Secrets and Lies

Movies, population loss, and ethanol

paul@otd.com — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 18:22:25 GMT

SATURDAY NEWS:
* Good read: "Postindustrial cities, even relatively successful ones such as Pittsburgh, are trying to manage, rather than just reverse, population loss."
* The past, present and possible future of climate change.
* Why we should stop subsidizing ethanol.
* Who knew: the tea party movement turns out to be a good money-making opportunity.
* Wow. Guess who is complaining about the White House's deficit spending?
* Behind the bidding for MGM.
* Bob Mondello previews upcoming movies of 2009.
* Principle filming on the Tintin film is done.
* Release date for Crisis on Two Earth announced.

31 to 8

paul@otd.com — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 13:04:30 GMT

"Yet another Gitmo detainee has been found innocent by a federal judge and ordered to be released. That brings the score to 31-8 in favor of detainees being innocent vs guilty. And not one of those cases has been based on any sort of technicality like Miranda rights, as the ridiculous right wing keeps screaming about in the KSM case. Rather, they've been based on virtually non-existent evidence - the same thing that Col. Stephen Abraham resigned over when he was working for the Pentagon at Gitmo reviewing the evidence in the files on each detainee."

your plans for tomorrow

paul@otd.com — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 23:48:55 GMT

Saturday, 4 pm at the DC Armory
Roller derby: Scare Force One vs. Heavy Metal Hookers, and Cherry Blossom Bombshells vs. DC Demoncats.

(I likely won't make the first part, due to work, but M. and others will be there for the whole show.)

lobbyists, 'unprecedented,' and hammerheads

paul@otd.com — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:10:25 GMT

FRIDAY NEWS:
* Good news! "Hundreds, if not thousands, of lobbyists are likely to be ejected from federal advisory panels as part of a little-noticed initiative by the Obama administration to curb K Street's influence in Washington"
* The anthrax attacks remain unsolved, despite many leading questions.
* Dubai debt announcement leads to shockwaves across the financial world.
* Budget crisis looms large in Arizona.
* The White House needs to stop saying 'unprecedented.'
* Three faiths share the streets of Jerusalem.
* Why does the hammerhead shark look so weird?
* Fox announces their midseason lineup changes.

Alright, nevermind

paul@otd.com — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 14:46:21 GMT

I saw a commercial on TV yesterday for those Zhu Zhu hamsters, and figured, hey, Z. might like those for Xmas or her birthday. But apparently, everyone else in America thought the same thing for their kid, so I will come up with something more original.

On the drive in to work this morning, the Toys R Us parking lot was packed. C'mon people, seriously?

turkey day

paul@otd.com — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:14:15 GMT

OK, I guess 7:30 is technically sleeping in, according to Z.'s definition. Ah well.

As noted before, Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. This year didn't quite go according to plans; the sisters made other plans instead of joining us for family dinner, there was way too much turmoil over arranging Z.'s schedule, etc. But I've let all of that go. The important elements of spending the day with friends and family are intact and worthy. Happy Thanksgiving, my jive turkeys. Hope everyone out there has a good one as well.

Also, I'm thankful for this.

Landmines, ants counting, and Republican purity

paul@otd.com — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:47:33 GMT

SOME NEWS:
* The administration refuses to join the landmine ban.
* How do you pay for a war anyways?
* Good read: examining abortion's place in the health care debate.
* Wow. Steele crafting a new Republican party loyalty resolution, which LGF notes is, in fact, a purity test.
* Major cutbacks at the Washington Post.
* The other crisis at Fort Hood.
* The White House and Elmo announce new initiatives in increasing science education nationwide.
* Neat. Do ants count to find their way home?
* The City Paper presents the, uh, top five abstinence-only music videos.

unacceptable

paul@otd.com — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:01:55 GMT

"'I don't hate gay people, I just believe in traditional marriage.' This is the new brand of anti-gay messaging that is trending among high profile conservatives. It is smart, it works well with the movable middle, and it is unbelievably infuriating for advocates of equality. This 'it's nothing personal' mindset attempts to create a false halfway point, where it is deemed acceptable to tolerate the existence of gay and lesbian people, but it remains unacceptable to offer them equal rights."

glorious

paul@otd.com — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:45:56 GMT

Yes, I know everyone on the internet has already seen it, recommended by multiple friends. I don't care. It's that awesome.

al Qaeda, Hot Topic, and spiritual health care

paul@otd.com — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:57:16 GMT

TUESDAY NEWSDAY:
* The Explainer, on a day in the life of a refugee.
* 'Why an al Qaeda attack on U.S. soil is still a real threat'
* Glen Greenwald on Obama's worsening civil liberties record.
* LATimes Q&A: explaining the Senate health care bill.
* I don't want my tax dollars covering spiritual health care because wow, no.
* Interesting read: Russia as a 'criminal state.'
* Rest easy: there is no 'Palin doctrine.'
* Scary. Belgian patient was misdiagnosed as being in a coma for 23 years. [EDIT: Or not. See comments below.]
* How Twilight saved Hot Topic.

I do this every other month or so

paul@otd.com — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:43:12 GMT

Putting Z. to bed last night, M. and I were joking about just going to sleep on the couch. I put my head down for a bit, which turned out to be... almost ten hours. Which is about twice what I sleep on a regular night. Which is crazy. Luckily, M. and I had planned to do our own thing that night, so I wasn't ruining any plans. Still. I didn't expect my plans to be... just sleeping.

this still blows me away

paul@otd.com — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:14:07 GMT

"The world's largest atom smasher made another leap forward Monday by circulating beams of protons in opposite directions at the same time... Proton collisions could possibly begin within the next 10 days... Ultimately, the collider aims to create conditions like they were 1 trillionth to 2 trillionths of a second after the Big Bang - which scientists think marked the creation of the universe billions of years ago. Physicists also hope the collider will help them see and understand other suspected phenomena, such as dark matter, antimatter and supersymmetry."

scary stuff

paul@otd.com — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:15:47 GMT

"The Anti-Defamation League has released a detailed report on the increasing anger and hostility among the right wing, singling out many of the same personalities and issues on which LGF has been focusing recently. This is the index page with summaries of the main points: 'Rage Grows in America: Anti-Government Conspiracies'."

relevant to my interests

paul@otd.com — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 03:22:00 GMT

Overlooked '80s Sci-Fi Flicks, Recalled by Wired Readers

(Their definition of 'overlooked' is a little loose, as they include, you know, Akira and Return of the Jedi.)

Bob Herbert, on the ruins of Detroit.

paul@otd.com — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:32:13 GMT

"It's a scene of devastation and disintegration that stuns the mind, a major American city that still is home to 900,0000 people but which looks at times like a cross between postwar Berlin and the ruin of an ancient civilization. Detroit was the arsenal of democracy in World War II and the incubator of the American middle class. It was the city that taught mass production to the rest of the world. It was a place that made cars, trucks and other tangible products, not derivatives. And it was the architect of the quintessentially American idea of putting people to work and paying them a decent wage. It's frightening to think seriously about what we've allowed to happen to this city and what is now happening to the middle class and the American economy as a whole."

Domestic terrorism, agro-imperialism, and science!

paul@otd.com — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:20:07 GMT

SATURDAY LATE NEWS:
* "The basic principle of evidence based medicine is that clinical decisions that are made between doctors and patients should be driven by data."
* Why Pakistan won't fight the Taliban.
* Is Islamic radicalization in America on the rise? And, is Homeland Security downplaying the thread of right-wing extremists?
* Is there such a thing as agro-imperialism?
* Police health woes linked to late shifts and overtime.
* FiveThirtyEight.com on why Palin might run for president, and how she might win the Republican nomination.
* Another winning shot from BAGnewsNotes.
* Interesting. Direct-to-DVD equel to 30 Days of Night.

Hmm

paul@otd.com — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:12:46 GMT

There has to be a German word for the guilt you feel over things going well for you when things are going poorly for the people around you, but that's pretty much where we're at.

Last night: successful birthday party thrown for shibakiei. I hardly got any sleep, but it was well worth it.
Tonight: rest and relaxation, after a little housecleaning.

paul@otd.com — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:24:34 GMT

"Something quite amazing happened yesterday in Congress: the House Finance Committee - in a truly bipartisan and even trans-ideological vote - defied the banking industry, the Federal Reserve, the Democratic leadership, and mainstream Beltway opinion in order to pass an amendment, sponsored by GOP Rep. Ron Paul and Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson, mandating a genuine and probing audit of the Fed."

FRIDAY LATE NEWS:
* E.J. Dionne on "the GOP's No-Exit Strategy."
* The other, scientific side of Mammogram-gate.
* "[Obama] has done more foreign travel in his first year than any other U.S. president." (Fun fact: he's also visited all 50 states.)
* In pictures: photographing climate change.
* "Peruvian authorities say they have arrested four members of a gang that specialized in selling fat obtained from dead humans."
* 'Fungus provides clues to North American extinctions.'
* Also, ten fascinating recently discovered photos. (Courtesy asimplelife.)

Metro-tastic

paul@otd.com — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:29:37 GMT

Courtesy warmaster: a fancy chart of directional rider flows on Metro. Bonus: what's the most crowded part of the Metro system?

LGF, Scalia, and Captain Nemo

paul@otd.com — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:28:47 GMT

"By refusing to embrace and defend the core principle of justice at stake here - that a distinguishing feature of our political system is that we don't imprison or kill people without charging them with a crime and proving their guilt in a real court - the Obama administration has made it for more difficult for it to defend what it is doing, as well as for those who want to defend their decision to give trials to 9/11 defendants."

THURSDAY NEWS RODEO:
* Good read: excerpt from a new book on Justice Scalia.
* Interesting read: an interview with Charles Johnson, who runs the controversial website Little Green Footballs, on no longer being the darling of the right wing.
* "...The incident has sparked a renewed focus on how Islamic extremists and al-Qaida sympathizers become radicalized in the first place."
* Hypocrisy in action: they were against the filibuster before they were for it.
* I didn't realize VA governor-elect Bob McDonnell was associated with Pat Robertson. Fantastic.
* "They just can't help themselves. Journalists are addicted to Sarah Palin. Some love to hate her, some love to love her, all love to dissect or defend her." (Bonus: fact-checking the book.)
* Disney decides against a Captain Nemo movie/franchise.
* Dan Abnett picked as the writer for the Warhammer 40k Ultramarines movie.
* See, my concern is a Global Frequency TV show would be seen as another Fringe/X-Files copycat.

Today's good read

paul@otd.com — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:22:14 GMT

"The fact is that international law has not evolved to deal with persons like Mohammed. Or more precisely, most legal discussion under international law is moving counter to the Geneva Conventions' intent, which was to treat the franc-tireurs as unworthy of legal protection because they were not soldiers and were violating the rules of war. International law wants to push Mohammed into a category where he doesn't fit, providing protections that are not apparent under the Geneva Conventions. The United States has shoved him into U.S. criminal law, where he doesn't fit either, unless the United States is prepared to accept reciprocal liability for CIA personnel based in the United States planning and supporting operations in third countries. The United States has never claimed, for example, that the KGB planners who operated agents in the United States on behalf of the Soviet Union were themselves subject to criminal prosecution.

"A new variety of warfare has emerged in which treatment as a traditional POW doesn't apply and criminal law doesn't work. Criminal law creates liabilities the United States doesn't want to incur, and it is not geared to deal with a terrorist like Mohammed. U.S. criminal law assumes that capture is in the hands of law enforcement officials. Rights are prescribed and demanded, including having lawyers present and so forth. Such protections are practically and theoretically absurd in this case: Mohammed is not a soldier and he is not a suspected criminal presumed innocent until proven guilty. Law enforcement is not a practical counter to al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan. A nation cannot move from the rules of counterterrorism to an American courtroom; they are incompatible modes of operation. Nor can a nation use the code of criminal procedures against a terrorist organization operating transnationally. Instead, they must be stopped before they commit their action, and issuing search warrants and allowing attorneys present at questioning is not an option...

"But it may not be the jury that is the problem. A federal judge will have to ask the question of whether prejudicial publicity of such magnitude has occurred that Mohammed can’t receive a fair trial. (This is probably true.) Questions will be raised about whether he has received proper legal counsel, which undoubtedly he hasn’t. Issues about the chain of custody of evidence will be raised; given that he was held by troops and agents, and not by law enforcement, the chances of compromised evidence is likely. The issue of torture will, of course, also be raised but that really isn’t the main problem. How do you try a man under U.S. legal procedures who was captured in a third country by non-law enforcement personnel, and who has been in military custody for seven years?"

-from 'Deciphering the Mohammed Trial', well worth your time to read.

whoah

paul@otd.com — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:37:17 GMT

"Something big is out there beyond the visible edge of our universe. That's the conclusion of the largest analysis to date of over 1000 galaxy clusters streaming in one direction at blistering speeds. Some researchers say this so-called 'dark flow' is a sign that other universes nestle next door."

Health care, fashion, and gay marriage

paul@otd.com — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:36:21 GMT

"To sum up: at present, [the public option] will be a government-run corporation which cannot draw on government funds to remain solvent and cannot charge artificially lower rates to be convenient to the populace at large. All it really promises to do that other insurance companies will not do is this: they promise to not screw over policy-holders. And that, that alone, has insurance companies terrified. This should tell you something."

CATCHING UP:
* Top read: MGK explains why we need universal health care. Bonus: oh hells yeah.
* Ooh. Congress challenges the White House on drug company deals.
* "The number of Americans who lacked reliable access to sufficient food shot up last year to its highest point since the government began surveying in 1995."
* "The Right's reaction to yesterday's announcement - we're too afraid to allow trials and due process in our country - is the textbook definition of 'surrendering to terrorists.'"
* Good read: an Episcopal bishop makes the case in favor of same-sex marriage.
* The Republican civil war spreads to Utah.
* Make them filibuster!
* Should fashion reflect fantasy or reality?
* Actor Edward Woodward passed away.

egads

paul@otd.com — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:23:46 GMT

There was a point I used to be able to name all the Transformers in at least the last two of these pics.

Tuesday Greenwald

paul@otd.com — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:27:56 GMT

"If we invade, bomb and attack Muslim countries - and uniquely deny to them the rights we claim are universal (such as the right to be free of torture and imprisonment without trials) - then far more Muslims are going to wallow in rage and hatred for the West and be willing and eager to return the treatment. Conversely, seeing Westerners speak out against their countries' attacks on, and oppressive policies towards, Muslims renders far harder to sustain the divisiveness and demonization on which all radicalism feeds. This is all basic cause and effect, as even the Pentagon's own Task Force concluded all the way back in 2004 in explaining how and why our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are severely exacerbating the threat of Terrorism."