For Ron Schillinger, Mayor of Montesano, Washington.
Mayor Schillinger was wise enough to see the bigotry behind the vote by the Montesano City Council banning leaglly carried firearms from city parks and he vetoed the entire parks bill.
The owner of a nonprofit Web site is battling Oregon for the right to distribute state laws on the Internet for free.
Oregon is one of about ten states that says a copyright protects their right to put their statutes on the Web.
But Carl Malamud, the president and C-E-O of Public.Resource.Org, says Oregon is the first state to send him a “cease and desist” letter.
Malamud will appear today before a legislative committee to assert that the Legislature should allow Web sites like his to post Oregon’s collection of statutes online for free.
it is kind of a sick joke that you ignorance of the law is not an excuse, but you have to buy a copy of the ORS’s to be able to read the laws. Sounds like a way to shake down the lawyers every year to me.
After weeks of bad news, things turned Barbara Wagner’s way this week.
Last month her lung cancer, in remission for about two years, was back. After her oncologist prescribed a cancer drug that could slow the cancer growth and extend her life, Wagner was notified that the Oregon Health Plan wouldn’t cover it.
It would cover comfort and care, including, if she chose, doctor-assisted suicide.
Then on Monday a representative of the pharmaceutical company Genentech called Wagner and offered the medicine for free.
Wagner said she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, so she did both.
Government said that since she was going to die anyway, they’ll pay for someone to help her kill herself.
The eevviill pharmaceutical companies, on the other hand, saw her needs and met them.
A Filipino nanny with terminal cancer in Toronto has been ordered back to her native country because of healthcare costs to the Canadian government.
Juana Tejada, 38, was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2006 after arriving on a federal three-year work permit as a live-in caregiver in 2003, but the disease has spread to her lungs, and she is now diagnosed as a terminal Stage Four cancer patient, the Toronto Star reported Monday.
Tejada asked Citizenship and Immigration Canada to reconsider her visa renewal but a letter from the agency denied the request.
Sorry, but if the person didn’t know they were sick when they entered the country, and if you are going to promise government run “free” heath care to all, and not let private industry offer comparable services, and then tax the person’s wages to pay for the government run “free” health care, you cannot deny them services because they cost too much.
The most brutal list of the most brutal Metal bands, as compiled by me.
Wow, this is harder than it looks. Dude here made it look easy because he put hair bands in the mix.
I’m not going to make any explanations (except for one), because Metal doesn’t need explanations. If you don’t like my order, make your own.
If I forgot to include your favorite band on the list, 1. They probably aren’t worthy, and 2. You have now learned why you need to stop by RNS on the weekends.
1) Black Sabbath
2) Motorhead
3) Iron Maiden
4) Judas Priest
5) Slayer
6) Krokus
7) Metallica
8) Megadeth
9) Anthrax
10) Corrosion of Conformity
11) Sepultura
12) KMFDM
13) Testament
14) Carcass
15) Death
16) Dark Angel
17) Voivod
18) Pantera
19) Celtic Frost
20) Mercyful Fate
21) Strapping Young Lad
22) Fear Factory
23) Rammstein
24) Dio (he giveth us the horns, \m/ )
25) Spinal Tap
26) Dethklok
This list is so Metal, it has 26 bands on it. Because Metal can’t count, hence the odd time signatures.
The host of the first ever SNL episode, arrested alongside Lenny Bruce for refusing to hand over his ID to the police while being questioned as an audience member, and because of his “Seven Words” skit, was the subject of the FCC v. Pacifica Foundation case which, in a 5-4 decision, the SCOTUS unfortunately found that the government could limit broadcast times for what was deemed by said faceless government bureaucrats to be obscene.
My first exposure to Carlin was none of those things.
Nope, it was a VHS recording of his Carlin at Carnegie show. I watched that over and over and over from the time I was ten. I could (and did) recite it by heart all the way into my junior high school years, causing much laughter for my friends. More than just one visit to the Principle’s Office was caused by my having written lyrics to his “Old Southern Hymn” titled “When my BeerNuts turn to Cotton Balls, I’ll be coming home to you.”
Since then I’ve watched all of his cable specials, bought his CDs and books, got him to autograph a number of them. In the reflection of the glass in the picture frame in front of me, I can see one of the pictures he signed the last time he performed in Seattle.
Though his politics were not always to my liking, he had stingers for folks on both sides of the aisle. And if it hurt them, it only because it was true.
So long George. You had better left us some unpublished shit to read, you fuck.
I’m keeping this up and open today as well. What, do I need to start calling you guys maggots to get some responses?
Found this list via Uncle yesterday and couldn’t get it out of my head.
Or more accurately, couldn’t stop thinking of bands that should have been on there instead of the Adult Contemporary selection this jackass slapped on there.
First, were gonna go through the list and take the AdCont off:
25) Meshuggah – OK, starts with Swedes. Very good place to start and picked one of the best.
24) Mercyful Fate – Moves on to Demark. Respectable
23) Alice in Chains. First mistake. Sorry, but no. They are, by far, my favorite of the Seattle bands. I spent many nights in the local clubs watching these guys hone up. But they are not Metal. Hard as diamonds, but not metal.
Minus one.
22) Uriah Heep. Sorry. Much respect, but Prog Rock doesn’t Metal make. More on this in a couple.
Minus two
21) Pantera. Wouldn’t be a metal list without them.
20) Thin Lizzy. Umm, what? Did the list just change to Classic Rock?
Minus three.
19) Kyuss. OK, back to a list of Metal bands.
18) GNR. Fuck no. Complete chick band. Sweet Child of Mine is an automatic TDQ for Metal status. In fact, having published a “Power Ballad” will get you labeled “Butt Rock”. You cannot even be classified as “Hard Rock” afterwards.
Minus four
17) Kiss. No. Absolutely not. Metal does not merchandise. Metal is brutal. If you were to buy a Metal action figure, it would hunt you down and poke your eye out.
Minus five.
16) Dio. Ahh, back to sanity again.
15) Robin Trower. As much as I’d like to say yes, I could more easily put Yngwie Malmsteen here. Sorry, but no.
Minus six
14) Rush. In their early days, possibly, because they were protested by church groups for “leading children to Satan” (Aunt B’s “Rule”. But oddly, Glenn Danzig has never been protested, and he is an actual, professed Satanist, so I’m not so sure about her “Rule”).
However, true Metal never mellows, and the boys have done that, though only a bit and it isn’t like they haven’t earned it (Lee’s got arthritis in his playing hand, Lifeson’s got psoriasis on his string fingers and Neil’s nearly deaf. Not that any of this stops them from kicking ass on any given night). So, even though I believe that Rush should be on any and all lists that involve good rock music, I’m going to have to say no to this one.
Minus seven.
13) Spinal Tap. Yes, but only because Nigel’s amps go to eleven.
12) Deep Purple. Once again, respect by the truck load, but no.
Minus eight
11) Slayer. Only at eleven? This Rob o’Connor guy has issues.
10) Iron Maiden. Yes. Fine.
9) Motorhead. Only at nine? Granted, Lemmy just calls it Rock and Roll, but it’s Metal of the highest heritage.
8) Aerosmith. OK, this one has gotten a lot of flack. Deservedly. This band belongs no where near a list of this magnitude, unless they are bringing drinks to the bands that did make the list. How fucking Wayne and Garth can you get? Looks like someone is trying to make an excuse for having certain records in their collection.
Real Metal-ists don’t make excuses, we don’t own crap.
Minus nine.
7) Judas Priest. Wouldn’t be a proper list without them.
6) Metallica. Only because they made metalheads mainstream without wearing spandex. I’m severely disappointed in these boys as of late, as are most folks. But with a first four album set like this band put out, you cannot deny them a spot on the list until they bring in Christopher Cross and Michael Bolten for their backup singers.
5) The Jimi Hendrix Experience. No. You cannot box Hendrix by calling him Metal. Never in a hundred years and the person who suggests so should have their ear drums ruptured.
Minus ten.
4) Van Halen. Eddie WAS a guitar god. Was is the proper word in that sentence. As of late, he is just a rich asshole who used to matter. No way in hell.
Minus eleven.
3) AC/DC. Yes, and properly located.
2) Led Zepplin. Don’t like the Zep myself (I know, blasphemy, bite me) but I haven’t heard any objections as of yet. OK.
1) Black Sabbath. Of course. Like this needs second guessing. All Hail Birmingham!
—————
So, we have 11 spots to fill. I’ll make some suggestions, you make some suggestions. I will pick the replacements tomorrow.
My suggestions: C.O.C, Sepultura, Celtic Frost, Armored Saint, DRI, Voivod (sorry, no umlauts), Anthrax, Krokus
And for that matter: System of a Down (can’t stand their politics, but if you think they aren’t Metal, you’ve gone fuckin’ deef).
Hell, while I’m at it, industrial is Metal too: NIN, Skinny Puppy and KMFDM.
Muslim countries have won a battle to prevent Islam from being criticised during debates by the UN Human Rights Council.
Religions deserve special protection because any debate about faith is bound to be “very complex, very sensitive and very intense†council President Doru-Romulus Costea said on Wednesday.
Only religious scholars should be allowed to discuss matters of faith, he told journalists in Geneva.While Costea’s ban applies to all religions, it was prompted by Muslim countries complaining about references to Islam.
Yes, I laughed out loud when the guy said that this restriction would apply to all religions too.
And yes, these same nations will blame “The Joooos” when Hamas breaks the ceasefire.
Now that every day is Earth Day, we need a new kind of holiday. We need an annual break from bad environmental news.
The year-round glumfest about drowning polar bears, dying honeybees and the general futility of it all is raising consciousness but crushing spirits (or at least mine). We need a day of rest — a time to pretend, as we did in the 1990s, that the party could last forever.
The other 364 days we can stick to the new normal, flogging ourselves about carbon and fretting about an uncertain future.
Lately, each week brings a fresh variation on the theme of “we’re doomed.” The stories come in three varieties. First, we’re destroying the environment with our old bad habits, like building golf courses in the desert.
Second, we’re making things worse with our new good habits, like embracing corn-based ethanol, which is contributing to a global food crisis and (wait, there’s more!) deforestation.
Third, we’re too late. We can sell our cars and walk on our knees to work, but the oceans will continue to rise. People in China and India, seeking a higher standard of living, will cancel out our feeble attempts to consume less. The furry little cubs will sink beneath the surface of the sea, unable to overcome forces set in motion a century ago.
It’s a miracle we’re able to function at all, weighed down by the Daily Doom Report.
That is why I call it “The Bad News”, much to The Wife’s chagrin.
And of course this author’s request must never be fulfilled. The eco-weenies would never allow it. If we were able to feel good about ourselves and our daily lives, we might, as a whole, tell them to take a long walk off a short glacier (which while entertaining, would possibly prove their point).
Of course, right on time to follow this guest columnist column, the Seattle Times posts this report
Greenpeace stirred the waters of the seafood industry this week with a report rating seafood buying practices at 20 of the nation’s largest supermarket chains. One industry group called the report garbage, and federal regulators said it contains errors.
The environmental activist group wants to hold stores accountable for “their role in supporting unsustainable fisheries,” according to a news release. The ratings focus on overfishing and other environmental issues in the $70 billion global seafood market.
Costco got Two out of a possible Ten points. Costco: The only mega store the leftists like. So you can guess how your favorite chain rated.
Don’t be fooled. The only “sustainable” fishing businesses Greenpeace supports are the ones that are out of business because of government regulations.
