] Dogs and children have been warned away. The force of the
] explosions is impressive. "It's like hitting a
] slightly rotten orange with a golf iron," one Green
] activist explained yesterday.

They're really fundamentalist toads, but they just haven't figured out that whole suicide bomber thing yet.

Exploding Toads!

] What we are seeing, for the first time, is a fundamental
] challenge to the rule of law itself.

I keep telling myself they aren't this stupid... its all theater... They won't actually do this stuff...

Latest Assault on Judges Threatens Rule of Law

] In 2001, 1.458 million American families filed for
] bankruptcy. To investigate medical contributors to
] bankruptcy, we surveyed 1,771 personal bankruptcy filers
] in five federal courts and subsequently completed
] in-depth interviews with 931 of them. About half cited
] medical causes, which indicates that 1.9-2.2 million
] Americans (filers plus dependents) experienced medical
] bankruptcy. Among those whose illnesses led to
] bankruptcy, out-of-pocket costs averaged $11,854 since
] the start of illness; 75.7 percent had insurance at the
] onset of illness. Medical debtors were 42 percent more
] likely than other debtors to experience lapses in
] coverage. Even middle-class insured families often fall
] prey to financial catastrophe when sick.

There IS something more perverse then this bankruptcy bill. Its the conservatives who are celebrating its passing. These people are getting screwed, and they are happy about it. They are cheering it. They have been completely manipulated.

The idea that this bill is intended to prevent irresponsible people from using bankruptcy to avoid the consequences of their actions is simply not supported by the facts. If that were the case, there would be no reason that exceptions could not be made for people who face catastrophic medical expenses, and people who have dependent children and had recently been divorced. Neither of these circumstances is predicatable, and therefore neither can be considered irresponsible behavior. This can happen to any middle class family. Furthermore, an exception for medical bills exists for veterans. If it can exist for veterans, then it can exist for anyone.

Why not? All you have to do is ask why not have an exception for medical catastrophies. Keep asking until you get an answer that seems satisfactory. You will be enlightened.

Conservative readers will refuse to beleive what I'm suggesting the answer is. They will seek out any other explanation even if it is not entirely sound. They are fooling themselves. I encourage them to keep asking that question.

That answer is that were such exceptions applied to this law, the result would be unpalitable to its supporters, as likely 60-70 percent of the cases would be eliminated before the means test was even applied. Pile on other concerns such as theft, natural disasters, etc... The result would not have the economic impact that the advocates of this law seek.

People who tell you that bankruptcies raise interest rates surely have a poor understanding of economics. Interest rates are set by economic externialities, price competition, and demand. They are lower today then they have ever been.

Costs in the lending industry don't impact prices. They impact dividend yeilds for owners.

Its quite simple. This law will cause an increase in dividend yeilds measured in small fractions of cents for companies that provide financial services, and the cost is to ruin people who have been the victims of severe unpredicatable catastrophies.

In other words, they are fucking you up the ass, and you are smiling about it all the way.

MarketWatch: Illness And Injury As Contributors To Bankruptcy -- Himmelstein et al., 10.1377/hlthaff.w5.63 -- Health Affairs

wanna get drunk w/ a bunch of strangers in different cities? Come on out and drinkliberally.

--timball

Drinking Liberally

] In that way, he argued, the precedent could ultimately
] hurt the GOP by allowing Democrats to bar the filibuster
] the next time they hold the White House and a majority in
] the Senate.
]
]
] "If we don't protect the rights of the minority %u2026 if
] you had a liberal president and a Democrat-controlled
] Senate, I think that it could do great damage," said
] McCain, who sought the GOP presidential nomination in
] 2000 and is considering another run in 2008.

And here's why McCain won't be allowed to become a nominee. He just doesn't have that same "kick em when they're down" attitude.

McCain Sees 'Slippery Slope' in Filibuster Ban

] Akron, Ohio-based Ecology Coatings has developed a family
] of "liquid solids" that are cured by exposure to
] ultraviolet light for a few seconds. Made up of nano-size
] particles (molecules measuring less than 1 billionth of a
] meter), the liquid solids developed by the company--along
] with similar substances made by rivals--could possibly
] eliminate a lot of the expense involved in applying
] protective coatings to electronic gadgets or patio
] furniture. It also doesn't give off hazardous fumes.

[ Rad! -k]

Nanotech company aims to put paint in the past | CNET News.com

] The number, rendered in exponential shorthand, is
] 2^(25,964,951)-1. It has 7,816,230 digits, and if printed in
] its entirety, would fill 235 newspaper pages.
]
] In addition, it falls in a rare category of primes known
] as Mersenne primes, which can be written as 2n-1 where n
] is also prime.
]
] The first few Mersenne primes are easily verifiable --
] inserting 2, 3 and 5 for n produces 3, 7 and 31, all
] prime -- but the math quickly becomes overwhelming for
] larger values.

World's largest known prime number found

It really is a funny picture.

schaivo2.jpg (JPEG Image, 600x450 pixels)

] Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
]
] Tales from a weird & righteous American Saga
]

Some of the articles memorializing the late dr gonzo. Be sure to read them. He is and probably will always be an idol of mine.

RollingStone.com: Dr. Hunter S. Thompson : News

] Magnetic Stripe Snooping at Home
]
] Posted by CmdrTaco on Tuesday March 01, @09:59AM
] from the because-you-can dept.
]
] pbrinich writes "Have you ever wondered what information
] is actually stored on all those cards you have in your
] wallet? Well, it turns out you can find out yourself! An
] excellent project, Stripe Snoop started by Billy Hoffman,
] a Georgia Tech computer science student, contains
] schematics, source code and a wide variety of information
] about the standards used to store all sorts of
] information on your magnetic cards."

[ Billy makes the front page of /. Go billy! -k]

StripeSnoop on /.