Hey kids, what time is it? Right! Ten Links of Interest™ Time!

In defense of Margaret Cho.

It appears that due to Matt Drudge, a true internet oddity, that Ms. Cho has been freeped. What country is this? This woman is a comedienne for chrissakes. Apparently half of the populace thinks three things.

1) If you're critical of Bush, you're not entitled to express your opinion.

2) If No. 1 applies, you automatically fellate Bill Clinton.

3) That 'immigrant' only applies to someone with a different skin tone than yours.

I loathed Clinton. I loathe Bush much more. As for the reasons why, see the balance of this blog. If you don't agree with me, that's fine. But if I state something as fact, I am ready to defend my position. I do get a bit of hate mail. But after I reply, it is rare to have the person send another.

Ms. Cho has every bit as much a right to express her opinion as any citizen. No more, no less. She has as much a right to dwell here as any other citizen. No more, no less.

Jefferson, Madison and Adams didn't break their balls just so we could pick and choose to whom we give rights. In the U.S, it's still rule of law. You want to disagree. Fine. In a healthy democracy this is as it should be. Civil discourse was never as civil as history books would like us to believe. But if we are to have a history worth preserving, we must take the discourse to a much higher degree of civility.

Yes, I know I'm breaking with the usual format here, but this item stays atop the page for over twelve hours in a typical day. And this is important.

A definition: Freeper. n. jingoistic non-thinker, typically a Caucasian male inhabiting a red state.

Matt Drudge. He has a radio show that I once listened to..it was odd that his callers, who weren't very well versed in the topics I heard discussed, were nonetheless more articulate than Drudge. Hence the 'internet oddity' remark.

*****

Ted Kennedy. Lots of history. Iraq war a 'political product' Maybe.

As a result[of invading Iraq], Bush and the Republicans in Congress "put the state of our nation at risk, and they do not deserve another term in the White House or in control of Congress."

In a speech sponsored by the Center for American Progress, a liberal advocacy group, Kennedy said the administration's decisions to target Saddam Hussein, go to war in Iraq and transfer sovereignty to the Iraqi people have all been made for Republican political gain and timed to influence American elections in 2002 and 2004.

Two quick comments.

1) I agree with Kennedy that Bush deserves to go. As for Congress, I think a lot of them were duped.

2) The Center for American Progress isn't all that liberal. It is to Americans at this point in history. But historically it would better described as 'moderate.'

*****

The Palestinian/Israeli issue. I don't care where you sit in the political spectrum, or how you view American/Israeli relations. It has to strike you as disturbing when a 22 year old woman, and mother of two blows herself and four others up. That's a sign of deep distress.

*****

Bush and Space via the CS Monitor.

While some Americans support Bush's plan, others question the cost or possible political motives.

Select quote:

"If the Democrats are going to come after Bush after his speech and say, 'At a time with record deficits, why are you proposing spending the money?' that will resonate to some degree with the public, no question about it," says Frank Newport, editor in chief of the Gallup poll. "But on the other hand, the psychological lift that comes from the concept will also resonate with the public on the Bush side, so who knows?"

It all depends on how you frame the cost. If you ask Americans in a non-partisan purely dollars and cents way, if they would like to go to space, or to fund things like, say, SCHOOLS, or for the ENVIRONMENT..because we know we can't have it all, you'll likely get a thumbs down to space.

Bush has never vetoed a spending bill. Not one. Nada. Zip. Zilch. For that matter, he hasn't vetoed ANY bill.

*****

I suspect that there are X-tians amongst you, so maybe you can tell me what the furor over Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" is all about.

"I'm not saying there's no god, that's not for me to say,
all I'm saying is the Earth was not made in a day." --M.C. Hawking

I don't touch on religion much. It's all foreign to me.

*****

This is interesting.

The Jerusalem Post reports: US considering armed intervention in Syria

George Bush instigate military actions against Syria due to its continued support for Hizbullah and enabling terrorists to enter Iraq from its border.

"Reports received by the Night Rider[sic] news group in Washington, operations will not include large-scale military intervention, in spite of several Pentagon officials' belief that Syria should be the next to go after Iraq. The Defense Department is considering punitive aerial attacks and Special Forces incursions.

"The initiative is presently being rejected by Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Richard Meyers and by Secretary of State Colin Powell and the State Department."

It should be noted that this is a former asset of disgraced British neo-con Lord Conrad Black. They need spell check. And reporters. This is just not going to happen with the current debacle over Iraq coming to a boil, and the 9/11 commission reporting. Psst. It's an election year as well.

*****

DHS BULLETIN: PORTLAND, Maine -- The musical instrument that caused the evacuation of Portland International Jetport on Tuesday and was described by airport officials as looking like an electric flute was actually a bagpipe training tool.

"Pipers learn by practicing with a chanter, which they use to play the melody on their bagpipes while the inflatable drones

"US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and the civilian echelons of the Pentagon have proposed that President harmonize. Practice chanters are narrow cylinders with a reed at one end and finger holes that can be covered to change the pitch. Some players use battery-operated electric chanters to practice.

No one at the Portland office of the Transportation Security Administration had seen an electric chanter before, security director Robert Dyer said, and its battery and wires looked suspicious. But a member of a bomb-disposal team in Washington, D.C., who saw an X-ray image of the plastic pipe protecting the instrument, recognized the object."
Link

Glad they caught this one. I fear bagpipes.

*****

New EPA Head?

This is why scientists should stick to their field of expertise. I am a layman in the areas of geology and climatology. I can read and parse literature, but I have no idea as to whether or not the facts are correct.

I have a friend with a bagful of PhDs. He's an evolutionary biologist and Doctor of philosophy. He is a Dawkins critic, and meets the Oxford Don several times per year. He has special knowledge in one area of evolutionary biology, that being 'phenotype plasticity.' If someone asks him about the evolution of sexuality, he tells them that the evolution of sexuality is not his field, and he only knows about it from what he has read in the literature. Exactly what an honest scientist should do.

In the above reference, I offer it as a way to see - and in the future, avoid - traps. A retired geologist studying one mountain in North America cannot extrapolate that data and apply it in any meaningful way to the issue of global warming. He doesn't have the credentials or data sets to be taken seriously by the climatology community.

Science doesn't work that way. Good thing, too.

*****

Dean losing ground in New Hampshire Yeah, I knew this. He'll be around a lot. If anyone has a question that they'd like me to ask Dean, email me. My gut tells me that it's going to Dean and Clark nationally. I'll speculate a bit more. I think they'll both be on the general ticket.

*****

Today's O'Neill Moment™

Leafing through the CIA documents, Mr O'Neill was astonished to read plans for covert assassinations around the globe designed to remove opponents of the US Government. The plans had virtually no civilian checks and balances.

"What I was thinking is, 'I hope the President really reads this carefully', Mr O'Neill said. "It's kind of his job. You can't forfeit this much responsibility to unelected individuals. But I knew he wouldn't." That's tommorow's news from the Sydney Morning Herald.

*****

That's all for tonight. I hope I was harsh, but not too harsh :)