Secrecy is the beginning of tyranny.
Category: del.icio.us
links for 2007-07-21
-
I have no sympathy for this 32 year old who lives with his mom in a neighborhood he knows will be antagonized by his decision, and then parks it in the street. My guess is it’s not just the vehicle they were taking swings at. Live by the image, get beaten
-
Hilzoy rips the gutless Senators who refuse to vote their conscience (because their feelings were hurt) a collective new one. Why doesn’t she have the column space of David Brooks or Tom Friedman?
speed kills, airborne edition
So we all know that air travel is a huge factor in greenhouse gas emissions:
For a long trip, like a transatlantic flight on an average-size plane, each passenger is responsible for sending .39 pounds of CO2 per mile into the atmosphere, according to the World Resources Institute’s Greenhouse Gas Protocol Initiative. By that measure, flying direct from Denver to London and back puts about 3,600 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere, equivalent to driving a Toyota Prius hybrid 10,000 miles.
But what are the alternatives?
small victories, or don’t let ’em get away with it
Bought some stuff on eBay (a parts iPod mini) and when it arrived, I soon realized it was just all the leftover parts from several broken ones lashed together to look complete.
I was unable to work a resolution with the seller. They offered a partial refund but that may have worked against them, since it could be seen as admission that the goods were not worth price paid. And the rest of the payment could be written off as a disposal fee. So I filed a claim, posted up all the information that I had, and this is the result:
We have concluded our investigation into your case and have decided in your favor.
We were able to recover $25.99 USD and this amount has been credited to
you. Please allow five business days for this adjustment to be posted.
So take my advice and don’t let anyone abuse the trust marketplace that eBay is based on. You’re only as reliable as your last transaction, to borrow a phrase.
quote of the day
AlterNet: Neocons on a Cruise: What Conservatives Say When They Think We Aren’t Listening:
“The civilised countries should invade all the oil-owning places in the Middle East and run them properly. We won’t take the money ourselves, but we’ll manage it so the money isn’t going to terrorists.”
I’m sure they’ll trust you all to do just that š Interesting how only nations friendly to the US of these peoples’ fevered imaginations can be called “civilized.”
Seriously, these folks would be scary if they weren’t such bed-wetting cowards. They sound like something from a bad between the wars novel, all moaning the loss of an empire they didn’t build.
Entitlement + Exceptionalism + Eliminationism, all in one place.
And I doubt Johann Hari will be welcomed back if these folks ever get wind if this piece.
Game on
So the War party thinks it can stay out the chamber during their own filibuster, call for a quorum and then shut down debate when the quorum doesn’t materialize?
As they say, “Sadly, No.”
Congress Expert: Wingers Wrong, Reid’s Force-A-Filibuster Plan Not In Trouble | TPMCafe:
Whenever upon such roll call it shall be ascertained that a quorum is not present, a majority of the Senators present may direct the Sergeant at Arms to request, and, when necessary, to compel the attendance of the absent Senators… [Senate Rules]
And yes, this has apparently happened before, in 1988, when Majority Leader Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., ordered round-the-clock Senate sessions that were boycotted by Republicans. Charlie Cook recounts that Byrd ordered the Senate’s sergeant-at-arms to arrest absent senators and bring them to the floor. Capitol cops arrested Sen. Robert Packwood, R-Ore., and even removed him from a locked Senate office and carried him onto the Senate floor, Cook writes.
Reid hasn’t said whether he’ll do this. But if he did, imagine the storyline…the Sergeant-at-Arms going out to chase down awol Republican Senators refusing to show up for a debate on the Iraq War. Seems like a narrative that Reid, who likes a bit of drama, might not mind all that much.
That would make some excellent political theater: GOP senators arrested, removed from locked office, and forced to vote? Give ’em hell, Harry.
links for 2007-07-17
-
A great Cold War artifact, scanned for your pleasure. The station that put their name on this is very much the same Voice of Fear today as it was then.
-
he has more in common with the “values voters” than they might be willing to admit.
-
About time too. Call their bluff, Harry, and let people see what’s really happening. If the minority wants to carry water for their party’s albatross of a president, make sure everyone knows about it.
-
coincidentally, July 16 1945 was a Monday as well. 3 weeks later, the age of atomic warfare began.
-
I heard about this: I didn’t think it could be the chardonnay, and the shiraz has been pretty good when I have tried it. The big knock on 2 buck chuck is the inconsistency: you can spend 50 cents or a buck more and get their French table wines that are mu(tags: wine traderjoes)
phrase of the day: Iberian yoga
Iberian yoga n. Spaniards persist in enjoying an afternoon snooze whenever they get the chance, in defiance of efforts to shorten Spain’s working day and match its idiosyncratic hours with the rest of Europe. Now, rather than dismiss the lunchtime nap as a lazy throwback that subverts the working day, enterprising companies are bowing to the inevitable and accepting it. The siesta is being re-invented as “Iberian yoga”-a cool adjunct to modern life that promotes wellbeing and alertness in today’s stressful world. -“Waking up to the fact that the siesta won’t lie down” by Elizabeth Nash in Madrid, Spain Sunday Herald (Glasgow, Scotland) July 14, 2007.
quote of the day
“Guilt is anger directed at ourselves–at what we did or did not do.”
With a re-broadcast of Roots coming up, my local paper ran a piece on what it meant to people when it first aired. There was some guilt expressed by some of the people interviewed, but if McWilliams is right, there’s no need for that.
Agree or disagree?
Lead and Anti-social behavior orders (ASBO)
In Freakonomics, the authors made the argument that a drop in the crime rate was due to the legalization of abortion in 1973. The argument was the children most likely to grow up to be criminals were those from households where they, to put it simply, were unwanted or were unlikely to receive the guidance they needed.
But could there be a medical reason for it?
Exposure to lead may be one of the most significant causes of violent crime in young people, according to one of the nation’s leading researchers on the subject.
“When environmental lead finds its way into the developing brain, it disturbs neural mechanisms responsible for regulation of impulse. That can lead to antisocial and criminal behavior,” reported Herbert L. Needleman, M.D.
Impulsiveness is a big part of criminal behavior, after all. Rational behavior is not part of the criminal mindset.
Lead in automotive fuel is still in use in England (perhaps elsewhere in Europe) where the ASBO originates, though it has been banned since the 1970s in the US.
Check out the Sample Prohibitions from ASBOs, things that restricted individual are banned from doing:
ASBOs can prohibit an individual from specific behaviour and from entering a particular area. The following sets of prohibitions are all taken from actual ASBOs granted by the courts and are examples of the type of behaviour that can be prohibited by an ASBO. Prohibitions contained within an ASBO must be necessary to protect people not in the same household as the offender from further acts of anti-social behaviour. The prohibitions will vary according to the details of each case.
Continue reading “Lead and Anti-social behavior orders (ASBO)”