WTF?

What the fuck is wrong with Firefox these days? Anybody else having issues? It is crashing all the freaking time on me, and the Firefox on my G5 at home has completely shit the bed. It won't even launch without immediately crashing—and that sucks, because it's got my most extensive bookmarks lists, and I don't know how to salvage that.

UPDATE: Our power outage forced a restart of the computer, Firefox launched and just updated itself from 3.0.1 to 3.5, so, we'll see what happens... What I really want is a way to revert either my Firefox or Safari back a couple generations so I can use the online proofing system from my magazine's printer—the newer versions of both these browsers are incompatible (java errors). In the meantime, I'm going to save/export my bookmarks and look into alternatives...

UPDATE 2: Ahhh. I see Firefox has been updating itself to beta versions for two months...An explanation for the unstableness? Sons of....

Bombs Away

Shep Smith has seemingly strayed from the dark side of late, and here he lets loose on two FOX News clowns "debating" torture.



Awesome.

The Task

Objective: Install the microwave/range hood we ordered in early December and has been languishing in the basement since...

Obstacles: 1.) Removal of several 12" sq granite tiles to access the wall for mounting the bracket. I have NO idea how tough this will be, but it will be easier than drilling through. 2.) Relocation of the supply outlet which is inexplicably right where the oven gets installed instead of in the cabinet. (The fact that all of our kitchen seems to have been ergonomically designed for an NBA player might have something to do with that. Counters and cabinets are all 2" higher than they should be...)

Advantages: Mrs F has taken the kids to the Children's Museum.

Potential Project-Derailing Pitfalls: Anytime you do any project on a ninety year old house, something unexpected comes up—ancient wiring, crumbling plaster, something...

Let's see what happens...

UPDATE @ 6:15: Outlet relocated and wired. Bracket installed. Stove dislocated, so we're going out to the Chinese buffet...YUM!

POST-GAME REPORT: The tiles came off the wall surprisingly easy. the big roadblock came with the only stud in the 31" span being almost exactly in the middle—right where the bracket had no mounting holes. This meant an over-reliance on toggle bolts and whatever assorted anchors I could dig up. Two out of four toggle bolts failed to grab, I used four anchors and then drilled two holes through the bracket in the center, and used a 3" deck screw angled to catch the next stud on one end. Would have been easier to use Smitty's duct tape solution...

Anyway...witness the power of this fully-armed and operational microwave, and unlike our old one can actually fit a full-size dinner plate. Check it out...

Tell It To Her, Scott

When I saw this picture today, accompanying a completely unrelated story, I just about lost my shit. Appallingly, I've seen worse photos before, but this one struck me today and made me think immediately about the ongoing "book tour of redemption" by Scott McClellan.

Much has been written in the last day about the "tell-all" memoir by the former White House professional liar. I don't have much to say beyond "Fuck him. I hope he rots in Hell."

I could alternate several other words between the stream of obscenities that would flow from my fingers, but it pretty much boils down to this: Scott McClellan, you stood before the country and knowingly told lies on behalf of The Worst Administration Ever. On every possible topic. Untold thousands died as a result. And you did nothing to stop it. You are a coward of the first order and the fact that you admit this now, only in order to make a buck off it, repulses me even more.

Many writers have referenced the death of American troops and the debt McClellan owes them and their families—don't get me wrong, he is an accessory in every one of their deaths—but they are soldiers...This innocent little girl and thousands like her, never enlisted for what you helped unleash upon them.

Scott McClellan, take a good look at that child and realize that you personally helped put every single one of those sutures in her face.

Your punishment should be a tour as an IED scout in Iraq. Not so you can die, but so you can shit your pants every fucking day that you might. All the while I hope that girl's horribly mangled face haunts you every single night. And when you make it through your tour in Iraq, you return home only to be crushed to death by a palette of your unsold books.

[photo from The Atlantic, by Ahmad al Rubaye/AFP/Getty]

Too Pissed For a Clever Headline

The FISA Court and statute is no longer the exclusive governing authority for how surveillance can be conducted in America. It’s wide fucking open now.

Oh, and telecoms get immunity.

Fucked over retroactively and going forward. Nice job Reid and the rest of you fucking clowns.

And a special “Fuck You!” to Hillary for making sure she got a 21-day jump on building her Texas sandbag wall and skipping the vote altogether.

Also, Debbie Stabenow is now twelve feet down she is so fucking dead to me.

Much more on this to come. Trust me.

Banana in the Tailpipe

Over the last week Apple updated Safari, and Blogger made me roll the blog over from Beta to "New Blogger". Now my browser crashes constantly from the dashboard—I don't know which to blame! Happening to anyone else? Serious PITA. If this keeps up, I might take the whole thing over to WordPress...

UPDATE: Using FireFox I was able to complete my big Hillary post...no crashes. Seems like it is Safari. FireFox seems fine, it easily imported all my stuff from Sfari, but it is just slightly less attractive. Feels/looks a bit too PC-ish.

House Afire

I intended to have a week of light posts about Disney...or music...some baseball hot stove stuff...or a nice "Mr Furious Heartily Endorses" post to work back from vacation and make up for the the fact that the "serious" taser story was above the fold here for like ten days. But this Huckabee story and Mitt Romney's bullshit "faith" speech and his corresponding JFK-ification has me fucking livid.

Once I clear the decks of some work, it is fucking on.

Approved for Presidential Consumption

[via Smitty] I ran the old blog through a "Reading Comprehension Analyzer." Hell, Smitty's beer and home-brewing blog achieved "Post-Grad College Level" so I expected at least "Undergraduate"...

Not so much...



Goes nicely with the NC-17 rating, I suppose.

In Case You Were Wondering...

Fucking Outrage

Yeah, we all know about the scandals involving Catholic priests and child molestation... I grew up a Catholic, in New England, so the whole Boston archdiocese story was never too far removed from my life. But this is waaay too close to home...

This is the town I grew up in, these are churches and places I know, and my father was a firefighter in West Hartford and I spent plenty of time hanging around the station. And this fucker was at the top of his game in the mid '70s—did I mention I'm 39?—putting me smack in his wheelhouse.

This truly seems to be a case of "there but by the grace of God, go I..." *

Seems this particular fucking predator piece of shit used his stature as Fire and Police Chaplain as his angle to entice and molest young boys. Preying in particular on kids who dreamed of serving the public by becoming police- or firemen, this Foley animal always drove a specially equipped car with lights, sirens, radios, etc.

The victims all told a version of the same story - they were impressed that Foley was the state police chaplain because they could ride in his police car right up to accident and fire scenes. Along the way, Doe said, Foley plied them with Yukon Jack and Southern Comfort from a fully stocked bar he kept in the back. He even had special fire jackets made up that said "Chaplain's Assistant" on the back.

One accuser told investigators that Foley would come to his house at all hours of the night, sometimes rousing him out of bed, "under the premise of taking him to a fire scene, when in reality the reason was for some sort of sexual contact."

Others said Foley would invite them to spend the night with him at Christ the King church rectory in Bloomfield for the purpose of responding to scanner calls and but would then fondle and masturbate them.

And as you would expect, it now comes out that the church knew all about it, moved this guy around and covering the whole thing up. Eventually giving him NO parish, but allowing him to continue his duties as fire and police chaplain, and even allowing him to continue to drive his Crown Vic to this day!

There appear to be all kinds of shenanigans regarding various State Police investigations over the years of this guy, too. Obviously, they have an interest in this as well.

The fact that idealogues and people in power seem to be able to justify any action (or inaction) soley based on the cost/benefit to their interests never ceases to amaze me. There is no possible moral justification for this, yet it was a systematic problem for the church for years, and apparently remains one to this day.

I might actually have to let my fury over this story steep a little longer before I consider this post wrapped. Right now I am so angry I actually have a problem wiith my dad for still going to church.

Disgusting.

* No, the irony of using a religious quote is not lost on me.

UPDATE: Colin McEnroe follows up:

The only thing the Archbishop has proven is that the Archbishop doesn't like being in the middle of a crapstorm. His response to a lot of bad publicity has been to do what he would have done a long time ago, if he were the hard-nosed sheriff he wants us to think he is.

[...]This is nonsense. The Archdiocese hadn't even taken Foley's Pedomobile away. So how were they controlling him?