X-Tra Rant

I’m a Democrat. (Duh!) I want to get Mitch Daniels out of the Governor’s Mansion very badly (privatizing everything left and right, killing local government budgets for the sake of state budgets are the big reasons). But how the FUCK am I supposed to vote for a Democrat when all that Dem does is pander to the fucking Republicans?

She has proposed returning the state’s current surplus to taxpayers by suspending the state sales tax on gasoline.

“I’m glad that he finally responded to my repeated calls for tax relief for Hoosiers,” Long Thompson said. “But I think Hoosier families in many communities are economically stretched now, and the governor has the authority to suspend collecting the Indiana state sales tax on gasoline, and that would give immediate relief.”

Long Thompson said that when she was in Washington, she never voted for legislation that included a new tax or a tax increase. Daniels, she said, has sought multiple tax increases in his four years as governor.

You’re STILL on this gas tax holiday bullshit? No economist of any skill thinks this is a good idea. Most of that will end up going to the oil companies themselves at worst, or at best you’ll save maybe enough to pay for half a tank of gas. WOOHOOO!!! In the meantime, money that could be spend fixing roads and enhancing our transportation infrastructure is going to be pissed away - at a time where even the FEDERAL road budget is falling short. All so you, JLT, can say “I’m cutting taxes! Weeeeeee!!!”

The Pander Bear is so excited to see you, Jill!

You can’t out tax-cut Republicans. And how about this - how about talking about WHY we have this surplus. It’s not because of sound fiscal management. It’s because Mitch Daniels has FUCKED cities, towns and counties into taking up more of the burden. So all those local services people love (and love to bitch about paying for but don’t want them to go away) are being slashed left and right. Schools are being starved. All so Mitch Fucking Daniels can say we have a “surplus”. AND YOU”RE TRYING TO OUT FISCALLY MISMANAGE THIS JACKASS?

Way to go JLT, you’re actually making me want to NOT VOTE at all for the Governor’s race. I can’t vote for either of you dipshits. You can’t sell change when you’re trying to be more Mitch Daniels than Mitch Daniels.  And the moment I hear you pander to the idiots who hate DST I’m going to have a fucking stroke…

So it takes an article about the clusterfuck that has become Apple’s MobileMe service to get me to write a blog post again. Specifically the part about testing caught my eye as that’s what I do for a living - software testing.

Developers do testing, load testing and infrastructure planning, all of which is implemented by someone else.

That is astounding to me.  Unless you’re a startup with <10 people, there is no excuse for your developers to be doing your functional and load testing.

1. They don’t have the time. Developers are busy people and they have lots of code to write. They do not have the time to run a full suite of functional tests on areas of the product effected by the code they have written. It just can’t happen. Developers can (and SHOULD!) do unit testing on the bits of code they are working on before deliveries and the like.
2. Most developers will not have a higher level view of the product and the areas that need tested. Most developers will default to unit tests like mentioned above and maybe a few other tests. But nothing comprehensive.  This also means that the test planning phase that should be happening during requirements gathering is either not happening at all, or is probably pretty meager.
3. Without a dedicated QA team, who knows how much duplication of testing effort is going on among the developers?
4. Developers will not have the hardware to run scaled, heavy load tests.
5. In no testing model is this recommended. The waterfall model has a QA department doing wide ranges of tests from prototyping stage all the way to release and beyond. Even in Agile Programming, you have a small number of testers on your agile team dedicated to testing (testers that can work with the testers on other agile teams to coordinate effort if needed)

I’m pretty much blown away that a company like Apple would let a development process like this happen on a product that is apparently very important to them. This isn’t some startup working out of a a tiny office with 4 developers and a sales guy. This is freaking APPLE.

Well, the Democrats in the House finally caved and capitulated to an unpopular party pushing an unpopular bill - and expanded spying powers at the same time!!! Way to go! The “compromise” essentially gives telco companies retroactive immunity for helping the government spy on American citizens illegally as long as the President says it was legal. Nice “compromise”, jackasses.  Now our government can really start doing some Stasi style domestic spying. Weeeeeeeeee!!

The vote tally is here.  Looking at the tally:

• 105 Democrats have some explaining to do as to why it’s okay to take a big old dump on the constitution. There was an illegal domestic spying program on AMERICAN CITIZENS. You just gave amnesty to the companies who helped the executive branch engage in that. A majority of Americans are against that. Your party standardbearer for the Presidency is against that. Yet you 105 caved because you’re scared of what the big mean Republicans are going to say about you. Boo. Fucking. Hoo.
• 1 Republican apparently doesn’t want to burn the constitution. Good for you, Rep. Johnson (IL).
• 10 Republicans and 3 Democrats (including Visclosky(D-IN01)) didn’t bother to vote. That’s even more spineless.
• The Indiana delegation was a mixed bag. The Republicans of course voted yes. Fuck constituents’ rights. As mentioned, Visclosky didn’t bother to vote. Brad Ellsworth (IN-08) and Joe Donnelly (IN-02) are among the Spineless 105. Baron Hill (IN-09) voted ‘no’ despite being in one of the crackeriest cracker districts in the state so good for him. And Andre Carson (IN-07) passed his first major test (in my eyes) and voted no.

Congratulations AT&T. You just massively broke the law at the behest of our unpopular law breaking President and got away with it! Now lower my cell phone bill since you won’t need those lawyer fees.

Fuck I’m pissed.

Just saw this ad pop up on my Yahoo mail.

It’s animated and starts out saying “Feeling Fat?”

Now, 99.99% of my readers will know exactly what all is wrong with this. Fat? HER? If anything she’s scrawny. Not to mention the whole body image issues that come out of this.  Seriously, this ad sickens me. Weight loss is one thing - I could stand to lose a few pounds for health reasons. But ads that are targeted to take advantage of body issues, and specifically those of girls, just.. fuck. No words. Good job, Yahoo and Hoodia.

Okay, so Newt Gingrich is right on one count, his party is fucking doomed right now. But then he tries to come up with another magic plan for change. Because his “Contract With America” was implemented so well.

1. Repeal the gas tax for the summer, and pay for the repeal by cutting domestic discretionary spending

Stupid and bad. Every economist says this is at best just a stupid idea, at worst a very very bad idea that will end up helping the oil companies.

2. Redirect the oil being put into the national petroleum reserve onto the open market.

Stupid and unhelpful. Really, a couple cents a gallon? A short term fix? This does nothing.

3. Introduce a “more energy at lower cost with less environmental damage and greater national security bill” as a replacement for the Warner-Lieberman “tax and trade” bill

I also want to introduce a “more ponies at lower cost with more rainbows and greater national security bill.” What does this even mean?

4. Establish an earmark moratorium for one year and pledge to uphold the presidential veto of bills with earmarks through the end of 2009.

Ahhh the great McCain Earmark Gambit, that keeps slowly getting rolled back as he is challenged on exactly what earmarks he’d stop with a complete moratorium.

5. Overhaul the census and cut its budget radically.

Right. because the Census is a HUGE part of our budget. Man, if only we could radically cut the census we could get that new Ponies and Rainbows bill funded!!!

6. Implement a space-based, GPS-style air traffic control system.

Weeeee!!! Space!!! Sounds great, but want to hear an expert’s take on this.  Also, like #5, really how significant is this in the scope of the entire budget? Mor ethan likely a drop in the bucket.

7. Declare English the official language of government.

Ahhh Newt, you just gotta pander to the “They Took Our Jeeerrrrrrrrrbs” crowd, eh? Is this really an issue that will save the GOP when the economy, the war and health care are the top issues? Really?

Here comes the Pander Bear!!!

8. Protect the workers’ right to a secret ballot. The vast majority (around 81%) of Americans believe that American workers have a right to have a secret ballot election before they are forced to join a union.

Ahhhh but a significant minority of Americans are in a job with unions, so looking at a poll of all Americans about the right to unionize is like asking all Americans about a ballot initiative in Alaska. It doesn’t really matter.

I got you a Cherry Picker, Newt. I hope you like it

9. Remind Americans that judges matter.

We’ve heard this one for years. It’s really helping now, eh? Pandering to little wedge issues won’t save you now.

——–

Well, that was fun.

Alright so I should be sleeping but i want to get these thoughts out before sleep chases them off into crazy Jason dream land.

• Lake county still has more to report, there are a couple precincts left in Marion and Monroe counties as well. FiveThirtyEight is projecting a Hillary win by 0.9% as of the latest update on the thread there. I was thinking 5% and 2-3 delegate win for Hillary so I will be thrilled by this.
• I’m predicting, based on nothing at all, a 1.5%, 1 delegate Hillary win. Maybe 2 delegates depending on how the CDs break down. Again, I’m thrilled with this considering that Obama kicked her ass in North Carolina and the end result is making up the popular vote ground from Pennsylvania and gaining even more ground in the pledged delegates (which, dear CNN, is what is really important)
• CNN needs to quit with the Lake County conspiracy mongering. I learned from a former state election director that Lake County is one of the counties that uses a consolidated county ballot counting system, rather than the precinct-by-precinct system used in most counties (and in Marion county). This, combined with the large number of absentee ballots (11,000+) is causing the late returns. not some anti-Hillary conspiracy.
• Sadly but not surprisingly, David Orentlicher did not win his bid for the nomination in the 7th CD. David O. would have instantly become one of the smartest congressmen in the country and a great progressive voice. I hope he gets back into the political ring soon (maybe run for Mayor if Indianapolis against Mayor Chinatowns in 2011? I would pay an admission fee to see a debate between those two).
• No one seems to be mentioning the insanely close race for the Democratic nominee to take on Governor Mitch “Mitchy Rich” Daniels. Jim Schellinger is the party approved, powers that be candidate. Jill Long Thompson is the ‘outsider.’ Currently (as of the latest results on wthr.com at 12:56am) Schellinger is up by 609 votes with 4967 of 5230 precincts reporting. So since when is the party approved, Dan Parker/Evan Bayh approved candidate eeking out a potential narrow victory an upset? When your state party chairman is the inept Evan Bayh toadie Dan Parker who can only get Schellinger’s name ID up to 50% in the weeks before the election. As much as I hate to agree with Bayh/Parker on anything, I hope Schellinger pulls this off. If I want to vote for a candidate who will pander with ridiculous gas tax holidays and engage in property tax demagoguery I’ll vote for a Republican.
• If anything came of tonight’s result in Indiana, its that Evan Bayh’s endorsement means very little when it comes to Obama vs. Hillary and that he will not get tapped as the VP. If Bayh can only deliver a tiny victory that is essentially a tie, he’s not the force among state Democrats that has been assumed by some. I am not shedding any tears over this.
• (as of 99.49% of Marion County precincts reporting) And finally, turnout was insane. 35.32% turnout of all registered voters in Marion County. Unfortunately the Indygov.org website does not list registered voters by party, but the GOP only got 45,667 ballots cast to the Dems’ 182,252. Turnout among Democrats HAS to have been well above the 50% of registered voters mark. This is awesome news for November.
• Finally finally, thanks to everyone who came out to Drinking Liberally. We had a really good crowd and it was a great time. Thanks also to Spencer and Dustin, who always treat us great at Spencer’s Stadium Tavern (802 S. West Street. Stop in and have a few beers. it’s a fantastic place)

Update:

• Looks like JLT pulled it out with the same white votes that came in for Hillary from Crown Point and such. As a friend of a friend said: “I blame Crown Point”.  JLT will get trounced by Daniels. There goes that opportunity. Heckuva job, Dan Parker.
• I still haven’t seen the delegate counts out of Indiana. Nothing official anyway. This is what matters, not the popular vote.  Will update here when I see it.
• Chris Bowers has the quote of the night:

So, please correct me if I am missing something, but if a shift of 4-5% and two or three delegates in Indiana and North Carolina is enough to end the Democratic nomination, then why didn’t anyone frakking tell us that the campaign was so close to ending? Why was there this massive kabuki theater pretending that it was still a close campaign where Clinton had a legitimate chance at winning? Why were Clinton’s attacks on Obama repeated again, and again, and again, without anyone mentioning that Clinton was a desperate candidate hanging by a thread who would probably say anything in order to stay afloat?

The reason is simple: the established media was never covering the Democratic nomination campaign. They were, instead, covering some form of kabuki theater where reality is ignored and liberals are ritually gutted on the public stage for the pleasure of elite, rich, white, male pundits who like to pretend they know what is in the mind of the “common man” or some other formulation that is equally rustic, offensive and laughable. That is all that we have been watching since the Wisconsin primary, since the delegates have not improved for Clinton since the Wisconsin primary (and have actually gotten much worse, if you include the supers). If we had been watching something else, then tonight would not be the end of the campaign, because nothing really changed tonight. If this is the end, then the last two and a half months have been a Clinton-fueled fairy tale, which is basically a white-hot lie about the nomination campaign. Puns intended in the previous sentence.

• Kim Brown won a Judge slot due to her name being at the top alphabetically, even though she wasn’t a slated candidate and most people don’t even pay attention to the judges anyway. Swell.

Well when I first read this link courtesy of CJ, I was thrown for a loop. Mayor “Chinatowns” Ballard supporting mass transit and potential taxes to make it happen? It was as if my world had been turned upside down. Bit then it all became clear at Drinking Liberally: Indianapolis last night…

Mayor Chinatowns is going to import low wage Chinese workers to build our light rail system, then put them into an area of the city so that we can have our very own Chinatowns!! Two birds, one stone bitches! Now thems The Ballard Rules!

Photos From Teh Futar!!

Photo Circa 2010: Chinese workers build the light rail line in Indianapolis.

Photo Circa 2017: Indianapolis Chinatowns, Morris & West Streets

(In all seriousness, I really do hope he is behind light and regional rail for Indianapolis. We need it badly. And thanks to Nick for the rail-chinatown connection)

I’m officially getting behind a new candidate for president. A candidate who understand the real issues. A candidate who doesn’t hate America.

American Flag Lapel Pin is patriotism you can count on!!!

LapelPin08.com is the home of the most patriotic candidate in the race for the White House.

I can’t even begin to write coherently about the Democratic debate last night. I didn’t watch it because I’d figure it was going to be more of the same blandness: semi-important policy questions and a whole lot of nothing said. Instead it was apparently an before any actual policy question was asked. The rest was about bullshit GOP talking points.

I’ll let Masson sum it up on a more coherent manner than I can:

I didn’t watch the ABC Debate. I hear the moderators were awful. The following topics apparently did not figure prominently:

The financial crisis
The collapse of housing values in the US and around the world
Afghanistan
Health care
Torture
The declining value of the US Dollar
Education
Trade
Pakistan
Energy
Immigration
The decline of American manufacturing
The Supreme Court
The burgeoning world food crisis.
Global warming
China
The attacks on organized labor and the working class
Terrorism and al Qaeda
Civil liberties and constraints on government surveillance

Flag pins, on the other hand, were deemed significant. Our media is just truly, truly horrible.

Our bullshit media is ruining this country. To steal a line from CJ, if you truly think that the question of a candidate wearing a lapel pin is more important than god damned policy you don’t deserve to vote.

More debate dumb-assery summaries:

• Charlie Gibson’s Cocktail Napkin Economics [Wonk Room]
  
• I just complained to ABC [Sadly, No!]
• Lee Atwater Lives!!! [dailyKos: DHinMI]
• Clinton-Obama Debate: ABC Decides Top Issues Facing Americans Are Gaffes, Flag Pins and ’60s Radicals [Editor & Publisher]
• Gibson, Stephanapoulos outrage! [Philly.com]

That’s all I can write or even stand to read at this point before I have a stroke and/or get really stabbity.

After reading this piece on Politico, I can only come to one conclusion - we need to turn the election of our President into a drinking contest of some sorts.

When I saw a video of Hillary Clinton downing a shot of Crown Royal whiskey in Bronko’s Restaurant and Lounge in Crown Point, Ind., on Saturday night, I was delighted to see that she has finally learned what campaigning for president is all about.

Some potential ideas for Drinking Games to decide our president:

• Quarters: Hey there’s a president on the quarter. It seems perfect but will it resonate with the Real Americans or just college frat boys?
• Beer Pong: Ditto, but this is something I could see making Spike TV into our election coverage leader.
• Speed Drinking: This could be especially important in the primary as the last World Record Holder (before the category being dropped from the Guinness Book) was from Pennsylvania. Have Steven Petrosino officiate.
• SOTU Drinking Game: Candidates are forced to watch all of George W. Bush’s SOTU speeches and follow the drinking game rules for those speeches. Last candidate to pass out wins.
• Old School Drink Them Under The Table: Easy. The candidates all sit around a table and start drinking shots. Rotate the shots so that all parts of America feel “connected with”. Bourbon, whiskey, vodka, jello shots, the whole gamut. Last candidate standing is the Rootenist Tootenist Connectitiest With Real Americans President 2008!!!

Hillary Prepares for Drink Off To The White House 2008

Think about it - no annoying advertising. No canvassers at your door during dinner. No stupid talking heads. Just the candidates being like “Real Americans” and drowning their pain in alcohol - for the good of our nation. And all we have to worry about is the alcohol lobby and undue influence from foreign spirits.

Thank you Roger Simon. You’ve transformed our electoral process.