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August 31 Your federal government at workThe Bush administration went to court (and won) to stop a meat company from testing 100% of its meat for mad cow disease. The government wants it to test just the 1% sample required by regulations. Their reasoning: if it became a competitive selling point, then all the companies might have to do it (something the meat packing lobby opposes).
So much for free market economics.
This is an insanely stupid ruling. The government has stopped a company from making its products safer. ham sandwichSome very witty humor. I especially like the updates at the bottom. More on the Bridge to NowhereAnother article from the Anchorage Daily News (must be good to be them this week) with a more comprehensive history of the Bridge to Nowhere. The protesters might be the only ones there...The Republicans are considering postponing their convention, for fear (rightly) of the perception that they're partying while Gustav creams the gulf coast.
Bush and Cheney bowed out this morning.
And according to the LA Times, lots of other GOP heavy-hitters are also bowing out. Cindy McCain on Palin's foreign relations experienceFirst FOX News says it, now Cindy McCain: Sarah Palin has foreign relations experience because Alaska is next to Russia. Police intimidation in MinnesotaGlenn Greenwald is reporting on local, state and federal law enforcement personnel involved ina series of actions purpoted to pre-emptively stop rioters, but with dubious justifcation at best, are pretty clearly over-reactions, and are extremely intimidating. It really started yesterday.
There is a little bit of local coverage, but no national media coverage. I'll be generous and say that Gustav is to blame for that, though this is definitely a story worth telling. This is very disturbing, and needs to get covered, investigated, and discussed. Especially since the FBI is now involved. And apparently this is the culmination ofa long-standing operation relying heavily on "plants" inside of organizations.
One of the more disturbing actions is going after I-Witness, and organization that documents police misdeeds, through intimidation and "house arrest" without any kind of warrant.
creepy, for two reasonsOK, this is a very creepy video, for two reasons.
One, because yes McCain is known for being a bit of a creep when it comes to women, pretty much through his entire adult life.
Two, because it is a perfect example of the power of video -- and video editing. Juxtapose him apparently staring at Palin's rear end with pictures of his nervously fiddling with his wedding ring, and then repeatedly getting in her personal space. The ease at which this magnifies the creepiness should make anyone nervous about appearing on camera.
August 30 More on PalinHere's a fairly comprehensive list of suggestions why Palin is going to be a very problematic VP pick for McCain.
Note I'm saying that these are suggestions, not facts. But even even a small handful of these stick, there's going to be problems.
I'm also not suggesting that Obama and Biden are problem-free. But it's pretty amazing how much stuff has come out in the first 36 hours. August 29 this almost made milk come out of my nose.My daughters and I were just watching the Daily Show from last night, and the "moment of zen" was not to be missed. PalinIf for no other reason that pure entertainment value, I've been following Alaskan state politics. It's very similar to Italian politics: the same folks (and their relatives) keep getting recycled through endless loops of elections, appointments, scandals, enormous public works projects, favoritism, etc.
So when it was announced this morning that McCain had chosen Alaska's governor, Sarah Palin, as his running mate, you could count me among the small number of people in the "lower 48" who had actually heard of her.
She's young, smart, and very very conservative. Pro-life. Creationist. She's been governor for about a year and a half. Before that, she was mayor of Wasilla, a town of about 5000 people.
Her first year as governor went well, as she cleaned up some of the corruption left over from the previous administration (also Republican). The last six months: not so much. Here's a great blog post, from a local, who can explain it much better than I can.
And if you want more background on Governor Palin, go search on the Anchorage Daily News. Lots of good articles and editorials, covering the spectrum of the good, the bad, and the ugly.
This is going to be very, very interesting to watch. TIME's Strange Interview with McCainTIME has posted a very strange interview with John McCain.
Clearly he's been given his talking points and orders to stick very closely to them.
Clearly this is not the Straight Talk Express anymore -- for better or for worse.
I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing for McCain. But it's definitely an interesting development. August 27 Talking to PoliceA fascinating lecture by a former defense attorney and a police officer on the perils of talking to the police -- about anything.
Definitely worth watching.
August 23 Gallup Poll on AbortionHere's an interesting report from Gallup, with tons and tons of data, on Americans' views on abortion.
I'm going to refrain from commenting on what it all means, other than to say that there is no simple interpretation and the long-term treding data is very insightful. Just read it all through yourself, and avoid the temptation to cherry-pick data that supports your particular view. August 20 Early Barack Obama Video FootageHere's an interesting interview from 1995 with Barack Obama. Lego Robot Solving Rubik's CubeThis is just so cool and fun to watch.
Someone built a LEGO robot that solves a Rubik's Cube puzzle. You drop int he cube, it spins it around and maps out the whole thing, then it computes a solution and starts turning sides to solve it. August 19 Disclosing Passwords and 5th Amendment RightsAn interesting ruling by a judge today, that forcing a suspect to disclose a password (or even to enter it in secret) violates his or her 5th amendment rights against self-incrimination. August 17 Old Man's WarNo, this isn't an indictment of McCain's foreign policy platform. :-) I just finished reading Old Man's War, by John Scalzi. The book is written in the first person, as told by one John Perry, who is seventy five years old and a widower at the start of the story. So he joins the Colonial Defense Forces, the military arm that protects all of humanity's colonies throughout the galaxy. This is actually very common -- Earth is a fairly sheltered place where very little is known about what's going on in the rest of the galaxy. But when people reach retirement age, they can join the CDF and after their tour of duty (2 years, possibly extended to 10) they get a new life and a homestead on a colony planet. The CDF loves this because they get people with decades of life experience and wisdom. Retirees love this because they assume that the CDF uses advanced technologies to rejuvenate their bodies in some way -- they get to be young(er) again. But the details are all pretty sketchy, and the stakes are high: you have to fight, and you never get to return to Earth. Perry takes the deal, and off he goes. Scalzi does a great job of progressive disclosure of everything that happens from there. It's a good rollicking story with interesting characters and smart dialogue. This is one of the best science-fiction books I've read in a long time. I'd definitely recommend it, and I'm buying his other books now. |
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