So after a whopping 1-week "indefinite hiatus" period, Duck Man is already reinstated. Considering how well their Christmas CD sold, it seems that if anything the non-troversy of his suspension only improved their publicity. I'm waiting to hear how the conservative media will spin this as a triumph of the first amendment or some other such bullshit.

I got a front-page submission, which I've done before. Today tough I should get double-plus-extra-good achievement points. In the discussion of the same, I posted a comment that was down-moderated (at least once scoring -1).

Hoo-ray for me!

It gets harder and harder to dig this link out each time I look for it. Of course, it only disappoints me more and more each time I look at its results: http://slashdot.org/search.pl?tid=&query=&author=&sort=1&op=journals.

Turns out, the sun hasn't had much to do with it since at least 1900. Who can I count on to come over first and tell me this is just a leftist conspiracy?

My first language is English. Not necessarily the Queen's English, but rather the English taught here where I grew up in the USA. However it appears that my home country is birthing another English language. I will be so bold as to say that it is not merely a new dialect but rather an entirely new language that is truly only slightly related to what has been previously understood to be English.

This new language that I have been seeing involves nearly all of the same words and grammar as English, but used very differently. Words that in English used to describe facts are now used to describe opinions, and vice-versa. Interestingly enough, I find that when I use the English that I have grown up speaking, I can converse with other English speaking people - including people versed in the Queen's English - however I cannot converse with people who speak this new "American" English. I am willing to postulate that people who speak primarily in this new English would be challenged greatly if they were to attempt to communicate with any international speakers of English.

This is a very interesting time we live in. In my lifetime we have seen the death of a number of languages, although I am not sure if we can demonstrate having witnessed the birth of a new one. One cannot help but wonder what types of changes this new language might bring to this country and indeed the world.

I cannot help but wonder when we will see schools start to teach how to communicate in this new English language. I wonder how much those schools will cost, or how much a professional translator will earn who can convert speech or text between the two (while some similarities still exist, I postulate we will quickly exceed the current abilities of machine-only translation).

A lot of conservatives are up in arms over the A&E network suspending the Duck Dynasty dad for his homophobic rant in a magazine interview. The conservative line - hawked by the likes of Palin, Jindal, et al - is all about how his first amendment rights are being infringed upon by "the left".

However, as I understand it, the first amendment says you have freedom of speech - but it does not say that anyone has to listen. You can't get thrown out of a public park for saying hateful things (provided they are not calls for physical violence) but if you come into my house I can force you to leave if you insult me. The A&E network does not agree with what this guy said, so they kicked him out of their house. He is still free to go speak his mind elsewhere.

In other words, his freedom of speech was not infringed upon. A private entity told him they did not want to do business with him. If I went into a 7-11 and insulted the cashier I could expect much the same response.

I doubt this will reduce the volume of people screaming for the scalp of the POTUS, but a recent news article that includes statements from CIA officials and republican house members suggests that the response to the attacks in Benghazi were in line with established plans for Libya.

We have seen the impact that Randians have had on American politics as they have merged their religion into policy and attempted to turn the clock back to the 1840s. It has been a pretty effective way to suggest the reversion of economic opportunities and even civil rights in the name of "objectivism". We've seen Randians in politics all over the country (including some that have risen to become cult leaders themselves) and heard Randian philosophy on the airwaves all over the place as well.

Unsurprisingly we have Randians rising in the business world as well. One example lies in the current CEO of Sears who was an investment broker that eventually took control of Sears Holdings by way of an external power grab. He was touted as a wunderkind of sorts when he was handling investment accounts before, so certainly he's well qualified to dictate the leadership of a large retailer, right?

Well, not really.

So how is that working out?

But clearly, it's not for lack of trying, right? As CEO he must be there all the time, right? Wrong. He is known to visit Sears HQ no more than twice a year, due to his "dislike of flying". He spends most of his time at his $40M Florida mansion. Is the leader partying while the empire burns? Just consider what you would do if you had such digs.

Being as each division now manages itself with complete disregard (or even disdain) for other units that effectively operate in the same store, one cannot help but wonder if this is part of why Sears Craftsman tools are increasingly being made in China.

Conservatives are still tripping over each other to see who can offer the greatest amount of random hyperbole to make the earlier attack on Benghazi the personal fault of President Barack "Lawnchair" Obama. Now, there is another American death in Benghazi that they should be jumping on soon. Obviously, just as President Lawnchair previously flew out there under deep cover to sack the embassy, he has now done the same to murder a teacher who was ... oh, shit. Whatever.

Recently a GOP house member actually prepared an actual proposal for the house as a counter to the health insurance industry bailout act of 2010. The problem, though, is that it doesn't really do much of anything. The first person to point out this proposal to me was slashdot's own smitty_one_each in a journal entry celebrating it.

The problem, though, is that there is almost nothing in it to celebrate. I followed the house link and read what was there, and then posted a point-for-point response I pointed out how much of the proposal is feel-good stuff (including some of which is actually claiming the opposite of the nonpartisan reality), and other parts don't belong there at all. Ultimately I showed that it won't solve the problems we had before or after 2010 and why.

Now, if someone wanted to actually discuss the situation, this would be a good starting point. I wrote that comment this morning, and so far ... nothing. Not one single response .

... to former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. We have seen that several tea partiers want to repeal the 17th amendment to the US constitution, which would put the power of senate appointments back in the exclusive hands of state governors. If the 17th amendment were repealed by the tea party, Blagojevich's attempt to sell the senate seat of Barack "lawnchair" Obama would not only have not been criminal, it would have been business as usual.

For those who didn't realize that there were still a few left, there soon will be none. DISH network bought out Blockbuster Video a while back and has now announced they intend to close the last ones down by January.

front page submission here.

Clever slashdotters keep figuring out my identity, so I might as well come clean.

First, way back in 2009 someone figured out that I am indeed Dick Shatto. That's right, I played Canadian Football, and died some time ago. But as I was in Canada, the excellent health care system was able to cure me of my death, and I went on (this was quite a feat considering I was cremated, but my ashes were scattered in a football stadium in Canada and they have really, really, good grounds crews up there). With plenty of time on my hands I thought I'd hang out here on slashdot where I should be able to blend right in with other brain eating types.

However, being undead (or formerly dead if you prefer) has its downsides. Flesh falls off, things rot away, etc. Even worse though is that the world progresses and you do not; you always stay the same age you were when you died. If I wanted to really live again I needed a new body to take over. Somewhat like a ghost, but not really; the details aren't important. I figured I should pick someone in good health so I could stick around for a while, but someone not too important so I could ensure my second visit is longer. Someone with good health coverage would of course be a must!

There really is only one good candidate for this. I had to choose President Lawnchair. He has no real power to speak of (or at least, he has never used any). He has great health care and takes care of his body. He doesn't do anything, so nobody should notice if I move in for a few decades.

Thankfully, since nobody reads this lousy website I shouldn't have to worry about my secret getting out.

Today slashdot started giving me the "slow down cowboy" messages if I try to post less than 5 minutes after my most recent. I can only imagine how infuriated a slashdot conservative would be if they were ever to encounter such a message.

I would ponder writing this up as a book, as I have volumes of experience with the matter. However I'm not sure I can make zero steps long enough to warrant binding into a volume.