sporadically produced odds, ends, and essaylets on any number of topics from programming to politics, paramecia to puff pastries.
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
More of a "No Brains Allowed" Policy Being Implemented
Rather than a "brain drain".
Is There A Brain Drain? over at Good Math, Bad Math.
Short answer? Yeah, there is.
Is There A Brain Drain? over at Good Math, Bad Math.
Short answer? Yeah, there is.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Bush's America
The horrors really are your America, Mr Bush
I think Sullivan hits it on the nose, here:
I think Sullivan hits it on the nose, here:
It is, I think, an integral part of [Bush's] own world view, which is that of a former addict whose life was transformed by a rigid form of fundamentalist Christianity. “[My faith] frees me to enjoy life and not worry what comes next,” he told the reporter Fred Barnes. When you know you have been saved, when you know your motives are pure, when, as Bush so often puts it, your “heart” is a good one, then it follows that you cannot commit evil. Or if you do, it doesn’t attach to you. Somehow, it isn’t yours, even when it is.
Monday, June 05, 2006
RCMP (Polite) Smackdown
I just listened a few minutes ago to a conversation with the Asst Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, on NPR, regarding the arrest of 17 Canadians who had acquired substantial quantities of explosives, partly as part of an RCMP "sting" operation. The arrested parties will be charged under relevant terrorism laws.
The interviewer asked some sort of fear-pandering question like, after finding that the arrested persons were mostly if not all natives rather than immigrants, how it felt or "what was it like" now that he (the Commish) had to monitor citizens and not just immigrants.
"We don't monitor immigrants"
"We don't monitor citizens"
Was the response.
"We look for criminality"
The Assistant Commissioner said.
Implicit in that was the simple concept: we're cops. we go after criminals. that's all.
Oh, Canada! I'm proud of you this morning, for not catering to hatred and fear.
The interviewer asked some sort of fear-pandering question like, after finding that the arrested persons were mostly if not all natives rather than immigrants, how it felt or "what was it like" now that he (the Commish) had to monitor citizens and not just immigrants.
"We don't monitor immigrants"
"We don't monitor citizens"
Was the response.
"We look for criminality"
The Assistant Commissioner said.
Implicit in that was the simple concept: we're cops. we go after criminals. that's all.
Oh, Canada! I'm proud of you this morning, for not catering to hatred and fear.
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Because This is a Moral Issue
Not a political one.
Al Gore Plays Leading Man: "You have to remember that the environment used to be a bipartisan issue in the United States. Religious leaders saw it as a matter of respecting God's creation."
Al Gore Plays Leading Man: "You have to remember that the environment used to be a bipartisan issue in the United States. Religious leaders saw it as a matter of respecting God's creation."
Most Important Movie Review Ever
Review: An Inconvenient Truth, by Roger Ebert.
In 39 years, I have never written these words in a movie review, but here they are: You owe it to yourself to see this film. If you do not, and you have grandchildren, you should explain to them why you decided not to.
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