The Minuteman

Joe has been running a Righthaven blacklist utility which has been quite handy.  If you don’t know why Joe would spend his time creating that web utility, or I would create a plugin to do it, see this.

I spent some of last weekend and this weekend making a blacklist utility for Windows Live Writer.  Today I finished up creating the MSI installer and have a preliminary version (0.1.0) to post into the wild.  Currently the blacklist is hardcoded into the plugin, the actual version (1.0.0) is going to support web updates to the blacklist, along with an additional feature of grey listing.

The grey list will make sure that “no follow” tags are attached to any link that has a domain that matches one in the list.

The default state just puts up a message box with the offending anchor text but the post will still succeed.  You can change this by checking the error on post check box in the options.  You can add your own URLs to the user list.

Play with it, tell me if you find any bugs or issues you would like me to change or features you would like me to add.  I’m going to create a projects website tomorrow with support contact information.  For now just use this contact form.

WLW URL Blacklist Plugin.

Update: I fixed the msi download. It’s now in a zip. It appears the mime-type for the msi is wrong. I’ve tried changing the htaccess but it is still broken. I am just going to use the .zips from now on. It cut the file size in half anyway.

Well crap cracker sandwiches.

Rauðbjorn so kindly consigned me to tell you things you probably don’t know about me.  The rules of the game are simple. I tell you folks seven things you probably don’t know about me, and then I pick fifteen of you to do the same.

1. I am named after my dad’s brother-in-law.
2. I didn’t get my drivers license until just after I turned 19.  My parents said no license until I got my Eagle Scout, I didn’t get that until 1 month before my 18th birthday.  At that point I was so wrapped up with getting into college I didn’t really worry about it and had no real need.  Dating the later to be wife changed that.
3. I actually met the wife freshman year of high school.  I was constantly wired on Jolt and she thought I was crazy.  She realized I’m not a mean cold hearted son of a bitch or crazy for that matter and became one of those who would beg to differ.
4. My dad passed away from pancreatic cancer when I was 19.  I often think it lucky that I didn’t end up going to Rice since it kept me closer to home. 
5. I was afraid of loud noises when I was little.  Now I play with guns and explosives.
6. I was born prematurely by 6 and a half weeks weighing in at 4lbs 3oz.  My parents both considered me an amazing gift since I shouldn’t even exist.  There were numerous issues the encountered, but my mom got lucky when she got a new doctor.  So at 39, she was able to have me.
7. I was married in the zoo.  During the vows the monkeys and wolves were yelling and howling.  It was handy because I had my own tiger pit at the reception.

Update: It seems that Phil want’s a crack.  He’s stylish. 

While everyone was watching Wisconsin, Idaho slipped through the cracks and passed their own bill stripping public school teachers of collective bargaining rights. 

The Idaho bill, which excludes issues like class size and workloads from negotiations for the state’s 12,000 unionized teachers, was given final approval by the Republican-led House and is expected to be signed by Republican Governor Butch Otter.

Now, a day later than Idaho, Wisconsin steps aboard much to the dismay of union employees.

The bill’s passage by the state’s Republican-controlled Assembly in a 53-42 vote ended a three-week stalemate that saw the state’s 14 Senate Democrats flee to Illinois in a bid to stymie the measure and tens of thousands of people protest at the Capitol.

The unions are in such a tizzy over all of this that they are requiring a town in Connecticut to pay for coffee and milk that will be free to the union employees.  They even ordered the town to reinstate casual Fridays.

A Connecticut town must provide their union workers free coffee and milk, according to a ruling from the State Board of Labor Relations.

The board also ordered town leaders to reinstate “Dress Down Fridays” for the union clerical and custodial workers.

Will anyone ever learn that nothing comes free (RTWT)?

The biggest myth about labor unions is that unions are for the workers. Unions are for unions, just as corporations are for corporations and politicians are for politicians.

Lately there has been a lot of yelling that the country isn’t broke. This morning it became apparent to me that the country is going through the stages of grief with regards to the economy.

1. Denial, Denial is pretending the problem doesn’t exist or cannot be seen. Many are currently doing that, ignoring how bad the financial situation really is.
2. Anger, Anger has been expressed over and over by both people who are still in stage one, as well as people in stage 3.
3. Bargaining, People on both sides of the isle are trying to bargain their way out of the inevitable truth. There is no money to borrow to fix this. It’s going to take sweat blood and tears.
4. Depression, Often this stage and the next are rolled together. It’s questions like Joe’s that get asked when you realize bargaining is no longer useful and the depression of the truth sinks in.
5. Acceptance, You realize this is going to hurt, there is nothing that can be done, but it’s better to take your licks now than let it grow and hurt more later.

The sooner you realize the gravity of the situation, the better. That’s steps 4 and 5 folks, steps 1-3 are merely trying to prolong the inevitable. In order to be able to survive this, cuts are going to have to be made and people are going to have to accept that. Is it going to hurt, yes, but some times in order to get better you have to go through some pain.

The hearing for HB 1016 was yesterday. HB 1016 is the same as SB 5112.

Only five people were able to attend, however just like with the previous hearing all were in support of the bill.

There was an industry rep who manufactures suppressors, he was the one who testified in favor of the bill. The statement out of the executive session of the committee was a “Due Pass” recommendation. The committee chair feels that it will most likely pass.

Here is the audio video from the hearing:

There is something I learned in chess a long time ago which holds true in the gun games I play and it’s true in politics as well . It’s more important to not lose than it is win. Let the other guy take the chances and you win when they screw up.  -Joe Huffman,

[I find this fits quite well with my comments on open carry.  The focus needs to be on not losing.  Our enemies will screw up on their own and when they do we can capitalize on their failure.  Why expend energy and effort accomplishing a goal when your enemy can give it to you?  Especially since when expend energy like that you risk making the mistake yourself.  -B]

Even as the economy has recovered, social welfare benefits make up 35 percent of wages and salaries this year, up from 21 percent in 2000 and 10 percent in 1960, according to TrimTabs Investment Research using Bureau of Economic Analysis data.

The government is taking a third of everything you make to do with as they see fit.  You are a slave to the system, all that time and effort you spent getting a good job was for naught.  You would actually probably be better off just living off the government dole.  The government is spending out of control and it is the hardworking American tax payer stuck with the bill.  I seriously wouldn’t care if tomorrow they announced all the social programs were shut down.  I’m sick of the government redistributing the fruits of my labor to others by the threat of force against me.  It is nothing more that “legalized” theft.

Mr. Obama, some of us are confused by your weekly address.

We need a government that lives within its means without sacrificing job-creating investments in education, innovation, and infrastructure.

(Emphasis mine)  Mr. Obama, that statement does not mean what you think it means.  The deficit has tripled since you came in to office.

Not to mention the month of February 2011 has the largest deficit in history.   It was so big in fact, that it was bigger than the entire deficit from 2007.  The government cannot create jobs, all it can do is take money and redistribute it to others under the guise of creating jobs. 

Why did the deficit need to triple?  It is not the government’s job to innovate and it is not the government’s job to provide education either.  The interest from the debt is going to reach a point where it is unmanageable.  In order to live within your means sometimes means cutting things that you think are necessities but are actually luxuries.  Many have been learning this fact first hand while Obama and family has been out playing golf and globe trotting.

If you want to be within the means of our country, you need a surplus big enough to destroy sizeable amounts of the debt.  Will it hurt, yes, but a small amount of pain now is preferable to the total economic collapse that awaits if things don’t change.

H/T Alan who posted the Gateway Pundit article on GBC.