Frankly, much of this could simply be dismissed as counter-factual theorizing based on a string of logical fallacies, but I'll avoid that since you so far seem to be making a good faith attempt at discussion. I will say, however, that you are advancing ideas that are not supportable based on the historical record or begin with historical truths and extrapolate out of them ideas that have no logical basis. Your moral judgments are your own, and you're entitled to them, but your expressions of...

My daughter drove 120 miles tonight after class so she could vote in person in her home district in the morning before turning around and going back to school tomorrow. And she knows her state will go red regardless. It's her first vote. (Image)

There are a few theories about political realignment. Most of them agree that a distinct realignment took place in 1860, another in 1896, and another in 1936 (not 1933 as some idealists have proposed). Arthur Schlesinger has one theory that doesn't entirely fit with this. A number of historians, political scientists, economists, and sociologists have another. Where it gets cloudy is 1980. Does the theory that explains all those other years apply then or not? There's no concrete answer. Re...

I'm not really comfortable with this idea that Sarah Palin is a surprise choice. She's only a surprise because so much of the focus has been on the possibility of Mittens (my "favorite" just because I like calling him "Mittens"). Because of the rampant speculation focusing elsewhere, it is a de facto surprise, but I think we may be setting ourselves up for something ... not good by running with this idea that the choice of Palin is out of nowhere. Newt Gingrich, for instance, had this to say ...

This is a re-post of a comment I made in another thread that a couple people suggest I offer as an original post, so I'm doing so. I would like to preface it with a few more words. I'm starting to see this comparison of Obama to Dukakis in the manner they are running their campaigns a lot. I think reasons for this exist out of our view and that some of us are responding to it out of a sense of dread that we're going to see a repeat of 2000 and 2004, that we are in danger of becoming self-defe...

And so, while you were distracted by other controversies, this gets started. Yes, yes ... nothing to be afraid of unless you're a pirate. I mean, why care about privacy if you have nothing to hide? A particularly odious element of this bill (well, it's almost all bad, but this is new) is that it brings into the Attorney General's office the prosecution of *civil* suits against alleged offenders, thus saving RIAA the trouble of doing it themselves. Senator fuses controversial IP bills into bi...

I don't have a lot to say here really. I just wanted to say that. I didn't support him in the primaries. I have yet to vote for him. I still don't entirely trust him, just as I don't really trust any politician. But, the man is a genius. This last week has convinced me of that. And that gives me hope. Hope is what he wants me to have. So, it's personal now, and I appreciate the fact he was able to do that, even for me, a cynic of vast proportions.

... is located at the following link: (Link) Enter the search terms "6304 pcs" (without quotes) and conduct a search. The version entered into the calendar in the Senate will be the first link labelled: 1. FISA Amendments Act of 2008 (Placed on Calendar in Senate) OnEdit: Direct link provided by gristy: (Link) I'm not actually going to post the entire text because it is almost 100 pages long in PDF format and would create a message so long I doubt anyone would actually read it. Besides,...

That's the first page. Please note that there's a "Forward" link on the LOC page. Click it a few times, and you get to these sections: What you seem not to understand here is that the pending bill amends a prior FISA law and redefines how the FISA court functions. This bill *removes* certain restrictions of the prior FISA court by requiring only periodic review of the process rather than the specifics of the intelligence gathering. Further, it removes liability from those assisting in the...

Define that how you want. While watching the HBO series on John Adams again the other day, combined with some research I've done recently into a certain late 19th/early 20th century social movement, the question occurred to me whether those who loathe the current government, for whatever reason, consider themselves patriots. Due to the nature of the research and some themes in the Adams series, I became particularly interested in the thoughts of those who seem to base their opinion of their ...

It is flawed for two reasons. First, the term "affirmative action" does not have, nor was it intended to have a meaning that links it to a system of racial quotas. In fact, the opposite was the original intent, and, as has been argued time and again from the street corner to board rooms to the Supreme Court, applying a system of racial quotas to hiring practices, educational admissions qualifications, etc. is antithetical to the "color blind" intent of the civil rights movements of the 1960s. ...

But it is obnoxious. Yes, this is a lengthy rant. Up until about a month ago, I had played with Vista here and there, but I hadn't actually done anything with a computer with Vista installed for any length of time. I'd seen enough before to know it was just another Microsoft OS. I didn't experience anything that made me like it any more than XP, but I didn't see or experience anything that made me hate it either. Well, that's true if we remove the whole underlying philosophy behind its prod...

Some people have grown to love Donna Brazile in the past 24 hours. Others have grown to hate her. Most have no clue who she is, whether they love her or hate her. For the record, she managed Al Gore's campaign in 2000 and is now a Democratic strategist. She's had a few things to say. I offer no judgment. I'm just putting this out there. "What an amazing year! The process - up to this point - has worked in winnowing the field and presenting a clear choice," said veteran Democratic consulta...

Someone please tell me again how RIAA just has the best interests of "the little guy" at heart in their idiotic crusade. Sides chosen in royalty tussle By Brooks Boliek Jan 29, 2008 WASHINGTON -- Music publishers, the record labels and digital music distribution outlets began a three-way legal wrestling match Monday over just how much songwriters and the publishing houses should get paid for digitally delivered music. ... The labels contend that the music publishers have gotten fat as their...

Haven't seen one of these in awhile, and I have no life, so this is what I'm doing on Saturday night. (Image)

I am an undecided voter. This is typical of me and most of those in my circle of politically aware friends. In any kind of general election, you can be sure I'll vote for the Democrat, even if I have to hold my nose to do so. But in primary elections, all bets are off. I tend not to make a decision until a month or more before the election itself and am still open to change right up to election day in some cases, pending some dramatic event. (I switched my choice in 2004 two weeks before th...

Vonnegut's Blues For America By Kurt Vonnegut 2-6-6 No matter how corrupt, greedy, and heartless our government, our corporations, our media, and our religious and charitable institutions may become, the music will still be wonderful. If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph: THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD WAS MUSIC ... What is radically new today is that my daughter, Lily, who has just turned 21, finds herself, as do your children, as does George W ...

I suppose it could be about Ford if one so desired, but that's not my intent. Up front, my purpose here is to ask about your expectations of what a funeral should be, how it should be conducted, and what kinds of traditions you have in your mind as appropriate for the rites associated with the end of a person's life. Do please feel free to be as detailed as you like because I'm truly interested. This interest comes from two unrelated events that nonetheless took place in such close proximity ...

Is this you? Have you ever begun a sentence with that phrase? If so, are you delusional? This is half rant, half advice, but let me preface by saying I have a child. She is seventeen. I think the world of her. She's intelligent and wise for her age. She's graduating from high school a year early. She's received full scholarship offers (room and board) from several different colleges. She's been recruited by Ivy League universities, again with offers of scholarships. She's not pregnant....

I want to preface this by pointing to comments I made in , not merely the single post to which that link points, but some other comments I made later. I offer this preface because I know what I am about to say will be misinterpreted. Mel Gibson’s “Apocalypto” is so much at variance with what I remember from our four trips to Mexico that I went back and reviewed our photo albums and did some on-line research. The result is a confirmation of the horrendous distortion of Mayan history and culture...

Tonight and tomorrow as you feast, remember those who put themselves in harm's way for us. Goodnight Saigon (Link) Be thankful for our soldiers, even if you don't agree with cause. They fight for you.

If anyone wants a better version, PM me. --- (Link) This song is called Alice's Restaurant, and it's about Alice, and the restaurant, but Alice's Restaurant is not the name of the restaurant, that's just the name of the song, and that's why I called the song Alice's Restaurant. You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant Walk right in it's around the back Just a half a mile from the railroad track You can get anything you want at Al...

On a recent trip to DC, I toured the edifices that symbolize our system of government, that are supposed to invoke visions of freedom to all the world. I neared the grounds in front of the Capitol and was first somewhat shocked to see this: (Image) Do Not Enter the Halls of Democracy. No People Allowed. Okay, I thought to myself, we've just had an election. A lot of stuff might be going on in there (nothing was), and maybe the throngs of people that visit this location every day couldn't s...

Check out this paragraph from the review article linked on their front page: "The next version of Second Life will be seamlessly integrated with the Web, making it easier for real-world businesses to sell items through SL. For example, a retailer like L.L. Bean could have a “door” to an SL store on its Web site, inviting people to jump from 2-D browsing into a 3-D saunter around, where an avatar with your exact mea­surements could try on clothes for you. Or a consumer-electronics company could ...

I want to add a bit to what has already been said because this my personal demon. According to RIAA (and the law in most cases) the only thing you own when you own the physical medium is that physical medium. That is, you own a piece of vinyl or plastic or magnetic tape or whatever. As far as what you own, it may as well be blank. The recording is owned, in all conceivable ways, by the copyright owner. (And the copyright owner is almost *never* the artist, so artists who think RIAA has thei...

Well said. I am growing increasingly annoyed, to put it mildly, at this bullshit. I will remember this day. It was the day John Kerry made a joke about the President that the right-wing attack machine took out of context and used to assault him. It was the day (by my count in just the last couple hours) over a hundred self-described Democrats came out on the side of the Bush administration in demanding an apology for the remarks. It was a day that a large number of the very same people who ...

I wrote the bulk of this the evening of September 11, 2001. Over the next couple months I edited it and reframed it a bit, turning it into something a little more than simply a journal entry, adding what amounts to an introduction and a few thoughts that came to mind within the next couple months, but I hadn't even looked at it since the first part of 2002 until I sent it to a friend recently for no paricular reason. You'll note I talk to my journal and that the journal sometimes answers back;...

I offer this not to take away from , rather to ensure it is not buried within it since very little in the way of follow-up based on what is actually taking place here has been offered. With one notable, confused exception, people are rightly outraged, and they are expressing their outrage, but for the wrong reasons. This is primarily because the title of the thread is a bit mis-leading. (This is not Syrinx's fault. I saw the same headline in the place where he probably first saw this.) It c...

It seems relatively few people find this sort of thing important, what with all the water bottles being banned from airplanes, the Mideast in a perpetual state of turmoil, Bush (possibly) on his latest bender, but I'll post it anyway and note that for all of you who talk about the distractions in the MSM, focusing on all this stuff while the country itself digs itself deeper into that handbasket ... this is one of the things that has implications far beyond what the face shows. In a landmark l...

Haven't seen one of these threads in awhile. May have missed it, but still. Scaled this down about half so as not to overload everything. (Image)