If You Love Other Countries, You Hate America

Lovely letter to the editor in today's Newsday. (Scroll down a bit, and the link is likely to work only through today...)

Here's the text of the letter:

Some flags fly better at home

I find it very disconcerting that, instead of flying the American flag, some people on Long Island are driving around with the flags of other countries on their vehicles. The United States of America feeds, clothes, educates and provides health care to these immigrants. If they have so much allegiance to their home country, why are they in the United States? It is a slap in the face of all hard-working citizens to see this blatant display of anti- Americanism.

Margaret Weber

Hauppauge

Ms. Weber, why have you come to my planet?

Why Don't I Dig Margaret Cho?

Okay, so nearly every popular left-leaning political blog has a link to Margaret Cho's blog. Time and again I've gone there looking for something thought provoking or cool and have been disappointed. Today, I was catching up on Atrios and saw the link there in his navbar. I thought to myself, "Well, maybe just one more peek" and clicked. Then I came across this piece of drivel:

This presidential race is the biggest dick contest in history. "Your dick is indecisive!" "Your dick started an unnecessary war!" "Your dick didn't get injured enough in Vietnam!" "Your dick didn't even go to Vietnam!" "Your dick is soft on terrorism!" "Your dick started terrorism!" "Your dick blamed Vietnam vets for atrocities that made all vets unable to come home to a hero's welcome." "Your dick forged its way out of military service!" Has this kind of dick waggling happened before outside of a pro- wrestling context?

Not only does this not make any sense, but the bit is flagrantly ripped off from George Carlin, who did manage to make it funny. (e.g. "What?! They have bigger dicks?!?! BOMB THEM!!!")

Nope. I still don't get Margaret Cho.

You Can't Have It Both Ways, Alan

JupiterResearch is tangling with eMarketer again...

Will someone please explain to me how anyone could possible claim that what eMarketer does is copyright infringement? A data set isn't copyrightable, especially data you put out in the public domain.

I saw eMarketer CEO Geoff Ramsey on the 212 cruise not too long ago, and I told him exactly how ridiculous I thought Jupiter's lawsuit was. In addition to having no legal leg to stand on, I thought Alan Meckler should be grateful to Ramsey and eMarketer for helping build JupiterResearch's business. After all, who does a better job of publicizing Jupiter's data and driving new customers than eMarketer? Nobody, that's who.

Paging Mr. Meckler... You can't have it both ways, guy. For years, eMarketer has been publicizing Jupiter data. I'd bet that eMarketer is indirectly responsible for building a good chunk of Jupiter's business. After years of enjoying this free publicity, Jupiter turns around and sues eMarketer? Some gratitude... Oh, and Mr. Meckler? You can't throw data out into the public domain and then continue to control its fair use. If your stuff is so valuable and proprietary then keep it private. Don't post it on your website - let customers pay for it. Anything you choose to make public is just that - public. So get off eMarketer's case already and write them a nice letter of thanks for all the help they've given you over the years.

Cha-Ching! Halliburton Cashes In Some More

Looks like the Army, which has been getting flagrantly ripped off by Halliburton, is granting the company a reprieve from withholding payment of its invoices in full. Normally, companies supplying the government can't receive more than 85 percent of their invoiced amounts until they fully account for their costs. But not Halliburton, our oh-so-special exception to the rule. They get (another) temporary reprieve.

I heard on CBS 880 AM this morning that Halliburton was charging $100 per 15-pound load of laundry. By way of comparison, I pay 99 cents a pound in pricey New York City. If I have 15 pounds of laundry, a guy will come by my apartment, pick it up, wash and dry and fold it and deliver it back to me in a tight, plastic-wrapped bundle for $15 plus tip.

Flagrant overcharging, missing millions, offshore subsidiaries doing business with Iran - what else is it going to take to convince our government that Halliburton shouldn't be getting government contracts at all?