Greetings. Today we begin with A letter to Jodie Foster from a person planning on shooting Ronald Reagan to get her affection, A letter from a musician about the tracks he and his band were working on...written by Syd Barrett about Pink Floyd, and a letter from a drafted poet explaining why he was done with fighting the Great War.
In lighter fare, Disney Princesses chosen as the seven deadly sins. Well, most of them can make sense, as they're at least associated with the item in question, but Jasmine as Wrath? We Think Not. Nega-verse Jasmine, perhaps. Mulan would at least be closer to the truth.
There's also a letter of note about the packaging for an interesting bit of material sent to John Updike.
Also, a look at how religious choice, for most people, is much like choosing complementary colors - those that advocate for evil or untruth are to be pitied, challenged, and argued with, but everything else is more like deciding whether two colors clash or not - it's subjective and perception-related.
Finally, an application from a young man to be the director of a railway museum - the boy was eventually appointed Director of Fun.
Out in the world today, an aftershock triggered a tsunami warning for Japan, still recovering from the earthquake that started the mess.
A letter from Mr. Gadhafi asks Mr. Obama to end the airstrikes on Libya, and wishes him good luck in his re-election bid.
United States Defense Secretary Gates visited Saudi Arabia in support of their monarchy, as a gesture of solidarity between the U.S. and the Saudi family in the middle of the strife engulfing the Middle East. Yes, even though we know that the Saudi family supports Wahabist Islam, the kind that tends to bring out the extremists in many.
Speaking of the Middle East and Mr. Gates, Mr. Gates says that United States forces will remain in Iraq after their schedule expires, if the Iraqi government wants them to.
Mexico continues demonstrations against the U-S led Drug War that turns the country into a battlefield.
Last out, The Green Party of Canada's stance on disabilities, which might not have been updated since the last election, but may be better than the opinions of people who say that people with disabilities shouldn't reproduce at a panel for people with disabilities to express their pride, as well as white supremacists in the Liberals and the RCMP improperly keeping people out of events for the Conservatives, which may be part of a bigger trend in the Consevative government to try and silence its critics by defunding them.
Domestically, The threat of a government shutdown looms great, as the Democrats would like a deal, but the Republican base would love to see things shut down. Or, if you believe the other side - the President wants a shutdown, but the GOP should consider their options. You know, any excuse to claim the President Hates The Military and wants to see them defunded as an ultraliberal should. As it turns out...they manage to avoid a shutdown by making a deal at the 11th hour, or so we think. In getting those deals, the Republicans get chances to advance their anti-women social agenda, too. The proper response to that is as follows: Mr. Boehner, would you kindly present your backside so that I may kick it repeatedly? Because you want to defund things that work and fund things that don't work and inspire violence against the places that do.
Not that they're doing much better on economic issues, either. They're perfectly okay with a country where the top one percent control most of the wealth, manipulate things to continue favoring themselves, and ensure that the posts in government only go to people of their own percentage. After all, Mr. Ryan's pledge and path to prosperity is nonserious on the matter it's supposed to be about, but vey serious on making sure that the wealthiest get theirs and the rest are told to get frakked.
Updating on the Wisconsin Supreme Court race - after a county clerk pulls an entire city's worth of votes out of a hat, claiming it was just human error that prevented their inclusion in the first result tally, the incumbent Republican now has a comfortable lead, and things aren't nearly as close as they should have been. The incumbent now leads by about 7,500 votes.
Mr. Ramirez has announced his intent to retire from playing professional baseball rather than serve out a 100-game suspension for his third positive test for performance-enhancing drugs in the last decade.
Finally, a person who was involved in reviewing applications for security clearances admitted she falsified information on those applications. Oh, yay.
In technology, the attack that was used to breach Epsilon's servers and steal e-mail addresses had been discovered four months before the attack.
On the ongoing issues with a DDoS and Livejournal,![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
synecdochic talks about how LJ has become the sole blogging and alternative press-broadcast platform in Russia, which feeds into a nice article about how DDoS is the preferred method of attack in the political arena of Russia.
In opinions, Ms. Malkin says that nothing Democrats say about the budget is to be taken seriously because the executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac got good salaries, even though they were bailed out by taxpayers. Um, Ms. Malkin? What about all the other CEOs in the private sector that are continuing to pay out taxpayer bailout money in lavish compensation to their executives? Does that invalidate anything the Republicans say about the budget? Or should we just look at what the things the Republicans are actually saying, and what they have already done, and the consequences of those actions?
In the same vein, Ms. Coulter complains about government salaries, unions, and believes that all of them are out simply to enrich their pocketbooks and to do as little work as possible while campaigning to raise their salaries. Because, you know, the people that keep your city running are just doing it for the money, while they watch other people in the private sector do their jobs for more money (or watch what the work environment for the private sector looks like). They are totally not, y'know, demanding post-doctorate employees work seven days a week in their labs, doing science, or anything.
Mr. Trzupek sees the Thought Police in action at Rollins College by the way the faculty reacted to an op-ed posted in the student newspaper against "anchor babies". Mr Trzupek has a legitimate complaint against the tone arguments deployed against the student, but his Thought Police accusations against the faculty that are dismayed that such an opinion appears in the paper without a counterwight, and that argue that "anchor babies" are a myth, are off-base. Hypothesizing about anchor babies places the burden of proof on the hypothesizer to provide evidence to support their position. It is not Thought Police to request that evidence and to present your own that says the concept is a myth. Unless Mr. Trzupek can provide evidence of wrongdoing by faculty members improperly using their position to attack the student, he's got not case for Thought Police. Try again.
Mr. Gainor does a little bit better with the Conspiracy Department, trying to tie all sorts of groups to George Soros as a master puppetteer, trying to remake the world in his own, liberal-inspired image. I suppose we should be either offended...or impressed... that liberals only have one, when you can take your pick in the conservative department among various CEOs, Roger Ailes, Rupert Murdoch, Glenn Beck, or any number of another personalities with monies.
Oh, and speaking of Beck, here's the letter from the person that Glenn Beck attacked and made far more prominent from that attack that it would ever have been.
Ms. Noonan asks for Presidents to return to a more restrained style, instead of throwing the military at every potential problem spot around the world and being Team America: World Police.
Mr. Stossel, in swinging for the fences, remarkably hits a solid single about the need of gun owners to have their privacy rights protected as well, rather than have their names released and published in papers. The arguments about deterring crime, the Second Amendment, and how the government should be able to police and make sure felons don't get gund by themselves are actually compelling. I'm kind of shocked. Maybe Mr. Stossel should stick to softballs like this for a while to make sure this isn't a fluke.
Last out, another standard accusation that liberals have their head in the sand when it comes to the possibility of China being a threat to the United States, despite the Director of National Intelligence having actually uttered so when asked to decide between China and Russia as the bigger threat.
Last for tonight, a young person's letter describing a need for some tools so he could potentially bring animals or people to life, and the serious response he got that inspired that young person to become a doctor later on.
In lighter fare, Disney Princesses chosen as the seven deadly sins. Well, most of them can make sense, as they're at least associated with the item in question, but Jasmine as Wrath? We Think Not. Nega-verse Jasmine, perhaps. Mulan would at least be closer to the truth.
There's also a letter of note about the packaging for an interesting bit of material sent to John Updike.
Also, a look at how religious choice, for most people, is much like choosing complementary colors - those that advocate for evil or untruth are to be pitied, challenged, and argued with, but everything else is more like deciding whether two colors clash or not - it's subjective and perception-related.
Finally, an application from a young man to be the director of a railway museum - the boy was eventually appointed Director of Fun.
Out in the world today, an aftershock triggered a tsunami warning for Japan, still recovering from the earthquake that started the mess.
A letter from Mr. Gadhafi asks Mr. Obama to end the airstrikes on Libya, and wishes him good luck in his re-election bid.
United States Defense Secretary Gates visited Saudi Arabia in support of their monarchy, as a gesture of solidarity between the U.S. and the Saudi family in the middle of the strife engulfing the Middle East. Yes, even though we know that the Saudi family supports Wahabist Islam, the kind that tends to bring out the extremists in many.
Speaking of the Middle East and Mr. Gates, Mr. Gates says that United States forces will remain in Iraq after their schedule expires, if the Iraqi government wants them to.
Mexico continues demonstrations against the U-S led Drug War that turns the country into a battlefield.
Last out, The Green Party of Canada's stance on disabilities, which might not have been updated since the last election, but may be better than the opinions of people who say that people with disabilities shouldn't reproduce at a panel for people with disabilities to express their pride, as well as white supremacists in the Liberals and the RCMP improperly keeping people out of events for the Conservatives, which may be part of a bigger trend in the Consevative government to try and silence its critics by defunding them.
Domestically, The threat of a government shutdown looms great, as the Democrats would like a deal, but the Republican base would love to see things shut down. Or, if you believe the other side - the President wants a shutdown, but the GOP should consider their options. You know, any excuse to claim the President Hates The Military and wants to see them defunded as an ultraliberal should. As it turns out...they manage to avoid a shutdown by making a deal at the 11th hour, or so we think. In getting those deals, the Republicans get chances to advance their anti-women social agenda, too. The proper response to that is as follows: Mr. Boehner, would you kindly present your backside so that I may kick it repeatedly? Because you want to defund things that work and fund things that don't work and inspire violence against the places that do.
Not that they're doing much better on economic issues, either. They're perfectly okay with a country where the top one percent control most of the wealth, manipulate things to continue favoring themselves, and ensure that the posts in government only go to people of their own percentage. After all, Mr. Ryan's pledge and path to prosperity is nonserious on the matter it's supposed to be about, but vey serious on making sure that the wealthiest get theirs and the rest are told to get frakked.
Updating on the Wisconsin Supreme Court race - after a county clerk pulls an entire city's worth of votes out of a hat, claiming it was just human error that prevented their inclusion in the first result tally, the incumbent Republican now has a comfortable lead, and things aren't nearly as close as they should have been. The incumbent now leads by about 7,500 votes.
Mr. Ramirez has announced his intent to retire from playing professional baseball rather than serve out a 100-game suspension for his third positive test for performance-enhancing drugs in the last decade.
Finally, a person who was involved in reviewing applications for security clearances admitted she falsified information on those applications. Oh, yay.
In technology, the attack that was used to breach Epsilon's servers and steal e-mail addresses had been discovered four months before the attack.
On the ongoing issues with a DDoS and Livejournal,
synecdochic talks about how LJ has become the sole blogging and alternative press-broadcast platform in Russia, which feeds into a nice article about how DDoS is the preferred method of attack in the political arena of Russia. In opinions, Ms. Malkin says that nothing Democrats say about the budget is to be taken seriously because the executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac got good salaries, even though they were bailed out by taxpayers. Um, Ms. Malkin? What about all the other CEOs in the private sector that are continuing to pay out taxpayer bailout money in lavish compensation to their executives? Does that invalidate anything the Republicans say about the budget? Or should we just look at what the things the Republicans are actually saying, and what they have already done, and the consequences of those actions?
In the same vein, Ms. Coulter complains about government salaries, unions, and believes that all of them are out simply to enrich their pocketbooks and to do as little work as possible while campaigning to raise their salaries. Because, you know, the people that keep your city running are just doing it for the money, while they watch other people in the private sector do their jobs for more money (or watch what the work environment for the private sector looks like). They are totally not, y'know, demanding post-doctorate employees work seven days a week in their labs, doing science, or anything.
Mr. Trzupek sees the Thought Police in action at Rollins College by the way the faculty reacted to an op-ed posted in the student newspaper against "anchor babies". Mr Trzupek has a legitimate complaint against the tone arguments deployed against the student, but his Thought Police accusations against the faculty that are dismayed that such an opinion appears in the paper without a counterwight, and that argue that "anchor babies" are a myth, are off-base. Hypothesizing about anchor babies places the burden of proof on the hypothesizer to provide evidence to support their position. It is not Thought Police to request that evidence and to present your own that says the concept is a myth. Unless Mr. Trzupek can provide evidence of wrongdoing by faculty members improperly using their position to attack the student, he's got not case for Thought Police. Try again.
Mr. Gainor does a little bit better with the Conspiracy Department, trying to tie all sorts of groups to George Soros as a master puppetteer, trying to remake the world in his own, liberal-inspired image. I suppose we should be either offended...or impressed... that liberals only have one, when you can take your pick in the conservative department among various CEOs, Roger Ailes, Rupert Murdoch, Glenn Beck, or any number of another personalities with monies.
Oh, and speaking of Beck, here's the letter from the person that Glenn Beck attacked and made far more prominent from that attack that it would ever have been.
Ms. Noonan asks for Presidents to return to a more restrained style, instead of throwing the military at every potential problem spot around the world and being Team America: World Police.
Mr. Stossel, in swinging for the fences, remarkably hits a solid single about the need of gun owners to have their privacy rights protected as well, rather than have their names released and published in papers. The arguments about deterring crime, the Second Amendment, and how the government should be able to police and make sure felons don't get gund by themselves are actually compelling. I'm kind of shocked. Maybe Mr. Stossel should stick to softballs like this for a while to make sure this isn't a fluke.
Last out, another standard accusation that liberals have their head in the sand when it comes to the possibility of China being a threat to the United States, despite the Director of National Intelligence having actually uttered so when asked to decide between China and Russia as the bigger threat.
Last for tonight, a young person's letter describing a need for some tools so he could potentially bring animals or people to life, and the serious response he got that inspired that young person to become a doctor later on.
