Rally-ho! - 21 March 2008
Mar. 21st, 2008 05:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
silveradeptEnd of the week, so here we go. Things are starting to get interesting, and so we hope that there's plenty of interesting material for all of you to enjoy.
Zimbabwe's opposition leader lays out the probles of the country today, planting the cause squarely on the ruling party and president. Africa seems to have a lot of trouble with finding stable and noncorrupt governmental forms. Could that be attributed to the way that the former colonies became independent, whether through colonists leaving or revolutions?
In domestic news, Citigroup has warned that "The Great Unwinding" has begun, which sounds like if we thought what has come before is a recession, what is yet to come will be more like a steel bear trap closing on several areas of the economy. We're not at the bottom yet, but instead of enjoying the way down, now we're panicked that we can't stop.
Contractors on three separate occasions were looking at the confidential passport files of presidential candidates, a violation of the candidates' privacy. Two contractors have since been dismissed from their posts and one more was disciplined. Supposedly, these violations happened starting in January, and just now the State Department is gettign around to addressing them, or even apparently knowing of their existence. The matter was not passed up the chain of command in any speedy manner.
Linda Chavez says that the real issue why the country isn't doing well is because children don't have Mom-and-Dad families. Yes, that's it. The prevalence of single mothers and divorces is obviously what's bringing the country down. Rapacious corporations, discriminatory politics, a war that has too many parallels to Nineteen Eighty-Four, lack of available and inexpensive family planning options, governments and citizens that turn blind eyes to redeveloping and renovating the slums into somewhere that people can be proud of living in, all of these are secondary to the fact that there are women raising children without men or marriage. Well, there are other countries where women have to be in the company of men to do anything. How are those countries working out, hm?
With Regard to Senator Obama's speech on race and Pastor Jeremiah Wright, Peggy Noonan provides a nuanced examination that shows the good points, like speaking to the American people like they weren't idiots and being honest about the past of America. There was also the bad, which was her perception that the Democratic party insists on painting America as darker, dingier, and more evil than it actually is. She's right that this speech is probably the make-or-break proposition for Senator Obama. It will help decide his candidacy, and it may very well decide his electability in the general.
Barbara Ehrenreich in the Nation finds Senator Clinton's affiliations as worthy of scrutiny as well, considering them to be potentially more dangerous that Senator Obama's, as well as a possible cause for Senator Clinton's often-conservative leanings.
Other matters in the Democratic crosshairs include Douglas Schoen's insistence that the Democratic party hold new primaries for Michigan and Florida to seat their delegates, lest the disenfranchisement of two strong states push the election to the Republican candidate.
Putting politics and technology together, URBEINGRECORDED examines the ways that social networking sites are making impacts on political opinions and leanings, using the example of PoliTweets and Digg, finding much positive about Senator Obama, and mostly negative about Senator McCain and Senator Clinton, but ultimately interested in the ways which blogging, Twitter, and Digg are expressions of the democratic impulse of voters, casting their votes many times over before actually casting a vote. We'll have to see whether this trend starts accurately reflecting the populace as a whole, or a significant subset.
Turd Blossom puts out a new pile, calling the Democrats weak on security and out of touch with the nation's opinion on Iraq. Based on his assesment of carefully-worded opinion polls. Rove preys on the logical capacities of people, noting that many say that an immediate withdrawal would be bad, and that it would be beneficial to establish at least a minimum of security before leaving. Logical positions. That Rove then uses them as a hammer to say that the Democratic candidates are still weak on security because they adovcate for withdrawal as soon as feasible is disingenuous, but considering who Mr. Rove's previous employers were, I'd say that's par for the course. An unsigned editorial also in the Wall Street Journal repudiates the Democrats for passing a FISA bill withotu telecom immunity and that requires court orders to wiretap. It's still remarkably easy to obtain a warrant from the FISA court. Telecommunications companies should be punished for not requiring that the government produce a lawful order before installing surveillance equipment. All of this shows our respect for the laws of the country and our unwillingness to see them subverted by a dictatorial President trying to scare the populace into letting him be a legal dictator. Victor Davis Hanson says that we can fix our problems, if we put our minds and efforts to them, and actually decide to live according to our highest ideals.
In science (SCIENCE!) - a naked eye-visible gamma ray burst, which could have spelled really bad news for the planet had it been closer. Also potentially disturbing are giant swa creatures found in the Anarctic. There may yet be a Kraken of proper size developed somewhere on the planet. Speaking of Terra, Terra, Luna, and Mars may be composed of different building materials than the asteroids or Mercury, which could change the theory that all the inner planets came out of the same stuff near Sol. More research needed. Perhaps of more immediate concern are 25 environmental threats of the future. Things like grey goo, using viruses to kill viruses, and more drastic measure in trying to correct climate changes all ranked on the list.
PZ Meyers, the author of the blog Pharyngula, was expelled from the showing of the creationist movie Expelled. That said, the rest of his family, and his guest, the esteemed Richard Dawkins, were permitted inside the theather without incident. Quite the ego-boost to Meyers, I'd guess, that he was considered the dangerous one and Dawkins was permitted inside. All this was done after the producers had done an interview under false pretenses with him, saying their interview was for a movie of a different name, "Crossroads". (Also note that apparently Dawkins "crashed" the screening, despite being let it and having had to show his name and identification to be there.) All told, however, it sounds like the movie was absolutely dreadful and all the skeptics had a good laugh at it. Nomad gives an accounting of what went on in the cinema, and The Amused Muse does the same. All told, Expelled Exposed will be collecting all the material about this particular item. I expect a lot of derision and mockery to follow.
In Aurora, Illinois, even with the Planned Parenthood having been open for five months, the protestors aren't planning on letting up any time soon. The fervor and zeal of the protesters has to be respected. I still believe that the majority of women who go to PP for their reproductive services, including abortions, do so after having thought about the consequences and expenses of their actions compared to alternatives. To provide some reasons why continuing to provide services like abortion is necessary, a doctor that performs abortions explains the reasons why he does so. Said doctor has also been shot and stabbed for the work he does by people protesting.
Last for tonight, a reminder for all of us in our pursuits to play by the Spirit of the Game.
Zimbabwe's opposition leader lays out the probles of the country today, planting the cause squarely on the ruling party and president. Africa seems to have a lot of trouble with finding stable and noncorrupt governmental forms. Could that be attributed to the way that the former colonies became independent, whether through colonists leaving or revolutions?
In domestic news, Citigroup has warned that "The Great Unwinding" has begun, which sounds like if we thought what has come before is a recession, what is yet to come will be more like a steel bear trap closing on several areas of the economy. We're not at the bottom yet, but instead of enjoying the way down, now we're panicked that we can't stop.
Contractors on three separate occasions were looking at the confidential passport files of presidential candidates, a violation of the candidates' privacy. Two contractors have since been dismissed from their posts and one more was disciplined. Supposedly, these violations happened starting in January, and just now the State Department is gettign around to addressing them, or even apparently knowing of their existence. The matter was not passed up the chain of command in any speedy manner.
Linda Chavez says that the real issue why the country isn't doing well is because children don't have Mom-and-Dad families. Yes, that's it. The prevalence of single mothers and divorces is obviously what's bringing the country down. Rapacious corporations, discriminatory politics, a war that has too many parallels to Nineteen Eighty-Four, lack of available and inexpensive family planning options, governments and citizens that turn blind eyes to redeveloping and renovating the slums into somewhere that people can be proud of living in, all of these are secondary to the fact that there are women raising children without men or marriage. Well, there are other countries where women have to be in the company of men to do anything. How are those countries working out, hm?
With Regard to Senator Obama's speech on race and Pastor Jeremiah Wright, Peggy Noonan provides a nuanced examination that shows the good points, like speaking to the American people like they weren't idiots and being honest about the past of America. There was also the bad, which was her perception that the Democratic party insists on painting America as darker, dingier, and more evil than it actually is. She's right that this speech is probably the make-or-break proposition for Senator Obama. It will help decide his candidacy, and it may very well decide his electability in the general.
Barbara Ehrenreich in the Nation finds Senator Clinton's affiliations as worthy of scrutiny as well, considering them to be potentially more dangerous that Senator Obama's, as well as a possible cause for Senator Clinton's often-conservative leanings.
Other matters in the Democratic crosshairs include Douglas Schoen's insistence that the Democratic party hold new primaries for Michigan and Florida to seat their delegates, lest the disenfranchisement of two strong states push the election to the Republican candidate.
Putting politics and technology together, URBEINGRECORDED examines the ways that social networking sites are making impacts on political opinions and leanings, using the example of PoliTweets and Digg, finding much positive about Senator Obama, and mostly negative about Senator McCain and Senator Clinton, but ultimately interested in the ways which blogging, Twitter, and Digg are expressions of the democratic impulse of voters, casting their votes many times over before actually casting a vote. We'll have to see whether this trend starts accurately reflecting the populace as a whole, or a significant subset.
Turd Blossom puts out a new pile, calling the Democrats weak on security and out of touch with the nation's opinion on Iraq. Based on his assesment of carefully-worded opinion polls. Rove preys on the logical capacities of people, noting that many say that an immediate withdrawal would be bad, and that it would be beneficial to establish at least a minimum of security before leaving. Logical positions. That Rove then uses them as a hammer to say that the Democratic candidates are still weak on security because they adovcate for withdrawal as soon as feasible is disingenuous, but considering who Mr. Rove's previous employers were, I'd say that's par for the course. An unsigned editorial also in the Wall Street Journal repudiates the Democrats for passing a FISA bill withotu telecom immunity and that requires court orders to wiretap. It's still remarkably easy to obtain a warrant from the FISA court. Telecommunications companies should be punished for not requiring that the government produce a lawful order before installing surveillance equipment. All of this shows our respect for the laws of the country and our unwillingness to see them subverted by a dictatorial President trying to scare the populace into letting him be a legal dictator. Victor Davis Hanson says that we can fix our problems, if we put our minds and efforts to them, and actually decide to live according to our highest ideals.
In science (SCIENCE!) - a naked eye-visible gamma ray burst, which could have spelled really bad news for the planet had it been closer. Also potentially disturbing are giant swa creatures found in the Anarctic. There may yet be a Kraken of proper size developed somewhere on the planet. Speaking of Terra, Terra, Luna, and Mars may be composed of different building materials than the asteroids or Mercury, which could change the theory that all the inner planets came out of the same stuff near Sol. More research needed. Perhaps of more immediate concern are 25 environmental threats of the future. Things like grey goo, using viruses to kill viruses, and more drastic measure in trying to correct climate changes all ranked on the list.
PZ Meyers, the author of the blog Pharyngula, was expelled from the showing of the creationist movie Expelled. That said, the rest of his family, and his guest, the esteemed Richard Dawkins, were permitted inside the theather without incident. Quite the ego-boost to Meyers, I'd guess, that he was considered the dangerous one and Dawkins was permitted inside. All this was done after the producers had done an interview under false pretenses with him, saying their interview was for a movie of a different name, "Crossroads". (Also note that apparently Dawkins "crashed" the screening, despite being let it and having had to show his name and identification to be there.) All told, however, it sounds like the movie was absolutely dreadful and all the skeptics had a good laugh at it. Nomad gives an accounting of what went on in the cinema, and The Amused Muse does the same. All told, Expelled Exposed will be collecting all the material about this particular item. I expect a lot of derision and mockery to follow.
In Aurora, Illinois, even with the Planned Parenthood having been open for five months, the protestors aren't planning on letting up any time soon. The fervor and zeal of the protesters has to be respected. I still believe that the majority of women who go to PP for their reproductive services, including abortions, do so after having thought about the consequences and expenses of their actions compared to alternatives. To provide some reasons why continuing to provide services like abortion is necessary, a doctor that performs abortions explains the reasons why he does so. Said doctor has also been shot and stabbed for the work he does by people protesting.
Last for tonight, a reminder for all of us in our pursuits to play by the Spirit of the Game.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-03-22 01:21 am (UTC)Linda Chavez says that the real issue why the country isn't doing well is because children don't have Mom-and-Dad families. Yes, that's it. The prevalence of single mothers and divorces is obviously what's bringing the country down. Rapacious corporations, discriminatory politics, a war that has too many parallels to Nineteen Eighty-Four, lack of available and inexpensive family planning options, governments and citizens that turn blind eyes to redeveloping and renovating the slums into somewhere that people can be proud of living in, all of these are secondary to the fact that there are women raising children without men or marriage. Well, there are other countries where women have to be in the company of men to do anything. How are those countries working out, hm?
Oh. My. Gawd. So. Fucking. True.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-22 02:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-22 03:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-23 06:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-24 05:38 pm (UTC)The fervor and zeal of the Aurora protester's does not have to be respected. Understood and analyzed, yes. They are very well organized and have some brutally successful intimidation tactics. They can't be stopped without a deep understanding of the belief system driving them, and the tactics they employ. But there is no "respect but disagree" about this issue because on the most basic level, their point of view has no respect for me as a woman and as a human being.
I had a discussion with a much-respected professor in college about how I could call myself open-minded if I wasn't willing to respect everyone's opinion. Where is the line? Doesn't everyone have a right to their opinion even if I disagree? Isn't it kind of arrogant to deny someone else their opinion cause it's "wrong" to me? He said to me "When one person's views enforces oppression on someone else, you cannot respect that view. You can't take part in a system that oppresses others, in the name of being fair."
I wrestle with what he said a lot when I examine views that are different than mine. As I would want respect for my views, I try to dole out respect for the views of others. But this issue passes the "no respect" test for me.
Just to be clear, this isn't a slam on your choice of words Silver, or me trying to call you out as a secret anti-choice supporter ;-) It just sparked discussion in my head, so I'm sharing.
And ps, thank you for the link to the speech from the abortion doctor. It was beautiful and moving, and nice to read a women's rights link that didn't raise my blood pressure 10 points. :-)
no subject
Date: 2008-03-24 07:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-24 08:13 pm (UTC)That's exactly what I'm saying though. This isn't an issue that I can say "We are diametrically opposed, but I'll grant you respect for your tenacity and willingness to campaign for a cause." Just by granting them that small amount of respect, it validates that it's a cause worth that kind of tenacity, that there is some scrap of validating good in the protester's cause that justifies their opinion. I don't think the content of the campaign and the actions associated can be separated on this issue, and I don't think there are words other than "horrified amazement" at their continued protests.
But this is a much harder-line opposition than I usually feel toward my opponents, so I'm exploring my brainwaves out loud with you. Usually I try to respect all opinions, but this issue crosses the line for me.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-24 08:49 pm (UTC)