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Big Brother moving to North Carolina?

I wanted to write a long, beautiful treatise against this, but I just can’t. I read the article and was just too shocked, stunned and gobsmacked to write a single word about it. So I’ll just let the article speak for itself:

If you are taking a painkiller, law enforcement wants to know about it.

The N.C. Sheriff’s Association met with a legislative study committee Tuesday to discuss ways sheriffs can access pharmacy records of people taking high-powered painkillers like Percocet, Vicodin, Xanax and OxyContin.

Eddie Caldwell, a lobbyist for the N.C. Sheriff’s Association, said they want to set up a system to stop overdoses.

No legislation has been drafted but the association and the oversight committee plan to present a package to the General Assembly in 2011 that will outline what kind of power they want. It will stipulate how deep into the public’s medicine cabinets they will reach and what law enforcement officers will do with the information.

Between this, warrentless searches of electronic devices and Obamacare, I’m really starting to wonder what fucking country I live in these days. It’s all the more shocking because this comes out just days after Fidel Castro admitted that the “Cuban model” isn’t working any more. So, just as one of the worst dictatorships in the Western hemisphere shows signs of loosening up… the Land of the (Formerly) Free shows signs of cozying up to Ingsoc.

Big Brother

If you check out the Gaston Gazette link below, be sure to check out the comments. “I think it’s time for a lawsuit”, some say. I say it’s time for a Second American Revolution! That, or are the islands ready yet?

via the Gaston Gazette.

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-09-05

  • "Obama says economy not growing fast enough" Really, Einstein? #
  • Congrats Aaron Paul! #
  • You were robbed, Christina! #
  • Cranston wins again. I like the guy, but wish Hamm would win just once! #
  • Is it wrong that I got turned on by Jewel during the "In Memoriam" bit? #
  • Wow… I've never seen Claire Danes look so good! #
  • "The Pacific"? Two hours later and something I like wins! #
  • HEEEEEEEEELLLLLL YEEEAHHHH!! THREE IN A ROW, BABY! Congrats, Matt Wiener and the rest of the "Mad Men" crew! #
  • Wow… MF wins for Best Comedy? Cool! #
  • "She's pure as New York snow…" #
  • "The higher the heel, the more traumatic her childhood." #
  • @terrinh73 Or how about "We're the party of liberal guilt and spending other people's money?" Seems more accurate to me… #

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The Road Trip List

A little while back, I was surfing my favorite Internet message board when I found an interesting thread. The author proposed a thought experiment: imagine that it’s the late 80s or early 90s. You have a car with a tape deck, and you’re going on a road trip. Which 15 tapes would you bring with you?

He only proposed two big rules: the album had to be released in cassette format, and the cut off date was the year 2000. Aside from that, anything was fair game.

I made my own list, which you can see below. But keep a few of my “rules” in mind:

1) I got my first CD player for Christmas in 1985, and stopped buying pre-recorded cassettes shortly thereafter. So, in my mind, the “Age of Cassettes” is 1980 – 1986.

2) I was the “King of Mix Tapes” in my day. I bought a lot of cassettes in the 80s, but I mostly bought LPs or CDs and dumped them to blank tapes, and later took the best songs and mixed them in with tracks from other albums. So, when I think of cassettes, I tend to not think of “albums”.

Continue reading “The Road Trip List”

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The Irony of Cassius Clay

“As many know, there once was a great boxer named Cassius Clay. He converted to Islam in 1964, seemingly bothered that Jesus was portrayed as “a white with blond hair and blue eyes,” as he put it, and took the name “Muhammad Ali.” Of course, the irony of this is that despite being intensely aware of his slave roots, Ali rejected the name of an abolitionist (Clay) and took the name of a slave-owner (Muhammad). It also perhaps eluded him that Christians were the first ones to outlaw slavery, while Muslims give black Africans rope and chains to this day.”

via Lost Civilization.

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Random TV Post

Look who made the cover of Rolling Stone:

Mad Men RS cover

Woot! Notice the “best show on TV” line on the cover, too!

And it might seem hard to believe, but according to this interview, Mary Louise Parker has never smoked marijuana:

“I guess if it was going to happen, it would’ve happened when I was younger. But that was never an effective or interesting form of rebellion for me. Because everybody did it. Marijuana was just a social thing. It wasn’t dangerous or frowned upon. If I’d been popular in high school, I’m sure I would have wanted to do it. But I wasn’t.”

Kind of weird for a woman who stars on a show called Weeds, no?

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Mad Men: “Waldorf Stories”

This episode begins with Don and Peggy interviewing Danny Siegel, a hopelessly unqualified copywriter. Don flips through his portfolio, each ad a variation on the theme of “cure for the common [blank]”. Don isn’t impressed, even though Danny mentions Roger’s name several times. Don escorts him out of the office, then asks Peggy if they’re on Candid Camera. The two then talk about the upcoming Clio Awards, with Peggy mentioning her own role in the Glo-Coat commercial. Peggy then complains about Stan Rizzo, the agency’s new art director. To her complaints, Don only says that Stan is more talented and that she needs to learn how to work with him.

mad_men_s4_e6_01

Meanwhile, we see Roger rambling about Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy in his office. His secretary Caroline is there, taking dictation for his book, but Roger has gotten off topic. Don walks in to thank him for the “prank” of the Danny interview. The two share a few laughs, but then Roger says that Don must hire him to appease Jane, his wife and Danny’s cousin.

Continue reading “Mad Men: “Waldorf Stories””

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Anglican Bishops “draw the line” with Canterbury

Boy, we’ve heard that one before… but maybe this time Canterbury has had the message given to him in such a way that he can’t possibly misinterpret it:

“We sympathize with his position as head of the Anglican communion suffering disunity on moral grounds and teaching of the scripture. It’s like having unruly kids in his house and he can’t sit down to eat food.”

“We have told him and he understood us, that (there’s) no more diplomacy on that matter, homosexuality. We made our minds very clear and he is going back knowing there is no gray area on our part,” Orombi said.

via BabyBlueOnline