More material for all - 17 June 2008

For those considering careers in libraries, realize that bad behavior in the library is a regular part of the profession, despite our attempts to curb it or get rid of it. There will not be enough librarians nor security personnel to stop everything. And it will annoy, aggravate, and gall you to discover some of the results of bad behavior, like razored pages, consistently missing books, or patrons wanking to child pornography on library computers.

Starting in the international department, another Taliban surge forces NATO and Afghan troops to scramble and try to protect villages from coming under Taliban control. Definitely stepping-up the attacks... is this the promised summer surge?

The Red Cross is taking out loans to cover their disaster relief efforts, thanks to the down economy and a lack of donations to their cause. I’m wondering whether a sluggish or nonexistent government disaster response is also contributing to the problem.

The Army is opening up an Army Experience Center, where the populace will get a taste of what soldier life is like... of course, if they simulated it a little too realistically, then I don’t think anyone would actually sign up. Since this is supposed to be a recruiting tool, that would probably not be a great experience.

Always nice to know that at least some Republicans still embody the values of the 1850s and earlier. A pin sold at a state Republican convention asked whether the White House would remain so if Senator Obama were elected. One other cited example was an intolerant screed demanding English-only interactions in all walks of life. And then there’s one of the ultimate triumphs in making people think they’re safe while insisting they be afraid they aren’t, My First Cavity Search. Oh, okay, the last one’s a joke. The first one was serious, though.

And there are simply crazies in the world. To wit, one Jason Werner, attempted rival of Mr. Kucinich, who most recently was arrested for praying in the streets, like the hypocrites do.

The crazy apparently extends to the Associated Press, as well, which is trying to rewrite the rules of fair use, insisting that it is better for people to summarize and link, rather than quote small snippets directly for the purposes of criticism and debate.

Getting into the opinion columns, the Wall Street Journal gives column space to John Yoo, author of the internal memorandums that gave justification for the current detainee torture, as he declares that the SCOTUS has run roughshod over the popularity of the law, their own precedent, and the Constitution itself in rendering the verdict of Boumediene v. Bush. All this hinges, of course, upon the justification that the President is a War President, with the powers that the law and the Constitution give to him in such a situation. By his own voice, Mr. Bush said “Mission Accomplished” in 2003. I don’t recall formal declarations of war in either of these War on a Concept battles, either. Before invoking the wartime justification, one should check to see whether the conditions of war have actually been met.

That doesn’t really matter to Democrats, who are not putting up a fight over the latest war resources bill, earning them the derision of those who elected them on an anti-war platform and the knowledge that many of those Democrats played procedure games to appear anti-war without actually jeopardizing the passage of any of the spending, according to American Samizdat. The idea that the two parties are working together to prevent anyone with real change ideas getting through does seem more true every year.

Ethan Kapstein says that international defense contracting is the best way to go for getting best technology for best price. Those that insist that everything be done in house will soon price themselves out of competition and not move nearly as many units as they could with the collaboration.

Senator Obama has been the target of enough baseless rumors that even Jon Stewart is making fun of how many accusations the Senator has suffered. Much like the SNL skit, Senator, if the Daily Show is talking about you, you know you’ve made it big(ger).

Last out of this section, some thoughts on the possibility of a tie (or three) in the upcoming presidential election. Luckily, the Constitution does provide for how to break ties, even if those ties run three deep (electoral college, House, Senate). Imagine, then, the possibility that Nacny Pelosi becomes acting President until one of the ties in the House or Senate can be broken.

Tech news: Honda rolls out a zero emission hydrogen fuel-cell car, the World Wide Web, long before the WWW came to be, a female-form robot that dances and kisses, and the development of acoustical shields that will divert sound (and thus, say, sonar) around them without distorting or leaving a trace that the object is there.

Plus, plant pest control and biofuel, all at once - using kudzu as a source for ethanol. Dig up the invasive weed totally, convert it into biofuel. That’s one way of keeping the population managed. Another could involve dropping them all off one of the 10 highest waterfalls, but that would probably be messy and expensive.

Last for tonight, because it’s that awesome, Neatorama's 10 insulting words (and derivatives and synonyms) that you should know. Perfect for those times when you’re sure that your opponent doesn’t understand a word you’re saying, or for when your collection of bumper stickers makes you mistake public space for private space. And those occasions where subtle changes to billboards just won’t work, and you feel topless football games and shirts to mock your opponents' position are too obvious.

Birth of a new meme, details at eleven. - 18 June 2008

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood... and then the waepons inspectors arrive tomorrow, so hopefully, the place is up to their standards. Because of that impending event, filled with much squee, we'll get straight to the news.

Working in the international realms to start, Mexico's judicial system got changes, including public trials, in a constitutional amendment passed yesterday, helping to modernize and change the climate of the system in the country.

Reading an article about Japan's trend toward wanting older men and women in their pornography made me cheer for the gentleman featured there, who is in his 70s and still making well-selling adult films. I think this is a marvelous idea, and it also made me realize hat much like Japan, Americans don't talk openly about their sex lives or what they do for erotic stimulation past about... thirty or so, I would say. Being married may shift that up or down a bit, but it's not like the country stops having sex. And furthermore, I'd bet they don't stop enjoying their kinks, or adult films, or forego their stimulation tools in favor of their significant other, and may start involving their significant other in all of those enjoyments. If they're unshy about them, that is. For some reason, people find it tough, even when they've been dating for a while (or married for years) to tell their partners what really works for them, or that they have tools and toys they'd like to use or have used on them, or that they'd like to watch dirty pictures with them and re-enacy a few scenes. If you can't be intimate in your personal life, where can you be?

As more rivers and waterways go beyond their dams and levees, there are some people for whom rising waters are not a matter of panic. Although, the people depicted here have had more than enough time to get used to the effects of their flood.

If they're not really good at ethics, we have to hand it to the members of the military in charge of detainees that they at least know how to manage their PR. It has been confirmed that when the International Committee of the Red Cross visited Guantanamo Bay, detainees were hidden from the visitors so as not to give the ICRC any sort of real picture about the facility, but the preferred fabrication. Back in Iraq, Lenin's Tomb shoes the side effects and real effects of the Fallujah campaign, and what "progress" in this case actually means - martial law and arrests on the merest suspicion of dissent.

$500,000 dollars for golf as a crime prevention program, despite being ranked further down on the list. There are hints that the grant winners had the right kinds of connections, which made them more attractive to the donors. I agree that sport programs for youth help, but I don't think there are a whole lot of golf courses around places where that aid may be really needed. Maybe that money could have been spent helping libraries and civic centers provide more programs to the public, considering their roles as places that people go?

It's not just golf programs that are under the microscope for misuse or preferential treatment when it comes to federal funds. Abstinence groups are getting money in excess of their requests, despite refusing to participate in Congressional studies, while organizations that promote responsible practices and the use of birth control are being denied funding. That's as much bad policy, I believe, as potential corruption and favoritism shown, but in all of these cases, it looks like better-ranked programs and programs that had a chance at being effective were pushed aside for pet programs and those that fit unofficial-official ideological requirements. There was certainly some wining and dining of selection officials by the programs that got big grants.

The Democratic Party is contemplating trading actual public knowledge for the merest hint that someone might tell them some truth, in that Karl Rove may not testify under oath, but off the record, with no transcript, and that the Democrats are accepting this as a possibility. Which would give Karl no more incentive to tell the truth than testifying under oath in front of a committee. If Mr. Bush wants to assert his privilege to make Mr. Rove not testify and force a subpoena, that's what he'll do. But at least force his hand, Democrats.

Speaking of the Democratic Party, Denver police apparently expect it to be quite the shindig, stocking up on their nonlethal weaponry.

Gas prices are no better for those who operate the gas stations... some of them are losing money with each credit transaction. And, of course, airline manufacturers and operators are looking for just about any way they can save on fuel costs.

If there's anyone still there in Second Life (echo?), might be worth dropping by the SL Republican HQ to mock, err, see a series of lectures about how Liberals hate America, rewrite history, take away guns, and promise great social benefits for all. Also on the docket: Capitalism is God (except for when God is God), Environmentalists, Feminists and Pagans are destroying the world, and the need for everyone to be my type of Christian, no exceptions. And I wonder if he believes in all the hundreds of proofs of God's existence, even if some contradict others.

On happier notes, as Jessica Hagy, creator of Indexed notes, the ability for homosexuals to marry has not brought about the plagues and the end of the world. There are still protests, of course, and there will likely be a referendum in November, but there are a lot of couples who want to get married now, while it's legal, including George Takei.

In candidate matters, now that neither major party has to worry about who their candidate is, they have turned their eyes at each other. Senator McCain called Senator Obama "a perfect example of a September 10th mnidest", and Senator Obama responded by accusing the GOP of not learning anything from 11 September, and that Osama bin Laden is still at large because of GOP policies. This sounds like it will be a running point for the Republicans - accuse the Democrats of not understanding the War on a Concept, which will make them weak and vulnerable and not paranoid enough to continue the current course of action.

Additionally, after a satirical video about why people are voting Republican in the next election, in the interests of "fair play", Ben Shapiro takes the staire as a serious indictment, and responds in kind with "Why I'm voting Democrat", despite indicating that the satire should be dismissed out of hand. As I've said before, the real trouble is something deciding whether something really is satire or whether they're being serious. I think the makers of the video nailed the right degree of over-the-top presentation of several issues that really are quite serious. Shapiro's attempt at copying it for the other way around sounds like someone infuriated by the video, and perhaps a little worried that things are striking too close to truth.

Working into the opinion columns, Thomas Sowell suggests that selecting universities and college be done based on the individual needs of the student, and not on any "ranking" or prestige or reputation. A sound idea, most certainly, and one that reflects in my own life. I went to the university that I wanted to go to, got the degrees that I wanted to, and was lucky enough to get enough support to finish my course of studies and find work where I feel reasonably confident that I will actually be able to pay off my debts in a reasonable amount of time.

George Will decries the fuss being made about habeas rights and the recent SCOTUS decision, saying that forcing the government to produce evidence why people are being held in Guantanamo Bay does not automatically grant them the right to have federal trials. The courts retain discretion on what cases they will and won't hear, and the ruling basically reaffirms that the court system does have a right to hear petitions and require the government to follow the laws that it has agreed to uphold. Ken Blackwell disagrees, considering the decision to be an interference with the President's wartime prerogatives, the Congress's recommendations, and a dismissal of Court precedent that denies the writ to noncitizens held in a place other than American territory. Considering Guantanamo is basically American, and was set up to be outside territorial boundaries as to avoid having to give these rights, that the Court should find the maneuver a smokescreen and demand its clearance makes sense.

Michelle Malkin believes firmly that the dropping of charges and acquittals against the Haditha Marines is proof that they were victims of a vicious smear campaign, and expects that there will be no apologies from those who prejudged the Marines. The dropping of charges usually indicates a lack of evidence to prosecute, I would guess. Which could mean that the Marines are innocent of the accusations leveled at them. Or it could mean that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute them for something they did. Innocent until proven guilty, in the eyes of the law. Haditha might be the Left's version of "Well, we went to trial with the evidence we had", but instead of trying to create justification and go through trials, they wisely decided not to go through with things. The analogies don't line up completely, I'm sure, but if you're willing to justify Iraq based on doing what you can with what you have, then the Haditha trials and stories are probably much the same. Only the Marines know for sure, it appears, what they did and did not do.

In technology, watch a crane operated by a joystick and a doctor at a monitor fold a penny-size origami crane. And enjoy the requests to review whether border laptop searches without warrant or needed cause are legal.

Our listmania has Elevent tips for broaching difficult subjects, several of which advise patience and seeing if the conversation is really necessary before beginning.

Near the end of today's entry, explore a mall that never attracted the merchants it was supposed to, leaving it in an interesting state of unfinished decay. Possibly perfect for zombie flicks, flicks that need to destroy stuff, paintball venues... there are ways it can be repurposed. And, for those who wonder what's going on in the nation's hartlands, The mystery of Missouri men, whose sperm count is apparently a lot lower than it should be. Pesticides appear to be potential culprits, but the final word is yet to be determined.

The very last, however, appears to be the chance to observe a new Internet phrase in the making. The culprit? "I am aware of all Internet traditions and literary conventions in which placing something in quotes or in a blockquote means that your are quoting that person.". Which is a bit unwieldy, and thus, the new meme is shortened, in a perverse mimicry of the original situation that produced the quotation, and I am aware of all Internet traditions makes a debut on the stage. And thus, because the Internet perpetually has too much time on its hands, and access to several tools for image manipulation and other means of spreading and contextualizing a turn of phrase, well, the results are many. Senator Obama, (several times over, along with Albert Einstein), Mr. Spock, Neo, CATS, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, HAL 9000, Locutous (also several times around), Chuck Norris, The Hypnotoad, George Bush (doubtful), R2-D2 and C-3PO, Yoda, the church sign generator, and the Daleks all claim to be aware, while Mooninites claim they created all of them. Everyone knows, of course, that it was actually Al Gore who did the inventing. Yes, there was at least one LOLcat.

Oh, and of course, Ted Stevens is aware, too. If one wishes to continue looking at the spread of awareness, there is a blog that catalogs all of this. On that note, to bed.