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Back from the brink! - 01-02 August 02011
Aug. 2nd, 2011 11:48 pmUp top, here's something important - more love for those who could use more - nominate those who aren't already there, leave comments for those who are already nominated.
Out in the world today, Iraq intends to buy some war planes from the United States - someone should be getting some economic benefit from this. Will that trickle down to the people in the United States?
The Catholic Church continues to deny that there should be inquiries into allegations of sexual abuse by priests, because there's not much more to learn. Other than to get justice for the victims, and hopefully not keep covering up the priests who did those things.
Domestically, There is now a gang of Twelve in charge of cutting entitlements to ribbons. Of course, they could cut other things, like two unpaid land wars in Asia, but that's unlikely. Entitlements are the things the Republicans will want and the Democrats will cave in on. Don't expect the President to suddenly start exposing the shell game, either. And worse, if they're actually serious, then they could cause the recession they claim to be trying to get us out of.
If you asked them, the American people would provide the digitus impudicus to the plans presented so far and provide a plan where the rich start paying in their fair share and the sacrifices are shared, if they need to exist. It's really too bad, then, that the voices that seem to be coming through the din are ones that claim the Congress should sit on their hands and force the President and Democrats to make hard decisions in cutting spending or in trying to raise taxes and suffer the blame for that. Because, y'know, the President has the authority to declare new taxes through fiat, and "balance" means only tax increases, instead of a mix of cutting and raising revenues. They also tend to claim the President says lots of nice oration about fairness and balance, but what he really means is to soak the rich and spend whatever he can get from them, without limits or caps in place, and then blame the other party for all the debts and defecits.
The new debt deal did have one good thing associated with it - the return of Representative Gabrielle Giffords to the House of Representatives after an attempted assassination attempt left her fighting for life.
As the end of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy approaches in September, several chaplains with conservative religious views believe they are going to be silenced and prevented from speaking about their beliefs in the face of the new policy. This sounds familiar - it's the refrain of most of the conservative whenever some sort of social liberal or progressive policy is enacted. And to this point, I have not seen any sort of flash mobs forming to persecute the majority belief system.
In technology, a drone that can insert itself in between telephone and data conversations on GSM networks, like T-Mobile and AT&T, and convince cell phones to connect to it instead of actual towers.
Harvard University is planning on taking advantage of the new media to rewrite how college courses should be done - almost no lecture, but lots of good reading and guided peer discussion for retention of knowledge. When paired with, say, a book all about getting your DIY on for education credits and credentials, you could pretty nicely educate yourself, even with some actual credits.
Last for tonight in tech, the concept of Telex, a protocol that will use ISPs and cryptographic keys to divert connections behind a Great Firewall that appear to be headed to acceptable websites toward the actual TOR nodes or forbidden websites that were actually requested. When combined with software like TOR, it would be possible to have a significant amount of anonymity and protection from spies, censors, and those looking for proxy servers and holes in the firewall.
In opinions, Mr. Greenwald takes on the response of the United States to attacks (kill the civil liberties! Do it now! NOW! Inspire fear and terror about the next attack!) to the responses of other countries when attacked by those intending terror (FUCK. YOU. Terrorists. Now face our court system.)
Elsewhere, Mr. North says that the United States needs to turn its attention to Iran and impose unilateral sanctions against them in addition to barring any company that does business in Iran from doing business in the United States.
Mr. Blackwell believes there are plots afoot to repeal the Electoral College or require the delegates to vote as the National Popular Election does, and he is in full panic mode about how doing so would allow the people to vote in the President they want with no check on whether that person is qualified and/or will drive the country into ruin. As opposed to say, marshaling their forces and choosing their own candidate through direct participation, perhaps? That way, the sanctity of the system, and the last check that legislatures and moneyed interests have against an actual populist being elected.
Speaking of terorism, Evan Sayet suggests that the mainstream media is not actually biased against everything that conservatives hold dear, but are instead slavishly following their one standard - there is no truth, so anything that disrupts what other people hold as truth is something they want to report. Even if it means spinning the story to get to that point.
Ms. Saunders decries the practice of restricting children in high-population countries, because of their focus on male children which makes females all the more precious and prized...and more likely to be sold into the sex trade in poorer countries. Thus, she suggests that sex selection decisions be considered a human rights offense.
Last for tonight, Mr. Pendry blames Carter, Bush I, Clinton, and Obama for gutting the military and making it weak and ineffective and unable to defeat the terrorists that yearn to destroy the United States. But Reagan and Bush II get flying colors for unlimited military spending and not questioning them. Or, if you'd like a bit more sweeping generalizations, Mr. Ajami says that Obama is a failure in all that he does because he lacks the optimism and faith in American exceptionalism that other successful Presidents have had, and the people reject pessimists in office.
Out in the world today, Iraq intends to buy some war planes from the United States - someone should be getting some economic benefit from this. Will that trickle down to the people in the United States?
The Catholic Church continues to deny that there should be inquiries into allegations of sexual abuse by priests, because there's not much more to learn. Other than to get justice for the victims, and hopefully not keep covering up the priests who did those things.
Domestically, There is now a gang of Twelve in charge of cutting entitlements to ribbons. Of course, they could cut other things, like two unpaid land wars in Asia, but that's unlikely. Entitlements are the things the Republicans will want and the Democrats will cave in on. Don't expect the President to suddenly start exposing the shell game, either. And worse, if they're actually serious, then they could cause the recession they claim to be trying to get us out of.
If you asked them, the American people would provide the digitus impudicus to the plans presented so far and provide a plan where the rich start paying in their fair share and the sacrifices are shared, if they need to exist. It's really too bad, then, that the voices that seem to be coming through the din are ones that claim the Congress should sit on their hands and force the President and Democrats to make hard decisions in cutting spending or in trying to raise taxes and suffer the blame for that. Because, y'know, the President has the authority to declare new taxes through fiat, and "balance" means only tax increases, instead of a mix of cutting and raising revenues. They also tend to claim the President says lots of nice oration about fairness and balance, but what he really means is to soak the rich and spend whatever he can get from them, without limits or caps in place, and then blame the other party for all the debts and defecits.
The new debt deal did have one good thing associated with it - the return of Representative Gabrielle Giffords to the House of Representatives after an attempted assassination attempt left her fighting for life.
As the end of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy approaches in September, several chaplains with conservative religious views believe they are going to be silenced and prevented from speaking about their beliefs in the face of the new policy. This sounds familiar - it's the refrain of most of the conservative whenever some sort of social liberal or progressive policy is enacted. And to this point, I have not seen any sort of flash mobs forming to persecute the majority belief system.
In technology, a drone that can insert itself in between telephone and data conversations on GSM networks, like T-Mobile and AT&T, and convince cell phones to connect to it instead of actual towers.
Harvard University is planning on taking advantage of the new media to rewrite how college courses should be done - almost no lecture, but lots of good reading and guided peer discussion for retention of knowledge. When paired with, say, a book all about getting your DIY on for education credits and credentials, you could pretty nicely educate yourself, even with some actual credits.
Last for tonight in tech, the concept of Telex, a protocol that will use ISPs and cryptographic keys to divert connections behind a Great Firewall that appear to be headed to acceptable websites toward the actual TOR nodes or forbidden websites that were actually requested. When combined with software like TOR, it would be possible to have a significant amount of anonymity and protection from spies, censors, and those looking for proxy servers and holes in the firewall.
In opinions, Mr. Greenwald takes on the response of the United States to attacks (kill the civil liberties! Do it now! NOW! Inspire fear and terror about the next attack!) to the responses of other countries when attacked by those intending terror (FUCK. YOU. Terrorists. Now face our court system.)
Elsewhere, Mr. North says that the United States needs to turn its attention to Iran and impose unilateral sanctions against them in addition to barring any company that does business in Iran from doing business in the United States.
Mr. Blackwell believes there are plots afoot to repeal the Electoral College or require the delegates to vote as the National Popular Election does, and he is in full panic mode about how doing so would allow the people to vote in the President they want with no check on whether that person is qualified and/or will drive the country into ruin. As opposed to say, marshaling their forces and choosing their own candidate through direct participation, perhaps? That way, the sanctity of the system, and the last check that legislatures and moneyed interests have against an actual populist being elected.
Speaking of terorism, Evan Sayet suggests that the mainstream media is not actually biased against everything that conservatives hold dear, but are instead slavishly following their one standard - there is no truth, so anything that disrupts what other people hold as truth is something they want to report. Even if it means spinning the story to get to that point.
Ms. Saunders decries the practice of restricting children in high-population countries, because of their focus on male children which makes females all the more precious and prized...and more likely to be sold into the sex trade in poorer countries. Thus, she suggests that sex selection decisions be considered a human rights offense.
Last for tonight, Mr. Pendry blames Carter, Bush I, Clinton, and Obama for gutting the military and making it weak and ineffective and unable to defeat the terrorists that yearn to destroy the United States. But Reagan and Bush II get flying colors for unlimited military spending and not questioning them. Or, if you'd like a bit more sweeping generalizations, Mr. Ajami says that Obama is a failure in all that he does because he lacks the optimism and faith in American exceptionalism that other successful Presidents have had, and the people reject pessimists in office.
