The first lie that I remember was "batteries not included". What made this lie pernicious is that it was not technically a lie. Certainly, my mother was prepared for it, with batteries at hand.

But it was the first lie they told me, and it was the start of a lifetime. They've lied to me persistently since then.

It's called "the fine print" and you're supposed to know to read it. You're taught to expect that anyone you buy something from will try to rip you off in the process.

They teach us to blame the victims. Parents hover nervously over children, trying to shield them from the consequences of fine print (with video games, and music with DRM, this is no longer possible).

I'd love to see a dailykos endorsement of McCain for GOP as the greatest hypocrite in a field that's full of them.

This is breaking. Manhole explosion near Grand Central.

This is all about deregulation. This is a story about how national security is now and will always be less important than making a dollar to the GOP (I prefer to call them the BolsheGOOPs, because they believe in one party state and in a patronage economy instead of competition and capitalism).

The Washington Post is reporting that undercover agents working for the GAO obtained a license to buy nuclear material in just 28 days with no background checks. You thought it was just gun dealers, didn't you?

BoingBoing notes "SF writers advise on homeland security" as if it were a good thing, which it would be, if it weren't for this administration.

The economy works like this: investors make jobs, and workers take jobs. That's why we hate immigration: because at least if someone has to take a job, that person should be American.

Today's headline from The Guardian, our left wing paper in the UK, is
Fury as Iran shows footage of captured sailors on television

Why the fury? Because the footage included, "a "confession" that they had entered Iranian waters."

According to the latest from Seymour Hersh (and as noted in Talking Points Memo) we're already hard at work on building the next military disaster in the Middle East, including:

Yes, I know, we cannot build sewage in Iraq though we can do swimming pools. We couldn't even get food to Louisiana. And now we're having hearings on fraud in Iraq we're learning why we were unable to build it all: corruption. So I have an idea.

Although we were unable to deliver food to Louisiana (or water to Darfur), I think we might succeed in Baghdad, because it has an airport we control (though the streets are dangerous).

Here's some facts that people on all sides are not willing to face.

I just want to clear up a few things about Israel. It's a nation, one that has been under siege for most of its existence. There is frequently a double standard. Some nations get away with doing terrible things, really awful things. Others don't.

The Economist in an opinion column writes:

it is quite possible that America's mid-term elections on November 7th will produce a close result, not just in the House of Representatives, where it has long been predicted, but in the Senate too. At which point things could get fraught.

The problem is voting machines.

The military needs every soldier it can get, so this Snarkbill proposes to bring the best of segragation to the modern military. The point of the "don't ask don't tell" policy is to quell the  fears of bigots, but it hasn't been successful. In contrast, segragation kept fear and lynchings among white people to a minimum.

So this proposal is for a new gay division of the armed forces. Gay people will eat food prepared by other gay people, use bathrooms reserved for gay people, sit in seats on military airplanes reserved for gay people. Gay people will be grateful for this policy because it will reduce (though, obviously, not eliminate) bigoted violence.

Save the billionaires!

Although anyone earning over a million dollars a year is protected from the social security tax, taxes on dividends, the AMT, and the estate taxes, this is not yet the case with income tax.

This bill will establish the Government Faith Scientest Test (GFST). The test will be administered by a non-government entity, for the usual exorbitant fee.

In order to further reduce the cost of the test, the administrator will be allowed to sell advertising on the list, and sponsors will post job offers in the test room.

The government, which owns and maintains the Interstate Highway System, has failed to invest in it, even though reports suggest that the government gets back $6 for each $1 invested in the system.

Therefore, the system will be sold to a private company (we somehow think Bechtel will win the auction, which will go to the most "suitable" company instead of to the best offer).

The purpose of this snarkbill is to once and for all end the annual destruction of embryos (see article from 2001).

Immediately after the attacks in India, security was beefed up on the NY subway system. Police appeared at key points in the system, ready to examine backpacks and bags. But a fight on the A train tonight showed that there is no police presence in the subway itself.

We have propoganda, not security.

The A train may be the most famous line in the system. Memorialized in song ("Take the A Train"), it runs express, without stopping between 59th street (the edge of the midtown business area) and 125th street (center of Harlem and location of the famous Apollo Theater).

If you speak Spanish, or even if you don't, or have a few words of high school French, and have cable, you should be able to watch the World Cup for less money if you watch it on Univision