company is now 42 billion dollars in debt in an age of ever increasing oil prices. Bad management? Possibly - but there is much more to the equation - and I’m not going to dig into it.

Arguments for the corruption of the oil industry run rampant. I found an interesting take on rising oil prices at Seeking Alpha

- the author is talking about how the futures market creates some interesting questions - here is an excerpt

So what did happen? Well the traitors cancelled 117,558,000 barrels of oil, that’s 29M barrels A WEEK from October delivery in order for the weather girl on CNBC to be able to tell you every Wednesday at 10:30 how tight supplies are. And what did they do with those barrels? The same thing they do every month, they “roll” the contracts into the forward months, creating a false demand there for oil they never intend to accept delivery of and they have done it EVERY SINGLE MONTH FOR THE PAST 2 YEARS!
But, they are not done…

Were the traitors traders to accept delivery of the 171,442,000 barrels of oil that are still open today, BARRELS THAT THEY HAVE ALREADY BILLED YOU FOR, it would create the biggest glut of oil in US history and crash the oil markets. So these traitors traders will, in the next 4 days, CANCEL ANOTHER 130M BARRELS OF CRUDE and slip the majority of them into the next 3 months in order to create the perception that there is, simultaneously, a record demand and a tight current supply

Responses were varied but few agreed with him

The author, who seems to be totally unfamiliar with the workings of futures markets, is welcome to his misconceptions, but does not deserve space in this forum.

Wow - what’s next? Black helicopters?

Hillary has either made a flub or a direct statement that she supports the nationalization of the oil industry - your interpretation will determine your opinion. I’ve highlighted and italicized the important tidbit

The other day the oil companies recorded the highest profits in the history of the world. I want to take those profits. And I want to put them into a strategic energy fund that will begin to fund alternative smart energy, alternatives and technologies that will actually begin to move us in the direction of independence

Obviously your interpretation of her “taking those profits” means quite a bit in this situation. I don’t really agree with her thought of directly taking the profits but profiteering is killing us all. Taking over an US owned industry would be monumental and could have epic repercussions.

I found a few links to others making arguments for the nationalization of the oil industry - you can check out the arguments at the Huffington Post and at Pww.org

Ok - the bottom line - should we? No - we couldn’t afford to give them adequate compensation. What we should do is to stop all tax subsidies for the oil industry despite the fact that it could cause a short term increase in the price we pay at the pump. We should make a concentrated effort to expand research into alternative energy as we made a national effort to get to the moon in the mid-twentieth century.