Ooh, look turkey soon! - 25 November 2008

Greetings, space fans! Remember, all that you see that might be in error is a feature. And it is of course totally legitimate and natural for McDonalds to file a patent application for the making of a sandwich.

Starting up top, A sentiment I wholeheartedly agree with - thank you, Mr. Carnegie, for your support of libraries. and thank you, Mr. Prelutsky, for seeing our value. (We’ll still disagree about the President-elect and his policies, I suspect, but hey, where else but the library can you get all the information you need to make a good decision, and for free?)

Internationally, is it a done deal or isn't it? Stop saying it’s done when there’s the possibility of support crumbling.

Russia alleges foreign nationals fought in the Georgian army during the recent conflict.

An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. Although there is a visceral sense of right that someone who attacks by throwing acid should be punished by receiving it. And perhaps someone that attacks women trying to get an education should be forced to be re-educated by a woman before release? In other attempts to get the world into a more civilized era, Pakistan clamps down more on forced marriages.

Opposition gains ground in Venzuelan elections, several conservatives salivate at the possibility that Hugo Chavez might fail in his power bids now.

After retrial, a Muslim charity has been convicted of terrorism because of their funding of Hamas. This is the first success for the laws and rules put in place for freezing assets and criminally charging those who provide financial aid to designated groups.

Domestically, Current administrator pardons fourteen, no high-profile pardons as of yet. Other actions - making rules regarding oil shale in Utah, considering exploitation and environment damage an acceptable consequence of extracting oil from the shale.

New York City tells churches they cannot house the homeless, while emphasizing that there’s enough capacity to help them at the city’s shelters. With the temperature going down and the risk of freezing increasing, knowing where you can go is definitely going to be important. Also, it seems weird that the house of a religion at least nominally based on helping the poor would be unable to help the poor.

Person commits suicide live on webcam, some trying to talk him out of it, others goading him on. And possibly, those goading or telling him to do it may have broken the law. For other strange, and of significantly more importance to the Unabashed Feminism Department, better late than never. Laws are now being passed to prevent upskirts-style photography after a ruling came through that someone who was wearing a skirt in a Target had no reasonable expectation of privacy. And if we had just glanced across the Pacific to Japan, where there’s enough of a problem that it’s been in the manga? We would have noticed that it could easily become a problem, and perhaps have done something about it before a court case came.

In opinions, Dinesh D'Souza thinks atheists have given up the science angle because the science is proving there's a creative force or God, because all the coincidences make things highly improbable to have been random. Wait... haven’t we been here before? I think we have. Refresher course, please, on why this line of thinking doesn’t mean squat?

In the domestic sphere, William McGurn is certain that democracy will lose out if California's courts overrule Proposition 8 as they overruled the law that sparked proposition 8, because courts rob the people of the political process, impose preferences on people, and generate cynicism in politics. Because the nonparistan judges are elected to be interpreters of the law and the conscience of the populace, and are invested with the power of reviewing and overturning those laws that are found to be contrary to the founding principles of the country (like the one that says “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal...”), they shouldn’t exercise the power we place in their hands to be the people who are better than the masses? Besides, those that feel themselves to be God's chosen often do worse off than those who don't. Perhaps because that sense of entitlement and specialness means they indulge in the nature to treat those you consider inferior like dirt? Or to believe in your divine need to procreate, and thus to have sex without precaution or barriers or other things that would prevent STDs? This, from places that are having trouble with the family, but instead of trying to get nuclear families to stay together and encourage two-parent households, they go after homosexuals. So, is that religious majority really good for you?

...When did the Big Three bailout become a union bash? It used to be “mismanagement of company and building inferior product is killing Detroit auto industry”. Now it’s “UAW wages and benefits and jobs bank is what makes them unsustainable”. Or "The auto industries and unions have become socialists and dependent on government, and so are unsustainable".

The President-elect is wrangling difficult economic questions, including whether or not to immediately repeal the current administrator's tax cuts - he has wiggle room on promises made during the campaign, so it’s not a confidence vote issue yet. The WSJ is up for making several tax cuts permanent, as opposed to new stimulus spending. And speaking of the President-elect, the media was apparently totally in his court the whole time, instead of being fair and balanced. Using, of course, the New York Times as the example. Nice to know the Times still carries weight, but I thought it was established the Times has a left lean. Of course, the same faction that complains about media bias strenuously campaigns against the idea of the "Fairness Doctrine", because... it would force places that are overwhelmingly conservative to get more liberal airtime. One would think the opposite would also be true, and that, say, a station airing Countdown and Ms. Maddow might also have to air Bill’O the Clown and comedian Rush Limbaugh, in the name of fairness.

apparently, Sarah Palin is worthy of thanks. And is an inspiring figure. Even after she did the whole turkey thing. Although, it’s beginning to look more and more like she’ll make a pretty face to the party, where running for the chair of the RNC with your whites-only country club membership is okay. I seriously expect the Republican Party to splinter lots in the next four years, even if they don’t outright break the coalition into three parties. Mark Hillman is certain that the fiscal conservatism of the Republican Party is still sound, but that in the last election, nobody believed the Republicans could deliver on it. So, it was apparently socialist versus socialist-lite, and the populace said “Why vote for the lesser evil?” Furthermore on that line, it's not the greatest time to be Republican and African-American. Well, rather that the Republican Party really has to get moving on the idea of being a multiracial party.

Brett Stephens wonders why we don't just hang pirates, by whcih he means “There’s no procedure, really, in place for who can apprehend pirates and what sort of sentences can be summarily executed on them for being caught. And because its an expensive thing to be pirated, we should be smacking people down for this quickly. At least piracy isn't funding other boogeymen of terror.

Last out of the opinions, of course, the requisite "be thankful for all the prosperity you have" column. And for what you can write in on your votes.

In science and technology, the Mega Man of the biological world - a slug that is able to become photosynthetic by ingesting plants, quantum dots to get better displays, the genome of the Neanderthals nearing a complete sequence (and the ethics of possibly resurrecting one), solar panels giving shade and generating power beyond the grave, and the military adding another $50 million to their video game soldier training efforts. Realizing, belatedly, most likely, that simulations really are a good way to engage in training. Robotics is still lagging behind on household tasks, though.

And last for tonight, sleep is good for you, remember? So go to bed. After you look at twenty things that you can plug into the USB port... that you may or may not have known you could. And the electronic Lego safe.

Off for a few days - 26 November 2008

Greetings, people of indeterminate name, number, and characteristic! Prepare for newsfeed!

International materials up top: Because they believe it to be a white man's problem, no pun attempted, a student group has stopped their cystic fibrosis fundraiser. The snap response from Unabashed Feminism Department Bureau Chief ldragoon: Stupid, stupid rat creatures, a sentiment I agree with. Crippling and deadly disease do need to be vanquished. Down in the comments, there’s a spirited defense going on that the student council was really trying to change the focus of their efforts so that people from diverse communities felt like they were included and the raised money was going to causes that had a more diverse affected spot. That reasoning is understandable, but the inclusion of the “mostly white and male” line in the resolution is going to generate a hot response. There’s suggestion that the student council has moved back from their initial position.

United States troops shot by apparently Iraqi soldiers while distributing aid, sparking concerns of infiltration. This would be one of those times where the U.S. would very much like for it to have been a friendly fire incident.

Thailand is going to get very interesting soon, as the commander of the army, who won the elections, if facing protests and stiff opposition from the government currently in place. The protesters have occupied a major airport in Bangkok and are alleging that the elections were unfair.

It's over five thousaaaaaand. Yep, centrifuges in Iran are claimed to be 5,000 and climbing.

Today’s slow news component is the Danish crown princess reporting for duty as part of the Danish Army Home Guard. Which, I suppose, is one of those “ooh, women in the military” things, but as the post goes on to explain, the Queen was a major in the Air Force Home Guard, so it’s not like she’s the first, just carrying on the tradition.

Much more appealing, especially to the Unabashed Feminism Department, Saudi Arabia's all-girl rock band... that have to necessarily stay underground, because of the rules about how they can be seen in public, or on art covers, or at all. They’re also looking for a good girl drummer. Less optimistically, The National Center for Public Policy Research is a mouthpiece for Project 21 throwing jabs at women's groups such as NOW for their silence over the "Muhammed" teddy bear incident in Sudan. Wait, so you’re saying now they’re not complaining about something that they did complain about in the past? And I thought had actually resolved, myself.

Domestically, The President-elect has elected to retain the current Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates. The key phrase in there for me - Gates is known for his pragmatism. I’m thinking that this is the watchword for the Obama administration - surround yourself with people who can get things done, at compromise if necessary, and who see the value in “good enough”. Then, once established as someone who can wield coalition to get necessary things done, introduce the parts that are more liberal and on the platform, where an audience can consider them reasonably, instead of in a blind panic about something else. Keeping Gates on ensures some continuity, but also gives the President-elect leverage on accomplishing his goals in Iraq and Afghanistan by not having to fight a ideologue on either side of the aisle.

It still doesn't die - there are a couple Supreme Court possibilities that suggest the President-elect does not fit the requirements to be President. The Court is probably not going to hear them, but the challenges are still there.

On the Media has a short spot on the semantic nature of the conflict over homosexual marriage, and the power of the word being the reason for the struggle. That makes sense. For something either a little more brain-deadening or warm-heartening, Westboro Baptist paid Silverton, Oregon a visit, because they elected an openly transgender mayor, and the residents turned out to support the mayor. Four Westboro v. 100-150 others? Love wins. MJS at the General's has many more pictures.

Oh, and in more religious matters - An appeal was denied to a mother who felt that the ruling judge acted inappropriately by taking into account her religious beliefs - it’s unclear whether she was or wasn’t a practicing Wiccan, but apparently, the mention of it was a significant factor in the judge’s decision, saying that children should not be in the custody of a mother who practiced “cult activities”. The appeals court split perfectly on gender lines, with the male majority denying the appeal, and the female minoirty dissenting and objecting strongly to the way the whole hearing was handled. (It’s not just Wiccans, the judge denigrated Mormons as polygamists as well). Apparently, though, neglect, rather than religion, was the reason, according to the judge. So even if the conclusion ends up being true, based on neglect, there should be appeals or rehearings if any of the allegations of religious inquiry or weighting are true.

A federal appeals court has permitted a case of alleged sexual abuse against the Vatican to proceed, potentially requiring the Holy See to be liable for damages and responsible for the actions of the priesthood. It’ll be a while before it gets to that point, but it would be very nice if the Catholic Church really did get a conviction on the record, so that later generations won’t be whitewashed on what happened.

And in our “Hey, think of the kids!” segment, realizing that this has precedent from at least 2005, and thus isn’t as new as we think, six year old children are being handcuffed and arrested when they have tantrums, because those tantrums mean teachers get hit, which is a felony. And thus, the six year-old is hauled down in handcuffs and charged. At six. Have we made it clear yet that she was six and behaving as six year-olds are wont to do? Actually, that could be sixteen, although perhaps not without the kicking and screaming. Anyone willing to lay odds that there’s some asinine zero-tolerace policy at the school, so the teacher couldn’t have exercised good judgment on the matter even if they had wanted to? Just contirbuting to the idea that some young people are just rotten at the core, and will need to be disposed of through the justice system, vigilantism, or for entertainment. Because farts are dangerous.

In the opinions, clarity on why I was so damn confused about what the auto bailout is and/or means - many facets, potentially one root, which, instead of being based on greedy union contracts, according to bradhicks the real root is health care costs getting out of control because modern medicine and the longer life expectancy made certain contracts far more expensive than anticipated. For Holman W. Jenkins, Jr., it's got to be the UAW - everywhere else, even the Detroit Three are profitable, which means it’s time to find some way of gettting the UAW and its expensive contracts and benefits away from the companies’ bottom lines.

One last call for impeachment of the current administrator, before things pass on. Even as a largely symbolic item, it still would hold merit to investigate, even if no results would be returned by the time the impeachment was scheduled. Such data could then be used for criminal prosecution of the current administrator when he becomes the former administrator.

The Heritage Foundation on why the world still need America to swing the big dick stick, because our military is helping to hold Eastasia at the current uneasy truce, will serve as a check on Russia’s expansive desires, and keeps the nuke weapons out of the hands of the terrorists...or builds systems to deter them from using them.

The WSJ think they may have found a farm-subsidy fighter in the President-elect, based on the vow to go through the federal budget line by line and eliminate unnecessary spending, and farm subsidies might just be a choice for cutting.

And, of course, lest we forget, there are still recounts and campaigns going on, which may or may not tip the balance of power to the point where the Democratic Party is able to not worry about filibusters - although if the Republicans really want to threaten such things, in the next Congressional session, the Democrats should actively force the filibuster and make them burn out their energy on it or otherwise let it go to a vote.

Last out of the opinions, Malcolm Kline on the decline of journalists as more people go through journalism school, the papers focus on profitability, and the bloggers start being able to outdo the journalists at accurate and comprehensive reporting. In this opinion, Malkin is better than the Washington Post, and it doesn’t escape notice that all those journalists were pro-Obama, and that all these liberals teaching journalism and their graduates just happens to track nicely with the decline in journalism quality. So, sure, correlation =/= causality, but it sure looks like those liberals are at fault for why journalism sucks from his perspective.

In technology, Huntington' taketh, Huntington' giveth, when it comes to brain tests, phototsynthesis possible on gold leaf with genes attached, new computer modles trying to predict humans, building a better rescue robot, necessary thinking about the ethics of robots that can wield lethal force, including the need to ban lethal autonomus robots until they can think ethically, and The Department of Homeland Security wants to know when other people complain about the United States, so they can monitor you as a potential threat to the nation. Isn’t it nice to know that we’re such a trusting country?

That’s it from this newsdesk for a little while. enjoy your turkey/tofurkey/foods and beverages of choice.