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Where are my flying cars
2008-04-10 09:22:00
The Robot Revolution May Finally Be Here - US News and World Report In short, the personal robot has arrived in American homes with a stature that exceeds its floor-hugging posture. It looks nothing like Rosie, the home-cleaning android of The Jetsons age, and that's on purpose. Roomba and its cousins come from iRobot, a small Boston-area company that has looked beyond a future of humanlike androids for simpler products that will sell today. In doing so, iRobot has helped give rise to a new, worldwide push to develop and sell automated assistants.Any technophile of my generation knows that we were promised flying cars. While I'm perfectly aware of the vast technological progress we have made in my lifetime (think mobile phones and the internet), I have always felt that technology was progressing much slower than I would like. The problem of course is cash. Nothing gets done without it. Unfortunately there're only two decent places to get it. The first is the government. If...
More About: Cars , Flying

Why am I not surprised
2008-04-10 08:54:00
Lingerie, iPods on government credit cards - CNN.com "The basic rules for authorizing purchases and accounting for goods and services are not that difficult: Use the card for legitimate purchases, not to cover the costs of buying yourself an iPod," he added.Back in my management days, my company shifted to purchase cards as a way to streamline the ability for managers to make purchases quickly and easily. Every month we were sent an itemized bill that then had to be reconciled. One reconciled we had to sign it, and then have our district or regional managers sign it as well, just to be sure everything was on the up and up.My district manager was well known to have favorites. I think it's safe to say I was not one of them. Every month she went over my purchase card with a magnifying glass and a calculator, though I rarely used the card for precisely this reason. On the other hand I knew a manager in Dallas who routinely purchased his clothes, shoes, and everyday food with his ...

Here we go again
2008-04-09 09:46:00
Iraq's Sadr threatens to scrap ceasefire | Reuters The Mehdi Army militia ceasefire had been credited with helping to sharply reduce violence across Iraq. Scrapping the truce could trigger widespread fighting with security forces and plunge Iraq back into a deadly spiral of sectarian violence. Sadr's warning came a day after Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki threatened to bar the cleric's movement from political life unless he disbanded the militia, which has fought fresh battles with Iraqi and U.S. forces in the past two weeksI hate to say I told you so, but...
More About: Politics , Iraq

When you're right you're right
2008-04-09 08:54:00
Commentary: Democrats finally getting religion on religion - CNN.com I have always maintained that people of faith who are conservative need to move beyond the issues of abortion and homosexuality and broaden what are deemed faith issues. But the Democratic Party is going to have to do the opposite -- that is have some serious discussions as to how it's going to confront social issues and not ignore abortion and homosexuality.I've never understood why the democratic party handed the religious conservatives over to the right. Democrats have ignored and marginalized people of faith in the US and basically gave over the Republican base to the Republicans. What's worse is that Republicans ran with it, and have basically been throttling the Democratic party ever since.But here's the problem. If you look carefully, you'll probably find that the Democratic Party is more likely to agree with the principles of people of the faith, even if they don't agree politically. "Well, how d...

Wait, you lost me
2008-04-08 09:25:00
The case for Hillary Clinton 's electability | Salon These arguments might be compelling if Obama's leads were not so reliant on certain eccentricities in the current Democratic nominating process, as well as on some blatantly anti-democratic maneuvers by the Obama campaign. Obama's advantage hinges on a system that, whatever the actual intentions behind it, seems custom-made to hobble Democratic chances in the fall.Let me see if I follow this argument, cause I have to admit, I got a little lost. Barack Obama has used and taken advantage of the primary rules to take the lead in the primaries. That's bad because if the rules were different, Hillary Clinton would be winning. What's worse is that the rules WILL be different in the fall, and so Barack Obama will lose. WHAT?!?!Barack Obama's campaign has demonstrated an ability to change and maneuver in ways that have surprised both parties. Arguing that a politician should acknowledge that they have used the rules to win a ca...
More About: Politics , Lost , George Bush

Getting into it with the courts
2008-04-08 09:01:00
Challenges Arise to Border Fence Project - New York Times The secretary of homeland security was granted the power in 2005 to void any federal law that might interfere with fence building on the border. For good measure, Congress forbade the courts to second-guess the secretary?s determinations. So long as Mr. Chertoff is willing to say it is necessary to void a given law, his word is final.I remember reading about this law when it was first passed. I remember thinking that the courts would certainly step up and strike down any law that restricted their own powers as granted by the constitution. The snag in the process of course is that they have to wait for someone to bring a case. So now a case has been brought. Will the courts hear it? I think so. It's hard to say, but even a conservative judge surely has problems with the courts being removed from the legal process, or with an executive branch that can nullify laws at will, "for the greater good". I can't believe the S...
More About: Politics , George Bush , Courts

Free trade or death?
2008-04-08 08:33:00
Bush challenges Congress on free trade pact - CNN.com "Many Democrats continue to have serious concerns about an agreement that creates the highest level of economic integration with a country where workers and their families are routinely murdered and subjected to violence and intimidation for seeking to exercise their most basic economic rights. And the perpetrators of the violence have near total impunity,"Here's the deal. I believe in free trade. I know that's not exactly the liberal mindset, but I believe the US has to learn to compete in a global market, or it will simply be replaced in the global market. We can not continue to believe that we are the only superpower in the world, and that everyone needs our goods and services. Especially when you consider the ridiculous trade deficit we have gotten ourselves into.Now, I'll also admit that the big trade deficit is in part due to poorly planned free trade. It seems to me that in order to compete with some of the other ...
More About: George Bush , Free , Colombia , Trade , Death

Asking questions
2008-04-07 07:18:00
The Next Campaign Stop: Iraq Hearings - washingtonpost.com "Essentially, what we've seen both from the administration and from John McCain is a trumpeting of improvements from a horrific situation to simply a unsustainable and intolerable situation," Obama said. "It's looking at the entire picture that I think is the obligation of the president."I've tried to make this point on more than one occasion. Having made cease fire agreements with powerful Sunnis, a cease fire agreement with al-Sadr, and having pushed the surge strategy through to Iraq, our great success was pushing back the clock on violence to 2005. Since we managed that, and so far have not demonstrated we can sustain it, there has been little if any political progress made. In fact, Maliki has just finished waging a short, unsuccessful political war in Basra geared toward making himself look more favorable in elections, and reigniting some of the strife we had already contained.So the question that McCain is aski...
More About: Politics , Questions , Barack Obama , Hillary Clinton

Locking up the good guys
2008-04-05 07:13:00
Matthew Diaz, habeas corpus rights, Guantanamo | Salon The lawless government of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney prompted Diaz to do something that Joe Margulies, the lawyer of record in Rasul v. Bush, called "illegal but an act of tremendous courage." The powerful men who bred contempt for the law may or may not ever be prosecuted, but if there is justice in the next administration, Matthew Diaz should be pardoned.This is a fascinating article. The Bush administration is ordered by the court to grant Habeas Corpus to prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. The Bush administration simply ignores the order. The naval officer portrayed here simply sends the names of the prisoners to a civil rights lawyer. In return for this act of bravery, the soldier is dishonorably discharged and sent to prison. I think this story is an example, and should perhaps be a rallying cry, of how far we have let our fear take us from freedom. Our fear of terrorists has allowed George Bush to create a government...
More About: Guys , Good , The Good , Locking , Good Guys

Censorship alive and well under Bush
2008-04-04 09:48:00
U.S. Funded Health Search Engine Blocks 'Abortion' | Threat Level from Wired.com A U.S. government-funded medical information site that bills itself as the world's largest database on reproductive health has quietly begun to block searches on the word "abortion," concealing nearly 25,000 search results.One of my favorite hypocrisies of the Bush administration is the global war for freedom and democracy while fighting a domestic war against freedom and democracy. One thing we want to absolutely make sure of, and that is not to educate people. Telling people the truth will only get them into trouble, and certainly anything we think might be morally objectionable should be hidden.What's most amazing to me is that this sort of thing actually has support in the US. One wonders how George can maintain, even at this late date, a 28% approval rating. This is why. He is still appealing to this lowest common denominator. There are still a pretty large group of people in the US who ...
More About: George Bush , Censorship , Alive

New Goals for the Surge?
2008-04-04 09:12:00
Petraeus to update Congress on Iraq | Reuters That call for a pause will likely rile Democrats and other opponents of the Bush administration's Iraq policy, who have latched onto the Basra fighting as a sign the increase or "surge" of U.S. troops last year failed to move Iraqis any closer to security or political stability. "I think it's time we take a sober look," said Sen. Joseph Biden, a Delaware Democrat and chairman of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee. "My question really is ... not whether the surge has tactically worked or not. Has the purpose of the surge been accomplished?"My question exactly. I find generally that it is the habit of this administration to change their goals to meet their achievements. The goal when we invaded Iraq, as we all know, was to rid them of weapons of mass destruction. They didn't have any, so Bush changed the goal to be freeing the country for democracy. Since democracy has been slow to take on, we've changed our goal to be th...
More About: Politics , George Bush , Goals , Surge

Autism
2008-04-04 08:43:00
Commentary: A view from the CDC - CNN.com One issue that continues to receive attention is whether vaccines somehow play a role in autism. When concerns emerged about the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine and about thimerosal in vaccines, top scientists -- with the open-mindedness that characterizes good science -- planned and conducted the highest-quality, large-scale studies. No links to autism have been found.I have very little to add to this article. It's important to recognize science for what it is, and respect it. I know there is bad science out there, but it usually has an agenda, often paid for by a company with an agenda. However, it's wrong to color all science as driven by monetary or selfish means. I think it's important not to get hysterical. have your children vaccinated.
More About: Autism

More gun news
2008-04-02 09:11:00
7-year-old brings loaded guns to school - CNN.com School officials called it a very unusual occurrence and would not comment on the status of the first-grader. Bringing a weapon to school carries a mandatory punishment of expulsion, according to Baltimore County Public Schools policy.So a seven year old walks into school with TWO loaded handguns. We'll just add this to the many, many reasons I think handguns should be banned altogether.But...the rule for bringing a weapon to school is mandatory expulsion. Really? Our best option for dealing with ill behaved kids, or kids who screw up, is to take away their education? I'm just not sure that's the best option for our society as a whole. How about turning it on the parents. Any child who comes to school with a weapon, and their parents spend 3 days in jail. I'd be willing to bet that a few parents start teaching weapon safety or get their guns locked up.
More About: News

Enough Talk
2008-04-02 09:01:00
Clinton, Obama take on Big Oil - CNN.com Attending an International Renewable Energy Conference in March, President Bush said, "America has got to change its habits. We've got to get off oil." "I've set a great goal for our country, and that is to reduce our dependence on oil by investing in technologies that will produce abundant supplies of clean and renewable energy," Bush said.So Clinton and Obama are both developing plans to reduce US dependency on Big Oil. Mostly that involves not giving tax breaks to what is the most profitable industry in the US, and instead reinvesting that money in alternative fuels and renewable energy. Great idea. It won't bring gas prices down, but it will eventually force everyone to switch to renewable energy, which is a better long term solution. I have argued before and still believe that keeping oil prices high is our best chance of making dramatic changes.George Bush wants to make it clear he's not in Big Oils pocket by announcing that h...
More About: Barack Obama , Hillary Clinton , Talk

More on Basra
2008-04-01 09:29:00
Why al-Maliki attacked Basra | Salon The campaign was a predictable fiasco, another in a long line of strategic failures for the sickly and divided Iraq i government, which survives largely because it is propped up by the United States. So why did al-Maliki do it? With no obvious immediate crisis in Basra that called for such desperate measures, what could have motivated the decision to attack?I consider this article an interesting follow up on my statement about Basra yesterday. I think it's important to recognize the motivations behind Maliki's actions. Americans want to believe that, because the action was supported by the US and the UK, Maliki must have been doing something good for the country. Don't be fooled. Bush supported Maliki because Maliki supports Bush. Al-Sadr supports Iraqis. He may also support Iran , so I'm not necessarily a huge fan, but he claims to support a strong centralized power in an independent Iraq where American troops have gone home. I like th...
More About: George Bush

Reading this could save lives
2008-04-01 08:55:00
Revised CPR method helps save Arizonans - CNN.com In a bold departure from standard practice, paramedics in most Arizona cities do not follow the guidance of the American Heart Association. Instead, they follow a protocol that was developed at the University of Arizona's Sarver Heart Center, largely by Dr. Gordon Ewy.I've been through CPR training more than once, but every time I have been given the grim statistics on the odds of actually saving someone who has had a cardiac arrest. It's not that you shouldn't try, but you shouldn't feel to bad about failure. Now here's a new method beginning to save lives. Read it, learn it.
More About: Reading , Lives , Save

Prodding the sleeping bear
2008-04-01 08:45:00
BBC NEWS | Europe | Bush to back Ukraine 's Nato hopes The trip is being seen by some commentators as a last bid by Mr Bush to score some successes in foreign policy, when his legacy abroad has been tarnished by the ongoing fallout of the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.So the lesser Bush wants to get something right on his record before leaving office. Good for you Mr. Bush. Let's think of some things you might be able to do that could change the perception of you as a failed president. Perhaps changing tactics in Iraq? Maybe helping people in the current financial crisis instead of throwing your office behind helping corporations? Maybe pushing to become a world leader on environmental issues instead of a reluctant follower? Maybe rethinking our position on Cuba and South America? Or Perhaps refocusing your energy on getting the government programs you've instituted functioning properly and funded?No. No. I'm going to head of to the Ukraine and try to further antagoniz...
More About: Sleeping , George Bush , Russia , Bear

Now they've done it
2008-03-31 13:25:00
Al-Sadr calls off fighting, orders compliance with Iraq i security - CNN.com Death tolls are difficult to obtain, but reports from Iraqi and coalition authorities suggest more than 400 people have died since fighting began Tuesday. The fighting has been heaviest in Basra , Iraq's second-largest city and major oil port, and a U.S. military analysis of the battle indicated the government push was not going as well as American officials had hoped, several U.S. officials said Friday.Reading between the lines, what do we see. The US backed government started a fight with someone who had already signed a cease fire. Bush, of course, supported the fight, claiming it was proof that Iraq was returning to normal. After six days of intense fighting with hundreds killed the government has made almost no progress, and Al Sadr is making demands. The government hasn't indicated that they will meet the demands, but what happens either way? If Maliki does what he's been told, he basically is ...
More About: Politics , George Bush

Something completely different
2008-03-31 13:08:00
April Fools' Day Facts: Behind the Laughs "A lot of people think [April Fools' Day] is just obnoxious, and just wish it would stop," said Alex Boese, curator of the Museum of Hoaxes in San Diego, California. "But people who love pranks really love the day and refuse to give up the tradition. They're the ones who keep it alive."This used to be my favorite holiday, though I have largely dropped it from my calendar nowadays. Since I love History, I thought my readers might enjoy this bit of history.

Clinton turns to Conservative press
2008-03-29 09:31:00
Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama , campaign tactics | Salon Whatever McPeak's offenses, however, the Clinton campaign went too far in responding. When it starts circulating material from the same ultra-right rags that have routinely accused the Clintons of felonies and treason, its behavior reeks of cynicism. Shall we all start reading World Net Daily for news and guidance?Clinton continues to have trouble gaining traction in the race. The dust up over Obama's ties to his preacher didn't really work to being him down. Evidence that Clinton's idea that Barack would not stand up to vetting is erroneous. Cries for her to drop out of the race have not only returned but are getting stronger and coming from more powerful people. So what is her response? Does she get behind the candidate with the most votes and unite the party against McCain ? Don't be silly. Instead she has teamed up with the conservative press famous for attacking her own dynasty to print ridiculous stories about...
More About: Politics , Hillary Clinton , Press

Starbuck's Stealing?
2008-03-29 09:18:00
Starbucks will not refund California baristas. - Mar. 28, 2008 "The ruling would take away the right of shift supervisors to receive the tips they earn for providing superior customer service," said Chief Executive Howard Schultz, in a voicemail message to employees Wednesday night. "I want you to know that we strongly believe that this ruling is extremely unfair and beyond reason."I don't think so. I think anyone who gets behind the idea of suing Starbuck's for stealing from it's employees is really either misunderstanding the problem, or greedy. I think it vastly more likely that these former employees are disgruntled and they have been convinced by a very greedy class action lawyer that they can get some cash out of the coffee giant.Unfortunately for them I don't think the lawsuit has any basis. The supervisors who take these tips are not management. Their really just barista's with extra duties. They perform the same duties as barista's with little extra pay. I can...
More About: Stealing

Who gets punished?
2008-03-28 09:31:00
Parties Differ on Whom Economic Aid Should Help - New York Times The ideological clashes are less about whether the government should intervene in the economy, and more about whom it should try to rescue.I'm not an economist, but it seems to me the big difference here is who gets to take the brunt of the problem. It a top down versus a bottom up repair approach. The conservatives, of course, want to protect the big companies. The liberals, of course, want to protect the American consumer.This is one area where I think both sides have valid arguments. Obviously the economy needs a certain stability in the financial markets, and obviously millions of consumers going bankrupt will hurt other market sectors. I also agree that the economy is going through a correction caused by both irresponsible lenders and irresponsible consumers. So the question becomes who gets punished for their irresponsibility.In my opinion the financial institutions should take the brunt of the correction...

Normalcy? NORMALCY?!?!
2008-03-28 08:38:00
BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iraq MPs plan emergency session US President George W Bush praised Mr Maliki's decision to order the crackdown, saying "normalcy was returning to Iraq".Us officials are ordered to stay in reinforced buildings and to wear helmets and protective gear in the green zone, the people of Basra are running out of food and water, protests are erupting calling for the resignation of the prime minister, and more than 130 people are dead since Tuesday. Exactly how is that normal?It's amazing to me the capacity our president has to continue justifying violence. The very best I can say about this new crackdown is that it isn't us. At least the Iraqis are doing it themselves, but I'm sure they put this plan together under our supervision. The worst part is that they have attacked Sadr. It was the cease fire the US negotiated with Sadr that has brought violence back to 2005 levels even more than it was the troop surge.Now suddenly Sadr is on the defensive, and may...

I'm confused
2008-03-27 09:46:00
U.S. jets escort Russia n bombers off Alaska coast - CNN.com Meanwhile, U.S. military officials say the incidents are not a concern. They say it's the Russian military flexing its ability and presence.I know that we're supposed to be friends with the Russians now, or at least not Cold War enemies anymore, but how exactly is "the Russian military flexing its ability and presence" not a concern. The Cold War was won primarily through economic forces. It was capitalism triumphing over communism. While Russia isn't exactly the freest economy in the world, it's no longer communist, and it's flush with oil money.I think it would be generally unwise to ignore them or take our current peace for granted. They don't like us meddling in their affairs, they are displease with our ill-advised anti-missile system, they don't approve of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and are currently in the process of updating and strengthening their military force.I know Bush thinks he has somehow ...
More About: George Bush

Nuclear Oops
2008-03-27 09:19:00
China upset over errant U.S. missile part shipment - CNN.com Four nose cone fuses for intercontinental ballistic missiles were shipped to Taiwan instead of the the helicopter batteries it had ordered, Wynne said. He said the fuses, intended for a Minuteman strategic nuclear missile, were returned to the United States after the mistake was discovered.Oops. We're terribly sorry we sent nuclear missile components to Taiwan. This sort of thing scares the hell out of me. It's the same kind of problem that has terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq fighting with our guns. How the hell do these kinds of mistakes happen? Exactly how do we accidentally ship nuclear missile components to Taiwan?I don't care how big the DOD is, or how complex it is to keep track of deadly weapons, I'm certain this should be a no excuses kind of moment. Maybe it's just me, but I would start by not storing my nuclear missile parts with helicopter batteries. Or maybe someone, somewhere should have looke...
More About: Nuclear

Interesting discovery
2008-03-27 09:02:00
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Spain dig yields ancient European "The earliest hominins outside Africa are those from Dmanisi in Georgia. After that, we have occupations in Europe, but the ages are not very precise. They are also without hominin [remains]," said Dr Marina Mosquera, a co-author from the Rovira i Virgili University in Tarragona, Spain.So they've found and dated early human remains in Spain. The earliest every discovered actually. A new link is added to our evolutionary past. I'd like to point out that no dinosaur bones were discovered with the remains.
More About: Interesting , Discovery

The courts did something right
2008-03-26 10:18:00
Druggist sanctioned for refusal to sell 'morning after' pill - USATODAY.com The 3rd District Court of Appeals ruled the punishment the state Pharmacy Examining Board handed down against pharmacist Neil Noesen did not violate his state constitutional rights, specifically his "right of conscience" to religiously oppose birth control.If you don't want to dispense drugs, don't become a pharmacist. It's very simple. I don't care what you believe. If you want to believe it's a sin to take birth control, fine. If you believe in the spaghetti monster, that's fine, too. But if your job is to fill my prescriptions as given to me by a doctor, then guess what you should do. That's right, gold star to anyone who said fill my prescription. When you go to work, leave your religion at the front door, or better yet, don't take a job that requires you to do something you find morally questionable. And certainly don't complain about the difficulty of finding a job because you won'...
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The government's foundation of idiots
2008-03-26 10:09:00
2010 high-tech census at 'high risk' - USATODAY.com The computers proved too complex for some temporary workers who tried to use them in a test last year in North Carolina. Also, the computers were not initially programmed to transmit the large amounts of data necessary.Many years ago I managed one of those big box retail bookstores. One of the many difficult parts of that job was a required annual inventory. The company I worked for contracted this job out as being too time consuming and important for the employees to take care of. So one night every year this company would come into our store and count everything. In order for this to work properly a select group of my own employees would have to stay to supervise the workers. One might ask why I needed my own workers there, often late at night. Here's the issue: what kind of person takes a minimum wage job that works almost exclusively at night, and is mind numbingly dull? The answer is generally someone who can't get ...
More About: Idiots , Foundation

I desire an end of Patriotism
2008-03-25 09:02:00
Rev. Jeremiah Wright | Salon We are now five years into a war that may outrank Vietnam as the most pointless and disastrous one in our history. George W. Bush and his neoconservative brain trust conceived that war, but they were only able to push it through because the American people, their political leaders and the mainstream media signed off on it. And they did so because they were in the grip of the fearful, vengeful, patriotic frenzy that swept the nation after 9/11. Without 9/11 and America's fateful reaction to it, there would be no Iraq war. Every day that the war drags on is yet another indictment of that self-righteous, unthinking "patriotism."I remember the dark days after 9/11, when it was proclaimed that by refusing to be patriotic, by refusing to smile and be friendly to your neighbors, or by refusing to go out and buy a new car, you were allowing the enemies of America to claim victory. I remember having to be very careful at my job, which was a customer service ty...
More About: Politics , Hillary Clinton , Patriotism

I love the sound of backpedaling in the morning
2008-03-25 08:18:00
Clinton Says She ?Misspoke? About Dodging Sniper Fire - New York Times The backpedaling was a rare instance of Mrs. Clinton?s acknowledging an error, and she did so on a sensitive issue: She has cited her ?strength and experience? since the start of the presidential race, framing her 80 trips abroad as first lady as preparation for dealing with foreign affairs as president. That argument was behind her campaign?s ?red phone? commercial, which cast her as best able to handle a crisis.It seems Clinton is finding it increasingly difficult to maintain the image she has spent so much time preparing of herself as a foreign relations guru. Not only does she not have an impressive resume of foreign relations credentials, but her experience overseas is almost exactly what one would expect of a first lady.She continues to express the belief that she would be a better candidate to face John McCain , because she will be able to compete with him on foreign relations experience. In reality I th...
More About: Politics , Love , Barack Obama , Hillary Clinton