![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Go away for a weekend and everything happens. Energy in the youth services area, having to fix communication problems through a well-placed mea culpa after thinking seriously about kicking the walls on how things were interpreted and finding out that the rules bend in places even when they’ve been made out to be absolutes, working through other issues and the lack of confidence they inspire in my abilities, and finding out that I can apparently throw a hatchet at fairly short range with some accuracy. You learn lots on this job and away from it. Also, yesterday, Labour Day, which began as a way of promoting worker solidarity and power, and has since devolved into a day off work and lots of consumerism.
Movie trailers will never be the same again - Don LaFontaine, whose voice most people recognize, even if they have never seen his person, is dead at 68.
Internationally, Japan's prime minister resigns, Australia takes the color-coding terror alert seriously, a Pakistani lawmaker making justifications for burying women alive because they wanted to choose their own husbands as several of his compatriots protested that justification, while Vogue does fashion shoots with people whose entire worth is less than the garments they're wearing.
As the numbers of suspected militants killed goes up, so does the hostility when civilians get killed in those raids. Add into this mix the growing certainty that Israel will spark with Iran over nuclear capabilities and glass amy be a plentiful resource in the Middle East.
Last for our dispatches from out in the world, Doctorow analyses what may be the dumbest salvo in the War on a Concept to date, basically telling the citizenry that anyone who does something you don’t understand or doesn’t give you all the details about is a potential terrorist and should be reported. Down with Big Brother, Down With Big Bro... oh, right, thoughtcrime.
Domestically, the Republican Party’s Convention wanted to get underway quietly as there is a big storm happening in New Orleans, one that drew the media away from convention coverage, but this time looks to be competently handled. It failed, pretty hard, in the quiet part, as with the DNC, protesters and demonstraters have appeared and been arrested, as well as journalists reporting for Web Newscasts, just recently released. Not to mention, the feds were involved in all of this, including raiding the houses and meeting places of suspected protesters beforehand and planting agents in those groups to monitor them, then arresting them and forcing their way in to search their buildings and headquarters, revealing only after the fact that a search warrant had actually been obtained, in those cases where it was. All in all, undeclared martial law and police state in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
After all of this, ddjango asks the protesters to stand down, as nothing they do will be effective, and all they're getting for their trouble is arrests, rather than effective work, such as feeding the homeless without telling anyone who you are.
Actually inside the convention center, the current administrator spoke to the convention, putting his support behind Senator McCain. And Senator McCain took it on the chin from Van Halen this time, again over using music that he didn't get permission for.
In candidate matters, wow. After the announcement of Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate, the Internet did some of the best background-checking it knows how, resulting in a mix of professional and personal reasons why Palin might not be the best choice as a VP. From accusations that Palin was part of a separtist Alaskan group through shadowy conservative groups making sure Palin meets their specs, despite her open fealty to Republican ideology, into questions about why he picked her, including Trophy VP? (an opinion of which![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bradhicks worries may be disturbingly true, based on John McCain's past history with women ), her religious affiliations, and ramifications where her affiliations and her personal life run counter to each other, presented as more potential conservative Christian hypocrisy. bradhicks wonders whether McCain is going for broke on selling the "reform" idea enough to get him back to being a media darling by choosing Palin. Some have even gone far enough to drag Palin's daughter in as an example of this, but that’s not really a kosher thing to do.
Her past gets dug up, including a stint in her mayorhood about where she asked how to go about censoring the library, but the comprehensive coverage goes with a hat tip to Daily Kos, which has 100 (at least) issues with Palin in the first weekend of investigation. That’s not to say it’s all bad. Palin does get rave reviews in other places, columnists do write favorable things about her, even saddling her with the hope that the Republicans can get elected now, or calling her the third point of a perfect trifecta that makes the Republicans good, united, and electable again, and people like Bruce Herschensohn are stumping for the man who would be her boss, claiming that terror-cloaked-as-Islam is the sole issue we should be concerned about in our election decision, and demonstrating how his tax plan allegedly creates jobs and lets people keep more money.
There’s also the part where a columnist believes that Palin is coming under fire because she's not a feminist, and the harpies who are feminists (for a cariactured definition thereof) are mercilessly going after her - which is rather much like others going after Hillary because she was such a feminist-type. I guess we’ll get to see both sides of “females campaigning” - both the “frigid, ugly bitch” and the “pretty face with no experience” angles. So, what’s this about a glass ceiling being broken? Emily Bazelon and Dahlia Lithwick have a much more reasonable take on it, decrying the apparent need for Palin to be SuperMom just to keep pace in the political world or to be taken seriously by the candidates.
Even with all of this, Senator Obama does not escape notice. Kimberly Strassel thinks that the liberal candidate pushing liberal policies is disguising them with more moderate rhetoric, and that’s just not okay, the WSJ still believes the Senator hasn't said much of substance, Johnnie Byrd grabs a optential gaffe and toys with it, while Austin Hill sees it as yet another reflection that Senator Obama doesn't really have American Values at his core, and Terry Paulson continues with the "punish the successful" mantra that conservatives are painting the Senator's economic policies as, Jonah Goldberg repeats a line that Democrats want the country to be miserable so they'll vote Democrat, (and Stephen Moore echoes, which means either the American people are doing better than expected or they’re not going to admit to pollsters just how bad things are until they become undeniably bad) Comedian BillO alleges NBC's coverage is wildly prObama, Steve Chapman and William McGurn both take shots at Senator Biden's background, and Dinesh D'Souza thinks Senator Obama is a race-card player running as a post-race candidate. Some support for the Senator, however, in the form of Liberal Eagle's believes that Obama does have his policy specifics, and is betting the American people will elect him based on how much they want his actually-liberal policies.
Austin Cline, at the General’s, praises and admires the Republican Party's devotion to IngSoc and all the doublethink, doublespeak, and explicit adoption of otherwise-satirical positions it entails. On the other side of the aisle, Will Hall defends religious conservatives as the true keepers of the flock, based on the amounts of dollars the conservatives and liberals give to charitable organizations. The Slacktivist may have the last laugh in this matter, though, detailing a mental model in John McCain's head where he must choose between being an American and a Republican... and he doesn’t care much for the Republican hat, even if he will wear it when the situation demands it.
Last out of this omnibus of opinions and stuff on the candidates and their conventions, a view from a potential short-term future, based on what’s happening now, the illusion of choice in politics, and the deft way the real issues never appear in the political or discussion sphere. All of this is exemplified in the observance of bins that collect food to feed hungry children. a symptom of American cruelty so great that enough people consider children starving an acceptable outcome that those who do not have to appeal to their fellows to help.
In non-candidate, non-convention news and opinions, federal employees gone AWOL too much? Depending on the light you read them in, the statistics either say that lots of federal workers are shirking their work or a very tiny percentage of all hours are AWOL hours.
A firsthand account of how little healing goes on at a faith-healing event, replaced by plenty of hucksterism and inspid music. Talk 2 Action now also hasdogemperor on board (he’s prety prolific on Kos and elsewhere about the topic of Dominionist Christianity and the steeplejacking of America’s churches) with four major corporate sponsors of the "parallel economy" that dominionism aims to build, naming Amway/Quixtar, Chick-Fil-A, Hobby Lobby, and U.S. Plastics as big sponsors, partners, and generators of the parallel world. (Including VeggieTales as explicitly intended to “get ‘em young“, which means I should probably go back and look at them again to see)
Ken Connor goes after a Washington State initiative designed to permit sane, competent individuals to determine when their life ends, by citing some of the lack of paperwork filed and some cases where he believes the line crossed from people making decisions to end their lives to doctors and others deciding when it was time for people to die.
New studies suggest that parent stress is a significant contributor to child overweight, at least in situations where food is secure enough for children to retreat into it as a comfort against stresses. Once again, the need for a good social safety net, so that parents don’t have to worry about a lot of things they shouldn’t need to be concerned about.
In science and technology, some really big structures designed for minimal impact and maximal population-housing, and to be as self-sustaining as possible, a light-up pillow that tries to simulate the warmth and cuddles of a mate, Google's foray into web browser tech, some new charts on the odds of dying from X or Y, worries that the Web is the new battleground, finding the balance between awesome data uses and protecting the privacy of those that contribute that data, the Internet's eventual expansion to carrying most of its traffic outside United States cable and servers, and the iPhone as wallet substitute.
Last for tonight, a graph of things that one could potentially say during coitus, some good, some bad, most work-safe. A quick bit about Faux fun versus real fun.
And last, Opposing Viewpoints takes a healthy debate over Net Neutrality and posts it for us to see and comment on.
Movie trailers will never be the same again - Don LaFontaine, whose voice most people recognize, even if they have never seen his person, is dead at 68.
Internationally, Japan's prime minister resigns, Australia takes the color-coding terror alert seriously, a Pakistani lawmaker making justifications for burying women alive because they wanted to choose their own husbands as several of his compatriots protested that justification, while Vogue does fashion shoots with people whose entire worth is less than the garments they're wearing.
As the numbers of suspected militants killed goes up, so does the hostility when civilians get killed in those raids. Add into this mix the growing certainty that Israel will spark with Iran over nuclear capabilities and glass amy be a plentiful resource in the Middle East.
Last for our dispatches from out in the world, Doctorow analyses what may be the dumbest salvo in the War on a Concept to date, basically telling the citizenry that anyone who does something you don’t understand or doesn’t give you all the details about is a potential terrorist and should be reported. Down with Big Brother, Down With Big Bro... oh, right, thoughtcrime.
Domestically, the Republican Party’s Convention wanted to get underway quietly as there is a big storm happening in New Orleans, one that drew the media away from convention coverage, but this time looks to be competently handled. It failed, pretty hard, in the quiet part, as with the DNC, protesters and demonstraters have appeared and been arrested, as well as journalists reporting for Web Newscasts, just recently released. Not to mention, the feds were involved in all of this, including raiding the houses and meeting places of suspected protesters beforehand and planting agents in those groups to monitor them, then arresting them and forcing their way in to search their buildings and headquarters, revealing only after the fact that a search warrant had actually been obtained, in those cases where it was. All in all, undeclared martial law and police state in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
After all of this, ddjango asks the protesters to stand down, as nothing they do will be effective, and all they're getting for their trouble is arrests, rather than effective work, such as feeding the homeless without telling anyone who you are.
Actually inside the convention center, the current administrator spoke to the convention, putting his support behind Senator McCain. And Senator McCain took it on the chin from Van Halen this time, again over using music that he didn't get permission for.
In candidate matters, wow. After the announcement of Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate, the Internet did some of the best background-checking it knows how, resulting in a mix of professional and personal reasons why Palin might not be the best choice as a VP. From accusations that Palin was part of a separtist Alaskan group through shadowy conservative groups making sure Palin meets their specs, despite her open fealty to Republican ideology, into questions about why he picked her, including Trophy VP? (an opinion of which
bradhicks worries may be disturbingly true, based on John McCain's past history with women ), her religious affiliations, and ramifications where her affiliations and her personal life run counter to each other, presented as more potential conservative Christian hypocrisy. bradhicks wonders whether McCain is going for broke on selling the "reform" idea enough to get him back to being a media darling by choosing Palin. Some have even gone far enough to drag Palin's daughter in as an example of this, but that’s not really a kosher thing to do.Her past gets dug up, including a stint in her mayorhood about where she asked how to go about censoring the library, but the comprehensive coverage goes with a hat tip to Daily Kos, which has 100 (at least) issues with Palin in the first weekend of investigation. That’s not to say it’s all bad. Palin does get rave reviews in other places, columnists do write favorable things about her, even saddling her with the hope that the Republicans can get elected now, or calling her the third point of a perfect trifecta that makes the Republicans good, united, and electable again, and people like Bruce Herschensohn are stumping for the man who would be her boss, claiming that terror-cloaked-as-Islam is the sole issue we should be concerned about in our election decision, and demonstrating how his tax plan allegedly creates jobs and lets people keep more money.
There’s also the part where a columnist believes that Palin is coming under fire because she's not a feminist, and the harpies who are feminists (for a cariactured definition thereof) are mercilessly going after her - which is rather much like others going after Hillary because she was such a feminist-type. I guess we’ll get to see both sides of “females campaigning” - both the “frigid, ugly bitch” and the “pretty face with no experience” angles. So, what’s this about a glass ceiling being broken? Emily Bazelon and Dahlia Lithwick have a much more reasonable take on it, decrying the apparent need for Palin to be SuperMom just to keep pace in the political world or to be taken seriously by the candidates.
Even with all of this, Senator Obama does not escape notice. Kimberly Strassel thinks that the liberal candidate pushing liberal policies is disguising them with more moderate rhetoric, and that’s just not okay, the WSJ still believes the Senator hasn't said much of substance, Johnnie Byrd grabs a optential gaffe and toys with it, while Austin Hill sees it as yet another reflection that Senator Obama doesn't really have American Values at his core, and Terry Paulson continues with the "punish the successful" mantra that conservatives are painting the Senator's economic policies as, Jonah Goldberg repeats a line that Democrats want the country to be miserable so they'll vote Democrat, (and Stephen Moore echoes, which means either the American people are doing better than expected or they’re not going to admit to pollsters just how bad things are until they become undeniably bad) Comedian BillO alleges NBC's coverage is wildly prObama, Steve Chapman and William McGurn both take shots at Senator Biden's background, and Dinesh D'Souza thinks Senator Obama is a race-card player running as a post-race candidate. Some support for the Senator, however, in the form of Liberal Eagle's believes that Obama does have his policy specifics, and is betting the American people will elect him based on how much they want his actually-liberal policies.
Austin Cline, at the General’s, praises and admires the Republican Party's devotion to IngSoc and all the doublethink, doublespeak, and explicit adoption of otherwise-satirical positions it entails. On the other side of the aisle, Will Hall defends religious conservatives as the true keepers of the flock, based on the amounts of dollars the conservatives and liberals give to charitable organizations. The Slacktivist may have the last laugh in this matter, though, detailing a mental model in John McCain's head where he must choose between being an American and a Republican... and he doesn’t care much for the Republican hat, even if he will wear it when the situation demands it.
Last out of this omnibus of opinions and stuff on the candidates and their conventions, a view from a potential short-term future, based on what’s happening now, the illusion of choice in politics, and the deft way the real issues never appear in the political or discussion sphere. All of this is exemplified in the observance of bins that collect food to feed hungry children. a symptom of American cruelty so great that enough people consider children starving an acceptable outcome that those who do not have to appeal to their fellows to help.
In non-candidate, non-convention news and opinions, federal employees gone AWOL too much? Depending on the light you read them in, the statistics either say that lots of federal workers are shirking their work or a very tiny percentage of all hours are AWOL hours.
A firsthand account of how little healing goes on at a faith-healing event, replaced by plenty of hucksterism and inspid music. Talk 2 Action now also has
dogemperor on board (he’s prety prolific on Kos and elsewhere about the topic of Dominionist Christianity and the steeplejacking of America’s churches) with four major corporate sponsors of the "parallel economy" that dominionism aims to build, naming Amway/Quixtar, Chick-Fil-A, Hobby Lobby, and U.S. Plastics as big sponsors, partners, and generators of the parallel world. (Including VeggieTales as explicitly intended to “get ‘em young“, which means I should probably go back and look at them again to see)Ken Connor goes after a Washington State initiative designed to permit sane, competent individuals to determine when their life ends, by citing some of the lack of paperwork filed and some cases where he believes the line crossed from people making decisions to end their lives to doctors and others deciding when it was time for people to die.
New studies suggest that parent stress is a significant contributor to child overweight, at least in situations where food is secure enough for children to retreat into it as a comfort against stresses. Once again, the need for a good social safety net, so that parents don’t have to worry about a lot of things they shouldn’t need to be concerned about.
In science and technology, some really big structures designed for minimal impact and maximal population-housing, and to be as self-sustaining as possible, a light-up pillow that tries to simulate the warmth and cuddles of a mate, Google's foray into web browser tech, some new charts on the odds of dying from X or Y, worries that the Web is the new battleground, finding the balance between awesome data uses and protecting the privacy of those that contribute that data, the Internet's eventual expansion to carrying most of its traffic outside United States cable and servers, and the iPhone as wallet substitute.
Last for tonight, a graph of things that one could potentially say during coitus, some good, some bad, most work-safe. A quick bit about Faux fun versus real fun.
And last, Opposing Viewpoints takes a healthy debate over Net Neutrality and posts it for us to see and comment on.
