Irrepressible.

John Gilmore cannot be broken.

The Malcontent admires his spirit and determination--and has said so before.

Nervous about e-voting?

Probably not as nervous as the people in Solano County, California.

I think this quote catches the flavor of why people may view former Diebold employee/new county elections manager Deborah Seiler with some suspicion:

Seiler's move is a rare one, however -- an election official who left state employment to go work for a voting company, then came back to elections.

Seiler worked for Diebold--you know, the company who makes voting machines, whose president Wally O'Dell is one of Bush's high-level fund-raisers known as "Pioneers and Rangers." Remember the name?

O'Dell last fall penned a letter pledging his commitment "to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the President."

Right. Seiler worked for him. Now she works for Ira Rosenthal, Solano County's registrar of voters and chief information officer. Rosenthal is appointed, not elected.

Whew!

Just in time for the release of Doom 3. Thanks, IBM!

Gaps in Bush's Service Record.

The Onion Brings It. (Oh, it's been broughten. Oh, yeah.)

Avoiding the Blue Screen of Death

Paul Boutin reflects on the Blue Screen of Death in Slate and offers some advice in hopes of seeing it less frequently. Good for the non-technical crowd.

Cruel and Unusual?

The government's blatant attempt to increase the severity of Martha Stewart's sentence.

Sorry, it was just too easy.

What is this--a food blog?

Well, no. The Malcontent wears many hats and one of them is a toque. Plus, the whole blog can't just be a bunch of mindless political vitriol (I mean, why steal Ann Coulter's place in the universe?) Plus, The Malcontent knows from food.

Last food item today (or until I find something else interesting): The highly annoying Rocco DiSpirito gets sacked. I'm no fan of Rocco, but he really seems to be having a crap year. Maybe he could go work for this guy.

Apples.

Among The Malcontent's many obsessions are apples. Not the computers, the fruit.

As a extra Wednesday food item, check out this beautiful apple cookbook, which is available for free download as well.

Food Section.

In honor of Spouse of Malcontent, who loves sandwiches, the recipe for one of the world's oddest sandwiches, the chip butty.

Also a shout-out to Bill, who clearly loves sandwiches more than SoM, because his blog is called I Love Sandwiches.

The chip butty is one of those creations that is as much process as recipe. This recipe is adapted from the Lancastrian one found on this page of The Goodies Rule-OK!

The chip butty, while perhaps known outside of England and the U.K., seems to be perfected there. You start with big thick french fries—what the Brits would call “chips.”

You could buy take-out fries, but you can also do it yourself in a deep fryer or on the stovetop--think big steak fry size. Fry them up golden brown--crispness counts.

Then you want a soft roll, like a hamburger bun. Potato buns are a good choice, though it does seem a lot like eating a bacon-stuffed pork chop....

You want to butter your bread thickly--enough to make even your most ardent Atkins fat-natic nervous....

Then grab some hot chips and cram them on the roll. I mean, mash them down. This should be a vigorous assembly process. (Apparently, many feel this step is best if the chips go straight from the fryer to the bun, with a minimum of draining.)

As to condiments, opinions vary. Some feel a generous application of salt and vinegar is perfection. Others, tomato sauce. Even brown sauce (which, if you don’t have, can be approximated with A-1 Sauce). Yank barbarians like myself like a little catsup.

Next Wednesday—D.I.Y. angioplasty, natch.

School spirit!

The Malcontent has always been proud of his public school education, but suddenly, private school looks so-so-attractive.

Oddly, there were also reports that day of mass attempts by 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders to get "Alexandria Country Day School Rocks!" tattoos....

Zeppelin!

Try...not....to....make.....any....sudden.....moves.......

The government's spy blimp is visible from The Malcontent's office window, which is very cool.

The Washington Post has video of this cutting edge dirigible technology here.

Next up for Homeland Security? Carrier Pigeons!

Um, no offense, Al....

....but I'm not sure John Kerry should listen to you on this one. I mean, you didn't exactly knock Bush out four years ago, did you, Captain Lockbox?

I knew it.

It's not merely the Stepford yuppie collectivist mindset that is revolting, the suburbs themselves are bad for your health.

Good Call.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals is letting a suit go forward over e-voting standards and procedures in Florida. This is a very good thing.

Given the public concerns about e-voting, the doubts expressed by computer professionals, the need for more knowledge and research on the systems, and the events of 2000, what everyone could use is more challenges, more transparency, more accountability for election processes.

Let a thousand lawsuits bloom.

Sure, you ♥ Huckabees, but I'm still a little scared of you.

David O. Russell does it his own way, and Sharon Waxman was there to see it.

Cinematic Riot.

Every so often, there comes a film that you want to tell everyone you know to go see. So, I'll just say it.

Shaun of the Dead.

Hilarious, scary, a little gory, and brilliantly funny--plays with the language of film, with the genres, with all the cliches, and because they are Brits, they use the f-word with the sort of moderated restraint that might even satisfy Jason R. Sanders.

When will Dr. Phil get an honest job?

Even Tony Danza knows Dr. Phil is a complete moron.

Good call, Mr. Danza. You're the boss.

More Garfield please--it's cheaper than a lobotomy.

Salon's Fix and Romenesko, among others, are noting the story in E&P about Aaron McGruder's The Boondocks getting pulled this week by major newspapers, including the cravenly Washington Post.

McGruder's pointed, angry satire is one of the last such voices on the comics page and one of the few reasons The Malcontent has to read the comics. Sure, he'll offend people, but he'll also make them think. And which is more offensive: savage parody, or silencing the voice of one of the few African-American cartoonists in the country with national syndication (even for just a week)?

Note to the editors of the papers: Get stuffed. Insipid dreck like Garfield, Family Circus and the like overrun the comics page. You should be ashamed of these puke factories.

The banned strips are available on uComics.

The Malcontent's Life Goal?

To be the gentile Philip Roth.

Awww....give us a hug.

Slate's Jack Shafer suggests you can beat Bill O'Reilly with a strategy of essentially being nice--overwhelming him with the love.

This is why Shafer gets the big bucks, because The Malcontent would have suggested you could beat Bill O'Reilly with this.

Teledildonics.

Finally, WIRED covers the stories that really matter.

All hail Gina Lynn, 21st century sex fiend, even if she is getting her kink on at Starbucks.

Hamdi, Schmamdi.....

The Goverment pulls an Emily Litella regarding the Hamdi case (Oh, enemy combatant? Um...ne-v-er-miiiiind.), and legal goddess Dahlia Lithwick brings it in Slate.

Free Speech May Not Be Dead......

...but it sure doesn't look healthy.

Um....in case everyone in government has forgotten, the relevant text is: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

As Thomas Jefferson said to David Humphreys in 1789: "There are rights which it is useless to surrender to the government and which governments have yet always been found to invade. These are the rights of thinking and publishing our thoughts by speaking or writing; the right of free commerce; the right of personal freedom."

It doesn't pay to ignore the counsel of Thomas Jefferson, who also noted this: "Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period and pursued unalterably through every change of ministers, too plainly prove a deliberate, systematic plan of reducing [a people] to slavery."

Naughty, naughty, G-Men.

Tea for the Tillerman

'Cause out on the edge of darkness,
there rides a peace train.
Oh, peace train, take this country
come take me home again.

Maybe at least Maine will get a new tourism slogan out of this.

"Maine: Enjoy our airports, because the First Amendment doesn't apply to British Subjects."

And the new slogan for United?

"United: Where we're still getting the hang of passenger screening (but don't worry, because it can't possibly keep you safe anyway)."

I'm not sure....

but I think this is what makes Lance Armstrong wake up in a cold sweat.

Fight the hell out of it Tyler, but if you're guilty--well, now's the time to speak up.

The kitchen opens early.

OK, after a failure to engage in vigorous blogging over the past week or so, The Malcontent really felt a need to bring vital sustenance to the blogosphere. Thus, the wednesday food section on Tuesday.

Discovery of the week: Lowrey's microwavable pork rinds.

The bag looks like microwave popcorn, but inside it's all pig.

After singing the praises of Fergus Henderson, I really didn't think I could get away with avoiding trying this product (after chancing upon it at our local Big Box Retail store--in its Hot and Spicy formulation). Apparently Atkins fever has skyrocketed the popularity of low-carb snacks like beef jerky and pork rinds. Here, the innovation is hot pork rinds, right from your microwave, whenever you want. (I love that the package says chicharrones on it.)

Having had pork rinds fried to order several years back at a folklife festival, I at least had a basis for comparison (plus a few dozen bags from the Qwik-E-Marts over the course of a lifetime). I assumed this would be a foul, greasy terrifying mess--rancidity was to be my watchword. The product isn't refrigerated, not canned, not even vacuum-sealed.

Verdict: they are terrific. Crunchy, light, porky, not greasy in the slightest. There is a great bacon-y smell. Not actually very spicy, but good enough. You microwave them for a couple of minutes.

In my case, they continued to make crackling and popping sounds for at least 10 minutes after I dumped them out of their (very hot) bag. I found this to be a very rewarding part of the experience. At 88 cents a bag, it's filthy food fun on a budget.

Only side effect: I have suddenly developed a desire to see NASCAR.

Hey, her's son's dead....

...so give her a break, you free speech hating jerks.

Laura Bush, hatchet (wo)man for her husband, gets a little taste of dissent (and apparently, doesn't like it).

Thanks to Galactichero for posting this to MSD. It's the kind of item I had to share.

Do your parents know you're Ramones?

Well I don’t care about history.
Cause that’s not where I wanna be
I just wanna have some kicks
I just wanna get some chicks
Rock, rock, rock, rock ‘n’ roll high school

Goodbye, John Cummings. Thank you.

All hail Fergus!

It occurs to us here at The Malcontent Test Kitchen that we should have a Wednesday Food component, just like the newspapers. (Plus, The Malcontent knows from food.)

So, let it be known that Fergus Henderson remains one of The Malcontent's inspirations regarding food. Adjust your expectations accordingly.

Why Fergus Henderson? Not just for his straight-forward approach to cooking and his willingness to use every bit, but also because he speaks so highly of lunch ("Lunch should be joy unbounding"), which, as anyone who looks at my profile will know, is among my obsessions.

Head cheese, anyone? I mean, it's good enough for Mario.

I apologize in advance.

I feel like I've read this somewhere before......

It had to happen eventually.

Finally, an innovation that actually makes me want to live in NYC.

I mean, if this, this or proximity to Avital Ronell doesn't make me want to live there, you'd think nothing could, but yet....it must be the Pods.

UPDATE: OK, they also have this.

Conservative Film Festival.

Slate reports, you decide. You know, just fighting the good fight against the liberal media.

Bryan Curtis should get hazard pay.

Is Air America doomed?

The Washington Post reports.

Fight the INDUCE Act. (plus, an update)

Seeking to chill the development of technology with perfectly legal and valid uses simply because it might be misused is like banning cars because someone might drive drunk. It works, but it is pretty fascistic.

Tomorrow, these folks are orchestrating a call-in to encourage Congress not to support the INDUCE Act (now entitled "Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act of 2004"). This is a poorly thought-out law, with ridiculous consequences for reasonable technological uses, and personally, I like my VCR.

Tip of the Blogging hat to mokiejovis, who re-fueled my concern on this issue yesterday, and who is beating this drum himself--including on our own MSD.

UPDATE 14 September: In response to the entirely reasonable comment of Galactichero to my half-baked post, here the brief primer to my response: my concern, unlike the Save BetaMax posse, is primarily a legal language one. The use of "aiding and abetting" language for what are dual-use technologies (like VCRs and filesharing software) is likely to have a chilling effect--or at minimum, open up an avenue of liability--for people developing perfectly good and useful technologies. To really get a sense of why this has me worked up, you need to read Sen. Hatch's introductory comments for this legislation (or, more easily, the wickedly annotated version by Ernie Miller).

Rather than an erosion of Sony vs. Universal precedent, I worry this is a developing trend (like the case against 321 Studios) that is bad for technology development. It continues our unfortunate trend of trying to develop legislation for every potential problem (Next up, the 2005 Act to Ban Bricks, because bricks may be used for vandalism, or even homicide--or at minimum, bricks should be a controlled substance).

Others are arguing this more forcefully, and well, so I'll leave them to it--it's just that I feel a bad trend is developing.

An apology, an announcement.

Sorry not to have posted much of late--working the day job really cuts into one's blog time.

Also absorbing time here at The Malcontent Content Laboratories--setting up a new group blog, Minimum Safe Distance. Go check it out.

Moron Alert.

So, after reading this story on former Alabama Chief Justice (and still full-time dingleberry) Roy Moore's appeal to the Supreme Court for reinstatement, the part that shocked me was this:

Meanwhile, a bill has been filed in Congress, titled the Constitution Restoration Act of 2004 and sponsored by two Alabamians, Sen. Richard Shelby and U.S. Rep. Robert Aderhold, to amend the federal judicial code “to prohibit the U.S. Supreme Court and the federal district courts from exercising jurisdiction over any matter” involving the “acknowledgment of God as the sovereign source of law, liberty, or government” by a federal, state or local government or official.

The Malcontent nominates Shelby and Aderhold for the National Award for Pathetic Pandering to the Christian Right through Relentlessly Working to Erode the Separation of Church and State.

Why do you hate the U.S. Constitution so much, Congressmen? Why? Why?

Midnight snack, anyone?

Fascinating story about NSRED.

(They should have suspected something was awry when they awoke each morning wearing nothing but lobster bibs.)

A shameless love note.

The Malcontent is mighty pleased to see that Zoe Mitchell has curtailed her loose talk of abandoning her blog. Zoe is a passionate, personal voice in the blogosphere, and it would have been our loss to have her cease blogging.

Thanks, Zoe.

Indefatigable.

John Gilmore, lover of privacy and co-founder of the Electronic Freedom Foundation, continues on in what is likely a quixotic struggle to be able to fly domestically without producing identification. While I doubt he will succeed, Gilmore is making a more important point: the federal regulations requiring airlines to ask for identification are secret, and the government wants to keep them that way, going as far as to ask to keep its arguments secret in Gilmore’s lawsuit against them.

Now I'm all for reasonable security measures, but the government is starting to stretch credibility a little thin. In a story on CNN, I think Gilmore's attorney James Harrison hits it right on the head when he is reported as saying:

"We're dealing with the government's review of a secret law that now they want a secret judicial review for. This administration's use of a secret law is more dangerous to the security of the nation than any external threat."

Harrison follows up by asking,

"How are people supposed to follow laws if they don't know what they are?"

This is a good and reasonable question, and the public should expect to get an answer. Let's hope we do.

Ann Beeson, superhero.

Beeson, who is the ACLU's associate legal director, calls it clearly regarding recent actions by the F.B.I. and Secret Service.

Unfortunately we have seen both the FBI and the Secret Service lately exhibit a lot of ignorance about the First Amendment and proceed with investigations that seemed designed to intimidate people doing nothing more than exercising their right to speak out and criticize the government. (in WIRED News)

You go, girl.

Go get in the car.

A little shout-out to our homies on the east coast of Florida. If you're reading this blog, knock it off, get in your car and go.

And godspeed.

Do we have to choose?

Dennis Hastert, Liar or Fool? in Slate.

George Soros is an extremely generous philanthropist, whose efforts have helped hundreds, if not thousands of people. Hastert? Well, if liar, as seems likely, then surely fool as well.

Be inspired.

And now, the inspirational portion of the blog.

Every now and then, we here at The Malcontent like to take a break from our constant political whining (which should die down post-election, regardless of who wins), and offer up some brain candy--some links to cool things or fascinating people. The hope is that the ideas, stories, and items listed will get you feeling inspired, creative, or fired up.

So, with that hope, here are some very interesting people, to get your brains humming:

Peter Molyneux, brilliant game designer.
Liz Garbus, Moxie Firecracker films.
Doug Engelbart, inventor of the mouse, Bootstrap Institute.
Monika Henzinger, former Director of Research, Google Inc., now at EPFL.

And one group asking "What's your timeframe?" in a very interesting way.

A subtle note.

Dan Barry, in today's New York Times, gently reminds us that invoking 9/11 for political purposes isn't a simple matter.

Nicely done, Mr. Barry.

No comment?

In the National Law Journal's article on Jerry Falwell's new right-wing christian law school, is the following tidbit:

A dozen deans at the nation's top law schools declined to comment on Falwell's latest endeavor. Several scholars and practitioners opted to keep their opinions private. Recruiters at law firms also declined comment.

Pathetic, these brave lawyers, these champions of truth.

Allow me.

Falwell's virulent brand of muddle-headed fundamentalism promotes the idea of a "Christian America" that is inimical to the inclusive values of this country and our constitutional law. This is, after all, the fellow who engages in some magical thinking by holding that secular Americans bear some direct responsibility for the 9/11 attacks.

Falwell himself is a poor role model for future lawyers--a scoff-law who still seeks to engage fundamentalist churches in political activities forbidden to tax-exempt entities.

If you think you already have all the answers you need to any problem, you ain't gonna be much of a lawyer.