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Behind the schedule - 3 January 2010
Jan. 5th, 2010 01:35 pmHere we go again! Welcome to the new year! Hopefully your holidays have been wonderful. We must lead with a stupid, stupid parent creature story - if you go to the art museum, you might see naked people. Anatomically correct naked people, in fact. But, a fifth grader's parent complained about the nudity, and the teacher who did the art trip has been fired because of the copmlaints. So it's a stupid, stupid administration as well. This is in...Texas, home of the previous administrator, who had Justice covered up because she was bare-breasted. Are we really such prudes in this country that we're going to demand our art galleries only carry fully-clothed people, on the off chance a young child might see something?
Beginning again with the protests in Iran, counter-protesters came to the streets, some calling for the deaths of the opposition.
A United States judge dismissed a case brought by Iraqis against Xe, nee Blackwater, employees alleging they shot Iraqi citizens without cause or provocation. The judge cited several missteps in the prosecution's case as the reason for dismissal. The employees might still be charged and tried by Iraqi law.
Domestically, we're still talking about underpants bombing, whether claiming pat-downs are an ineffective manner of search, because of the rules and regulations handicapping how, when, and where someone can be searched by hand, an anti-terror police unit focusing on Yemn appearing, as if on cue, or trying to make something big out of a generic security briefing saying attacks over the holidays were likely.
The opinionators aren't much different - Mr. Krauthammer believes the system of criminal justice is the wrong way to treat the underpants bomber, preferring him to be held without rights and under pressure until he talks, possibly with torture, assuming we couldn't just put him in front of a firing squad after his interrogation and shoot him as a war criminal. Bill'O wonders why we ahven't already invaded Yemen, dragged more people into Guantanamo, and be in perpetual panic over the next attack, while we sing the praises of how the last administrator kept us safe with his tactics.
Elizabeth Lev points out what many American Catholics may know in the back of their heads - their positions on abortion and safe sex are in conflict with the official positions of the Catholic church, while also decrying Nancy Pelosi's continued claims she is a Catholic while holidng beliefs in conflict with Church teaching. The resolution of the conflict only goes two ways - become orthodox, or leave the church. We're kind of hoping for mass desertions, ourselves, to religions and churches that either hold those views and then support women and children from conception onward with the resources they will need to succeed or churches that encourage family planning and the use of means that make it so children are part of a family when they will have the best chance to survive and thrive.
The WSJ blames Congress for the appearance of a credit card with an 80 per cent interest rate, because of new Congressional regulations designed to prevent severe usury. The bank traded fees for interest to comply with the new regulations, basically beign unwilling to give up what money they were making. The WSJ editors seem to be okay with this by seeing the alternative as uncreditworthy people getting no credit at all.
Also in money matters, the WSJ people are also ready to crow about how they knew stmiulus money would cause more problems when it came time for states to have to fill the gaps in their regular budgets when the stimulus cash ran out.
Messrs. Hatch, Blackwell, and Klukowski present thre of their best Constitutional objections to the health care reform bill. Senator Hatch of Utah, Mr. Blackwell of the Family Research Council, and Mr. Klukowski of the Americal Civil Rights Union, that is - three very conservative-to-fringe-leaning individuals. That said, the selections are at least sane - what Constitutional authority is the individual mandate, the singling-out of certain states to secure votes, and federalism arguments saying the federal government cannot do things for the states if the states choose not to do them, even if the arguments are not. The Constitutional authority question is one that I do expect to be hammered out, probably in court. As for specific spending, um, pork-barrel spending is all about specific funds for specific states, and there are not regular consitutional challenges to those. The federalism argument might work better if there weren't subsidies to individuals happening - thus, there needs to be something those subsidies can be spent on, or the states can refuse the subsidies, I suppose, if they don't want exchanges... and then watch as inter-state competition does the rest.
Another unsigned on this same bill, but claiming that Medicare will suddenly have a lot of seniors dumped in its lap when the subsidies for drug benefit plans companies provide to retirees start getting taxed.
Floyd and May Beth Brown want you to believe that President Obama just made it so the ICC and foreign governments could prosecute heroic Americans as war criminals and deny you the right to see the evidence against you, which sounds perfectly scary...and then, there's the reality. The Executive Order made INTERPOL, an organization the United states participates in quite a bit, more effective by exempting it from taxes, Social Security, and the possibility that its archives could be searched and seized by a United States official with an axe to grind or desire to cover something up. It has nothing at all to do with the ICC, unless you believe this is somehow a precursor to signing the Rome Treaty, at which point it becomes part of American law, subject to the Constitution, like every other treaty the United States is a signatory to (including the one that should have resulted in a lot of investigations and prosecutions for alleged torture domestically), not some foreign law that supercedes the Constitution. Go back to school, because you were clearly not paying attention.
Last out, a suggestion for the naming of the previous ten years - the Dehumanization Decade, where we saw people in categories, as the Other, instead of as peoples of the same species as ourselves. On economics, a suggestion to revise the tax code so as to remove the taxes on people, like income, sales, and rent taxes, and in its stead tax the usage of natural resources and tax financial products, like land, atmosphere, carbon usage, soil displacement, energy usage, and the digging up of minerals or fossil fuels on one hand and bonds, stocks, derivatives, and interest on the other, with the intent, basically of driving wealth away from the speculation bubbles that create havoc and back into the hands of the people who will spend those dollars on their essential goods and services, who in turn will be forced into making better decisions with their money because unsound practices will be punished through severe taxation.
In the sciences, looking for a vision of the future, gamblers and hunters are killing off vultures to smoke their brains.
And last for tonight, Pentecostalism and Hispanics apparently get along reasonably well, and a lot of former Catholics are going that way. It's painted as a shift away from the set rituals of Catholicism into a more vibrant and freeform evnagelism that speaks to the people joining up. Well, that and if you ever wanted to know what it takes and what you go through to be OT VIII, here's your chance - three of th highest-level Scientologists are leaving the church, although sticking with the beliefs.
Beginning again with the protests in Iran, counter-protesters came to the streets, some calling for the deaths of the opposition.
A United States judge dismissed a case brought by Iraqis against Xe, nee Blackwater, employees alleging they shot Iraqi citizens without cause or provocation. The judge cited several missteps in the prosecution's case as the reason for dismissal. The employees might still be charged and tried by Iraqi law.
Domestically, we're still talking about underpants bombing, whether claiming pat-downs are an ineffective manner of search, because of the rules and regulations handicapping how, when, and where someone can be searched by hand, an anti-terror police unit focusing on Yemn appearing, as if on cue, or trying to make something big out of a generic security briefing saying attacks over the holidays were likely.
The opinionators aren't much different - Mr. Krauthammer believes the system of criminal justice is the wrong way to treat the underpants bomber, preferring him to be held without rights and under pressure until he talks, possibly with torture, assuming we couldn't just put him in front of a firing squad after his interrogation and shoot him as a war criminal. Bill'O wonders why we ahven't already invaded Yemen, dragged more people into Guantanamo, and be in perpetual panic over the next attack, while we sing the praises of how the last administrator kept us safe with his tactics.
Elizabeth Lev points out what many American Catholics may know in the back of their heads - their positions on abortion and safe sex are in conflict with the official positions of the Catholic church, while also decrying Nancy Pelosi's continued claims she is a Catholic while holidng beliefs in conflict with Church teaching. The resolution of the conflict only goes two ways - become orthodox, or leave the church. We're kind of hoping for mass desertions, ourselves, to religions and churches that either hold those views and then support women and children from conception onward with the resources they will need to succeed or churches that encourage family planning and the use of means that make it so children are part of a family when they will have the best chance to survive and thrive.
The WSJ blames Congress for the appearance of a credit card with an 80 per cent interest rate, because of new Congressional regulations designed to prevent severe usury. The bank traded fees for interest to comply with the new regulations, basically beign unwilling to give up what money they were making. The WSJ editors seem to be okay with this by seeing the alternative as uncreditworthy people getting no credit at all.
Also in money matters, the WSJ people are also ready to crow about how they knew stmiulus money would cause more problems when it came time for states to have to fill the gaps in their regular budgets when the stimulus cash ran out.
Messrs. Hatch, Blackwell, and Klukowski present thre of their best Constitutional objections to the health care reform bill. Senator Hatch of Utah, Mr. Blackwell of the Family Research Council, and Mr. Klukowski of the Americal Civil Rights Union, that is - three very conservative-to-fringe-leaning individuals. That said, the selections are at least sane - what Constitutional authority is the individual mandate, the singling-out of certain states to secure votes, and federalism arguments saying the federal government cannot do things for the states if the states choose not to do them, even if the arguments are not. The Constitutional authority question is one that I do expect to be hammered out, probably in court. As for specific spending, um, pork-barrel spending is all about specific funds for specific states, and there are not regular consitutional challenges to those. The federalism argument might work better if there weren't subsidies to individuals happening - thus, there needs to be something those subsidies can be spent on, or the states can refuse the subsidies, I suppose, if they don't want exchanges... and then watch as inter-state competition does the rest.
Another unsigned on this same bill, but claiming that Medicare will suddenly have a lot of seniors dumped in its lap when the subsidies for drug benefit plans companies provide to retirees start getting taxed.
Floyd and May Beth Brown want you to believe that President Obama just made it so the ICC and foreign governments could prosecute heroic Americans as war criminals and deny you the right to see the evidence against you, which sounds perfectly scary...and then, there's the reality. The Executive Order made INTERPOL, an organization the United states participates in quite a bit, more effective by exempting it from taxes, Social Security, and the possibility that its archives could be searched and seized by a United States official with an axe to grind or desire to cover something up. It has nothing at all to do with the ICC, unless you believe this is somehow a precursor to signing the Rome Treaty, at which point it becomes part of American law, subject to the Constitution, like every other treaty the United States is a signatory to (including the one that should have resulted in a lot of investigations and prosecutions for alleged torture domestically), not some foreign law that supercedes the Constitution. Go back to school, because you were clearly not paying attention.
Last out, a suggestion for the naming of the previous ten years - the Dehumanization Decade, where we saw people in categories, as the Other, instead of as peoples of the same species as ourselves. On economics, a suggestion to revise the tax code so as to remove the taxes on people, like income, sales, and rent taxes, and in its stead tax the usage of natural resources and tax financial products, like land, atmosphere, carbon usage, soil displacement, energy usage, and the digging up of minerals or fossil fuels on one hand and bonds, stocks, derivatives, and interest on the other, with the intent, basically of driving wealth away from the speculation bubbles that create havoc and back into the hands of the people who will spend those dollars on their essential goods and services, who in turn will be forced into making better decisions with their money because unsound practices will be punished through severe taxation.
In the sciences, looking for a vision of the future, gamblers and hunters are killing off vultures to smoke their brains.
And last for tonight, Pentecostalism and Hispanics apparently get along reasonably well, and a lot of former Catholics are going that way. It's painted as a shift away from the set rituals of Catholicism into a more vibrant and freeform evnagelism that speaks to the people joining up. Well, that and if you ever wanted to know what it takes and what you go through to be OT VIII, here's your chance - three of th highest-level Scientologists are leaving the church, although sticking with the beliefs.
