Don't Prosletyze, Don't Tell

Let me ask you this, chaplains who are worried you can't preach against homosexuality: when you wrote the Pentagon and President asking to retain Don't Ask Don't Tell, did you stop to think that you were asking people to keep on breaking the Eighth Commandment?

When you sign up, you're told up front that you're going to be in an ecumenical environment.  How is that changing?

Is the problem you won't be able to run amok with your particularly extreme views?  That you won't be able to keep Christianizing the military under the radar?

You do remember Matthew 24:45, yes?  Good, me too.

So Nancy up, my fellow ordained.  Get on your knees, ask for forgiveness, and do your duty.

The world is not going to end tomorrow

But I will say I have more faith in the energy of the young than the anger of the old.

Burn This Post

You give a thing power by your actions and beliefs.  This is true if you revere or revile something.

Words are immortal, books are not.

Free speech isn't free.  The work of not tolerating intolerance starts here, with everyone using their freedom of speech to condemn the Holy Book fetishists of all stripes: those who revere them to the point of madness, and those who revile them to the point of madness.

So burn your Quarans, burn your American flags, burn your tax bills, whatever.  Just remember that you are locking your own chains.  You are building your own prison.  While the rest of us move toward a more perfect union, you're the one who's stuck where you are, angry at an inanimate object that has only harmed you in your imagination.

I suppose there's a 'logic' to it

If you call "abject fear of the Other" logic.

So the SCOTUS has ruled that peacemaking efforts aid and abet terrorism.  This isn't hyperbole.

The US Supreme Court on Monday upheld the constitutionality of a federal law that makes it illegal to teach members of a foreign terrorist group how to use peaceful means to pursue political goals. Source

So that's how we're gong to win the war on (Some) Terror: make it so we have no choice but to be war like, and keep the cycle going.

So.  What to do?  Imagine the spectacle of peace group members languishing in jail.  Can you see former President Carter writing letters from a jail thanks to the "Patriot" Act?  He pays the fine and gets out and does it again?  Or does he get a pardon?  Can he get one in advance?

Or we could, you know, just Nancy up and behave like grown ups.  We could try mediation.

It's worked before, in Ireland and South Africa.  South Africa doesn't have oil, but it does have gold.  I don't know what Ireland has, except proximity to England, a minor global power.

It's a basic tenet of terrorism and anti-terrorism - if someone has nothing left to lose, they are capable of abhorrent acts.  If we make sure they have nothing left to lose, we're inviting blowback.

This is not "blame America first". This is logic.  This is rational self-interest.  This is looking at what is and not what I want to see.

Joe, I am dissapoint

Yeah, it's a sour meme, but I'm in a sour mood.  Biden kicked off our country's support of Israel's killing of people in the middle of the night, and is resisting calls for an independent investigation.

Israel didn't have to sneak up in the middle of the night.  It could have acted in its own waters, in daylight, and simply turned them away.

Instead they attacked in international waters, in the dead of night, and started killing people "armed" with pepper spray.

It will be interesting if more boats start coming.  What will Israel do?  Keep killing?  Will we keep supporting it? How many people will have to die before there will be peace with justice?

Bonjour, Y'all!

Well, now, this is the day we find out if Texas is turning into France - arrogant without a lot of muscle to back it up, going our own way because, doggonit, we know we're in the right, and not giving a flip about what anybody else thinks.

Not that we didn't have these characteristics before.  What's new is that our influence is probably going to start going downhill, starting with the Texas influence on the nation's school textbooks.

We vote today on whitewashing, quite literally, Texas and U.S. History.  We're also voting on how much to indoctrinate our children in American Exceptionalism, which usually translates that everyone has to follow the major rules of decency, except for Americans.

California, that other hugely populous state, is considering blocking the revisions altogether, though it may not be necessary.  They won't be buying any new textbooks until 2013.  Who knows, we may have a whole different board or system by then.

So this is where we need to start.  We've had elections for some of the board members, now we need to "pack" the rest of the board with, you know, people who aren't so much into starting out with the answers to stuff into childrens' heads.

Our biggest mistake over the last few decades is the growth of the notion that schools must be run like businesses.  The product is "educated employees", which has translated to "cogs in the machine", not trained to question, in fact trained not to question.  It's translated to ridiculous "zero tolerance" rules that teach fear and that you're not safe unless you fit into this little pigeonhole, conveniently locker-sized.  Our universities are changing from places of inquiry to research mills for industry, and very high-priced vocational schools.

There's training, which is critical, and there is education, which is even more critical:  you get context, history, depth, and exposure to more than what you've seen before when you get an education.  With training, you're taught only what you need to know - actually what someone else has determined that you need to know.

What I see of today's students is a decided lack of willingness to find out, but a tremendous effort to believe - in something, anything, and as long as they're never, ever exposed to things outside their beliefs, that's fine.  But that kind of world can only be found in gated communities and desert compounds.  "Security" consists of staying there, forever.  Or changing the world to suit their needs, to everyone else's detriment.

There was a quote that I thought was inspiring for a number of years:  "Most people adapt themselves to the world around them. Occasionally, one person will adapt the world to suit himself.  All progress depends on that one man."

I don't buy that anymore, as I see the Regressive Movement trying to take the country back to a past that didn't really exist.  The world may need shaping, the world definitely needs leaders, but it doesn't need to be leading the way while blindfolded.

And the Texas Board of Education will vote today on just how tight that blindfold it wants to place on our children.

It Is (To Point) And Laugh: Tornado Of Ideas II

You might have noticed I'm s Star Trek fan.  Mostly TNG, some DS9 and Voyager.  Here's a little morality play.  

Snooty Dr. Bashir tells the resident expat Garak the tale of the Boy Who Cried Wolf - the obvious moral being that when you lie all the time, nobody believes you even when you eventually tell the truth. 

The moral obvious to Garak is "never tell the same lie twice".

My point in relating the tale:  You always find what you're looking for.

So, here are the "lesbians"...

If  you can't see it, the title of the book is "Lost Liberties". 

What else could this picture possibly represent?

Friendship. Family.  Sisterhood.   Comfort.  Commiseration.   I'm sure others could come up with more.

As for the always attention-getting word "sodomy", I'm going to let you judge for yourself.  Click for the entire pic.

Title of the book:  Theives in High Places

I'm going to stand by my initial interpretation.   

Wahhh-tention seekers kick up dust over Tornado of Ideas

This doesn't even rate being called a dust devil of stupid, but media coverage has been decidedly lopsided.

There's a guy who doesn't like the statue called Tornado of Ideas. That little opinion piece came out in 2007.  Apparently spending years gathering his resources, he started a Facebook group and a real life petition to get the thing removed a week ago.

The reaction on campus and around town is "huh?"  The media reaction is "Tech Conservatives Angered by Statue!" or something similar.  Major news outlets, mostly quoting the press release, talk about the group protesting and having a petition out.

Local news had them on TV.  Great attention, I'll bet.

Here's what you don't read:

1) There's a counter petition and there were counter protests.  Even a couple of counter FaceBook groups.
2) Real life signatures and online membership against the removal outnumber the "angered conservatives" by 10 to 1.

Now to clear some misconceptions about the work:

• Attempted sodomy depicted.  Since I've actually seen the work, in my opinion it does not depict attempted or actual sodomy.  This is a hot button word being used to get people exited.  I've always seen it as the rider at the end of a chase, pinning down the quarry.  Also, OMG LESBIANS! I'll have to admit I didn't notice this.  I'll check it out and amend as needed.

• "New" YCT group.  It's been pointed out that the YCT has been around a while, so there's nothing suspicous going on.  As the work has been here since 2004, and the founder of this movement has only been disturbed by it since 2007, and has waited until 2010 to actually do something, I call shenanigans.

• The sculpture is supposed to represent America.  I have no idea where this got started.  According to Tech,

"Symbolically, the books within the sculpture represent the polarized ideas within the United States that fuel the energy of the tornado, according to the University Public Art Collection."

(see the rest here: http://www.dailytoreador.com/2.13436/controversial-culture-1.1837508)

So there was no nefarious plot to endorse the "liberaly-ness" of anything.

• B-but-but TAXPAYER MONEEE!  Taxpayer money is used for a lot of things.  It's used for a lot of things I don't agree with, too.  This particular venture of public art started in 1998.  The reason?  To attract outsiders and get them to move here.  And pay taxes and buy stuff.  Business are given tax breaks all the time.  

http://today.ttu.edu/2005/06/communities-use-public-art-to-attract-and-retain-residents-and-businesses/

I wouldn't mind seeing more edifying and inspiring art in the world.  It's great stuff.  I also don't hide from things I don't like.  Listen to your enemies - they have information your friends are keeping from you.

The stated mission of the Tornado of Ideas is to depict the energy created by vigorous debate.  I say: Mission Accomplished.

Computer, what is the nature of the universe?

Defeat has a way of turning your thoughts inward.  Not getting a promotion or job you thought you deserved, a relationship falling through...

...losing an election.

We've been watching the Right engage in the ritual navelgazing that happens after such a thing.  The Democrats did it in 2000, and did it with more vigor in 2004-6.  We've got the TeaB*ggers, we've got the Ron Paul crowd, and we have the old Country Club Republicans looking at it all and saying, "what".

Today's ten dollar phrase "epistemic closure".  It's working its way all over the echo chamber of the left, and we're all talking about and agreeing that We are better than Them because We allow outside thoughts in and They don't.  And They purge whoever isn't Pure enough.

Dr. Crusher: Computer, what is the nature of the universe?
Computer: The universe is a spheroid region, 705 meters in diameter.
-Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Remember Me"

The part of the article that gets the most exposure is the one talking about the Right Wing Bubble and how nothing gets in that doesn't fit the universe.

The part that comes later on, and is expanded later, talks about how the purge really isn't a purge so much as a show put on for the base, or consumers, of the chattering class' product - chatter.  Right now the hot product is how YOU are a REAL AMERICAN™ because YOU haven't SOLD OUT. 

It starts sounding more crazy because people get tired of the same old thing.  So, the "crazies" have to get "crazier".  Discard old, more new.  It's all about the Benjamins, baby.

Now this might make it easy to discard the whole mess as an early "silly season", which usually takes place in August, just before the new products roll out. (we could say it's due to Global Warming and see how folks respond).  People are starting to trim freind lists on FaceBook over that little "joke" of a prayer against the President.  Members of the group gripe that it's only a joke and nobody really means it.  How is one to tell when there really are people in the group posting pictures of people hanging in effigy?

Separating fantasy from reality could get a little more sticky as the early silly season wears on. The Huttaree clan were nicked because they started acting on a false rumor. 

Christian Caryl at Foriegn Policy makes a good case for why we need to start taking conspiracy theories and the "silly" stuff a little more seriously.  That's all well and good, but we're really not going to see the crazy stop until enough of the right people get scared, and start backing away from the "crazy" product producers. 

When the advertisers see there's no market in nuts, they'll pull the plug.

A new game of chicken

Our Stunt Governor is afraid to debate his opponent.  No surprise.

You can't wink your way out of this one, sir.  Hiding behind a disingenuous request for his tax returns isn't fooling anyone.

Looks like the candidates are nearly in a statistical tie.

So, I'd say if Perry continues to refuse to debate, he'll gain another nickname.  Nominations are open.

Well, this about sums it up

I'm sure it's photoshopped.  (I'm pretty sure that's a verb now).  The original image was taken from an anti-war rally back in the day.

I was in support of those anti-war rallies, and I technically support the TeaB*gger things going on today, because the First Amendment applies to everyone.

Have fun, don't get hurt, try not to do any property damage, and for pete's sake, get someone to spellcheck, eh?

Nice Try, Regressives.

Government Is A Problem; Government Is A Solution

Not really. Government simply is.  It's a tool that can be used for good or for evil.  Nattering on about "the government" is just talking about yourself, because you, me, and several multi-national corporations are the government.

Kiplinger's has a fine essay on the futility of arguing over "Big Government".

In short, we want the government to be there when we need it, whether it’s to rescue the financial system or to plow snow covered streets. But when government is inefficient and wasteful -- or doing something we don’t believe is wise or critical -- then it’s a different story.

*Source: Kiplinger

The elephant in the room is the multinational coporations, which have been given carte blanche to do what they will in terms of spending on elections.  Supporters to a man say that a corporation is a person, and can't be denied the right to speak.

Well, that all sounds good in theory.  As Dad used to say: "Everything works in theory".

The counter-argument is that it's easier to organize money than it is to organize people.  Who's got the money? The corporations.  It gets you media buys, billboards, flyers, etc.

People gets you people.  They have limited money, limited time, and they aren't usually able to hire out PR agents or bundle bribes contributions to legislators.

Now here's a fun option: Google TV ads could potentially be a leveller.  I wonder if we could have flash ads, like we do flash mobs?

But that's all flash and glitter.  What the people in the country need is information that's correct, that's put together, and that shines a light on what's really going on.  We need to connect the dots.

More on that later.

===========
*Sorry about any rendering or ads, it was required by Kiplinger.

We've been doing this a long, long time

The first self-executing bill was the U.S. Constitution.

Of all the issues that the Anti-Federalists gave for rejecting the new constitution, the lack of a bill of rights was the most compelling for many people. In the ratifying documents of five states, requests or demands for a bill of rights were included in the text, along with suggested lists (see the ratifying documents of Massachusetts, South Carolina, New Hampshire,Virginia, and New York. Rhode Island also included a list, but they ratified the Constitution after the first Congress approved the Bill of Rights).

Mind the Gap

I got into another Internet Spat this week, 'cause nothing was on TV.  For the most part, we were talking past each other, because the basic reality of the situation was pretty simple.  It got a little silly toward the end, but nearly halfway civil as we finally agreed to disagree.

(Normally I cut off "debate" when the person in question starts calling names, but like I said, there was nothing on TV, and there was some halfway decent argument in the fellow's posts)

Anyway, I got this little gem in my email the other day, "When Debating a Liberal, Start With First Principles", by hardworking Big C Conservative Mark Alexander.  It's a nice little essay on how to slide your way around talking points without having a real conversation.  He's at least honest enough to say that when you're up against another True Beleiver, it's not going to end with agreement, but with a scorched earth, and the only thing that counts is ammunition.

I remember seeing a similar article after the 2006 election.  It was titled "How to talk to a Conservative" or similar, but damned if I can find it now.  It was taken from texts on how to convert former religious folks and smokers.  I found it a smarmy bit of writing and disregareded it. 

eHow.com has a surprisingly good article on simply having a discussion.  Yes! Magazine, who's new to me, has a whole series on talking past the gap.

I've been watching the Coffee Party, which hasn't decided what it'll be when it grows up, but it shows promise.  Guess we'll see.

In other news, Redstate has banned Birthers.  Good move, I think.  Wonder if my Rep knows?

You can't say you didn't see it coming...

Here.  This is where we passed the "PATRIOT" act.  Notice how few people were in the room.  Notice how if it weren't for Maxine Waters, working all stinking day long, there wouldn't even be any recorded votes.  Don't forget the parts where Congressmen come in and say "hey, this bill is different from the one I agreed to last night".  Remember for a few months later, other Congressmen (Republican and Democrat) objecting to bits of the bill that were inserted while they weren't looking, and quietly removed them.

Conrast with the political theater that has been the health care debate.  How many people have had their hands in this pie?  How many trees killed, how many hard drives thrashed, how many good proposals stripped out and/or ignored?

Opponents have had their chance, gotten in their hits.  It's time for the grownups to get to work.  You can be part of the problem or part of the solution.

Oh, one more thing: you're welcome.

7+ hours in 1,000 words or less

Thanks to Fark.

Republicans: The American People want this bill gone because they hate it. Look at the polls.


Obama: Yes, but they love every individual thing in the bill when it isn't spun that there are going to be death panels and other lies you all made up. What they hate is the cost, but the reality is that bills cost money.

Republicans: But you are taking over the entire health care industry.

Obama: Alright, but you say that citing reasons which are actually Republican ideas that we included in the bill.

Republicans: Whatever, we want it all scrapped or we will continue to filibuster, and we don't want you to use reconciliation or anything else we used to ram our ideas down your throats for the first 6 years of Bush. These Senate rules that allow for a simple majority vote are un-American!

Obama: What don't you understand about how being in the minority works? If you want me to phrase it differently, we have a Democratic President and the 2nd largest majority ever, down from the largest majority ever by 1 vote, because the American people you are so fond of quoting voted your asses out after 8 years of you completely farking up our entire system. Know your place.

Republicans: Ok, fine, but the American people hate this bill because it costs too much money. We can't afford it.

Obama: Yeah, but the CBO states it will reduce our deficit in the long run compared to doing nothing. That's otherwise known as "not paying as much." It does cost money, and health care reform will cost a lot of money. It won't cost us more money than would otherwise be spent though.

Republicans: Fine, but we want it all done in small bills rather than a big, comprehensive one. That's how it should be done.

Obama: That's what we've done since you guys killed reform in the 90s. Now look where we are. If you go to fix one thing, you have to enforce it by fixing another thing, which leads to another thing, and not taking care of the side-effects each change has is the reason so many of our small bills in the past like the donut hole are now destroying us.

Republicans: But we want it all scrapped. We have to start over even though we agree on a majority of the things in the bill. We believe that suddenly all these issues will magically change and we will come up with brand new ideas tackling these problems that haven't been thought up in the past year. And we'll play fairly with you this time rather than completely abusing the filibuster process and demanding you do not use similar tactics that the majority gets to enjoy, we promise!

Obama: You already said you wanted it scrapped, I already said no.

Republicans: Ok well then we want the bill to consist mainly of our bill instead of yours. That way we can only cover 1/10th of all the uninsured people and basically do nothing useful to avert the impending disaster we are heading into at our current rate.

Obama: YOU ARE IN THE MINORITY. YOU DON'T GET TO CALL THE SHOTS. WHAT IS SO farkING DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND ABOUT THIS?

Republicans: But this bill costs too much money. We can't afford it and the American people don't want it.

Obama: ... ok now you're just farking with me, right?
 
Now, to be fair, it wasn't all Obama, all the time.  Most of these points were made by Democrats and Obama.

I'm back! Did you miss me?

Hello, dear reader(s)!  Between dead computers and dead internet connections it's been a wild winter. 

Since the primary election's but days away I'm not going to bother with transcribing the rest of the debates, except to mention that Govenor Hair is a liar:  he knew about the Futile Care Law (passed when he was Lite Guv) and did nothing about it, even after hearing about it in the last election.

Oh, and Hutch gave a thoughtful and nuanced answer to the question of whether she'd work to overturn Roe v. Wade.  It made the head hurt, hearing that from a Republican, but I heal quickly.

Medina has since proven that she's in over her head.  I've long thought that Libertarians were entertaining as a group but scary as individuals.  I don't vote for them unless I know they'll do no harm or they won't get elected.

Teab*ggers, however, are scary as individuals and as a group.  It's difficult to watch otherwise sane people be manipulated as easily as this crowd.

On the Democratic side, there are a slew of candidates, but Bill White stands out as sane, so it should be an interesting year.

In a development good for everyone, Kinky Freidman has dropped out of the governors race.  I guess it was already too nuts.  He's instead running for Ag Commissioner, and he's doing his homework as well.  Good luck, sir.

Anyway, I'm back and I'll be seeing you!

Shootout in Texas: Hutch deploys the Teab*gger as human sheild and tactical nuke

We had our Republican candidate debate last night here in the Lone Star State. (archive vid here)  Oh, if only our Presidential debates had been so entertaining.

First, our Stunt Governor, who, predictably, turned down education funding for Texas, saying we're doing just fine, thanks. 

Next up, Hutch, our Senior Senator, who for some reason, wants to come back to Texas to stay.

Last up, a surprise visitor, a token TeaB*gger.  I have no idea how these things are decided, but sure, the more the merrier.  I'm not sure of her qualifications, but she's elligible, so hey.

First we have commercials from Lockheed(with Rocket Day!) and AARP(you can trust us to represnt you, really!). 

Oh, the audio isn't synced up, that's distracting.  Hope they fix that in the archive.  Anyway, introductions all around, and we start off with the first question: Just how crazy are you?  Would you really secede, and if there's something the feds do that you like, how would you replicate it here?

Perry likes the military.  He'd take care of our veterans and men and women in uniform.  Then an attempt to be funny, saying the feds should deliver mail, protect the country and the borders, and one out of three isn't bad.  Leaving us to guess which one he meant I guess.  But the moderator had already moved on...

Well, governor, what would you nullify?  There's a lot of people talking about it, got an answer for them?

Perry: uh...well, we need to stop healthcare, and our Senator over there needs to get back to Washington and stop it.  We gotta stop...

moderator: would you nullify it?

Perry runs out the clock and the moderator turns to stimulus funds.  Perry wouldn't take it if we didn't send so much to washington in the first place.  More running out the clock.

Now Hutch.  She, predictably, lists her favorite federal program as the military, except she can back her claim with her membership and leadership in various military and veterans' committees.  Claims to be fighting against healthcare now, and says that Texas now gets 92 cents back for every dollar it sends to D.C., not 76 cents, as Perry claims.  What she wants to do is eliminate the Highway Trust Fund.  We've got the roads built, so why keep collecting taxes?  Well, that sounds good, but one would think a Senator would be more effective in working on that.  Also, it's not just for highways anymore.

Mod: so what would you nullify?  Funding for ACORN. They're scary.

(That was a cheap shot, Hutch, you ignorant mutt. -nbv)

So now on to Medina, who gleefully informs us that the feds have let the veterans down, and she can't really say that the government does anything well.

Mod: answer the question, already.  You've said you think the government should only enforce treaties.

Medina: Yes. We must nullify Healthcare and get the EPA out of engergy and bidness and all will be well.

Audience question from FaceBook. OOh, aren't we modern?  A woman is worried about losing her unemployment benefits. (thanks, welfare deform -nbv).  What are you going to do?

Medina: non-answer, basic TeaB*gger boilerplate, less government, more bidness.

Perry, after it's noted by a mod that unemployment has double in his tenure: non answer, "Texas is the greatest state." Anecdote about a guy who would rather be unemployed in Texas than anywhere else.  We're great because we don't have frivolous lawsuits, and we rejected stimulus funds (f**cker)

Mod: we've lost more jobs than we've gained...

Perry: Nuh uh!

Everybody else: You're talking about '07and '08! Recession started in '09, and this is '10.

Perry:  Texas! Greatest!  My opponents are tearing Texas down! I love Texas!

Time's up.

What were we talking about again? Oh, yes, unemployment.

Hutch: lower taxes on business, get rid of the mismanagement on the unemployment fund.  Make the educational system better (well, better hurry) so kids can get good jobs (and this helps the asker how?) 

Sideswipe on Perry: We did lose 300,000 jobs in Texas.

Time's up.

Medina takes the bait:  Jobs were lost in the private sector, but the public sector jobs did go up.

Perry: wait wait wait. 1,000 people move here a day. They wouldn't if we didn't have low taxes and fair taxes.

Hutch: the business margin tax was yours.

crosstalk, Perry sputtering and Hutch saying property taxes went up because evaluations went up.  Cant' hear Medina.

Moderator: SHADDUP

Part II coming soon.