Christie flips then he flops

Back in 2010, NJ Gov. Chris Christie campaigned for anti-union demagogue Scott Walker, traveling the country “touting his plan to take on New Jersey’s public employee unions by reining in pension and health benefit costs.”

But Christie changed his tune in March 2011, blaming “liberals in the media” for pointing to similarities in the way New Jersey and Wisconsin tackled public-sector unions, and said contracts should be negotiated through collective bargaining.

Now Christie is traveling to Wisconsin to campaign for Walker in Green Bay and Milwaukee. “There was never a doubt that Walker was going to be no-nonsense when he got into the governor’s office,” Christie’s right-hand man Mike DuHaime said to the Star-Ledger. “He was not going to just be a wallflower. He was going to make chances for what he thought was right. Just like Gov. Christie, he was going to grab problems by the throat and not let go.”

Chris Christie, the most mendacious governor in the history of New Jersey, can Bite Me.

Christie to campaign for controversial Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker | NJ.com.

Google’s data harvesting wasn’t done by “rogue” emplyee

The FCC has issued its report on how Google used its Street View cars to gather e-mails, passwords and other sensitive personal information from unsuspecting computer users around the world. Here’s an excerpt from the CNBC story:

“ ‘So how did this happen? Quite simply, it was a mistake,’ a Google executive wrote on a company blog in 2010. ‘The project leaders did not want, and had no intention of using, payload data.’

“But according to the [FCC] report, the engineer suggested in his proposal that it was entirely intentional: ‘We are logging user traffic along with sufficient data to precisely triangulate their position at a given time, along with information about what they were doing.’ “

Oh yeah, they also tried that “rogue” excuse in another incident.

Data Harvesting at Google Not a Rogue Act, Report Finds – US Business News – CNBC.

Clyde Williams launches campaign against Cong. Charles Rangel by whining

Clyde Williams wants to run for Congress against incumbent Charles Rangel, but his petitions to get on the ballot have been challenged for not meeting the law’s requirements. His reaction:

“Last night, I learned that associates of Charlie Rangel intend to try to block my access to the ballot,” Mr. Williams wrote on his Facebook page. “Some might say a petition challenge is the sincerest form of flattery. But in fact what my opponents are challenging is the right of the people to be heard – trying to silence the voices of change. I will fight this challenge because I – like so many District residents – share a the desire to change our fortunes and seize our future for the better.”

Getting on the ballot in New York involves 1) collecting the required number of signatures, 2) following the specific requirements of the election law, and 3) defending your petition from legal challenge. The purpose of the process is to ensure that fringe candidates without broad support don’t force the taxpayers to foot the bill for unneeded elections.

The laws go back decades, and well-prepared candidates big and small have successfully gotten themselves on the ballot. You can do it too, if you have broad support and do your homework.

For whining, Clyde Williams can Bite Me.

via The Paper Chase In The 13th District | Politicker.

Brennan Center Eulogizes Chuck Colson

Myrna Pérez of the Brennan Center has written a touching eulogy for the late Chuck Colson.

Yes, the same Chuck Colson whose zealotry was so extreme that it was said that he would walk over his own grandmother to re-elect Nixon. Colson, Nixon’s hatchet man. Colson, who worked for decades to destroy John Kerry. Colson, who wanted to hire thugs to beat up anti-war demonstrators. Colson, organizer of the burglary of a doctor’s office. Colson, who went to jail for obstruction of justice.

While in prison, Colson found God. But did that temper his self-righteousness or cool his zealotry? No. It caused him to redirect it.

He again hobnobbed with presidents, but this time it was to score taxpayer funds for his Christian ministry. He fought against homosexuality, premarital sex and masturbation. He called gay marriage the “greatest threat to religious liberty we’ve ever faced” (while saying we should have a “civil discussion and to disagree without calling one another names . . .“). He claimed that gay marriage would lead to a destruction of private property rights. He railed against Darwinism, claimed that “Christians have been the vanguard of securing women’s rights” and worked to get the Bible into the public school curriculum.

Lastly, Colson portrayed himself as the successful leader of Prison Fellowship, the ministry that claims to have reduced recidivism rates in prisons. But there are claims that their numbers were cooked.

I’m sure that Colson believed he was doing the right thing, but he made the world worse not better. And for that, he can Bite Me. And for being gullible, Myrna Pérez can Bite Me, too.

Stephen Colbert reveals that global warming is caused by immigrants

“One thing audiences love about conservative firebrand Stephen Colbert is that he’s not afraid to state the uncomfortable truths, the things that lie beyond the realms of liberals’ namby-pamby notions of ‘political correctness.’ ”

Relying on research by white-supremacist John Tanton, Colbert reveals that immigrants to the US soon begin to eat, drive and waste energy like Americans — with the result that they create four times the volume of carbon emissions that they did in their home countries.

Tanton and his network of front groups can Bite Me.

Colbert: Global warming caused by immigrants | The Raw Story.

Rep. Paul Ryan converts from Objectivism to Catholicism

After years as the United State’s number one proponent of Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism, Rep. Ryan has come to an Epiphany and undergone a conversion to the Roman Catholic Church.

In the old days, Ryan required his staff members to read Rand’s novel, Atlas Shrugged. The article doesn’t say what their required reading is now, but maybe it’s Summa Theologica.

We applaud Ryan’s progress and hope that his next step will involve becoming less of a dick.

Under Catholic pressure Paul Ryan backs away from Rand, Objectivism | The Raw Story.

More Americans than ever support gun rights AND gay marriage

“Compared to both 2004 and 2008, Americans are now more conservative when it comes to gun rights, but more liberal when it comes to gay marriage.

“It remains to be seen how this slightly ideological schizophrenia among Americans will affect the outcome of the presidential election.”

Doesn’t seem odd to me. It seems Libertarian.

via Poll: More Americans than ever support gun rights AND gay marriage | Texas on the Potomac | a Chron.com blog.

Ryan Says Catholics Can Choose Which Church Teachings to Follow

U.S. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan thinks Catholics — or at least he — can choose which Church teachings to follow. And he’s probably right. After all, politicians are denied Communion for supporting the right of non-Catholics to have abortions, but the Church doesn’t punish politicians who commit a wide variety of sins or who support other policies in contravention of Catholic doctrine.

via Ryan Says Catholics Can Disagree Over Cuts in Aid to Poor – Bloomberg.