Scarlett Johansson Hacked

Friday, September 16, 2011

Scarlett Johansson Images

http://scarlettjohanssonhacked.blogspot.com/

Formspring Question #255--Ten Percent II Edition

Is that 10% as a flat rate for all income brackets?

Yes.

You do not like the unfairness of it, huh? I am big on eliminating the income tax in favor of a national sales tax myself and skipping all this haggling over who makes too much money versus their tax burden.

Friday Night Babe

Tonight's FNB* is Amber Heard!

(*a.k.a. Rule Five Friday)

Formspring Question #254--Ten Percent Edition

Taxes today are lower than they have been since the 50's (both for the super-rich and for the middle class) but most conservatives still want them lower. What is TOO LOW a tax rate?

God only requires ten percent, so the government has to make an airtight case why it needs more. Not only that, but since God asks for the first and best ten percent, government needs to wait its turn, as well.

Star Trek: Voyager--"Thirty Days"

The character studies certainly have been kicked up a notch this season. “Thiry days” is a Tom-centric episode. It is the best one yet for the character, as it does not involve him being accused of murder, turning into a salamander, or being obsessed with restoring an old Camero. It also brings back the old Tom--the screw up who cannot please his father no matter what he does, and fills the void by engaging in stupid, idealistic adventures. Tom has been “fixed’ a little too well by his time on Voyager. He is a crack pilot, a field medic, an engineer who can design an ubershuttlecraft from scratch, and an author Why did this guy ever have any troubles with screwing up in the past?

Voyager encounters what appears to be an ocean in space. Upon investigation, they are attacked by the Moneans. It is a misunderstanding that gets cleared up quickly. In fact, the Moneans have a problem they would like the crew to tackle for them. The containment field holding the ocean in place is degrading. They do not have any submarines capable of diving deep enough to investigate the center of the ocean, but the Delta flyer can get there easily. Tom, who always wanted to be a sailor, but was forced into Starfleet by his overbearing father, jumps at the chance.

The expedition discovers, after a brief encounter with a very cool looking giant, CGI eel, the Moneans own technology is causing the degradation. If they do not change their ways, the ocean will disappear in five years. Their chief diplomat promises some committee on science within their government will look into the matter. Tom knows nothing is going to come of that. It will be tied up in bureaucracy until it is too late. He decides to take matters into his own hands after a brief pep talk from Torres.

Tom and a sympathetic Monean named Rigar steal the Delta Flyer and plan to destroy the underwater oxygen generators. By doing so, they will have to be rebuilt, and the likelihood is they will be rebuilt with preserving the ocean in mind. Voyager is forced to stop the act of ecoterrorism. Tom is brought back to the ship, demoted to ensign, and sentenced to thirty days solitary confinement in the brig.

I am as shocked as you are there is no preachy environmental lesson to be found. Doubly so because of the running theme of environmental damage the Malon are causing that will play out for the rest of the season. The fact is, the Moneans are willfully killing themselves because they do not feel like spending the resources to prevent further damage, but Janeway--surprise, surprise--invokes the Prime Directive and says if they want to kill themselves, it is their choice. Just to make things a little grayer, the Moneans are revealed to be nomadic squatters. they found this ocean in space centuries ago and moved in. they do not know who built it or why, but it is assumed it was intended to preserve some planet’s ocean from an ecological disaster. But all that is cast aside for a character study.

A character study with some oddities. For one, tom has never expressed any connection to the nautical life before, nor has he ever been an environmentalist. Sure, he has been looking for anything with which to feel emotionally connected, but his newfound concern for the ocean is out of the blue. For another, Janeway is back to her crazy self. She has violated the prime directive a heck of a lot worse than Tom does here, and while I understand she cannot let the matter go without a response, what a response! She dresses tom down, rips a pip off his collar when demoting him, and sentences him to solitary all after she tells him she would have blown up the Delta flyer to stop him. The episode, told in flashback, reveals Janeway forbade torres from visiting at all, while allowing only Neelix to drop off bread and water and medical visits in an emergency. Compare this to when Tuvok violated the prime directive in “Prime Factors” and received a slap on the wrist. Janeway got up on the wrong side of the bad this morning, no? The biggest flaw is Tom is motivated to action by his poor relationship with his father, yet whatever happened between them is still not revealed. A little clarification might have elevated “Thirty Days” beyond pleasantly intriguing. No such luck.

“Thirty Days” is a good episode, however. One cannot help but notice untapped potential in exploring exactly why tom and his father are estranged. Whatever the case, it is enough to compel tom to do some incredibly dumb things in order to give his life meaning. Some elaboration on just how damaged he is is in order. But I will be a lot more forgiving about the omission than usual because I did not have to sit through a hour’s worth of moralizing over how we are destroying the oceans with our careless ways. That is a relief.

Rating: *** (out of 5)

I have to earn my Parrot Head stripes:

Ford's Provocative Bailout Commercial

Crossposted at the Left Coast Rebel

The following Ford bailout commercial/ad campaign has been out for a while but due to my busy schedule, I hadn't see it yet.

Delicious:

I think this is really going to strike a nerve with the American public and just may increase Ford's sales.

Why?

Though it has been beaten out of us for decades, our independent rugged-individualist nature draws us to hate cronyism, crony capitalists and the corporate-welfare, "too big to fail" system that caters to them.

Are you listening, GM, Chrysler et al.? Next time it just may be good business to say NO to Uncle Sam.

Updates

First: Unfortunately Ford's own Alan Mulally is an Obamanation ally, so a crony capitalist in his own right.

And: via Memeorandum, read this story to catch a glimpse of the slippery slope of corporate welfarism and the spectre of big-government/business collusion. The bigger picture missed by the Puff-Ho writer is this: who knew that there were still billions in fed auto "loans" floating around out there?

Also: Inspired by a Palin Facebook post on the topic, Another Black Conservative checks in on the crony-capitalism debate:

In the speech Palin, points out something we should all have noticed, (had we not had our Red and Blue colored glasses firmly in place) that both the right and the left are correct as to what is kill our nation. On the right, we see Big Government as the killer or liberty and freedom. On the left, they see Big Business as the threat to the little guy. The truth is that it is the collusion of the Big Government and Big Business that is messing things up for this nation.

Well said, Clifton! And, good to see you clawing back from the blogger abyss.

Scarlett Johansson, Hacked Photos, the FBI, and...Gillian Anderson?

Every connoisseur of the female form is going to post photos of Scarlett Johansson in order to capitalize on nude photos from her hacked cellphone earlier. I will not post those here, since I like to keep the Eye family friendly, even though I do descend into dysfunction family friendly quite often. For the record, I have seen the photos, they are real, and they are spectacular. Bottticelli buttocks on that girl, folks. But the whole situation leads me to ask two important questions.

One, why is Scarlett Johansson taking naked photos of herself if she does not want people to see them? Granted, they might have been meant for her latest fellow, whoever he may be. I lost track after Sean Penn. But is it really wise to take the risk of losing your cell phone or getting hacked, particularly for a celebrity constantly under the threat of being stalked by paparazzi and crazed fans alike? This strikes me as either an incredibly dumb mistake on Johansson’s part, or the most prurient publicity stunt since Paris Hilton made a sex tape. I want to give Johansson the benefit of the doubt and say she is dumb here--the kindest thing I can say--and hope she has not stooped to Hilton’s level of attention whoring.

Two, why is the FBI involved? Hacking is a federal crime that is supposed to be reported to one’s local FBI office, but does it not feel like they ought to have better things to do right now than hunt done the pervert who stole naked photos of Scarlett Johansson? Are there no terrorists ought there any longer? We are running the risk of being overwhelmed by terrorists when you consider the dedication FBI field agents must have when assigned to find nude photos of Johansson.

Speaking of FBI agents:

I have to throw something else in here to separate this post from every other Johansson write up out there, if only marginally relevant. Gillian Anderson is still hot long after her days as Dana Scully.

In all seriousness, Johansson is threatening legal action to sites hosting the photos, and those threats are working. The photos are quickly disappearing from all but the underbelly of the internet. I am also a free spirited , whatever floats your boat kind of guy. If Johansson gets her jollies posing naked for cellphone photos, more power to her. But this needs to be a lesson to anyone who thinks what they do in private is always going to stay that way. Sometimes, it is going to blow up in your face instead. Always be careful, even when other people are not watching.

(Part of The Other McCain's Rule 5 Sunday.)