Bill Maher

Wait, this is actually really good, and reprinted in it's entirety because even though the are not mine, I want all of these words on this blog.

'Birthers' must be stopped

No matter how dumb, the people who are questioning whether Obama was born in the U.S. could eventually cause real problems.

By Bill Maher
July 31, 2009

Never underestimate the ability of a tiny fringe group of losers to ruin everything.

For the last couple of weeks, we've all been laughing heartily at the wacky antics of the "birthers" -- the far-right goofballs who claim Barack Obama wasn't really born in Hawaii and therefore the job of president goes to the runner-up, former Miss California Carrie Prejean.

Also, when Obama was sworn in as president, he forgot to give his answer in the form of a question.

And yet, every week, the chorus of conservatives demanding to see his birth certificate grows. It's like they're the Cambridge police, Obama's in his house -- the White House -- and they need to see some ID.

And there's nothing anyone can do to convince these folks. You could hand them, in person, the original birth certificate and have a video of Obama emerging from the womb with Don Ho singing in the background ... and they still wouldn't believe it raises the question: Why, in this country, is it always the religious right that won't take anything on faith?

So far, the reaction from Democrats is to laugh this off, and I understand why. If you seriously believe that President Obama is an African sleeper spy, get out of your chat room and have your house tested for lead.

But we live in America, and in America, if you don't immediately kill arrant nonsense, no matter how ridiculous, it can grow and thrive and eventually take over, like crab grass or reality shows about fat people.

This flap might be a deluded right-wing obsession that is a total waste of time, but so was Whitewater, and look where that ended up. A handful of Republican operatives, enraged at Bill Clinton's unprecedented economic growth and budget surpluses, found a woman named Paula Jones, which led to a woman named Monica Lewinsky, which gave me enough material to eventually be able to buy a big house in Bel-Air. Which I'm still conflicted about.

More recently we had the Swift Boat allegations against John Kerry, in which Kerry was accused of volunteering to serve in Vietnam so he could jump in front of a bullet so he could get a medal and then throw it away to satisfy his urge to insult real Americans. This was so stupid that Kerry refused to even discuss it.

And we all know how well that worked out.

And once these stories get out there, they're hard to stamp out because our media do such a lousy job of speaking truth to stupid. Vietnam, Iraq and the Spanish-American War were all sold on lies that were unchallenged or even abetted by the media. Clinton got impeached and Kerry got destroyed in large part because the media didn't have the guts to say, "This is nonsense."

Lou Dobbs has been saying recently that people are asking a lot of questions about the birth certificate. Yes, the same people who want to know where the sun goes at night.

And Lou, you're their new king.

That's why it's so important that we the few, the proud, the reality-based attack this stuff before it has a chance to fester and spread. This isn't a case of Democrats versus Republicans. It's sentient beings versus the lizard people, and it is to them I offer this deal: I'll show you Obama's birth certificate when you show me Sarah Palin's high school diploma.

Bulletproof: I wish my industry was...

Looks like NOBODY is immune in this economy, and it's hitting everyone in the pants. So across the board we have both Sony AND Nintendo getting hit to the tune of about a 33% drop. So much for the myth of the recession proof industry.

Here's the links:

Nintendo's Troubles

Sony's Issues, with color commentary by Sony Realist Bill Harris.

Now to be fair I don't think Q1 releases have been half as strong this year. But we have seen the release of the DSi, the PSP-3000 IS fully compatible with Sony's future online plans, and there have definitely been some green patches in every market with strong new releases.

I suppose at this point we have a couple of things we can do. Read Paul Krugman wonkish posts until the economy picks up again (by use, decay and obsolescence) or just get all Emo about it and wait until the black mascara washes off. We can watch this while we wait:

Blog Update

Well I am working like a dog at the moment but I took out about 45 minutes to restyle my blog today after getting active on twitter again. I thinks I got my "cyber presence" sorted out a little bit better, hopefully it looks a little more like a guy who has been working as an Artist for about 8 years put it together now.

Anyways, big updates should be hitting in the few weeks (wrapping up a PS2 game for India)...

-Josh

Oh Beta!

How can any regular posting habits penetrate the defenses of your grim visage? How are we to bask in the glow of regular posting, and to wit for others, regular reading! if your pale, grim countenance doth cast your pall over all the landscape of the moments of my life?

So here is what's up lately in no particular order:

FACT: PSP-3000 is pretty sweet. I got a black DS back in 2007 and even with some truly delightful software: Elite Beat Agents, Zelda's, Mario's, the INSANITY of the Drawn To Life Guys Games (who manage to make my jaw hit the ground about every 18 months or so) it just isn't the system for me. I feel like a pederast every time I try buy a game for it which is to say I can't walk into the DS section of any store without feeling like I am somehow violating an 8 year girls space. Now before I turn up on a watch list let me get back to the point. I am a 30 year old DUDE. Playstation is for US, for better or worse. So as far as I am concerned the candy bar PSP is pretty much the shit. The form factor is great, the analog feels better than PSP-1000's, the screen is delicious, the battery life is favorable and it doesn't lack for sex appeal. I think the PSP Go is going to be a great unit, smaller form factor etc, but there just isn't enough differentiation and I am in India too to fully abandon UMD. The 3000 does feel like the penultimate for this generation, but we'll see so far it's been damn nice. In time I'll probably pick up all the sub games e.g. God of War, Killzone, Resistance, Clank, Daxter.

FACT: I've been at work too much. However the bullet points on my resume are starting look a bit nicer every few month's. GOOD things coming down the pipe; shit I know I can't talk about, a nice little Indian market number for PS2 and PSP called Desi Adda and good looking port of Tumble Bugs heading to the Wii Store (the portal that no actually by games from) to go with Rangy Lil on the PC.

FACT: I have now lived in India almost half as long as I did Fort Vancouver and Elko. After a while even a wacky situation just seems to take on a life of it's own, I am now used to living (high on the hog) in a third world country. If you ever get down about the plight the worlds (many) poor just tell yourself some people love camping so much they want to do it there whole life. Seriously though, I wish the world had as much humanity as it had humans, we're all a little guilty, but that deficit is probably the most dangerous of all.

FACT: Oh shit. You really look at it the world IS in the equivalent of the next great depression. Now, I have been doing my homework, and it's not like even these cycles don't come to an end, but it would be GREAT if the political powers that be would just let the few guys that understand this stuff do there jobs. Stateside it's time to take taxation and regulation back to the 60's and become an industrialized nation when it comes to health care. But enough on that.

FACT: To my Friends and Loved Ones in the States, apologies about the sorry shape of my internet connection and the lack of Skypeing, keep the faith and I love you all, except for Chance Barton, 19 year old kids shouldn't make that kind of money. :)

TTFN