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Happy Holidays upcoming and arriving to all. Be well, and know that your relationships do not require contractual restriction of the use of kung fu. For most of you, anyway. Some of you may need it now or later. Perhaps after reading some books off the weird book shelf.
For those in the United States, sixty-eight years ago yesterday, December 7, the United States was overtly drawn into the second World War through Japanese planes attacking Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. These days, however, we're less about attacking warplanes and more about unveiling the next commercial spacecraft, christened Enterprise by Virgin Galactic foudner Richard Branson. One can see the Roddenberry influence. I think a lot of our spacecraft will take the name Enterprise.
To begin our efforts in the international sphere, CNS points out how much involvement Iran has in the United Nations, coloring it as a "These people are flouting U.N. rules, why are they still allowed to participate at the U.N.?" story, and possibly also getting in a note of "The U.N. is so useless, it will let countries like Iran continue to participate and hold leadership positions." Now, adding the context of Iran's repression of Internet access and warning of foreign journalists to stay inside on the eve of protests and the idea of making Iran suffer some UN standing for its actions makes more sense.
a paper arriving that attempts to correlate unemployment and insurgency and finds that poverty, unemployment, and insurgency are not positively correlated - the insurgents find other ways of making ends meet that make them more resilient even with higher unemployment.
On the Copenhagen climate change conference, an obligatory article about how much carbon pollution all the heads of state and dignitaries create at the summit, providing for the "Shouldn't they be trying to be greener than green at this event?" response from the hopeful, and the "Bunch'a hypocrites" response from the cynical.
Last out, Iraq will have parliamentary elections on time next year, as lawmakers managed to pass rules, guidelines, and all the other important things they needed to get elections set up.
In the domestic sphere, one man's mental disorder is another man's perfect employee, or, another article about how employers are continually waking up to the idea of putting autism spectrum disorder sufferers in jobs and tasks that are extremely well-suited to them.
The United States is offering to pay more than $3 billion USD to the Native American tribes as a settlement to a lawsuit brought over royalties from native lands. It is significantly less than the plantiffs were seeking, but it is a payment.
Elsewhere, taking the belief that God will provide to its logcial, albeit absurd, conclusion - starvation and neglect of Mom and her children, while waiting for God to provide. Instead, the State stepped in.![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png)
hybridelephant.myopenid.com mentions a case where a man expected God to heal him, and so he sat in a recliner for eight months and then died, waiting for that healing. In other religious and legal combinings, a person sued the Church of Scientology, claiming it kept him as a virtual slave for many years, giving him tasks to do for little or no pay.
And then there are the folktale spinners making tall tales about single-handedly helping to dispatch 11 "Muslims" from a plane that were apparently making a dry run for a terror attack. Most curiously, these men enjoyed drawing attention to themselves, including, supposedly, watching pr0n right before takeoff. Um, I think I'm with TPM here - if you're going to hijack a plane, and you're supposedly already dressed in a manner that will make people suspicious, I don't think you want to be drawing attention to yourself by fighting with the crew and disrupting the passengers. Oh, and the best part is the hero was not anywhere near where the incident supposedly was.
Last out of our "bad people come in all stripes" section, a McDonalds manager said he would not hire a 17 year-old based on her transgendered status, stating, "We don't hire faggots" in the voicemail he left for her.
Oh, okay, one more - Record labels are being sued for committing piracy and will likely have to pay out damages. So the next time a media cabal member talks about the dangers and the problems of pirates, be sure to remind them they're talking about themselves, too.
An internal investigation of ACORN personnel, in the wake of the scandal involving selectively chosen incidents where persons posed as a pimp and prostitute and asked for advice on how to set up business, has found that while there was unprofessional conduct in those who assisted, there was no illegal behavior, and reminds us of all the ACORN offices that did not help them. Plus, there's allegations that the video and audio have been selectively edited and/or dubbed over so as to receive the maximum effect of what the trappers were trying to do. Thus, from start to finish, it looks like honesty was not part of the gameplan.
The United States Defense Secretary and other military officials refute criticism of named dates regarding Afghanistan and the end of military presence there by saying the withdrawal will take a significant amount of time, ensuring that American military presence stays in the country for years to come. But they're not criticizing how long it takes, Mr. Gates, they're criticizing that it's happening at all, and that someone had the audacity to name a date when it would start.
The opposition party accused the President of engaging in back room dealing to marshal support for the health care bill currently working its way through the Senate, complaining of a bill being crafted to the exclusion of the Republicans in a non-transparent manner. While the complaint that this administration is not doing nearly enough on transparency in all walks is probably valid, the opposition party still seems to have a ready set of amendments to provide, even though I think we've seen maybe one or two official plans come through while all the Democratic work was being done, and even then, they seemed to be half-assing it. So to complain about being shut out when it seems like you haven't had any interest in coming in seems disingenuous.
The New Yorker Magazine has an in-depth article on how Americans have never been particularly in favor of abortions, the antiabortion movement has been both savvy and smart in their exploitation of people's feelings and in measuring the pulse of the people to know how much they can get away with, and how complex and conflicted the women who seek abortions are on whether to go through the procedure or not.
In the opinions and interviews, Ms. Strassel interviews Mr. Lieberman, frequent breaker with the caucus and irritator of liberal and Democratic elements who would rather see him join with the Republicans he seems to favor. Makes you wonder what the Gore-Lieberman ticket would have been like in practice.
Mr. Blackwell and Mr. Klukowski clamor for cutting off funding for the trials of Kalid Sheik Mohammed in New York, claiming that the decision to do those trials instead of military trials allows KSM to exploit his status, inflict more pain on the victims, and be a shining example to fellow terrorists, instead of tucking him away in the military trial, sentencing him to death, and killing him without fanfare. The "nation of laws, not of men" argument still applies, but furthermore, with a swift closed trial and execution, what kind of closure does that give to the victims. A guilty verdict delivered along with a death sentence would probably be a big boost for the victims, knowing that the court system renders justice unto those who deserve it.
Mr. Fund rightly observes that the liberal base expects the Democrats to deliver on health care, and that the liberal voters will punish the Dems if there is no bill. They may also smack them around if the bill sucks, but most likely, the independents will swing back toward the Democrats once they give them reason to believe the liberal agenda might get passed.
Tony Judt delivers a talk about how much we've let economics color even our moral debates, when it comes to government policy, to our detriment in how we treat the poor and unemployed and in the privatization mania that makes our public coffers and institutions much poorer. To improve these things, we have to start considering all the costs of actions, not just the economic ones - the ones that are profitable often keep people miserable, while the expensive ones keep the populace happier. What we need, then, is to convince the populace to be afraid of what happens when the private sector takes over completely and there are no social services - Dickens is always a good place to start, and the Triangle Shirtwaist factory, and the world before labor laws. Y'know, places where the drinking water is rated unsafe at some point during the year - or that, in that world, there's no way of knowing whether the water is unsafe or not, and you're still going to pay $5 USD per small bottle because you need water to survive.
Last out, Ms. West skirts Gowin's fringe, trying to make the case as to why we should be less concerned about nation-building and go straight to the razing people to the ground option, comparing this long campaign to when the military was unleashed in World War II to kill and destroy whatever it came across, and finding the earlier scorched earth idea to be more palatable.
In technology, Google goes Augmented Reality with Google Goggles, a service that will analyze a picture and give you more contextual information, Google also offers their customizability options to non-logged in users, using cookies to track and make suggestions, what may be the first confirmed case of biometric fraud, where an immigrant changed their fingerprints to fool immigration controls, protocols for wireless high definition streaming, cannabinoids might help regrow brain cells that deal better with stress and anxiety, and something very interesting - casual sex among young adults does not appear to psychologically negatively impact them. The claims that casual sex has negative impacts on the well-being of young adults aren't backed up by this study. So long as they engage in safe sexual practice, then, go for it.
Last for tonight, a barefoot bandit in the islands around Seattle is becoming more of a folk hero the more he evades capture. And forty things that were fads in the early parts of this decade that have since tanked in popularity.
For those in the United States, sixty-eight years ago yesterday, December 7, the United States was overtly drawn into the second World War through Japanese planes attacking Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. These days, however, we're less about attacking warplanes and more about unveiling the next commercial spacecraft, christened Enterprise by Virgin Galactic foudner Richard Branson. One can see the Roddenberry influence. I think a lot of our spacecraft will take the name Enterprise.
To begin our efforts in the international sphere, CNS points out how much involvement Iran has in the United Nations, coloring it as a "These people are flouting U.N. rules, why are they still allowed to participate at the U.N.?" story, and possibly also getting in a note of "The U.N. is so useless, it will let countries like Iran continue to participate and hold leadership positions." Now, adding the context of Iran's repression of Internet access and warning of foreign journalists to stay inside on the eve of protests and the idea of making Iran suffer some UN standing for its actions makes more sense.
a paper arriving that attempts to correlate unemployment and insurgency and finds that poverty, unemployment, and insurgency are not positively correlated - the insurgents find other ways of making ends meet that make them more resilient even with higher unemployment.
On the Copenhagen climate change conference, an obligatory article about how much carbon pollution all the heads of state and dignitaries create at the summit, providing for the "Shouldn't they be trying to be greener than green at this event?" response from the hopeful, and the "Bunch'a hypocrites" response from the cynical.
Last out, Iraq will have parliamentary elections on time next year, as lawmakers managed to pass rules, guidelines, and all the other important things they needed to get elections set up.
In the domestic sphere, one man's mental disorder is another man's perfect employee, or, another article about how employers are continually waking up to the idea of putting autism spectrum disorder sufferers in jobs and tasks that are extremely well-suited to them.
The United States is offering to pay more than $3 billion USD to the Native American tribes as a settlement to a lawsuit brought over royalties from native lands. It is significantly less than the plantiffs were seeking, but it is a payment.
Elsewhere, taking the belief that God will provide to its logcial, albeit absurd, conclusion - starvation and neglect of Mom and her children, while waiting for God to provide. Instead, the State stepped in.
hybridelephant.myopenid.com mentions a case where a man expected God to heal him, and so he sat in a recliner for eight months and then died, waiting for that healing. In other religious and legal combinings, a person sued the Church of Scientology, claiming it kept him as a virtual slave for many years, giving him tasks to do for little or no pay.And then there are the folktale spinners making tall tales about single-handedly helping to dispatch 11 "Muslims" from a plane that were apparently making a dry run for a terror attack. Most curiously, these men enjoyed drawing attention to themselves, including, supposedly, watching pr0n right before takeoff. Um, I think I'm with TPM here - if you're going to hijack a plane, and you're supposedly already dressed in a manner that will make people suspicious, I don't think you want to be drawing attention to yourself by fighting with the crew and disrupting the passengers. Oh, and the best part is the hero was not anywhere near where the incident supposedly was.
Last out of our "bad people come in all stripes" section, a McDonalds manager said he would not hire a 17 year-old based on her transgendered status, stating, "We don't hire faggots" in the voicemail he left for her.
Oh, okay, one more - Record labels are being sued for committing piracy and will likely have to pay out damages. So the next time a media cabal member talks about the dangers and the problems of pirates, be sure to remind them they're talking about themselves, too.
An internal investigation of ACORN personnel, in the wake of the scandal involving selectively chosen incidents where persons posed as a pimp and prostitute and asked for advice on how to set up business, has found that while there was unprofessional conduct in those who assisted, there was no illegal behavior, and reminds us of all the ACORN offices that did not help them. Plus, there's allegations that the video and audio have been selectively edited and/or dubbed over so as to receive the maximum effect of what the trappers were trying to do. Thus, from start to finish, it looks like honesty was not part of the gameplan.
The United States Defense Secretary and other military officials refute criticism of named dates regarding Afghanistan and the end of military presence there by saying the withdrawal will take a significant amount of time, ensuring that American military presence stays in the country for years to come. But they're not criticizing how long it takes, Mr. Gates, they're criticizing that it's happening at all, and that someone had the audacity to name a date when it would start.
The opposition party accused the President of engaging in back room dealing to marshal support for the health care bill currently working its way through the Senate, complaining of a bill being crafted to the exclusion of the Republicans in a non-transparent manner. While the complaint that this administration is not doing nearly enough on transparency in all walks is probably valid, the opposition party still seems to have a ready set of amendments to provide, even though I think we've seen maybe one or two official plans come through while all the Democratic work was being done, and even then, they seemed to be half-assing it. So to complain about being shut out when it seems like you haven't had any interest in coming in seems disingenuous.
The New Yorker Magazine has an in-depth article on how Americans have never been particularly in favor of abortions, the antiabortion movement has been both savvy and smart in their exploitation of people's feelings and in measuring the pulse of the people to know how much they can get away with, and how complex and conflicted the women who seek abortions are on whether to go through the procedure or not.
In the opinions and interviews, Ms. Strassel interviews Mr. Lieberman, frequent breaker with the caucus and irritator of liberal and Democratic elements who would rather see him join with the Republicans he seems to favor. Makes you wonder what the Gore-Lieberman ticket would have been like in practice.
Mr. Blackwell and Mr. Klukowski clamor for cutting off funding for the trials of Kalid Sheik Mohammed in New York, claiming that the decision to do those trials instead of military trials allows KSM to exploit his status, inflict more pain on the victims, and be a shining example to fellow terrorists, instead of tucking him away in the military trial, sentencing him to death, and killing him without fanfare. The "nation of laws, not of men" argument still applies, but furthermore, with a swift closed trial and execution, what kind of closure does that give to the victims. A guilty verdict delivered along with a death sentence would probably be a big boost for the victims, knowing that the court system renders justice unto those who deserve it.
Mr. Fund rightly observes that the liberal base expects the Democrats to deliver on health care, and that the liberal voters will punish the Dems if there is no bill. They may also smack them around if the bill sucks, but most likely, the independents will swing back toward the Democrats once they give them reason to believe the liberal agenda might get passed.
Tony Judt delivers a talk about how much we've let economics color even our moral debates, when it comes to government policy, to our detriment in how we treat the poor and unemployed and in the privatization mania that makes our public coffers and institutions much poorer. To improve these things, we have to start considering all the costs of actions, not just the economic ones - the ones that are profitable often keep people miserable, while the expensive ones keep the populace happier. What we need, then, is to convince the populace to be afraid of what happens when the private sector takes over completely and there are no social services - Dickens is always a good place to start, and the Triangle Shirtwaist factory, and the world before labor laws. Y'know, places where the drinking water is rated unsafe at some point during the year - or that, in that world, there's no way of knowing whether the water is unsafe or not, and you're still going to pay $5 USD per small bottle because you need water to survive.
Last out, Ms. West skirts Gowin's fringe, trying to make the case as to why we should be less concerned about nation-building and go straight to the razing people to the ground option, comparing this long campaign to when the military was unleashed in World War II to kill and destroy whatever it came across, and finding the earlier scorched earth idea to be more palatable.
In technology, Google goes Augmented Reality with Google Goggles, a service that will analyze a picture and give you more contextual information, Google also offers their customizability options to non-logged in users, using cookies to track and make suggestions, what may be the first confirmed case of biometric fraud, where an immigrant changed their fingerprints to fool immigration controls, protocols for wireless high definition streaming, cannabinoids might help regrow brain cells that deal better with stress and anxiety, and something very interesting - casual sex among young adults does not appear to psychologically negatively impact them. The claims that casual sex has negative impacts on the well-being of young adults aren't backed up by this study. So long as they engage in safe sexual practice, then, go for it.
Last for tonight, a barefoot bandit in the islands around Seattle is becoming more of a folk hero the more he evades capture. And forty things that were fads in the early parts of this decade that have since tanked in popularity.
