Alright, I'm always hesitant to post about this type of story for a few reasons: 1) It seems so clear to me that I feel like I have much to say, 2) These stories make me angry, and you wouldn't like me when I'm angry, and 3) A natural laziness that strikes me from time to time.
Anyway, as I thought about it I figured it'd be useful if I just gave a broad overview and you all could talk about it in the comments.
1) In his 2003 State of the Union Address President Bush states that British Intelligence reports that they have proof that Iraq has been attempting to purchase uranium from "Africa" (later clarified to be yellow cake uranium from Niger.
2) July 6, 2003: Former US Ambassador Joe Wilson writes a column in the New York Times claiming the President's statements about Iraq's attempts to score some uranium are, as the kids say, "totally whack". He supports this claim with the fact that he was actually sent, by this Administration, to Africa to check it out.
3) July 14, 2003: Robert Novak writes a response column, but interestingly claims that Wilson was not sent by the Administration, but by his wife Valerie Plame, the CIA Agent. Surprisingly, this tidbit was not public knowledge, as she was undercover. Novak refuses to reveal his source, despite the fact that there has, in all likelihood, been a very serious violation of federal law. It should be noted that uncovering undercover operatives is not only an abstract danger to national security, it also endangers the life of the operative. Though Plame wasn't an agent in the James Bond/Solid Snake mold, evidently she was on somewhat sensitive missions. Also, uncovering Plame essentially stunted her career possibilities within the Agency.
4) On several occassions both White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan and President Bush stated that they were serious about discovering the source of the leak and punishing the one responsible. They went so far as to say, on at least one occassion, that the leaker would be fired "at a minimum".
5) July 6, 2005: Reporter Judith Miller was jailed for contempt of court after refusing to reveal Time reporter Matt Cooper's source in a story relating to the Plame affair. Cooper subsequently states that his source has given him permission to testify before the Grand Jury relating to the Plame case. A Time memo is discovered before his testimony which reveals that Karl Rove was Cooper's source.
6) Bush and McClellan both dodge questions relating to Rove and how much, if any, punishment he shall receive if indeed he is proven to be the leaker. The official stance is that the White House does not comment on an ongoing investigation, despite the fact that they commented plenty before the memos were discovered.
Hope that hits all the high points. If I missed something or, and I am eternally hopeful, you just want to give your thoughts, feel free to post some comments.
July 13, 2005
We're All Scared...Very, Very Scared
Rehnquist is in the hospital. It doesn't sound like anything serious to me, but I can't help worrying every time I see a Supreme Court Justice in the news.
Huge Dickheads
Hey, funny story, remember how Electronic Arts bought up all the football rights for exclusive use, along with the ESPN franchise, previously owned and used by their primary rival, Sega Sports? That, combined EA spent $1.5 billion securing NFL/ESPN rights for five and fifteen years, respectively? Yeah, well they just signed a new agreement with John Madden. That's right, after all that money and kicking of their competitors right in the place o' pain they're probably not even going to use the ESPN license. "Sorry Sega, you were doing too well, we're going to need your brand name to stuff our closet."
A confusing post on Judith Miller
I've decided I cannot agree with Drew. Not because I think Judith Miller was right to refuse to reveal her source, but because I can't decide whether she was right or not.
The problem is that the principle Miller is standing by here is the same principle that protects whistleblowers, albeit perversely twisted here to support, not undermine, those in power. And whistleblowing is the reason you have a free press: so information can be brought to light without fear of retribution from those in power.
Drew says that "It is ludicrous to suggest that criminal conversations are or should be protected by the long-standing rule against a journalist betraying a source." My training is in philosophy, not law, but isn't it a crime, on some level, to break a non-disclosure agreement and tell reporters that the cigarette company you work for does, in fact, know their product causes cancer?
On the other hand, it seems like a difference can be found here: the minor crime of violating the non-disclosure agreement is overriden by the greater crime of knowingly manufacturing and marketing a dangerous product, while Judith Miller was not being informed of any sort of wrongdoing when she was told Valerie Plame (sp) was a CIA agent. Is this the sort of 'crime calculus' our legal system uses, though?
The problem is that the principle Miller is standing by here is the same principle that protects whistleblowers, albeit perversely twisted here to support, not undermine, those in power. And whistleblowing is the reason you have a free press: so information can be brought to light without fear of retribution from those in power.
Drew says that "It is ludicrous to suggest that criminal conversations are or should be protected by the long-standing rule against a journalist betraying a source." My training is in philosophy, not law, but isn't it a crime, on some level, to break a non-disclosure agreement and tell reporters that the cigarette company you work for does, in fact, know their product causes cancer?
On the other hand, it seems like a difference can be found here: the minor crime of violating the non-disclosure agreement is overriden by the greater crime of knowingly manufacturing and marketing a dangerous product, while Judith Miller was not being informed of any sort of wrongdoing when she was told Valerie Plame (sp) was a CIA agent. Is this the sort of 'crime calculus' our legal system uses, though?
July 11, 2005
Useful information
Unmarked "Police" Cars:
I knew about the red light on police cars, but not the *677.
It was about 1 PM in the afternoon, and Lauren was driving to visit a friend. An UNMARKED police car pulled up behind her and put his lights on. Lauren's parents have 4 children (high school and college age) and have always told them never to pull over for an unmarked car on the side of the road, but rather wait until they get a gas station, etc.
Lauren had actually listened to her parents advice, and promptly called *677 on her cell phone to tell the police dispatcher that she would not pull over right away. She proceeded to tell the dispatcher that there was an unmarked police car with a flashing red light on his rooftop behind her. The dispatcher checked to see if there were police cars where she was and there weren't, and he told her to keep driving, remain calm and that he had back up already on the way.
Ten minutes later 4 cop cars surrounded her and the unmarked car behind her. One policeman went to her side and the others surrounded the car behind. They pulled the guy from the car and tackled him to the ground. The man was a convicted rapist and wanted for other crimes. I never knew about the *677 Cell Phone Feature, but especially for a woman alone in a car, you should not pull over for an unmarked car.
Apparently police have to respect your right to keep going to a 'safe' place. You obviously need to make some signals that you acknowledge them (i.e. put on your hazard lights) or call *677 like Lauren did. Too bad the cell phone companies don't generally give you this little bit of wonderful information.
*Speaking to a service representative at **Bell** Mobility confirmed that *677 was a direct link to OPP Dispatch. So, now it's your turn to let your friends know about *677.
I knew about the red light on police cars, but not the *677.
It was about 1 PM in the afternoon, and Lauren was driving to visit a friend. An UNMARKED police car pulled up behind her and put his lights on. Lauren's parents have 4 children (high school and college age) and have always told them never to pull over for an unmarked car on the side of the road, but rather wait until they get a gas station, etc.
Lauren had actually listened to her parents advice, and promptly called *677 on her cell phone to tell the police dispatcher that she would not pull over right away. She proceeded to tell the dispatcher that there was an unmarked police car with a flashing red light on his rooftop behind her. The dispatcher checked to see if there were police cars where she was and there weren't, and he told her to keep driving, remain calm and that he had back up already on the way.
Ten minutes later 4 cop cars surrounded her and the unmarked car behind her. One policeman went to her side and the others surrounded the car behind. They pulled the guy from the car and tackled him to the ground. The man was a convicted rapist and wanted for other crimes. I never knew about the *677 Cell Phone Feature, but especially for a woman alone in a car, you should not pull over for an unmarked car.
Apparently police have to respect your right to keep going to a 'safe' place. You obviously need to make some signals that you acknowledge them (i.e. put on your hazard lights) or call *677 like Lauren did. Too bad the cell phone companies don't generally give you this little bit of wonderful information.
*Speaking to a service representative at **Bell** Mobility confirmed that *677 was a direct link to OPP Dispatch. So, now it's your turn to let your friends know about *677.
Zombies, what Zombies?
Apparently US scientists have figured out a way to bring back clinically dead dogs by draining their blood, replacing it with a nearly freezing saline solution, and three hours later, replace the blood and bring the dog back to life with an electric shock. Apparently, no brain damage results from the procedure. The article talks about how this would be most benificial to battlefield or trauma victims, i.e. people who lose massive quantities of blood, because it would give more time to repair bodily damage.
I will admit, my PETA sense was tingling when I found the article didn't mention whether or not the dogs were already dead/injured/etc. Ethically, aren't there some problems with killing animals just to see if we can bring them back to life? Insert your generic mad scientist laugh here.
Also, just because I've read too many Lovecraftian stories, and watched too many zombie movies, I'd figure that they should keep something nearby if they ever do it to a person. Just, you know, in case....
I will admit, my PETA sense was tingling when I found the article didn't mention whether or not the dogs were already dead/injured/etc. Ethically, aren't there some problems with killing animals just to see if we can bring them back to life? Insert your generic mad scientist laugh here.
Also, just because I've read too many Lovecraftian stories, and watched too many zombie movies, I'd figure that they should keep something nearby if they ever do it to a person. Just, you know, in case....
July 10, 2005
An Update
Remember that mod I linked you all to last month? The one that unlocked a "have sex with your girlfriend" minigame in GTA: San Andreas that had been removed before it shipped? The ESRB has opened an investigation into whether they should retroactively change the games rating from Mature to Adults Only.
July 09, 2005
Not so Fantastic
Not surprisingly, The Fantastic Four is pretty mediocre. Michael Chiklis, from FX's The Shield, does quite well in the role (and costuming) of Ben Grimm/The Thing, but every other actor is crappy crap crap. The script is shaky -- several 'why did they do that?' moments, and lots of annoying technobabble thrown around -- but you can tell the writers at least tried to do something in the spirit of, say, X-Men or Spiderman; they just failed miserably.
If you go to superhero movies because they're superhero movies, you probably won't want to tear your eyes out -- this is not Daredevil. But, really, just go see Batman again.
If you go to superhero movies because they're superhero movies, you probably won't want to tear your eyes out -- this is not Daredevil. But, really, just go see Batman again.
Keep Reading
Dan and I have evidently posted quite a bit today, including some rather long posts, so keep reading on down to get to all the new stuff.
So You're On A Desert Island...With Some Power Source
What movies or music do you think you will never in your life become tired of? For instance, I've watched Ghostbusters and The Big Lebowski, among many others, countless times, but I could watch them today and be entertained. In fact, uh, I'm watching Ghostbusters right now...it's so great.
So, what of you?
So, what of you?
Dream Theater: 2005 Octavarium
Every time Dream Theater releases a new album it usually takes between three and five listens before I'm really able to wrap my mind around the music and decide if I like it or not. Of course, I always end up loving it and can't imagine them making any new albums that don't sound like this. Then after a couple years they release another album that sounds very different from the last and the whole process starts over again.
Now that I've finally fallen in love with the newest release, Octavarium, and have been listening to it non-stop for well over a week I thought I'd post my personal ranking of Dream Theater's studio albums. I’ll post my thoughts on one album per day, starting with the lowest ranked and moving upward. Here we go!
4. Octavarium
I’ll be honest, this middle part of the list is a little muddy. Truth be told the difference between any one album on this list and the two albums ranked higher and lower than it is really small and I wouldn’t have any problem swapping some of these. The real reason this one is probably ranked as high as it is is because it’s new and I’m just excited about all the songs. This isn’t to say it’ll drop to the bottom when I tire of it, because I probably won’t tire of it, just get used to it.
I think this is probably Dream Theater’s most straightforward sounding album, which is just nice to have in the catalogue. I like to view DT’s discography as the ingredients for a live show, so it’s good to have a good mix. Put out an album of rich, complex tunes, then balance it with a more straightforward album. This one fills the latter quite nicely and the tunes are extraordinarily catchy for Dream Theater. The melodies and hooks in this album are approximately a bunch more catchy than previous albums. Moreso than other albums I find myself humming the tunes from this album when I'm not listening to it, but more importantly, when I'm not thinking about it. If you've ever found yourself absentmindedly humming some tune you didn't even realize you were humming, you know what I'm talking about, and to my mind it's that type of stuff that tells me something is really catchy.
This isn’t to say that it’s a shallow album. Quite the opposite, but I’m still just starting to unwind all the different layers of the album and look forward to doing for a quite a while.
1) The Root of All Evil - Part three of the multi-album spanning tale of dealing with alcoholism. The themes from the previous two parts of the epic blend nicely with the new stuff they've presented here and I think this is probably my favorite of the three thusfar.
2)The Answer Lies Within - A slower more contemplative song than most of the rest of the album, this one didn't grab me at first and it wasn't until I found myself, as noted above, humming the tune absentmindedly that I appreciated it more. No solos or virtuosity to speak of here, which is a good departure for a band that likes to spread itself out stylistically.
3) The Walls - I think this is my favorite song of the album. Like most of my favorites from DT this one grabbed me the first time I listened to it with a nice catchy-ness mixed with some nice rich technical composition to back it up. This is the type of song I can just sing along to or choose to follow any of the members of the band and enjoy what they're playing. Jordan Rudess layes down some nice atmospheric keys; Mike Portnoy's laying down a rock solid percussion along with some great little flares to spice it up; John Myung manages to completely disappear in the mix, not because he's not there but because it blends so well you don't notice that he's doing really cool stuff unless you listen for it; and John Petrucci is keeping it nice and crunchily rocking then switches to a wonderfully clean and simplistic solo. I can't wait to see this one live.
4) I Walk Beside You - I was skeptical when I heard people, including Casey in his review posted below, mention this song in the same sentence as U2, but it's there. Don't take that to be negative, which it certainly isn't, and this is actually one of the things I like most about DT. They can do a U2-ish song while still sounding like Dream Theater, then the next second do something completely different. Can U2 do Dream Theater? Don't know that they've ever tried, but I've never seen a more versatile band than Dream Theater and this song is another example.
5) Panic Attack - John Myung doesn't often get a chance to shine because he's so often happily just playing his complex bass riffs in the background, but every once in a while he gets to come out front, as he does at the beginning of this song and show what he can do. A balls out rocker, this is one of the more "in your face" songs on the album, while at the same time sometimes I'll be listening and pick up a bit of lyrics and realize how well I think they match the quick rocking going on underneath. This song also lets the band put in a couple nice quick packed-with-notes solos which is pretty rare on this album, even though these solos are reletively short.
6) Never Enough - Another rocker, though at a bit of a slower clip than the last one. The thing I appreciate the most about this one is the rock solid platform provided by Portnoy on the drums and Myung on the bass. The two of them just drive this song forward with a head bobbing groove and amazing precision. Like most of the album there's reletively little soloing going on, but it's impressive how much milage they get out of what little they indulge in.
7) Sacrifice Sons - This is the song I'm least sure about on the album, though it has nothing to do with the music. Dream Theater has a history of taking on controversial topics (stem cell research on Six Degrees of Inner Turbulance and religious fanaticism on Train of Thought), but doing so in a rather amazingly even-handed way, refusing to take sides in the debate. Given my political leanings I'm a little wary of jingoism and that's the impression I first got from this song. Sure, DT's a New York band and they probably have a lot of personal feelings about 9/11 and I can begrudge them an outlet in a song, I'm just careful about what the messages in songs like that might be. That said, it took me a while to find the other side being presented in the previous political songs and in the end it took sitting down with the lyrics and headphones and breaking the song down, which I haven't done with this one yet. I can say that I like the music though, so it's already got that going for it.
8) Octavarium - Ah, the epic song of the album. While the rest of the songs on the album are shockingling short by Dream Theater standards (only one half the album's songs break 8 minutes), this one clocks in at a hefty 24 minutes flat. There are two ways that I can think of to make a song longer: 1) Add solos, and 2) Make movements. The former can be interesting every once in a while, but it can become rather tedious, especially as the songs get longer. I've heard some songs that broke the twenty minute barrier that probably shouldn't have, none by Dream Theater of course, and those aren't all that fun. Movements is the much more practical and interesting thing to do with long songs, but still, I think in our radio trained culture of music listening people just don't "get" long music anymore. Mahler wrote a symphony that lasted an hour and a half and calls for upwards of a thousand (that's right 1,000) people, though you can get away with less. There's nothing inherently wrong with long music, but it seems to me that today anything that goes over five minutes is written off as self indulgent.
Anyway, to get to the actual music, this song has eight movements, each falling under one broad theme which ties the work together. Some of the movements I like better than others, and while this isn't Dream Theater's best long song, it's an excellent song to work your way through. I'm only starting to break this song down and really "get" each of its parts but I am starting to understand that this song is made of puzzle pieces and that this song is a part of the larger puzzle presented in the album as a whole. I'm not quite sure where it's going yet, but musical themes are quoted throughout the album both from previous albums and between tunes on this one. This one's going to take me a good long while to fully digest, but that's what I love about this band. I'll be listening to this song regularly for a year and it won't feel old in the slightest.
Now that I've finally fallen in love with the newest release, Octavarium, and have been listening to it non-stop for well over a week I thought I'd post my personal ranking of Dream Theater's studio albums. I’ll post my thoughts on one album per day, starting with the lowest ranked and moving upward. Here we go!
4. Octavarium
I’ll be honest, this middle part of the list is a little muddy. Truth be told the difference between any one album on this list and the two albums ranked higher and lower than it is really small and I wouldn’t have any problem swapping some of these. The real reason this one is probably ranked as high as it is is because it’s new and I’m just excited about all the songs. This isn’t to say it’ll drop to the bottom when I tire of it, because I probably won’t tire of it, just get used to it.
I think this is probably Dream Theater’s most straightforward sounding album, which is just nice to have in the catalogue. I like to view DT’s discography as the ingredients for a live show, so it’s good to have a good mix. Put out an album of rich, complex tunes, then balance it with a more straightforward album. This one fills the latter quite nicely and the tunes are extraordinarily catchy for Dream Theater. The melodies and hooks in this album are approximately a bunch more catchy than previous albums. Moreso than other albums I find myself humming the tunes from this album when I'm not listening to it, but more importantly, when I'm not thinking about it. If you've ever found yourself absentmindedly humming some tune you didn't even realize you were humming, you know what I'm talking about, and to my mind it's that type of stuff that tells me something is really catchy.
This isn’t to say that it’s a shallow album. Quite the opposite, but I’m still just starting to unwind all the different layers of the album and look forward to doing for a quite a while.
1) The Root of All Evil - Part three of the multi-album spanning tale of dealing with alcoholism. The themes from the previous two parts of the epic blend nicely with the new stuff they've presented here and I think this is probably my favorite of the three thusfar.
2)The Answer Lies Within - A slower more contemplative song than most of the rest of the album, this one didn't grab me at first and it wasn't until I found myself, as noted above, humming the tune absentmindedly that I appreciated it more. No solos or virtuosity to speak of here, which is a good departure for a band that likes to spread itself out stylistically.
3) The Walls - I think this is my favorite song of the album. Like most of my favorites from DT this one grabbed me the first time I listened to it with a nice catchy-ness mixed with some nice rich technical composition to back it up. This is the type of song I can just sing along to or choose to follow any of the members of the band and enjoy what they're playing. Jordan Rudess layes down some nice atmospheric keys; Mike Portnoy's laying down a rock solid percussion along with some great little flares to spice it up; John Myung manages to completely disappear in the mix, not because he's not there but because it blends so well you don't notice that he's doing really cool stuff unless you listen for it; and John Petrucci is keeping it nice and crunchily rocking then switches to a wonderfully clean and simplistic solo. I can't wait to see this one live.
4) I Walk Beside You - I was skeptical when I heard people, including Casey in his review posted below, mention this song in the same sentence as U2, but it's there. Don't take that to be negative, which it certainly isn't, and this is actually one of the things I like most about DT. They can do a U2-ish song while still sounding like Dream Theater, then the next second do something completely different. Can U2 do Dream Theater? Don't know that they've ever tried, but I've never seen a more versatile band than Dream Theater and this song is another example.
5) Panic Attack - John Myung doesn't often get a chance to shine because he's so often happily just playing his complex bass riffs in the background, but every once in a while he gets to come out front, as he does at the beginning of this song and show what he can do. A balls out rocker, this is one of the more "in your face" songs on the album, while at the same time sometimes I'll be listening and pick up a bit of lyrics and realize how well I think they match the quick rocking going on underneath. This song also lets the band put in a couple nice quick packed-with-notes solos which is pretty rare on this album, even though these solos are reletively short.
6) Never Enough - Another rocker, though at a bit of a slower clip than the last one. The thing I appreciate the most about this one is the rock solid platform provided by Portnoy on the drums and Myung on the bass. The two of them just drive this song forward with a head bobbing groove and amazing precision. Like most of the album there's reletively little soloing going on, but it's impressive how much milage they get out of what little they indulge in.
7) Sacrifice Sons - This is the song I'm least sure about on the album, though it has nothing to do with the music. Dream Theater has a history of taking on controversial topics (stem cell research on Six Degrees of Inner Turbulance and religious fanaticism on Train of Thought), but doing so in a rather amazingly even-handed way, refusing to take sides in the debate. Given my political leanings I'm a little wary of jingoism and that's the impression I first got from this song. Sure, DT's a New York band and they probably have a lot of personal feelings about 9/11 and I can begrudge them an outlet in a song, I'm just careful about what the messages in songs like that might be. That said, it took me a while to find the other side being presented in the previous political songs and in the end it took sitting down with the lyrics and headphones and breaking the song down, which I haven't done with this one yet. I can say that I like the music though, so it's already got that going for it.
8) Octavarium - Ah, the epic song of the album. While the rest of the songs on the album are shockingling short by Dream Theater standards (only one half the album's songs break 8 minutes), this one clocks in at a hefty 24 minutes flat. There are two ways that I can think of to make a song longer: 1) Add solos, and 2) Make movements. The former can be interesting every once in a while, but it can become rather tedious, especially as the songs get longer. I've heard some songs that broke the twenty minute barrier that probably shouldn't have, none by Dream Theater of course, and those aren't all that fun. Movements is the much more practical and interesting thing to do with long songs, but still, I think in our radio trained culture of music listening people just don't "get" long music anymore. Mahler wrote a symphony that lasted an hour and a half and calls for upwards of a thousand (that's right 1,000) people, though you can get away with less. There's nothing inherently wrong with long music, but it seems to me that today anything that goes over five minutes is written off as self indulgent.
Anyway, to get to the actual music, this song has eight movements, each falling under one broad theme which ties the work together. Some of the movements I like better than others, and while this isn't Dream Theater's best long song, it's an excellent song to work your way through. I'm only starting to break this song down and really "get" each of its parts but I am starting to understand that this song is made of puzzle pieces and that this song is a part of the larger puzzle presented in the album as a whole. I'm not quite sure where it's going yet, but musical themes are quoted throughout the album both from previous albums and between tunes on this one. This one's going to take me a good long while to fully digest, but that's what I love about this band. I'll be listening to this song regularly for a year and it won't feel old in the slightest.
Men For VAWA Declaration of Support
Go sign:
As men throughout the United States who are committed to ending violence in our families and our communities, we support the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). We believe that men must join together with women to be part of the solution to the problem of domestic and sexual violence.
Since 1994 VAWA has helped to reduce the rates of domestic and sexual violence, but the problem continues in epidemic proportions throughout our country. VAWA 2005 expands support for domestic violence victims and focuses on breaking the cycle of violence by targeting resources to children and youth who have been exposed to violence, and engaging men as allies in this work.
Infantile masculinity
Via Panda Amanda, a post by one Robert Arjet on the culture of the 'doofus dad' or selfish, emotionally stunted masculinity:
What's sad is that I really recognize this sort of selfishness: with the exception of one uncle (who was gay), all of my male relatives have proven again and again to be incapable of genuinely respecting their wives or girlfriends. Or doing any real work around the house.
Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.
Jeez, this one is painful just to read. It wouldn't be so bad if I couldn't imagine millions of guys, some of whom I know, saying "Hell, yeah!" to that one. It's such a sad rejection of the entire emotional life. Sympathy is a basic element of the human condition. I'm actually at a loss to put into words what is missing from a life without sympathy.
Crying is blackmail
Ah, my favorite. Boy-men generally hate to see women cry, especially if there's any chance that they might be legitimately at fault. If crying is blackmail (not "sometimes blackmail" or "often used as blackmail"), then anytime a guy like this is such an ass to a woman that she tears up, she is automatically in the wrong, he is automatically in the right, and nothing she says any longer has any validity. Nice bit of logic. Talk about blame-the-victim. I mean, this is abuser mentality. Do these guys, in their darker moments, think "bleeding is blackmail?"
What's sad is that I really recognize this sort of selfishness: with the exception of one uncle (who was gay), all of my male relatives have proven again and again to be incapable of genuinely respecting their wives or girlfriends. Or doing any real work around the house.
Where Being Sent To The Bench Is A Good Thing
Drew's got a pretty bleak picture of the state of affairs after the recent announcement that Sandra Day O'Conner will step down from the Supreme Court and the rumors that another (Rehnquist), or possibly two more (Rehnquist and Stevens), retirement announcements are on the way.
First let me just state the obvious; the fact that Bush is getting any Supreme Court nominations is a bad thing. Still, given the ages represented on the Court it's hardly surprising, especially given how long it's been since a new Justice was appointed.
Ok, that's the basic stuff. I have to agree with Drew that if they manage to get two more Scalia's on the Court and promote the real Slim Scalia to the big chair that things are going to be screwed like crazy. Drew mentions a lot of areas where precedents can be overturned, and he's right of course, but I'd be much more concerned about areas where there *aren't* decades of precedents yet. We're talking the internet(s), genetic manipulation/cloning/research, novel issues of international law stemming from the so-called War on Terror. Yeah, that's all pretty scary.
Still, and perhaps I'm just be a bit of an insane optimist here, but I just don't think Bush can pull something like that off. Sure, there may be a grand conservative leader that will guide this country into a decades long venture into a fundy dreamland, but Bush isn't gonna be that guy in my ever humble opinion. I mean, Zogby's got the guy polling with 42% of people saying they'd be in favor of impeachment if it was found that Bush mislead people about Iraq before the war and it's only in the South that Bush's job approval gets over 50%, and even then it's at 51%. Yeah, everyone should be skeptical of polls and those numbers probably aren't that high or low, respectively. Still, major polling institutions are polling on *impeachment*! The fact that they're even asking the questions is pretty big, and though it may be a bit higher than reality, 42% is a high damn number!
I just don't think Bush is in the position to nominate real honest to God wackos, or at least certainly not two. Sure, he'll probably be able to a real conservative in Rehnquist's seat of that opens up, and that's fine, though I still don't think he'll be able to get a James Dobson-ite through. But with O'Conner's seat, I have to believe that the Dems are going to fight tooth and nail to get a real moderate in there. Yeah, the hearings are going to be long, and in all likelihood pretty catty, but I have to think there are enough Republicans sane enough out there to realize that replacing the first woman ever to be appointed to the Court and who was always the bulwark guarding some fundamental reproductive rights with some crusty old white conservative monolith would be disasterous to their party. Yeah, we'd be stuck with a couple crap judges, if they ever managed to get them through, but the Dems would be handed one of the most potent electoral messages they could ever hope for.
Of course I suppose we'll all see, but I feel like whatever it was the Bush was calling his "political capital" from reelection has been spent paying for an unpopular an unproductive war. Like Clinton he's surrounded by scandals, and these ones aren't just getting a blowjob. Like I started with, Bush nominating anyone is bad news, but I don't think we're quite staring at the abyss.
First let me just state the obvious; the fact that Bush is getting any Supreme Court nominations is a bad thing. Still, given the ages represented on the Court it's hardly surprising, especially given how long it's been since a new Justice was appointed.
Ok, that's the basic stuff. I have to agree with Drew that if they manage to get two more Scalia's on the Court and promote the real Slim Scalia to the big chair that things are going to be screwed like crazy. Drew mentions a lot of areas where precedents can be overturned, and he's right of course, but I'd be much more concerned about areas where there *aren't* decades of precedents yet. We're talking the internet(s), genetic manipulation/cloning/research, novel issues of international law stemming from the so-called War on Terror. Yeah, that's all pretty scary.
Still, and perhaps I'm just be a bit of an insane optimist here, but I just don't think Bush can pull something like that off. Sure, there may be a grand conservative leader that will guide this country into a decades long venture into a fundy dreamland, but Bush isn't gonna be that guy in my ever humble opinion. I mean, Zogby's got the guy polling with 42% of people saying they'd be in favor of impeachment if it was found that Bush mislead people about Iraq before the war and it's only in the South that Bush's job approval gets over 50%, and even then it's at 51%. Yeah, everyone should be skeptical of polls and those numbers probably aren't that high or low, respectively. Still, major polling institutions are polling on *impeachment*! The fact that they're even asking the questions is pretty big, and though it may be a bit higher than reality, 42% is a high damn number!
I just don't think Bush is in the position to nominate real honest to God wackos, or at least certainly not two. Sure, he'll probably be able to a real conservative in Rehnquist's seat of that opens up, and that's fine, though I still don't think he'll be able to get a James Dobson-ite through. But with O'Conner's seat, I have to believe that the Dems are going to fight tooth and nail to get a real moderate in there. Yeah, the hearings are going to be long, and in all likelihood pretty catty, but I have to think there are enough Republicans sane enough out there to realize that replacing the first woman ever to be appointed to the Court and who was always the bulwark guarding some fundamental reproductive rights with some crusty old white conservative monolith would be disasterous to their party. Yeah, we'd be stuck with a couple crap judges, if they ever managed to get them through, but the Dems would be handed one of the most potent electoral messages they could ever hope for.
Of course I suppose we'll all see, but I feel like whatever it was the Bush was calling his "political capital" from reelection has been spent paying for an unpopular an unproductive war. Like Clinton he's surrounded by scandals, and these ones aren't just getting a blowjob. Like I started with, Bush nominating anyone is bad news, but I don't think we're quite staring at the abyss.
Evidently There Were More Than A Couple Links
Here we have the first concert of video game music performed by a major symphony. Tunes include orchestrations of Mario™, Zelda®, Halo®, Metal Gear Solid®, Warcraft®, Castlevania®, Sonic™, Tron, Tomb Raider®, Advent Rising, Beyond Good & Evil™, Kingdom Hearts, God of War™, Final Fantasy®, EverQuest® II, a special retro arcade segment, and more. Check out their website for more.
Here's a somewhat long, but really informative interview about all, or most of at least, the cool shit that's going into the Xbox 360. Lot's of good info about things like the interface, which helps you organize things like music that you've put on the machine or even meet people that are of about the same skill level as you in an online game. Good stuff if you're at all interested in the 360.
Thanks to Evil Avatar again for those links.
I'm not sure how excited, if at all, I should be when I read that people think pineaples might fight off cancer in people and that there might be an AIDS vaccine. Science people, let me know what you think!
Lamark was right?
Thanks to /. for those links.
Here's a somewhat long, but really informative interview about all, or most of at least, the cool shit that's going into the Xbox 360. Lot's of good info about things like the interface, which helps you organize things like music that you've put on the machine or even meet people that are of about the same skill level as you in an online game. Good stuff if you're at all interested in the 360.
Thanks to Evil Avatar again for those links.
I'm not sure how excited, if at all, I should be when I read that people think pineaples might fight off cancer in people and that there might be an AIDS vaccine. Science people, let me know what you think!
Lamark was right?
Thanks to /. for those links.
Couple O' Links
Here's a link to a discussion with video game developers about why we haven't seen any serious attempts at religious video games. Any thoughts? I've got a couple but I want you all to start commenting for Pete's sake. Here's a couple relevent bits to start you thinking:
1) Cinema has many serious mainstream treatments of religious source material.
2) Though perhaps a smaller industry by numbers of consumers, money wise the video game industry is starting to get close to, if not already having surpassed, the movie industy.
3) One of the defining characteristics of video games is player control, while movies are more a medium for presenting a single forceful perspective.
I might think of something later, but that should at least get you all started. Also, I want to point out that you don't need to be familiar with video games to talk about this in the abstract, so all you people saying, "Oh, I'm not a gamer, he doesn't want me to post." and just click that little comments link and put in your thoughts.
Next up we have an enormous audio interview with Avi Arad, Marvel big wig, about all things Marvel. It's fourty minutes broken up into six minute segments so you don't have to listen all at once. Topics covered include the future of some movie franchises already made into films (Fantastic Four, X-Men, Spiderman, etc.) and some upcoming franchises (Silver Surfer, Ghost Rider).
Here are a couple nicely shorter highlights of the above interview in printed form.
Thanks to Evil Avatar for the links.
1) Cinema has many serious mainstream treatments of religious source material.
2) Though perhaps a smaller industry by numbers of consumers, money wise the video game industry is starting to get close to, if not already having surpassed, the movie industy.
3) One of the defining characteristics of video games is player control, while movies are more a medium for presenting a single forceful perspective.
I might think of something later, but that should at least get you all started. Also, I want to point out that you don't need to be familiar with video games to talk about this in the abstract, so all you people saying, "Oh, I'm not a gamer, he doesn't want me to post." and just click that little comments link and put in your thoughts.
Next up we have an enormous audio interview with Avi Arad, Marvel big wig, about all things Marvel. It's fourty minutes broken up into six minute segments so you don't have to listen all at once. Topics covered include the future of some movie franchises already made into films (Fantastic Four, X-Men, Spiderman, etc.) and some upcoming franchises (Silver Surfer, Ghost Rider).
Here are a couple nicely shorter highlights of the above interview in printed form.
Thanks to Evil Avatar for the links.
Finding Design in Nature
An Austrian Cardinal (the Catholic person kind, not the bird kind) has written an essay, published in the New York Times a couple days ago:
'Neo-Darwinism' is an old boogeyman of religious opponents of evolution, though that name is not entirely accurate. What the opponents of evolutionary theory are afraid of is what Nietzsche called the death of God: the nearly nihilistic point of view (not even really a coherent, unified philosophical movement) that existence is utterly without purpose or plan. This point of view is utterly antithetical to all but the most deistic forms of religion, which is why Nietzsche gave it this name, and also why it is so vigorously opposed by the religious.
It is, incidentally, a point of view I am rather drawn towards.
The problem is, in the context of discussions of biology, this point of view becomes a straw man: it is a metaphysical idea, strictly beyond the scope of science. 'Neo-Darwinism', or the post-Watson and Crick 'new dogma' (yes, it is actually known in this way) properly speaking, is a theory of DNA and survival pressures: DNA provides the blueprint for all the various traits and structures of an organism; variations in DNA occur with some regularity, as cells of the organism split for growth and reproduction (this is the Neo- part, what was added to Darwin's basic theory of variation and selection after the discovery of DNA); these variations carry over into slight variations in traits and structures among populations of organisms, and the DNA coding for those variants (genes) which are better able to reproduce will gradually become more widespread throughout the population; finally, over sufficiently long time scales, these small, subtle changes build up into large, dramatic ones. Nowhere does Neo-Darwinism forbid divine guidance, especially with regards to the particular genetic variations that occur.
But, similarly, nowhere does Neo-Darwinism require any kind of divine intervention. This is the threat the religious seem to see here: that their fragile faith will be shattered if God is not intellectually necessary. It's sad that they lack the robust faith of their sisters and brothers who ground their faith not in a requirement of rock-solid intellectual necessity, but out of loving hope in spiritual possibility, what Christians have often called grace.
The Catholic Church, while leaving to science many details about the history of life on earth, proclaims that by the light of reason the human intellect can readily and clearly discern purpose and design in the natural world, including the world of living things.
Evolution in the sense of common ancestry might be true, but evolution in the neo-Darwinian sense - an unguided, unplanned process of random variation and natural selection - is not. Any system of thought that denies or seeks to explain away the overwhelming evidence for design in biology is ideology, not science.
'Neo-Darwinism' is an old boogeyman of religious opponents of evolution, though that name is not entirely accurate. What the opponents of evolutionary theory are afraid of is what Nietzsche called the death of God: the nearly nihilistic point of view (not even really a coherent, unified philosophical movement) that existence is utterly without purpose or plan. This point of view is utterly antithetical to all but the most deistic forms of religion, which is why Nietzsche gave it this name, and also why it is so vigorously opposed by the religious.
It is, incidentally, a point of view I am rather drawn towards.
The problem is, in the context of discussions of biology, this point of view becomes a straw man: it is a metaphysical idea, strictly beyond the scope of science. 'Neo-Darwinism', or the post-Watson and Crick 'new dogma' (yes, it is actually known in this way) properly speaking, is a theory of DNA and survival pressures: DNA provides the blueprint for all the various traits and structures of an organism; variations in DNA occur with some regularity, as cells of the organism split for growth and reproduction (this is the Neo- part, what was added to Darwin's basic theory of variation and selection after the discovery of DNA); these variations carry over into slight variations in traits and structures among populations of organisms, and the DNA coding for those variants (genes) which are better able to reproduce will gradually become more widespread throughout the population; finally, over sufficiently long time scales, these small, subtle changes build up into large, dramatic ones. Nowhere does Neo-Darwinism forbid divine guidance, especially with regards to the particular genetic variations that occur.
But, similarly, nowhere does Neo-Darwinism require any kind of divine intervention. This is the threat the religious seem to see here: that their fragile faith will be shattered if God is not intellectually necessary. It's sad that they lack the robust faith of their sisters and brothers who ground their faith not in a requirement of rock-solid intellectual necessity, but out of loving hope in spiritual possibility, what Christians have often called grace.
July 08, 2005
Friday Random Ten - New And Improved
So we've been a bit off the job lately, particularly with the Random 10s, but there's an explaination, if not a great one. Well, first, Dan's on vacation and is therefore allowed to be lazy, while I have spent a significant bit of my free time over the last week increasing my music library. For those that aren't aware, my old laptop died a few months ago and, thanks to my Best Buy Warranty, I was able to get a brand spanking new one which had a number of higher stats than the old one, notably a larger hard drive. This week I decided that this extra space was a perfect excuse to move every MP3 I had stored on various computers to this one and to rip every CD I own to MP3. As you can see, this has taken me a while.
Hrrrmmm, someone's come to pick me up, therefore, stay tuned to this space because the Random 10 will appear here soon. Though it may get in edited on Saturday, I still will have posted this on Friday!
Edit: And here's the list, culled from 7856 songs, which played back to back would run non-stop for 23 days. As you might imagine, this little project of mine has taken up quite a bit too much of my hard drive, and I mean to trim back a bit in the coming weeks. Be that as it may, here's the list:
(Song - Artist)
1)Gun Control - Busdriver
2)Dancing With Myself - Billy Idol
3)Salt In My Wounds - Vanden Plas
4)Suicide Song - Sole
5)Baptism - Roots Manuva
6)Spanish Castle Magic - Yngwie Malmsteen
7)Point of No Return - Kansas
8)Nova Scotia Baby! - Josh Martinez
9)Let It Snow! - Bing Crosby
10)Action Satisfaction - Jurasic 5
Don't forget to post your own Random 10s!
Hrrrmmm, someone's come to pick me up, therefore, stay tuned to this space because the Random 10 will appear here soon. Though it may get in edited on Saturday, I still will have posted this on Friday!
Edit: And here's the list, culled from 7856 songs, which played back to back would run non-stop for 23 days. As you might imagine, this little project of mine has taken up quite a bit too much of my hard drive, and I mean to trim back a bit in the coming weeks. Be that as it may, here's the list:
(Song - Artist)
1)Gun Control - Busdriver
2)Dancing With Myself - Billy Idol
3)Salt In My Wounds - Vanden Plas
4)Suicide Song - Sole
5)Baptism - Roots Manuva
6)Spanish Castle Magic - Yngwie Malmsteen
7)Point of No Return - Kansas
8)Nova Scotia Baby! - Josh Martinez
9)Let It Snow! - Bing Crosby
10)Action Satisfaction - Jurasic 5
Don't forget to post your own Random 10s!
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