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Regular News posting - 22-24 May 02011
May. 24th, 2011 09:36 amGreetings. Observe the following - how a lie, or a misquotation, gets halfway across the world before fact-checking puts its pants on. In this case, someone just dropped some quotation marks. In others, the person who actually said it is eclipsed by someone better-known for their quip-making, and the better-known person gets the credit because they're known for it.
And then, take a tour of what your local public library is like, every day, from before opening to past closing. The example here is San Francisco, but the basics of the message is what happens in your library - when you're there, and when you're not. You and all of those other people depend on libraries for more than just their book functions. Why would anyone want to get rid of that resource?
Out in the world today, what do you do when you try to get away from an abusive relationship, only to find your own church pursuing you to force you back in?
Continued debate over whether the killing of Osama bin Laden was legal under the conventions of war and International Humanitarian Law, as Donald Rumsfeld says with pride that his administration would have done exactly the same thing, had they been given the chance. Which doesn't exactly score points for the justice side of the scale.
Spanish citizens rallied and demonstrated, defying a governmental ban on demonstrations after the end of campaign season for elections. Things like unemployment do not simply stop being issues because there's a vote...
The Russian Federation warned that an arms race might develop if the United States goes forward with a planned missile defense shield in Europe.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and U.S. President Barack Obama engaged in talks regarding the situation of Israel and Palestine, but the PM believed that the 1967 borders solution provided by the President would be indefensible.
Domestically, A significant amount of businesses pressed the Tennessee state legislature to pass a bill that would forbid municipalities from adopting their own measures regarding discrimination, so that way, Nashville's protection of QUILTBAG people would be nullified because the state doesn't have similar measures. This is also in conjunction with the "Don't Say Gay" bill that has also passed the legislature - for which George Takei is willing to lend his namesake as the euphemism of choice. (Although, we think that he was doing this before this bill, it has a familiar ring to it. Perhaps it's someone else's brilliant idea that now has his backing?) If you want to complain to those businesses, here is some contact information for their social media presence.
Missouri suffered a severe tornado, with at least 116 killed before the energy of the storm dissipated. The winds are angrier this year, it seems. There's Tornado Alley, and then there's this.
The manner in which Microsoft paid to acquire Skype allowed the company to avoid paying United States corporate taxes on the deal. Microsoft had sufficient funds off-shore in such a way that they could purchse the company without any money ever having to pass through the United States and be taxed. Thus, argue the Republicans, we should lower corporate taxes to give them incentives to actually use U.S. money and pay taxes on it. But when the effective rate is zero, it matters not where something happens.
The United States Congress is still too afraid of the Terrists, or too enamored of the new police powers, to let USAPATRIOT provisions sunset as they should have some time ago. Then again, when the Secret Service can mistake a seventh grader's comment on Facebook for a serious threat against the President and question him without any advocates present, perhaps we should be leaning heavily toward the latter rather than the former. The police like being able to enter without warrants and have that ability upheld, despite the clear Constitutional prohibitions on warrantless police actions or at least to delay notifying you that they had a warrant and have searched your house until long after they did the action.
And if you talk about any of those things or how they're being applied, you will be prosecuted zealously under the Espionage Act or other statutes now being wielded to tell whistleblowers that they are not welcome.
An argument to be made about whether the TSA, as a federal agency, is actually subject to state laws passed to regulate its activities. The argument is from the "Tenth Amendment Center", so the conclusions they draw should be no surprise.
Media cabals are gearing up to pursue legal action against cloud-storage sites, following the argument that if their users store infringing material on the cloud sites, those sites can be sued or taken down.
The newest defense authorization bill contains provisions that would end the restriction on women serving in direct combat roles.
A new NACE study on wages says that there is a 17 per cent gap between starting salaries for new college graduates depending on whether the graduate is a man or a woman. Even when controlling for majors and some other factors, there is still a gap. Trying to figure out why, whether it's family-unfriendly workplaces, or women being told socially not to negotiate aggressively for higher salaries, or employers who deliberately want to lowball female employees based on this. There are clearly factors at work, and it would be nice to make headway into what they are so as to see if they're the kinds of things to be fixed, adjusted, or otherwise noted.
In technology, an internal Apple memo tells customer support to bury its head in the sand when customers call about malware.
In opinions, accustaions of hypocrisy against the President on all of his major platform promises, focusing mostly on how the Two Land Wars in Asia have continued and the continued support of Israel. On the conservative side, the President is to be lambasted for not supporting Israel against all comers. He is making George W. Bush proud by doing exactly as Bush did, except for the part where President Obama is totally throwing Israel to the radical militants and The Bloodthirsty Religion. Because Everyone Knows the United States and Israel should be bestest buds forever and ever, and that an Israel with the suggested 1967 borders would be one that could be easily destroyed by Palestinians or others. So shame on your, President Obama, clack the keyboards, because in not supporting Israel dearly, you've opened the door for terrorists and Bloodthirsty Religionists to take over the entire Middle East and turn it into terrorist paradise, from which they will send terrorists to America to wreak violence at home. Because clearly all the democratic impulses are going to be subverted by The Bloodthirsty Religion, and there's no way any of them could elect a government that isn't immediately devoted to the destruction of Israel and the U.S. So, good job for following George W. Bush, even though the conclusion is something we will hate you for?
Mr. Gates spoke to Notre Dame graduates and told them that the military should get everything it wants and more, lest America be somehow weakened.
The WSJ insists that the Republicans, having broached the subject of entitlement reform, must now go through with it to the very end, and must also be sure to silence any other critics of the Ryan plan by any means necessary, lest the plan stop being taken seriously.
Finally, a co-author of the Papers Please Law defends the need for laws that require verification of ID for those that vote and a proof of citizenship for new voters. He's not arguing from a position of strength, considering that previous association, but he presents what he believes are compelling arguments that it's no inconvenience at all for voters to have to show ID to vote, and that voter fraud is prevalent enough in elections that these laws are necessary. He chooses the kinds of races that can be decided in small counts, like municipal elections or state house/senate races, and not the bigger ones, as his proof. And besides, he says, you need ID to do anything in this world, so why not one to vote? And everyone has their birth certificate or naturalization papers with them when they want to vote for the first time at university, or even though they're advanced in years but just now getting to vote, or after they've settled in Kansas after moving to find work again, as well as an appropriate state-issued identification to show at the polls, or a driver license should they vote absentee. It's just assumed that everyone will have such things, because they have the time and the money to go to DMVs or SoS offices and wait to get their ID, money for the Department of Vital Records to furnish a copy of their birth certificates (or INS to get naturalization paper copies from), and are at their permanent addresses (or have permanent addresses) to do their registration and voting at. Of course, that's also assuming that they aren't challenged on the validity of their identification by a poll watcher, too.
And then, take a tour of what your local public library is like, every day, from before opening to past closing. The example here is San Francisco, but the basics of the message is what happens in your library - when you're there, and when you're not. You and all of those other people depend on libraries for more than just their book functions. Why would anyone want to get rid of that resource?
Out in the world today, what do you do when you try to get away from an abusive relationship, only to find your own church pursuing you to force you back in?
Continued debate over whether the killing of Osama bin Laden was legal under the conventions of war and International Humanitarian Law, as Donald Rumsfeld says with pride that his administration would have done exactly the same thing, had they been given the chance. Which doesn't exactly score points for the justice side of the scale.
Spanish citizens rallied and demonstrated, defying a governmental ban on demonstrations after the end of campaign season for elections. Things like unemployment do not simply stop being issues because there's a vote...
The Russian Federation warned that an arms race might develop if the United States goes forward with a planned missile defense shield in Europe.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and U.S. President Barack Obama engaged in talks regarding the situation of Israel and Palestine, but the PM believed that the 1967 borders solution provided by the President would be indefensible.
Domestically, A significant amount of businesses pressed the Tennessee state legislature to pass a bill that would forbid municipalities from adopting their own measures regarding discrimination, so that way, Nashville's protection of QUILTBAG people would be nullified because the state doesn't have similar measures. This is also in conjunction with the "Don't Say Gay" bill that has also passed the legislature - for which George Takei is willing to lend his namesake as the euphemism of choice. (Although, we think that he was doing this before this bill, it has a familiar ring to it. Perhaps it's someone else's brilliant idea that now has his backing?) If you want to complain to those businesses, here is some contact information for their social media presence.
Missouri suffered a severe tornado, with at least 116 killed before the energy of the storm dissipated. The winds are angrier this year, it seems. There's Tornado Alley, and then there's this.
The manner in which Microsoft paid to acquire Skype allowed the company to avoid paying United States corporate taxes on the deal. Microsoft had sufficient funds off-shore in such a way that they could purchse the company without any money ever having to pass through the United States and be taxed. Thus, argue the Republicans, we should lower corporate taxes to give them incentives to actually use U.S. money and pay taxes on it. But when the effective rate is zero, it matters not where something happens.
The United States Congress is still too afraid of the Terrists, or too enamored of the new police powers, to let USAPATRIOT provisions sunset as they should have some time ago. Then again, when the Secret Service can mistake a seventh grader's comment on Facebook for a serious threat against the President and question him without any advocates present, perhaps we should be leaning heavily toward the latter rather than the former. The police like being able to enter without warrants and have that ability upheld, despite the clear Constitutional prohibitions on warrantless police actions or at least to delay notifying you that they had a warrant and have searched your house until long after they did the action.
And if you talk about any of those things or how they're being applied, you will be prosecuted zealously under the Espionage Act or other statutes now being wielded to tell whistleblowers that they are not welcome.
An argument to be made about whether the TSA, as a federal agency, is actually subject to state laws passed to regulate its activities. The argument is from the "Tenth Amendment Center", so the conclusions they draw should be no surprise.
Media cabals are gearing up to pursue legal action against cloud-storage sites, following the argument that if their users store infringing material on the cloud sites, those sites can be sued or taken down.
The newest defense authorization bill contains provisions that would end the restriction on women serving in direct combat roles.
A new NACE study on wages says that there is a 17 per cent gap between starting salaries for new college graduates depending on whether the graduate is a man or a woman. Even when controlling for majors and some other factors, there is still a gap. Trying to figure out why, whether it's family-unfriendly workplaces, or women being told socially not to negotiate aggressively for higher salaries, or employers who deliberately want to lowball female employees based on this. There are clearly factors at work, and it would be nice to make headway into what they are so as to see if they're the kinds of things to be fixed, adjusted, or otherwise noted.
In technology, an internal Apple memo tells customer support to bury its head in the sand when customers call about malware.
In opinions, accustaions of hypocrisy against the President on all of his major platform promises, focusing mostly on how the Two Land Wars in Asia have continued and the continued support of Israel. On the conservative side, the President is to be lambasted for not supporting Israel against all comers. He is making George W. Bush proud by doing exactly as Bush did, except for the part where President Obama is totally throwing Israel to the radical militants and The Bloodthirsty Religion. Because Everyone Knows the United States and Israel should be bestest buds forever and ever, and that an Israel with the suggested 1967 borders would be one that could be easily destroyed by Palestinians or others. So shame on your, President Obama, clack the keyboards, because in not supporting Israel dearly, you've opened the door for terrorists and Bloodthirsty Religionists to take over the entire Middle East and turn it into terrorist paradise, from which they will send terrorists to America to wreak violence at home. Because clearly all the democratic impulses are going to be subverted by The Bloodthirsty Religion, and there's no way any of them could elect a government that isn't immediately devoted to the destruction of Israel and the U.S. So, good job for following George W. Bush, even though the conclusion is something we will hate you for?
Mr. Gates spoke to Notre Dame graduates and told them that the military should get everything it wants and more, lest America be somehow weakened.
The WSJ insists that the Republicans, having broached the subject of entitlement reform, must now go through with it to the very end, and must also be sure to silence any other critics of the Ryan plan by any means necessary, lest the plan stop being taken seriously.
Finally, a co-author of the Papers Please Law defends the need for laws that require verification of ID for those that vote and a proof of citizenship for new voters. He's not arguing from a position of strength, considering that previous association, but he presents what he believes are compelling arguments that it's no inconvenience at all for voters to have to show ID to vote, and that voter fraud is prevalent enough in elections that these laws are necessary. He chooses the kinds of races that can be decided in small counts, like municipal elections or state house/senate races, and not the bigger ones, as his proof. And besides, he says, you need ID to do anything in this world, so why not one to vote? And everyone has their birth certificate or naturalization papers with them when they want to vote for the first time at university, or even though they're advanced in years but just now getting to vote, or after they've settled in Kansas after moving to find work again, as well as an appropriate state-issued identification to show at the polls, or a driver license should they vote absentee. It's just assumed that everyone will have such things, because they have the time and the money to go to DMVs or SoS offices and wait to get their ID, money for the Department of Vital Records to furnish a copy of their birth certificates (or INS to get naturalization paper copies from), and are at their permanent addresses (or have permanent addresses) to do their registration and voting at. Of course, that's also assuming that they aren't challenged on the validity of their identification by a poll watcher, too.
