I Hate That Forking Rhetorical Maneuver

SB7 endears himself to me by raging against a rhetorical trick that continually irks me (even though I have been known to fall into it myself on occasion, much to the detriment of my efforts at intellectual honesty).

Color Me Surprised - Auto Bailout Edition

From The Economist's Free Exchange blog, Chrysler has managed to do exactly what I expected when I unequivocally opposed any auto bailouts:

TODAY, roughly two months after receiving a $4 billion loan from the government, Chrysler reported its plan for a return to profitability. It's a two part plan, based on the press reports: 1) keep doing what they've been doing, and 2) ask for more government money.

The company, which received $4 billion from the government in December to help it avoid bankruptcy, originally planned to seek $3 billion in April. It now says the vehicle market has deteriorated so dramatically that a total of $9 billion is needed.

But the plan does not call for more plant closings, and only three of the company’s models, which were not immediately named, will be discontinued.

This looks kinda cool

Create a font based on your own handwriting. For free... I might have to try this.

Amusing Link Roundup

While I'm busy dying of the plague (OK, just suffering the effects of some not exactly deadly distant cousin) here are some things to amuse you:

1. Hacking Road Signs!
2. XKCD brings new meaning to the phrase "significant other" - with statistics!
3. SB7 has some amusing political e-cards, "for when you care enough to hit send."
4. I think he blew his cover: Pistol Whipping Pizzeria Owner Was Ex-Mobster In Witness Protection Program
5. Preorder now! - Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - "The Classic Regency Romance - Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem!"
6. Verizon doesn't know how much its DSL service costs
7. From IowaHawk: "Mathematicians Discover Largest Number"

   PALO ALTO, CA - An international mathematics research team announced today that they had discovered a new integer that surpasses any previously known value "by a totally mindblowing shitload." Project director Yujin Xiao of Stanford University said the theoretical number, dubbed a "stimulus," could lead to breakthroughs in fields as diverse as astrophysics, quantum mechanics, and Chicago asphalt contracting.
   
   "Unlike previous large numbers like the Googleplex or the Bazillionty, the Stimulus has no static numerical definition," said Xiao. "It keeps growing and growing, compounding factorially, eating up all zeros in its path. It moves freely across Cartesian dimensions and has the power to make any other number irrational."

8. A Borders Books in Dallas has an employee with a sharp sense of humor.
   

UGH

As if I wasn't disgusted enough before, now we get this:

After pushing Congress for weeks to hurry up and pass the massive $787 billion stimulus bill, President Obama promptly took off for a three-day holiday getaway....

The president plans to spend the Presidents' Day weekend in the Windy City, and is not expected to sign the bill until Tuesday, when he travels to Denver to discuss his economic plan.

It was so f#@$ing urgent that we couldn't give congress more than 11 hours to read the 1000+ page law before voting, but there's no need to sign it until Tuesday? WTF?

(via Radley Balko)

Agreed

UGH:

Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), posting on Twitter:

“11 hours to review a 1000+ page spending bill that spends nearly a trillion dollars? This is not Congress’ finest hour.”

Looks like Obama will also again be breaking his pledge to post every bill on the web for the public to review for five days before signing it. And this on the biggest and (by his measure) most important bill he’s likely to sign in his presidency.

Awesome.

See the awesomeness here: