Today on June 4th,

we still remember Tiananmen Square.

20年後，我們仍然記得天安門廣場.

What is it with the American Left and jokes about sexual violence? (part I)

I've personally had to put up with the giggles of the Left when I've brought up how rape has been used as an instrument of war in places like Rwanda and Darfur, and yes, this is indeed a trend:

"Women [they'd] like to 'hate-f***'"

When, at a debate about the UN some four years ago, a gentleman from the "Citizens for Global Solutions" told me: "Oh, I'm sure some people feel marginalized..." when I brought up Darfur, I was actually more than a bit shocked at the time. But we all have to learn to accept that this is simply par for the course for these folks. . .

-via Mitch Berg's post at Shot in the Dark

06/09/09 Update: Dave Letterman jokes about baseball player raping Sarah Palin's 14-year old daughter.

scam of the day: "Protection Assurance Corp."

The note they sent me yesterday (the "return address" said: "Office of Disbursement"- next to a replica of the US Presidential Seal- in Pleasant Hill CA).

This may be them.

Their number on my notice is: 1-888-543-1956

The number on the site is: 888-389-6486

And if you're interested in sending them spam, you can try them here:

info@protectionassurancecorp.com

NY Senator Charles (Chuck) Schumer is at least trying to stop this (car waranty scams) in New York State, but I don't see much progress in this elsewhere . . .

some fun w/ "Warranty Services"

Have any of you received recorded phone messages or "FINAL WARRANTY NOTICE"s from an outfit calling themselves "Warranty Services"?

I've had some fun this afternoon calling them back at:

866-442-5552

Be creative as you can (and remember to mask your number!). I do love it when they actually give me something to contact them with . . .

btw: here's something that may be useful to y'all:

I viewed a Wiki that listed technologies used with caller ID, and found call tracing and call traps are useful for this type of reporting. My phone carrier supports these features by pressing *57 or #57 immediately after the call, then dialing an ISP provided toll-free number to pursue further action. I believe this may be helpful for anyone who is having this problem. Our household is also receiving mailers with a similar formatted message. I don't want to speculate, but everyone I have spoken with regarding this matter has posted a resume on a Careerhelper website. SPAM may also be attributed to this.

Read more: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/auto_warranty/automotive.html#ixzz0HDjFuqP7&B