It's fiction, but reality isn't far away from it these days.

diesel sweeties: pixelated robot romance web comic

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Vice President Dick Cheney said he would likely refuse to testify before Congress if he is faced with a subpoena from the opposition Democratic party.

The Democrats say if they prevail in Tuesday's legislative elections they may launch investigations into past actions taken by President George W. Bush's administration, possibly even issuing subpoenas to compel prominent officials to testify.

Asked in a television interview if he would testify before Congress if he received a subpoena from lawmakers however, Cheney said it was unlikely he would comply, as it would break with American political tradition.

"I have no idea that I'm going to be subpoenaed, and obviously, we'd sit down and look at it at the time," he told ABC's "This Week".

"But probably not, in the sense that the president and the vice president are constitutional officers and don't appear before the Congress," Cheney said.

Cheney Apparently Above The Law

Years ago when I worked at a big bank, one of the hot issues was that many customers didn’t trust our new-fangled ATM machines. Amazingly, this fear had almost nothing to do with the fact that I worked in the ATM department. Indeed, my suggestion to include a paper shredder hole right next to the deposit hole was barely even considered. In the end, ATMs rarely stole anyone’s money and kept it for long. Now most people trust ATMs.

I think about the history of ATMs when I hear all the nervous Nellies wetting their pants over electronic voting machines. I believe those worries are totally misplaced. Now don’t get me wrong – there’s a 100% chance that the voting machines will get hacked and all future elections will be rigged means that the choice of the next American president will be taken out of the hands of deep-pocket, autofellating, corporate shitbags and put it into the hands of some teenager in Finland. How is that not an improvement?

LMFAO.

The Dilbert Blog: Electronic Voting Machines

Remember back a few years ago when Bill Clinton was facing off against Slobodan Moloschovich? The president made an important point of stripping that leader of his station and dignity by not referring to him by his proper title, but instead by referring to him as "Mr. ...". I've noticed that for quite some time, the media tends to refer to President Bush as Mr. Bush, which makes me wonder if there is some agenda there that isn't acknoledged. Then again, on the basis that I really don't feel like acknoledging he is president, I'm inclined to do the same. It used to be that people did revere the instituition -- is it apathy, a lack of care, or disrepect that drives the current system of titles and address?

Maybe I'm atypical, but I am very much aware that Represenative Cramer represents my area, and Senator Shelby (whom I greatly disagree with) is our senator. I suppose maybe we've all grown disinfranchised by the situations up in Washington, D.C. and are eschewing any from of formal address as a means of removing any previous respect our leaders had due to the current behavior.

This fits somewhere between recreation and politics, so here goes...

This woman was tazered during a traffic stop because she was being placed under arrest for having a suspended license. I find it somewhat humorous due to her general demeanor and disbelief of the officer's actions or intent.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/news/video/taser_video3a.html

Every once and a while, when I log into a FreeBSD machine, I recieve this fortune:

Between 1950 and 1952, a bored weatherman, stationed north of Hudson
Bay, left a monument that neither government nor time can eradicate.
Using a bulldozer abandoned by the Air Force, he spent two years and
great effort pushing boulders into a single word.

It can be seen from 10,000 feet, silhouetted against the snow.
Government officials exchanged memos full of circumlocutions (no Latin
equivalent exists) but failed to word an appropriation bill for the
destruction of this cairn, that wouldn't alert the press and embarrass
both Parliament and Party.

It stands today, a monument to human spirit. If life exists on other
planets, this may be the first message received from us.
-- The Realist, November, 1964.

So my interest got peaked and I started looking at photomaps north of Hudson Bay. What I've found so far is an interesting splotch which makes me wonder -- what *is* this?

http://maps.google.ca/maps?ll=64.916840,-87.878265&spn=0.659180,1.010742&t=k&hl=en

Another large splotch, obviously something that's been edited out; is it a goverment installation, or the word I've been looking for above.