A Clever Sheep - Latest Comments

Re: Friday cat (and dog) blogging

Mariel — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:54:13 -0000

thanks for the post, so nice ;)

Re: Friday cat (and dog) blogging

Modulator — Sat, 08 Apr 2006 13:31:37 -0000

Friday Ark #81

We'll post links to sites that have Friday (plus or minus a few days) photos of their chosen animals (photoshops at our discretion and humans only in supporting roles). Watch the Exception category for rocks, beer, coffee cups, and....? We will add you...

Re: Friday cat (and dog) blogging

Modulator — Fri, 03 Mar 2006 21:11:00 -0000

Friday Ark #76

Re: Friday cat (and lizard) blogging

Modulator — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 19:34:59 -0000

Friday Ark #75

Re: Friday cat (and lizard) blogging

Modulator — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 18:19:13 -0000

Friday Ark #75

Re: Friday cat (and dog) blogging

Modulator — Fri, 03 Feb 2006 15:01:00 -0000

Friday Ark #72

Re: How the Republicans plan to keep the education “edge”

Unpartisan.com Political News — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 07:18:22 -0000

Greenspan's farewell: One more rate increase

As expected, the Federal Reserve boosted interest rates again Tuesday, Chairman Alan Greenspan's las

Re: Nothing to see here. Move along…

Unpartisan.com Political News — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 02:20:23 -0000

Preview: State of the Union Address

Renee Montagne talks to Senior Correspondent Juan Williams about some of the topics the president is

Re: Senator Byrd won’t be getting my money

a clever sheep — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 22:04:48 -0000

Dems declare "spinelessness" as their intention on the Alito filibuster

C-span is keeping a running tally of Senators' declared intentions on the Alito nomination. Looks like Chafee and Snowe --...

Re: Friday cat (and dog) blogging

Modulator — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 20:31:17 -0000

Friday Ark #71

Re: Please enter time and coordinates of attack in the comments

OnBackground — Sat, 01 Jan 2005 14:46:49 -0000

Loved the letter to the Axis of Evil!

Re: has this got legs? “In sworn affidavit, programmer says he developed vote-rigging prototype for Florida congressman; Congressman’s office silent”

evano — Thu, 16 Dec 2004 00:04:32 -0000

It's got legs... on the web anyway. BradBlog has been covering this since he broke it last week. Now, Clint Curtis -- the programmer -- has given sworn testimony to a House Judiciary Committee Panel in Ohio. (http://bradblogtoo.blogspot.co...

And its not quite mainstream media yet, but Wired does have an article (http://www.wired.com/news/evot... on Curtis... seems it's not the first time he's blown the whistle, and although his claims seem somewhat incredible, his willingness to swear affidavits and testify in front of a Congressional committeee under penalty of perjury does add some credence to his story.

Re: First, we gather them up…

guy dickinson — Mon, 06 Dec 2004 10:13:31 -0000

test

Re: A different view on the original Thanksgiving…

brunner — Sun, 28 Nov 2004 17:57:37 -0000

Howdy. Glad you enjoyed our little bit of turkey and stuffing.

One of your clickthroughs needed just about an hour to work up a long, predictable and boring comment. Would you consider taking him please?

Re: Strange birds

guy dickinson — Tue, 23 Nov 2004 17:13:01 -0000

is that like, er, nature? Why aren't you in the garden with a rifle? :-)

Re: With nothing left to do, Ashcroft resigns…

evano — Thu, 11 Nov 2004 01:13:24 -0000

Not unusual for there to be major shakeups after the election. Ashcroft had thyroid cancer earlier this year, so that could be it. He was a major darling of the right wing religious crowd, so maybe it means something?

The guy Bush picked to replace him, Alberto Gonzalez, is the guy who called the Geneva Conventions "quaint", and who had a hand in the justification of torture... nice, huh? But he's Hispanic and he'd be the first Hispanic AG, so... I just hope the Dems give him shit in the hearings.

Powell is probably gone after inauguration in January. Usually, the inaug is a big diplomatic affair, so they need to have solidity at the State Dept. Just my guess, tho... One internet site was suggesting Zell fuckin Miller for the job...

Re: With nothing left to do, Ashcroft resigns…

guy dickinson — Wed, 10 Nov 2004 20:38:52 -0000

Um, what's the generally accepted wisdom on his leaving? Any dirt? I've not paid huge attention to this. Suprised Powell hasn't been handed his slip of pink, considering the criticism he's privately (and not so) made of the neocons.

Re: The Bush website mystery – it blocks access to foreigners!

benni — Thu, 28 Oct 2004 08:49:58 -0000

Hi!

You're right, from here (Germany) I only have access through an american proxy... ;-)

Re: The Bush website mystery – it blocks access to foreigners!

benni — Thu, 28 Oct 2004 08:49:38 -0000

Hi!

You're right, from here (Germany) I only have access through an american proxy... ;-)

Re: whoops – emails from the bush campaign..

evano — Wed, 27 Oct 2004 03:59:25 -0000

Some funny stuff, but... It was in that pile of junk that they found the memo which Greg Palast discussed on BBC Newsnight tonight, (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/pro... )revealing that GOP operatives in Jacksonville, Florida have a list of mainly black people they plan to challenge at the polls on Tuesday. This list may be illegal, and it's certainly sleazy.

Re: Wired News: Diesels, Hybrids Fated to Wed

evano — Sun, 17 Oct 2004 17:50:44 -0000

Yes, its very weird. Its also weird to me that with the success of the Mini Cooper over here, that Audi has no plans to offer the A2 or the A3 in the US. About the smallest car you can buy over here -- still 10 in. (25cm) longer than the Mini (3.65m, 144in) -- is the Chevrolet Aveo (3.88m, 153in). (This is the same car as the UK's Daewoo Kalos, added to GM's line of autos since GM's purchase of most of Daewoo's assets.) Nearly all of the major carmakers have a smaller, more fuel-efficient model available in the UK and Europe which isn't offered over here in the land of the big (Volkswagen Lupo, Toyota Yaris, Nissan Micra, Honda Jazz, Hyundai Getz, Kia Picanto... to name a few.) And diesel cars? Unless you are in the market for a Volkswagen Beetle, Golf or Jetta, a US$50,000 Mercedes E-Series, or the new 2005 Jeep Liberty Diesel, you are out of luck in the US market. With premium gasoline at US$2.19 a gallon in my neighborhood, maybe some of that will change.

Re: Collective guilt

evano — Thu, 14 Oct 2004 21:45:22 -0000

Thanks, Tomas, for the primer on Swedish politics. I greatly admire the democracies of Northern Europe, and I can't help but worry that the polluting influence of the worst parts of American culture -- the greed of unrestrained capitalism -- might one day have an effect on them. So, it's good to hear that you describe the American Republican party as "lunatic right-wing extremists". I couldn't have said it better myself! I guess your situation is similar to those of us here in the US who live in states which are certain to go to Kerry in the upcoming elections. I live in Maryland, which is a heavily Democrat state, so I could vote for Nader or any other candidate without fear that it would tip the balance to Bush.

Regarding your "incomparable social security system": I know! I'm very jealous and somewhat ashamed to have governments which continue to put corporate profits ahead of such basic human needs as food, shelter, and medicine. Enlightened governments understand that there will sometimes be people who take advantage of the system, but still feel that the benefit to many is worth the abuse of some; my government, however, uses the abuse of some as a reason to avoid helping the many!

One other thing I can tell: the Swedish education system must be wonderful, because your English is nearly flawless. It's a pleasure reading your blog and this response.

Re: Collective guilt

Tomas Jogin — Tue, 12 Oct 2004 22:03:02 -0000

Thanks for your view, it's always nice to hear of other people's perspectives.

Parliamentarism in Sweden isn't an all or nothing deal for a given party. When all votes are counted in an election, mandates are given to each party, that means that no party rules on their very own, unless they have more than 50% of all votes, which no single party never has (not nowadays at least).

Hence, for the Social Democrats to be able to form government (we call it "Regering"), they have to form it in collaboration with the Left Party, and the Green Party, which means that if you vote for the Social Democrats you are helping the Left Party form government with the Social Democrats.

So the only way of not helping the Left Party form government in Sweden is to vote for a party that would never collaborate with it.

True, not voting for the Social Democrats is kind of like punishing the wrong guy, but if I do vote for the Social Democrats then I'm also directly _helping_ the Left Party get more influence in the government. If I instead vote for the People's Party, which are aligned a few steps to the right of the Social Democrats, then I am not in any way helping the Left Party, because the People's Party is 99% likely to collaborate with the Moderate Party, the Center Party and the Christian Conservative Party.

I've been thinking about voting for the People's Party for some time actually, so it's not like this was something that totally changed my political color.

The People's Party, while aligned right of the Social Democrats, are quite far to the _left_ of the American Democratic Party. In comparison, if there was a party in Sweden like the Republican Party in the US, we'd call them lunatic right-wing extremists or something.

What that means is that the People's Party, or even the more right-leaning Moderate Party, isn't going to start dismantling our world famous social benefits, but they will probably contribute a bit more economical responsibility to how things are done, at least that's what I hope they will.

While Sweden has an incomparable social security system -- with benefits and (free) insurances that could make your American heart instantly stop just from the shock of hearing of them -- that system also has big drawbacks, such as people choosing to collect unemployment welfare instead of working, because sometimes the welfare is actually higher, or just as high, as the salary of a low grade work.

Anyways, what I meant by all of this is that Swedish politics, and our social security system, is far too complex for any outsider to be able to oversee it. I do appreciate and value your comments, but know that my post didn't exactly reveal a lot about the political landscape in Sweden, or my other reasons for choosing to vote for a different party in the future. This thing was just the last drop that tipped the scale and broken the camel's back, or however the saying goes. ;-)

Re: Is Bush Wired?

evano — Sat, 09 Oct 2004 02:37:42 -0000

Pretty scary ain't it? These allegations have been going around for a while. Salon (http://www.salon.com/news/feat... picked up the story last night. Unfortunately, in tonight's debate they'll both be wearing lapel mikes, so it'll be a little more difficult to determine if a bulge is legit or not. Amazing how we keep focusing on this guy's bulges... Commander Codpiece (http://www.internetweekly.org/.... He must be a real man!

Re: Will my marriage be valid?

JC — Mon, 23 Aug 2004 17:09:14 -0000

I did the same, however I was instructed to file the "Certificato di Matrimonio" at my state clerks office on my return to the US (I didn't). Now, if the US doesn't have paperwork to show I am married...am I? And what if I now want a divorce (do I need one)?