Focused Rambling

Simple naked politics... all run to the trough

Like many Republicans, Sarah Palin is not afraid to overlook all of the rhetoric to get in line when the dollars are handed out. For all the election babble about a changed Washington in which government spending was the antichrist, Palin and most other GOP Governors are happy to support economic stimulus for their states (and I'm sure campaign on opposition to the stimulus package when the time comes). Truth is, there is no "principled stand" for Republicans on the stimulus bill. Partisan maneuvering, plain and simple, as most of these people shamelessly sucked it up to let Bush/Paulson pour money down bankers throats like moonshine through a Lynrd Skynyrd roadie. Now they are "standing up" for corporations everywhere. Which leaves Palin to quietly beg to be on the dole, while hoping to avoid media scrutiny that could make it harder to blame the media when they try to point out truths in the next election.

No Republican votes, no Republican say on stimulus bill...

Now this is one of the best pieces of strategy I've heard in a while... since Republicans were given concessions in the stimulus bill, but House Republicans chose partisanship in the end, and Senate Republicans are planning to do the same , Democrats need to recognize their position on this and call the bluff. If they are going to be left out in the cold on whether or not any of this works after going through, then Democrats should restructure the bill to accomplish their plan with their policies and targeted investment. The Democrats are taking responsibility for the results, while Republicans are assuring themselves the insularity when voting records are discussed (either I told you so, or I voted that way out of principle knowing it would pass). Therefore, Republicans forfeit the right to ask for concessions that they will not vote for.
Here are Rachel Maddow and Pete DeFazio discussing putting more infrastructure in the bill...

Destroy the Internet

You have to make it to through the first minute for this to start making any sense, but it's pretty funny (until the ending)

Could an entire baseball team ever be born from one woman at one time?

Following the recent birth of octuplets, I found it appropriate that someone out there has asked "how many babies can you fit inside one woman"...

Veggie Sex too hot for the Super Bowl...

Here is the most recent PETA ad that was banned from the Super Bowl, Veggie Love... what is interesting about PETA is that they seem perfectly content to objectify women to accomplish their goals. I am all for creating more vegetarians, just not sure on the methods... but don't let me seem too self-righteous, I actually enjoyed Veggie Love personally, and I never mind when the circus comes to town for the possibility of PETA lovelies naked in cages as protest.

There were also several other banned videos from past years, here was one more of those that is a pretty decent rip on the "Girls Gone Wild" series, although again there is a weird connection made through sexual connotations about women, but what the heck

It's not the first thing I would have thought of, but evidently skateboarding is popular with Afghan youth . Oliver Percovich has raised money and supplies to build a skate park, called Skateistan there... The article is also interesting for it's description of the future of young girls in Afghanistan. Young girls in this story are enjoying the sport before they reach puberty and must wear a veil. Also, there is a young girl in the story that quietly states that it is her brothers' "right" to beat her for skating.
Perhaps the next thing to export to Afghanistan is the World Poker Tour... a burqa, above all else, would probably provide a heck of a poker face. But it's really not funny that women have to dress like this to ensure that men can control themselves.

I went to the George Mason/VCU game this weekend, which VCU pulled out in the end 76-71 to stay tied with Northeastern atop the CAA... but the play of the night was this dunk by Cam Long over Larry Sanders. Earlier in the game, Long had gone up for a rebound, and both my dad and I commented that his head was above the rim. Then came this sick throw-down...

Mason Dunks on VCU from Jamie Mottram on Vimeo.

The teaching of evolution in Austin, Texas required that teachers point out weaknesses in the theory as well as strengths. As the article notes, this was really just code for creationists to sprinkle seeds of doubt into student's minds as to whether evolution was really the best explanation out there. Much like the global warming debate, I don't know how many scientists you have to put out there to say that evolution is undoubtedly the best supported theory for the origins of humanity to convince some people. Luckily, in recent years it has become acceptable to some religious folk that evolution does not rule out a beginning that could be "God"... but what it does mean is that young-earth creationism doesn't fit with science of any kind, be it the theory of evolution or archaeology or astrophysics or anything else...

A rare solar eclipse will be visible in the Indian Ocean and parts of the Phillipines on Monday...

Todays's New York Times has an editorial on the dirty truth on clean coal . A recent coal sludge avalanche caused by the failure of a Tennessee Valley Authority containment pond, coupled with a ruling that the TVA would have to reduce pollutant emissions that travel across state lines, has left clean coal proponents looking less clean. Everyone probably senses that "clean coal" technology is just science with a good marketing campaign, and that even if coal is somewhat more cleanly burned than the toxic clouds we've sent up for decades, it's still a lower-tier choice out of several (nuclear, wind, solar, water). And there is nothing clean in the ways coal is extracted, as miners still trade their later years for a career in coal...

Ollie over the car bomb...

It's not the first thing I would have thought of, but evidently skateboarding is popular with Afghan youth . Oliver Percovich has raised money and supplies to build a skate park, called Skateistan there... The article is also interesting for it's description of the future of young girls in Afghanistan. Young girls in this story are enjoying the sport before they reach puberty and must wear a veil. Also, there is a young girl in the story that quietly states that it is her brothers' "right" to beat her for skating.
Perhaps the next thing to export to Afghanistan is the World Poker Tour... a burqa, above all else, would probably provide a heck of a poker face. But it's really not funny that women have to dress like this to ensure that men can control themselves.

VCU wins, but Larry Sanders gets dunked on...

I went to the George Mason/VCU game this weekend, which VCU pulled out in the end 76-71 to stay tied with Northeastern atop the CAA... but the play of the night was this dunk by Cam Long over Larry Sanders. Earlier in the game, Long had gone up for a rebound, and both my dad and I commented that his head was above the rim. Then came this sick throw-down...

Mason Dunks on VCU from Jamie Mottram on Vimeo.

Evolution in Texas...

The teaching of evolution in Austin, Texas required that teachers point out weaknesses in the theory as well as strengths. As the article notes, this was really just code for creationists to sprinkle seeds of doubt into student's minds as to whether evolution was really the best explanation out there. Much like the global warming debate, I don't know how many scientists you have to put out there to say that evolution is undoubtedly the best supported theory for the origins of humanity to convince some people. Luckily, in recent years it has become acceptable to some religious folk that evolution does not rule out a beginning that could be "God"... but what it does mean is that young-earth creationism doesn't fit with science of any kind, be it the theory of evolution or archaeology or astrophysics or anything else...

Eclipse treat in the Indian Ocean...

A rare solar eclipse will be visible in the Indian Ocean and parts of the Phillipines on Monday...

Clean Coal Isn't...

Todays's New York Times has an editorial on the dirty truth on clean coal . A recent coal sludge avalanche caused by the failure of a Tennessee Valley Authority containment pond, coupled with a ruling that the TVA would have to reduce pollutant emissions that travel across state lines, has left clean coal proponents looking less clean. Everyone probably senses that "clean coal" technology is just science with a good marketing campaign, and that even if coal is somewhat more cleanly burned than the toxic clouds we've sent up for decades, it's still a lower-tier choice out of several (nuclear, wind, solar, water). And there is nothing clean in the ways coal is extracted, as miners still trade their later years for a career in coal...