What's this war about anyway?

Excellent article today by Dahlia Lithwick at Slate.com

"The endgame in the war on terror isn't holding the line against terrorists. It's holding the line on hard-fought claims to absolutely limitless presidential authority."

How believable was it?

This is great. Slate has one of those visuals where Democrats, Republicans, and Independents are rating the believability of Bush's speech as he gives it. Watch those swings at the beginning!

"The situation in Iraq is unacceptable to the American people" YES!
"And it is unacceptable to me" Yeah right!
"Our troops in Iraq have fought bravely" YES!
"The Iraqis need our help" ?!?!
"I've committed more than 20,000 additional troops to Iraq" NO WAY!

Yet another blizzard

Time for another blizzard. My favorite line from a news article today:

"airlines urged ticket-holders to flee"

And, my holiday haiku:

One blizzard was fun
Time off for fun in the snow
Two seems excessive

An interesting way to stop junkmail

Here's an excellent program I recently heard about. Greendimes.com will work to get your name off mailing lists AND plant a tree every month, all for just $36 a year. Seems more than worth it to me.

Moon-base nonsense

I'm going to try to start posting here again, starting with a link to an excellent slate.com article about NASA's plan to build a moon-base. In particular:

"Although, of course, the base could yield a great discovery, its scientific value is likely to be small while its price is extremely high. Worse, moon-base nonsense may for decades divert NASA resources from the agency's legitimate missions, draining funding from real needs in order to construct human history's silliest white elephant."

Headline of the day

From Reuters: "No link between sugar and obesity -sugar group"

Huh?

Apparently the sugar industry is trying to improve it's image. It reminds me of the tobacco industry 20 years ago (can't you just picture the headline "No link between tobacco and cancer risk -tobacco group"?) I guess that blatant denial of the obvious is once again an effective strategy for fooling the American public. It's worked for the administration for the past 5 years, so I guess it's no surprise that it's catching on elsewhere.

Evolution vs. spaghetti

Well, you have probably heard that our dear leader has endored Intelligent Design, saying "I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought."

Well, I think he's not going far enough. There are many other theories that should really be taught. My current favorite is The Flying Spaghetti Monster. Please go to that link and read the whole letter- it's really worth it. Just to entice you, I'll quote a couple paragraphs:

"Let us remember that there are multiple theories of Intelligent Design. I and many others around the world are of the strong belief that the universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster. It was He who created all that we see and all that we feel. We feel strongly that the overwhelming scientific evidence pointing towards evolutionary processes is nothing but a coincidence, put in place by Him.

"It is for this reason that I’m writing you today, to formally request that this alternative theory be taught in your schools, along with the other two theories."
...

"In conclusion, thank you for taking the time to hear our views and beliefs. I hope I was able to convey the importance of teaching this theory to your students. We will of course be able to train the teachers in this alternate theory. I am eagerly awaiting your response, and hope dearly that no legal action will need to be taken. I think we can all look forward to the time when these three theories are given equal time in our science classrooms across the country, and eventually the world; One third time for Intelligent Design, one third time for Flying Spaghetti Monsterism, and one third time for logical conjecture based on overwhelming observable evidence."

And that's not all-- there's also mention of pirates! Really worth the read. Check it out.

Morning news

Just a quick note before work. I just read a LA Times article that says Roberts (SCOTUS nominee) did pro bono (free) work for a gay rights group and helped them overturn a discriminatory Colorado state law (that law "would have allowed employers and landlords to exclude gays from jobs and housing" and it was approved by the voters of Colorado-- real nice).

"Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. worked behind the scenes for gay rights activists, and his legal expertise helped them persuade the Supreme Court to issue a landmark 1996 ruling protecting people from discrimination because of their sexual orientation."

So, I don't know... maybe he's not so bad? I guess we keep watching and see what else comes up.

Getting closer in California

The California Supreme Court ruled in favor of partnership rights for same sex couples who are registered as domestic partners.

"The ruling will affect a broad range of businesses, including banks and mortgage lenders, auto insurers and health clubs. Lenders will have to consider domestic partners' joint income in making loans, and insurers will have to offer the same multiple-driver discounts they give married couples."

Make that Planet Xena

So, remember Planet X? Turns out that the scientists have been calling the new planet Xena.