The New MBP

Woot!! http://apple.com has finally announced the rumored refresh for their MacBook Pro line of laptops, just in time too, since the one I've been using will staying behind once my employment situation changes.

Pro-FISA nonsense

http://www.gop.gov/ has a new video, that sends chills down my spine.

I'd rather live with the threat of terrorists than live in a police state where my own government can declare me an enemy combatant and vanish me without charges... just because I accidentally surfed to the wrong website.

FISA is anti-American. It gives the executive branch the power to spy on any politicians, of their own party or the competing party.

If you think that power hasn't been and won't be abused for political advantage you're not paying attention.

This is SUPPOSED to be a democracy... not a series of rigged elections pre-determined by unethical criminals who put their own political power-hungry goals ahead of the advancement of our nation.

Let's keep it that way... just say NO to retroactive immunity for telecoms that assisted in illegal wiretapping.

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P.S. Happy Birthday to George Washington and a specific someone that shares his Birthday. =)

Record Lows

Amazing, beating Truman's 22% pathetic approval rating during the worst of the Korean War... Bush is the first president to have an approval rating drop into the teens! Worse even than Nixon during the Watergate scandal! Wow!

And just why is that?

FISA - illegal wiretapping - Homeland Security/Secret Police?

Debt, Deficit, Sub-prime mortgages, oil prices, healthcare?

Global warming denial, mis-use of the scientific community, relaxed EPA regulations?

Signing statements, recess appointments, nepotism, lame SCOTUS appointees?

Blaming Iraq for 911, ignoring Bin Laden, botching the Iraq occupation, Walter Reed?

Gitmo, Waterboarding, rendition, enemy combatants?

Links to corruption, scandal, enron, Tom Delay, Duke Cunningham, cronyism?

Threatening Iran, mis-use of the intelligence community, Valerie Plame?

Scape-goatism, Loyalty-first, some how mysteriously silencing the democratic voices?

Rumsfeld, Cheney, Rove, Paul Wolfowitz, hanging Colin Powell out to dry

FEMA?

I went looking for a list of scandals directly associated with or aided by the Bush Administration and found a list with 313 items, most of which I recognized.

Can anyone find a list of 313 good things that have come from this presidency? I liked the "Do Not Call" list... um... what else...

How quickly we forget unforgivable scandals, especially when we are given new atrocities to be outraged with each week that goes by. If it weren't for the smallish number of "My country right or wrong" right-wing loyalists and profiteers benefiting from cronyism, Bush's approval rating would likely be sitting at zero percent.

Whoever gets elected next has a phenomenal mess to clean up.

Phobia

An openly gay 15 year old has been declared brain dead after being shot by a classmate Oxnard. The 14 year old shooter was described by another student 'as a calm, smart student who played on the basketball team. "I didn't think he was that kind of kid."'

So, did the 14 year old fear he was going to be forcefully sodomized by the effeminate older boy? Was he a brainless queer-hating jock? Neither sound too likely to me in this case.

So vile is the stigma of being labelled "queer" that some young men will go to absurd and irrational lengths to prove otherwise, whether they're straight, latently gay or 'questioning'. Perhaps, the shooter believed the victim was going to 'out' him, who knows.

'Out' is an appropriate term. It doesn't just mean "in the open", it also means "away from or not included".

'Coming out' means rejecting traditional 'normal' conformity and embracing another 'alternative' set of values, beliefs, ideals and behaviors. This event can cause an irrevocable severing of connections with some family and friends. Insults from strangers are easier to withstand than the glares of betrayal, disappointment, disgust from those nearest and dearest.

It's no wonder the suicide rate among 'questioning' teens is so high.

Nor is it any surprise that some choose to never face 'coming out' at all, and lead double lives, pretending to be happy, normal and straight. One little white lie after another turns into years of deception, and possibly, destructive infidelity.

The problem, as I see it, is our society makes such a big issue over "coming out". We need to live in a world where gender preference is no more remarkable or unusual than, say, a preference for a certain hair color, or whether mushrooms are preferred on pizza or not.

No amount of "God's Law" can justify the quantity of Gay-bashing, teen-suicide, infidelity, discrimination, and broken families that result from policies that perpetuate homophobia.

If fear of being labelled 'gay' is actually what triggered the savage event that ended Lawrence King's life, then we as a species, need to seriously re-examine what kind of values we're giving those that will follow us.

The Dharma-Mifflen Initiative

Someone got lost on the way to The Office. =)
(click image for larger version)
(My apologies to the cast and networks mangled in this spoof!)

The inevitable sequel will be posted at some future date. Stay tuned...

The Particle Laboratory

I've been thinking about re-modelling my Particle Laboratory. The "floating raft" is nicer now that it has the "flying glacier" look. (Strictly seasonal, was more flying tropical island like in warmer months).

Here is the lab now in all it's cluttered glory:


and here's the slightly more structured "sci-fi very low orbit space station" style I'm thinking of moving towards:
As always, nothing ever is set in stone, it's all, (ahem) "up in the air". ;)

Dream home...

If you know me, and a certain car issue, this will seem right on target.

In a dream last night, I was out for a nice long walk, through San Diego's "Little Italy" area. As happens in my dreams it wasn't exactly right, it was mixed up with someplace else, in this case, the Hamptons in NY. In this charming, beachy urban themed neighborhood I saw a house and then gasped, "Oh my god... I bought that house a year ago! How could I have forgotten?"

Sure enough the key on my keychain fit the front door, which was unlocked anyway. Inside was clean, but barren. Light wood floors, open airy rooms, I was filled with the pride of ownership... and a nagging concern that was justified the moment I went upstairs and ran into about ten squatters lounging about on floor mattresses. They were all between 20 and 30 years old. They looked like the cast of some MTV reality tv show actually.

I woke up at that point, and am still wondering how I would have handled the situation.

Fie on FISA

Keith Oberman has an absolutely delicious, logical, laudable rant about Bush's threat to veto any extention to FISA that fails to include immunity for telcoms.

Dim the lights, put aside any distractions and enjoy.

... now, if only a certain occupant of a certain White House, were watching it with us.