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That's the weekend rap - 10 November 2008
Nov. 10th, 2008 11:36 pmUp at the very top - a bone-marrow transplant to an HIV-positive man appears to have conferred immunity, based on a genetic variation from the donor. Which means that donor and recipient are going to get the hell studied out of them to see if there’s a way of replicating this worldwide, or if some underlying mechanism can be discovered that will allow for vaccination and curing of those who have HIV anywhere. The future, d00ds!
And now, the rest. Rwanda discards French as the first language of instruction, perhaps meaning that now more than ever, my studying of the language won’t mean anything. Sure, there will be English to fall back on, but you hope here and there that you might get a decent shelf-life out of your language studies.
Accident on nuclear submarine kills 20, but the accident did not involve the nuclear material. Apparently, fire suppressant gas got out in a misfire of the system, and the sailors on board asphyxiated. Deaths of a more deliberate nature include the execution of three men for their role in 2002 bombings in Bali that killed 202.
Secret raids? Oh, yes, all around the world, and authorized by the Secretary of Defense. National sovereignty? Getting warrants? Hell, even keeping people in the loop? Nope. All against supposed al-Qaeda targets, of course, so because it’s against terrorists, we’re just supposed to nod and move on.
And even as Iraq continues to claim we’re running out of time, the parliament has approved reducing the number of guaranteed religious minority seats. So they want us here to keep the peace, but they’re not totally willing to make sure everyone’s at the table. Interesting. I doubt it would work as a scare tactic, and it would definitely not be a very fair stick to show, but maybe threatening to follow some insurgent advice and get out of Iraq will kickstart the process?
Fox News says that the UN is more expensive to rich countries that we think. With the implication that the UN doesn’t even have control over its own books, and quite possibly, that the United States and other rich nations should stop giving so much to the UN whenever it asks for it. By the way, have we paid up all our back dues and obligations yet?
After awakening to the world of a President Obama, one of his supporters found a cross on fire in his front yard. So much for the post-racism era. It really wasn’t going away, anyway. Although Ken Blackwell believes it should, because all of our quotas only hurt those they try to help, in addition to saying “America will elect the progressive candidate, but not actually expect him to be progressive, or give him any support at it, based on the ballot initiatives.” Now, Austin Hill has license to accuse Obama supporters or branding every conservative a racist because they're not in lockstep with President Obama. He might take some strength from The Washington Post's ombusdman breaking down the coverage of the candidates, and noting, that if you look at the numbers, it does look like the Post was pro-Obama. More importantly, I would guess, she admits the Post was deficient in substantive articles. Beyond these things, the familiar "spendy liberals" attacks are still there. And, if you look for them, there will still be people claiming the mass media elected Barack Obama and never asked him a hard question, as they did their very best to beat down anyone who raised a substantive question. Finally, there are those who wonder why giving ballot power to obviously uniformed rubes and courting them is a good idea.
Of course, even in the midst of that, there is hope that we can achieve the blessed state where injustice has gone away, although it will still take work in addition to the election of Barack Obama.
As the new president gets set to overturn much of the last eight years, the resentment may increase. A new chair of the Appropriations Committee is on the way for the new President. It looks like the starting point for President Obama’s change is the closing of the Guantanamo Bay facility and incorporation of the detainees there into the criminal justice system. In any case, the advice comes out of the woodwork for the new President and his staff. Including belief that Obama was elected on Reaganesque sentiments, and should thus govern as Reagan did, advice for him to keep the Net Generation on his side through openness and transparency, advice on how to treat national security, the military, and Iraq, with the assumption that his positions will moderate as he gets all the information, and how to work out the problem that is the automobile industry, and/or the economy at large, including letting GM live long enough to potentially restore themselves as their researched and adapted vehicles hit the market. Positive compasions between Obama, FDR, and Lincoln while getting advice on how to avoid FDR's failures on economics, or avoiding failure through overreach at all.
And all of this while receiving the tour of the White House from the current administrator. Hopefully, there will not be missing “O” keys or change scattered everywhere. This will be assisted by those who want to remember the current administrator more fondly, in the little things that he did well, possibly to the exclusion of the big things he did not. They do deserve recognition, but they also deserve context. If you want to make him the savior of Iraq, you also have to know that he’s the one who ordered it razed.
Short article is too short. No context, no interviews, nothing. Just a sound blurb, basically, designed to elicit a reaction. Bad. Also bad: reporting on the quest for a dog for the Obama household. Useless trivial ephemera, unless there’s going to be a Checkers speech. Still bad: Reporting on remarks said, and then apologized for, regarding Nancy Reagan and seances by the President-elect, speculation on where the Obama children will go to school,
Much better reporting: Tyson keeps trying to pass themselves off as antibiotic-free when they aren't, and asking who's minding the bailout. All of them, that is.
The fallout continues on Governor Palin, who now attempts to defend herself from her detractors in the Republican campaign. Kind of reminds me at the point in most movies where the villain’s hold is broken over the creatures or people, and then they turn on the villain and tear them to pieces. For an example against Senator McCain, check out the comments to Charles Krauthammer's "The GOP's Worthy Nominee", where the Senator has been transformed from the champion of the GOP into a “lousy liberal president”. The cannibals are vicious, indeed. Although, apparently, if the Governor would like to make some $2 million, all she has to do is act in a pornographic flick. She can even do so with her husband - it’ll cost the filmmaker another $100,000.
In all cases, though, the need to talk to each toher, from 52 to 48 or the other way around, is important. We’ve suffered under the current administrator because he wanted to pit us against each other and shout so loud we forgot to hear someone else - and then refute them gently, instead of shouting louder and not acknowledging them. So, Bill'O, why not trust that the President-elect will govern well, rather than trying to paint a socially progressive agenda in a negative light?
On other fronts, apparently, through a quirk of the religious experience, if protestors or No on 8 supporters appear at the gates of a Mormon temple, the gates close and it is significantly more difficult for marriages to take place there. In a weird sort of way, Mormons then experience what the law has done to homosexuals. Whatever emotions it may stir, hopefully it gets the point across about the “least of my people”. Others, however, are obviously not getting the point, as at least one high-ranking Republican representative said the GOP should rebuild itself as the socially conservative party, taking the "sanctity of marriage" to heart.
Some are late to the party, like say, Governor Schwarzenegger, who finally expressed his hope that the Proposition can be overturned... after it had already passed.
And just to toss you for a loop, the New Testament of Allah, in which Allah is a woman, has come to earth, and is having sex with a rapper in California. Which is at least as true as the Pentabarf.
The economy loves us, totally. DHL is cutting out its U.S. operations entirely, and Circuit City files for bankruptcy, not that their business plan was working all that well, based on older data I remember about how they treated their workers. Truthfully, too, there are pockets of the country for whom politics doesn't matter, and economics boils down to employment or not, and education is an attempt to get them to learn a trade, rather than better themselves. It’s those people that we should be looking after. As the economy gets further interconnected, not only do the downtrodden become important, but things like how Muslims loan money to each other are going to become more important. So instead of complaining or railing against how “Shariah-compliant finance” is a plot to take over the country and turn it into an Islamic fundamentalist regime, how about taking the non-idiot approach and learning all you can about it?
In technology, India's first unmanned moon mission achieves lunar orbit, more ways for constructing earth-friendly homes, or goign the inflatable route, more rumors of miniature nuclear reactors, our telephones getting serious processor and HD upgrades, as well as voice and gesture capability, as wewatch and manipulate media in three dimensions, thanks to new displays and gesture controls for even our normal monitors. Also, a Stirling engine hybrid automobile, which may be comparable with automation of some of the biggest trucks in the world, Honda's latest powered walking exoskeleton, and making beer better by genetically breading yeast to produce healthy compounds. The flavor’s not quite there yet, though.
Last for tonight, the construction and tasting of Schadenfreude Pie. No longer is it fashionable to eat crow, I guess. I have seen the truth... and it doesn't make sense. Kind of like Rick Astley getting a Bast Act Ever thanks to the popularity of the Rickroll.
At the very end, though, first Bejeweled, now Chrono Trigger as the vehicle for marriage proposals.
And now, the rest. Rwanda discards French as the first language of instruction, perhaps meaning that now more than ever, my studying of the language won’t mean anything. Sure, there will be English to fall back on, but you hope here and there that you might get a decent shelf-life out of your language studies.
Accident on nuclear submarine kills 20, but the accident did not involve the nuclear material. Apparently, fire suppressant gas got out in a misfire of the system, and the sailors on board asphyxiated. Deaths of a more deliberate nature include the execution of three men for their role in 2002 bombings in Bali that killed 202.
Secret raids? Oh, yes, all around the world, and authorized by the Secretary of Defense. National sovereignty? Getting warrants? Hell, even keeping people in the loop? Nope. All against supposed al-Qaeda targets, of course, so because it’s against terrorists, we’re just supposed to nod and move on.
And even as Iraq continues to claim we’re running out of time, the parliament has approved reducing the number of guaranteed religious minority seats. So they want us here to keep the peace, but they’re not totally willing to make sure everyone’s at the table. Interesting. I doubt it would work as a scare tactic, and it would definitely not be a very fair stick to show, but maybe threatening to follow some insurgent advice and get out of Iraq will kickstart the process?
Fox News says that the UN is more expensive to rich countries that we think. With the implication that the UN doesn’t even have control over its own books, and quite possibly, that the United States and other rich nations should stop giving so much to the UN whenever it asks for it. By the way, have we paid up all our back dues and obligations yet?
After awakening to the world of a President Obama, one of his supporters found a cross on fire in his front yard. So much for the post-racism era. It really wasn’t going away, anyway. Although Ken Blackwell believes it should, because all of our quotas only hurt those they try to help, in addition to saying “America will elect the progressive candidate, but not actually expect him to be progressive, or give him any support at it, based on the ballot initiatives.” Now, Austin Hill has license to accuse Obama supporters or branding every conservative a racist because they're not in lockstep with President Obama. He might take some strength from The Washington Post's ombusdman breaking down the coverage of the candidates, and noting, that if you look at the numbers, it does look like the Post was pro-Obama. More importantly, I would guess, she admits the Post was deficient in substantive articles. Beyond these things, the familiar "spendy liberals" attacks are still there. And, if you look for them, there will still be people claiming the mass media elected Barack Obama and never asked him a hard question, as they did their very best to beat down anyone who raised a substantive question. Finally, there are those who wonder why giving ballot power to obviously uniformed rubes and courting them is a good idea.
Of course, even in the midst of that, there is hope that we can achieve the blessed state where injustice has gone away, although it will still take work in addition to the election of Barack Obama.
As the new president gets set to overturn much of the last eight years, the resentment may increase. A new chair of the Appropriations Committee is on the way for the new President. It looks like the starting point for President Obama’s change is the closing of the Guantanamo Bay facility and incorporation of the detainees there into the criminal justice system. In any case, the advice comes out of the woodwork for the new President and his staff. Including belief that Obama was elected on Reaganesque sentiments, and should thus govern as Reagan did, advice for him to keep the Net Generation on his side through openness and transparency, advice on how to treat national security, the military, and Iraq, with the assumption that his positions will moderate as he gets all the information, and how to work out the problem that is the automobile industry, and/or the economy at large, including letting GM live long enough to potentially restore themselves as their researched and adapted vehicles hit the market. Positive compasions between Obama, FDR, and Lincoln while getting advice on how to avoid FDR's failures on economics, or avoiding failure through overreach at all.
And all of this while receiving the tour of the White House from the current administrator. Hopefully, there will not be missing “O” keys or change scattered everywhere. This will be assisted by those who want to remember the current administrator more fondly, in the little things that he did well, possibly to the exclusion of the big things he did not. They do deserve recognition, but they also deserve context. If you want to make him the savior of Iraq, you also have to know that he’s the one who ordered it razed.
Short article is too short. No context, no interviews, nothing. Just a sound blurb, basically, designed to elicit a reaction. Bad. Also bad: reporting on the quest for a dog for the Obama household. Useless trivial ephemera, unless there’s going to be a Checkers speech. Still bad: Reporting on remarks said, and then apologized for, regarding Nancy Reagan and seances by the President-elect, speculation on where the Obama children will go to school,
Much better reporting: Tyson keeps trying to pass themselves off as antibiotic-free when they aren't, and asking who's minding the bailout. All of them, that is.
The fallout continues on Governor Palin, who now attempts to defend herself from her detractors in the Republican campaign. Kind of reminds me at the point in most movies where the villain’s hold is broken over the creatures or people, and then they turn on the villain and tear them to pieces. For an example against Senator McCain, check out the comments to Charles Krauthammer's "The GOP's Worthy Nominee", where the Senator has been transformed from the champion of the GOP into a “lousy liberal president”. The cannibals are vicious, indeed. Although, apparently, if the Governor would like to make some $2 million, all she has to do is act in a pornographic flick. She can even do so with her husband - it’ll cost the filmmaker another $100,000.
In all cases, though, the need to talk to each toher, from 52 to 48 or the other way around, is important. We’ve suffered under the current administrator because he wanted to pit us against each other and shout so loud we forgot to hear someone else - and then refute them gently, instead of shouting louder and not acknowledging them. So, Bill'O, why not trust that the President-elect will govern well, rather than trying to paint a socially progressive agenda in a negative light?
On other fronts, apparently, through a quirk of the religious experience, if protestors or No on 8 supporters appear at the gates of a Mormon temple, the gates close and it is significantly more difficult for marriages to take place there. In a weird sort of way, Mormons then experience what the law has done to homosexuals. Whatever emotions it may stir, hopefully it gets the point across about the “least of my people”. Others, however, are obviously not getting the point, as at least one high-ranking Republican representative said the GOP should rebuild itself as the socially conservative party, taking the "sanctity of marriage" to heart.
Some are late to the party, like say, Governor Schwarzenegger, who finally expressed his hope that the Proposition can be overturned... after it had already passed.
And just to toss you for a loop, the New Testament of Allah, in which Allah is a woman, has come to earth, and is having sex with a rapper in California. Which is at least as true as the Pentabarf.
The economy loves us, totally. DHL is cutting out its U.S. operations entirely, and Circuit City files for bankruptcy, not that their business plan was working all that well, based on older data I remember about how they treated their workers. Truthfully, too, there are pockets of the country for whom politics doesn't matter, and economics boils down to employment or not, and education is an attempt to get them to learn a trade, rather than better themselves. It’s those people that we should be looking after. As the economy gets further interconnected, not only do the downtrodden become important, but things like how Muslims loan money to each other are going to become more important. So instead of complaining or railing against how “Shariah-compliant finance” is a plot to take over the country and turn it into an Islamic fundamentalist regime, how about taking the non-idiot approach and learning all you can about it?
In technology, India's first unmanned moon mission achieves lunar orbit, more ways for constructing earth-friendly homes, or goign the inflatable route, more rumors of miniature nuclear reactors, our telephones getting serious processor and HD upgrades, as well as voice and gesture capability, as wewatch and manipulate media in three dimensions, thanks to new displays and gesture controls for even our normal monitors. Also, a Stirling engine hybrid automobile, which may be comparable with automation of some of the biggest trucks in the world, Honda's latest powered walking exoskeleton, and making beer better by genetically breading yeast to produce healthy compounds. The flavor’s not quite there yet, though.
Last for tonight, the construction and tasting of Schadenfreude Pie. No longer is it fashionable to eat crow, I guess. I have seen the truth... and it doesn't make sense. Kind of like Rick Astley getting a Bast Act Ever thanks to the popularity of the Rickroll.
At the very end, though, first Bejeweled, now Chrono Trigger as the vehicle for marriage proposals.
