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Welcome to the new revolution, a place where we can feel good about the new owners of a cookie factory re-opening quickly and providing a bonus to all the workers who missed out on their holiday bonuses. The previous owners closed around the major December holiday, claiming there would be more work soon, but then changing the locks and laying off all the workers. the new owners have done their best to re-hire those who were working at the plant before, at their previous wages and seniority, along with the gifts. Happy Holidays. Pay no attention to the person spouting fashion predictions in the corner.
Considering the chill of the air outside is only local to me, perhaps others in warmer climes will be more interested in the latest in interesting things to do: spending time in a nightclub made of ice.
Additionally, as the calendar ticks over, the rapture-rady sites change the possible year of ascendancy to the current one to keep you afraid. Might be worth more to be afraid of certain pastors and their associations, including the extensive links to Dominionism and Theocratic elements of one Rick Warren. Which only makes him look worse as the invocation choice, and now has people speculating as to whether the President-elect really knows this pastor or not. Much less seriously, there's also the Paliban to have people who don't recognize it as a joke to get all excited about.
What may be of interest to watch (or for lulz) is an Unreasonable Faith challenge to believers in a deity or deities to present their evidence for the existence of those gods or goddesses. There's natural potential for wank and stupidity, of which the poster has assured us there will be none of without moderation. At time of posting, there appeared to be at least one RTC getting eviscerated amongst the general reluctance of people to put forward too many arguments.
Around the world, that promised Afghanistan troop increase is coming, that's for sure, Israel continues to hammer the Gaza Strip with airstrikes, as a member of the Untied States Army confesses to acting as an unregistered agent of Israel (which will no doubt give more fuel to the idea that Israel controls the United States), the Sri Lankan government claims to have captured the capital city of the rebel Tamil Tiger organization, and the president of Guyana is trying to stop a person on Facebook masquerading as him.
Two ambulance medics, not realizing their victim was still connected to the emergency service, apparently discussed that a man "wasn't worth saving" based on the condition of his home and that they would tell dispatch that the man was already dead when they arrived, rather than their not having resuscitated him. The two are being held on charges of willfully neglecting their duties as part of a public office. The UK probably doesn't have to worry about "conscience" providers if this sticks, because then they can all be brought up on similar charges.
Iraq opens a house of horrors of the late Saddam Hussein as a reminder that things are better now than they were before, no matter how much they suck now, and to enshrine how much of an evil man Saddam was.
Down on the domestic desk, a "well, duh." kind of moment. the Military Times reports most servicepersons are ambivalent about the new administration. Uh, yeah. Considering the incoming administration has said that it doesn't like fighting lots of land wars in Asia, nor thinks that leading with the bombers is a good idea, I can see where some members of the armed forces might not feel love for the President-elect.
A bomb scare kept revelers off the streets in Aspen, Colorado. The person setting the devices left threats of death to the banks that received his packages. No person was harmed, the bombs themselves were safely detonated, and the person setting the weapons committed suicide.
Alberto Gonzalez is apparently writing a book to set the record straight on his tenure at Justice... the one that he couldn't seem to remember a whole lot about while he was ducking questions. The General thinks Wal-Mart would be an excellent employer for the leaky-memoried Attorney General.
This is probably more of a "media noticed it" than a "zOMG! It wasn't here before and now is", but I've come across a small enclave of articles about children being put to work as slaves or severely underpaid, and at ages well below what the child labor laws permit. Example one is a 9 year-old girl who accompanied the family she was the maid for into America from Egypt. Yep. A maid, at 9. And bereft of just about any support, with the family she was working for and her own family telling her to stay in the awful conditions she was in. Some might consider her plight fairly fortunate, instead of the teenage girls kidnapped into sex slavery, and not from foreign countries, but Americans kidnapped and sold to be prostitutes or slaves in other states, sometimes fetching exorbitant prices. Naturally, because they're teenagers, the police and the government are more likely to attribute missing-ness to teenager impulses than something sinister, which probably delays their rescue. That, and there's still the tendency to criminalize the slaves for the prostitution they do, rather than recognizing them as victims of slavery and getting them help.
In the opinionated areas, Peter Berkowitz calls for a return to conservatism based on the constitution, maximizing liberty of people, making universities stop censoring conservatives, appointing judges who interpret instead of legislate, et cetera, in the interest of building another solid conservative and moderate base to combat the excesses of liberalism. This coalition would include Republicans and libertarians, having found a base which they can both agree on. And perhaps would avoid what Paul Krugman says the Republican Party has become: A party of whiners, blaming poor fortune where poor skill is at fault, and hopefully, good riddance to the strategy that makes the Republicans into the reactionary party.
John Bolton enjoys the great similarities on proliferation between the outgoing and the incoming administrator, with the conclusion that Mr. Obama will only make things worse with Iran and North Korea. His suggestions are to ratchet up pressure on China to pressure North Korea, to help Israel if they decide to nuke out Iran, or to do regime change ourselves. And the whole bit about land wars in Asia still seems to be passing a lot of people by.
Alan Dershowitz says that Israel's response to the Hamas rocket attacks is perfectly proportionate to that received, and that we should all be blaming Hamas for starting it, using tactics that are war crimes, and for forcing Israel into a position where they have to step delicately.
Karl Rove attempts to pull the heartstrings with stories of Navy SEALs and how they are going through the holidays. Is it really necessary? Especially for those people for whom the current engagements were mistakenly started, talking about wounded soldiers and how they want to go back in isn't going to convince them that they should change their minds about the conflicts. Instead, it gives them more reasons to work toward stopping things, so that no other military person has to go through what they did, or it inflames them against the amount of mental conditioning/brainwashing that happens to soldiers to get them willing to "throw your life away.. for JUSTICE!" or something like that. Most people, I suspect, are okay with the whole "respect the soldiers" part, while being opposed to their use.
The WSJ hammers out consequences of bailout cash funding GMAC, the finance division of General Motors, including low interest rate financing on GM models that may be tilting the playing field rather unfairly against Ford and non-Detroit automotive companies.
Last out of opinions, a sweeping generalization, Conservatives Are Always Wrong. Based on history, anyway, with the whole geocentrism, white-supremacist, woman-hating bits that were conservative bastions and are no longer, because they were overcome. Thus, if they are always wrong and losing, the author suggests, why do we not force conservatives to justify their current opinions and prove to us why we should listen to them, instead of assuming they're wrong again and that with time, they'll abandon those positions to history too? To the author, eventually, conservatism gives up what they held as gospel truth, to latch onto the next closest position and cling to it as gospel truth as well. On the other side of the aisle, The HTML Times on holding the President-elect's feet to the fire, so as to make him accountable for his promises to the electorate. In some ways, the methods by which Barack Obama became popular and gathered supporters may be the methods that keep him accountable to those supporters, and then spread steps, missteps, and outright breakdowns across the entire electorate. The President-elect has an army of fact-checkers deployed both with and against him.
In science and technology, meteor shower tomorrow, rumors that the President-elect will kickstart a space race based on China's boast of a manned lunar mission, and monkeys categorize things the same way that humans do, which means more research for all.
Last for tonight, to speed us on our way into the new year, Hunter S. Thompson Motivational Posters. And the new drink for the new era, Tentacle Grape.
Considering the chill of the air outside is only local to me, perhaps others in warmer climes will be more interested in the latest in interesting things to do: spending time in a nightclub made of ice.
Additionally, as the calendar ticks over, the rapture-rady sites change the possible year of ascendancy to the current one to keep you afraid. Might be worth more to be afraid of certain pastors and their associations, including the extensive links to Dominionism and Theocratic elements of one Rick Warren. Which only makes him look worse as the invocation choice, and now has people speculating as to whether the President-elect really knows this pastor or not. Much less seriously, there's also the Paliban to have people who don't recognize it as a joke to get all excited about.
What may be of interest to watch (or for lulz) is an Unreasonable Faith challenge to believers in a deity or deities to present their evidence for the existence of those gods or goddesses. There's natural potential for wank and stupidity, of which the poster has assured us there will be none of without moderation. At time of posting, there appeared to be at least one RTC getting eviscerated amongst the general reluctance of people to put forward too many arguments.
Around the world, that promised Afghanistan troop increase is coming, that's for sure, Israel continues to hammer the Gaza Strip with airstrikes, as a member of the Untied States Army confesses to acting as an unregistered agent of Israel (which will no doubt give more fuel to the idea that Israel controls the United States), the Sri Lankan government claims to have captured the capital city of the rebel Tamil Tiger organization, and the president of Guyana is trying to stop a person on Facebook masquerading as him.
Two ambulance medics, not realizing their victim was still connected to the emergency service, apparently discussed that a man "wasn't worth saving" based on the condition of his home and that they would tell dispatch that the man was already dead when they arrived, rather than their not having resuscitated him. The two are being held on charges of willfully neglecting their duties as part of a public office. The UK probably doesn't have to worry about "conscience" providers if this sticks, because then they can all be brought up on similar charges.
Iraq opens a house of horrors of the late Saddam Hussein as a reminder that things are better now than they were before, no matter how much they suck now, and to enshrine how much of an evil man Saddam was.
Down on the domestic desk, a "well, duh." kind of moment. the Military Times reports most servicepersons are ambivalent about the new administration. Uh, yeah. Considering the incoming administration has said that it doesn't like fighting lots of land wars in Asia, nor thinks that leading with the bombers is a good idea, I can see where some members of the armed forces might not feel love for the President-elect.
A bomb scare kept revelers off the streets in Aspen, Colorado. The person setting the devices left threats of death to the banks that received his packages. No person was harmed, the bombs themselves were safely detonated, and the person setting the weapons committed suicide.
Alberto Gonzalez is apparently writing a book to set the record straight on his tenure at Justice... the one that he couldn't seem to remember a whole lot about while he was ducking questions. The General thinks Wal-Mart would be an excellent employer for the leaky-memoried Attorney General.
This is probably more of a "media noticed it" than a "zOMG! It wasn't here before and now is", but I've come across a small enclave of articles about children being put to work as slaves or severely underpaid, and at ages well below what the child labor laws permit. Example one is a 9 year-old girl who accompanied the family she was the maid for into America from Egypt. Yep. A maid, at 9. And bereft of just about any support, with the family she was working for and her own family telling her to stay in the awful conditions she was in. Some might consider her plight fairly fortunate, instead of the teenage girls kidnapped into sex slavery, and not from foreign countries, but Americans kidnapped and sold to be prostitutes or slaves in other states, sometimes fetching exorbitant prices. Naturally, because they're teenagers, the police and the government are more likely to attribute missing-ness to teenager impulses than something sinister, which probably delays their rescue. That, and there's still the tendency to criminalize the slaves for the prostitution they do, rather than recognizing them as victims of slavery and getting them help.
In the opinionated areas, Peter Berkowitz calls for a return to conservatism based on the constitution, maximizing liberty of people, making universities stop censoring conservatives, appointing judges who interpret instead of legislate, et cetera, in the interest of building another solid conservative and moderate base to combat the excesses of liberalism. This coalition would include Republicans and libertarians, having found a base which they can both agree on. And perhaps would avoid what Paul Krugman says the Republican Party has become: A party of whiners, blaming poor fortune where poor skill is at fault, and hopefully, good riddance to the strategy that makes the Republicans into the reactionary party.
John Bolton enjoys the great similarities on proliferation between the outgoing and the incoming administrator, with the conclusion that Mr. Obama will only make things worse with Iran and North Korea. His suggestions are to ratchet up pressure on China to pressure North Korea, to help Israel if they decide to nuke out Iran, or to do regime change ourselves. And the whole bit about land wars in Asia still seems to be passing a lot of people by.
Alan Dershowitz says that Israel's response to the Hamas rocket attacks is perfectly proportionate to that received, and that we should all be blaming Hamas for starting it, using tactics that are war crimes, and for forcing Israel into a position where they have to step delicately.
Karl Rove attempts to pull the heartstrings with stories of Navy SEALs and how they are going through the holidays. Is it really necessary? Especially for those people for whom the current engagements were mistakenly started, talking about wounded soldiers and how they want to go back in isn't going to convince them that they should change their minds about the conflicts. Instead, it gives them more reasons to work toward stopping things, so that no other military person has to go through what they did, or it inflames them against the amount of mental conditioning/brainwashing that happens to soldiers to get them willing to "throw your life away.. for JUSTICE!" or something like that. Most people, I suspect, are okay with the whole "respect the soldiers" part, while being opposed to their use.
The WSJ hammers out consequences of bailout cash funding GMAC, the finance division of General Motors, including low interest rate financing on GM models that may be tilting the playing field rather unfairly against Ford and non-Detroit automotive companies.
Last out of opinions, a sweeping generalization, Conservatives Are Always Wrong. Based on history, anyway, with the whole geocentrism, white-supremacist, woman-hating bits that were conservative bastions and are no longer, because they were overcome. Thus, if they are always wrong and losing, the author suggests, why do we not force conservatives to justify their current opinions and prove to us why we should listen to them, instead of assuming they're wrong again and that with time, they'll abandon those positions to history too? To the author, eventually, conservatism gives up what they held as gospel truth, to latch onto the next closest position and cling to it as gospel truth as well. On the other side of the aisle, The HTML Times on holding the President-elect's feet to the fire, so as to make him accountable for his promises to the electorate. In some ways, the methods by which Barack Obama became popular and gathered supporters may be the methods that keep him accountable to those supporters, and then spread steps, missteps, and outright breakdowns across the entire electorate. The President-elect has an army of fact-checkers deployed both with and against him.
In science and technology, meteor shower tomorrow, rumors that the President-elect will kickstart a space race based on China's boast of a manned lunar mission, and monkeys categorize things the same way that humans do, which means more research for all.
Last for tonight, to speed us on our way into the new year, Hunter S. Thompson Motivational Posters. And the new drink for the new era, Tentacle Grape.
