{"id":15888,"date":"2009-09-30T18:00:36","date_gmt":"2009-10-01T00:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/09\/30\/unblogged-bits-for-wednesday-30-september-2009.html"},"modified":"2014-11-10T15:46:27","modified_gmt":"2014-11-10T22:46:27","slug":"unblogged-bits-for-wednesday-30-september-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/09\/30\/unblogged-bits-for-wednesday-30-september-2009.html","title":{"rendered":"Unblogged Bits for Wednesday, 30 September 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries &#8230;. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed\/~3\/WpKJjLTN_lE\/bad_idea_department_tax_doctor.php\">Bad idea department: tax doctors to pay for health care for the poor [White Coat Underground]: PalMD none@example.com<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/digitalcuttlefish.blogspot.com\/2009\/09\/happy-blasphemy-day.html\">Happy Blasphemy Day!<\/a> &#8211; The consequences of blasphemy should be, at most, social approbation, the same as any other action that might be considered as rude or insulting.  Speaking ill of the God I worship is no more suited to criminal prosecution than speaking ill of my mother; it&#8217;s all about my reaction, not what the insults can actually &#8220;do,&#8221; and both God and my Mom can take care of themselves.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/scienceblogs.com\/pharyngula\/2009\/09\/texas_has_state-sanctioned_mur.php?utm_source=mostactive&amp;utm_medium=link\">Texas has state-sanctioned murder : Pharyngula<\/a> &#8211; Capital punishment is a power we dare not allow the state to use when it&#8217;s wielded by cretins like this (who are then supported in their cretinitude by others for purely ideological reasons).<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/scienceblogs.com\/gregladen\/2009\/09\/the_roman_polanski_drama_then.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&amp;utm_medium=rss\">The Roman Polanski Drama: &#8220;Then&#8221; vs. &#8220;Now&#8221; effects. : Greg Laden&#8217;s Blog<\/a> &#8211; I&#8217;ve been paying minimal attention to this, But GL&#8217;s points seem well taken.  To my mind, bottom line is that we have a conviction and a flight from justice. Seeking extradition of Polanski is not only proper, it&#8217;s required.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/kottke.org\/09\/09\/the-oldest-living-things-in-the-world-photographed\">The oldest living things in the world, photographed<\/a> &#8211; What&#8217;s old is new again &#8230; literally.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2009\/09\/30\/opinion\/30friedman.html?_r=2&amp;pagewanted=print\">Op-Ed Columnist &#8211; Where Did \u2018We\u2019 Go? &#8211; NYTimes.com<\/a> &#8211; The irony that so much of this is being done by self-styled &#8220;patriots&#8221; is even more sickening.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/stupidevilbastard.com\/index\/seb\/comments\/trying_out_microsoft_security_essentials\/\">Trying out Microsoft Security Essentials.<\/a> &#8211; The best thing about this is that it should put more AV out there to defeat the black hats.  It may mean more of an AV mono-culture, which gives them a target to circumvent, but net-net it&#8217;s a good thing.  (It&#8217;s even better if it means that PC companies no longer feel obliged to include trial copies of McAfee or Norton AV on their PCs.)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.balloon-juice.com\/?p=27656\">More Liberal Fascism &#8211; Balloon Juice<\/a> &#8211; Yeah, can&#8217;t wait to hear this meme hit the Right Wing (even though offered here in jest).<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/quichemoraine.com\/2009\/09\/government-should-run-like-a-business\/\">Government Should Run Like a Business? | Quiche Moraine<\/a> &#8211; No, it shouldn&#8217;t.  As the article notes, quite cogently, government isn&#8217;t about making a profit.  In fact, it&#8217;s specifically about providing services that cannot be provided for efficiently, fairly, or with sufficient transparency by individuals or by private enterprise.  Plus, most businesses <b>fail<\/b>.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/tallguywrites.livejournal.com\/133179.html\">tallguywrites: Schizophrenia<\/a> &#8211; Very moving, for a variety of reasons.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed\/~3\/VDs8SF--1t8\/aquacalypse_now.php\">Aquacalypse Now [Guilty Planet]<\/a> &#8211; Okay, so I can stop eating sea-food without feeling guilty.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.boygeniusreport.com\/2009\/09\/30\/rim-launches-tivo-for-blackberry\/\">RIM launches TiVo for BlackBerry<\/a> &#8211; If I had a TiVo, I&#8217;d be pretty jazzed by this.  You can&#8217;t view, but you can program from anywhere.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com\/2009\/09\/watch_maddow_interviews_iglesias_on_gops_anti-acor.php\">Watch: Maddow Interviews Iglesias On GOP&#8217;s Anti-ACORN Campaign<\/a> &#8211; And this time they got the Dems to go along with it.  Great job, guys!<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.episcopalcafe.com\/lead\/bibles\/the_bible_is_too_liberal.html\">The Bible is too liberal<\/a> &#8211; Wow.  I love the self-contradictions in the mission statement &#8212; &#8220;We want concise authenticity, but we also want to make sure it says the &#8216;right&#8217; thing.  And we don&#8217;t want liberal terms added, we&#8217;d rather have conservative terms.  And, yeah, we&#8217;ve bitched about the Jesus Project, but we don&#8217;t have any problems questioning canonical passages that don&#8217;t fit with our preconceptions.&#8221;  Besides, I thought the Conservative Bible meme was that God delivered the King James Version on stone tablets as the one, true, translation.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thepumphandle.wordpress.com\/2009\/09\/29\/taxpayer-funded-destruction\/\">Taxpayer-Funded Destruction<\/a> &#8211; Wow.  Just think &#8212; $10bn a year could pay for a lot of alternative fuel R&amp;D (and implementation).  Or, heck, a nice chunk of health care reform. Hell, even tax rebates.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/io9.com\/5370526\/amcs-prisoner-reboot-sets-a-date\">AMC&#8217;s Prisoner Reboot Sets A Date [The Prisoner]<\/a> &#8211; The trailer looks pretty good &#8212; though vaguely pedestrian in its Grand Conspiracy.  Not only has this sort of scenario become a bit old hat since the 60s, but the original was much more surreal to boot.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/MediaMattersForAmerica-CountyFair\/~3\/eX9287ytY5I\/200909290004\">Eric Boehlert: Right-wing blogger wonders if murdered census worker was a  pedophile<\/a> &#8211; Um, blaming the victim is a standard tactic of the Right as well. This is a particularly despicable example, but nothing new in general.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/MediaMattersForAmerica-CountyFair\/~3\/Cb8ycC5Qfl4\/200909290033\">Eric Boehlert: So much for conservative &#8220;journalism&#8221;<\/a> &#8211; But that&#8217;s the hallmark of conservative journalism &#8212; it&#8217;s out to destroy, not illuminate, and it doesn&#8217;t care (paradoxically) whether it&#8217;s acting legally or not.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/MediaMattersForAmerica-CountyFair\/~3\/CqA0Tdr1RzY\/200909290042\">Terry Krepel: Newsmax columnist: Military coup &#8220;to resolve the &#8216;Obama  problem&#8217; &#8221; is not &#8220;unrealistic&#8221;<\/a> &#8211; I love the obligatory &#8220;Describing what may be afoot is not to advocate it&#8221; disclaimer, followed by loving, longing desire for some sort of beneficent bloodless military coup that would somehow be supportive of and strengthen the Constitution.  Let me just say now, for the record, that these guys are nucking futs &#8212; and that for all the blowhard hyperbole from the Left during the Dubya years, I never heard anyone in what claims to be a mainstream publication (being charitable to Newsmax here) suggest that a military coup might be a desirable outcome and solution.  So &#8230; who are the real patriots?<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/anglicanfuture.blogspot.com\/2009\/09\/foca-na-rounding-up-cattle.html\">PRELUDIUM: FOCA NA? Rounding up the Cattle.<\/a> &#8211; This is only of interest to folks with obsessive concerns over things going on in Anglican-land, but it&#8217;s a nice round-up of the next series of &#8220;Those Dirty Stinking Episcopalian&#8221; attacks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries &#8230;. Bad idea department: tax doctors to pay for health care for the poor [White Coat Underground]: PalMD none@example.com Happy Blasphemy Day! &#8211; The consequences of blasphemy should be, at most, social approbation, the same as any other action that &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/09\/30\/unblogged-bits-for-wednesday-30-september-2009.html\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Unblogged Bits for Wednesday, 30 September 2009&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[715,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crime-punishment","category-potpourri"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":133415,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/05\/07\/ah-blasphemy-laws.html","url_meta":{"origin":15888,"position":0},"title":"Ah, blasphemy laws","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 7-May-17 2:07pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Stephen Fry is apparently under investigation by Irish police for an interview a few years back in which he suggested that the problem of pain in this world does not reflect well on God.Well, he put it a bit more bluntly, but, boiled down, that's pretty much it.The investigation is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30336,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/09\/25\/the-blasphemy-of-anti-blasphemy-laws.html","url_meta":{"origin":15888,"position":1},"title":"The blasphemy of anti-blasphemy laws","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 25-Sep-12 8:05am","format":false,"excerpt":"It seems to me that anti-blasphemy laws serve two groups: \u00a0people who are offended by other folks behaving and speaking and writing \"blasphemy\", and (more importantly) people who want to control other people. (These are not exclusive groups.)Frankly, blasphemy laws strike me as, themselves, blasphemous, as they arrogate upon civil\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49227,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/10\/bryan-fischer-is-a-dolt-blame-charlie-edition.html","url_meta":{"origin":15888,"position":2},"title":"Bryan Fischer is a Dolt: Blame Charlie Edition","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 10-Jan-15 10:37am","format":false,"excerpt":"Bryan, all I have to say is that if God were actively orchestrating misfortune and\/or terrorists to punish those whose pride and perversity make a mockery of Christ ... you might be in a lot of trouble. Originally shared by +Ginny Gibbs: Bryan Fischer Is a Dolt: Hebdo BlasphemyHat tip\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":135584,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/08\/tax-dollars-work.html","url_meta":{"origin":15888,"position":3},"title":"Your tax dollars at work","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 8-Dec-17 7:58am","format":false,"excerpt":"What do school vouchers mean in this age of Betsy DeVos? Vouchers for private education are not new to this Administration, but as Trump's Secretary of Education, De Vos has been pushing those programs like crazy. Public schools, after all, are full of government and unions and even (crazy though\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/betsy-de-vos.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":22899,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/09\/30\/its-blasphemy-rights-day-dammit.html","url_meta":{"origin":15888,"position":4},"title":"It&#8217;s Blasphemy Rights Day, Dammit!","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 30-Sep-11 10:08am","format":false,"excerpt":"Blasphemy can be a lot of things -- or, rather, a lot of things can be considered blasphemous. Questioning whether a religion is true (esp. if it's the majority religion), criticizing a religion's beliefs or doctrines or rules of behavior, mocking a religion or deity or the holy people of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Religion&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Religion","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"Jesus says, \"Don't be a dick!\"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/jesus-says-300x179.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":30360,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/09\/26\/blasphemy-laws-are-about-power-not-holiness.html","url_meta":{"origin":15888,"position":5},"title":"Blasphemy laws are about power, not holiness","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 26-Sep-12 6:01pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Because they're about stomping down opposing views. \u00a0And, inevitably, they are used for trivial, abusive reasons. \u00a0For example ... Embedded Link Blasphemy Laws In Action: PASTA IS OFFENSIVE Edition | Popehat The push for modern blasphemy laws -- the argument that governments should individually or collectively punish expression that offends\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15888"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47819,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15888\/revisions\/47819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}