And from there, we go onward - 02 October 2008

Top billing tonight is a real headdesker. No, I’m not talking about the Vice Presidential debate (although more on that later), but on being alerted to a Colorado proposed constitutional amendment that would define a person as existing from the point of fertilization. Lawyers, sharpen your swords and knives, because if this one passes, there will be a feast available for all of you in working out the details of how such a change will be implemented. Not to mention all the ramifications that come from women of fertile age being placed in slavery to their uteruses, and the free reign it would give to those who force women nonconsensually - they could get a woman pregnant and then the law would require her to carry the child to term, give birth, and possibly raise the child as her own, and then potentially have to worry about whether their rapist wants custody or visitation rights, too, so they can continue to rape and terrorize women and force more children on them. That’s the low-hanging fruit that a decision like this would create. Imagine all the complex stuff behind it.

As for the debate, well, if you didn’t watch, you probably didn’t miss much. Governor Palin did a lot of dodging, tried to land a few party-line talking points, sounded every bit the consumate, conservative, Bush-style Republican. While the Governor started out with a grating folksy style, shifted down into a more serious tone. Senator Biden sidestepped on occasion, but did a much better job of striking and sticking to his hits, and calling out both the Governor and Senator McCain on their dodges.

It’s petty to say so, but pronunciation guide - “new-clear”. Not “New-kyu-lur.” And it is really “Akhmadinejad” when referring to the President of Iran? Both candidates said the name that way.

It was a bit disturbing to note that both of them were apparently in agreement that they won’t change the marriage definition, but Senator Biden was careful to note that while he won’t change the definition, he does support civil unions with appropriate benefits. Governor Palin tiptoed carefully on that issue, proclaiming support for some aspects of things, like visitation rights, while still expressing her opposition to the idea of homosexual marriage. In other words, what a fucking red herring. Based on her general religious attitude, however, I suspect Governor Palin was bullshitting on her support and/or Senator McCain’s limited support.

Actually, a lot of what I heard from the Governor and the Senator, I wished that we had little popups to check and make sure the facts stated were correct, as the webmonkeys did their thing. Finding out they’re both solidly in Israel’s court could be an interesting thing for others to make much of. Others, I think, are looking forward to the presidential debates to follow.

When we go international, we get all sorts of interesting things - control of the police/paramilitary Sons of Iraq/Awakening Councils by Iraq, moving toward what would look like the precursors to a troop drawdown, not that it will happen. Even as IED casualties are down, we shouldn't be deluded into thinking we're winning. After all, our combat hospitals are treating more Iraqis.

Somalia gives the green light to using force to capture or kill the pirates taking control of a ship carrying tanks and weapons, so now it’s a matter of seeing if anyone will act.

And in Britain, three men were charged with conspiracy to damage property and endanger lives by trying to set fire to the grounds of an author. The author was about to release a book about the favorite wife of the prophet Mohammed, A’isha, from her engagement at six years of age through the rest of her life. The U.S. publisher Random House pulled the book, fearing it would offend Muslims, and apparently, some people who call themselves Muslims were offended by the book and tried to silence the author.

In domestic affairs, the United States will see diminshed influence on global politics in the coming years, as nations engage strengths and build power structures that don’t challenge the traditional United States powers, like conventional military might, and as resources become more competitive on the world stage.

Here comes part two of the bailout bill, to the House after the Senate passed it. Again, the urging is to vote yes and spend the money and bail out the corporations and banks, so they can lend money to each other and you on the one hand, as the foreclose on houses and mortgages with the other. But, really, it's a bailout that will help the populace, even though it helps the corporations, because if they can give credit, then you can get credit. The longer this goes on, the more insane arguments get developed as to whose fault it is, so it can be both amusing to watch people point fingers and blame as the vise tightens. (How impressive is this that the bailout is opined to be bad and socalistic, and thus the Democrats are entirely to blame, through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, for the situation that the bailout is trying to fix?) Like how Thomas Sowell thinks that Americans concerned about CEO pay are focusing on the very smallest part of the bailout, and are being pretty stupid in letting the political thing take control of the necessary economic thing.

The more the bailout plan gets railroaded through, the less options like possibly massively refinancing mortgages and sticking a floor on the prices of houses, so that the spiraling of value downward doesn’t continue to make the credit crunch worse by evaporating the value companies thought they had.

The candidate opinions return for today with a throwback argument to how Senator Obama is totally unfit for President because his policies will make it so terrorists can attack the United States again. Because he opposed letting the government wiretap without a warrant, opposed letting telecommunications companies who let the government wiretap without a warrant get off without any sort of punishment for lawbreaking, and because he believes that people held as terrorists in the United State deserve some access to the court system here in the United States, rather than having their fates completely controlled by military personnel and having to face a tribunal that is likely convinced of their guilt before it begins. As I said, this was a big line of attack a few months ago. Is this just trying to keep it fresh, or is this trying to revive what is actually a dead argument just in time for the polls?

On the other side of the aisle, Rolling Stone carries a piece on John McCain that aims to remove the myth he's put around himself, and the truths behind some of Governor Palin's myths.

In the opinions, a proposal to use fire fighters as intelligence agents who will pass on possible terrorism or hazards to law enforcement through the normal course of their duties. They’re not supposed to become people who can search hosues without the prextext of a warrant on a trumped-up safety inspection, but they are supposed to be good intelligence agents, because people like them and let them in places and they’re supposed to help you in disasters, and generally speaking, they aren’t supposed to care about laws, excepting the appropriate codes to their profession, but lives. So they’d make great intelligence agents, but what if people start hiding stuff from the firefighters too, once we know they’re going to help the government spy on its people?

John Bolton and Nicholas Eberstadt suggest that having the North Korean regime collapse and change isn't as bad a thing as we think, assuming we do things like safeguard the nukes and let those who want out get out if the fighting gets heavy.

In science and technology, the hotel's wireless is not using the best security it can, private companies aiming for docking with the IsS, carrying cargo for NASA, and possibly landing a lunar mission, the need to put serious scientific investigation into unexplained, but empirically documented, phenomena, training bacteria to deliver drugs at appropriate point and time, or as secondary immune fighters.

Continuing to fan the flames of the marijuana legalization debate, a new study from the Beckley Foundation indicates cannabis is less harmful than alcohol or tobacco, while not discounting the possibility that cannabis, like both alcohol and tobacco, does have risks and harms.

Last for tonight, a question of how do you visualize time - years, days, hours, etc.. Clouds, colors, shapes, distortions? What does time look like to you? Is it pleasant? Or are you worried that time is running away from you, like the players in Zombie in My Pocket?

Survived! Hah! Take that, weekday! - 03 October 2008

A public service announcement that's been repeating across the friendly-list: Tomorrow, there will be thirty days until the United States general election. For those of you in the United States, many states require that you be registered on the voter rolls by that point if you wish to cast a ballot in the election. Considering the last eight years have been as volitaile as they have been, whether you want more of the same or to change things up a bit, you should be registered.

My leading point tonight is a great reason why arts and musical funding should be encouraged in schools, not cut when the budgets become tighter - musicians think differently, and more creatively, than those without musical training. Musically-inclined people use both sides of the brain more than others - a consequence of reading, interpreting, and then playing music in real-time.

Across the world, The U.N. has declared Pakistan's capital unsafe for the children of its staff and ordered them out. Not safe for children any more. Man, that's a lot of the world these days. Maybe we can work on bringing that unacceptable safety down to something like "May occasionally cause cuts, scrapes, bruises, and hurt feelings, but otherwise okay"?

Of course, I can feel myself biting a hypocrisy bullet in saying that the art exhibit that shows the realistic consequences of cartoon violence should be permitted to be hung, even if there's the chance that children will view it. There is a parental advisory warning on the exhibit.

Domestically, yes, indeed, the vice-presidential candidates sparred with each other last night. Any good summary will probably be all you need to get this one understood. BoingBoing tries to encapsulate Governor Palin's debate in a flowchart, as she publicly disagrees with Senator McCain's campaign strategy on quitting Michigan.

The Navy confirms it has found a lost WWII sumbarine around Pearl Harbor, which might make for an interesting museum piece, or at least be worth studying for those creating such things.

The Virginiaa Educator's Association sponsored an "Obama Blue Day", encouraging the teachers to wear blue to show their support for the Democratic candidate. The Virginia Republicans are not amused, calling it a breach of trust. The VEA, for its part, said that the release said to wear blue, but not specific candidate-endorsing blue, and to talk to students about registering to vote, but saying nothing about which candidate to vote for.

The Green Party candidate accused the government of using the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to execute 5,000 prisoners and bury their bodies. This gets news copy. As to what the Green Party candidate is doing, platforming on, or whether she will be able to take place in the presidential debate? Nada. When the aliens come to take over, we're going to have a Treehouse of Horror moment on it, I swear.

Talking opinions, Peter Watts has survival in modern days figured out - wait for the economic collapse, then go out with the board with a nail in it and start swinging. If Paul M. Weyrich gets his way, there will be a lot of thinking and discussing before any sort of bailout plan is offered or passed, no matter how much the current administrator stomps his foot and insists that we have to do something now. Victor Davis Hanson thinks that the problems in our economy are encouraging hostile forces and nations to become more belligerent and confrontational, as Cal Thomas blames Democrats for letting the crisis happen, while the stalwart Congressional Republicans were always sounding the alarms that reforms needed to happen in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Russel Roberts concurs that government made many bad decisions in precipitating the current crisis. In terms of a solution, The WSJ opposes the increase in deposit insurance by the FDIC, believing it will lead to even riskier lending practices.

Ken Blackwell has a more general blame - the instant gratification society that current America has generated, which leads peopel to borrow well beyond their ability to repay because they want it and they want it now, chasing the ephemeral gratification that comes from something new. Bill Whittle believes this is much like passing a kidney stone, and that the right people need to feel enough pain to not do it again.

William Easterly worries that developing nations are taking the wrong ideas from the meltdown, and turning away from replicating a United States-like economic society bassed on how well they perceive elites and businesses to have manipulated the people here in the United States.

So really, the whole thing needs a fact check to see just who, if anyone, really is responsible for this.

So, let's get to the candidate opinions. The American Spectator beleives it has a gigantic scandal waiting to happen in the way that Senator Obama's campaign has been raising money, alleging illegal foreign donations and the campaign not checking to see if donors ahd reached ther federal limits.

Robert McFarlane returns to the "Obama wants to lose in Iraq" rhetoric, bringing old attacks back up later on to rekindle them in the mind of the voter. I still think it premature to declare anything on the Iraq reconstruction effort. Victory in Iraq has been declared for more than five years, now, according to the current administrator. Larry Elder wants Senator McCain to get aggressive in teh next debates, based on what he sees are big holes in Senator Obama's policies,

On the veep debate itself, Peggy Noonan swoons at Sarah Palin's charms and declares the debate hers, because she played up her folksy self and didn't look anything like the woman out of her league giving interviews. That she did so well, considering, may be a thought planted in our heads by those who were trying their damndest to lower our expectations of her to the point where if she stood there and smiled, we'd call it a win. The WSJ thinks Palin off her leash and being natural is her best thing.

Last out of the opinions, and perhaps amusingly placed after all that has gone before it, a wonderful TED talk about what really separates the liberal and conservative mindsets - it's a different set of values. No, really. But this is about how doing liberal-conservative in Us v. Them isn't very productive for persuasion or understanding.

In SCIENCE, a human street skeleton racer takes on a motorcycle. That's so very Weird Science. Additionally, brain cells potentially controlling power grids, a Sony Reader with a light and a stylus, comparing Google's Blog Search service with other blog aggregator-ranker services, a Science Friday broadcast about research conclusions showing people who feel not in control are more likely to see illusions and conspiracy theories. What I would draw from that information is that this lack of control in their lives leads to rationalization, even of the absurd, conspiracy kind, so even if there's no control in life, there's at least an explanation as to why. Is that a good conclusion?

HIV has been around for at least a century, based on old tissue samples that have the genome for the virus in them. It didn't come to prominence until later, but it's been around for a bit.

Last for tonight, Sergio Ruzzier's art, which reminds me a little bit of Aaaah! Real Monsters!