WOIFM

Getting more search engine hits

Getting more search engine hits for Christie Kerr than I ever imagined were possible. Unfortunately for seekers of golf-related erotica, I have no nude pictures of her and if I did I wouldn't share them.

From the e-mail bag:If you

From the e-mail bag:

If you get an envelope from a company called the "Internal Revenue Service," DO NOT OPEN IT!

This group operates a scam around this time every year. Their letter claims that you owe them money, which they will take and use to pay for the operation of essential functions of the United States government. This is untrue!

The money the IRS collects is used to fund various inefficient and pointless social engineering projects. This organization has ties to another shady outfit called the Social Security Administration, who claim to take money from your regular paychecks and save it for your retirement. In truth, the SSA uses the money to pay for the same misguided make-work projects the IRS helps mastermind. These scam artists have bilked honest, hard working Americans out of hundreds of billions of dollars. Don't fall for this scam!

FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!

Only you can prevent overtaxation.

Via Instapundit: Gun permits surge,

Via Instapundit: Gun permits surge, but not violence.

Of course, anyone who's been a regular reader here could have predicted that. The only real surprise is that Michigan hasn't yet reported a sharp drop in crime.

Myths About Copyright from Eugene

Myths About Copyright from Eugene Volokh. Link via Bag and Baggage.

In case you needed it,

In case you needed it, here's another reason Hotmail sucks: anyone who gets a copy of your cookie can read all your e-mail - forever.

Virginia Anti-Spam Law

If you want to know more about Virginia Anti-Spam Law, there you go.

A convincing argument for a

A convincing argument for a ratbastardectomy.

Overrated: The Strokes.Impossible to overrate:

Overrated: The Strokes.

Impossible to overrate: the sheer brilliance and techincal complexity of the all-animated LEGO^® video for The White Stripes "Fell In Love with a Girl." [download the video here]

Mickey Kaus finds a giant loophole

Mickey Kaus finds a giant loophole in McCain-Feingold - very rich people can run any ads they want; only their corporations - and the non-profit corporations representing millions of "little people" - can't.

Where's my "Perot in '04" sticker when I need it?

The Economist sounds the alarm

The Economist sounds the alarm about oddly-shaped Congressional districts. MeFi chatteratti discuss it. I put in my two cents:

Instead of creating more skewed delegations this cycle, the line-drawers have been padding existing margins and reducing the number of competitive seats - in other words, protecting incumbents. To me, this is a far greater threat to democracy than creating a number of closely-matched swing seats.

What do you think about re-districting? Chime in on the thread.

First, Christie Kerr. Now, Elmo.

First, Christie Kerr. Now, Elmo. Who's feeding these photos to the AP?

There are two very, very sad observations to be made here. First is that few people would ever have heard of Ms. Kerr but for that unfortunate camera angle.

Second, it is sad that someone on Capitol Hill, even for a moment, thought it was a good idea to have a muppet advocating social policy. This can only be the natural consequence of having Alec Baldwin participate in the political process.

Note to self: Contribute to

Note to self: Contribute to this thread - kuro5hin.org || Should Record Companies Own Copyrights?

Next on FOX: When Judges

Next on FOX: When Judges Go Bad:

Here are 10 judges and ex-judges who won't be presiding this May 1, Law Day, and whose absence is cause for celebration... This is truly amazing misconduct, hard to explain, except to say it's downright injudicious.

Judicial "activism" of a different kind.

This is cool: Make A

This is cool: Make A Shorter Link. Ever get fed up with ugly spaghetti links? Trim them down to manageable URLs with this tool.

Jason comes to the stunning

Jason comes to the stunning conclusion that Verizon sucks.

Two things today found elsewhere:

Two things today found elsewhere: Don't kiss that trophy! You don't know where it's been.

Also, LGF points out an enlightening column by Larry Miller, offering some history on the Middle East: Whosoever Blesses Them

I'll second the notion...

I'll second the notion that these protesters are absolutely ridiculous. My secretary just informed me that an in-house lunch was delayed because protesters ransacked the catering truck en route to my office and locked the driver out of the truck. Why? What the heck does a catering truck have to do with Earth Day, or world peace, or any other cause? And how does destruction of property really get your message across? Any little bit of empathy I might have had for the ardent true believers is now GONE. Please get out of my city. NOW. Come back when you can behave like adults.

It's well known by now

It's well known by now that this weekend's protests were contaminated to the core with idiocy, and that they inconvenienced thousands of D.C. residents who might otherwise have been sympathetic. But most haven't heard about the economic havoc the protestors wrought here. Besides business closures and such, for which I have no figures, these protests cost the city a pretty penny in management costs.

Police overtime costs from this long weekend of protests in the District could go as high as $5 million, said D.C. Mayor Tony Williams.

By contrast, the entire annual budget for the District's homeless program is about $14 million, maybe less this year.

I'm not a big fan of the "social safety net" and such, but I'm sure that virtually of the anti-globalization forces here over the weekend would rather have seen that money go to causes other than police overtime. Just one more example of how left-wing lunatics don't understand economic cause-and-effect.

British scientists first tagged a

British scientists first tagged a Manx shearwater gull in 1957. That bird is still flying five million miles later.

In this weekend's draft, Steve

In this weekend's draft, Steve Spurrier choose to add rookie QB Patrick Ramsey to the already-swollen QB ranks of the Washington Redskins.

Spurrier said recently he would feel comfortable entering the season with Wuerffel and Rosenfels as his main quarterbacks. However, Spurrier also said after drafting Ramsey that he would have no qualms about starting a rookie.

Spurrier hasn't even called his first play, yet he's already brought to the 'Skins what he knows best - a quarterback controversy that will undermine the offense for the entire season.

Fans of other teams throughout the NFL ought to be grateful to Dan Synder for grabbing Spurrier before their teams could. I know I am.

Last fall, I weighed 245

Last fall, I weighed 245 pounds - easily the heaviest I have ever been in my life. My clothes no longer fit, and the class ring I had worn since college didn't either - if I had it on, I couldn't get it off, and if I got it off, I couldn't fit it back on.

Yesterday, I stepped on the scale to find that I'd broken the 220 barrier - I weighed a comparatively svelte 219.5 pounds - 25 pounds lighter than six months ago.

What changed? Mostly, my attitude. I knew that I couldn't keep expanding like a government entitlement program. So I took action.

I knew that there were going to be limits on the kinds of changes I could make in my diet and exercise program. I jog a few miles a week, weather and pollen counts allowing, but most of my loss is probably attributable to the low-carb eating plan I'm now following. I used to consume rice, bread, potatoes, and especially sugary soda in vast quantities. Now, I simply skip them - rice, bread, and potatoes are rarely the interesting part of the meal anyway. The toughest thing for me, or so I expected, was giving up soda.

For about a month, it was. Dineen and I kept lots of seltzer water in the house (you can get sugar-free varieties with subtle flavoring) and drank it constantly. Then, one night out, all I had to choose from was soda - diet or regular. I resigned myself to the bitter aftertaste.

That night I was shocked. I used to be the kind of person who hated diet soda. I could taste it - and loathe it - through just about anything. If the bartender gave me a bourbon and diet coke, I would choke on it. But not anymore. It seemed that a month of drinking just water had deprogrammed my taste buds - or perhaps just my mind. I now regularly drink and enjoy a variety of diet sodas, especially Diet Dr. Pepper. (Oddly, I used to loathe regular Pepsi, but I prefer Diet Pepsi to Diet Coke. Who knew?)

I don't pretend that my solution is right for everyone, but if you're looking to lose weight, do some reading on how your body processes nutrition. Most modern nutritionists understand that anabolic and catabolic hormones have a dramatic impact on how you process what you take in; in turn, what you take in has an impact on the natural cycles of those types of hormones. You might be surprised what you learn.

It's worked for me so far. I've lost weight to the point where people notice and comment on it. Now, my goal is to lose another 20 pounds by the end of August - a reasonable 5 pounds per month - so that by the end of the summer, I'll be back below 200 pounds for the first time in over ten years.

Kaliber10000 is officially back in

Kaliber10000 is officially back in business.

David Gagne contributes his 28

David Gagne contributes his 28 hours:

My birthday is June 26, 1973. I know. I was there. That's also what my mom told me, and she swears that she was there, too....

So today I have to trudge to the Social Security building and show them my birth certificate, passport, and driver's license to prove to them that I was born on the 26th. This makes little sense to me. Does it strike anyone else as odd that these other government-issued documents are what I need to prove to the government that they have an error in my file?

Fight the power, brother.

Broomeman alerts me to the

Broomeman alerts me to the following:

The General Accounting Office has found that departing Clinton aides vandalized the White House and Old Executive Office Building, stealing two historic doorknobs, scrawling obscene graffiti on walls and inflicting $14,000 worth of damage.

Sounds like something Dan Hartung ought to read.

This month's Virginia Lawyer magazine

This month's Virginia Lawyer magazine has an excellent piece on cyber-jurisdiction; in other words, the power of a court to govern a person or entity based on their activity on the Internet. Share it with a friend.

When this is needed, we'll

When this is needed, we'll just rename it the Ronald Reagan World Wide Web.

The sooner Andrew W.K.'s fifteen

The sooner Andrew W.K.'s fifteen minutes of fame are up, the sooner he can get back on his meds.

Or vice versa.

Have you just moved? Don't

Have you just moved? Don't know who to complain to about your tax bill? Contact your Congresscritter in the U.S. House of Representatives. All you need is your address. (It's written inside the waistband of your undies - that's where I found mine.)

Even with recent tax cuts,

Even with recent tax cuts, there's one way that federal income taxes are more burdensome than ever:

[T]he 17,000-page, 2.8 million-word tax code is more complex than ever. One estimate is that it now takes 28 hours and six minutes to tackle the Internal Revenue Service's 1040 form and do the necessary record keeping.

Twenty-eight hours! By contrast, a full-time week of work is 40 hours. That's three and a half full-time work days. Wouldn't it be nice if your government gave you that time off instead?

If you're mad as hell and you don't want to take it anymore, head over to www.taxslaverysucks.com for information about tonight's protest at the Capitol Hill Post Office.

Zeldman:Network Solutions is now doing

Zeldman:

Network Solutions is now doing to Leslie Harpold and her excellent personal site, Hoopla, what one hopes his cellmate will one day do to the president of Network Solutions.

We'll all do our best to make that happen. In the meantime, if you have your domain name registered with Network Solutions, move it. Now.

Catch the latest updates on

Catch the latest updates on Leslie Harpold's fight to reclaim hoopla.com from Sarah Hubert over on MeFi.

"Lord, if you are listening,

"Lord, if you are listening, smite these evil clowns." Apparently, NetSol has done this before.

Things I know are true

Things I know are true and you should too:

• People who set out to kill civilians for political gain are terrorists and are also evil.
• Nations who provide financial support to terrorists, who provide politcal cover for terrorists, who harbor terrorists and knowingly allow them to remain within their borders, are sponsors of terrorism.
• A nation which finds itself the target of terrorists has a moral obligation to defend itself and its citizens from terrorism.
• Fighting terrorists by eradicating their bases, seizing their financial networks, removing governments that support them, and keeping them on the run for their lives, has been proven to work, at least as long as your people have the stomach to maintain the pressure against the terrorists.
• Even if fighting terrorists angers other terrorists, it's hard for anyone to strike out at you while they are running for their lives.

I'm not the first one to notice this, but since Israel began its recent military operations several days ago, there has been only one suicide bomber, as opposed to the once-per-day bombs that Israel saw before that. Their strategy has worked to save Israeli lives, defense of its people's lives and freedom being the ultimate purpose of government.

When Israel moved against Arafat, I was told that Israel "just doesn't get it." But they get it exactly right. Arafat's goal is, and always has been, to destroy the Israeli nation. He will not stop. Hew will not soften. He will only disguise his ultimate goal for temporary advantage. To treat Yasser Arafat as anything less than a sponsor of terror - like the Taliban, like Saddam Hussein, and their ilk - is a mistake.

Damn, this makes my blood

Damn, this makes my blood boil. According to textism and nothing, some pirate named Sarah Hubert stole Leslie Harpold's well-regarded hoopla.com domain out from under her. According to Leslie:

They think (no one is willing to commit to any answer) there may have been a faxed request (faked? forged?) to have the domain transferred to this Sarah person which gave them “my” permission for the transfer (naturally I wrote no such letter, sent no such fax, and I haven’t been in Germany since 1995). So the person swiped it, simply by faxing a forged letter to NetSol as best I can tell. I got no notice via email or land mail, they just did it on the authority of a fax.

Sounds like there might be a breach of contract going on, among other things.

Bret has it right: for

Bret has it right: for Glenn Reynolds to say that Neale Talbot doesn't quite get blogging is absolutely ridiculous. It shows that Professor Reynolds engaged in some uncharacteristic laziness - a simple glance at the archives would have shown that Neale has ben "getting" blogging since November 5, 1999 (just a few days before this author). Not only is it lazy, it's arrogant, that the Johnny-come-lately Reynolds claims to have a monopoly on "getting" blogging. Well, at least he admits he wasn't in his right mind when he posted it.

On the other hand, I've read InstaPundit for long enough to know that Reynolds blogs for the same reason I do - he loves to shoot his mouth off about politics. He doesn't say it in so many words, but it's obvious from his writings. He didn't start blogging with a profit motive in mind, and his current use of the "tip jar" to accept donations doesn't prove that he's now trying to profit from tragedy. Neale's insistence that it does... well, that's just more linkslutting. Enough post hoc ergo propter hoc and the whole world goes blind.

I've been focused elsewhere lately.Although

I've been focused elsewhere lately.

Although I don't normally handle criminal matters, one of my clients found himself in the awkward position of being arrested for a felony that he didn't commit. I agreed to handle it.

Yesterday was the preliminary hearing, the time in which the court determines whether there's probable cause to charge the defendant with a crime. My client was nervous - he hadn't done anything wrong, and was afraid he might go to jail. I was nervous - my client had a lot riding on me. As you might imagine, I've spent a lot of time recently preparing for the hearing.

Fortunately, it all worked out - the charge was nonsense, the state realized it, and agreed to drop the charges. My client is a free man and I remain undefeated in felony cases.

I intend to stay that way; I hope to never handle another criminal matter again. But I definitely earned my living yesterday.