How to find Subject to Complete Defeasance — Nads Runneth Over Edition

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A belated Happy Birthday to SCD

This here blog turned one year old on July 30 and even I didn’t notice.

14,246 views, 396 comments, 307 entries, five blocked coronary arteries, one heart attack and a pacemaker later, and still we’re up and running.

My sincere thanks to everyone who’s stopped by. The door’s always open even when there’s no one home. Please feel free to introduce yourself and leave a comment.

Heart Attacks, Coronary Bypass Surgery and Telco Immunity

Yes, it’s been a long time since the last entry. This time, though, I have a much more interesting excuse than the standard “too much work” and “not enough interest” bill of fare. No, really. Check it out.

Poor genetics and decades of ruinous living caught up with me on May 28, 2008 when I had a heart attack on the way to work. It obviously wasn’t The Big One a la the late great Tim Russert; it was more your myocardial infarction of the slow-burn variety (slow enough that the event actually lasted the better part of two days.)

Thanks to my coworkers and the Denver Paramedics, I made it to Porter Adventist Hospital. The dedicated pros at that fine institution saw to it that the heart attack wasn’t fatal and got me ready for Phase Two of the job. It was a pretty big undertaking, seeing as how all five of the arteries that fed blood to the muscle tissue of my heart were totally fucking FUBAR. Enter cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Bradley Hofer, who performed successful quintuple coronary artery bypass surgery on May 30. Mad, mad props to Dr. Hofer for doing such magnificent work.

I truly can’t say enough about the nurses and other support staff at Porter Hospital’s coronary intensive care facility. I was quite the wreck when I came to after surgery, but those superb people had me well enough to go home on June 4. Special thanks to Douglas, Michael, Gloria and Mira. If you absolutely must have a heart attack in the Denver, CO area, I highly recommend doing so in the vicinity of Porter Hospital.

The biggest thanks of all go to Lisa, the love of my life. Her absolute devotion throughout all this has been nothing short of breathtaking. Can’t imagine what a miserable old bastard like me ever did to warrant the love of someone like Lisa, but I’ll sure as hell take it. I love you, baby.

Things seem to be going well so far. I’m spending the days walking around the neighborhood and catching up on tons of lost sleep. I’ve had post-discharge visits with both the surgeon and my cardiologist (that still sounds strange as hell — “my cardiologist”) and they’re pleased with the progress to date. It’ll be a long road, primarily on account of the horrible shit they have to do in order to get at your heart in the first place, but so far, so good.

And, of course, there will be lifestyle changes. No more 80+ hour work weeks, for one thing. That would sound delightful to most, but my fellow workoholics know it’s easier said than done. No more pork fat sammiches with gravy fries and pork fat soda, either. I’m gonna miss that. What I’m not missing very much at all is the two-pack-per-day cigarette addiction that’s dogged me for the past thirty-seven or so years. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, but so far things are good on the not-smoking front.

I’m not sure when — or even whether — I’ll return to blogging on a halfway regular basis. I may have some kind of epiphany that compels me to do something else with my free time. Or not. It’s impossible to say at this point. One way or the other, I’m focused on trying to get well right now, so it’ll be awhile before I return to this insignificant little backwater of the intart00bs regularly.

In news that actually means something in the grand scheme of things, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a “compromise” bill that not only expands the federal government’s power to spy on “terrorism” suspects but also retroactively immunizes telecommunications companies from civil liability for their flagrant violations of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 , the Communications Act of 1934, the Stored Communications Act as amended by the USA PATRIOT Act, etc., etc. by rolling over and giving protected information to the Bush Administration on request. The new legislation, if it passes the Senate, will moot a number of “state secrets privilege” cases currently pending in federal courts, two of which were discussed here.

Among the many Democrats voting for the bill was my own Congress critter, Rep. Mark Udall (D-CO). As my one or two regular readers know, Udall is giving up a safe seat in the House to run for a seat in the U.S. Senate that Wayne Allard is vacating. When I first heard about that development, I was pretty damned happy. Udall’s amassed a pretty substantial progressive voting record during his ten years in the House.

But then came Udall’s rather cowardly refusal to support articles of impeachment against Cheney and Bush. The refusal was bad enough, but the mealy-mouthed justification for the refusal (”Well, gee whillackers, I don’t know what ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’ means”) was absolutely inexcusable.

And now Rep. Udall supports what amounts to complete capitulation to the Bush administration on matters that go straight to the core of freedom and democracy. Well, fuck that.

Udall’s opponent in the Senate race is a monstrously evil Republican jagoff by the name of Bob Schaffer. I’d sooner power-wash my own testicles with battery acid than vote for Schaffer, but I can’t in good conscience vote for Udall either. As of now, I won’t be casting a vote for U.S. Senator come November. Anyone care to tell me why I’m wrong?

How to find Subject to Complete Defeasance - Homosexual action hero edition

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“No Intelligence Allowed,” but copyright infringement is just fine

You’ve all no doubt heard of the “intelligent design” movement, an amalgam created by cobbling together bits and pieces of the long-refuted teleological argument for the existence of God, what used to be called “creation science” and a bunch of sciency-sounding words. At bottom, ID is a political strategy designed reintroduce the teaching of religion in public schools.

You’ve also likely heard of the movie Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, which is scheduled for release this Friday. The film, which stars teevee douchebag and former Nixon speechwriter Ben Stein, portrays ID as legitimate science that the evil atheist academic establishment is desperately trying to suppress. The filmakers also claim that “Darwinism” is responsible for every abomination from the Holocaust to Lunchables.

The film’s producer is an outfit called Premise Media. Premise’s CoB is A. Logan Craft, an Episcopal preacher from New Mexico whose previous media endeavors included a television program called Church and State TV.

The film is unadulterated bullshit, as the National Center for Science Education reveals in great detail at its website Expelled Exposed. The reviews thus far have been less than complimentary. Fox News reviewer Roger Friedman wrote:

“Expelled” is a sloppy, all-over-the-place, poorly made (and not just a little boring) “expose” of the scientific community. It’s not very exciting. But it does show that Stein, who’s carved out a career selling eye drops in commercials and amusing us on sitcoms, is either completely nuts or so avaricious that he’s abandoned all good sense to make a buck.

Scientific American’s commentary is available here.

A company called XVIVO, LLC owns the copyright on a scientific animation video called The Inner Life of a Cell. XVIVO recently sent Premise Media a letter (pdf, 1 page) complaining that Premise essentially stole a clip from Inner Life and used it without permission in Expelled. That’s copyright infringement, and XVIVO advised in the letter that it would “vigorously and promptly pursue its legal remedies” unless the producers excised the stolen material from Expelled before its release.

Premise Media responded with this gibbering, drooling, bedwetting train wreck of a press release. Premise says that it’s filed a declaratory judgment action in a Texas federal court seeking a declaration that no copyright infringement occurred.

Biology professor and blogosphere legend P.Z. Myers discusses Expelled’s use of the film clip here. P.Z. notes that the surest proof of outright theft in this regard is reproduction of mistakes as well as accuracies. The original Inner Life video contains an error that’s reproduced in the clip from Expelled, indicating that the movie’s producers “brainlessly cop[ied] what they saw in the original.”

True Believers(tm) know that a lie in the service of the Lord is no lie at all. Apparently, the same rule applies to copyright infringement.

New to the blogroll

Say hello to Sam Sarver, owner and operator of the Brazen Maverick blog. How Sam finds time for such high-quality blogging on top of being a husband and a law student is beyond me, but he manages.

My fellow residents of Colorado Senate District 23 (and anyone else who jolly well feels like it, of course) are invited to check out the campaign website of Joe Whitcomb, who the Democratic S.D. 23 Assembly recently nominated to run against right wing lunatic incumbent Sen. Shawn Mitchell.

Puttin’ asses in the seats

This blog has never gotten much in the way of traffic. Even when I’m making multiple entries per day, fifty views is a pretty big deal. When I ignore this blog for months at a time, the view count can and does drop as low as two per day.

Not that any of this actually matters, mind you. I didn’t start this blog to generate or gauge interest in what I have to say. My views amount to little more than a small mound of manure in the grand scheme of things, and I’m not egomaniacal enough to believe otherwise. I started this blog solely to put into action my fervent belief that the Internet should be used for purpose God intended: cussing.

But this blog experienced a veritable explosion (by my standards, at least) of traffic last week thanks to my intarwebz buddy illusory tenant. iT chose to reveal his true identity in an interview with Milwaukee (WI) Public Radio last week. He announced the decision on his blog, and I later posted an announcement here. iT linked to my announcement here.

Turns out that iT is not just a superb writer and gifted analyst; he’s also quite the traffic generator. Thanks to iT’s link, my entry Extremist left wing hate blogger outs self vaulted to No. 2 on my all-time most-viewed-entries list in a matter of a few days. That entry knocked the wildly popular Hit That Fuckin’ Clown from second place over the weekend. All that stands between Extremist left wing hate blogger outs self and Subject to Complete Defeasance immortality is Molesto the Christian Clown, which still boasts a comfortable lead thanks to the fundamental human truth that everyone loves a story about a Christian clown with a penchant for traveling to foreign lands to boink little boys.

Update: Hit That Fuckin’ Clown struck back hard today, recapturing second place from Extremist left wing hate blogger outs self. Never underestimate the mass appeal of foul-mouthed civil litigants.

How to find Subject to Complete Defeasance — Pedophile Clown Edition

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Nothing puts asses in the seats like a heartwarming, feel-good story about a Christian clown who travels to far away lands to molest little boys.

How to find Subject to Complete Defeasance II

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Perhaps I should do a little less cussing on this here blog.

Nah.

WWII, the MMORPG

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