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And from here, bed - 08 July 2008
Jul. 9th, 2008 12:31 amLeading internationally, cry “w00t!” and rejoice as the Anglican Church of England votes to permit the consecration of women as bishops, in the face of traditionalist opposition. With this and some churches having voted to ordain homosexuals, schism looms large on the minds of the Anglicans. Predictably, and holding to their own doctrine, the Vatican said such a move was a step backward in reconciling the Anglican church and the Roman Catholic church. According to the NYT article, the Vatican may stand to gain all of the Anglican traditionalists who won’t accept women bishops and priests. I suppose that some part of me is hoping that Catholicism eventually becomes the last denomination that still believes in the primacy of men, and then from the sheer pressure from other denominations, either ends up losing lots to the progressives or changes themselves to move forward still.
Two major charities in the United Kingdom are suggesting that very young children be exposed to age appropriate concepts about sex and sexuality in government schooling. The rationale is that with young and persistent exposure, children will be more comfortable around contraceptives and their use, and be more comfortable discussing and getting information about sex and sexuality, reducing teen pregnancy rates, abortion rates, and potentially delaying the decision to have sex for some time, because of that awareness.
Elsewhere internationally, having failed to convince the populace that they wanted American troops in the country for a very long time, the Iraqi government is attempting to broker a short-term deal to keep forces, which includes a timetable for withdrawal. No telling as to whether the current administration is desperate enough to take a deal before their UN mandate runs out, but we may have to credit the Iraqis for doing what the House and Senate could not.
Syria's president is counting on the next American president to help with talks between Syria and Israel, dismissing the current administration as lacking will and vision to bring about the talks.
Domestic news: Ah, Flint. Criminalizing saggy pants as indecent exposure. Have to give the chief a couple of points for trying to get rid of the fashion of the area, but I don’t think it’s going to do a whole lot for the area - unless the chief is expecting some revenue from the fines.
A petition is circulating to set up a system of anonymous taxation that would legalize the growing and sale of marijuana, through the usage and sale of stamps at smoke shops and other places. No more worries about drug enforcement or jails full of marijuana users, and supposedly, the state gets its cut.
In candidate matters, Senator McCain promises he'll balance the budget in his first term, chiefly through "savings" generated through budget cuts and a swift victory in Iraq. This, despite saying that we could be there for a very long time earlier on. When pressed for numbers as to how he will accomplish this Herculean feat, no numbers, fuzzy, hard, or otherwise, were to be had. But we’re supposed to take it on faith that the Senator can do this.
Moving into the opinion realms, Frank Gaffney, Jr. opines that it will soon be criminal to criticize any form of Islam, and through that, radical Islam will take over the world as those who speak the truth about it are jailed or hauled before tribunals. The premise rests mostly on whether or not Jordan’s charging and demand for extradition of the maker of “Fitna”, illegal under Jordanian law, but legal under Danish law, will be successful. Gaffney goes on to say that everyone should resist the imposition and pull of Islamic law so that it doesn’t erode away our liberties as people try to be politically correct and accomodate it where they can, and then find out they’re being forced to submit to death for insulting Islam or being branded as Islamophobes because they’re trying to speak out against Islam’s worst exceses. I’m trying to find a way that such a scenario could happen here in the U.S. or in much of the Western world, and I’m coming up with a blank, unless it were through the election process. I doubt any time soon that we’ll have any Muslim candidates making headway, nor do I see ballot measures asking for the dissolution of the Constitution to set up an Islamic governmental system succeeding. Cal Thomas believes Lord Chief Justice Lord Phillips has put England under Sharia, by allowing contracts to be entered into under a law other than the law of England, so long as that law complies with English law. Which makes sense to me, because it’s how international business is done, isn’t it? The contract must be compliant with the laws of the country it is being contracted in, and possibly copmliant with the laws of the contracting companies’ countries, right? Instead, Cal Thomas takes the tack that because of all the parts of Sharia with regard to divorce, child custody, and finances that are fundamentally incompatible with English law, the only way to reconcile the two is if English law becomes subordinate to Islamic law. Wait, what? Lord Phillips says Sharia must be compliant with English law, but he really meant English law must become compliant with Sharia? While that certainly helps fuel one’s agenda that radical Islam is trying to get in the back door through the legal system, I don’t think that’s a proper conclusion, and that the first time someone tries for a divorce by the “Sharia” standards, they’ll find a fight waiting for them in the English courts.
In candidate opinions, Thomas Sowell finds Senator Obama a "masked man" and urges conservatives to look at his record of actions before deciding to jump ship and vote for him. Sowell’s reasoning here bases itself on Senator Obama’s associations with a member of the Weathermen, his preference for policy-making judges, and Obamamania through good presentation and speeches. As the commentators point out, there are good conservative reasons not to vote for Senator McCain as well, but many hold to the GOP line that Senator Obama is still a liberal’s liberal and going to try and institute the United Socialist States of America.
Burt Prelutsky takes a cheap shot at America in general, writing a column that was supposed to be about the declining educational standards and potential for the stagnation of learning in the country, possibly with a few excellent suggestions on how to toughen up schooling so that students are forced to learn something to pass their classes, and throwing it all away by saying that one of the consequences of this dumbing down is that the Democrats will never have to worry about losing an election.
David Strom, instead of insulting everyone's intelligence, tries to scare everyone into believing liberals in the White House means government control over everyone's lives in total minutiae.
Our technology news starts with a U.S. company claiming it can build a crowd control sonic ray, to provide a sonic alternative to the sunburn crowd-control ray. The technology to do this is pretty awesome, the uses to which it is being put, not so awesome. Of course, build a better moustrap, and...
Following up on an earlier technology piece about magazine photos fooling age-verification cameras in Japan, it turns out the portraits on the 1000-yen notes will do the job quite well, making it even easier for someone underage to purchase cigs and not have any evidence of having fooled the machine.
Pioneer develops a 400-gigabyte Blu-Ray compatible, 16-layer disc. Wow, backing up one’s hard disk onto a single disc has almost become possible again. Or, at least, needing only two or three discs to do backup. Time for fixed disc space to jump up again.
Pure science has another experiment where psilocybin under controlled circumstances has positive effects. Behavior changes toward the happy after a mushroom trip, which could be of help for treating the depressed.
Last for tonight, praise Jesus and pass the ammunition. Or, what the difference between magic and science in fiction. I kind of like Ted Chiang’s rule of thumb - it works and it makes logical sense. Very scientific.
Two major charities in the United Kingdom are suggesting that very young children be exposed to age appropriate concepts about sex and sexuality in government schooling. The rationale is that with young and persistent exposure, children will be more comfortable around contraceptives and their use, and be more comfortable discussing and getting information about sex and sexuality, reducing teen pregnancy rates, abortion rates, and potentially delaying the decision to have sex for some time, because of that awareness.
Elsewhere internationally, having failed to convince the populace that they wanted American troops in the country for a very long time, the Iraqi government is attempting to broker a short-term deal to keep forces, which includes a timetable for withdrawal. No telling as to whether the current administration is desperate enough to take a deal before their UN mandate runs out, but we may have to credit the Iraqis for doing what the House and Senate could not.
Syria's president is counting on the next American president to help with talks between Syria and Israel, dismissing the current administration as lacking will and vision to bring about the talks.
Domestic news: Ah, Flint. Criminalizing saggy pants as indecent exposure. Have to give the chief a couple of points for trying to get rid of the fashion of the area, but I don’t think it’s going to do a whole lot for the area - unless the chief is expecting some revenue from the fines.
A petition is circulating to set up a system of anonymous taxation that would legalize the growing and sale of marijuana, through the usage and sale of stamps at smoke shops and other places. No more worries about drug enforcement or jails full of marijuana users, and supposedly, the state gets its cut.
In candidate matters, Senator McCain promises he'll balance the budget in his first term, chiefly through "savings" generated through budget cuts and a swift victory in Iraq. This, despite saying that we could be there for a very long time earlier on. When pressed for numbers as to how he will accomplish this Herculean feat, no numbers, fuzzy, hard, or otherwise, were to be had. But we’re supposed to take it on faith that the Senator can do this.
Moving into the opinion realms, Frank Gaffney, Jr. opines that it will soon be criminal to criticize any form of Islam, and through that, radical Islam will take over the world as those who speak the truth about it are jailed or hauled before tribunals. The premise rests mostly on whether or not Jordan’s charging and demand for extradition of the maker of “Fitna”, illegal under Jordanian law, but legal under Danish law, will be successful. Gaffney goes on to say that everyone should resist the imposition and pull of Islamic law so that it doesn’t erode away our liberties as people try to be politically correct and accomodate it where they can, and then find out they’re being forced to submit to death for insulting Islam or being branded as Islamophobes because they’re trying to speak out against Islam’s worst exceses. I’m trying to find a way that such a scenario could happen here in the U.S. or in much of the Western world, and I’m coming up with a blank, unless it were through the election process. I doubt any time soon that we’ll have any Muslim candidates making headway, nor do I see ballot measures asking for the dissolution of the Constitution to set up an Islamic governmental system succeeding. Cal Thomas believes Lord Chief Justice Lord Phillips has put England under Sharia, by allowing contracts to be entered into under a law other than the law of England, so long as that law complies with English law. Which makes sense to me, because it’s how international business is done, isn’t it? The contract must be compliant with the laws of the country it is being contracted in, and possibly copmliant with the laws of the contracting companies’ countries, right? Instead, Cal Thomas takes the tack that because of all the parts of Sharia with regard to divorce, child custody, and finances that are fundamentally incompatible with English law, the only way to reconcile the two is if English law becomes subordinate to Islamic law. Wait, what? Lord Phillips says Sharia must be compliant with English law, but he really meant English law must become compliant with Sharia? While that certainly helps fuel one’s agenda that radical Islam is trying to get in the back door through the legal system, I don’t think that’s a proper conclusion, and that the first time someone tries for a divorce by the “Sharia” standards, they’ll find a fight waiting for them in the English courts.
In candidate opinions, Thomas Sowell finds Senator Obama a "masked man" and urges conservatives to look at his record of actions before deciding to jump ship and vote for him. Sowell’s reasoning here bases itself on Senator Obama’s associations with a member of the Weathermen, his preference for policy-making judges, and Obamamania through good presentation and speeches. As the commentators point out, there are good conservative reasons not to vote for Senator McCain as well, but many hold to the GOP line that Senator Obama is still a liberal’s liberal and going to try and institute the United Socialist States of America.
Burt Prelutsky takes a cheap shot at America in general, writing a column that was supposed to be about the declining educational standards and potential for the stagnation of learning in the country, possibly with a few excellent suggestions on how to toughen up schooling so that students are forced to learn something to pass their classes, and throwing it all away by saying that one of the consequences of this dumbing down is that the Democrats will never have to worry about losing an election.
David Strom, instead of insulting everyone's intelligence, tries to scare everyone into believing liberals in the White House means government control over everyone's lives in total minutiae.
Our technology news starts with a U.S. company claiming it can build a crowd control sonic ray, to provide a sonic alternative to the sunburn crowd-control ray. The technology to do this is pretty awesome, the uses to which it is being put, not so awesome. Of course, build a better moustrap, and...
Following up on an earlier technology piece about magazine photos fooling age-verification cameras in Japan, it turns out the portraits on the 1000-yen notes will do the job quite well, making it even easier for someone underage to purchase cigs and not have any evidence of having fooled the machine.
Pioneer develops a 400-gigabyte Blu-Ray compatible, 16-layer disc. Wow, backing up one’s hard disk onto a single disc has almost become possible again. Or, at least, needing only two or three discs to do backup. Time for fixed disc space to jump up again.
Pure science has another experiment where psilocybin under controlled circumstances has positive effects. Behavior changes toward the happy after a mushroom trip, which could be of help for treating the depressed.
Last for tonight, praise Jesus and pass the ammunition. Or, what the difference between magic and science in fiction. I kind of like Ted Chiang’s rule of thumb - it works and it makes logical sense. Very scientific.
