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And we end another month - 31 May 2009
May. 31st, 2009 11:41 pmBecause we are employed in the library profession first and foremost, take a gander at the Yale University Personal Librarian program, matching an incoming undergraduate with one of the libarians on staff, who takes care of them until they become an upperclassman or declare a major, at which they get introduced to the subject specialist in the area of their major. Closed Stacks has information about the success of the program over its first year. That’s a great idea for academia. Wish there was some way it could scale up to the public library phase.
Following on earlier, in response to the non-reader trying to sell a book, Cake Wrecks with some children's-book-themed cakes.
And thus, playing out the world stage, The Defense Secretary of teh United States suggests that the previous methods of dealing with North Korea have come to a close, and that it is North Korea’s decision as to what new methods will be employed.
The residents of the Swat valley are coming out again, after the government launched attacks and claims to have retaken the area from Taliban forces.
Iran's women are becoming a greater force and are campaigning visibly for equal rights in the country. Definitely a campaign that should be supported in what ways we can. And to hope that perhaps a reformist election can be the catalyst to making more progress, instead of having to labour against discriminatory law and a hostile government. Other minorities could band together with the women and oust Mr. Ahmadinejad, says Time.
Forces of Fatah and Hamas clashed in the West Bank, just in case we thought the region was calm.
Domestically, an abortion doctor was shot and killed during the service while he attended church. So, how about that domestic terrorism report, eh, where abortion was named as a potential terror issue? HuffPo has more details, including the capture of the suspect. What I’m going to wonder about for a bit is whether the condemnations that roll in from the right are going to be “We don’t support you killing people, no matter how wrong they are” or “You killed him in a church, and that’s a major no-no. Bomb him at the clinic, sure, so you can get all the sinners that work there and the women who are going to murder their unborn babies, but churches are sanctuaries.”
Running on the abortion theme, meet Lila Rose, a college student who goes into Planned Parenthood, poses as being underage, and then goes after the groups for not reporting a suspected statutory rape, claiming the PPs tell her to lie about her age and go back to the legally abusive relationship she’s coming from, rather than reporting it to the authorities. Hrm. Which would criminalize a lot of behavior, considering not a lot of states have Romeo and Juliet laws, and get those PPs shut down, which was probably the real intent here, rather than an interest in justice being done.
Elsewhere, the Obama administration directed the executive to study itself and determine whether it holds too much information to be secret and presumes secrecy in places it should not. Also floated was the idea of a National Declassification Center, under the direction of the Archivist of the United States, probably to keep tabs on material that is approaching its mandatory declassification date and make sure the material is ready for release on its appointed day and time.
The CIA director has asked for more funding to expand training for agents in multiple languages, (finally) considering that good intelligence is gatehered when agents are able to understand what is being said.
Last before opinions, two pieces, same paper - one on the economic impact of Anthrocon that is neutral in tone about the attendees, and the other comparing the relative importance of Anthrocon and the G-20 summit, considering their attendance aggregates will be about the same. The second article, however, is significantly more negative about Anthrocon and its attendees. So whent they bring in money, they’re tolerable, but compared to the meeting of the leaders of the free world, well, then they’re basement-dwellers. Consistency in tone, much?
In the opinions, Mr. Cline castigates the Obama administration for continuing the practice of detaining people indefinitely without charging them, because of a possible national security risk they pose, in essence, detaining them on the principle of precrime.
The Republican National Committee believes that the President cannot have any fun, criticizing his decision to fulfill a promise to his wife and see a Broadway show, now that the campaigning is over. All work and no play makes Obama a dull boy - and with as much as he’s done so far, he probably could use the break. I didn’t hear that much for complaining from the RNC every time the previous President took off for Crawford.
The CNS crew thinks the Obama Administration will sign on to a new climate accord that would restrict the emissions of the United States but exempt China, India, and otehr large polluters from restricting theirs, due to their "developing" economies. Which is totally unfair, they say, and won’t do anything about climate change, because the big polluters are getting away with it. On the domestic side, Mr. Borelli says the Obama administration is courting special-interests to implement a left-wing agenda, including cap-and-trade, turnign former opponents into allies and making freedom-loving Americans lose out. Well, the part abotu former enemies might be true, but it also points out tha tboth parties happen to like using corporations to advance their interests. Perhaps some real anticorporatists are what you need, then, instead of complaining that the other party has taken your technique and refined it.
Mr. Will continues the complaints about the Obama administration's actions, but finding more solid footing in his arguments that the government is wrecking tradition about honoring private contracts, possibly doing something illegal under the Fifth Amendment, adding to our entitlement security by suggesting that companies employing certain amounts of people be mandated to give them paid time off, and is, of course, forcing the American populace to buy cars they don’t want.
Ms. Zito suggests the President is succeeding at controlling a media message that gets out about him, although he won’t for long as media wakes up to its responsibilities and starts repeatedly asking him hard questions about things he’s not answering (assuming they’re not swallowed under by screaming partisans, those loking for cheap points, and the indifference, perceived or real, that the American populace doesn’t really care, preferring to watch American Idol or some other show).
Mr. Hill says we're all sick, attacking each other and trying to restrict each other's freedoms instead of being comfortable with the idea that other people can do stuff that offends us. He blames this sickness as to why President Obama got elected, thinks that the President’s economic policies regarding the rich are a symptom and a similar sort of attack (I’ll restrict teh rich’s ability to get richer, so you can get richer instead) but he’s more concerned that the populace seems to like the idea of restricting someone else’s freedom. It’s true, Mr. Hill, and we’ve got lots of people on both sides of the spectrum who don’t like it. Your example’s a bit off, as we know unrestrained, unregulated capitalism makes very few people very rich and powerful, and leaves the rest of us starving or working for insufficient wage, but your point is well taken, Mr. Hill. Maybe we can start with your support for ending restrictions on whether homosexuals can marry?
Put your tinfoil hats on and check their tuning before reading the suggestion that President Kennedy's order to issue silver certificates and money led to his assassination at the hands of the Federal Reserve. On the other side, a call for the government to re-recognize the independence of the Fed from the government, because they fear the Fed will become nationalized. And now, with that as your primer, let’s play for some pastry.
Ms. Strassel lays out what she sees as the rules on Judge Sotomayor, rules she feels the Obama administration has already broken, like “it’s only going to be about her background, instead of her qualifications”, and “Republicans can’t criticize her because she’s Hispanic.”, so that way, they can get around the “fact” that she’s a liberal activist judge. Ms. Bandes shows off mroe of the extra-Senatorial comments made about the judge. The appropriate resopnse here comes from, of all places, the WSJ: Grow up and engage the nominee on appropriate, mature, well-reasoned issues.
an opinion writer, Stanislav Mishin, in Pravda makes the list, not for not making good points about how we're not paying attention to the right things, but for foolishly believing that America has become a Marxist country. There’s no Marxism anywhere in any of the things that he’s been describing. Lots of things that lead to oligarchic rule, intend on creating a stupid mass of people that believe wahtever they’re told, sure, but I see no soviets, so I must give him failing Marx.
At the top of the heap, though, Floyd and Mary Beth Brown are calling for Pelosi to resign, believeing she'e been caught in her own web of lies about the CIA lying to her, a set of lies that cannot be confirmed because we don’t have the documents on what actually happened. Instead, we have the CIA using CIA documents to tell us that she was briefed, and the Speaker maintaining her position that she was not briefed on the totality of what the CIA was doing at the time. The article, though, devolves into torture apologetics and resurfaces only to repeat the standard line of “we believe the CIA’s documents, so Pelosi should resign because the CIA says it briefed her and she didn’t object then, so she’s lying now, as opposed to the brave Bush and Cheney, who have come forward and admitted they supported the actions that saved lives.” Split a quiche between yourselves. You’ve earned it.
Last out, Athena Andreadis says believers in space travel and believers in transhumanism should unite, because the methods to the goals of each group are similar, and they will positively reinforce each other along with way as they hit milestones.
In technology, one hundered concepts that should be more real, Atlantis may be on its way home today, and a question why metahuman-enabled societies haven't kicked their standards of living up lots.
Last for today, look at Lepidopetera if you want to see some alien-looking critters. And then wonder what the end of World War Two would have ben had German superweapons actually been developed to effectiveness.
Following on earlier, in response to the non-reader trying to sell a book, Cake Wrecks with some children's-book-themed cakes.
And thus, playing out the world stage, The Defense Secretary of teh United States suggests that the previous methods of dealing with North Korea have come to a close, and that it is North Korea’s decision as to what new methods will be employed.
The residents of the Swat valley are coming out again, after the government launched attacks and claims to have retaken the area from Taliban forces.
Iran's women are becoming a greater force and are campaigning visibly for equal rights in the country. Definitely a campaign that should be supported in what ways we can. And to hope that perhaps a reformist election can be the catalyst to making more progress, instead of having to labour against discriminatory law and a hostile government. Other minorities could band together with the women and oust Mr. Ahmadinejad, says Time.
Forces of Fatah and Hamas clashed in the West Bank, just in case we thought the region was calm.
Domestically, an abortion doctor was shot and killed during the service while he attended church. So, how about that domestic terrorism report, eh, where abortion was named as a potential terror issue? HuffPo has more details, including the capture of the suspect. What I’m going to wonder about for a bit is whether the condemnations that roll in from the right are going to be “We don’t support you killing people, no matter how wrong they are” or “You killed him in a church, and that’s a major no-no. Bomb him at the clinic, sure, so you can get all the sinners that work there and the women who are going to murder their unborn babies, but churches are sanctuaries.”
Running on the abortion theme, meet Lila Rose, a college student who goes into Planned Parenthood, poses as being underage, and then goes after the groups for not reporting a suspected statutory rape, claiming the PPs tell her to lie about her age and go back to the legally abusive relationship she’s coming from, rather than reporting it to the authorities. Hrm. Which would criminalize a lot of behavior, considering not a lot of states have Romeo and Juliet laws, and get those PPs shut down, which was probably the real intent here, rather than an interest in justice being done.
Elsewhere, the Obama administration directed the executive to study itself and determine whether it holds too much information to be secret and presumes secrecy in places it should not. Also floated was the idea of a National Declassification Center, under the direction of the Archivist of the United States, probably to keep tabs on material that is approaching its mandatory declassification date and make sure the material is ready for release on its appointed day and time.
The CIA director has asked for more funding to expand training for agents in multiple languages, (finally) considering that good intelligence is gatehered when agents are able to understand what is being said.
Last before opinions, two pieces, same paper - one on the economic impact of Anthrocon that is neutral in tone about the attendees, and the other comparing the relative importance of Anthrocon and the G-20 summit, considering their attendance aggregates will be about the same. The second article, however, is significantly more negative about Anthrocon and its attendees. So whent they bring in money, they’re tolerable, but compared to the meeting of the leaders of the free world, well, then they’re basement-dwellers. Consistency in tone, much?
In the opinions, Mr. Cline castigates the Obama administration for continuing the practice of detaining people indefinitely without charging them, because of a possible national security risk they pose, in essence, detaining them on the principle of precrime.
The Republican National Committee believes that the President cannot have any fun, criticizing his decision to fulfill a promise to his wife and see a Broadway show, now that the campaigning is over. All work and no play makes Obama a dull boy - and with as much as he’s done so far, he probably could use the break. I didn’t hear that much for complaining from the RNC every time the previous President took off for Crawford.
The CNS crew thinks the Obama Administration will sign on to a new climate accord that would restrict the emissions of the United States but exempt China, India, and otehr large polluters from restricting theirs, due to their "developing" economies. Which is totally unfair, they say, and won’t do anything about climate change, because the big polluters are getting away with it. On the domestic side, Mr. Borelli says the Obama administration is courting special-interests to implement a left-wing agenda, including cap-and-trade, turnign former opponents into allies and making freedom-loving Americans lose out. Well, the part abotu former enemies might be true, but it also points out tha tboth parties happen to like using corporations to advance their interests. Perhaps some real anticorporatists are what you need, then, instead of complaining that the other party has taken your technique and refined it.
Mr. Will continues the complaints about the Obama administration's actions, but finding more solid footing in his arguments that the government is wrecking tradition about honoring private contracts, possibly doing something illegal under the Fifth Amendment, adding to our entitlement security by suggesting that companies employing certain amounts of people be mandated to give them paid time off, and is, of course, forcing the American populace to buy cars they don’t want.
Ms. Zito suggests the President is succeeding at controlling a media message that gets out about him, although he won’t for long as media wakes up to its responsibilities and starts repeatedly asking him hard questions about things he’s not answering (assuming they’re not swallowed under by screaming partisans, those loking for cheap points, and the indifference, perceived or real, that the American populace doesn’t really care, preferring to watch American Idol or some other show).
Mr. Hill says we're all sick, attacking each other and trying to restrict each other's freedoms instead of being comfortable with the idea that other people can do stuff that offends us. He blames this sickness as to why President Obama got elected, thinks that the President’s economic policies regarding the rich are a symptom and a similar sort of attack (I’ll restrict teh rich’s ability to get richer, so you can get richer instead) but he’s more concerned that the populace seems to like the idea of restricting someone else’s freedom. It’s true, Mr. Hill, and we’ve got lots of people on both sides of the spectrum who don’t like it. Your example’s a bit off, as we know unrestrained, unregulated capitalism makes very few people very rich and powerful, and leaves the rest of us starving or working for insufficient wage, but your point is well taken, Mr. Hill. Maybe we can start with your support for ending restrictions on whether homosexuals can marry?
Put your tinfoil hats on and check their tuning before reading the suggestion that President Kennedy's order to issue silver certificates and money led to his assassination at the hands of the Federal Reserve. On the other side, a call for the government to re-recognize the independence of the Fed from the government, because they fear the Fed will become nationalized. And now, with that as your primer, let’s play for some pastry.
Ms. Strassel lays out what she sees as the rules on Judge Sotomayor, rules she feels the Obama administration has already broken, like “it’s only going to be about her background, instead of her qualifications”, and “Republicans can’t criticize her because she’s Hispanic.”, so that way, they can get around the “fact” that she’s a liberal activist judge. Ms. Bandes shows off mroe of the extra-Senatorial comments made about the judge. The appropriate resopnse here comes from, of all places, the WSJ: Grow up and engage the nominee on appropriate, mature, well-reasoned issues.
an opinion writer, Stanislav Mishin, in Pravda makes the list, not for not making good points about how we're not paying attention to the right things, but for foolishly believing that America has become a Marxist country. There’s no Marxism anywhere in any of the things that he’s been describing. Lots of things that lead to oligarchic rule, intend on creating a stupid mass of people that believe wahtever they’re told, sure, but I see no soviets, so I must give him failing Marx.
At the top of the heap, though, Floyd and Mary Beth Brown are calling for Pelosi to resign, believeing she'e been caught in her own web of lies about the CIA lying to her, a set of lies that cannot be confirmed because we don’t have the documents on what actually happened. Instead, we have the CIA using CIA documents to tell us that she was briefed, and the Speaker maintaining her position that she was not briefed on the totality of what the CIA was doing at the time. The article, though, devolves into torture apologetics and resurfaces only to repeat the standard line of “we believe the CIA’s documents, so Pelosi should resign because the CIA says it briefed her and she didn’t object then, so she’s lying now, as opposed to the brave Bush and Cheney, who have come forward and admitted they supported the actions that saved lives.” Split a quiche between yourselves. You’ve earned it.
Last out, Athena Andreadis says believers in space travel and believers in transhumanism should unite, because the methods to the goals of each group are similar, and they will positively reinforce each other along with way as they hit milestones.
In technology, one hundered concepts that should be more real, Atlantis may be on its way home today, and a question why metahuman-enabled societies haven't kicked their standards of living up lots.
Last for today, look at Lepidopetera if you want to see some alien-looking critters. And then wonder what the end of World War Two would have ben had German superweapons actually been developed to effectiveness.
