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That’s basically what this is, I’ll bet. More information than most people need or want. But at least it’s densely packed and skimmable, so that people don’t end up absorbing more than they intend. At least, not at the outset. Myself, I had my normal sort of work day today, and then got to see Cirque du Soleil’s Corteo, which was fantastic in all respects.
So lets get newsmaking.
Starting in international realms, Chinese authorities have discovered a factory manufacturing "Free Tibet" flags. The factory workers claim they were filling foreign orders and that they did not know the meaning of the flag until a person suspicious of the flags researched their meaning and then alerted the authorities. Have to say, that’s quite the clever gambit, taking advantage of a profit motive to get one’s political message printed and shipped.
Walking into more domestic fare, Three tornadoes breezed through eastern Virginia, injuring more than 200 and causing significant amounts of property damage. So far, no significant injuries or fatalities, which is as good as this situation can get.
In a different part of the country, the Army Corps of Engineers had to justify their use of newsprint as a stop-gap measure in repairing hte Katrina leevees. Assuring the populace that this was not standard practice, the Corps continued to point out that their usual material was in place and would continue to be used. From the sounds of things, it was a matter of making do with what people had at the time.
Parents who let their diabetic daughter die, preferring the power of prayer to that of medicine, have been charged with second-degree reckless homicide, a charge that carries a maximum 25 years/$100,000 sentence.
The SCOTUS has affirmed that states can require people to show photo identification before they are permitted to vote. I don’t know whether this is a disenfranchisment or a legitimate concern against voter fraud, as I can’t really tell how many people are giong to be affected by this.
Florida moves to ban fake testicles displayed on the back of trucks. So I guess there’s more fake nuts going on. And having breached the subject, I can now sneak in an article about using a sex toy for men as a method of playing games on the computer - rather limited capacity, I’m sure, but it goes to show that there are a lot of people who have the time and the spark to create such an interface.
There’s been a resurgence of material about Reverend Wright - perhaps because the primary season is once again upon us, but most likely because the pastor defended his remarks, dismissing claims that he is unpatriotic by pointing to his own military service, and considering the criticism of his remarks an attack on the black church. In any case, Mel Reeves defends Pastor Wright by saying most Americans don't understand his message, because it doesn’t fit with what Americans think religion is supposed to be. On all of that, assuming that Fox’s claim about the videos are true, one can watch the sermon in question itself.
Phil Orenstein accuses the Democratic Party of a war flip-flop and of sowing dissent and defeatism against a war that's clearly being won. The war flip-flop is on record - several Democratic candidates were for the war before they were against it. Most of them turned, I believe, once the justifications that had brought them into voting for evaporated with a lack of evidence. From there, I think that the anti-war message has been two-fold - that there has been little to no sustainable progress (as in, take the troops out and see whether things stay standing) and that despite whatever “progress” the opposition is claiming, the current administration made false claims to begin the conflict. At best, the opposition can claim that they’re making reparations for heir illegal actions, but to declare victory in an illegal war is unjustifiable. Because it has gone on so long, and despite several efforts, no real change has occurred, it became status quo, and from there, the opposition is trying to build up the claims of progress. Because they’re starting at “the smoking ruin we left the place” rather than “the quality of life under the previous rulers”, they’re getting away with progress claims there, too.
Sandy Rios tries to instill fear of Barack Obama through his association with members of the Weather Underground, hinting and playing at the idea that bcause Senator Obama continues to be around William Ayers and others, that he must believe in their ideals. I do so wish that we would evaluate candidates based on their own statements and positions. Maybe we should be asking the candidates who they will endorse, rather than trying to judge them based on who endorses them.
Getting into the opinion columns, John Andrews calls Newt Gingrich a liberal because his position on global warming is willing to admit there’s a need to talk and make some decisions about environmental impact. And because he appeared in a commercial that’s funded by Al Gore. In calling him a liberal, Andrews quotes another conservative who says that Newt’s ideas and policies are no longer based in sound science and capitalism. So, not content with trying to monopolize what morality is, now some conservatives are declaring themselves the ultimate authority on what is sound science? That’s a dangerous precedent to let lie.
Perhaps with a similar mindset, Phyllis Schlafly finds UK Prime Minster Gordon Brown a shyster, trying to get Americans who prize their independence to join a global community, think globally, and play with the international community. Which would apparently unacceptably diminish American national sovreignity, subject us all to governance by foreign powers, make us subsidize the rest of the world, and force Americans to do stuff they don’t want to do, like reduce greenhouse emissions.
Possibly completing a trifecta, Dinesh D'Souza blames the liberalism of the West and Democratic Party from 1960 on for why we have trouble with Islamic countries, believing that classical liberalism, like the freedoms and founders kind, is good. D’Souza does get points for pointing at the right reasons why some Muslims (and Christians) have trouble with American society. I don’t think it’s all the fault of sexual liberation, and that there are some political and economic motives behind radicalization, but the most publicized reason why both fundamentalist Christians and Muslims are against America is that liberalism believes that there’s no shame in knowing what makes you tick sexually.
Kai Wright asks a very important question - If they're so scared, how come we're the dead ones? Detailing the defense of the police in the Sean Bell deaths, Kai finds the justification that white people (or organizations controlled by white people) are scared of colored men as lacking now as it was many years ago, when it was used as a reason to lynch blacks, rather than having the cops shoot them. If police officers are, as a rule, scared of people of other ethnicities enough to start shooting at them on the slightest provocation, real or imagined, then those officers need better training.
Bret Stephens considers Afghanistan to be a success, considering the majority of provinces are peaceful and doing well, and that only a few provinces continue to be problematic. Considering the lack of news from Afghanistan, which may be completely because of the focus on Iraq, this may be a sound statement. The problems in that area do seem to be centered around the Afghan-Pakistani border. The mission there may have succeeded, while Iraq continues to flounder.
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson wants America to stop diverting needed crops to biofuel, a sentiment I can agree with. If it were so that the entire world had food security and there were still surpluses of production, then biofuels make a certain amount of sense, but until then, it would be better for the world populace to be able to feed them. While I still want the country and the world to progress to a clean source of power with all haste, biofuels may not be the correct avenue right now.
The Slacktivist laughs that when several theological conservatives attempt to redefine evangelism to their own purpose, several trolls want them to involve the political conservatives that pay lip service to evangelism. How about... nah. Let the people who haven’t been busy corrupting the Republican party into their own puppet army have a say. They might actually have read the source material.
Two pieces in three pages about the FLDS situation, most coming from the perspective that the government did not play entirely by the professed rules in this action. First, Wendy McElroy goes libertarian in saying that the justifications for the government's raid don't hold water in part one, and in part two, further goes after the fact that the warrants that started the case are not turning up fruit. Lots of other stuff, sure, but not what was originally described. Which doesn’t appear to be affecting the State’s prosecution all that much. Not to say she condones the actions, but that the legal justification for the raid is turning out to be nonexistent. Second, and much shorter, Radley Balko wonders whether we should be questioning the law that permits a 15 year-old girl to be married, rather than the people who follow that law.
In technology, the time may soon come where science, or rather, the military, will be able to call down lightning strikes at will, assuming there’s a cloud handy. And yes, there are plenty of good civilian uses for it, too, like testing the strength of structures against strikes, and the like, but I can just imagine someone fighting on a cloudy field and raining lightning down on the opposition. The Army is sending up a cluster of satellites so they can have worldwide secure communications. And finally, a glove is in development that will let Army grunts access several important items without taking their hands off the gun. Here’s hopping that shooting doesn’t also trigger the screensaver in the HUD or something.
There’s also a computing engine built entirely from building blocks. I’m not actually familiar with how these engines work, so if someone could give me a few pointers or a place where I can get “Difference Engines for Dummies”, I would appreciate it.
What may be the most interesting (or scary) use of technology so far is photographic proof that apes can and do use tools for hunting.
Next to last for tonight,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
greyweirdo rounds up the best political candidates for the upcoming election. Cast your vote (and yes, there’s already a campaign to write in Zod).
Last for tonight, three interesting headlines - giant squid are on the rampage in British Columbia, Canada, and is Miley Ray Cyrus a Discordian? (Any more so than anyone is already a Pope or Mome, anyway.) And at the very last, the discoverer of LSD-25 died today, at 102 years of age. Many trips will be dedicated in his memory, I’m sure.
So lets get newsmaking.
Starting in international realms, Chinese authorities have discovered a factory manufacturing "Free Tibet" flags. The factory workers claim they were filling foreign orders and that they did not know the meaning of the flag until a person suspicious of the flags researched their meaning and then alerted the authorities. Have to say, that’s quite the clever gambit, taking advantage of a profit motive to get one’s political message printed and shipped.
Walking into more domestic fare, Three tornadoes breezed through eastern Virginia, injuring more than 200 and causing significant amounts of property damage. So far, no significant injuries or fatalities, which is as good as this situation can get.
In a different part of the country, the Army Corps of Engineers had to justify their use of newsprint as a stop-gap measure in repairing hte Katrina leevees. Assuring the populace that this was not standard practice, the Corps continued to point out that their usual material was in place and would continue to be used. From the sounds of things, it was a matter of making do with what people had at the time.
Parents who let their diabetic daughter die, preferring the power of prayer to that of medicine, have been charged with second-degree reckless homicide, a charge that carries a maximum 25 years/$100,000 sentence.
The SCOTUS has affirmed that states can require people to show photo identification before they are permitted to vote. I don’t know whether this is a disenfranchisment or a legitimate concern against voter fraud, as I can’t really tell how many people are giong to be affected by this.
Florida moves to ban fake testicles displayed on the back of trucks. So I guess there’s more fake nuts going on. And having breached the subject, I can now sneak in an article about using a sex toy for men as a method of playing games on the computer - rather limited capacity, I’m sure, but it goes to show that there are a lot of people who have the time and the spark to create such an interface.
There’s been a resurgence of material about Reverend Wright - perhaps because the primary season is once again upon us, but most likely because the pastor defended his remarks, dismissing claims that he is unpatriotic by pointing to his own military service, and considering the criticism of his remarks an attack on the black church. In any case, Mel Reeves defends Pastor Wright by saying most Americans don't understand his message, because it doesn’t fit with what Americans think religion is supposed to be. On all of that, assuming that Fox’s claim about the videos are true, one can watch the sermon in question itself.
Phil Orenstein accuses the Democratic Party of a war flip-flop and of sowing dissent and defeatism against a war that's clearly being won. The war flip-flop is on record - several Democratic candidates were for the war before they were against it. Most of them turned, I believe, once the justifications that had brought them into voting for evaporated with a lack of evidence. From there, I think that the anti-war message has been two-fold - that there has been little to no sustainable progress (as in, take the troops out and see whether things stay standing) and that despite whatever “progress” the opposition is claiming, the current administration made false claims to begin the conflict. At best, the opposition can claim that they’re making reparations for heir illegal actions, but to declare victory in an illegal war is unjustifiable. Because it has gone on so long, and despite several efforts, no real change has occurred, it became status quo, and from there, the opposition is trying to build up the claims of progress. Because they’re starting at “the smoking ruin we left the place” rather than “the quality of life under the previous rulers”, they’re getting away with progress claims there, too.
Sandy Rios tries to instill fear of Barack Obama through his association with members of the Weather Underground, hinting and playing at the idea that bcause Senator Obama continues to be around William Ayers and others, that he must believe in their ideals. I do so wish that we would evaluate candidates based on their own statements and positions. Maybe we should be asking the candidates who they will endorse, rather than trying to judge them based on who endorses them.
Getting into the opinion columns, John Andrews calls Newt Gingrich a liberal because his position on global warming is willing to admit there’s a need to talk and make some decisions about environmental impact. And because he appeared in a commercial that’s funded by Al Gore. In calling him a liberal, Andrews quotes another conservative who says that Newt’s ideas and policies are no longer based in sound science and capitalism. So, not content with trying to monopolize what morality is, now some conservatives are declaring themselves the ultimate authority on what is sound science? That’s a dangerous precedent to let lie.
Perhaps with a similar mindset, Phyllis Schlafly finds UK Prime Minster Gordon Brown a shyster, trying to get Americans who prize their independence to join a global community, think globally, and play with the international community. Which would apparently unacceptably diminish American national sovreignity, subject us all to governance by foreign powers, make us subsidize the rest of the world, and force Americans to do stuff they don’t want to do, like reduce greenhouse emissions.
Possibly completing a trifecta, Dinesh D'Souza blames the liberalism of the West and Democratic Party from 1960 on for why we have trouble with Islamic countries, believing that classical liberalism, like the freedoms and founders kind, is good. D’Souza does get points for pointing at the right reasons why some Muslims (and Christians) have trouble with American society. I don’t think it’s all the fault of sexual liberation, and that there are some political and economic motives behind radicalization, but the most publicized reason why both fundamentalist Christians and Muslims are against America is that liberalism believes that there’s no shame in knowing what makes you tick sexually.
Kai Wright asks a very important question - If they're so scared, how come we're the dead ones? Detailing the defense of the police in the Sean Bell deaths, Kai finds the justification that white people (or organizations controlled by white people) are scared of colored men as lacking now as it was many years ago, when it was used as a reason to lynch blacks, rather than having the cops shoot them. If police officers are, as a rule, scared of people of other ethnicities enough to start shooting at them on the slightest provocation, real or imagined, then those officers need better training.
Bret Stephens considers Afghanistan to be a success, considering the majority of provinces are peaceful and doing well, and that only a few provinces continue to be problematic. Considering the lack of news from Afghanistan, which may be completely because of the focus on Iraq, this may be a sound statement. The problems in that area do seem to be centered around the Afghan-Pakistani border. The mission there may have succeeded, while Iraq continues to flounder.
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson wants America to stop diverting needed crops to biofuel, a sentiment I can agree with. If it were so that the entire world had food security and there were still surpluses of production, then biofuels make a certain amount of sense, but until then, it would be better for the world populace to be able to feed them. While I still want the country and the world to progress to a clean source of power with all haste, biofuels may not be the correct avenue right now.
The Slacktivist laughs that when several theological conservatives attempt to redefine evangelism to their own purpose, several trolls want them to involve the political conservatives that pay lip service to evangelism. How about... nah. Let the people who haven’t been busy corrupting the Republican party into their own puppet army have a say. They might actually have read the source material.
Two pieces in three pages about the FLDS situation, most coming from the perspective that the government did not play entirely by the professed rules in this action. First, Wendy McElroy goes libertarian in saying that the justifications for the government's raid don't hold water in part one, and in part two, further goes after the fact that the warrants that started the case are not turning up fruit. Lots of other stuff, sure, but not what was originally described. Which doesn’t appear to be affecting the State’s prosecution all that much. Not to say she condones the actions, but that the legal justification for the raid is turning out to be nonexistent. Second, and much shorter, Radley Balko wonders whether we should be questioning the law that permits a 15 year-old girl to be married, rather than the people who follow that law.
In technology, the time may soon come where science, or rather, the military, will be able to call down lightning strikes at will, assuming there’s a cloud handy. And yes, there are plenty of good civilian uses for it, too, like testing the strength of structures against strikes, and the like, but I can just imagine someone fighting on a cloudy field and raining lightning down on the opposition. The Army is sending up a cluster of satellites so they can have worldwide secure communications. And finally, a glove is in development that will let Army grunts access several important items without taking their hands off the gun. Here’s hopping that shooting doesn’t also trigger the screensaver in the HUD or something.
There’s also a computing engine built entirely from building blocks. I’m not actually familiar with how these engines work, so if someone could give me a few pointers or a place where I can get “Difference Engines for Dummies”, I would appreciate it.
What may be the most interesting (or scary) use of technology so far is photographic proof that apes can and do use tools for hunting.
Next to last for tonight,
greyweirdo rounds up the best political candidates for the upcoming election. Cast your vote (and yes, there’s already a campaign to write in Zod).Last for tonight, three interesting headlines - giant squid are on the rampage in British Columbia, Canada, and is Miley Ray Cyrus a Discordian? (Any more so than anyone is already a Pope or Mome, anyway.) And at the very last, the discoverer of LSD-25 died today, at 102 years of age. Many trips will be dedicated in his memory, I’m sure.
