FRICTION TAPE

Lois Lerner Isn't the Problem

Thu, 23 May 2013 20:03:15 -0400

Conservatives need to wise up: the IRS scandal is not about Lois Lerner.

Lerner is a career civil servant. She was doing what her bosses wanted. Is she personally a Democrat, probably somewhat progressive? Maybe, but I don’t know.

Here’s what we know: the President demonized conservative groups generally, and in some cases by name; it appears the White House obtained and leaked tax info on Romney and the Kochs; a boatload of Democratic senators called for the IRS to “crack down” on conservative groups.

Lerner is a bureaucrat, not an idiot. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out how to stay employed; it’s the skill at which bureaucrats most excel.

The problem is not Lois Lerner; the problem is giving the government, and especially the IRS, the power to police political speech.

The sooner conservatives figure this out, the sooner we’ll begin moving back toward being a constitutional republic. Sadly, lots of folks are too busy trying to collect scalps and pin this scandal on a president who never again has to run for reelection. Don’t waste this opportunity.

Image via Wikimedia Commons.

benhowe: I hope this earns me good will with the IRS. I created...

Tue, 14 May 2013 15:50:42 -0400

benhowe:

I hope this earns me good will with the IRS. I created them a new logo.

Indeed.

I wasn’t looking for a reason to watch network television,...

Mon, 13 May 2013 09:47:43 -0400

I wasn’t looking for a reason to watch network television, but it appears as though I may have one now.

I.R.S.'s Lerner: We Lied about Targeting Tea Party Organizations in '12 Cycle

Fri, 10 May 2013 12:24:00 -0400

2012: “We’re not targeting conservative groups!”

2013: “Sorry we targeted conservative groups.”

These people are the scum of the earth and the enemies of freedom.

cracked: Now that Wrigley is yanking its caffeinated gum from...

Thu, 09 May 2013 10:32:38 -0400

cracked:

Now that Wrigley is yanking its caffeinated gum from the market, you’ll just have to guzzle your super powers in liquid form again. #CrackedClassic

7 Scientific Ways Coffee Gives You Super Powers

Team Coffee.

This morning we looked at Lucas Arts’s “Full...

Mon, 06 May 2013 16:05:17 -0400

This morning we looked at Lucas Arts’s “Full Throttle” and Dreamworks’s “The Neverhood Chronicles.” This afternoon, we turn to Sierra’s “Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers.”

Within the horror genre, the stuff with religious themes tends to unsettle me more than the rest. In film, titles like Rosemary’s Baby, The Omen, or even tame stuff like The Exorcism of Emily Rose always tend to leave me with more questions than answers, and that’s how I know those stories are stories told well.

The designers and writers behind “Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers” pulled this off in epic fashion in the early 1990s, and I spent hours glued to the screen and the story because I couldn’t turn away … but also because I didn’t want to have to try to sleep.

Following on this morning’s post on Lucas Arts’s...

Mon, 06 May 2013 12:03:00 -0400

Following on this morning’s post on Lucas Arts’s “Full Throttle,” I also found this morning this great YouTube playlist of gameplay footage of “The Neverhood Chronicles,” a claymation adventure/puzzle game designed by Earthworm Jim creator Doug TenNapel, and produced by Dreamworks Studios. Some of my favorite features of this game were its clarinet-heavy, jazzy soundtrack and absurd/surreal characters and universe.

“The Neverhood Chronicles” has a Facebook page, and Matt Pearman (whoever he is) has preserved the old neverhood.com for posterity.

Anyone know where I can get a copy playable on a Mac?

Lucas Arts’s “Full Throttle” was one of my...

Mon, 06 May 2013 09:39:02 -0400

Lucas Arts’s “Full Throttle” was one of my favorite desktop games when I was in high school, not least because one of the characters in the footage above and I share a tattoo design.

I ran across some other game footage earlier this morning, in a mashup of “life lessons learned playing Lucas Arts games” (which is clever), and I just lost about a half hour looking for a non-pirated version of “Full Throttle” to buy and download … but LA only ever released the game on CD-ROM. I’m skeptical that the quality of a $20.00 purchase from Amazon will yield a high-quality experience, mostly because I don’t believe the seller when they say they have a “new” copy of a nearly 20-year-old game.

Then again, it’s only $20.00….

Internet Strengthens Institution of Marriage

Thu, 02 May 2013 13:43:02 -0400

Internet Strengthens Institution of Marriage:

Is there anything it can’t do?

New research that says thanks to the Internet, marriage rates among young people, which have been declining for years, are 15% to 30% higher than they would be without the Web.

The Corporate Lobbying Proxy War

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 11:47:19 -0400

The Corporate Lobbying Proxy War:

An excellent WSJ editorial tackles the astroturf campaign to use the Securities and Exchange Commission to order DISCLOSE Act-like regulations by fiat, even though shareholders routinely and summarily reject these types of initiatives in the normal course of proxy voting and corporate governance:

If the targeted companies won’t roll over, the liberal and union fall back is to browbeat the SEC to make it a proxy requirement for all companies. “If we have to go company by company” that “is a very long and drawn out process,” Mr. DiNapoli says. “It is the appropriate role for the SEC to set a standard, industry wide so that all of these corporations that are publicly traded will do the right thing in terms of disclosure.”

Liberal activists boast they’ve collected some 500,000 comments in support of an SEC rule to require disclosure, but over 99% of them are form letters originating with the same activists. New SEC Chairman Mary Jo White is under particular lobbying pressure from unions, Democrats and the liberal press, and whether she succumbs will be the first big test of her political independence.

Liberals claim universal disclosure is right for corporations, but they want a different set of rules for their own donors. Take the liberal outfit, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (Crew), which has been resisting an effort to subpoena its donor information. The group, which has lambasted conservative groups for failing to disclose their contributors, claims that its donors are protected from disclosure by the … First Amendment.

Be sure to read the full piece by clicking the link above.

beeishappy: TDS | TCR 2013.04.22 [x] Heh.

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 12:06:21 -0400

beeishappy:

TDS | TCR 2013.04.22 [x]

Heh.

Stick tap to the Bruins game ops crew.

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 11:40:55 -0400

Stick tap to the Bruins game ops crew.

Now is a great time to help the City of Boston become inspired...

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 10:10:37 -0400

Now is a great time to help the City of Boston become inspired again. Kudos, NHL.

Boston Athletic Association Releases Memo on Post-traumatic Stress Management

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 09:53:16 -0400

This arrived in my inbox earlier via my brother Morgan, who ran the marathon on Monday. There’s some helpful/useful information here:

DEAR RUNNER AND VOLUNTEERS

We are all overwhelmed by the horrific and tragic events at the Boston Marathon last Monday.

Events of mass violence can trigger overwhelming feelings of anxiety, anger or fear. United States Public Health Service, Mental Health Team has arrived in Boston and will be available for in person individuals and group sessions. We will have more specifics for you tomorrow.

The Federal Disaster Distress Helpline, 1-800-985-5990, can provide immediate counseling to anyone who needs help in dealing with the aftermath of this tragedy. This free, confidential, and multilingual crisis support service is also available via SMS (text TalkWithUs to 66746) to anyone experiencing psychological distress as a result of this event. Callers and texters are connected to trained and caring professionals from crisis counseling centers in the network. The Helpline staff provides confidential counseling, referrals to local services that are immediately available, and other needed support services.

Through the Massachusetts Departments of Mental and Public Health, we have assembled many other resources to help runners, volunteers, responders, and spectators manage emotion, grief and stress in the aftermath of a traumatic and violent event.

Signs and symptoms many people frequently experience following a traumatic stress incident:

Trouble sleeping or having bad dreams

Recurring images or flashbacks

Strong emotions such as anger, guilt, anxiety, fear or sadness

Flatness or disinterest in life or routine

Irritability

Startled easily, feeling cautious

Avoiding reminders related to the event

Headaches, diarrhea, nausea, or other developing physical ailments

Difficulty remembering the event

Substance use increases

Dealing with the Effects of Trauma - A Self-Help Guide:  This Federal Disaster Distress guide provides more in-depth information on recovering from a traumatic event and is geared toward those whose reactions may be lingering.

Effects of Traumatic Stress after Mass Violence, Terror, or Disaster:  Developed by the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, this publication provides information regarding normal reactions to abnormal situations. It includes descriptions of common traumatic stress reactions, problematic stress responses, and symptoms of PTSD and acute stress disorder.

Tips for Survivors of a Traumatic Event - Managing Your Stress:  This tip sheet outlines the common signs of stress after a disaster and provides stress reduction strategies.

Tips for Talking with and Helping Children and Youth Cope after a Disaster or Traumatic Event: This fact sheet helps parents and teachers recognize and address problems in children and teens affected by the trauma after an act of violence. It describes signs of stress reactions that are common in young trauma survivors at different ages, and offers tips on how to help.

Tips for Managing and Preventing Stress - A Guide for Emergency Response and Public Safety Workers:  This fact sheet gives organizational and individual tips for stress prevention and management for emergency response workers and public safety workers. It describes normal reactions to a disaster, signs of the need for stress management, and ways to handle stress.

Anyone with information about the explosions should call the Boston Police at 800-494-TIPS. The FBI has also established a tip line, 800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324), prompt #3, for anyone who has information or visual images regarding the explosions.

I Can't Believe Someone Wanted to Kill My Family

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 12:54:27 -0400

I am incredibly moved by the outpouring of support from friends and other family members who watched as the Boston Marathon bombing story unfolded, knowing my family and I were there to see my brother Morgan race his third Boston Marathon (and post a personal record for the course of 2:46:55!). I am also incredibly moved by the outpouring of kindness from strangers, both on the ground in Boston and online.

Many people have asked privately whether I plan to write about my experiences over the last few days. The answer is “yes,” but this post will not be it. I just wanted to note briefly for the record that today is when the hard part has begun for me. I spent the day of the attack and yesterday just trying to get a story told, to get information out when people couldn’t get it easily, to make sure my family was safe and accounted for, and able to return home from Boston, literally in one piece without other incident.

I haven’t yet had time to myself to process what happened, and it has begun to hit me like a ton of bricks today. I have vacillated between thankful/relieved and tearful/angry/confused. I absolutely lost it after working out with my trainer this morning, and she asked me, like she does every week, “How do you feel?” Suffice it to say, I heard something a little different when she asked this week.

I’m disappointed in the bickering over whether or not the president used the word “terrorism,” in the race-baiting at Salon (and the reaction to that race-baiting, thereby elevating it), in the quickness with which people have sought to blame this group or that group, or to speculate on the causes of the attack, when none of us really have any information, and the investigation is less than 48 hours old.

I know that the right thing to do is to pray that God bless, keep, and forgive whomever is responsible for this. That is a difficult task today. I’m grateful to a former colleague who offered the following words:

The closer we are to the situation or the person that wants to hurt us, the harder it is to pray for them. I have found the best place to start is realizing I can’t offer this forgiveness alone and ask God to soften my own heart so that I may pray for them; but also express my gratitude to him for continuing to forgive me.

Please keep the wounded, the deceased, their families, the first responders, and the City of Boston in your prayers, and please take some time this week to donate blood to the American Red Cross. Find a donation center here.

Why do we pay taxes? Taxes solve the collective action problem...

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:01:34 -0400

Why do we pay taxes? Taxes solve the collective action problem known as the free rider problem. When it comes to the provision of public goods like law enforcement, everyone in a community is willing to enjoy the benefit of police protection, but nobody is willing to give up their trade to bring it about. Why? Because they make money in their trade, and there’s no treasury to pay them for being a policeman. That’s why we pay taxes: to fill a treasury that pays for public goods like law enforcement.

The problem is that progressives in the Republican and Democratic Party believe that a lot of items on their personal policy wish lists are free rider problems that need taxation to provide for whatever is lacking — birth control, unmanned aerial vehicles (in a volunteer military), etc.

Via Phoenix Learning Group

When there's an all-staff email at work saying there's food in the pantry

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 13:25:31 -0400

whatshouldwecallme:

Information about My CampaignTech 2013 Panel Next Week

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 22:38:00 -0400

I have apparently fooled the right people into thinking I have something valuable to say about messaging and content, and they have in turn invited me to speak at Campaigns & Elections’s 2013 CampaignTech conference in DC next week. I’ll be speaking at 2:00 p.m. Eastern next Friday, April 19. Here’s a little information about my panel:

CONTENT IS KING

Are you creating the right digital content for your goals? How can political organizers and campaigners produce the kind of content that attracts an audience? What do you need to do to position your group or campaign to be a media producer and content creator, crafting headlines of your own instead of chasing them down in the mainstream media?

Frankly, I have no idea what I’m going to say yet, but it looks like I have a week to make something up. At least I’ll be joined on my panel by fellow CRAFT | Media/Digital alumnus Daniel Huey who, if you look closely, slightly resembles Sam the Eagle:

If you’re in DC, or you’re planning to attend, please come and laugh at my jokes. Or should I promise to not tell any to get you to come?

Whether you laugh or not, if you do come, please introduce yourself. I want to shake the hand of anyone crazy enough to have read all the way to the end of this post.

Umbrella Corporation Umbrella

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 09:33:13 -0400

I see what they did there:

Why didn’t I think of that?!

(Hat tip: Mental Floss)

When Tourist Season in DC Arrives

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 15:09:17 -0400