5. “I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some, uh, people out there in our nation don’t have maps and, uh, I believe that our, uh, education like such as, uh, South Africa and, uh, the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and, I believe that they should, uh, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., uh, or, uh, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future, for our children.”
[i]
– Lauren Caitlin Upton, Miss Teen South Carolina, in the Miss Teen USA pageant, airing live on NBC. The 18-year-old was asked why one-fifth of Americans can’t locate the United States on a blank world map. She later said she was flustered by the question.[/i]

washingtonpost.com

For decades, the US National Security Agency (NSA) has been reading effortlessly ultra sensitive messages intercepted from all parts of the world. This extraordinary feat was not the consequence of the work of some genius cyber mathematician. Nor was it the result of the agency dominance in the field of super computers, which allegedly have outpaced their most direct rivals by orders of magnitude. The truth is far simpler and quite troubling. The game was rigged.

The NSA-Crypto AG Sting - OhmyNews International

9. You

Charges: You believe in freedom of speech, until someone says something that offends you. You suddenly give a damn about border integrity, because the automated voice system at your pharmacy asked you to press 9 for Spanish. You cling to every scrap of bullshit you can find to support your ludicrous belief system, and reject all empirical evidence to the contrary. You know the difference between patriotism and nationalism — it’s nationalism when foreigners do it. You hate anyone who seems smarter than you. You care more about zygotes than actual people. You love to blame people for their misfortunes, even if it means screwing yourself over. You still think Republicans favor limited government. Your knowledge of politics and government are dwarfed by your concern for Britney Spears’ children. You think buying Chinese goods stimulates our economy. You think you’re going to get universal health care. You tolerate the phrase “enhanced interrogation techniques.” You think the government is actually trying to improve education. You think watching CNN makes you smarter. You think two parties is enough. You can’t spell. You think $9 trillion in debt is manageable. You believe in an afterlife for the sole reason that you don’t want to die. You think lowering taxes raises revenue. You think the economy’s doing well. You’re an idiot.

Exhibit A: You couldn’t get enough Anna Nicole Smith coverage.

Sentence: A gradual decline into abject poverty as you continue to vote against your own self-interest. Death by an easily treated disorder that your health insurance doesn’t cover. You deserve it, chump.

The BEAST: America’s Best Fiend

It’s kinda muddy in this medium, but it’s pretty cool when they’re cleanly miked.

So Santa has come and gone this year. I bought almost everything online because I’m a working Prego Mother of 2.5 with very little time and energy. Q’s big gift from Santa was Barbie Roller Skates. Thanks Amazon. I couldn’t find pads/wrist guards online that were appropriate. So the one thing that was purchased from a brick and mortar store was pads/wrist guards…actually it was Dick’s Sporting Goods to be exact. Q opens them up and tries to put them on. She’s 5. Of course she will need grown-up help. I look at them and they are labeled “Left” and “Right” and “Elbow”… but where’s the knee pads? The package had 3 Left elbow pads, 1 Right elbow pad and a Left and Right Wrist Guard. Dicks Sucks… so Tootie is skating throughout the house but no outside time till I deal with “da Mall” on Thursday.

So I had recently posted on how I needed creative ideas for my Nephews since my Sister-In-Law who I truly do love didn’t give me any ideas. Well, she came through and I got ordered just in time 2 DVDs and a CD. I am not going to question my nephew’s taste in music because Lou found my Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam tape as well as Debbie.. I mean Debra.. Gibson from my adolescence. Christmas Eve we exchange presents and what does my 3 yr old get from her??? Diego Animal Caller and Diego 5-in-1 Talking Utility Tool. I’m guessing this was a pay back for the Light Sabers from years ago. I have to admit it was pretty cool because her 12 yr old had to be told to give it back to Four.

And than there was the “Muddy Toy” that a certain co-worker gave Four for xmas. Crayola Sudsy Mudsy Foaming Mud Soap is a tub of dirt that you dig out with a scoop and you add water to and make mud soap. I find it rather amusing and so did the kids. I can now say that it’s not dirt in my tub after bath time but mud soap. For extra fun, if you drop a lump of it in the tub it looks like your kid Poop’d in the tub. The husband’s sister’s kid is having a birthday in a few weeks. Guess what the kid is getting????

Sorry it took so long to post Halloween pictures. Nothing says Trick Or Treat Like a Prego Nun

The battle between the US and Antigua over online gambling is rather long. You can go back here to read a summary of the back and forth — but the quick version is that the US violated its own free trade agreements by banning some forms of online gambling (while allowing others). Antigua, home to many online gambling firms, filed a complaint with the WTO. The WTO repeatedly sided with Antigua, and the US repeatedly ignored those rulings, before the US eventually unilaterally claimed that it had changed its trade agreement so that online gambling wasn’t covered. In response, Antigua (with very little power) started pushing for a different kind of sanction against the US: it asked to be allowed to violate intellectual property of US firms, including copyrights, patents and trademarks. Antigua didn’t really want that to happen — it wanted to use that to put pressure on the US to back down and allow online gambling. A bunch of other countries started siding with Antigua until the US bought them off, leaving Antigua and a few other small countries fighting the US at the WTO.

Techdirt: WTO Gives Antigua Only $21 Million In Sanctions; US Says ‘Not So Fast…’

In a separate N.S.A. project, executives at a Denver phone carrier, Qwest, refused in early 2001 to give the agency access to their most localized communications switches, which primarily carry domestic calls, according to people aware of the request, which has not been previously reported. They say the arrangement could have permitted neighborhood-by-neighborhood surveillance of phone traffic without a court order, which alarmed them.

New York Times

I guess we all know, somewhere in the backs of our heads, that whenever we create an account on a website - that website could be/or might turn evil and start spamming us. I normally have pretty good luck but ran afoul of “CreativeInvestor” and “PropBot”. I signed up for the CreativeInvestor site some three years ago and I faintly recall it was something about getting email notifications on homes that were getting foreclosed in my zip code. I quickly discovered the noise to signal ratio to be unacceptably high, canceled the email notification, and thought nothing more.

Fast forward a couple years, the mail notifications start up again. This time, they won’t unsubscribe. They pretend they do, you get an email that says you’ve unsubscribed, but you just keep getting notifications. When I sent a notice to them, they’re all indignant about how I agreed to a term of service.

Sigh, now I guess I need to blacklist and report them to abuse.