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Did indeed go see my cousin play basketball this morning, which took from early to midday. Her team was actually quite good, and held their ground against a bigger, stronger team for the last game (meaning they kept the score close). After that, had a filling lunch, came home, did actual work. Have to remember to bring soda to class tomorrow - lots of it. That cube I bought might be going to the sacrifice rather than for my own personal consumption. Hope they like Vernors. And somewhere in that mess, I did indeed manage to get the rest of the work slate that I had due up. I now have to remember to turn it in tomorrow - which I should be able to do before or after running to class. And then I have to remember to hoof it out of class on Wednesday because of timing issues - which is what I normally do, anyway. I may just have to cut a couple minutes early to arrive on time. Anyway, enough with the drivel of my life! I know what you really want is the weird stuff that I dig up from the Intertubes.
From the guy who did Girl Genius, becoming available on the Internet is another Foglio creation - Buck Godot - Zap Gun for Hire. There’s one complete episode posted, so you can evaluate whether or not you want to continue with more Foglio-ness.
In a weird warp of the Web’s weave, it appears that in Minnesota, a recently-defeated Representative, Karen Klinzing, was rewarded with a post in the Education administration. This is noteworthy for two reasons - one is that her paycheck actually increases by being appointed to a position rather than elected to the government, and the other is that As Young Eva confirmed in 2003, when the Rep wrote a response to her query about her views, Klinzing is a "teach the controversy" creationist. This attracted scorn and derision from Young Eva, and also from Pharyngula, who dissected the illogic of the response. That was in 2003. Now, in 2007, someone who believes that creationism should be taught as science is sitting in a high post in the Education administration, appointed by the governor after losing an election to the legislative body. Anything else scream “Danger! Danger!” from this situation?
But hey, if you can’t get elected, get appointed! It’s sometimes a better deal for you.
Poking fun at my own state, instead, the Court of Appeals in Michigan highlighted the absurdity of laws and regulations by following them to the letter - agreeing that all prosecution needed to do to add a first-degree charge of criminal sexual conduct to a drug charge was to associate that the person who was having sex was doing so while in the commission of another felony, like buying illegal drugs from her. Or any other felony on the books. For those keeping score, that’s an adultery charge, treated as first-degree sexual assault. Regardless of whether sex was consensual. That can be tacked on if any felony in the books is also being committed while penetration occurs. The Court also said that since the Michigan Supreme Court held that the judges have to follow the law literally and let the legislators decide when things have gone silly, their hands were tied. The Appeals Court notes that this was probably not what the legislators and the courts intended when they enacted these decisions, but that they must be followed. And then, to cap it all off (and really, this couldn’t have been better placed), the comment section demonstrates why the judges are drawing attention to this particular chain of events. Because some people appear to seriously think that adultery is a crime worth spending a life in prison over. Taking it out to the absurd, but biblical conclusion, I can only assume these people would be in favor of reinstituting stoning as the preferred method of dealing with adulterers. So, let’s see what the Legislature, Attorney General’s Office, or Michigan Superme Court does about this. If anything at all. Maybe we’ll see another constitutional amendment to further protect marriage by making it impossible to break, and meting out sufficient punishment to make sure all the thoughtcriminals are too scared to try.
From Truthout, another psychoanalysis of the President, one that paints George W. Bush as suffering from trying to prove to his dad that he's not a failure in this latest venture as he was in so many previous ones. And from the sounds of things, I’m reading that we shouldn’t be surprised if he damns the whole country to failure while trying vainly and desperately to say that he hasn’t totally made it FUBAR.
An interesting ACLU project that follows the progression of the American government’s tendency to collect surveillance and information on its own people - Tracked in America has a lot of flash for delivery of the content, but it follows the accounts of several people who have been targeted by the government, past or present, and watched or interfered with by the government’s fears and agendas.
From the guy who did Girl Genius, becoming available on the Internet is another Foglio creation - Buck Godot - Zap Gun for Hire. There’s one complete episode posted, so you can evaluate whether or not you want to continue with more Foglio-ness.
In a weird warp of the Web’s weave, it appears that in Minnesota, a recently-defeated Representative, Karen Klinzing, was rewarded with a post in the Education administration. This is noteworthy for two reasons - one is that her paycheck actually increases by being appointed to a position rather than elected to the government, and the other is that As Young Eva confirmed in 2003, when the Rep wrote a response to her query about her views, Klinzing is a "teach the controversy" creationist. This attracted scorn and derision from Young Eva, and also from Pharyngula, who dissected the illogic of the response. That was in 2003. Now, in 2007, someone who believes that creationism should be taught as science is sitting in a high post in the Education administration, appointed by the governor after losing an election to the legislative body. Anything else scream “Danger! Danger!” from this situation?
But hey, if you can’t get elected, get appointed! It’s sometimes a better deal for you.
Poking fun at my own state, instead, the Court of Appeals in Michigan highlighted the absurdity of laws and regulations by following them to the letter - agreeing that all prosecution needed to do to add a first-degree charge of criminal sexual conduct to a drug charge was to associate that the person who was having sex was doing so while in the commission of another felony, like buying illegal drugs from her. Or any other felony on the books. For those keeping score, that’s an adultery charge, treated as first-degree sexual assault. Regardless of whether sex was consensual. That can be tacked on if any felony in the books is also being committed while penetration occurs. The Court also said that since the Michigan Supreme Court held that the judges have to follow the law literally and let the legislators decide when things have gone silly, their hands were tied. The Appeals Court notes that this was probably not what the legislators and the courts intended when they enacted these decisions, but that they must be followed. And then, to cap it all off (and really, this couldn’t have been better placed), the comment section demonstrates why the judges are drawing attention to this particular chain of events. Because some people appear to seriously think that adultery is a crime worth spending a life in prison over. Taking it out to the absurd, but biblical conclusion, I can only assume these people would be in favor of reinstituting stoning as the preferred method of dealing with adulterers. So, let’s see what the Legislature, Attorney General’s Office, or Michigan Superme Court does about this. If anything at all. Maybe we’ll see another constitutional amendment to further protect marriage by making it impossible to break, and meting out sufficient punishment to make sure all the thoughtcriminals are too scared to try.
From Truthout, another psychoanalysis of the President, one that paints George W. Bush as suffering from trying to prove to his dad that he's not a failure in this latest venture as he was in so many previous ones. And from the sounds of things, I’m reading that we shouldn’t be surprised if he damns the whole country to failure while trying vainly and desperately to say that he hasn’t totally made it FUBAR.
An interesting ACLU project that follows the progression of the American government’s tendency to collect surveillance and information on its own people - Tracked in America has a lot of flash for delivery of the content, but it follows the accounts of several people who have been targeted by the government, past or present, and watched or interfered with by the government’s fears and agendas.
