Poor Citizenship 22 | ***Dave Does the Blog

Unblogged Bits for Wednesday, 20 May 2009

Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries ….

Pawlenty: I’d Like A Second Senator But It’s Out Of My Hands: The Huffington Post News Team
Kindle Blog Dreaming
Me on Full-Body Scanners in Airports: schneier
Romulan ships in the latest Star Trek Online screens – I don’t know if I’m interested in playing, but there’s plenty of joy in looking at this stuff.
‘this is fun’ Is A More Secure Password Than ‘J4fS<2’ – This is fascinating — as well as fun. Too-difficult passwords are highly secure, but promote security leaks by literally forcing someone to write them down on a piece of paper (especially when you are on a system that expires passwords every 90 days or something). Some good advice here. Maybe I’ll pass it on to my company security folks.
Inhofe: Terrorists Already Incarcerated In The U.S. Were Just ‘Criminals’: Ali Frick
Durbin to Republicans: ‘You ought to have a little more respect’ for American corrections officers. – Riiiight … the gazillions of horrible, awful criminals the GOP loves to support being locked away haven’t at all trained corrections officers to handle, well, high security prisoners. Yeesh.
Gingrich: Only Republicans — Like Me — Are Allowed To Accuse The CIA Of Misleading Congress: Think Progress
Having Daughters Rather Than Sons Makes You More Liberal – Margie says this explains me. Though not, perhaps, Dick Cheney.
Prayer May Reshape Your Brain … And Your Reality – Interesting. I need to read the full series.
Dueling church marquees – It’s like the Internet, only all centered.
A man afraid to run away: Ars reviews inFamous – I’m hearing a lot of good buzz on this game (so to speak). If only I didn’t have other gaming addictions.
Cable: let us experiment with metered Internet – As Les says, “I’m perfectly willing to let them experiment with metered Internet so long as they’re willing to allow me to experiment with their competitors.”
Ann Coulter attacks faith of Notre Dame officials, but gets rattled when called on the carpet | Crooks and Liars – Ann Coulter is … reality-challenged. Or a doofus, take your pick.
FRC’s Lou Engle-Less “Call” – The Christian Right is now comparing itself to the Black population in the US in the 50s and 60s, in terms of being discrminated against? Yeesh. Get back to me when you’re required to sit in the back of the bus, or drink from separate water fountains, guys.
Ending Discrimination Against Gays Is Itself Discrimination – Actually, the Right is perfectly correct — this idea conflicts with DoMA (though, as a another law, it can supercede DoMA however it wishes). The answer, though, is really much simpler than that — we should repeal DoMA.
So, let me get this straight… – 1. It’s reasonable to want a plan. 2. Not all Gitmo inmates are proven terrorists (that’s part of the problem, people). 3. It’s goofy to equate “putting terrorists into US prisons” with “releasing terrorists in the United states.” 4. Reid really seriously needs to think through what he’s saying before he start frantically rambling about incoherently.
Man vs. Jury Duty – Well, now I want to know what the result was.
Go, Team, Go!: Jason Kuznicki
Darwinius masillae – Very cool fossil news — but keep the hyperbole down to a low simmer, folks. If nothing else, we know that what we can learn from such things sometimes changes over time, and the last thing we need is giving the creationists a field day if there’s some sort of reassessment of this find. “See? Evolution is wrong and a hoax! Even the scientists keep changing their minds!”

Unblogged Bits for Tuesday, 12 May 2009

Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries ….

Victory For Location Privacy in New York GPS Tracking Case: jennifer
David Beckmann: The President’s 2010 Budget: A Transition to New Priorities: David Beckmann
Cheney Whacks EFCA, Labor Welcomes Him As Spokesman: The Huffington Post News Team
Hiding Behind Partisanship: Andrew Sullivan
Jesse Ventura: Coleman A “Hypocrite,” Offers To Waterboard Cheney (VIDEO): The Huffington Post News Team
House Republicans: Look How Many Layoffs We Helped Create: Ryan Powers
R.I.P. Comic Book Stores – That’ll be sad, but … yeah, it’s pretty clearly coming for most places.
Walking Dead Compendium One – I’ve been collecting this in the smaller 6-issue trades, and it’s an excellent, excellent book — focusing on what it means to be human, with zombies as an ironic background.
Medicare fund dry in 8 years: Trustees
On Politics: G.O.P. Worries About Sounding a Negative Tone – “Terror! Socialism! Abortion! Crime! Drugs! Immigrants! Gays! Fascism! 9/11! No! Not! Never!” Gee, can’t imagine why they come across as negative.
Scientists put psychic’s paranormal claims to the test | Science | guardian.co.uk – Science is keen! (via Les)
Be Prepared… For Some Womanly Advice – Ha!
Fox Condemns Sykes’s Act: If A Talk Radio Host Compared Obama To A Terrorist, He Would Be Fired – I disagree heartily with wishing someone would die of kidney failure. That said, Morris and Hannity are hypocritical asses.
US elected to UN rights council – The UNHRC has its own problems, but better to be there and engaged than to leave in a snit. Elections matter.
The Same Cityscape According To Star Trek And Terminator Salvation [Urban Futurism] – Very, very cool.
The Union of Church and State Hurts Both – I’m not likely to invest an hour in this (too many videos, too little time), especially since I agree wholeheartedly with the proposition. History shows us conclusively that when church and state are mingle, or the state does the church’s work and the church does the state’s work, both institutions suffer. One of the geniuses of our Constitution is that we’ve significantly (compared to Europe) avoided that, hence the relative health and robustness of religion in the US vs, say, England.
Problems with the Year of the Bible Resolution – Does the Bible actually need a commemorative year for it? Will it make the faithful love and adhere to it any better, or those who disbelieve suddenly come to change their mind? Of course not — it’s politics, triumphalism, and rudeness, all in a tawdry little package.
Atheist Teacher vs. Christian Student – I concur with (and am impressed by) Mehta here — a shame, because the kid and his parents are pretty poor actors in the piece as well. But being a teacher, especially in a public school context, is more than being “provocative” or “speaking the truth” — it’s about encouraging learning. Corbett’s comments, true or not, were not appropriate to that goal.
Janet Porter Plays the Victim, Literally – “Special rights for me, but not for thee.”
OpenOffice 3.1 is available – Making a note to update the machines (Katherine, Jim & Ginger) have have this.

Unblogged Bits for Wednesday, 06 May 2009

Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries ….

Valerie Tarico: Church-Going and Torture Approval — What’s the Connection?: Valerie Tarico
Majority Of Americans Want Pot Legalized: Zogby Poll: The Huffington Post News Team
Two Series Review – Since we twisted BD’s arm into watching “Avatar,” it’s only fair I share his review of the first two series. As soon as he can get over to the house, we’ll get him S.3.
Cantor Tries, Fails To Offer GOP Health Care Plan On Morning Joe (VIDEO) – “We have top men on it.” “Who?” “Top. Men.”
Fed Inspector General Knows Roughly Nothing About The Fed (VIDEO) – Wow. That’s … um … disturbing.
Sessions: SCOTUS Filibuster Should Be Rare – We will see.
The Straight Dope: Am I imagining or are women’s breasts getting bigger? – Inquiring minds want to know!
Government Still Blocking Information on Secret IP Enforcement Treaty: rebecca
AGs v. Craigslist: Putting the Bully Back Into Bully Pulpit: mattz
Pam’s House Blend:: BREAKING: Maine Gov. Baldacci signs marriage equality bill – Go, Maine, go!
James Dobson’s Hate Crimes Freak-Out – Look! Resusable (legal) code! It’s not a bug, James, it’s a feature!
SPACE.com — Star Trek’s Warp Drive: Not Impossible – Don’t book your flights quite yet. It’s still in the “hey, it might not be impossible” stage.
Your Blog is a Weapon? – See, this is the sort of thing that the Hate Crimes folks are actually (and, in this case, correctly) worried about.
Rampant boobies to reign at Disneyland! – Huh. Never thought of someone doing this (duh), nor that Disney would have folks watching out for it. I give this a month before rampant boobie-flashing forces a change back in policy. Hmmmm. Have they changed this at Walt Disney World, too?
Over The Gray, Bland Rainbow: admin
Update to the Military Proselytizing Story – Well, at least they did something. But, yes, they need do something more.
Mormon GOP Congressman from Utah threatens to prevent D.C.’s new marriage provision from becoming law – Nice support for representative government there, Rep. Chaffetz.
Top 10 Reasons Your Chargeback Will Be Denied [Insiders]: Ben Popken

Unblogged Bits for Saturday, 25 April 2009

Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries ….

The DHS Report “Controversy” Is All For Show – Public posturing mostly for politics and punditty publicity? Color me shocked, shocked!
Minnesota once again embarrassed by Michele Bachman [Pharyngula] – Michele Bachmann is the gift that keeps giving. If only she weren’t a voting member of Congress!
Henry Jenkins and Babylon 5’s Straczynski live, MIT, May 22 – Always enjoyed Joe’s panels at the San Diego Comic-Con. Wish I was going to be in the MIT area next month …
The Necessity of Knowledge – Amen, brothers and sisters.
Reagan’s DOJ Prosecuted Texas Sheriff For Waterboarding Prisoners – It’s actually a very lengthy article about the legal precedents that could have, but were not, cited in the “waterboarding is peachy-keen” torture memos.
Men are no more promiscuous than women, survey finds – Telegraph – Interesting. I’m sure more research will follow.
Keith Olbermann: “Hannity Volunteers to be Waterboarded” – You know, I’d be willing to contribute to a waterboard-a-thon.
Krugman gets it right – Yeah, cue the “those who forget the past” thing.
US to issue ‘prison abuse’ photos – So here’s the strategy: whether or not there are ever further trials, the ideal way to both acknowledge and disavow this kind of evil is to widely publicize it. Which the White House can now do. Good.
Doctors criticise ‘gay treatment’ – Swell. Next up, “Doctor announces treatment for being a right-wing jerk. ‘It takes care of it in two out of three wingnuts,’ doctor declares. Conservatives protest this will only fan prejudice against them, and there’s nothing wrong with being a right-winger.”
Carrie Fisher Roasts George Lucas – Heh. Fisher proves herself again a pretty funny lady.
Think Progress » GOP Senators Who Used Budget Reconciliation To Pass Bush Agenda Items Now Calling It ‘Chicago Style Politics’ – “But — but — that’s when the Good Guys were in control! It’s like torture — it’s not evil when we do it!”
A secret look into the iPhone App Review Process: It’s run by eight-year-olds – Wow. That’s pretty lame. But I guess appearances are a lot of everything.
Moon and Morning Star – Lovely.
The burkha-logic of NOM – This is an excellent article, dead on target on the plight of the poor constantinians (a term I must be sure to remember). Money graf: “This points to the key confusion of the persecuted hegemons. They are unable to distinguish between challenges to their hegemony — to their privilege — and threats to their faith itself. This is a spiritually perilous confusion, particularly so for Christians who claim to follow a crucified outcast.”

Denver Tea Party – notes from the ground

After a bite to eat, I headed down to the “Tea Party” going on at the capitol steps. There were a fair number of headed-to-protest folks on the free Mall shuttle headed down the 16th Street Mall (dirty socialist RTD freeloaders …). I got off and followed the pedestrian traffic flow.

The folks rounding the corner were surprised and pleased by the number of people on the steps of the capitol. As the picture shows, they pretty much filled up the grassy slope west of the building, down to the sidewalk, though that was all. Folks across the street were either counter-protesters, police, or looky-loos like myself.
The sound system was pretty bad, but it seemed to serve the folks in attendance. As I approached, I could hear folks being exhorted by someone discussing the Evils of the Current Regime, punctuated by the crowd shouting, “No We Can’t.” Cute.
Most of the people I saw were middle-aged-plus (say mid-30s to late-50s).
Comment from someone at the crosswalk. “Remember, if you see any ‘acorns,’ step on them.” Cute.
Many “Don’t Tread on Me” flags, which was thematically appropriate; they rivaled American flags in number. Lots of protest signs of various sorts, with all the standard slogans. Some Ayn Rand references. Calls for the “Fair Tax.” Anger at bailouts, at the financial sector, at the UAW, at Congress, at Obama. Pretty much all about the anger, except for the occasional chant of “USA! USA! USA!”
Rather tasteless speech using “I Have a Dream” as its theme. I’m not sure Rev. King would approve.
Saw a lady with “Cut Taxes, Reduce Spending, Protect Traditional Values, Secure the Border” t-shirt. I wondered if a “Feed the Hungry, Give Drink to the Thirsty, Clothe the Naked, Shelter the Homeless” t-shirt would be as welcome.
“We Demand Liberty!” shouted the guy at the microphone in front of the statehouse to the crowd assembled. Didn’t see anyone’s irony-meter quivering, unfortunately.
Went back to the office, buying some coffee along the way.

Unblogged Bits for Tuesday, 07 April 2009

Links that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries …

Whelan Watch: publius
Republicans Against Obstructing Nominees Before They Were For It: Brian Beutler
Message to Conservatives: Troops Like Obama Just Fine: Brian Beutler
Taylor Marsh: Karzai Rape Law on ‘Hold’: Taylor Marsh
Fundies gone wild: reaction to Vermont, Iowa, DC: Pam Spaulding
What a Killer Was Watching – As Doyce notes, the right wing punditry would be the first to be waving torches and pitchforks if this guy played video games, or worked for ACORN, or read comic books, or liked D&D, or was an atheist, or …
Bill Gates Facebook Page – Heh heh heh.
Sore Losers – Have a vigorous campaign. Engage in a contest of wills, charisma, command of facts. Even pander to your electorate. Whatever. Leave it in their hands. Start messing with the electoral system itself to your own slimy ends, and, GOP or Democrat, I’m ready to start locking folks up.
Ooo, Secret Mooslim Codes – Gosh, I remember the good old days when heads of state all bowed to each other and talked about respect. Then someone along the way decided that seemed weak and inappropriate for All-American Presidents. Now it’s further morphed into being cryto-treasonous. Remarkable.
Get yer Freeper Vermont reaction here… – “And they’ll know we are Christians by our love,” right? Not so that you could tell by these yokels.
Segway and GM’s “car” – It looks like what I’d expect to see packing the streets of Mumbai in 2081. Very cool. And, yes, I want one.
“Camping Out 2” – Tue, 07 Apr 2009 – Ha! Yeah, that looks familiar.
What is the Fiscal Impact of Married Heterosexuals on the State Budget? – Nicely turned around.
-LIVE VIDEO in- VERMONT OVERRULES DOUGLAS VETO!!! – Excellent!
Obama administration invokes ‘state secrets’ claim to defend Bush’s wiretapping program. – Yes, deeply disappointing. I’d like to actually hear him talk about this some time.
Apparently you have Rick Warren scared. He’s lying again. – Wow. People really don’t realize how easily this stuff is fact-checked — or they figure the folks watching Larry King don’t have access to the Internet.
Early Buzz: The First Reviews of JJ Abrams’ Star Trek – Very, very promising.
What you should be afraid of instead of terrorists – Nice. “Live out whatever time we have with courage, compassion, service and joy.”
Russel T. Davies and David Tennant on leaving “Doctor Who.” – “Cool to be a fan again.” Yup.
Still bothered by the changes that were recently made to “it’s a small world” ? “Get a key and open your minds” – This is actually the most positive thing I’ve read on this change — and the pictures are rather encouraging.