From Wired's Threat Level blog:

A new web service that lets users rate and comment on the uniformed police officers in their community is scrambling to restore service Tuesday, after hosting company GoDaddy unceremonious pulled-the-plug on the site in the wake of outrage from criticism-leery cops.

Visitors to RateMyCop.com on Tuesday were redirected to a GoDaddy page reading, "Oops!!!", which urged the site owner to contact GoDaddy to find out why the company pulled the plug.

More here.

From theSeminal.com:

Montanans have themselves a fine Governor.

The Department of Homeland Security is trying to force states to issues "Real ID-compliant" drivers licenses. The Real ID Act of 2005 requires licenses to hold electronically encoded information, along with more complicated background checks for license applicants.

Let's hope more states follow suit.

More on this story here.

From David Mamet @ the Village Voice:

I wrote a play about politics (November, Barrymore Theater, Broadway, some seats still available). And as part of the "writing process," as I believe it's called, I started thinking about politics. This comment is not actually as jejune as it might seem. Porgy and Bess is a buncha good songs but has nothing to do with race relations, which is the flag of convenience under which it sailed.

But my play, it turned out, was actually about politics, which is to say, about the polemic between persons of two opposing views. The argument in my play is between a president who is self-interested, corrupt, suborned, and realistic, and his leftish, lesbian, utopian-socialist speechwriter.

The play, while being a laugh a minute, is, when it's at home, a disputation between reason and faith, or perhaps between the conservative (or tragic) view and the liberal (or perfectionist) view. The conservative president in the piece holds that people are each out to make a living, and the best way for government to facilitate that is to stay out of the way, as the inevitable abuses and failures of this system (free-market economics) are less than those of government intervention.

I took the liberal view for many decades, but I believe I have changed my mind.

More here.

The mystics finally show their true colors.

Reason and logic are the only things that provide humanity with it's means of survival.

Because without reason or logic we are nothing more than primitive animals living only for the moment.







P.S. What side do you think I'm on, hmmmm?

Candy canes glisten, green frosted hills sparkle, and battered steel weapons glint in the setting sun. Tensions flare on both sides of the battlefield. Gumdrops glare with hatred at the Chocolates. Chocolates wait with confidence, eager to slaughter their opponent. High above in the crimson sky candy corn vultures circle in anticipation of the devastation to come. On a far away hill bright white eyes wait. They wait...

This is the premise of Goobees, an animated short that shows us how our favorite candies are really made.



For more info visit this link.

From The Chicago Tribune:

More than two decades after the U.S. set the national drinking age at 21, a movement is gaining traction to revisit the issue and consider allowing Americans as young as 18 to legally consume alcohol.

Serious discussions already are under way in several states.

More here.