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silveradeptGreetings once again, audience who spends some moments of their time reading my generally unoriginal work. We’re happy to have you here, even in these times of economic instability, where even Starbucks has financial problems and Canadians masquerade as Americans, instaed of the other way around, and a secular candidate wins the mayorial election in Jerusalem.
And greetings to the new world where after the courts of California finally ruled that "seperate but equal" is neither in all cases, the voting populace rejected that idea, as they did before, and reinstituted discriminatory rule. Not that we hate you, individual person, but we do wonder why you did that or supported it. It’s not like we don’t have an example in recent history where we went from being exclusive to inclusive and benefited from it - after all, on that same ballot, you elected a man President who wouldn’t have been able to run two generations ago. So, if you don’t agree with it, but you voted for it because your church said you should, doesn’t that mean it’s time to re-examine your beliefs and whether they actually jibe with the church you go to? This disassociative identity problem is incredible to a lot of us. You’ll get another shot at doing it right this time, because Connecticut just decided that civil unions weren't enough and that it's marriage or bust. Thankfully, while you’re mixing religion and politics in contravention of the constitution of the country, it hasn't gotten to the point of enforcing one orthodoxy on everyone, with the Religious Police as a govenment-paid entity. As the Slacktivist notes, though, deciding to turn the right of marriage into a privilege demeans it and gives the state power to withhold it as they will, not as you will. As mentioned before, to continue their compliance, the state of California may have to nix all marriages or get out of the marriage business entirely.
Elsewhere in the world of the future, one blogger thinks it wrong that a public figure successfully sued about a breach of privacy regarding his attendance and participation in an S&M club. Which seems to be getting the attention because of the thematics of said party. So, what does it matter that a politician was there? Is that somehow essential to their political self? Or do we buy the argument still that participation in sexuality other than monogamy is somehow a “moral failing” that deserves exposure?
Here we go again. Giving fodder to the O'RLYs of the world, a new campaign by the American Humanist Association encourages ethical behavior, with or without the presence of gods. The message is excellent, but I can foresee this being someone’s justification for starting the War on Christmas nonsense before the second Harvest Holiday. Which is much like playing VEWPRF music before the second Harvest Holiday.
The future of Afghanistan's conflict seems destined to widen into Pakistan, as the future of Iraq might get bumpy, which would mean a need for Iraqi security to step up as the American presence diminishes, first to bases, then possibly to home, a move that already has columnists declaring the defeat of America in the Iraq War, a war that has been stamped “Mission Accomplished” for more than five (six?) years now.
Looking toward the future, Rebuild The Party is seeking ideas on how to regenerate the Republican Party into something that is relevant and will appeal to the voting populace. Others are looking to those who are inspiring now to help with combating the pessimism of today.
Others do not share that optimism, seeing in the future the downfall of globalism and the strong resurgence of having to do everything locally, including shops and retail, away from the Big Box Model. For others, it's going to be the end of Wall Street as we knew it, because people are finally paying for the fact that they got sold on something that anyone who ran the numbers would have told you is worthless. Cal Thomas declares the automobile industry is already on the way down, and bailing it out would not stop anything, whereas renegotiation of contracts to stop pension and benefit bloat will. For the WSJ, China's increase in social program spending might be the way of kickstarting the global economy back up. Huh. Chinese socialism works in this case, while supposedly American socialism is horrible for us?
Still others view the elction of President Obama as the kiss of death to the way the Founders had intended the President be selected, that the electoral college would vote for their top two, the House would decide if there was no clear winner, and the populace would be, by and large, left entirely out of the process, so that people with great oratorical skills to appeal to the populace, but no political resume, would be excluded as well. In doing so, admittedly, the perception of media bias, either as a function of polls or as of ideology might be avoided. As the article notes, though, a lot of that supposedly biased coverage was doing what journalism should do - investigate and compare what’s being said to what’s been done to find the truth. This does not stop David Limbaugh from proclaiming that now that there are liberals in charge, there will be an active pogrom to exterminate all forms of conservatism on the airwaves and in the schools.
There’s likely to be pragmatism in the future, which includes possibly leaving Senator Lieberman where he is, despite his willingness to be non-progressive and thus possibly a hindrance to the new administration. Devolving into polarization, however, would probably be worse. On that point, some of the current administrator's selections will likely stay on into the new administration, because they are seen as civil servants trying to do their best, rather than as partisan people who will only get in the way. And, as Glen Greenwald points out, the legislative branch should not want another executive poking his nose in their business - using his powers to right what went wrong by abuse of powers that he does have, excellent, but then doing as the last one did and abusing those same powers in a different direction? BAD.
More matters on the President-elect and politics include an exhortation to not pass the Employee Free Choice Act, based on the still-mistaken idea that it will remove the secret ballot from the unionization process and permit all sorts of strong-arm techniques to be used by unions to get them into power, a casual dismissal of "intellectuals" as totally wrong about how to rule a country, and dire warnings to Minnesota to run an accurate recount and not let the Democratic Secretary of State manufacture a win for the Democratic Senate candidate.
It’s also the future in many technological ways - some perhaps envisioned by Doctorow, some not. Nanomaterial safety is becoming important, As things are, though, a robot ticketer in Japan will happily charge your phone for tickets to an amusement park. This could be the next future wave, especially if paired with very high-speed inexpensive wireless transmission chips. More news of the future includes more prototypes of flying cars, patent applications for VR headsets, Google adding in a voice and video chat option, as well as using their search engine to track flu symptoms (because people will search for them on Google before calling the doctor, and intelligent pills that can analyze their position before releasing their payload.
Rumors of the future (because I seriously don’t believe it) includes the supposed presence of rogue code in microchips manufactured by the People's Republic of China that permit their intelligence services to access all of the data on any computer that has the chip(s) installed on it. Because they’re hoping that out of the millions of units manufactured and sold, one of them will end up in a sensitive place where they can steal the technology? If that really were the case, why not just zombie the machines into a giant botnet and use that for your cracking or attacking? It would certainly be more cost-effective.
Other rumors include: threats of new terror attacks, bigger than those before.
Even as we look to the future, we have to remember parts of the past, especially those parts that remind us why we don’t do certain things any more. Which makes missile test-firing in the Middle East disheartening. But, if we can successfully navigate those difficulties, then maybe the future as imagined in science fiction can be yours! Although, if you’re the Maldives, you're in the market for a whole new piece of land to house the country.
At the very end, learning to think like Leonardo da Vinci.
And greetings to the new world where after the courts of California finally ruled that "seperate but equal" is neither in all cases, the voting populace rejected that idea, as they did before, and reinstituted discriminatory rule. Not that we hate you, individual person, but we do wonder why you did that or supported it. It’s not like we don’t have an example in recent history where we went from being exclusive to inclusive and benefited from it - after all, on that same ballot, you elected a man President who wouldn’t have been able to run two generations ago. So, if you don’t agree with it, but you voted for it because your church said you should, doesn’t that mean it’s time to re-examine your beliefs and whether they actually jibe with the church you go to? This disassociative identity problem is incredible to a lot of us. You’ll get another shot at doing it right this time, because Connecticut just decided that civil unions weren't enough and that it's marriage or bust. Thankfully, while you’re mixing religion and politics in contravention of the constitution of the country, it hasn't gotten to the point of enforcing one orthodoxy on everyone, with the Religious Police as a govenment-paid entity. As the Slacktivist notes, though, deciding to turn the right of marriage into a privilege demeans it and gives the state power to withhold it as they will, not as you will. As mentioned before, to continue their compliance, the state of California may have to nix all marriages or get out of the marriage business entirely.
Elsewhere in the world of the future, one blogger thinks it wrong that a public figure successfully sued about a breach of privacy regarding his attendance and participation in an S&M club. Which seems to be getting the attention because of the thematics of said party. So, what does it matter that a politician was there? Is that somehow essential to their political self? Or do we buy the argument still that participation in sexuality other than monogamy is somehow a “moral failing” that deserves exposure?
Here we go again. Giving fodder to the O'RLYs of the world, a new campaign by the American Humanist Association encourages ethical behavior, with or without the presence of gods. The message is excellent, but I can foresee this being someone’s justification for starting the War on Christmas nonsense before the second Harvest Holiday. Which is much like playing VEWPRF music before the second Harvest Holiday.
The future of Afghanistan's conflict seems destined to widen into Pakistan, as the future of Iraq might get bumpy, which would mean a need for Iraqi security to step up as the American presence diminishes, first to bases, then possibly to home, a move that already has columnists declaring the defeat of America in the Iraq War, a war that has been stamped “Mission Accomplished” for more than five (six?) years now.
Looking toward the future, Rebuild The Party is seeking ideas on how to regenerate the Republican Party into something that is relevant and will appeal to the voting populace. Others are looking to those who are inspiring now to help with combating the pessimism of today.
Others do not share that optimism, seeing in the future the downfall of globalism and the strong resurgence of having to do everything locally, including shops and retail, away from the Big Box Model. For others, it's going to be the end of Wall Street as we knew it, because people are finally paying for the fact that they got sold on something that anyone who ran the numbers would have told you is worthless. Cal Thomas declares the automobile industry is already on the way down, and bailing it out would not stop anything, whereas renegotiation of contracts to stop pension and benefit bloat will. For the WSJ, China's increase in social program spending might be the way of kickstarting the global economy back up. Huh. Chinese socialism works in this case, while supposedly American socialism is horrible for us?
Still others view the elction of President Obama as the kiss of death to the way the Founders had intended the President be selected, that the electoral college would vote for their top two, the House would decide if there was no clear winner, and the populace would be, by and large, left entirely out of the process, so that people with great oratorical skills to appeal to the populace, but no political resume, would be excluded as well. In doing so, admittedly, the perception of media bias, either as a function of polls or as of ideology might be avoided. As the article notes, though, a lot of that supposedly biased coverage was doing what journalism should do - investigate and compare what’s being said to what’s been done to find the truth. This does not stop David Limbaugh from proclaiming that now that there are liberals in charge, there will be an active pogrom to exterminate all forms of conservatism on the airwaves and in the schools.
There’s likely to be pragmatism in the future, which includes possibly leaving Senator Lieberman where he is, despite his willingness to be non-progressive and thus possibly a hindrance to the new administration. Devolving into polarization, however, would probably be worse. On that point, some of the current administrator's selections will likely stay on into the new administration, because they are seen as civil servants trying to do their best, rather than as partisan people who will only get in the way. And, as Glen Greenwald points out, the legislative branch should not want another executive poking his nose in their business - using his powers to right what went wrong by abuse of powers that he does have, excellent, but then doing as the last one did and abusing those same powers in a different direction? BAD.
More matters on the President-elect and politics include an exhortation to not pass the Employee Free Choice Act, based on the still-mistaken idea that it will remove the secret ballot from the unionization process and permit all sorts of strong-arm techniques to be used by unions to get them into power, a casual dismissal of "intellectuals" as totally wrong about how to rule a country, and dire warnings to Minnesota to run an accurate recount and not let the Democratic Secretary of State manufacture a win for the Democratic Senate candidate.
It’s also the future in many technological ways - some perhaps envisioned by Doctorow, some not. Nanomaterial safety is becoming important, As things are, though, a robot ticketer in Japan will happily charge your phone for tickets to an amusement park. This could be the next future wave, especially if paired with very high-speed inexpensive wireless transmission chips. More news of the future includes more prototypes of flying cars, patent applications for VR headsets, Google adding in a voice and video chat option, as well as using their search engine to track flu symptoms (because people will search for them on Google before calling the doctor, and intelligent pills that can analyze their position before releasing their payload.
Rumors of the future (because I seriously don’t believe it) includes the supposed presence of rogue code in microchips manufactured by the People's Republic of China that permit their intelligence services to access all of the data on any computer that has the chip(s) installed on it. Because they’re hoping that out of the millions of units manufactured and sold, one of them will end up in a sensitive place where they can steal the technology? If that really were the case, why not just zombie the machines into a giant botnet and use that for your cracking or attacking? It would certainly be more cost-effective.
Other rumors include: threats of new terror attacks, bigger than those before.
Even as we look to the future, we have to remember parts of the past, especially those parts that remind us why we don’t do certain things any more. Which makes missile test-firing in the Middle East disheartening. But, if we can successfully navigate those difficulties, then maybe the future as imagined in science fiction can be yours! Although, if you’re the Maldives, you're in the market for a whole new piece of land to house the country.
At the very end, learning to think like Leonardo da Vinci.
