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12

2003-12 posts.

  1. 2003-12-03t18:25:32Z. RE: Politics. Big Spending. Tech. Deneba Canvas.
  2. Fantastic Four 507. RE: Comic Art.
  3. 2003-12-07t14:31:57Z. RE: Faith. Fun. Politics. Cheesy Anti-Bush Stuff. Science. Tech. zMisc.
  4. Mega Link Dump. RE: Bush/War. Politics. Science. Tech. zMisc.
  5. 2003-12-07t22:50:52Z. RE: Bush/War. Ethics. Politicians. Politics. Faith. Fun.
  6. Celestial Marriage Cons. RE: Faith. Marriage. Polygamy.
  7. Clark On Hardball. RE: Politicians. Wesley Clark.
  8. 2003-12-11t06:19:57Z. RE: Bush/War. China/Taiwan. Election. Science. Tech. Faith. Lord of the Rings.
  9. 2003-12-12t00:07:19Z. RE: Bush/War. Election. Science. Tech.
  10. 2003-12-14t01:06:11Z. RE: Bush Administration/War. Chicago. Elections. Fun. Science. Tech.
  11. Upgraded At Last. RE: Tech. Microsoft.
  12. Burning Churches And Saddam Hussein. RE: Politics. Philosophy. Spirituality.
  13. Hussein Is Not Aguinaldo. RE: Bush Administration. Iraq War. Philippines.
  14. 2003-12-17t00:09:00Z. RE: Bush Administration. Movies.
  15. 2003-12-19t22:55:11Z. RE: Politics. Bush Administration/War. WMD. Chicago. Election. Engineering/Science. Fun. Movies. LOTR. Philosophy. Ethics. Tech.
  16. 2003-12-22t21:34:56Z. RE: Bush Administration/War. Hussein Capture Conspiracy. Elections. Engineering/Science. LOTR. Politics.
  17. 2003-12-23t23:10:35Z. RE: Bush Administration/War. Fun. Movies. LOTR. Politics. Tech.
  18. 2003-12-28t05:14:31Z. RE: Bush Administration/War. Election 2004. Fun. Green. Politics. Sex.

2003-12-03t18:25:32Z | RE: Politics. Big Spending. Tech. Deneba Canvas.
2003-12-03t18:25:32Z

  • Politics
    • Big Government
      • I thought smaller government was a big Conservative/Right/Republican issue? It doesn't seem one of this administration's goals.
      • Chuck Hagel [Senator R-NB]: This measure will not strengthen Medicare.
        • "We have come loose from our moorings. The Medicare reform bill is a good example of our lack of direction, purpose and responsibility. If we don't get some control over this out-of-control spending and policy-for-the-moment decision-making, we will put America on a course that we may not be able to recover from."
      • McCain Rips Congress, Bush on Spending
        • ' Congress is throwing away astonishing amounts, "spending money like a drunken sailor," and President Bush shares the blame because he is not using his veto power, Republican Sen. John McCain [R-AZ] said Sunday. '
        • ' "The administration originally supported an energy bill that would cost about $8 billion. This one is up to $24 billion, and the administration is still saying it's one of its highest priorities," McCain said. "I don't know how you rationalize that." '
        • "Any economist will tell you cannot have this level of debt of increasing deficits without eventually it affecting interest rates and inflation," he said. "Those are the greatest enemies of middle-income Americans and retired Americans."
    • zMisc
      • Canada's View on Social Issues Is Opening Rifts With the U.S.
        • I had no idea their politics were so much to my liking! I'd consider moving to Canada if it weren't so damn cold up there. Chicago gets more than cold enough for me. If Wisconsin seems bitter cold in comparison to Chicago, then Canada must be cold beyond imagination! Isn't that where we get all those Artic blasts from? Besides I'd miss the Chicago Cubs. We Americans should just get rid of that Bush extremist and bring America back to center.
        • "Being attached to America these days is like being in a pen with a wounded bull. Between the pot smoking and the gay marriage, quite frankly it's a wonder there is not a giant deck of cards out there with all our faces on it." -Rick Mercer, Canada's leading political satirist
        • 'Analysts say that Canada and the United States have always been similar yet different, and that the differences are often accentuated at the margins. But today, many analysts and ordinary Canadians said in interviews around the country, the differences appear to have moved center stage, particularly in social and cultural values. '

      • Liberal Radio Group Says It Is Close to Acquiring 5 Stations

        • 'A Democratic investment group [Progress Meida] planning to start a liberal radio network to counterbalance conservative radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh says it is close to buying radio stations in five major cities [New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Boston].'
        • They're looking into shows hosted by Janeane Garofalo, Al Franken, and Martin Kaplan. This is one of those project that we'll believe when it's been actualized.
        • Rush Limbaugh said this: "Please! On TV you own C-Span, PBS, C-Span 2, CNN, ABC, CNNfn, CBS, MSNBC, CNN Headline News, NBC, CNBC, Bloomberg, Lifetime, Oxygen, etc.," he wrote on his Web site this year, addressing liberals. "Simply for giving the conservative point of view equal time, you call Fox `conservative.' You have radio guys on NPR 24/7!"
        • Jon Sinton, Progress Media's president, replied with this: "While individuals on those networks may occasionally express views that are left of center, on balance we find those organizations to be pretty centrist. Our task is more than to be left leaning — with the exception of Al, who wants to call his show 'The Liberal Show.' Our task is to be funny and entertaining, a no-sacred-cows sort of thing."   
  • Tech
    • Deneba Canvas
      • Boy have I been out of touch with an application I love and use all the time.
      • 2003-04-04: ACD Systems acquired Deneba Systems. I didn't even notice until now.
      • 2003-07-07: Deneba Canvas 9 was released. I'm shocked and jealous because I'm still on Canvas 7! At least I was aware of Canvas 8. It would cost me $250 to upgrade or $400 to buy new.
      • FYI: Canvas is "the only cross-platform, technical drawing program that seamlessly integrates professional-level image editing, page layout, web graphics and presentation features into a single creative application". Or, as I've always said, it's like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and PageMaker combined. These days you'd also have to throw in Adobe InDesign and GoLive too.

2003-12-03t18:35:25Z | RE: Comic Art.
Fantastic Four 507

WARNING: Spoilers beyond the second paragraph. The last few paragraphs in particular have a big spoiler.

I used to collect more comic books but these days I go to a comic shop perhaps once a season. I peek into a few books briefly, trying to find interesting art and interesting stories without spoiling the unfolding that happens during the reading done after purchasing my books. I don't really know the quality of a book until after I've read it. If I went comic book shopping more frequently, then I'd know which titles had a good thread going and would increase the odds of picking good reads on the next visit. As it is I have to use my intuition.

This past weekend I picked up three comic books. Thor Vikings #5 of 5, JLA #90, and Fantastic Four #507.

Thor Vikings was disappointing. I picked it because it was a little gorier and since I'm into medieval weaponry these day, I wanted to see some of that action. However the comic book was just smash and bash. Boring.

JLA was more interesting.

The thing that caught my eye about the art was that they were rendering Wonder Woman as much more muscular: sort of like the women of wrestling. I wanted to see how that worked. In one sense there is no need to make her more muscular because more muscles does not explain how she is able to lift a ship. I think they executed it just fine. It was interesting to see an earthier WW who still retained her "godliness".

In recent JLA issues somehow Batman had given Wonder Woman a meaningful kiss. Over the years the intrigue that had been played with was usually between Wonder Woman and Superman so this was an interesting twist. I like the device that they used to explore the different possibilities of a BM & WW coupling. I also found the way that the two of them handled the touchy issue satisfying. I think they were also correct in the bottom line analysis of such a relationship. It's the same problem that Superman and WW would run into; It's the same problem that Aragorn and Arwen run into in the Lord of the Rings. Basically mortal and immortal couplings are difficult and would only work if the each felt that the coupling was destined.

Fantastic Four was probably the best read of the three.

The art composition was good, the panels were well used. There was a good unfolding art that tied with the story. I always like elements that seem minor when you first encounter them but whose significance is revealed later in the story. I like the inclusion of the art by past artists like Kirby to give but the sense of long history that exists between Reed Richards and Victor Von Doom. There were some renditions that could have used more refinement but I think it was a deadline issue because the art was better earlier in the story than later.

Story wise: who can resist a classic face off between two arch enemies? Richards and Doom have a delicious rivalry that is on par with the rivalry between Batman and the Joker. The story was excellent on that part. As a bonus they did a subplot with Nick Fury leading a UN coalition into Latveria because of Richards replacement of Doom. Doing this type of story during these days of the Iraq occupation adds a delicious richness to the story.

However, the thing I like best about the story is the very end. It touches on a personal issue I have in the realm of super powers.

Here comes the big spoiler. I warned you.

At the end of the story Doom possesses the body of Susan Richard, the Invisible Woman, kills three UN soldiers, and says: "You know I always said Susan was more powerful than the three of you put together..." As a story element the mere possession is excellent. What really gets me is that Doom really knows how to use Susan's powers.

Anyone who has ever read super hero comic books must have, at some point, taken some time to fantasize about which super hero they'd like to be or what super powers they'd like to have. My choice has always been to have Susan's powers. Note that I don't say "the powers of the Invisible Woman". Susan's "action name" of "The Invisible Woman" has always sucked. The only good thing about that name is that it's better than her old name: "The Invisible Girl".

Her powers are two fold. Firstly she has the power to become invisible and make different objects around her invisible, hence the sucky action name. Secondly she has the power to make, shape, and move invisible force fields. The power of invisibility is fine but I've always considered it secondary to her power of force fields. There's nothing wrong with the power of invisibility: it's just that the power of force fields rocks so much more.

I suspect my rendition of these force fields is different from how Marvel renders them. I think Marvel has the resistivity of Susan's force fields dependent on her will power. My force fields on the other hand are quite different. In my imagination, my force fields are base on multi-dimensionality.

Consider the classic scenario of a two-dimensional universe with two-dimensional entities. A circle entity named "O" in this 2D world would see all other entities in his universe as lines. If O went around another circle, he would see  line that was of consistent length. If O went around a square, he would see a line that varied in length. O could not lift off of the plane because that would be going beyond the edge of his universe. If a sperical 3D entity named "P" visited O's world, then P could give O a funky time. P could move up and down in the 3rd dimension, thus P could vary in length or even disappear. P could even lift off the plane and and touch down  within O.

In my rendition of the force field power, I have some tapped into a dimension beyond the third. That is I would be the equivalent of a 3D O but with the capability of a 4D P. That is some how I have acquire the ability to fold space and manipulate hyper cubes  and such. My force fields would be manifestations of the fourth dimension in our 3D world. The folding would be effortless and only limited by my ability to visualize the folding. Thus my force fields would be of infinite resistivity because as a piece of the 4th dimension, it could not be penetrated by 3D objects: just as the 2D O could not penetrate into the third dimension.

I could extend my 4D powers to include folding that would allow teleportation and invisibility but in my fantasies I have limited my capabilities to the ability to generate 4d fields of fields that are made, shaped, and moved through my will power. These 4D fields would be not only be impenetrable, unaffected by mass, inertia, energy. I could make these fields anywhere I could visualize, even within objects (like a person's head). I could shape these fields into infinitely sharp lines or planes or points or hollow shapes or solid shapes. I could move these fields at incredible velocities. I could use these fields to move against an object regardless of the mass of the object, thus penetrating or pushing the object depending on the shape of the field.

Anyhow I want to see if the writers will have Doom do anything like I've imagined. I suspect Marvel will have Doom use Susan's force fields with greater force and with more fantastic shapes than Susan did.

2003-12-07t14:31:57Z | RE: Faith. Fun. Politics. Cheesy Anti-Bush Stuff. Science. Tech. zMisc.
2003-12-07t14:31:57Z

  • Faith
    • Atheists are Discriminated Against in Seven State Constitutions!
      • Discrimination invisible and unspoken but written nonetheless. It's not just atheists either: what if you're a pagan?, say a Native American who believes spirits?
      • "Disqualifications of office. The following persons shall be disqualified for office: First, any person who shall deny the being of Almighty God." -Article 6 Section 8 of North Carolina's State Constitution
    • Breast-feeding driver says her rights violated
      • I'm all for breast-feeding and religious tolerance but we're talking about weirdos pretty extreme stuff here here.
        • 'Donkers, who acted as her own lawyer in a two-day trial in August, was found guilty of driving without a license, failing to comply with a police officer's order, and violating a car-seat law by nursing her baby while driving. In trial testimony, she also admitted she was talking to her husband on her cell phone as the trooper was trailing her for three miles -- and taking notes on the steering wheel about what she should do.'
      • The belong to a religious sect called "The First Christian Fellowship of Eternal Sovereignty" (SovereignFellowship.com).
        • 'We feel it is our obligation to teach our members to be self governing by learning the liberating principles of individual responsibilities under God. The Holy Bible tells us that we cannot serve two masters. We intend to use all legal means to regain our sovereignty as "We the People" by placing our governments back into the proper role of servants and not of masters by following the precepts and duties as defined in the Declaration of Independence, enforcing the Constitutional limitations set upon our governments and by applying the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. We intend, also, to help obtain for our membership salvation from the involuntary servitude {see the Thirteenth Amendment} imposed upon us by the Beast, through his agents, disguised as the Social Security System and its "Mark of the Beast" the infamous Social Security identification number.'
  • Fun
  • Politics
    • Israel-U.S. Tension Rising Over Symbolic Accord.
      • I've been watching this Geneva Accord issue unfold over the past several weeks. It's fascinating because of the similarities between Israel and the US. In Israel and the US, the government is in a Right-wing phase and they are pushing for security through aggression. In Israel and the US, the Left-wing is pushing for peace through diplmacy. The difference is that the Israeli Left has had some success with this Geneva Accord: so much so that the US and Colin Powell are taking their side. But the success is limited because the Right-wing in Israel is fighting this Accord tooth-and-nail (more settlements). Will the Canaanites and the Philistines ever have peace?
      • In the US, the Left's push for peace has been smothered by the Bush administration. Only as the post-Iraq invasion has lengthened has the Bush administration started pushing for international (NATO, UN, etc.) assistance. It would have been smarter and easier to push for this pre-invasion. You can't use mega-bombs or fire blindly in populated areas. Our expensive, hi-tech, hi-numbers army isn't good against this inexpensive, low-tech, low-numbers guerilla warfare. The way to fight terrorism is through police action, diplomacy, multilateral governmental cooperation, political concessions, good intelligence, etc. with a sparse sprinkling of special forces and precision strikes.
      • My hope is that the US is learning this. My hope is that Israel is learning this. My hope is that this Left-wing solution will be able to overcome the dominance of the Right-wing in the governments of both nations. My hope is that both wings can work  together because you need both wings in order to fly.
    • Japan Set to Send Troops to Iraq
      • Whoo hoo! Watch out! The samurai are back! 1000 members of Japan's SDF (Self Defense Forces) may be heading over to Iraq even though polls indicate that 75% of the Japanese population would be against sending them. I'll bet that each SDF member has an advanced degree black belt in at least one martial art.
      • 'The deployment would represent a momentous shift. Some say it could irrevocably set Japan on the path to becoming what they describe as a "normal country" that would eventually be responsible, at least in part, for its own defense. Since the end of World War II, Japan has relied on the United States for its national security.'
      • The funny thing is that I'm going to see The Last Samurai this weekend.
    • Molly Ivins: Picking a winner
      • 'But then I saw Dean laugh his way through a Chris Matthews interview (which he should have done with Tim Russert, who was hell-bent on gotcha questions), and I know the guy can take care of himself. So he fights back if you get in his face -- that's not all bad. I know, he's even less of a liberal than Bill Clinton was, but I don't think Dean is a moderate centrist. I think he's a fighting centrist. And folks, I think we have got ourselves a winner here.'
      • I've been leaning toward Howard Dean myself. Let's see.
  • Cheesy Anti-Bush Stuff
  • Science
    • The best physics humour ever
      • two atoms bump into each other:
        • "I think I've lost an electron!" says one.
        • "Are you sure?" replies the other.
        • "I'm positive!"
    • Hide and seek: The nearest galaxy to the Milky Way is found sneaking up behind us. Aww, isn't that cute? Related: g1 g1
    • Essure.com
      • "Unlike tubal ligation and vasectomy, there are no incisions or punctures to the body. Essure takes about 35 minutes, does not require general anesthesia, and provides birth control without hormones."
      • It looks like they slide a 4 cm micro-insert up each fallopian tube with a tiny "fishing pole", tissue eventually forms around the insert which causes a permanent blockage. It is essentially a non-surgical tubal ligation. Pretty neat!
  • Tech
    • Source Claims SCO Will Sue Google.
      • 'Last week SCO threatened to make an example of a big-time Linux user that hadn't paid SCO the license fees it's demanding and take it to court for copyright infringement.'
      • 'industry wags are saying that God invented SCO to give people a company to hate more than Microsoft'
      • SCO has been annoying us long enough. If I had anything SCO, I would dump it.
    • IBM Wins Both Motions to Compel
      • "Needless to say there was blood all over the floor on the SCO side of the aisle none on the 'left' side."
      • "Judge granted both IBM motions to compel, gave SCO thirty days to comply 'with specificity' and suspended further discovery. Did not rule on the SCO motion until next hearing scheduled for Friday, Jan 23 and 10:00 am."
      • Show us the code SCO, show us!
  • zMisc
    • Electric Poster Series. For those of you who have fun with hate and anger.
    • On 11-14, a woman trespassed into the compound of Cinnamon Bear (an 11 year old northern gray wolf), the wolf attacked her, and a zoo police officer had to shoot Cinnamon. Don Wycliff did a poll on 11-20 about whether her name should have been published. As of now, 85% said publish. I was mad at her and my instinct also said "go ahead and publish the fool's name!". But after thinking about it and reading Don's follow up on 12-04, I came up with this:
      • She must have liked or possibly loved the wolf to hop over a fence to pet him. So in one sense she will punish herself since she must know that her stupid behavior directly led to the death of dear old Cinnamon.
      • Zoo creatures are under our responsibility. They are imprisoned through no choice of their own. Zoo creatures should have some legal protection. Legal action should be taken against her and she should definitely pay a fine or something.
      • We publish the names of those who perform public actions, whether hero or villain. However we usually do not print the name of victims. Nor do we publish the names of alleged villains who have not been proven guilty yet. Why? Not only because of their potential innocence but because people may take it upon themselves to unethically perform vigilante justice. Final result: don't print her name.

2003-12-07t14:49:38Z | RE: Bush/War. Politics. Science. Tech. zMisc.
Mega Link Dump

I've had a backlog of links for long enough. I've decided to organize them, comment on a few of them and put them here. Besides clearing off a task that tends to cling to my to-do list, I also got to see what sort of links I'm interested in. I have 5 major categories here:

  1. Bush/War
  2. Politics
  3. Science
  4. Tech
  5. zMisc

I noticed a maddening number of Bush/War related links. In a good democracy: the people get the credit for all the good and the leader is invisible. As things stand, there is too much focus on Bush because he is supposed to represent us but he's doing his own agenda.

  1. Bush/War
  2. Politics
  3. Science
  4. Tech
  5. zMisc

2003-12-07t22:50:52Z | RE: Bush/War. Ethics. Politicians. Politics. Faith. Fun.
2003-12-07t22:50:52Z

  • Bush/War
    • 9 Afghan Kids Dead After U.S. Air Strike.
      • ' "They were just playing ball, and then the shots came down," said Hamidullah, a distraught villager who said his eight-year-old son, Habibullah, was among those killed. Like many Afghans, they only have one name. '
      • ' By an AP count from hospitals and other reliable sources conducted in February 2002, at least 500 to 600 Afghan civilians were killed by airstrikes during the U.S.-led campaign that removed the Taliban. Since then, as American forces try to stamp out Taliban fighters, more deaths have occurred. The worst incident was in July 2002, when Afghan officials said 48 civilians at a wedding party were killed and 117 wounded by a U.S. Air Force AC-130 gunship in Uruzgan province, which borders Ghazni province. '
      • Fuck this shit! How many terrorists did this accident just create? If some government killed my kids by accident I'd want some sort of compensation or else I'd go on some sort of personal jihad. Americans are scurrying around buying Christmas crap from Walmart while our brothers and sons are killing children and turning peoples houses into rubble. Merry fucking Christmas.
      • As a side I think we had the evidence to enter Afghanistan but not Iraq.
    • Card dismisses questions over prewar intelligence as 'moot'
      • "When you go there today, and you see some of the mass graves of the dead, where he murdered his own people, you just can't help but think that we are much better off. So I think it's a moot point." -Andy Card, Bush's Chief of Staff.
        • But we didn't go because of the mass graves did we? And how many of the bodies in those graves come from the days when the US government supported Iraq?
      • 'Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., suggested on Sunday that next summer's planned transfer of power from American occupying authorities to Iraqis might be driven by Bush's re-election campaign, to be bringing troops home by November.'
        • Of course. Bush said no one would hurry or hinder the process... except himself for the sake of his re-election. How come it took us 2 year after invading Afghanistan to set up their constitution?
      • 'Bush "is taking an appropriate line on spending. He is a great watchdog for the taxpayers' money," Card said on Fox. '
        • 'Campaigning in California, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry scoffed at the assertion. "Spending is up, the government is larger than it's been in years, and this is the administration that's promised to cut both," Kerry said in a conference call with reporters. "They ought to win a Pulitzer Prize for fiction if they can pass that one on." '
    • Sparks still flying in transatlantic trade dispute
      • 'On the trade front, the EU is still waiting for Washington to rescind tax breaks given to US exporters that the WTO has ruled illegal, as in the steel case.'
      • Bush is still seeing what he can get away with that.
    • Tough New Tactics by U.S. Tighten Grip on Iraq Towns
      • "With a heavy dose of fear and violence, and a lot of money for projects, I think we can convince these people that we are here to help them" -Colonel Sassaman.
      • ' Well, I guess what we need to do is go back to the laws of war and the Geneva Convention and all of those issues that define when a structure ceases to be what it is claimed to be and becomes a military target. We've got to remember that we're in a low-intensity conflict where the laws of war still apply." ' -Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top military commander in Iraq
        • Oh I see so it was US policy to throw away the Geneva Conventions. I'm so fucking proud to be a US citizen.
    • AP Investigation: Scientists to Begin Excavating First Iraqi Mass Graves to Get Evidence in Killing of at Least 300,000
      • 'The mass grave at Mahaweel, with more than 3,100 sets of remains, is the largest of some 270 such sites across Iraq. They hold upward of 300,000 bodies; some Iraqi political parties estimate there are more than 1 million.'
      • 'After seven months of work, the team has confirmed 41 mass graves across the length and breadth of Iraq - a country the size of France - some near major cities, and others miles from the nearest road.'
      • There's no denying Saddam Hussein was evil. But we set him up and let him loose for decades. And there are other evil warlords out there too.
  • Ethics
    • Taboo
      • 'The aim of this activity is to tell you something about your moral intuitions. It comprises twelve questions.'
      • I love the fields of ethics so I loved this test even though some of the subject matter might make people feel uncomfortable.
      • In case you want to know, here are my scores. At the time I took the test, the test had been taken 13, 617 times.
        • Your Moralising Quotient is: 0.42 (0.26 avg., i.e. I am less permissive then avg.)
        • Your Interference Factor is: 0.25 (0.15 avg., i.e. I am more likely to recommend societal interference than avg.)
        • Your Universalising Factor is: 1.00 (0.43 avg, I am more likely to see moral wrong doing in universal terms than avg.)
      • The averages probably mean nothing because I'm sure that people have retaken the quiz multiple times in order to skew it. 2003-12-16t19:44:14Z UPDATE: The author sent me an email saying that they use cookies to prevent multiple submissions. I'm still surprised at my 1.00 score fore Universalizing!
  • Politicians
    • Hillary Rips Buh: Warns of 'Irreprable Harm' To Nation
      • "I don't know where it came from, but the fact is that this President Bush has not only been radical and extreme in terms of Democratic presidents but in terms of Republican presidents, including his own father." -Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY)
      • 'She believes Bush is beatable next year because his administration is "making America less free, fair, strong, smart than it deserves to be in a dangerous world." '
      • ""This administration is in danger of being the first in American history to leave our nation worse off than when they found it." -Clinton.
      • You go girl!
    • Howard Dean
      • Dean Ripped for Bush-9/11 Smear
        • "The most interesting theory that I've heard so far — which is nothing more than a theory, it can't be proved — is that he was warned ahead of time by the Saudis. Now, who knows what the real situation is? But the trouble is, by suppressing that kind of information, you lead to those kinds of theories, whether they have any truth to them or not." -Howard Dean
        • Why shouldn't Dean put that meme up? Especially with Bush pushing hard to block the 9/11 investigation.
        • Others have suggested it:
      • "There They Go Again" by Nicholas Kristof. ::: Nicholas thinks Dean will lose by a landslide for 3 main reasons: Geography (Notherners can't carry the South), Style (angry doesn't carry Centrists), and Biography (Dean's blue-blooded, rich, not very religious). This all may very well be true but I'll still vote according to principles and issues.
      • Establishment lining up behind Dean
        • 'we're seeing most of the outright opposition to Dean evaporate, and this week proved the turning point. The latest NH, IA, and MA polls. The $50K for the Florida Democratic Party. The realization of what the SEIU and AFSCME endorsements meant, the realization that it would take a miracle to overtake Dean given his current advantages in support, money, and most important (and most often overlooked) -- his ground organization. Clark, the only guy left with a chance to catch Dean, trails in all three with just over a month left before the first ballots get cast.'
        • Go Dean Go! We want to believe!
    • Cursing Kerry Unleashes Foulmouthed Attack On Bush
      • ' Sen. Kerry (Mass.) used the undeleted expletive to express his frustration and anger over how the Iraq issue has hurt him because he voted for the war resolution while Democratic front-runner Howard Dean has soared by opposing it. "I voted for what I thought was best for the country. Did I expect Howard Dean to go off to the left and say, 'I'm against everything'? Sure. Did I expect George Bush to fuck it up as badly as he did? I don't think anybody did," Kerry told the youth-oriented magazine [Rolling Stone]. '
      • Way to go!
      • Here's the actual interview in Rolling Stone.
  • Politics
  • Faith
  • Fun
    • Free Flight [game]Wheee!
    • Egg Shell Carving. I've seen this before but it's worth a quickie post.
    • SnowCraft [game]. I can feel the snow melting down the back of my neck.
    • Five Geek Social Fallacies. There are some geeks who can really use this advice. The cool thing is that it is written geekishly enough that geeks might accept this advice. Personally I think that we should all be like geeks to some degree by enjoying our eccentric interests enthusiastically.

2003-12-10t15:42:00Z | RE: Faith. Marriage. Polygamy.
Celestial Marriage Cons

Polygamy is in the news now because of the recent case in UTAH where Tracey Roberts is protecting her 10 year old daughter, Kaylynne, from her polygamist ex-husband Stanley Shepp. Astonishingly, this story is similar to older stories like Salon's "Signs of the Father" and "The Dictator of the House", both of which were posted in five years ago!

Polygamy has a tendency to be abused. You can find all sort of articles supporting this like "Polygamy creates abusive lifestyle" (which is basically an extension of PolygamyInfo.com). At it's worst polygamy is lying, child abuse, rape, slavery, incest, statutory rape, disempowerment of females, wife beating, welfare fraud, identity theft, adultery, religious fraud, contract breaking, etc., all rolled into one. It's quite astonishing that there are still 10-30 thousand practitioners of this Celestial Marriage-style polygamy and that the government is not coming down hard on them.

My guess is that most of the plural marriages that have existed historically or currently are of the "alpha male with female harem" model. The Utah, Biblical, Arabian, Oriental, African, etc. polygamies are almost certainly based upon situations with great inequality between the sexes. My guess is that multiple wives is much more prevalent than polyandry (multiple husbands) or other combinations.

In theory a plural marriages could be a good thing. Clearly minors should never get involved in polygamy: only consenting adults. There should also be no secrecy, i.e. no behind-your-back spouses. Polygamy is also illegal in the US so there are no legal contracts for plural marriages. If consenting adult, public, legal, and mature polygamy were ever to become a reality, then here are some of the advantages it might offer:

  • Built in sitter(s). Couples within plural marriages could have dates more often. Of course everyone would have to take turns.
  • Shared economy. It is much more likely that one or more of the spouses would only have to work part-time.
  • Sexual variety. All without infidelity or worries about diseases.
  • Spread the blame. Questions like "Who left the toilet seat up?" might have more than one possible answer.
  • More hands. It would be much easier to move the sofa around.
  • More heads. More ideas and input on decisions (which may be a liability in some situations).

Realistically, I think most people cannot handle polygamy psychologically or culturally. I don't know if the masses ever will. Single people have plural relationships but usually they do this in sequence as opposed to in parallel, or the plural relationship is transitory as opposed to permanent. People have issues of jealousy, boundaries, privacy, intimacy, etc. It is hard enough to have a linear, one-to-one relationship, but it must be remarkably difficult to have a successful and deep triangle relationship, let alone a rectangular relationship or above.

If you are a victim of polygamy, please get out of it and get help. It is illegal in every state in the US. Sites like Polygamy.org (Tapestry Against Polygamy) offer support. Rest assured there are men out there who would be willing to kick your abusive husband's ass.

2003-12-10t23:56:34Z | RE: Politicians. Wesley Clark.
Clark On Hardball

Hardball Battle for the White House: Gen. Wesley Clark. I watched this Chris Matthews interview with Clark live the other day.

Here's stuff I liked:

  • Clark seemed positive, his eyes shown, his smile was genuine, his voice was sure.
  • Diplomacy: "Well, if I were president right now, I would be doing things that George Bush can't do right now, because he's already compromised those international bridges. I would go to Europe and I would build a new Atlantic charter. I would say to the Europeans, you know, we've had our differences over the years, but we need you. The real foundation for peace and stability in the world is the transatlantic alliance. And I would say to the Europeans, I pledge to you as the American president that we'll consult with you first. You get the right of first refusal on the security concerns that we have. We'll bring you in. And in return, we want the same right on your security concerns. And that would reinvigorate NATO. We then put the foundation in place to have a real transatlantic agreement. And working with our allies in Europe, we could move the world. We're 600, 700 million people, we're three permanent seats on the Security Council, we're half the world's GDP. We can do it. Whether it's dealing with North Korea, the value of Chinese currency, or the problems of nuclear developments in Iran. And so that's the essential first step. George Bush cannot do it. He's compromised those ties. It starts with personal respect. He doesn't have it. He's forfeited it. I do."
  • Cause of the Iraq Invasion: 'And so I went in to see Secretary Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz was there. And I went downstairs, and a guy said, sir, come in here. And I said, I don't want to take up your time. He says, no, you need to hear this. He said, have you heard the joke? I said no, I haven't. What joke? He said "9/11, Saddam Hussein, if he didn't do it, too bad, he should have. Because we're going to get him anyway." Of course, it wasn't a joke. It wasn't funny. And he didn't tell it to me to make me laugh.'
  • Reaction to 9/11: 'When this administration came to office, they were advised that the greatest threat to American security was Osama bin Laden. Yet almost nine months later, there was no plan to deal with Osama bin Laden. Yet there were plans to start national missile defense and a lot of other things, but not to deal with the greatest threat. And then after 9/11, there was this massive bait and switch operation. I think they made the decision to go after Saddam and worked very hard to try to find the evidence to justify it. But they failed. That evidence is not there. It was not there. It was the wrong war, it was an unnecessary war. And it's a $150 billion mess today."
  • I liked his focus on trying to retain domestic jobs through tax incentives and dis-incentives for businesses.
  • I liked his support of international organizations by wanting bin Laden tried in international court instead of the US.
  • American focus: "I remember telling at the time to Madeleine Albright, I remember telling her in the fall of 1998, and I said Madam secretary, your real problem that's coming is not Iraq, it's in Europe. But this problem for a New American Century started this movement to use force against Iraq in an effort to make the Clinton administration look weak. They built a case that the Clinton administration couldn't handle international affairs. It's exactly the same kind of movement that went against President Carter 20 years ago in a committee on the present danger they're had to do with a salt treaty, but in this case it was directed against Iraq."
  • Economy: "What we need to do is we need to restore fiscal responsibility in this country, and it starts really with going back to the bush tax cuts. We need to bring back from the wealthiest Americans, those making $200,000 and more the tax cuts President Bush gave them. We didn't have the money. They could have called those tax cuts for wealthy Americans theft, if it hadn't been signed into law. Because we're borrowing money from our children. We're giving the notes to the Chinese and the Japanese, and we're giving it to wealthy Americans to buy stock and Homes in aspen and other places. It's not money that's being spent for the best future of America. So, that's the number-one thing to do, is restore some fiscal responsibility in this country, and I will do that."

Here's stuff I disliked:

  • I felt Clark was too slippery on his retirement. It may be true that he was retired 3 months early for political reasons but he needs rhetoric that seems less defensive, less focused on whether he was "fired"/"relieved" or not. I liked that Clark held Bush accountable a la Truman's "the buck stops here" but it seem hypocritical to not hold Clinton responsible for his release from duty.
  • Clark said that gays and lesbians "should have exactly the same rights that every other American has," and on "Equal rights under law". However he insisted on sticking with the terminology of civil unions, but as far as "the word marriage, that's up to the church, the synagogue, the mosque, and it's up to the state legislatures". Too slippery a statement for me.

2003-12-11t06:19:57Z | RE: Bush/War. China/Taiwan. Election. Science. Tech. Faith. Lord of the Rings.
2003-12-11t06:19:57Z

  • Bush/War
    • Bush's Song. I've added "Razzle Dazzle" to my list of potential Bush songs:
      1.  "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking" by U2.
      2. "Bad Reputation" By Half Cocked.
      3. "Razzle Dazzle" Sung by Richard Geere in the movie Chicago. Especially these lines:
        How can they hear the truth above the roar?
        Throw 'em a fake and a finagle
        They'll never know you're just a bagel,
        Razzle dazzle 'em
        And they'll beg you for more!
    • U.S. to set $18.6B in Iraq contracts: But Germany, France and other nations excluded because of national security concerns.
      • More Bush-style diplomacy. So our tax dollars are going to pay these friends of Bush tons of money while alienating other nations. Bush could have simply selected the bids of allies instead of barring these nations from bidding at all. I've had it with Bush talking out of his ass: He demands more international participation and then squanders an opportunity like this. Put your money where your mouth is.
      • Of course corporate America has been doing business with Iraq all along ("U.S. business sees opportunity in Iraq" and "Firm's Iraq Deals Greater Than Cheney Has Said").
      • I can see France, Germany, and Russia but Canada?
      • This whole Iraq Invasion reeks of war profiteering ("Bring Halliburton Home").
      • Perhaps we should reread "War is a Racket" by General Smedley Butler.
      • Welcome to MeccaDonalds [annoying].
      • FYI: "The United States government is paying the Halliburton Company an average of $2.64 a gallon to import gasoline and other fuel to Iraq from Kuwait, more than twice what others are paying to truck in Kuwaiti fuel, government documents show." [via "High Payments to Halliburton for Fuel in Iraq"]
    • China/Taiwan
      • President Bush and Premier Wen Jiabao Remarks to the Press [11:05]
        • "We oppose any unilateral decision by either China or Taiwan to change the status quo, and the comments and actions made by the leader of Taiwan [Chen Shui-bian] indicate that he may be willing to make decisions unilaterally, to change the status quo, which we oppose." -Bush
        • Who is Bush to preach about unilateralism? Or against pre-emptive action in a nation's interests?
      • Background Briefing on President's Meeting with Chinese Premier Wen [15:35]
        • "there are two separate messages here. One is for the Chinese that, look, you can't use force, you can't use coercion. The other one is for the Taiwanese, look, you shouldn't be moving towards independence." -Senior Administration Official
        • This is so delicate. We're risking another economic war, war with China, nuclear problems with North Korea, Taiwan's freedom, etc. I hope the sentiments of economic greed and peace can overcome the warhawk mentality and Bush's ineptness.
      • Neo-cons cry 'appeasement' over Taiwan
        • 'Analysts said Bush's statement did not reflect a substantive change in US policy, but the directness - some said brutality - with which it was expressed came over as unexpectedly harsh, particularly his reference to Chen as "the leader of Taiwan" rather than as "president", a formulation that must have caused considerable satisfaction to Wen [Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao] '
        • Bush is appeasing China? Can NeoCon even say "appeasement" in public? Why aren't we appeasing North Korea? Is a non-aggression pact with North Korea so difficult? Is PNAC (Project for the New American Century) cracking?
      • Tale of the colossus and the inexorable upstart
        • 'China is already the world's sixth-largest economy, and it is growing like the US did in the 19th century. It could be the world's largest within four decades.'
        • This article gives other numbers.
    • US military admits it killed Afghan children in attacks
      • 'The US military admitted yesterday, for the second time in a week, that Afghan children had been killed by US forces in action against Taliban and al-Qa'ida suspects. Six children and two adults were crushed under a wall last Friday after an attack at a compound stacked with weapons belonging to a fugitive militant.'
        • Fuck this shit! Now we're dropping buildings on kids.
      • ' "The people are growing very hostile now, because America should know how to avoid these things," said Tareq, a 30-year-old government worker in Kabul. "They are bombing children every day. It is not Mullah Omar [the Taliban leader] or [Osama] bin Laden that is killing them." '
    • The George W. Bush G.I. Joke Action Figure (by Mad Magazine)
    • Moving Targets. ' The Bush Administration has authorized a major escalation of the Special Forces covert war in Iraq. '
      • ' According to American and Israeli military and intelligence officials, Israeli commandos and intelligence units have been working closely with their American counterparts at the Special Forces training base at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and in Israel to help them prepare for operations in Iraq. '
        • Oh great so we're going to do eye for an eye potshots, assassinations, etc. just like the Israelis. You can see how successful that program has been in acquiring a peaceful world for them.
        • This also puts us in bed with Israel, the usual Muslim fanatic's arch enemy, thus magnifying their hate for us.
      • ' An American who has advised the civilian authority in Baghdad said, "The only way we can win is to go unconventional. We're going to have to play their game. Guerrilla versus guerrilla. Terrorism versus terrorism. We've got to scare the Iraqis into submission." '
        • I can see going guerilla v guerilla, but scare into submission? You can't scare these guys. These guys live in rocks, they've had their friends dying all around them for as long as they can remember, they're religious fanatics, they grew up using bullets to pick their ears, etc., etc. What's to fear?
      • ' Many of them fear that the proposed operation—called "preemptive manhunting" by one Pentagon adviser—has the potential to turn into another Phoenix Program. Phoenix was the code name for a counter-insurgency program that the U.S. adopted during the Vietnam War, in which Special Forces teams were sent out to capture or assassinate Vietnamese believed to be working with or sympathetic to the Vietcong. In choosing targets, the Americans relied on information supplied by South Vietnamese Army officers and village chiefs. The operation got out of control. According to official South Vietnamese statistics, Phoenix claimed nearly forty-one thousand victims between 1968 and 1972; the U.S. counted more than twenty thousand in the same time span. ... The adviser added, "The problem is that we've not penetrated the bad guys. The Baath Party is run like a cell system. It's like penetrating the Vietcong—we never could do it."'
        • If the situation is identical, then we're going to repeat history. Geez. I smell another disaster.
      • ' The rising star in Rumsfeld's Pentagon is Stephen Cambone, the Under-Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, who has been deeply involved in developing the new Special Forces approach. ... One of the key planners of the Special Forces offensive is Lieutenant General William (Jerry) Boykin, Cambone's military assistant. '
        • Oh great the one who's on a Crusade.
      • It seems to me that we are on a military track, we're trending towards becoming a military-police state. The US is becoming like Israel. I wouldn't be surprised if the current administration assassinated a politicial contender if he or she was perceived as a threat to their military objectives.
  • Election
    • Dennis Kucinich. Anti-Bush Animation by Kuchinich camp. Angry at the death and injured Coalition people and Iraqis by the Iraq War, which Kucinich basically says was done for war profiteers. There are also flashes of patriotic words: apparently Kucinich also dislike Bush's subliminal and oppresive brain washing techniques used to pass this war off to the US and the Coalition.
      • More anti-Bush animations at BushFlash.com, like Strange Glove.
      • In the comments at Metafilter, Faze had an interesting comment: ' "They are are sons, our daughters, our brothers, our sisters..." Kucinich is still protesting the Vietnam War, which was fought in large part by draftees, whose deaths were indeed a tragedy. Our current armed forces are all-volunteer. They are paid killers. They receive salaries and other benefits in return for their willingness to go overseas and -- when ordered to -- kill people. They are exhaustively trained to kill people. Every day of their lives in the service, they are reminded that their mission is to kill people. There has to be some limit to how much boo-hooing we do when these paid killers themselves get killed. War is murder and volunteer soldiers are... not innocent.'
        • Volunteer soldiers are not simply paid killers, mercenaries, and murderers. The police are also all-volunteer. The important thing is that the laws, the leaders, and the people have to ensure that our police and military are doing the right thing.
    • Gore Endorses Dean [transcript].
      • Gore quotations:
        • "Howard Dean really is the only candidate who has been able to inspire, at the grassroots level all over this country, the kind of passion and enthusiasm for democracy and change and transformation of America that we need in this country."
        • "Democracy is a team sport, and I want to do everything I can to convince anybody that is interested in my judgment about who among these candidates has the best chance to win and the best chance to lead our country in the right direction"
        • "This nation cannot afford to have four more years of a Bush- Cheney administration. We can't afford to be divided among ourselves to the point that we lose sight of how important it is for America."
        • "What is going on in this Bush White House today is bad for our country. And it's slowly beginning to sink in to more and more people out there. And we don't have the luxury of fighting among ourselves to the point where we seriously damage our ability to win on behalf of the American people this time around. "
        • "I've heard a lot of folks, who in my opinion made a judgment about the Iraq war that was just plain wrong, Howard Dean's decision to oppose the Iraq war calls his judgment on foreign policy into question. Well, excuse me. He was the only major candidate who made the correct judgment about the Iraq war. (APPLAUSE) And he had the insight and the courage to say and do the right thing. And that's important... (APPLAUSE) ... because those judgments, that basic common sense, is what you want in a president."
        • "Our country has been weakened in our ability to fight the war against terror because of the catastrophic mistake that the Bush administration made in taking us into war in Iraq. It was Osama bin Laden that attacked us, not Saddam Hussein. (APPLAUSE) Saddam Hussein is a bad guy and he's better off not in power. We're all better off. But it was a mistake to get us into a quagmire over there."
      • Gore's endorsement divides Dems: Race now pits Dean against everyone else.
        • '[Dean is] already is far ahead in money and polls -- a recent New Hampshire poll had him leading his closest rival by 30 percentage points -- and he has won the endorsements of the nation's two largest unions. '
      • Stop This Train: Who decides this election—you or Al Gore?
        • The other candidates can whine about it all they want but Gore has free speech rights too and he can endorse whoever he wants. He is not discounting the voters or anything like that.
      • The New Hampshire Debate: The Democrats split between Clinton and Gore.
        • I like how the little alliances might be forming amongst the Democrats. It's sort of like watching reality TV: "Democrat Survivor"!
        • Here are the alliances as I see them:
          • Howard Dean (Former Gov. VT)/Gore. The clear front runner. It's possible that Gore may seem more Left than the Clintons. Both may shoot their own feet.
          • Gen. Wesley Clark/Clintons. Time is running out for Hillary very quickly for most people. She needs to shit or get off the pot. For me, unless Dean goofs up, it's too late for her. Otherwise very strong.
          • Dennis Kucinich (Rep. OH)/Rev. Al Sharpton. These guys will provide more interest to the stories. They will do their job to make sure the issues, including the further Left issues get discussed.
          • John Kerry (Sen. MA)/Joe Lieberman (Sen. CT)/Dick Gephardt (Rep. MO). Fading.
          • Amb. Carol Moseley Braun/John Edwards (Sen. NC). No chance and hardly contributing to the debate.
        • It ain't over until the fat lady sings. Anything can happen but it's important to keep the debate going.
  • Science
  • Tech
    • Authentication and Authorization. In .NET.
    • How To: Traverse an ADO MD Cellset Object by Using Visual C# .NET. Not too far different from non-.NET usage of ADO MD.
    • A new MS Internet Explorer vulnerability is discovered.
      • "By opening a window using the http://user@domain nomenclature an attacker can hide the real location of the page by including a 0x01 character after the "@" character. Internet Explorer doesn't display the rest of the URL making the page appear to be at a different domain."
      • Frighteningly simple for something so potentially dangerous.
      • EG: onclick="location.href = unescape ('http://www.microsoft.com%01@zapthedingbat.com/security/ex01/vun2.htm');"
    • Microsoft to ditch older products. Phasing out the following: Office XP Developer, Visio 2000, BackOffice Server 2000, Office 2000 Developer, Office 2000 Tools, Office 2000 Multilingual, Office 2000 Premium SR-1, Office 2000 Service Pack 2, Outlook 2000, Project 2000, SQL Server 7, SQL Server 7 Service Pack 3, Embedded Visual Tools 3.0, Visual Studio 6 MSDE, IE 5.5, MapPoint 2002, Visual Studio 6.0 SP3 and SP5, Windows 98, Windows 98 Y2K, Windows 98 Resource Kit, Windows 98 SP1 (all win98 except SE), Windows NT 4.0, ISA Server 2000, Visual Basic for (Alpha Systems).
  • zMisc