Potpourri for about two weeks

I’m not nearly caught up with my blog reading from vacation and so forth, but this is about as good a pass as I can make with stuff snagged for the Google sidebar.

1. Fiscal responsibility – A nice little graph addressing the GOP’s reputation for fiscal responsibility. Remember that this year.
2. Repeal the Second Amendment? – I don’t know that I agree with everything that DOF writes here about gun control and the Second Amendment, but there’s a hell of a lot here that I do agree with, and pretty much all of it deserves some attention.
3. After Impeaching Clinton, McCain Now Dismisses Idea… – Because, of course, impeachment is only a silly, distracting, in appropriate idea when it’s not about a Democratic president who lied about boffing an intern.
4. Rove Rips NYT For Outing CIA Agent’s Identity And… – Pot. Kettle. Black. Chutzpah.
5. GI Bill Opponent President Bush Lauds GI Bill Opponent… – Bush and McCain both opposed — in hyperbolic rhetoric — the new GI Bill benefits in the defense spending bill. But once it was passed, Bush was pleased to share credit for it with his appointed successor.
6. More Stupid Voters – We must get Barrack Obama elected, if only to demonstrated that this yahoo is not, in fact, the face and voice of the American electorate.
7. FOX News Gets Ugly – I don’t expect actually expect unbiased or non-ideological news and commentary from Fox News. But actual, verifiable, blatant altering of photographs as part of character assassination pieces? Wow, that’s taking sleaze to a whole new level.
8. London Mayoral vote can’t be verified due to e-voting… – Paper ballots have problems. E-ballots have problems. The problems with e-ballots could likely be largely solved … except that it would cost the e-voting industry money, and cost their supporters in government credibility. So, instead, we get debacles like this. Expect more grand stuff like this as we head into the 2008 elections.
9. Court order on YouTube user data fans privacy fears… – I don’t actually want Viacom — or anyone else — knowing what YouTube videos I’ve watched. Nor do I trust that they will only use the information for limited purposes. Yeesh.
10. Less Hyphen, More Burst for Walmart – Wal-Mart … er, Walmart is changing it’s logo (and its hyphenation). Now, are they offering immunization coverage for the children of their employees yet?
11. Wall-E is a copyright criminal – An analysis of how WALL-E breaks Canada’s proposed DMCA-like copyright law left right and center … doing things that nobody at the movie probably recognized as Evil Piracy of Precioussssss Intellectual Property Rights.
12. History Locked Up… Thanks To Copyright – This is what’s called a “Chilling Effect.” Not sure who holds the copyright on 100-plus-year-old photos? Well, you don’t dare use them in any sort of history exhibit or book, for fear of getting your ass sued off. Yeah, that’s really serving the public interest.
13. David Tennant is made of awesome – Yes. Yes he is. There’s a lengthy scene in an episode of Doctor Who last season where her records a long message for Martha. During the episode, the volume is turned down, and we don’t get to hear what he’s saying. Now we know …
14. Meet the Bread Man from Down Under – Another unfortunate logo change, but these things always have interesting stories. I’m a Panera man, myself.
15. Frontier going under the knife – The Denver Post – I was really hoping that Frontier would be who we could turn to as United continued its steady slide into Delta, American, Continental, and Aeroflot … but a combo of skyrocketing jet fuel prices and competitive pressure from Southwest may spell an end to all that. And that’s a damned shame.
16. I must be getting old. I still don’t understand what… – I’ll confess that the whole big distinction in purpose and motivation between Facebook and MySpace and Twitter and … just plain o’ blogging … too often escapes me. I’m sure some of it is my just being an ol’ fogey — and part of it is Big Promotion.
17. If you live in Texas and ask me to fix your computer,… – Hey, could I convince my family to move to Texas so that it would be illegal for me to help them with their computer problems? Nah, even that wouldn’t justify such a fate for them.
18. Because some folks were at KOA… – Heh. Yeah, we got at least one of these “kitties” visiting us while we were away. To judge from the report of chewed-up crayons, and the upended cat food tub in the kitchen when I walked in …
19. Tofu ‘may raise risk of dementia’ – See! Tomatoes and tofu are both evil! Evil!
20. Scientists: Watermelon yields Viagra-like effects – The bad news is, I really don’t like watermelon. The good news is, I really don’t need to rely upon it for, um, it’s side effects.
21. Elite transportation – DOF writes at length on what to look for if you’re buying a bicycle for actual bicycling use.
22. Hellboy on “Inside the Actor’s Studio.” – ‘Nuff said.
23. Dave Hill, inventor of the world’s greatest two-man… – Um … not this Dave Hill, I’m afraid.
24. Itchy grossness – Yes, yes it is.
25. Spirit World: Father Damien cleared for sainthood… – I don’t usually report on canonization efforts in the Catholic Church, except to note the unseemly hastiness of the canonization efforts for Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa. However, Father Damien has been dead for quite some time, he was a true martyr to his efforts to bring comfort to the lepers of Molokai, he’s consider the “patron” of AIDS patients … and I attended Damien High School for a year and a half, so he’s of particular interest to me.
26. Religion and Its Role Are in Dispute at the Service… – The military academies of the United States are meant to train the best and brightest to lead the defense of this nation, and all of its people. That really has nothing to do with proselytizing conservative Christianity, and to do so is not only an insult to the citizenry who aren’t of that particular persuasion, but a distraction from the mission, which, from a military aspect, is a bad thing.
27. one for the “now I feel safer” drawer – Thank goodness folks won’t be allowed onto airplanes with guns. Or, gun-shaped jewelry.
28. Nelson Mandela finally taken off US terror list – Well, I, for one, will sleep much safer tonight knowing that Nelson Mandela is no longer a terrorist threat to myself or my family.