Terrorized by ‘War on Terror’
Terrorized by 'War on Terror' - washingtonpost.com
The "war on terror" has created a culture of fear in America. The Bush administration's elevation of these three words into a national mantra since the horrific events of 9/11 has had a pernicious impact on American democracy, on America's psyche and on U.S. standing in the world. Using this phrase has actually undermined our ability to effectively confront the real challenges we face from fanatics who may use terrorism against us.
Congress Tackles Fate of Planet Earth
What will the planet Earth look like in 100 years? Al Gore testified before congress yesterday on the global warming crisis. Video below.
He presents some information from the latest studies. One shows that the methane trapped in frozen tundra is 23 times more potent at global warming than carbon emissions. If it melts, there's no way to undo it in any timeframe that matters to humans. Another shows the artic ice is capable of melting much more quickly than previously thought. We could be looking at ice-less polar caps in summers within 34 years, meaning most of Florida would be underwater, billions of displaced refugees world wide.
In the last third he outlines some specific things the congress needs to do. He basically says we need to link enviromental impacts to our markets and proposes some interesting ways to do that: a revenue-neutral tax shift from employment-related taxes to polution-related taxes; an immediate ban on new coal-fired power plants.
I also discovered that Nancy Pelosi posts to YouTube. Cool. She posted Gore's testimony.
Bananas – An Atheist’s Nightmare
BEHOLD! The Atheist's Nightmare. Proof that Zeus Allah Jesus created bananas for us to eat.
What about cows? Did God make cows for us to eat too? Must be why their legs are about the thickness of our palm's grasp, the better for gnawing on... Or, maybe we should be eating nothing but bananas..
Perhaps this woman can talk some sense into them, also via GodTube.com.
God's Warrior. She'll take care of them. She said it in Jesus' name, and we all know what that means. She also works as the voice of the bus driver on South Park, in case it wasn't obvious. Listen and compare.
One last gem from GodTube.
My Old PowerBook 17″ G4 is for sale
Just thought I'd let you all know I'm selling my old PowerBook on ebay.
Men look at other men’s crotches
I was reading this article about an eye-tracking study done by the Neilson Norman Group and the last example surprised me. This study used eye-tracking technology to record where a user's eye spent the most time when viewing a web page design. This technology is typically used to gather data used to compare the usability of design variations. The example below, however, compares the difference between men and women looking at the same picture.
This image of George Brett was part of a larger page with his biographical information. All users tested looked the image, but there was a distinct difference in focus between men and women.
And here I thought it was just me.
They should do a whole series studying all the variables on this. See if women check out each others tits with similar focus. Test porn, see what everybody's actually looking at. Compare it to what they say they're looking at. Would be very interesting.
Fox News’ Obama Smear Campaign
So the first conundrum, the Democratic Party somehow agreed to let FOX News host the Democratic Presidential Debates. Still trying to figure that one out. I guess since it's in Nevada, someone black-mailed or bribed the right person the Nevada Democratic party. How anyone in the Democratic party leadership could think that FOX News was the right pick, I have no idea. Why not just let Republicans write all the questions and answers? Who knows, maybe they were planning that.
So, thanks to public outcry arroused by groups like MoveOn.org, John Edwards boycotted it and now they've cancelled it. Thank god. Anyway, below is a video someone put together exposing FOX News' treatment of Obama.
And CNN's expose.
As someone that’s studying arabic this whole “madrasa” thing is quite odd. “Madrasa” is the arabic word for “school.” In Arabic when you say you went to school, you use the word “madrasa.” The terms for high school, elementary school, driving school, they all use the word madrasa. It’s just as common as our word for school. So saying he went to a “madrasa” (insert amazed and horrified tone here) is really playing on people’s fear and ignorance. Of course he went to a madrasa. Thankfullly we all went to madrasa. Of course, some people were too busy memorizing Bible verses to learn critical thinking skills. But yes, as unbelievable as it may be, even everyone at FOX News went to a madrasa.
They could just as easily say he was with the “taliban.” “Taliban” is the word for “students” in Arabic, so we could all be said to have been with the taliban at some point in our lives. It’s kind of interesting how they’re latch onto any type of fear or ignorace and trying to exploit it, even fear of a foreign langauge (specially one with a scary script that you can’t even sound out phonetically 
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After three weeks of brutal counseling, I’m proud to say I am now, at long last, a sad gay Republican. Praise Jesus!
Gawd I love Mark Morford.
The Rev. Ted Haggard has been "cured" of his meth-lovin' homosexuality, all from three weeks of intensive therapy by way of a gaggle of ministers who, presumably, beat him with garden hoses and removed a large chunk of his soul with God's own chainsaw all while tattooing his eyeballs with giant pie charts delineating the plummeting profits of the New Life Church, ordering him to declare his love of the vagina immediately lest each of these ministers lose his ability to make his upcoming Lexus payment. And lo, Ted has done it.
His ability to pinpoint the ludicrous, the unspoken but commonly assumed motivations behind these stories, to express the thing we have all been trying to find words for and reveal our absolute repulsion with, using the snide and sarcastic wit that such ridiculous lies are deserving of, .. I'm in awe. Thank the Lord Zeus and all of his invisible friends for Mark Morford.
Marijuana, the wonder drug
If marijuana were a new discovery rather than a well-known substance carrying cultural and political baggage, it would be hailed as a wonder drug.
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Hopefully the UCSF study will add to the pressure on the U.S. government to rethink its irrational ban on the medicinal use of marijuana — and its destructive attacks on patients and caregivers in states that have chosen to allow such use.
Do you have a Facebook?
Ok, watch this. Do you have a Facebook?
So, if marketing companies use my online profile to figure out that I can't stand advertising and I got rid of my TV because of it, that's a good thing right? On one hand I kinda think this is just the price you pay for technology, and I'm not sure if people really care. Nobody's forcing them to put that information on Facebook. And generally nobody looking at the data cares about the individual, just trends. Someone could camp outside your window with a telescope and go through your trash nightly too if they wanted to get information about you, but they don't (generally). Marketing companies don't care about the individual, they care about the market. Safety in the herd. Government can use the information to protect people. But marketers and goverment are going to get and use this information, it's too valuable not to. It's like human cloning, you can't stop it. It's going to happen its just a matter of where and when, and wether it's done secretly or publically. Use of this information by those groups could make our lives better and safer. So why should we be afraid of it?