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Zip-zip-zoom! It was a fantastic weekend, over which my age ticked over one count (Silver Librarian has gained a level... but you still feel hungry.) Hopefully this also means that my insurance costs go down. I think I still have one or two years left on Selective Service, however. Which, if you have a worry in the back of your head, like ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bradhicks does, irrational though it may be, that the next election will be more like Zimbabwe's than America's, can be frightening and force decisions and plans that would otherwise not be considered. That said, it’s a pretty irrational fear, because, well, we’ve done worse than the current administration and come out okay. Doesn’t stop creative minds from generating a new declaration for these times.
Elsewhere to the news. Next month, the Olympic Games get underway, and we’re hoping that Beijing sticks to its word about permitting reporters to cover the entirety of the Olympics and have free access around the country. right now, things are looking pretty dim. And smoggy. Very smoggy.
Internationally, Australians are bucking the hymns and rocking out at their funerals, choosing nontraditional songs to be played at their services. This makes a lot more sense - we should be celebrating life when it has finished, rather than mourning its passing, for the most part.
Shooting in Somalia kills U.N. official, UAE cancels Iraq debt, moves toward diplomatic ties, while a big blast rocks Kabul and kills 40. Oh, and The Untied States froze Venezuelan officials' assets, claiming they were providing aid to Lebanon's Hezbollah.
Need some truth checking on this one. According to the Daily Mail, and picked up by Fox, students in the UK were given detention for not kneeling and praying during a hands-on demonstration of Islam. Which sounds way out of character for just about everything. I also note how there’s a deliberate usage of the word “Allah”, in trying to present Islam as an “other” that doesn’t worship the Latin Christendom God. Highly suspicious. Anyone with further information about just what went on here, please let me know.
Oh, and the current administration prefers to dispense with formalities and be casual with everyone.
Domestically, the federal government attempts to say something is true, because it was said in secret documents three times, and use that as justification for declaring a person an enemy combatant and holding them at Guantanamo. The courts will have none of it. Even if the evidence is classified and secret, the documentation, in whatever redacted form needed, must be presented to those who are going to argue the case. Otherwise, the courts are right in dismissing the case because of a lack of evidence. That said, for many who are detained, the courts could just use the criminal record the fighters have already amassed. No tribunal necessary.
The state of Illinois is suing Countrywide Financial Corporation, alleging deceptive business practices in promoting high-risk loans to those who could ill afford them. This comes after California also filed charges against the corporation. While there also had to be people who took the loans, in so many things that require legalese to interpret, it’s probable that at least some of the people affected by this didn’t really understand what they were getting into.
In candidate material, begin the accusations of media bias once again. AmericaBlog finds the AP and the Washington Post to be running hit jobs on Senator Obama, and after reading a BBC piece about the supposed flips of each of the major candidates, Eric Millikin finds it a hack job, having to resort to potential flops for Senator Obama, while having plenty already happened for Senator McCain. Talking Points Memo finds the Senator McCain doesn’t really have a leg to stand on when complaining about Senator Obama’s opting-out of the public financing system, pointing out Senator McCain is already over the limits of spending for the primary season, and continues to be so, despite the Republican head of the FEC saying that the Senator cannot do what he is doing.
Graffiti claiming Senator Obama smokes crack cocaine covered several vehicles in Orlando. The vandals left calling cards that had negative messages about both front-running candidates and expressed their support for Senator Clinton’s candidacy, despite her withdrawal from the race. Tagging makes sense in terms of trying to get a political message out, but tagging cars is only going to get your message ignored and your person arrested.
In the opinion columns, Michael Erard believes that English is evolving such that the somewhat broken English spoken in China and other Asian countries will become an accepted form, even though it won’t replace what we know and think of now. For a moment there, I had a Firefly flash - instead, we’ll just blend the two languages together and speak some of each.
Apparently, even after it was proven to be a myth, the idea of a "pregnancy pact" among teenage girls is being exploited by those who want to deny contraceptives to teenagers, through the twisted reasoning that “all teenagers want to be mothers, and want to be pregnant, so giving them contraceptives isn’t going to work.” If they really are like that, then the contraceptives don’t get used. But if they’re not, and many of these pregnancies are accidental, then it’s worthwhile to have the contraceptives around.
L. Gordon Crovitz says our newfound ability to access information is taking away our atten-ooh, shiny! The always-on phenomenon permits ever-easier distraction and is eroding our ability to think deep. Some companies are requiring employees to turn off their e-mail for stretches at a time or put their infotech devices away while the meetings are going on.
Martha Zoller believes that the airwaves and media are owned by liberals, and that they want a "Fairness" doctrine so they can regulate conservative talk radio out of existence. Right. So Fox is owned by a liberal? The Wall Street Journal? Hell, any of NewsCorp’s offerings? The Washington Times? All liberal? The AM talk radio band has plenty of conservatives on it, sure, and they’re doing quite well, as are several of the religious programmes. And really, to enforce “Fairness” in some sort of equal-time manner, I suspect that most stations could successfully put their liberal viewpoints on times that nobody would be listening, anyway. If one wanted to argue from the rest of the world’s spectrum, if the country really were to enforce fairness of viewpoint, there would have to be more liberals on the airwaves, not less. Still, with the proliferation of opinion available on the airwaves and the Intarwebs, one can easily choose only the opinions that one wants to hear and receive them day in and day out. I can also see problems, say, if that fairness were extended to other issues, like, say, science and creationism. There’s a limit to how fair people think things should be, especially if they think they have gospel truth and the other side is just pandering with lies and statistics.
Candidate opinions: A pair frombradhicks that suggest, instead of big conspiracies and potential double-crosses in the wings, that Senator Obama really means it when he says he wants to expand faith-based initiatives, because he believes in the church as an agent of social change, and Senator Obama really intends to give telecoms immunity because that’s the way it has always been, and only when something goes really wrong are people supposed to be blowing the whistle on the national spying program. Which invites comment that perhaps something really was going on and the government was trying to bury it before it got out or fully investigated.
The Wall Street Journal chastises Republicans for letting democrats frame Medicare as doctors versus insurance companies, and fears that Senator Obama will kill Medicare Advantage, the program that uses Medicare dollars toward buying private insurance, and he moves the country toward single-payer insurance. In a fairly roundabout way, Chuck Colson advises against voting for any candidate that promises that the government will solve problems. The example he cites is of agency upon agency requiring many different things before the restoration and expansions of a camp for youth could proceed, at high cost and long delays. Getting mired in the red tape will always bring calls to make government more streamlined, and most of them are worthwhile. Getting from there to “government screws everything up, so vote for someone who promises to get rid of government” isn’t that hard of a jump, although stopping off at “find me a reformer who can cut out all the waste” would probably have made the transition smoother.
Liberal Eagle shows off the cycle of how actual Republican scandals get hidden by the creation of nonexistent Democratic scandals, the latest being that General Wesley Clark apparently “swiftboated” Senator McCain by asking whether or not military service actually makes anyone automatically qualified to be President. The Swift Boat Veterans, well, lied about Senator Kerry’s service record. General Clark hasn’t done anything like it. Expect, however, to see how much General Clark “questioned Senator McCain’s service”. Liberal media, you say? Where? Where?
Technology produces a Volkswagen two-seater with carbon-fiber and other lightweight metals and alloys body that gets 100 km to 1 litre of fuel. It’s a tiny car, but the gas mileage on it would be fantastic. A great car, I suspect, if you don’t need to haul a lot of stuff around. Additionally, corporate advertisements on rice paddy art removed for asthetic reasons. But best out of the section, and perhaps retro-coolest, jet fuel's expense makes dirigibles a potentially cost-effective solution for certain niches.
Science finds water and volcanic activity on Mercury, thanks to a Messenger flyby. And there’s 25 ways to save money and the environment together, many of which are pretty simple things.
Last paragraph for tonight. Cracked lists the 11 most badass last words uttered, the tentacle beasts are getting frisky again, and a significant collection of New Zealand's War Art. To go with that, Weapon Girls, which has some artistic shots of women with weapons, and some that look like they’ve been pulled straight from Internet pornography sites, so not really safe for work. What is safe, but induces some interesting thoughts, are urinals in the shape of flowers and giant robots made of polystyrene sitting on a wood frame. After all of this material, it’s definitely time to get some sleep. See you in the morning.
bradhicks does, irrational though it may be, that the next election will be more like Zimbabwe's than America's, can be frightening and force decisions and plans that would otherwise not be considered. That said, it’s a pretty irrational fear, because, well, we’ve done worse than the current administration and come out okay. Doesn’t stop creative minds from generating a new declaration for these times.Elsewhere to the news. Next month, the Olympic Games get underway, and we’re hoping that Beijing sticks to its word about permitting reporters to cover the entirety of the Olympics and have free access around the country. right now, things are looking pretty dim. And smoggy. Very smoggy.
Internationally, Australians are bucking the hymns and rocking out at their funerals, choosing nontraditional songs to be played at their services. This makes a lot more sense - we should be celebrating life when it has finished, rather than mourning its passing, for the most part.
Shooting in Somalia kills U.N. official, UAE cancels Iraq debt, moves toward diplomatic ties, while a big blast rocks Kabul and kills 40. Oh, and The Untied States froze Venezuelan officials' assets, claiming they were providing aid to Lebanon's Hezbollah.
Need some truth checking on this one. According to the Daily Mail, and picked up by Fox, students in the UK were given detention for not kneeling and praying during a hands-on demonstration of Islam. Which sounds way out of character for just about everything. I also note how there’s a deliberate usage of the word “Allah”, in trying to present Islam as an “other” that doesn’t worship the Latin Christendom God. Highly suspicious. Anyone with further information about just what went on here, please let me know.
Oh, and the current administration prefers to dispense with formalities and be casual with everyone.
Domestically, the federal government attempts to say something is true, because it was said in secret documents three times, and use that as justification for declaring a person an enemy combatant and holding them at Guantanamo. The courts will have none of it. Even if the evidence is classified and secret, the documentation, in whatever redacted form needed, must be presented to those who are going to argue the case. Otherwise, the courts are right in dismissing the case because of a lack of evidence. That said, for many who are detained, the courts could just use the criminal record the fighters have already amassed. No tribunal necessary.
The state of Illinois is suing Countrywide Financial Corporation, alleging deceptive business practices in promoting high-risk loans to those who could ill afford them. This comes after California also filed charges against the corporation. While there also had to be people who took the loans, in so many things that require legalese to interpret, it’s probable that at least some of the people affected by this didn’t really understand what they were getting into.
In candidate material, begin the accusations of media bias once again. AmericaBlog finds the AP and the Washington Post to be running hit jobs on Senator Obama, and after reading a BBC piece about the supposed flips of each of the major candidates, Eric Millikin finds it a hack job, having to resort to potential flops for Senator Obama, while having plenty already happened for Senator McCain. Talking Points Memo finds the Senator McCain doesn’t really have a leg to stand on when complaining about Senator Obama’s opting-out of the public financing system, pointing out Senator McCain is already over the limits of spending for the primary season, and continues to be so, despite the Republican head of the FEC saying that the Senator cannot do what he is doing.
Graffiti claiming Senator Obama smokes crack cocaine covered several vehicles in Orlando. The vandals left calling cards that had negative messages about both front-running candidates and expressed their support for Senator Clinton’s candidacy, despite her withdrawal from the race. Tagging makes sense in terms of trying to get a political message out, but tagging cars is only going to get your message ignored and your person arrested.
In the opinion columns, Michael Erard believes that English is evolving such that the somewhat broken English spoken in China and other Asian countries will become an accepted form, even though it won’t replace what we know and think of now. For a moment there, I had a Firefly flash - instead, we’ll just blend the two languages together and speak some of each.
Apparently, even after it was proven to be a myth, the idea of a "pregnancy pact" among teenage girls is being exploited by those who want to deny contraceptives to teenagers, through the twisted reasoning that “all teenagers want to be mothers, and want to be pregnant, so giving them contraceptives isn’t going to work.” If they really are like that, then the contraceptives don’t get used. But if they’re not, and many of these pregnancies are accidental, then it’s worthwhile to have the contraceptives around.
L. Gordon Crovitz says our newfound ability to access information is taking away our atten-ooh, shiny! The always-on phenomenon permits ever-easier distraction and is eroding our ability to think deep. Some companies are requiring employees to turn off their e-mail for stretches at a time or put their infotech devices away while the meetings are going on.
Martha Zoller believes that the airwaves and media are owned by liberals, and that they want a "Fairness" doctrine so they can regulate conservative talk radio out of existence. Right. So Fox is owned by a liberal? The Wall Street Journal? Hell, any of NewsCorp’s offerings? The Washington Times? All liberal? The AM talk radio band has plenty of conservatives on it, sure, and they’re doing quite well, as are several of the religious programmes. And really, to enforce “Fairness” in some sort of equal-time manner, I suspect that most stations could successfully put their liberal viewpoints on times that nobody would be listening, anyway. If one wanted to argue from the rest of the world’s spectrum, if the country really were to enforce fairness of viewpoint, there would have to be more liberals on the airwaves, not less. Still, with the proliferation of opinion available on the airwaves and the Intarwebs, one can easily choose only the opinions that one wants to hear and receive them day in and day out. I can also see problems, say, if that fairness were extended to other issues, like, say, science and creationism. There’s a limit to how fair people think things should be, especially if they think they have gospel truth and the other side is just pandering with lies and statistics.
Candidate opinions: A pair from
bradhicks that suggest, instead of big conspiracies and potential double-crosses in the wings, that Senator Obama really means it when he says he wants to expand faith-based initiatives, because he believes in the church as an agent of social change, and Senator Obama really intends to give telecoms immunity because that’s the way it has always been, and only when something goes really wrong are people supposed to be blowing the whistle on the national spying program. Which invites comment that perhaps something really was going on and the government was trying to bury it before it got out or fully investigated.The Wall Street Journal chastises Republicans for letting democrats frame Medicare as doctors versus insurance companies, and fears that Senator Obama will kill Medicare Advantage, the program that uses Medicare dollars toward buying private insurance, and he moves the country toward single-payer insurance. In a fairly roundabout way, Chuck Colson advises against voting for any candidate that promises that the government will solve problems. The example he cites is of agency upon agency requiring many different things before the restoration and expansions of a camp for youth could proceed, at high cost and long delays. Getting mired in the red tape will always bring calls to make government more streamlined, and most of them are worthwhile. Getting from there to “government screws everything up, so vote for someone who promises to get rid of government” isn’t that hard of a jump, although stopping off at “find me a reformer who can cut out all the waste” would probably have made the transition smoother.
Liberal Eagle shows off the cycle of how actual Republican scandals get hidden by the creation of nonexistent Democratic scandals, the latest being that General Wesley Clark apparently “swiftboated” Senator McCain by asking whether or not military service actually makes anyone automatically qualified to be President. The Swift Boat Veterans, well, lied about Senator Kerry’s service record. General Clark hasn’t done anything like it. Expect, however, to see how much General Clark “questioned Senator McCain’s service”. Liberal media, you say? Where? Where?
Technology produces a Volkswagen two-seater with carbon-fiber and other lightweight metals and alloys body that gets 100 km to 1 litre of fuel. It’s a tiny car, but the gas mileage on it would be fantastic. A great car, I suspect, if you don’t need to haul a lot of stuff around. Additionally, corporate advertisements on rice paddy art removed for asthetic reasons. But best out of the section, and perhaps retro-coolest, jet fuel's expense makes dirigibles a potentially cost-effective solution for certain niches.
Science finds water and volcanic activity on Mercury, thanks to a Messenger flyby. And there’s 25 ways to save money and the environment together, many of which are pretty simple things.
Last paragraph for tonight. Cracked lists the 11 most badass last words uttered, the tentacle beasts are getting frisky again, and a significant collection of New Zealand's War Art. To go with that, Weapon Girls, which has some artistic shots of women with weapons, and some that look like they’ve been pulled straight from Internet pornography sites, so not really safe for work. What is safe, but induces some interesting thoughts, are urinals in the shape of flowers and giant robots made of polystyrene sitting on a wood frame. After all of this material, it’s definitely time to get some sleep. See you in the morning.
