![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
A new month means new stuff - 1 July 2010
Jul. 2nd, 2010 12:02 amGreetings, those seeking information or clarity on the often-bizarre world of politics. Behold, 24 types of libertarians, on which the temptation to play bingo is very, very great.
Canada Day! Hooray! Enjoy!
Technology giant Google follows the lead of several other Silicon Valley corporations in adjusting the gross pay of its gay and lesbian employees to cover the taxes they will pay from Google-provided domestic partner benefits, to put them on an equal footing with couples with federally recognized marriages. Nice work. As well, after their archibishop forbade them from marching with the church banner on display, the members of St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church marched with the banner backwards, displaying a blank white sheet, and making a bigger statement than one might think, based on the official Catholic position.
Finally in the headlines, confirmed, we photographed the first extrasolar planet in 2008. the math and ovservations rule out a chance angle from Terra, and so now we can say there are other worlds out there. Now all that’s left is to discover the friendly Vulcans before the Imperial Klingons or Romulans find us.
Out in the world today, we see what sort of pastimes have returned to Afghanistan now that Taliban rule is disrupted. This accompanies a barrage from Fox about how one should totally be able to order the death of someone else if you think they're a terrorist, General Petraeus assuring NATO commanders that progress will be made in the country, the relationship between the United States and Pakistan is not helping the conflict in Afghanistan, all landing with a major NATO offensive aimed at dismantling mid-level leadership in Taliban-associated areas.
Oh, and apparently Iran sold Syria a radar, which Israel and the United States say will let Hezbollah and Syria warn Iran about Israel's plans to glass them, assuming they plan on it, and increase Syria and Hezbollah’s ability to hurt Israel. Iran and Syria deny the transfer happened.
Inside the country, more failures of the no-fly list, keeping people inside or outside of the country by not letting them fly, but apparently not enough of a danger that they need to be arrested. Yes, that includes a veteran of the military.
The ACLU of several states, including Arizona, continued their fight against the Papers Please law by issuing travel warnings. The response was nothing new - “the law specifically prohibits racial profiling”, and “Stop bitching at us for taking matters into our own hands. You should be complaining to the feds because they haven’t done anything about the border.” The difficulty with those arguments? They still rely on the officer’s judgement that the person looks like they’re here illegally. Would a police person ever target someone who looks white as a possible illegal immigrant?
In sciences, An interview with the author researching how schizophrenia in an institution in Ionia, Michigan, went from a disease primarily targeting housewives for not doing their wifely duties to a black disease targeting people who were fighting for equality.
Investigations are likely in the incident where improperly sterilized cleaning instruments for a VA hospital may have exposed patients receiving dental treatment to HIV-1, Hepatitis B, or Hepatitis C.
And in technology, skin with sensors for robots, a possible winner for oldest multiceullular life, based on fossils dated to 2.1 billion years, and a new candidate for biggest whale bite, based on some sperm whale fossils recently discovered.
Last for tonight in science, drawings and descriptions of scientists by seventh graders, the first before they visited actual scientists at work, the second after.
Into opinons we go, where cynicism rusn rampant about the Dodd-Frank bill, first on its requirement that noncommercial banks contribute to a liquidation fund, which the WSJ calls a tax because taxpayers will end up paying for it anyway, and their belief that such revenue, when raised, will be spent on other things by the government. That’s of course, when general cynicism about promised middle-class tax cuts isn’t showing too much, or lofty declarations that the stimulus has failed because capitalists are too unsure about what happens next to invest and drive the engine of the economy.
Perhaps the news that unemployment extensions have yet again been denied from passage by Republicans touched a nerve somewhere. Otherwise, why would candidate Angle say that the nation is spoiled on unemployment and needs to have their benefits cut so they'll get back to work at all the jobs that are just laying there waiting for them, the lazy bums, nevermind the ratio of unemployed to jobs available is usually about 5:1, Mr. Williams detail out all the wonderful things that the poor of America have, so we should feel eminently justified in telling them to stop whining, or accuse them of being lazy and deficient in spirit, and Mr. Klein try to tell you that not only is the country trying to create a permanent welfare state, the UN wants rich countries to give welfare to the entire world, even though “everyone knows” those countries that are poorest need something other than aid?
Speaking on the Gulf Oil Crisis, Mr. Cooper releases his conservative wish-list of what the president should do to fix the crisis, including just accepting any help that is offered without question and waving it through, not doing anything about climate change legislation, waiving regulations and just letting anyone try whatever solution they can think of, and being very sure to tell everyone to drill, baby, drill without any sort of care about whether it’s actually safe.
Because we haven’t had a round of blame the media lately, here’s Mr. Prager attempting to sell you on the idea that the United States has the best medical care in the world by claiming every report, media bit, and study saying that this isn't true is a product of the socialist left, which the media conveniently forgets to report because they're also the socialist left. It’s funny how many conservative outlets believe themselves their point of view is reality, while their opposition is in fantasy-land. It’s always a three-edged sword: your side, their side, and the truth. Neither Left nor Right gets the third part right all the time.
And last for tonight, the winner of the Conspiracy Theory of the Week award, Mr. Clizbe insinuates that Barack Obama is the product of KGB influence and that "political correctness" is actually a long-running Soviet plot to destroy the United States. I hope that whatever it is Mr. Clizbe is smoking was obtained legally - and that he shares the name of his distributor.
Ah, one more postscript - Wonder Woman got a new costume, perhaps from E. Mode, that gives her pants and jacket to fight with. Cue the Wonder Woman Wars. And I wonder if this is a simple yet subtle shift away from the origins of the character and creator to settle a bit better in the DC universe. To test that, though, we’ll have to see what happens when Diana gets tied up by someone...
Canada Day! Hooray! Enjoy!
Technology giant Google follows the lead of several other Silicon Valley corporations in adjusting the gross pay of its gay and lesbian employees to cover the taxes they will pay from Google-provided domestic partner benefits, to put them on an equal footing with couples with federally recognized marriages. Nice work. As well, after their archibishop forbade them from marching with the church banner on display, the members of St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church marched with the banner backwards, displaying a blank white sheet, and making a bigger statement than one might think, based on the official Catholic position.
Finally in the headlines, confirmed, we photographed the first extrasolar planet in 2008. the math and ovservations rule out a chance angle from Terra, and so now we can say there are other worlds out there. Now all that’s left is to discover the friendly Vulcans before the Imperial Klingons or Romulans find us.
Out in the world today, we see what sort of pastimes have returned to Afghanistan now that Taliban rule is disrupted. This accompanies a barrage from Fox about how one should totally be able to order the death of someone else if you think they're a terrorist, General Petraeus assuring NATO commanders that progress will be made in the country, the relationship between the United States and Pakistan is not helping the conflict in Afghanistan, all landing with a major NATO offensive aimed at dismantling mid-level leadership in Taliban-associated areas.
Oh, and apparently Iran sold Syria a radar, which Israel and the United States say will let Hezbollah and Syria warn Iran about Israel's plans to glass them, assuming they plan on it, and increase Syria and Hezbollah’s ability to hurt Israel. Iran and Syria deny the transfer happened.
Inside the country, more failures of the no-fly list, keeping people inside or outside of the country by not letting them fly, but apparently not enough of a danger that they need to be arrested. Yes, that includes a veteran of the military.
The ACLU of several states, including Arizona, continued their fight against the Papers Please law by issuing travel warnings. The response was nothing new - “the law specifically prohibits racial profiling”, and “Stop bitching at us for taking matters into our own hands. You should be complaining to the feds because they haven’t done anything about the border.” The difficulty with those arguments? They still rely on the officer’s judgement that the person looks like they’re here illegally. Would a police person ever target someone who looks white as a possible illegal immigrant?
In sciences, An interview with the author researching how schizophrenia in an institution in Ionia, Michigan, went from a disease primarily targeting housewives for not doing their wifely duties to a black disease targeting people who were fighting for equality.
Investigations are likely in the incident where improperly sterilized cleaning instruments for a VA hospital may have exposed patients receiving dental treatment to HIV-1, Hepatitis B, or Hepatitis C.
And in technology, skin with sensors for robots, a possible winner for oldest multiceullular life, based on fossils dated to 2.1 billion years, and a new candidate for biggest whale bite, based on some sperm whale fossils recently discovered.
Last for tonight in science, drawings and descriptions of scientists by seventh graders, the first before they visited actual scientists at work, the second after.
Into opinons we go, where cynicism rusn rampant about the Dodd-Frank bill, first on its requirement that noncommercial banks contribute to a liquidation fund, which the WSJ calls a tax because taxpayers will end up paying for it anyway, and their belief that such revenue, when raised, will be spent on other things by the government. That’s of course, when general cynicism about promised middle-class tax cuts isn’t showing too much, or lofty declarations that the stimulus has failed because capitalists are too unsure about what happens next to invest and drive the engine of the economy.
Perhaps the news that unemployment extensions have yet again been denied from passage by Republicans touched a nerve somewhere. Otherwise, why would candidate Angle say that the nation is spoiled on unemployment and needs to have their benefits cut so they'll get back to work at all the jobs that are just laying there waiting for them, the lazy bums, nevermind the ratio of unemployed to jobs available is usually about 5:1, Mr. Williams detail out all the wonderful things that the poor of America have, so we should feel eminently justified in telling them to stop whining, or accuse them of being lazy and deficient in spirit, and Mr. Klein try to tell you that not only is the country trying to create a permanent welfare state, the UN wants rich countries to give welfare to the entire world, even though “everyone knows” those countries that are poorest need something other than aid?
Speaking on the Gulf Oil Crisis, Mr. Cooper releases his conservative wish-list of what the president should do to fix the crisis, including just accepting any help that is offered without question and waving it through, not doing anything about climate change legislation, waiving regulations and just letting anyone try whatever solution they can think of, and being very sure to tell everyone to drill, baby, drill without any sort of care about whether it’s actually safe.
Because we haven’t had a round of blame the media lately, here’s Mr. Prager attempting to sell you on the idea that the United States has the best medical care in the world by claiming every report, media bit, and study saying that this isn't true is a product of the socialist left, which the media conveniently forgets to report because they're also the socialist left. It’s funny how many conservative outlets believe themselves their point of view is reality, while their opposition is in fantasy-land. It’s always a three-edged sword: your side, their side, and the truth. Neither Left nor Right gets the third part right all the time.
And last for tonight, the winner of the Conspiracy Theory of the Week award, Mr. Clizbe insinuates that Barack Obama is the product of KGB influence and that "political correctness" is actually a long-running Soviet plot to destroy the United States. I hope that whatever it is Mr. Clizbe is smoking was obtained legally - and that he shares the name of his distributor.
Ah, one more postscript - Wonder Woman got a new costume, perhaps from E. Mode, that gives her pants and jacket to fight with. Cue the Wonder Woman Wars. And I wonder if this is a simple yet subtle shift away from the origins of the character and creator to settle a bit better in the DC universe. To test that, though, we’ll have to see what happens when Diana gets tied up by someone...
