Festival Time Again - 23 December 2008
Dec. 23rd, 2008 11:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
silveradeptBack at work today, after having been stuck - a little tow last night got me up to flat and drivable land, and I found out, as I suspected, that once I had managed to get pat the hill and out of the neighborhood I was at, he roads were just fine. Which only reignites the frustration at not being able to go yesterday, because if I had managed it or had sufficient forethought... *sigh*. It wasn't a wasted day, despite how much I don't like having to take vacation when I feel like I could have managed it, even though I couldn't - after all, I need the tow to get up the hill. I really couldn't have gotten out. But that's not going to register except in resignation. Good that I have the vacation to take when I need it, but I'm still probably going to be annoyed that I couldn't predict that my shoveling and car wouldn't be enough to make things work, and work to prevent it, and/or that the plows have been everywhere excepting the side streets, where they are probably most needed now.
For happier VEWPRF stuff, look at art of what the VEWPRF has been like over the years. And then, certain problems with the December placement of the Christmas holiday that contaminate the message of the story. Plus, a Santa brawl that hospitalizes two. And a purple squirrel, just for kicks.
Anyway, onward to the news. Including details about executive pay for companies that would later ask for government relief - billions then, billions now. Even better, without much for oversight or the ability to demand answers abotu the money spent. And some of the decisions being made by local governments - cutting needed mental health services as the offices of war contractors gleam on their skylines, and shelters stuffed to their breaking points because of the bad economy and the cold weather - where there are plenty of people with multimillions doing well.
But rejoice, everyone - MTV is further abandoning the music television concept in favor of more reality shows. There's the circuses. Too bad the bread seems not to be forthcoming.
On the international desk, the prime minister of Iraq linked a show-throwing journalist to a gentleman fond of cutting his victim's throats, in an attempt to undermine the popularity of the shoe-thrower and his method. The commander in Iraq is not planning on moving troops until after the provincial elections, in case violence erupts from them. In similar Middle East matters, the United States wants to know if Russia has been selling missiles to Iran. And Iran closed another office of a human rights group banned from the country.
More unrest in Africa, as a military group of Guinea has declared a coup and the dissolution of the government. Although I do believe I heard that the coup is now only so-called.
Last from this section, the Bishop of Rome reaffirmed his and the Catholic Church's hostility to LGBT people, considering it important to prevent the "self-destruction" of the human race by holding firm to the gender distinctions of men and women, and by extension, the idea that only one born male and one born female can get married and will abstain from sexual relations until marriage. While I wouldn't say that the Bishop of Rome approves of such things as sexual assault and multiple raping of a lesbian by four men (although it's not known whether the assailants knew she was a lesbian - all they had to go by was the rainbow flag on her vehicle), I suspect that somewhere along the line, he'd make mention of her sins as being important (maybe even be callous enough to say they were more important) as well as the sins of those that violated her. Can't tell with Benedict. He might applaud their violation of the lesbian, for all I know, as a way of getting her back on her proper course and away from self-destruction. Plus, it looks like hate crimes have gone up in the last amount of time. Amazing what public ballot initiatives to declare groups as The Other will do.
Domestically, five convicted in a plot to attack Fort Dix, may spend the rest of their natural lives in prison for something they didn't get to attempt. And from the rumors swirling about, the alleged plotters weren't even really all that competent and were pushed along into their eventual arrest by an FBI informant who thought they were dangerous. The WSJ disputes this, believing that the purchase of the weapons indicates their seriousness, instead of it being another "administration makes big threat out of nothing" story.
How's this for VEWPRF cheer? A woman is apparently going to be outed to her church that she has a boyfriend without the benefit of marriage, assuming she doesn't leave the church or dump the boy. The pastor's name is Christmas. And then, after they tell it to the church, what then. Excommunication if she doesn't repent of her "sexually immoral relationship"? Would it be too far over their heads to carry a basket of stones into the service, with a note attached, "Sinless only"? The General agrees, although without the sign, and suggests some expensive stones to get the job done right.
A website ostensibly devoted to the virtues of Sarah Palin has engaged in some much more old-fashioned vices, many of them race-based, others touting the most absurd of the allegations about the President-elect, still others waiting for the time when someone attempts to assassinate him. We have ugly pockets all over the country. Looks like the Team Sarah crowd has attracted more than a few wingnuts. The General has a choice comment that HuffPo overlooked.
Appearing for the very first time, apparently the outgoing administrator and his vice engaged in a stealth campaign of comforting Afghanistan and Iraq veterans and their families. Well-timed to his intent on making his image better as he leaves office, as is an attack on the NYT, claiming the paper committed "gross negligence" in its reporting on the administration's role in the mortgage crisis. Now that the mission has appeared, everyone can say they knew about it and approve of it.
To remind us all of at least one of the things on his watch, New Orleans, in the Katrina-devastated areas, turned into a zone where some white neighborhoods took law and patrolling into their own hands, stockpiling weapons, setting alarms, and, at least as the account shows, threatening and/or shooting at any African-American and/or anyone else they felt didn't belong. It may be better now, or it may not. Either way, it's a serious black mark on the government that lawlessness descended on that area.
A student disrupted a government oil and gas lease sale by posing as a bidder and winning several contracts that he has neither the means nor the intention of paying for. As talk continues about what to do about his act of disobedience, for now, no charges are being filed for now, but after all the evidence is examined, there could be.
In the opinions desk, Bob Ostertag on why gay marriage is the wrong hill to die on, especially when trying to do it to make Rick Warren and Barack Obama look bad - instead, the better option would be to build coalitions with the legions of unmarried people, straight or queer, and campaign together for the kind of rights that all unmarried people want and need with regard to their groupings, and let marriage stay the religious thing that it is. In a weird way, the right and the left could unite to figure out what to do about the divorce problem by getting things together in such a way that doesn't force people into marriage to get necessary partner rights and privileges. Pastor Dan at the Street Prophets blog feels that the Obama-Warren connection may be fine for him, but not a good step for his constituents, as it sounds like a call to kiss and make up despite LGBT folk having been the victims of abuse. The General's Inner Frenchman recalls the excitement about Bill Clinton and how he kinda, well, fizzled. Sort of.
Jon Sinton, founder of Air America Radio, says flat-out that revival of the Fairness Doctrine by liberals is a red herring, useful for inspiring fear and terror, but that the idea never occurred to him - instead, he plans on competing in the market like everyone else, and believes that reinstituting the doctrine itself would be foolish - the situations that brought it about have long since passed, and there's no need at all to enforce any sort of balance, because there's plenty of outlets for everyone to get the media and voice of their choice.
Burt Prelutsky bemoans liberal academia again, suggesting that instead of taking on more poor to their halls in the name of diversity, they take on more idiots, in the low-I.Q. way. Or, even better, just hand out diplomas to those who want them, rather than wasting their parents' time and money in disciplines like LGBT studies. That way, the colleges will only be filled with important people, like pre-med, math, and science majors. The rest of us will just have our diploma that says we're not smarter than anyone else and trudge off to our jobs, having not needed to learn any of the lessons of he university, and conveniently freeing us from the grip of deranged liberal professors who brainwash us from our natural conservative leanings to various forms of radicalism. He'd probably have a good time with The WSJ's smirking remarks at how the country needs to have rules that punish teachers' unions if they go on strike, because Pennsylvania, among other places, is abusing the process, forcing the parents to scramble. Now, it may be abused at this point for purposes other than what it was intended for, but the right to strike is one of those fundamental union bargaining tools. If there are suddenly penalties on that, strikes go down and the administrations and legislatures have a lot more power to make their demands with. "We'll strike on that!" "And lost two days worth of pay for every day you do. Can you afford that?"
The Slacktivist is having trouble with the law, which charges people with attempted murder when they hadn't even made the attempt at their arrest, and which sets up DUI checkpoints and then arrests lots of people on things other than DUI or anything related to drunken or buzzed driving. Sounds like warrantless search and seizure and arrest from that angle.
The General is proud of all the country singers taking bold steps like painting their guitars as their way of saying no to terrorism and looking good while they do it. Kevin McCullough mocks liberals, using a Marine's experience of having to undergo capture, torture, resistance, and the psychological warfare he may be applying to others as his way of saying that liberals cannot understand the military, their value, their service, their importance, or their lives, and by extension, can never understand or comment on what the military does under any moral or ethical heading.
Geroge Will skewers the outgoing administration's decision to use TARP funds to bail out Detroit, dismissing the idea that the legislative branch is at all important. Well, it's going to be a hindsight lesson - pass something without proper thought and restrictions, because someone says you have to do it now, and it will be used in ways you didn't expect. In addition to all the national security encroachment, this further decision to spend money that Congress didn't (but did) approve of is the significator that the executive doesn't care about the legislative. And not too much about the judiciary either, I might add. Still, welcome to being a Republican traitor, Mr. Will. The question now is whether you're declared a liberal or a fringe element.
Bret Stephens gushes, sarcastically, about the greatness of the incoming president and the need to build him a memorial monument now, no matter what his presidency turns out to be like. The Cult of Obama, no doubt, will want it. Was this writ before the left apparently had a falling-out with Obama over Warren? Thomas Sowell opines that the figures of the Depression follow government attempts to break out of Depression, first by passing tariffs, and then later protectionist measures, and that the President-elect would do well to heed them and not try it again, David Limbaugh sees a proposed task force on helping the middle class to be a propaganda machine bent on making even Obama's failures look good, as the WSJ assures us that the Secretary of Labor is in the pocket of unions and will roll back oversight requirements and Michael Malone insists the best way to get the economy rolling again is to cut the red tape on corporations, especially start-ups and capital gains taxes. Finally, on opinions of the incoming administration, Ken Blackwell harps on that President-Elect Obama needs to be a clone of the outgoing administrator is the country is to stay safe, by continuing to authorize surveillance of citizens, appointing to the judiciary people who will not challenge Congress or the executive, and keeping Guantanamo Bay open... along with his already-accepted gradual withdrawal of troops from Iraq, promoting the idea of Victory in Iraq.
The WSJ opines that Scooter Libby should be given a presidential pardon, before the outgoing administrator leaves office, because they believe that Mr. Libby did not perjure himself or lie about intelligence, intelligence leaks, and is thus an innocent man deserving fo a pardon, despite having his sentence commuted already by one presidential directive.
Last for opinions, and as a convenient shift, ddjango speaks of the increasing and pressing need to talk science, tech, and transhumanism with everyone, so that the best decisions get made, and that we all have a stake in deciding our future.
Down in science, techonologies of the outgoing year, loneliness hurts, whether it's real loneliness or the perception of being alone, even in a crowd, which for some means that we all need to go and get connected to other people, well, until they've perfected a pleasure-stimulation electrode designed for the eating and sex centers of the brain. Or the Empathy Box. Additionally, NASA studies suggest that the warming of the earth is strongly connected to the increased amount of violent storms worldwide, tiny vehicles making big science, hacking a cell phone to turn it into a portable analysis lab, artificial bone marrow now available, increased interest in developing software for the disabled, questions on whether the new President-elect is a fan of space-based solar, a whole slew of vision-based material, including a vision amplifier, a brain sense that lets people see, even when their optical systems are damaged, and adustable glasses, so that people can find the lens that works properly for themselves, without needing an optician, and then seal in their prescription. The creator of the glasses wants to put out one billion of them by 2020.
Last for today, I think I agree with The Infamous Brad: this year is going to get staked, garlic-stuffed, decapitated and buried at a crossroads, face down, for hope that it never comes back to haunt or suck our blood again.
For happier VEWPRF stuff, look at art of what the VEWPRF has been like over the years. And then, certain problems with the December placement of the Christmas holiday that contaminate the message of the story. Plus, a Santa brawl that hospitalizes two. And a purple squirrel, just for kicks.
Anyway, onward to the news. Including details about executive pay for companies that would later ask for government relief - billions then, billions now. Even better, without much for oversight or the ability to demand answers abotu the money spent. And some of the decisions being made by local governments - cutting needed mental health services as the offices of war contractors gleam on their skylines, and shelters stuffed to their breaking points because of the bad economy and the cold weather - where there are plenty of people with multimillions doing well.
But rejoice, everyone - MTV is further abandoning the music television concept in favor of more reality shows. There's the circuses. Too bad the bread seems not to be forthcoming.
On the international desk, the prime minister of Iraq linked a show-throwing journalist to a gentleman fond of cutting his victim's throats, in an attempt to undermine the popularity of the shoe-thrower and his method. The commander in Iraq is not planning on moving troops until after the provincial elections, in case violence erupts from them. In similar Middle East matters, the United States wants to know if Russia has been selling missiles to Iran. And Iran closed another office of a human rights group banned from the country.
More unrest in Africa, as a military group of Guinea has declared a coup and the dissolution of the government. Although I do believe I heard that the coup is now only so-called.
Last from this section, the Bishop of Rome reaffirmed his and the Catholic Church's hostility to LGBT people, considering it important to prevent the "self-destruction" of the human race by holding firm to the gender distinctions of men and women, and by extension, the idea that only one born male and one born female can get married and will abstain from sexual relations until marriage. While I wouldn't say that the Bishop of Rome approves of such things as sexual assault and multiple raping of a lesbian by four men (although it's not known whether the assailants knew she was a lesbian - all they had to go by was the rainbow flag on her vehicle), I suspect that somewhere along the line, he'd make mention of her sins as being important (maybe even be callous enough to say they were more important) as well as the sins of those that violated her. Can't tell with Benedict. He might applaud their violation of the lesbian, for all I know, as a way of getting her back on her proper course and away from self-destruction. Plus, it looks like hate crimes have gone up in the last amount of time. Amazing what public ballot initiatives to declare groups as The Other will do.
Domestically, five convicted in a plot to attack Fort Dix, may spend the rest of their natural lives in prison for something they didn't get to attempt. And from the rumors swirling about, the alleged plotters weren't even really all that competent and were pushed along into their eventual arrest by an FBI informant who thought they were dangerous. The WSJ disputes this, believing that the purchase of the weapons indicates their seriousness, instead of it being another "administration makes big threat out of nothing" story.
How's this for VEWPRF cheer? A woman is apparently going to be outed to her church that she has a boyfriend without the benefit of marriage, assuming she doesn't leave the church or dump the boy. The pastor's name is Christmas. And then, after they tell it to the church, what then. Excommunication if she doesn't repent of her "sexually immoral relationship"? Would it be too far over their heads to carry a basket of stones into the service, with a note attached, "Sinless only"? The General agrees, although without the sign, and suggests some expensive stones to get the job done right.
A website ostensibly devoted to the virtues of Sarah Palin has engaged in some much more old-fashioned vices, many of them race-based, others touting the most absurd of the allegations about the President-elect, still others waiting for the time when someone attempts to assassinate him. We have ugly pockets all over the country. Looks like the Team Sarah crowd has attracted more than a few wingnuts. The General has a choice comment that HuffPo overlooked.
Appearing for the very first time, apparently the outgoing administrator and his vice engaged in a stealth campaign of comforting Afghanistan and Iraq veterans and their families. Well-timed to his intent on making his image better as he leaves office, as is an attack on the NYT, claiming the paper committed "gross negligence" in its reporting on the administration's role in the mortgage crisis. Now that the mission has appeared, everyone can say they knew about it and approve of it.
To remind us all of at least one of the things on his watch, New Orleans, in the Katrina-devastated areas, turned into a zone where some white neighborhoods took law and patrolling into their own hands, stockpiling weapons, setting alarms, and, at least as the account shows, threatening and/or shooting at any African-American and/or anyone else they felt didn't belong. It may be better now, or it may not. Either way, it's a serious black mark on the government that lawlessness descended on that area.
A student disrupted a government oil and gas lease sale by posing as a bidder and winning several contracts that he has neither the means nor the intention of paying for. As talk continues about what to do about his act of disobedience, for now, no charges are being filed for now, but after all the evidence is examined, there could be.
In the opinions desk, Bob Ostertag on why gay marriage is the wrong hill to die on, especially when trying to do it to make Rick Warren and Barack Obama look bad - instead, the better option would be to build coalitions with the legions of unmarried people, straight or queer, and campaign together for the kind of rights that all unmarried people want and need with regard to their groupings, and let marriage stay the religious thing that it is. In a weird way, the right and the left could unite to figure out what to do about the divorce problem by getting things together in such a way that doesn't force people into marriage to get necessary partner rights and privileges. Pastor Dan at the Street Prophets blog feels that the Obama-Warren connection may be fine for him, but not a good step for his constituents, as it sounds like a call to kiss and make up despite LGBT folk having been the victims of abuse. The General's Inner Frenchman recalls the excitement about Bill Clinton and how he kinda, well, fizzled. Sort of.
Jon Sinton, founder of Air America Radio, says flat-out that revival of the Fairness Doctrine by liberals is a red herring, useful for inspiring fear and terror, but that the idea never occurred to him - instead, he plans on competing in the market like everyone else, and believes that reinstituting the doctrine itself would be foolish - the situations that brought it about have long since passed, and there's no need at all to enforce any sort of balance, because there's plenty of outlets for everyone to get the media and voice of their choice.
Burt Prelutsky bemoans liberal academia again, suggesting that instead of taking on more poor to their halls in the name of diversity, they take on more idiots, in the low-I.Q. way. Or, even better, just hand out diplomas to those who want them, rather than wasting their parents' time and money in disciplines like LGBT studies. That way, the colleges will only be filled with important people, like pre-med, math, and science majors. The rest of us will just have our diploma that says we're not smarter than anyone else and trudge off to our jobs, having not needed to learn any of the lessons of he university, and conveniently freeing us from the grip of deranged liberal professors who brainwash us from our natural conservative leanings to various forms of radicalism. He'd probably have a good time with The WSJ's smirking remarks at how the country needs to have rules that punish teachers' unions if they go on strike, because Pennsylvania, among other places, is abusing the process, forcing the parents to scramble. Now, it may be abused at this point for purposes other than what it was intended for, but the right to strike is one of those fundamental union bargaining tools. If there are suddenly penalties on that, strikes go down and the administrations and legislatures have a lot more power to make their demands with. "We'll strike on that!" "And lost two days worth of pay for every day you do. Can you afford that?"
The Slacktivist is having trouble with the law, which charges people with attempted murder when they hadn't even made the attempt at their arrest, and which sets up DUI checkpoints and then arrests lots of people on things other than DUI or anything related to drunken or buzzed driving. Sounds like warrantless search and seizure and arrest from that angle.
The General is proud of all the country singers taking bold steps like painting their guitars as their way of saying no to terrorism and looking good while they do it. Kevin McCullough mocks liberals, using a Marine's experience of having to undergo capture, torture, resistance, and the psychological warfare he may be applying to others as his way of saying that liberals cannot understand the military, their value, their service, their importance, or their lives, and by extension, can never understand or comment on what the military does under any moral or ethical heading.
Geroge Will skewers the outgoing administration's decision to use TARP funds to bail out Detroit, dismissing the idea that the legislative branch is at all important. Well, it's going to be a hindsight lesson - pass something without proper thought and restrictions, because someone says you have to do it now, and it will be used in ways you didn't expect. In addition to all the national security encroachment, this further decision to spend money that Congress didn't (but did) approve of is the significator that the executive doesn't care about the legislative. And not too much about the judiciary either, I might add. Still, welcome to being a Republican traitor, Mr. Will. The question now is whether you're declared a liberal or a fringe element.
Bret Stephens gushes, sarcastically, about the greatness of the incoming president and the need to build him a memorial monument now, no matter what his presidency turns out to be like. The Cult of Obama, no doubt, will want it. Was this writ before the left apparently had a falling-out with Obama over Warren? Thomas Sowell opines that the figures of the Depression follow government attempts to break out of Depression, first by passing tariffs, and then later protectionist measures, and that the President-elect would do well to heed them and not try it again, David Limbaugh sees a proposed task force on helping the middle class to be a propaganda machine bent on making even Obama's failures look good, as the WSJ assures us that the Secretary of Labor is in the pocket of unions and will roll back oversight requirements and Michael Malone insists the best way to get the economy rolling again is to cut the red tape on corporations, especially start-ups and capital gains taxes. Finally, on opinions of the incoming administration, Ken Blackwell harps on that President-Elect Obama needs to be a clone of the outgoing administrator is the country is to stay safe, by continuing to authorize surveillance of citizens, appointing to the judiciary people who will not challenge Congress or the executive, and keeping Guantanamo Bay open... along with his already-accepted gradual withdrawal of troops from Iraq, promoting the idea of Victory in Iraq.
The WSJ opines that Scooter Libby should be given a presidential pardon, before the outgoing administrator leaves office, because they believe that Mr. Libby did not perjure himself or lie about intelligence, intelligence leaks, and is thus an innocent man deserving fo a pardon, despite having his sentence commuted already by one presidential directive.
Last for opinions, and as a convenient shift, ddjango speaks of the increasing and pressing need to talk science, tech, and transhumanism with everyone, so that the best decisions get made, and that we all have a stake in deciding our future.
Down in science, techonologies of the outgoing year, loneliness hurts, whether it's real loneliness or the perception of being alone, even in a crowd, which for some means that we all need to go and get connected to other people, well, until they've perfected a pleasure-stimulation electrode designed for the eating and sex centers of the brain. Or the Empathy Box. Additionally, NASA studies suggest that the warming of the earth is strongly connected to the increased amount of violent storms worldwide, tiny vehicles making big science, hacking a cell phone to turn it into a portable analysis lab, artificial bone marrow now available, increased interest in developing software for the disabled, questions on whether the new President-elect is a fan of space-based solar, a whole slew of vision-based material, including a vision amplifier, a brain sense that lets people see, even when their optical systems are damaged, and adustable glasses, so that people can find the lens that works properly for themselves, without needing an optician, and then seal in their prescription. The creator of the glasses wants to put out one billion of them by 2020.
Last for today, I think I agree with The Infamous Brad: this year is going to get staked, garlic-stuffed, decapitated and buried at a crossroads, face down, for hope that it never comes back to haunt or suck our blood again.
