Flip Flopping?

The Agitator dug up some info on Bush's medical marajuana policies while he was Texas Governor. (h/t Jon Henke)

Gov. George Bush said he backs a state's right to decide whether to allow
medical use of marijuana, a position that puts him sharply at odds with
Republicans on Capitol Hill.

Clearly someone stole his bong not long after this article was written (1999) and now he's using the SWAT teams to help him find it. Good luck George, Man, that's gotta be rough.

But of course, this flip flop only matters to the evil denizens of society (cancer and glaucoma patients). Much better that he follow the crowd, eh?

SHOCKING News!

Chic blogger who defines the Stereotype publishes Stereotypical Chick Book

Rich white guys can be friends! Even when they don't have anything in common. (oh, except being rich white politicians... yeah... but nothing else in common, they are sooooo different)

Bush Signs torture amendment and then states that he's going to ignore it.

Reality needs to be Censored so that innocent 13 year olds can be protected.

Online Gender

So I started a post yesterday at work about the media reporting of this PEW research study, looking at how men and women us the internet, and then I got busy. (stupid actually having work to do) Echidne has finished it for me, here and here.

The study focuses on the differences between men and women, so obviously that's what we're hearing about. But the differences are being reported seriously out of proportion to what is actually going on. It is absolutely disgusting. This is an example of how sensationalized reporting completely blows scientific research out of proportion. And now it will become "common wisdom" that men and women use the internet different, because women are touchy feely and into relationships and men like to use ebay and check investments. (Although only 20% of men look at porn? YEAH RIGHT! And 5% of women? Sad, come on people, just be honest no one is going to judge you....Much. )

Some amazing headlines:

Men log on for news, women for the viewsTimes of India, India - 22 hours agoSAN FRANCISCO: Internet users share many common interests, but men are heavier consumers of news, stocks, sports and pornography while more women look for ...

Men want facts, women seek relations on Web - surveyReuters.uk, UK - Dec 28, 2005By Eric Auchard. SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Internet users share many common interests, but men are heavier consumers of news, stocks ...

Gender gap alive and well onlineBBC News, UK - Dec 28, 2005Gender divisions persist online but it is no longer about whether more men or women use the net, research shows. A study by the ...

Men and women even do things differently onlineabc13.com, TX - 15 hours ago(12/29/05 - NEW YORK) - Anyone who's spent any time seeing men and women interact on any level would agree there are differences between the way the two ... (VOMIT!)

Men surf sleaze, women eye heavenFinancial Express, India - Dec 29, 2005The study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project to be released on Thursday finds men are slightly more intense users of the Web. ...

I think this (partially stolen from Echidne's Post) really points out the absurdity of the headlines and sensationalized reporting:

The only one of those that I find really compelling is the 32% more men looking up sport statistics. But really, I am Shinobi's complete lack of surprise. And supporting health information. But a 10% difference is hardly compelling evidence of a gender gap.

Non Sucky Headline Award Goes to:

Online, genders differ only slightlySan Jose Mercury News, USA - 22 hours agoBy Anick Jesdanun. NEW YORK - Women are now as likely to use the Internet as men -- about two-thirds of both genders do -- yet a ...

But they still used the AP's amazingly sucky article underneath it. At least the headline was right.

:-(

Hubris is quitting.

Hubris's blog was the first blog I started reading after Spinsanity and Cabal, and it was where I took my blogging baby steps. Now that I'm in my blogging adolesence as it were I know just barely enough to be sullenly grateful to the people who are indirectly responsible for this blog's existance. So Thanks Hubris.

I think I'm going to stick with denial for now and leave him in my blogroll and hope he changes his mind or starts posting at INDC again. The first stages of grief and all.

Holidays

Home with the family, my sanity is slowly draining away, actually.... quickly.

Gotta love the holidays.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukah. Also I hope your winter Solstice was good and that your Kwanzaa will be meaningful and awesome. Any holidays I missed, happy that one too.

Intelligent Design

Declared unconstitutional By the US District Court.

There IS a God!

Said the judge: "It is ironic that several of these individuals, who so staunchly and proudly touted their religious convictions in public, would time and again lie to cover their tracks and disguise the real purpose behind the ID Policy." -CNN

heh, indeed

Update: Bill at INDC has a good analysis

Piercing

I got my nipples peirced this weekend. I don't really know what else to say about it. I think the worst part of the whole thing was waiting for the peircer to be not busy, because I seriously almost chickened out. Though partial nakedness in front of a total stranger wasn't too fun either.

I went to The Alley. They did an awesome job, and are very knowledgable. Their website is www.chicagopiercing.com. If you are considering getting anything peirced I would HIGHLY recommend that you go there an no where else. It is a little more expensive but they use all titanium jewlery and have very good sanitation standards. Also they are a free hand shop so they don't use clamps which can cause more pain. Both the peircers I have spoken to there are full of useful information and are very very nice. And they both have enough holes and tatoos to ensure confidence ;-)

The peircing itself wasn't that bad. Though I did forget to finish breathing out on the second one, oops. They hurt more now than they did after I got them peirced, this morning my cat jumped on top of me, that was interesting for her as she found herself flying through the air.

Thanks to E and her boy for going with me and buying me ice cream after.

"Right Now"

CQ has a post on the new poll that shows the numbers Senator Murtha used when calling for withdrawl from Iraq may have been sliiiightly inaccurate. But I have to question this as polls are involved.

Captain's Quarter's :

Another point also demonstrates the lies that Democrats have used in trying to
scare the American public into losing the war. It turns out that 80% of Iraqis
don't want the Americans out "right now", but only 26%. (emphasis mine)

Murtha's Quote: (Via WP)

"I'm absolutely convinced that we're making no progress at all. . . . Until we
turn it over to the Iraqis, we're going to continue to do the fighting. . . .
They'll have to work this out themselves. . . . We have become the enemy; 80
percent of the people in Iraq want us out of there; 45 percent say it's
justified to attack Americans. It's time to change direction." (emphasis mine)

Where does Murtha say "Right Now"? I don't see it? Maybe they cut it out. Or MAAAYBE it was never in there in the first place. I'm not going to go the "evil republican spin" route, but the addition of those two words" Right Now" really changes the meaning of that statistic.

Instead I will just point out that maybe 80% of Iraqi's wanting us to leave eventually isn't sucha far fetched number when compared to the ABC poll numbers. In fact, according to CQ 26% want us out right now and 52% want us out when their security forces are trained, well that's 78% total wanting us out, and I'd bet that's within the margin of error of that 80% number. (usually 2.5%, but I don't know what it is in this case)

Conversely, I found the theoretical source of Murtha's numbers(via media matters), this secret UK military poll. I don't see 80% wanting us to withdraw in there, the only even remotely comparable number from that article is 82% opposed to the presence of coalition troops, which is not the same as calling for immediate withdrawl. (If someone asked me if I was opposed to foreign guys with guns in my country, I'd probably say yes too, so this could have a lot to do with how questiosn were asked.) So it is possible Murtha misused/misspoke the statistic when he spoke, or that there is a more detailed report I don't have access too.

But it seems that neither side is really looking at the numbers carefully or critically in this case.

It Happens.

I stole this from a bboard.

AND THIS IS HOW IT HAPPENS....
In the Beginning was The Plan
And then came the Assumptions.
And the Assumptions were without form
And the Plan was completely without substance.
And the darkness was upon the face of the workers.
And they spoke among themseves, saying "It is a crock of shit, and it stinketh."
And the workers went unto their Supervisors and sayeth, "It is a pail of dung and none may abide the odor thereof."
And the Supervisors went unto their Managers and sayeth unto them, "It is a container of excrement and it is very strong, such that none may abide by it."
And the Managers went unto their Directors and sayeth, "It is a vessel of fertilizer, and none may abide its strength."
And the Directors spoke amongst themselves, saying to one another, "It contains that which aids plant growth, and it is very strong."
And the Directors went unto the Vice Presidents and sayeth unto them, "It promotes growth and is exceedingly powerful."
And the Vice Presidents went unto the President and sayeth onto him, "This new plan will actively promote the growth and efficiency of this Company, and these Areas in particular." And the President looked upon The Plan, And saw that it was good, and The Plan became Policy.
And this is how Shit happens.

Debt? what Debt?

Remember Porkbusters? And all the budget cuts that were passed through congress recently?

Well guess what, now they are cutting TAXES! What a GREAT IDEA! Why didn't WE think of that. I mean it makes perfect sense, if you cut back on how much you are spending that you cut back on how much you take in, right? Especially when you're already spending on a huge deficit.

I had to read this article (thanks mark) twice to make sure it said what I thought it said.

Maybe we need to get some non rich people into congress that understand what a budget is, and how it is supposed to balance, and how when you have a debt you should be paying it off, not making it bigger.

I'm going to go shopping on my credit card now, I've got at least a grand left before it maxes out, after reading that, I need new shoes. And maybe some jewlery.

Update: Brendan Nyhan debunks an editorial in the WSJ claiming that the tax cuts will generate revenue.

Female Bisexuality

Ryan at Feministe has an article today on the idea of Inherent Female Bisexuality. This is a popular idea at Frat parties where they try to get two straight girls to make out.

As an actual female bisexual (I know, national coming out day was last month, whatever) I find it kindof offensive when others imply that all women are bisexual. Women are no more bisexual than men are. Even though women are generally more attractive than men IMHO that is MY perception and I certainly don't think all women in the world agree with me. (Hence the Society for Future Housewives etc.)

Anyway, I'll be reading these articles, and maybe I will have more to opine on at a later date.

A War I agree with

War has been declared, on Christmas!

Finally a war I can really get behind. Come on people, support the troops, don't let them down by questioning the validity of this mission.

And by the troops, I mean mean me.

And by mission, I mean throwing the radio in the cube next to me out of the window.

And by validity I mean TURN OFF THE FUCKING CHRISTMAS MUSIC!

How many different people can sing the same 10 songs, seriously. This is eating my soul.

Corruption

Jon Henke has an amazing post at QandO about corruption in both parties and how neither party is really doing anything to stop it.

Good call Jon.

WOO South Africa

This is me celebrating the legalization of same sex marriage in South Africa, YAY!

perfectly reasonable reasoning:

Heterosexual married couples in South Africa have numerous rights that are
denied to gay couples, including the ability to make decisions on each other's
behalf in medical emergencies and inheritance rights if a partner dies without a
will.

Judge Albie Sachs, who delivered Thursday's ruling, said laws defining
marriage as a union between a man and a woman are inconsistent with sections of
the constitution "to the extent that they make no provision for same-sex couples
to enjoy the status, entitlements and responsibilities they accord to
heterosexual couples.

"The court instructed Parliament to extend the definitions of marriage
within a year, or else the words "or spouse" would automatically be added by the
courts, the South African Press Association reported.

In the only dissenting opinion, Judge Kate O'Regan argued the 11-member
court should effect the changes immediately, a view shared by gay rights
groups.

Finally some people with their priorities in order. I still don't understand this whole destruction of marriage the homophobes are ranting about. I'm glad South Africa has some sense in this regard.

NRF Shopping Numbers

The Mystery Pollster debunks and looks at the NRF's methodology for their Black weekend shopping numbers.

This is probably only of interest to me because I have been fielding questiosn all week about why my company's numbers are so much lower.

Since the press release is out - We're showing a 0.4% increase in spending over the entire weekend and a 0.9% decrease for Black Friday based on traffic figures and monthly estimates.

Update, here is our mention in the WSJ. Woo hoo:

The most bearish estimate came from ShopperTrak RCT Corp., a Chicago
market-research company with about 40,000 cameras in retail locations,
mostly shopping malls. (For more on the company's methods, see this print
Journal article12 from December 2004.) By counting foot traffic from the camera images and converting that into sales figures, the company reported a sales decrease of 0.9% on Friday, and an increase for the weekend of just 0.4%. As NRF and others have pointed out, ShopperTrak doesn't have cameras in the big
standalone retailers that opened early Friday and offered the biggest
discounts (like Wal-Mart), and therefore may have missed much of the sales
increases. But Bill Martin, ShopperTrak's co-founder and executive vice
president of sales, stood behind his company's estimates, and said that it
has proprietary methods to extrapolate from camera data to the entire retail
industry. He declined to provide details. In response to the NRF estimate,
Mr. Martin told me, "Double-digit increases are beyond any test of reason
that we can see in the marketplace."

Sorry for not posting about anything besides this, but work is eating up my life. Hopefully after the holidays I will have more time for posts about actually interesting things.

Black Friday Shopping

The numbers for this weekend are in (I should know I spent all weekend writing them up.)

Sales figures are down or up depending on who you talk to, the NRF is posting a gain in sales of 22% this year based on national survey data. (4,000 responders or so)

ShopperTrak is showing a 0.5% decline in sales for the total weekend based on traffic and other econometric data. They also reported a 1.4% decline in national retail traffic. This is based on counts of traffic and other econometric data. (full disclosure, I work there)

The NRF numbers are very optimistic, so far however the numbers in their release don't add up. There must be some interesting factoid I am not privy to to make these numbers work. (thanks to my boss for some of this analysis and the press release which I can't find a link to online)

Their press release says we should have seen 145 million shoppers over the weekend, but their numbers don't add up.

60 million on Friday (estimated)
52.8 million on Saturday (estimated)
22 million on Sunday (same as in '04)
Total = 134.8 million.
That is a difference of 10.2 million shoppers (145 million - 134.8 million).

And then their sales figure is 27.1 Billion dollars, and they are saying on average that consumers spent 302.81. But if 134.8 million people spent 302.81 dollars that would put us at 40.8 billion dollars. Which is a big difference. Their is clearly some other factor they look at when calculating spending, I wonder what it is.

Also they seem very high and it is likely that consumers overstated their purchases in the survey. Surveys as I may have mentioned before, are not the best measuring tools available. (Uhh they suck)

It will be interesting to see how the numbers are revised over the week.

Since when is wanting a reasonable work week a women's issue? I guess it is one of the major things frequently brought up when discussing why there are fewer female senior executives. Women want (Horror of Horrors) a family, and a life, and that is just unreasonable if you want to be successful.

But Fortune has an article today that points out that shockingly men would actually like to have lives too:

Our new survey of senior FORTUNE 500 male executives offers surprising
answers. Fully 84% say they'd like job options that let them realize their
professional aspirations while having more time for things outside work; 55% say
they're willing to sacrifice income. Half say they wonder if the sacrifices
they've made for their careers are worth it. In addition, 73% believe it's
possible to restructure senior management jobs in ways that would both increase
productivity and make more time available for life outside the office. And 87%
believe that companies that enable such changes will have a competitive
advantage in attracting talent. Other interviews suggest that the younger a male
executive is, the more likely he is to say he cares about all of this.

Of course there's a roadblock to reform: fear. FORTUNE's survey found
that even though most senior-level men want better options, nearly half believe
that for an executive to take up the matter with his boss will hurt his
career.

Don't know much about this survey, but it isn't exactly a revolutionary concept that people would want time for friends family and extracurriculars. Even Men, The workhorse of the human race don't salivate a the idea of spending 47% of their life (an 80 hour work week) at their job.

But seriously, I am glad that there is a push for a more humane work week. Fortunately I am in touch with my own laziness and would never try for a job that required more than say 50 hours per week. Sadly not all people are so lucky. What's the point of making money, if you never have time to spend it?

It is good to see that Fortune is trying to push the 40 hour week off of the "women's issue" table. Though it is sortof surprising that it was on our table in the first place.

Not just a City in China

MSNBC has this Oh so helpful filler article on tipping today.

I thought I would add some wisdom that I accrued over the weekend via my roommate. The tip for a lap-dance is typically between 10 and 20 dollars.

No wonder stripping is such a popular occupation.

The Irony is that they called it Intelligence

Kevin Drum posts about the Intelligence leading up to the Iraq war and how dissent against this intelligence was suppressed. Whether or not it was intentionally suppressed remains to be seen.

But IMHO whether the suppression of dissenting voices was intentional or not is irrellevent. The evidence as shown in Kevin's post points to a deep seated problem within the White House and the surrounding Intelligence community. This problem is the same problem that is has been studied and identified as being responsible for the Challenger Disaster as well as The Bay of Pigs Invasion during the Kennedy administration. It is called Group Think, and has already been identified as a problem within the Intelligence Community at large.

The question that should be asked is how much of the suppression of intelligence and groupthink leading up to the Iraq war was a symptom of attitudes within the White House. Regardless of intentionality intelligence was suppressed and I think there should be a push from outside the White House to show that not only are they making actual improvements to the intelligence community but also to the culture within the White House.

Unfortunately recent events such as the lack of Federal response to Hurricane Katrina did little to alleviate my fears about the level of incompetancy within this administration. So maybe it isn't REALLY their job, but when one of my coworkers doesn't do their job, I do it for them for the good of the company. (And then I point out to my boss that it wasn't really my job.....) And lets not even mention the Harriet Miers debacle. (Though some would argue it was a political move, and it may well have been.)

When it comes down to it, the President is an employee of the citizens of the United States, and he has a responsibility to show that he is doing his job to the best of his ability. We should not be criticized for criticizing him. We hired him to do a job, and he should take pride in doing it well, and showing us what a good job he's doing. And if he isn't doing a good job, well, he should thank his lucky stars it is a contract position.

Shinobi v. Mono

It was a long and arduous battle, but I have emerged, scarred, exhausted, victorious.

My attention span is still too short to blog. I'm back in the office today. I long for sleep.