Author Archives: John Wallenfeldt

Girls Trapped By Storm Update Facebook Instead Of Dialing 911 | NowPublic News Coverage

You know, I realize I’m getting old. I live in a place where everyone is damn near half my age so my perspective on life is really getting screwed out of proportion. They are necessarily bad kids, it’s just, well, we were ALL idiots in our early twenties, right?

So here is a story about two teenage girls who got lost exploring their local storm drain system. Which, I’m going to give them credit for because they easily could have been slacking at the mall.

So they get lost, have great cell coverage and don’t call the cops. Instead, they update their profiles and then sit around for seven hours waiting for someone to put it all together for them.

We’re doomed, folks.

Frank Schaeffer: Glenn Beck and The 9/12 Marchers: Subversives From Within

Every time I read or hear something from Frank Schaeffer, it chills me to the bone. We actually *do* have a Fifth Column in this nation and they are literally holier than thou.

The generation raised on the belief that the US government is illegitimate because it is trying to “impose” non-biblical laws on people has hit the streets. These are the people who grew up indoctrinated into an alternative reality. Today they are out there waving signs of Obama dressed as Hitler. They are buying weapons and ammunition. Some are in the growing and revived militia movement. They are Dick Armey’s foot soldiers. People like Armey and Beck can count on the ignorance of their dupes. It’s against their religion to read a real newspaper, watch anything but Fox or go to a real school.

Here he is on Rachel Maddow the other night talking about Talibangelical crazies:

Here is another recent article touching on how we should work on our civility, and on defending our points based on reason rather than emotions.

Barack Obama refuses to be their nigger. And it’s driving them crazy. – Ta-Nehisi Coates

I love this. I, like a lot of folks, really wish Obama would reach out and bitchslap the Joe Wilsons and Lush Rimjobs of the world. But he never does. He just lets them prove how dimwitted and oftentimes racist they are. Read this.

If anything, I’m a little giddy. For black people, the clear benefit of Obama is that he is quietly exposing an ancient hatred that has simmered in this country for decades. Rightly or wrongly, a lot of us grew tired of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, mostly because they presented easy foils for Limbaugh-land. Moreover, again rightly or wrongly, they were used to define all of us.

It’s about time.

JUSTICE Act would roll back telecom wiretap immunity – Ars Technica

I trust phone companies the same way I do insurance companies, corporations and Southern cops. Which is to say: not at all.

I’m glad to see that some senators are working to roll back the telco “get out of jail free” cards that Bush passed out with the PATRIOT Act.

Hopefully this law gets passed so we can get some of our freedom from spying eyes and ears leftover during the Reign of the NeoThugs.

Weak Signals: Problems Linger With Digital TV Switch : NPR

We’ve been having problems with our cable stuttering since the transition. Nice to know we’re not the only ones.

Face it folks, most of this country is built on an infrastructure built during the Great Depression or, if lucky, in the 50s and 60s. Sure, there are new cheap-ass homes and strip malls everywhere, but the dams, transmission lines, telephone systems, etc. are pretty antiquated technology and most of it is old.

I know Republicans laugh whenever it is brought up that we need to work on infrastructure repair and replacement, but they’ve proven to be wrong on just about everything.

Fix and replace where needed and we can join the 21st century folks.

Scott Brown on Saving Sci-Fi From the Friday Night Death Slot

I meant to link this last week. It concerns how networks keep putting their sci-fi related shows on Friday nights.

Which, yes, has traditionally been the trend. Heck, we still watch Ghost Adventures on Fridays whenever it is on. Not that it’s a traditional scripted show.

I do, however, have a couple caveats to this bemoaning of programming ills. First, Miami Vice used to be on Fridays and it did okay. Second, Fringe just started up again and it was on last night (Thursday) and was originally on Tuesdays. It earned Thursday billing because it’s a damn good and damn popular show.

Yes, the author has a point, but it isn’t all cut and dried.