Notification

Oops! I maybe should have posted that I put the comment moderator on.
Apparently someone stumbled across my blog and was slightly, um, miffed at my political opinions. While I always appreciate a good debate, insults are not tolerated, and I was not amused.
So now, I moderate.
You can still comment, and I will still post said comments (even if you disagree with me), there just may be a little lag time for approval...

better than elmo..?

I REALLY need to see these movies now. Is that so wrong? You scored as Jigsaw. You are Jigsaw. You don't enjoy killing people at all. You instead love to see how far people will go to live. However if it ends in a bloody death, you still sleep with a smile on your face. You are intelligent, and know how to outwit just about anyone. And that spells bad news for anyone who falls into your games of death and torture. Jigsaw 80% Hannibal Lecter 75% Pinhead 60% Leatherface 55% Candyman 50% Freddy Krueger 45% Jason Voorhees 45% Michael Myers 35% Buffalo Bill 30% Captain Spaulding 20% Which Horror Killer are You? created with QuizFarm.com

my new year's toast- "to everyone's health!"

Not that we NEEDED another reason to drink up, but hey! It's science, right?
Thanks for the memories!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21693-2005Jan19.html

Patriot's stay of "execution"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10562008/

Good news- the Patriot Act was not approved into permanent law.
Bad News- it was, however, extended for six months so the Senate and House can argue about it some more.

Yea (?)

I'm Elmo!?!?

The Your SESAME STREET Persona Test by greencowsgomoo (OKCupid.com)

Elmo

You scored 50% Organization, 75% abstract, and 61% extroverted!

This test measured 3 variables.

First, this test measured how organized you are. Some muppets like Cookie Monster make big messes, while others like Bert are quite anal about things being clean.

Second, this test measured if you prefer a concrete or an abstract viewpoint. For the purposes of this test, concrete people are considered to gravitate more to mathematical and logical approaches, whereas abstract people are more the dreamers and artistic type.

Third, this test measured if you are more of an introvert or an extrovert. By definition, an introvert concentrates more on herself and an extrovert focuses more on others. In this test an introvert was somebody that either tends to spend more time alone or thinks more about herself.

You are mostly organized, more abstract, and both introverted and extroverted.

Most people either love or hate Elmo. I hope you love Elmo, because that's who you are.
You are both somewhat organized. You have a good idea where you put things and you probably keep your place reasonably clean. You aren't totally obsessed with neatness though. Elmo has the same basic approach. His place is pretty tidy, but he doesn't spend all of his time cleaning it up.You both are abstract thinkers. You definitely are not afraid to take chances in life. You only live once. You may notice others around you playing it safe, but you are more concerned with not compromising your desires, and getting everything you can out of life. This is a very romantic approach to life, but hopefully you are also grounded enough to get by. Elmo's whole life is based on fantasy and his imagination. In the beginning he was a regular character, but now he spends most of his time in this fantasy world. You are both somewhat extroverts. Like Elmo, you probably like to have some time to yourself, but you do appreciate spending time with your friends, and you aren't scared of social situations. Elmo spends some of his time with real friends, but he also needs some time just to chat it up with his goldfish.

Find out who you are and let me know- a link to the test is in the post title!

Big Brother go home....

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little tempory safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-Benjamin Franklin, In Freedom

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/20/politics/20spy.html?pagewanted=2&th&emc=th
-Administration cites war vote in spying case.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/20/opinion/20tue1.html?th&emc=th
-The fog of false choices.

http://www.slate.com/id/2132811/
-The secrets they keep.

http://www.slate.com/id/2132983/
-Uncivil liberties.

He's back!

Awww, Georgie, we missed ya!
http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusgen/ap12-19-052732.asp?t=apnew&vts=
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/18/opinion/18sun1.html?th&emc=th
121920050708
Check it out- Georgie's got his little buddy Al saying congress OK'd domestic wire-tapping as a part of the measures that were passed in the wake of 9-11.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't those measures for use of military force? The NSA 1) isn't an arm of the military, and 2) if the tapping was only to occur if one of the two (or more) parties involved had "ties" to al Qaida and was out of the country, who determined the connection? If the CIA can't properly deal with its own intelligence (or lack thereof), we're supposed to believe Georgie can?
Pardon me while I go beat my head against a post.
But it appears that it's Congress to the rescue. (yea?) Prominent members from both sides of the aisle are looking into hearings, so there will certainly be more to this story. Woo-hoo!
http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/12/18/bush.nsa/index.html

Here's the other shoe...

We can't torture 'em, but if we do the testimony's admissible in court!
Yea!
http://www.slate.com/id/2132572/

Investing in ice skates; or, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

OK- where is Georgie, and who is this guy?
Now he's OK-ing Sen. McCain's Anti Torture bill.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/12/15/torture.bill/index.html

Granted the Senate and House had to bloody his nose a little to get him to do it, but still.... I'd hate to have to start liking the guy.

Actually, this is one of those issues that ethicists and legal eagles (and those of us with former aspirations to both) love to chew over, spit out in disgust and chew over again. Even I still have a metaphorical hand on that fence. While I whole-heartedly, and unreservedly support any legislation that will make torture illegal (or at least get us back in line with the Geneva Conventions), you can't help but wonder about that one case in a thousand. Ain't rampant paranoia a hoot?
And I'm not the only one wondering about that. Michel Kinsley of Slate.com wrote a pretty good piece hearkening back to that wonderful ethics-class debate of "What if you were alone with Hitler in his cradle- would you kill him?" and coming up on what I tend to think of as the "Didn't I just see that on '24'?" scenario of a lone terrorist having vital information on an imminent attack. I had a class spend two whole class periods discussing and arguing the Hitler question alone- I didn't sleep well that entire week, and the professors flat-out refused to let us even bring up the other issue. Here's Kinsley's article for those of you who like chasing links 'round the net:
http://www.slate.com/id/2132195/

Hmm, Hell got a little colder. Not frozen over, but still...

Georgie finally did it- sort of. He finally admitted some responsibility for going to war with faulty intelligence. Of course he bracketed the comment with the usual line of we were right to go, we're right to stay, and we're going to stay until we're done. But it's the first time I've "heard" him take any responsibility. (Unless someone can correct-me and please do if you have an example, I'd like to read it.)
The link in the title goes to the CNN.com transcript of the speech, but the following are a few excerpts that stuck out at me, complete with my own sketched-out initial impressions:

B:"In an age of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, if we wait for threats to fully materialize, we will have waited too long."
Me: So rumors will do just fine? Where do you even begin to draw this line in the first place? And wasn't that the problem with the intelligence to go to war in the first place- too many rumors and too many mis-drawn conclusions?

B:"When we made the decision to go into Iraq, many intelligence agencies around the world judged that Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction. This judgment was shared by the intelligence agencies of governments who did not support my decision to remove Saddam. And it is true that much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong. As president, I am responsible for the decision to go into Iraq. And I'm also responsible for fixing what went wrong by reforming our intelligence capabilities."
Me: Remember my "Random thoughts" post about "political oopsies"? Granted that was more of a reaction to the Libby-Cheney-Plame debacle, but this kinda applies as well. Pseudo-kudos to Georgie's advisors for getting the guy to take responsibility, but does he have give it in this back-handed manner? Yes, other governments jumped on the WMD bandwagon, but some of them have since expressed sorrow and regret at the mistake, while still remaining resolute to "stay the course." Taken in context with the rest of the speech, this is almost like he's saying "I was responsible, the info was wrong, but I don't care."

B: "This is an enemy without conscience. And again, such enemy, there is only one effective response. We will never back down, we will never give in. And we will never accept anything less than complete victory."
Me: And neither will they- that's the problem with a "war on terrorism". How do you define your victory when there's no one border that contains your enemies? Do we call it when we've chased all the terrorists out of Iraq and into neighboring countries? Do we follow them if that's what happens? Here's an interesting take on that conundrum: http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/12/14/morton.victory/index.html

B: "It used to be that after American troops cleared the terrorists out of a city and moved on to the next mission, there weren't enough forces -- Iraqi forces -- to hold the area. We found that after we left, the terrorists would re-enter the city, intimidate local leaders and police and eventually retake control.
This undermined the gains of our military, it thwarted our efforts to help Iraqis rebuild, and led local residents to lose confidence in the process and in their leaders."
Me: Ya think? And it only took what, over a year for us notice this was happening? Yup- here's a quote, "Our troops liberated Najaf in 2003. Yet about a year later, the city fell under the sway of radical and violent militia."

There's a lot about this speech that bothers me, but some of it is encouraging. It seems that Georgie is actually taking the time to listen to his nay-sayers, instead of ignoring them outright or attacking their patriotism. (Bottomed-out approval ratings will do that, I guess.) In more of his recent speeches, he's actually taken the time to answer some of the endless questions he's been asked. And while his answers aren't wholly satisfying, at least to me, he is finally engaging in the debate.

And for the record (in case anyone cares) I don't like that we went in using faulty intelligence as a prop, but the regime was horrible (and there are many others as bad or worse out there) and needed to be dealt with. I HATE that we went in almost half-assed and misjudged everything from the strength of the insurgents, the weakness of the existing infrastructure, and the number of soldiers it would take to take and hold positions. It is getting better (slowly), but only after how long? As cheesy as the comparisons to the WWII mobilizations are, there are points to be made. And I have to (grudgingly) agree with one point Georgie makes- while a firm withdrawal date would be heavenly, it's not practically possible.

Raven's dictionary: Inept Weather-Preparedness Day

Def: (noun) Inept Weather-Preparedness Day (or IWPD) occurs when people who don't know how to cope with cold weather run headlong into it.
The resulting hysteria is characterized by early release/cancellation of school/work, panicked rushes to community grocery stores to stock up on goods, general gossiping and over-concern about the latest weather report, and/or rumors of road conditions varying from slightly exaggerated to "You've got to be f*&^%$# kidding me!"

Common to more temperate-weather zones, this phenomenon is the by-product of hysteria, poor cold-weather coping skills (both individual and institutional), and an extreme desire to do anything but work, go to school, deal with reality, or generally do anything but cozy up with a blanket, a movie and one's Poke-Slippers (see picture above).
It does not take much to trigger an IWPD, generally a forecast of freezing temperatures, a little precipitation, and no way to cope with it is sufficient excuse. Compared often to the ubiquitous "snow day", it is worth mentioning that triggers of that event vary wildly region to region, but is still based on a sound principle of "It's too dangerous to go outside," and should not even be considered a synonym for IWPD which seems to be based on the principle of "It might be too dangerous to go outside."

Long story short- I get off work 2 1/2 hours early, I get to laugh my Rock-Mountain-raised ass off at the poor little Texans, and I get to mock everyone who thinks, as my Nic-knack put it so delicately when she came home, "Holy Hell, it's cold out there!"

Freakish diet tips, or drinks are on me!

Because dieting isn't confusing enough as it is, two new studies were published recently regarding the roles of alcohol and coffee on diet and overall helath.
I am going to live forever- freaking forever!

Study finds coffee reduces liver risk. (Yahoo news)

Moderate drinkers show lower obesity risk. (Yahoo news)

A true moment of silence.

Title link is to UNAIDS homepage with links to the Annual AIDS Epidemic report showing too few successes, and far too many disappointments.

MSNBC.com's World AIDS Day coverage

Pledges of abstinence, help on World AIDS Day. (CNN.com)

FDA panel considers home AIDS test. (CNN.com)

UN: 40m now have AIDS virus. Prevention starting to pay off in some countries, report says. (CNN.com)