Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Rick Santorum thinks pregnancy through rape is God's gift? Seriously?

Rick Santorum thinks pregnancy through rape is God's gift? Seriously?: "Invoking God's will as a supporting argument to his position on abortion hardly fits with the constitution he claims to uphold

As a lapsed Catholic turned atheist, a staunch feminist and someone who has a strong general aversion to sleazy, disingenuous men, I was shocked yesterday to find myself feeling something like respect for Rick Santorum, Pope Benedict XVI and Piers Morgan all in the space of three minutes.

The three minutes in question are a clip from Morgan's interview with Santorum on the former's CNN talk show. In it, Santorum declares that even if his own daughter were raped – a hypothetical scenario both men manage to discuss with remarkable calm – the Roman Catholic presidential candidate would maintain his adamantly pro-life position regarding abortion.

I sincerely feel a tiny, grudging mote of respect for that degree of consistency. As anti-choice zealots go, those who will take the "baby killer" argument to its extreme appeal to me slightly more than those who can say with a straight face that abortion is murder, except when the woman didn't want to have sex...."

George Carlin on Abortion & Conservatives

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Talk About Bad Incentives

Encrypting Your Hard Drive No Longer Works Against Federal Prosecution

Encrypting Your Hard Drive No Longer Works Against Federal Prosecution: "Sometimes common "street smarts" fail you. Like when you ask the guy who's selling you drugs if he's a cop. Or when you encrypt your hard drive and refuse to unlock it for prosecutors while citing the self-incriminating clause of the Fifth Amendment.

A federal court judge has just ruled that being forced to decrypt one's hard drive during prosecution does not violate the defendants's Fifth Amendment rights. The ruling stems from a case against Ramona Fricosu, who is charged with mortgage fraud. She has refused to decrypt the contents of her hard drive arguing that doing so would require her to essentially testify against herself...."

Indecision 2012 - The Gingrich Who Stole South Carolina


Monday, January 23, 2012

Motivated In Ohio: Media Matters Goes Light Bulb Shopping

Motivated In Ohio: Media Matters Goes Light Bulb Shopping

Apple's Foreign Suppliers Demonstrate Widespread Scamming and Horrific Abuse of Employees

Apple's Foreign Suppliers Demonstrate Widespread Scamming and Horrific Abuse of Employees: "Apple's bombshell report on its suppliers shows anti-employee practices as common as iPods. White collar criminologist William K. Black investigates.

Apple has released a report on working conditions in its suppliers’ factories, highlighting a form of control fraud (fraud in which the head of a company subverts it for personal gain) that criminology has identified but rarely discussed. I write overwhelmingly about accounting control fraud because it drives our recurrent, intensifying financial crises. The primary intended victims of accounting control frauds are the shareholders and the creditors. Other private sector control frauds target customers (e.g., George Akerlof’s 1970 article on “lemons”), and the public (e.g., the unlawful disposal of toxic waste, illegal logging, and tax fraud)....."