keathmilligan.net

After Fox 7's Crystal Cotti calls out a Chronicle contributor for using the term "redneck fiefdom" in reference to Mustang Ridge in a discussion about the illegal immigrant detention center / "wetback" flap, the Chronicle's response is typical: ethnic pejoratives are A-OK as long as they're aimed at white people (and especially Southerners).

Mississippi civil rights activist Will Campbell used to keep an original Allen and Hatley political cartoon posted on his wall. It showed two men talking - one is black and the other is white:

The black man says to the white, "Here's why I worry about liberals, Lester. What do you call a poor person from Puerto Rico?"

"A Hispanic-surnamed American."

"How about an illiterate Sioux?"

"A disadvantaged Native American, of course."

"And a dirt farmer of Scots-Irish ancestry?"

"A redneck, naturally."

Naturally.

I've finally gotten around to restoring a few videos from my old site. These three are from anti-war protests beginning just before the 2004 election and into 2005.

In this video, from 2004, anti-war demonstrators are surprised to be confronted by a small group of conservative counter-protesters (Young Conservatives of Texas):

Our local CBS affiliate ended up using some of this video for a report about the YCT.

Video 2: A protester gets tasered when a group demonstrating against Bush's second inauguration blocks the Congress bridge in downtown Austin.

Video 3: Anarchists square off against Protest Warrior.

You can see the rest of my videos at my YouTube page.

When EmpowerTexans PAC posted a YouTube parody of a recent political ad from the campaign of Martha Tyroch (who is in a run-off battle for the Republican nomination in the House District 55 race), the Tyroch campaign didn't like it and had YouTube pull the video claiming "copyright violation". The result? The video was reposted to several other sites and news of Tyroch's action and the video have been picked up by newspapers and blogs across the state, guaranteeing far more people will see it -- including those in district 55. Way to go, Martha!

And just to pile on, here is the video in question:

If you like marionettes or puppetry, see the movie Strings.

The Commodore 64 is celebrating it's 25th anniversary!

What memories. The C64 hit the shelves in August of 1982 and brought computing to millions that previously couldn't afford it.

I think I got my first C64 sometime in 1983. It wasn't technically my first computer - I had a Timex-Sinclair TS-1000 and a couple of eval boards before - but the C64 was definitely the machine that got me into writing code.

Using Census Bureau data, the Center for Immigration Studies has found that fully half of all immigrants in Texas are here illegally.

And here I thought only Republicans could be racist.

From antiprotester:

"An elderly Iraqi woman shows two bullets which she says hit her house [emphasis added] following an early coalition forces raid in the predominantly Shiite Baghdad suburb of Sadr City."

The only way those bullets hit her house was if someone threw them at her house.

You see, they've never been fired. For those of you unfamiliar with firearms, only the little copper-looking tip is the actual bullet. The larger, cylindrical casing below it holds the primer and the gunpowder that propels the bullet out of the firearm.

Nice going, AFP! Proof again, that members of the MSM are often dupes for terrorist propagandists, and know very little about things military.

My former employer and patent troll, Forgent Networks (I worked for VTEL, part of which became Forgent after I left) was denied a new trial by a Texas court in a suit against EchoStar Communications (parent company of DISH Networks). Forgent had claimed EchoStar violated its patent relating to DVR playback. The jury handed down a unanimous verdict against Forgent and this ruling re-affirms that verdict and hopefully ends this particular chapter of Forgent's patent-extortion escapades.

More at Slashdot and Engadget.

The patent in question.

Captains Quarters: Progressives For Racist Smears?

Democrats talked a good game going into the 2006 elections about "restoring fiscal responsibility" to congress, but when presented with 50 opportunities to do just that, most sat on the bench.

In the Club for Growth 2007 Congressional Port Report Card, Texas Democrats scored an average of just 1%, voting no on nearly all of 50 anti-pork amendments. Texas Republicans scored an average of 59%, with District 5's Jeb Hensarling and District 13's Mac Thornberry each receiving a perfect 100% score.

Area representatives Mike McCaul (R-TX10) and Lloyd Dogget (D-TX25) scored 62% and 4% respectively. Lloyd Dogget's 4% was actually the highest score among the lot of Texas' Democrats. 7 scored 0%.

Also, Ron Paul (R-TX14) who likes to present himself as a champion of conservative principals and fiscal restraint, scored a very unimpressive 29% - among the bottom 5 of Texas Republicans. So much for "Real conservatives support low spending".

Policing the police - with video.

Texas congressmen don't get left out when it comes to bringin' home the bacon:

The Aquarena Center and the Texas Rivers Institute at Texas State University in San Marcos will receive an infusion of state cash to help renovate the former amusement park. On July 17, the U.S. House of Representatives approved an appropriations bill that dedicates $300,000 to the center's improvement project. The university plans to use this round of funding on architectural planning.

Emphasis mine.

Update: also, don't miss Ron Paul's proposed $8 million earmark for marketing shrimp.

...is, of course, the donut:

In a paper published in the latest issue of the Physical Review journal, the scientist offers a theoretical model, based on mathematical equations describing conditions that, if established, could help lead to the development of a time machine of sorts. But rather than building an actual device, Ori explains that "the machine is space-time itself."

Time travel research is based on bending space-time so far that the time lines actually warp back on themselves to form a loop.

"We know that bending does happen all the time, but we want the bending to be strong enough and to take a special form where the lines of time make closed loops," explains Ori. "We are trying to find out if it is possible to manipulate space-time to develop in such a way."

The Republican presidential candidates who declined to participate in CNN's YouTube "debate" are making the right decision:

I breathed a sigh of relief when most of the Republican presidential hopefuls declined to participate in the next YouTube debate. I think they displayed good judgment and common sense in refusing to be inveigled into what is at best a CNN publicity scheme and at worst a ruse to force Republican candidates to display themselves in an unfavorably biased environment.

Televised debates, in general, encourage the kind of shallow, sound-bite politics that everyone seems to be opposed to, but yet demands that candidates engage in. The YouTube debate format is even worse - it degenerates the very important process of electing a president into a kind of ridiculous game show.

The world's dictators know who their friends are in the US:

Sean Penn Praised by Venezuela's Chavez

When Congress passes any "ethics reform" bill 411-8, you can bet it's a sham.

By way of Rachel Lucas, I learned about Operation YouTube SmackDown - an online effort to get Jihadist propaganda videos off of YouTube.

Jihad has come to the Internet. And YouTube is helping them. We're not saying they set out to, but that's the result. Jihadist videos have found a home there. Our enemies are using that website, and others, to spread propaganda and recruit new terrorists. YouTube allows anyone to post anything and doesn't take it down unless someone objects, at which point they might take it down.

Well, we object. We object to YouTube making a profit hosting videos celebrating the death of Coalition Soldiers (and pretty much everyone else) while washing their own hands of any responsibility. We're out to smack those videos down, and maybe shake a little sense into YouTube in the process.

Check the Getting Started Guide to see how you can help.