900 Million?

I don't doubt that there are that many user id's in circulation, but, hell, I've got two accounts (one that I can no longer access because Facebook has (or at least had) no functional retrieval mechanism for lost/forgotten passwords.

If The Gubment Was Really a Business...

Then it would pretty much never enter into agreements like this. Just a quick question to any(republican) who thinks that a government leasing rights to any funding source is ever a good idea: If a private investor is willing to pay for it, don't you think that, maybe, the government has a better source of revenue than whatever pile of cash they could get for it? I was living there when this happened, and it seemed really, really dumb even then. I couldn't imagine how anyone could think that $500M was worth giving up 99 years (!) of revenue. Further, it seemed to me that the investors would wan to maximize their revenue, and so would increase rates. Guess what happened?

You really don't have to be very smart to realize that any lease that a private investor is going to go for will mean less money for the city/state/federal government. Also, it means that the citizens get screwed, particularly in the future, when the great, great grandchildren of the current politicians are paying fees that go straight to some private investor's bottom line. Stupid and evil, but mostly stupid.

Pink Slime = Good Thing

Look, to the extent that people are going to continue to eat meat (as I do), the most responsible--and probably humane--thing to do would be to waste as little as possible. Pink slime helps do that. If there were another method that accomplished the same but was less...icky?...then that would be fine too. As it is Americans eat too much meat and waste too much food, I don't see making us more wasteful as a good thing.

As for the asinine commenter who stated:

This is factually incorrect. No cows need to be slaughtered because the nation has absolutely zero "need" for beef. There is a desire for beef, but not a need. People eat beef because they choose to, not because they need to.

Get the fuck over yourself! While I think it would be good if the cost of meat (including beef) went up to something closer to it's unsubsidized market price, that isn't going to happen, at least not very soon. So it is factually correct to say that we would kill a bunch more cows if we banned pink slime. Living in a fantasy where people just ate less meat if a ban were to happen is counterproductive.

Obama = Bush

True for the war on concept, indefinite detention, warrantless wiretaps, prosecution of whistle blowers, giving money to rich bankers, not helping the poor, and now science!

Note to conservatives: a vote for Obama is a vote for right of center (though not right wing) republican ideology.

Note to liberals: things haven't gotten better, part of that is the senate, but there's a whole lot of blame to Obama as well.

Note to everyone: we're screwed this fall no matter what. Vote Nader?

Pennies, Pennies Everywhere

Except in Canada, where sense has prevailed. Yes we should lose the penny (and the nickle and the dollar bill) and no, it probably wouldn't hurt the poor as this states. A couple reasons: one is that the $x.99 would, if it does change, go to $x.95, for the same reason it is currently $.99, and the other reason is more of a savvy business notion one. If a business rounds down, that may encourage cash purchases, which net them more profit since they don't have to pay the credit/debit card transaction fee.

Good Day to Read Others

A rather cathartic read, this, but also frustrating and depressing.

Hilarious

A Quantum Theory of Mitt Romney.