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Friday, in history, a black power salute, facilitated by a bright idea - and the third man on the podium took quite a bit of flack for it.
On the big stage, more civilian casualties of the conflict in Afghanistan, of where it's rumored and is suspected that the president's brother is involved in the drug trade. South Ossetia police ordered to return fire if shot at, possibly escalating tensions there, and the possibility of an Israeli-Arab peace plan, which could reduce tensions in that region.
However, Iraq has won the right to prosecute United States troops and civilians if they commit crimes in their off-duty hours, according to the latest draft of an agreement to keep U.S. troops there past the end of the year. It's not going to be an easy fight to get it through.
Domestically, have we mentioned lately that the TSA is security theater?
Pictures of the people who have signed up to serve in the military, from their graduation days to the days where their parents hug their gravestones. That picture, in fact, was referenced by former Secretary of State Colin Powell in his endorsement of inclusiveness and unity and not fearing Muslims as others, which happened to include endorsing Barack Obama, but that’s not the important point.
First, the student paper printed a story about oral sex in the school, attaching names to the accounts they had to print. Then came the suits from the parents claiming that the school had not followed appropriate policy for protecting private sexual information and invasion of privacy. After that, the Puyallup School District now requires principals to review all student publications and performances before they go live, and gives said principals the right to edit, censor, or block the productions from going forward. Chilling effect on the students, and there are potential First Amendment issues on whether or not they can do just such a thing. The precedent says, “Yeah, they can. In school, the students rarely have rights past the ones the principals and superintendents are willing to grant them.” Or overlook violations of. Even a message like “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” can’t get through. So how much of the new publication will be principal-approved rah-rah fluff? Time will tell.
Speaking of schools, a lack of arithmetic results in lots of jobs lost in the Dallas School district, when the budget came up with a sudden $84 million defecit.
Questionable Content currently, as of this posting, on their merch page a shirt with a rainbow that reads LGBTerrific, which is an awesome sentiment all by itself - perhaps a few to buy and use in California this election season? And it may be worthwhile, whether you believe in it or not, to see the artwork of "Jurassic Ark", where the dinosaurs and the humans don't get along during the flood.
On the other side, the story of Mercy Ministries and its Jesus prescription for all.
The openly racist aren't afraid to be openly racist in this election, including hanging a ghost from a tree with an Obama sign and “Husain” spray-painted on. The hanger of this particular slice of small-town America spoke off-camera, because he felt his employer would be harmed, but his name is in the article, so he’s willing to speak on-the-record. According to him, Barack Obama is not a “full blooded American.” He also believes the United States is a white, Christian nation - and only with white Christians should be in power. Despite this, Sal Russo believes that if Barack OBama's quest for President comes up short, it will not be because of any racist sentiments, but because the Senator was too liberal. (Charles Krauthammer feels that Senator McCain has not been racist, implied or explicit, in any way at all, no matter what his surrogates, supporters, and approved campaign ads may say or imply.) For Mike Gallagher, it's because the Senator was a liar about his 100 percent negative claim and the "kill him!" story, and not at all because of any of his policy statements being untrue or ineffective. In contrast, Thomas Sowell feels that even a flawed McCain-Palin ticket, for all its inexperience, will be better than the Obama-Biden ticket, because the experience that Biden has is all the “wrong” kind of experience, and Senator Obama’s associations with “people who hate America” is just too great to be ignored. And it usually centers on William Ayers, for whom Sol Stern is concerned will be able to spread his ideas across the educational system if the Democrats take control.
The Dirty Tricks Brigade has been out in full force. As a matter of fact, some senators have gotten succificently bad all by themselves to warrant special attention (Thanks, General!), and some of the signs in the campaign offices of the Republican candidate compare the Democratic candidate to several despised dictators. And all of this is without the machines deciding that people are going to vote for Republicans, regardless of who they actually checked.
And yet, in the early voters, Obama still leads. Despite much to do about the Senator's refundable tax credits, called welfare by some, and by others, a plan to take from each person and spread the wealth around to his supporters, or, in the words of many conservatives, socialism! Although John McCain did not come out and say Barack Obama was a socialist, in the sense of actually connecting the dots, instead choosing to demand “candor” from the Senator about his plans in the context of “At least the named socialists are up front about it”. Despite not actually calling him a socialist, most papers are reporting it as if he did. Which means unvarnished praise for the Joe that supposedly got Barack Obama to admit as much, defense for this Joe against perceived (or possibly actual) investigation and "attack", and at least one appearance on Fox News, as well as a re-run of the conception that raising taxes means the rich pay less, in addition to the “people who benefit from the Senator’s plan don’t pay taxes anyway, and so are getting handouts from government”.
All of this maelstrom culminates in this, which I think is definitely a telling part of how far this campaign and the ideas of the populace have gone - Laura Hollis lays out her belief and support for why Senator Obama is a Communist, with all the dirty words, implied tyranny, and dire forewarnings she can muster.
The WSJ pops up with a "Oh, and he's going to regulate your carbon emissions, too!" on the end of it, just doing their job to try and ensure that people try to see Senator Obama as a fringe leftist. Oh, and his plans for medical insurance will totally kill any incentive for private companies to do any drug research at all.
And the weirdest part that gets everyone, on whatever side of the spectrum they’re working from? When taken down to their basic levels, a lot of people aren't what we think they are. They're promoting change to someone who wants to stay still, or feeling that staying still is best in the whirls of constant change. Taken individually, most of these people have things that we consider to be good and useful and helpful. It’s just when you abstract us out to ideas and positions and politics that we transform into the monsters that we imagine are out there. Some people are deathly scared of the outcome of this election, and despite their vote and perhaps some positive noises from the polls, they don’t know if things will turn out all right. So, do the vote thing to put your shoulder into the tug-of-war, and if you’re not feeling all that secure, getting others to vote for your candidate, through the use of open and honest concerns and arguments (no, he’s not a Muslim). If you’re voting for the devil you know, who will be open about the ways he will make you suffer, rather than the devil who you feel hides his torture implements, go for it. If you’re voting for change because you can’t stand more of the same of the last eight years, all yours. If you think they’re both going to screw you over, then vote for one of the other candidates.
Austin Cline, at the General’s, hits the right notes on a discussion of how the Anti-Sex League is using a conventionally sexy model to deliver the message. But instead of Julia’s sexuality and general hypocrisy as part of the Anti-Sex League culminating in her and Winston romping around, Palin’s sexuality is trying to sell the message that sex is bad. It would be like using an adult film start to promote total abstinennce, with the images of coitus trying to advocate for virginity. In a lot of ways, Peggy Noonan's column about the inability to see Sarah Palin as, well, anything that can be effective in primetime underscores this weird set of decisions by the Republicans since electing John McCain, where hoping for sound bites and a pretty face would make it magically work, and it doesn’t. Too many examples of the current administration to make that a winning tactic.
In other opinions, Amanda Carpenter believes she's found a smoking gun - in a district with 93 votes cast in a primary, 28 have turned out to be fradulent, and of course, it’s all ACORN’s fault, for submitting the phony names and not denying them, deliberately trying to defraud the populace because they’re trying all sorts of trickery to defraud the populace and steal an election. And not at all because, as Paul Weyrich points out even as he tries to blame ACORN, some people will more than willingly commit voter registration fraud to get any promised rewards,
As the election winds down toward voting day, talk of a possible supermajority in the Senate, which means filibuster-proog legislation, and of course, makes many conservatives, like Cesar above, quake and despair and get angry about all the legislation the Democrats are going to ram through once they have that 60. And the WSJ points out all the "harmful" stuff that got stopped by there being enough GOP in the upper chamber to block Democrats Gone Wild.
The WSJ talks about initiatives in states that are touted by their supporters as civil rights progress because they say the state won't discriminate against or give preferential treatment to any group. So if that passes, and a marriage-defining amendment passes, which one gets nixed as being illegal? Because giving marriage and its associated tax benefits and such to straights would be giving preferential treatment to a particular group. They’d have to also let gay folk get married, right? Or maybe the blurb there isn’t specific enough, and it’s really only about race. Still, with that kind of law on the books, the lawmakers would be remiss to extend that nonpreference to all other groups, right? Any enterprising person in that state want to get that ball rolling if such initiatives pass?
Last out of this long-winded section, Michael Hudson on why selling debt cannot bailout an industry that has crashed because of it, or why interest payments won’t bring the economy back to life. Naomi Klein agreed.
In tech, Windows Genuine Advantage and Office Genuine Advantage programs as seriously annoying nagware, which is kind of the point, considering they’re supposed to be telling pirates “Go buy the real thing! Spend money on us!”
Additionally, looking for memories outside the brain, more covers from the past that look at the future, using a disco tune to keep someone on the beat for CPR, a view inside a General Motors wind tunnel, full-spectrum solar panels,
Last for tonight, The Play Coalition, designing objects that have a whimsical bent to them, but which may also have actual purpose. They’re not usefully useless objects, they’re injecting some fun, like a plant table that walks to where the sunlight is. Or a street totally covered in manholes.
And XKCD makes old things new again, and once primed, suddenly things start reappearing, thanks to the Internet and people with good memory and interest. Burma Shave. And such.
On the big stage, more civilian casualties of the conflict in Afghanistan, of where it's rumored and is suspected that the president's brother is involved in the drug trade. South Ossetia police ordered to return fire if shot at, possibly escalating tensions there, and the possibility of an Israeli-Arab peace plan, which could reduce tensions in that region.
However, Iraq has won the right to prosecute United States troops and civilians if they commit crimes in their off-duty hours, according to the latest draft of an agreement to keep U.S. troops there past the end of the year. It's not going to be an easy fight to get it through.
Domestically, have we mentioned lately that the TSA is security theater?
Pictures of the people who have signed up to serve in the military, from their graduation days to the days where their parents hug their gravestones. That picture, in fact, was referenced by former Secretary of State Colin Powell in his endorsement of inclusiveness and unity and not fearing Muslims as others, which happened to include endorsing Barack Obama, but that’s not the important point.
First, the student paper printed a story about oral sex in the school, attaching names to the accounts they had to print. Then came the suits from the parents claiming that the school had not followed appropriate policy for protecting private sexual information and invasion of privacy. After that, the Puyallup School District now requires principals to review all student publications and performances before they go live, and gives said principals the right to edit, censor, or block the productions from going forward. Chilling effect on the students, and there are potential First Amendment issues on whether or not they can do just such a thing. The precedent says, “Yeah, they can. In school, the students rarely have rights past the ones the principals and superintendents are willing to grant them.” Or overlook violations of. Even a message like “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” can’t get through. So how much of the new publication will be principal-approved rah-rah fluff? Time will tell.
Speaking of schools, a lack of arithmetic results in lots of jobs lost in the Dallas School district, when the budget came up with a sudden $84 million defecit.
Questionable Content currently, as of this posting, on their merch page a shirt with a rainbow that reads LGBTerrific, which is an awesome sentiment all by itself - perhaps a few to buy and use in California this election season? And it may be worthwhile, whether you believe in it or not, to see the artwork of "Jurassic Ark", where the dinosaurs and the humans don't get along during the flood.
On the other side, the story of Mercy Ministries and its Jesus prescription for all.
The openly racist aren't afraid to be openly racist in this election, including hanging a ghost from a tree with an Obama sign and “Husain” spray-painted on. The hanger of this particular slice of small-town America spoke off-camera, because he felt his employer would be harmed, but his name is in the article, so he’s willing to speak on-the-record. According to him, Barack Obama is not a “full blooded American.” He also believes the United States is a white, Christian nation - and only with white Christians should be in power. Despite this, Sal Russo believes that if Barack OBama's quest for President comes up short, it will not be because of any racist sentiments, but because the Senator was too liberal. (Charles Krauthammer feels that Senator McCain has not been racist, implied or explicit, in any way at all, no matter what his surrogates, supporters, and approved campaign ads may say or imply.) For Mike Gallagher, it's because the Senator was a liar about his 100 percent negative claim and the "kill him!" story, and not at all because of any of his policy statements being untrue or ineffective. In contrast, Thomas Sowell feels that even a flawed McCain-Palin ticket, for all its inexperience, will be better than the Obama-Biden ticket, because the experience that Biden has is all the “wrong” kind of experience, and Senator Obama’s associations with “people who hate America” is just too great to be ignored. And it usually centers on William Ayers, for whom Sol Stern is concerned will be able to spread his ideas across the educational system if the Democrats take control.
The Dirty Tricks Brigade has been out in full force. As a matter of fact, some senators have gotten succificently bad all by themselves to warrant special attention (Thanks, General!), and some of the signs in the campaign offices of the Republican candidate compare the Democratic candidate to several despised dictators. And all of this is without the machines deciding that people are going to vote for Republicans, regardless of who they actually checked.
And yet, in the early voters, Obama still leads. Despite much to do about the Senator's refundable tax credits, called welfare by some, and by others, a plan to take from each person and spread the wealth around to his supporters, or, in the words of many conservatives, socialism! Although John McCain did not come out and say Barack Obama was a socialist, in the sense of actually connecting the dots, instead choosing to demand “candor” from the Senator about his plans in the context of “At least the named socialists are up front about it”. Despite not actually calling him a socialist, most papers are reporting it as if he did. Which means unvarnished praise for the Joe that supposedly got Barack Obama to admit as much, defense for this Joe against perceived (or possibly actual) investigation and "attack", and at least one appearance on Fox News, as well as a re-run of the conception that raising taxes means the rich pay less, in addition to the “people who benefit from the Senator’s plan don’t pay taxes anyway, and so are getting handouts from government”.
All of this maelstrom culminates in this, which I think is definitely a telling part of how far this campaign and the ideas of the populace have gone - Laura Hollis lays out her belief and support for why Senator Obama is a Communist, with all the dirty words, implied tyranny, and dire forewarnings she can muster.
The WSJ pops up with a "Oh, and he's going to regulate your carbon emissions, too!" on the end of it, just doing their job to try and ensure that people try to see Senator Obama as a fringe leftist. Oh, and his plans for medical insurance will totally kill any incentive for private companies to do any drug research at all.
And the weirdest part that gets everyone, on whatever side of the spectrum they’re working from? When taken down to their basic levels, a lot of people aren't what we think they are. They're promoting change to someone who wants to stay still, or feeling that staying still is best in the whirls of constant change. Taken individually, most of these people have things that we consider to be good and useful and helpful. It’s just when you abstract us out to ideas and positions and politics that we transform into the monsters that we imagine are out there. Some people are deathly scared of the outcome of this election, and despite their vote and perhaps some positive noises from the polls, they don’t know if things will turn out all right. So, do the vote thing to put your shoulder into the tug-of-war, and if you’re not feeling all that secure, getting others to vote for your candidate, through the use of open and honest concerns and arguments (no, he’s not a Muslim). If you’re voting for the devil you know, who will be open about the ways he will make you suffer, rather than the devil who you feel hides his torture implements, go for it. If you’re voting for change because you can’t stand more of the same of the last eight years, all yours. If you think they’re both going to screw you over, then vote for one of the other candidates.
Austin Cline, at the General’s, hits the right notes on a discussion of how the Anti-Sex League is using a conventionally sexy model to deliver the message. But instead of Julia’s sexuality and general hypocrisy as part of the Anti-Sex League culminating in her and Winston romping around, Palin’s sexuality is trying to sell the message that sex is bad. It would be like using an adult film start to promote total abstinennce, with the images of coitus trying to advocate for virginity. In a lot of ways, Peggy Noonan's column about the inability to see Sarah Palin as, well, anything that can be effective in primetime underscores this weird set of decisions by the Republicans since electing John McCain, where hoping for sound bites and a pretty face would make it magically work, and it doesn’t. Too many examples of the current administration to make that a winning tactic.
In other opinions, Amanda Carpenter believes she's found a smoking gun - in a district with 93 votes cast in a primary, 28 have turned out to be fradulent, and of course, it’s all ACORN’s fault, for submitting the phony names and not denying them, deliberately trying to defraud the populace because they’re trying all sorts of trickery to defraud the populace and steal an election. And not at all because, as Paul Weyrich points out even as he tries to blame ACORN, some people will more than willingly commit voter registration fraud to get any promised rewards,
As the election winds down toward voting day, talk of a possible supermajority in the Senate, which means filibuster-proog legislation, and of course, makes many conservatives, like Cesar above, quake and despair and get angry about all the legislation the Democrats are going to ram through once they have that 60. And the WSJ points out all the "harmful" stuff that got stopped by there being enough GOP in the upper chamber to block Democrats Gone Wild.
The WSJ talks about initiatives in states that are touted by their supporters as civil rights progress because they say the state won't discriminate against or give preferential treatment to any group. So if that passes, and a marriage-defining amendment passes, which one gets nixed as being illegal? Because giving marriage and its associated tax benefits and such to straights would be giving preferential treatment to a particular group. They’d have to also let gay folk get married, right? Or maybe the blurb there isn’t specific enough, and it’s really only about race. Still, with that kind of law on the books, the lawmakers would be remiss to extend that nonpreference to all other groups, right? Any enterprising person in that state want to get that ball rolling if such initiatives pass?
Last out of this long-winded section, Michael Hudson on why selling debt cannot bailout an industry that has crashed because of it, or why interest payments won’t bring the economy back to life. Naomi Klein agreed.
In tech, Windows Genuine Advantage and Office Genuine Advantage programs as seriously annoying nagware, which is kind of the point, considering they’re supposed to be telling pirates “Go buy the real thing! Spend money on us!”
Additionally, looking for memories outside the brain, more covers from the past that look at the future, using a disco tune to keep someone on the beat for CPR, a view inside a General Motors wind tunnel, full-spectrum solar panels,
Last for tonight, The Play Coalition, designing objects that have a whimsical bent to them, but which may also have actual purpose. They’re not usefully useless objects, they’re injecting some fun, like a plant table that walks to where the sunlight is. Or a street totally covered in manholes.
And XKCD makes old things new again, and once primed, suddenly things start reappearing, thanks to the Internet and people with good memory and interest. Burma Shave. And such.
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