Joseph Lieberman gives a speech to his supporters after Tuesday and has a great potshot:#

LIEBERMAN: Today, New Hampshire's next-door neighbor candidates, John Dean -- no, that's Howard Dean, I was close...

(LAUGHTER)

... Howard Dean and John Kerry received most of the vote, but the rest was split with no clear decision reached.

Dick Cheney got lectured by Super Pope John Paul II.#

The pope did not mention Iraq, but it was the obvious backdrop for his remarks to the vice president.

Sitting with Mr. Cheney in the papal library, John Paul talked in English about the importance of peace and respect for human life, then added, "I encourage you and your fellow citizens to work, at home and abroad, for the growth of international cooperation and solidarity in the service of that peace."

It came across as more of an instruction than admonition, and Mr. Cheney listened quietly. The vice president made no remarks during the public visit, which followed a 13-minute private meeting.

Michael Feldman tries to explain Playboy TV to a group of Nuns.#

Against his better judgment, the Dowbrigade has agreed to attempt one of the toughest tasks he has tackled in his entire teaching career - explaining NFL Football to a class of foreign college students who don't know a forward pass from an actionable offense. We tried to avoid it, having ventured there before, but they begged.

The job, from a didactic point of view, is somewhat akin to teaching quantum mechanicsto a school of fish. And, of course, they need to know it by Sunday.

Chip Gibbons writes about the intersection of lies, money, and mysticism.#

Kay is painting Bush as a victim of the intelligence community. Was Saddam a victim of his scientists? Or do people tell their bosses what they want to hear so they can keep their jobs? The U.S. had been looking for regime change in Iraq since before Bush was elected. Wouldn't that predispose the administration to pay for intelligence that justified it's desire to invade?

There is a selective pressure going on here of the type that I've discussed in previous posts. When mysticism and delusion gain control, those who can lie and cheat with the best of them are better adapted to survive in that environment. Those with evidence that contradicts the delusions are selected out, denied advancement, fired, called unpatriotic and even traitors.

Rather than being a victim, it is far more likely that Bush and Co. got the kind of "intelligence" that they were willing to pay for.

Gutrumbles against reparations for slavery.#

The idea of paying reparations to descendents of slaves in this country is absoluely repugnant to me. Deny the fact if you wish, but slaves brought to this country got the best break they ever had in thier lives. Yeah, they suffered slavery, Jim Crow, segregation and many other woes during their history, but they survived snd prospered. Among all the petty bitching that occurs today. not many people believe that blacks have it worse in this country than anywhere else in the world.

Dan Hon knows what is REALLY going on with the Mars Spirit.#

Riiiight. I submit that there's only one scenario that puts us in 2053 on Mars - Spirit is alive and well in 2053 on Mars; the current "difficulties" are just a ham fisted attempt to cover up the fact that NASA's time travel experiments have gone horribly wrong, and it's only a matter of time before Earth is overrun by ray-gun toting aliens from the future.

Lisa Williams comments on reading John Stuart Mill.#

In a way, On Liberty reads like a user's guide to the Constitution: they answer the questions What is the Constitution for, and what should I, as a citizen, do with it?

The object of this Essay is to assert one very simple principle, as entitled to govern absolutely the dealings of society with the individual in the way of compulsion and control, whether the means used be physical force in the form of legal penalties, or the moral coercion of public opinion. That principle is, that the sole end for which mankind are warranted, indvidually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection.

In otherwords, now that you've got a democracy, don't use it as a bludgeon to suppress those who hold minority views.

If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, having the power, would be justified in silencing all mankind.

The New York Times "defrosts" the primaries and says some ridiculous things.#

Senator Kerry is a formidable candidate, with the most all-around experience and a compelling personal story that his staff has translated into powerful television ads. But he generally seems wooden on the campaign trail, and it's important to see how voters take to him in the South and West, and in minority communities. If he stumbles,Senator John Edwards and former Gen. Wesley Clark will be waiting. So far, Senator Edwards has been the best of the field when it comes to personal campaigning. He seems to be the only one who understands that if an elderly woman in the audience tearfully announces that she is facing eviction, the right response is not to delineate the need to reorganize the federal housing department. But he has not been tested in the way some of the other candidates have. He certainly has not faced the merciless scrutiny that Dr. Dean faced in Iowa.

Representative Dennis Kucinich has every right to keep campaigning despite his minuscule vote tallies, but he should not be allowed to take up time in future candidate debates.

Yes! Less choice in Democracy! Control the message! Weee.

Loonyboi links to Rev. Mark Stanger, an Episcopalian, talking about The Passion.#

What would be your advice for would-be moviegoers?

I'd say don't bother. I think it's a big bore.

I think a 5-year-old who has to get cancer surgery and radiation and chemotherapy suffers more than Jesus suffered; I think that a kid in the Gaza Strip who steps on a land mine and loses two limbs suffers more; I think a battered wife with no resources suffers more; I think people without medical care dying of AIDS in Africa suffer more than Jesus did that day. I mean, I don't want to take away from that, but this preoccupation with the intensity of the suffering, I think, has no theological or spiritual value.

The Yeti talks about the tricks women play with business cards.#

Business cards are another one of these tricks. It has been the habit of most of my adult life to arrive at places unaccompanied by women. I found it advantageous to have women with me in the form of girlfriends and dates of friends, because having a woman with another man standing next to you increases your status at a party (not the loser with three guys in the corner), but having the woman on your arm has never been my thing when I wasn't in a relationship.

Those times I did, however, I would find women giving me their business cards. Their business cards. I always thought that quite strange, as rarely was business ever discussed, and no woman ever gave me business cards when I was dateless.

You can guess where this is going. They were using the cards to provide me with an opportunity to call them if it didn't work out. This was a subtle approach to both give me access to them and mask it under the pretense of professional networking.

I'm trying to decide what I should put on my business cards. Right now I have: "HERES THE INFORMATION YOU WANTED."

Grant Henninger write about the creative class and the economies of scale.#

Conventional wisdom would say that a great expansion of the supply of these works would drive the price down. I don't think this wisdom is wrong. As marginal cost decreases it is possible to charge less for each item while making the same amount of profit off of each item. The lower price will lead to higher sales because more people will want the item at that price. Since more items would be sold, while making the same amount of profit off of each item, it is possible to make more money.

However, as marginal costs goes, so goes the barriers to entering the market. This means there will be greater competition for each dollar which will drive down prices further. If there was an infinite amount of time, there would be an infinite demand for creative works, that is to say, even if the price is zero for all creative works, there will not be an infinite demand because people do not have the time to consume an infinite amount of these works. This process will, in the end, reduce the cost of creative works to nothing.

I'm not sure if this implication is intended--but--this doesn't mean that there will no longer be creative works once they don't cost anything. Why? Because people create creative works for themselves and not for others. Some would argue that this is the only true art. Why is so horrible that people can't get paid for art or creative works? What gives them the right to get money for nothing and me not to?

Have a "real" job and a hobby and maybe live more to your means... or at least don't complain about it.

The Black Saint has genius satire on the primaries in New Hampshire.#

The latest polls of New Hampshire voters showed Sen. Lieberman in a three-way statistical tie for third place with noted flake Gen. Wesley Clark and underwear model Sen. John Edwards.

If Sen. Lieberman achieves his goal of a third-place finish today, he believes this will "begin, not end" his ultimately doomed run for the presidency.

"If I start out in third place, then there's a chance I can finish in second place," he told a crowd of eight people waiting to see Sen. Edwards speak. "And second place is as good as a win... you know, because of Florida."

Ed Cone is a completely partisan Dean supporter and says he'll refuse to vote if Dean isn't nominated.#

Who I'm rooting for in New Hampshire: everybody.

I want the strongest candidate to emerge. That won't happen in a definitve way today, but today we'll learn more. I want to keep listening to what the candidates have to say, and leave the snark to the media and other conservatives.

Nova Spivack roughs out a spec for his InstaCache feature.#

The cache-link could point to Google's cached version, or better yet to a local cached hosted by my Weblog provider (Google does not guarantee that cached copies will always be available, whereas my Weblog provider could make that guarantee; furthermore Google may not even have a cached copy of the item I link to, whereas my local Weblog provider could make that cached copy at the time I post the article).

This would ensure that all content that I refer to in my Weblog will always be available, even if the original source is taken offline. I think this is essential -- without it someday a significant portion of the links in my weblog may be broken due to content going offline or moving, which would render much of my Weblog content obsolete.

Michael Williams on Pseudonyms and criticism.#

Apparently Andrew Sullivan was criticizing Atrios on Minnesota Public Radio for not revealing his "true" identity, claiming that no one can evaluate his positions without knowing who he is. However, Mr. Sullivan misses the fact that we can evaluate Atrios' writing in its own context because it is published under a consistent name; Atrios has chosen to allow his writing to stand on its own merit, a decision Mr. Sullivan should appreciate as a fellow writer who haswritten pseudonymously himself (follow that link at your own risk). Pseudonymous writing has a long and noble history, including works such as The Federalist Papers and authors such as Mark Twain/Samuel Clemens. As long as pseudonyms are used consistently, writings done under pen names are as easy to criticize and evaluate as those done under real names. (And what's the difference between a real name and a consistently-assumed false name, anyway?)

Brittney as some dating advice in case you are curious about your boy in the future.#

Upon listening to an acquaintance's dating trials and pre-relationship tribulations ("A goal or a bathroom, I figure he should at least have one or the other.") I remembered that much of the wisdom I've gleaned in the Boy Dept. isn't incredibly applicable to most women. You see, I've had the distinct pleasure of dating not one, but two homosexual men.

[...]

So I've compiled a list of WAYS TO KNOW YOUR BOYFRIEND WOULD RATHER BE FUCKING A DUDE:

[...]

-When you place his hand on your breast he insists he's shy and this is all just a little to fast. (It's all just a little too NOT A PENIS.)

Erin Judge writes about corrupt conservatives and hypocrites.#

When Clinton was getting impeached for having his dick sucked (no mention of the fact that Bush Sr. kept a mistress for years), all eyes were on Hillary. How will she react? What will she do?

The reason all eyes were on her is because it's such a typical experience. Every married woman in America either has been cheated on or knows someone who has. Men too. And now it's all, blah blah blah, the sanctity of marriage, gays can't do it, blah blah blah.

Neil Bush was screwing anonymous women in Asian hotel rooms, cheating on his wife with a mistress, and now denies in divorce court that the women in those hotel rooms were actually inside corporate gifts from business and political associates.

Sanctify that, motherfuckers.

A note on the Church reference, Erin: Churchs are hospitals for the sick, not havens for the saints.

Donald Sensing links to report from Russian scientists that the parting of the Red Sea obeys the Laws of Physics™.#

So the question is whether their escape through the sea can still be considered a miracle. Miracles are generally defined as violations of the laws of science. Scottish philosopherDavid Hume - "generally regarded as the most important philosopher ever to write in English" - argued that there could never be a scientific study of miracles precisely because their definition placed them outside the purview of science. Hume denied such things could occur. In fact, he undercut the metaphysics of cause-and-effect itself, causing science to come to a screeching halt, substantively speaking, until Immanuel Kant rescued science from Hume's Babylonian captivity. But I digress.

Back to the question at hand: can the parting of the Red Sea still be considered a miracle since the Russian scientists explained it could have happened through natural weather phenomena? After all, Occam's Razor still applies: the simplest explanation is to be preferred absent compelling evidence otherwise.

[...]

"There is no miracle here, then," he said angrily. "Yes, there is," said the Magi, "It is God's work, whether he did it in one second or in eighty years."

Mark Schmitt covers a speech by McCain about campaign reform.#

McCain was wonderfully charming and incredibly knowledgeable about not just campaign reform but media concentration and energy policy and a bunch of other things. He was completely at home in this crowd, which ranged from pretty far left to super-mainstream foundation-type liberals. I've always liked McCain, but felt that some progressives fell for him without remembering that he is a conservative: very much the direct heir of Barry Goldwater, whose seat he holds in the Senate. But at this point, he's out there on so many issues that he really does have more in common with progressives than with the Bush administration. He fought both the Medicare bill and the energy bill, which is more than I can say for Tom Daschle, Ron Wyden, Tom Harkin, etc.

Lew Rockewell announces, "Give Your Liberty or Give You Death" for the people of Iraq.#

"The people of Iraq are free," said President Bush in his State of the Union speech. A few days later, a terrible problem presented itself. It seems that the best-selling popular music in Iraq heralds the resistance and condemns the occupation.

Here's a sample lyric: "America has come and occupied Baghdad. The army and people have weapons and ammunition. Let's go fight and call out the name of God."

[...]

The Iraqi people are free so long as they say and do only what the occupation military government tells them to do. Between 10,000 and 20,000 people being detained (the low number claimed by the US, the high number by human rights groups) for engaging in anti-coalition thoughts, words, or deeds. If you think that is striking enough — and what American doesn't shudder at the thought of his own government becoming someone else's despotism? — consider something even more alarming: the US doesn't consider this abnormal.

Ro Kanna thinks it strange that people would want Lawrence Lessig not to speak out politically about issues he cares about.#

My question is this: If people with the courage and intelligence of Professor Lessig do not speak out about the Patriot Act and the war, then who will? There is one view in the academic community that scholars and thinkers should stay above the political fray, that they should maintain an objective viewpoint. But Plato said it best: The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by those without character. We need more academics speaking their mind on political issues and actively participating in the process. How can any citizen be silent on the great questions of our time: whether America should protect the Constitution or not? whether we should act unilaterally or multilaterally?

If I were in Ro's district (i.e. not in Mass.) I would vote for him for Congress.

Brian Micklethwait writes about the young man's game of debate.#

This is the kind of thing I used to do but — and I intend no disrespect here — have now lost the taste for. Like playing international rugby or going out on all night drinking sprees, debating the ins and outs of libertarianism and libertarian doctrine, against anti-libertarians and with fellow libertarians is, I feel, a young man's game, and yes I think I do mean man. And as I enter my old woman phase of life, I find myself less inclined towards it, in writing at any rate. (I just did a spot on Radio Humberside about the merits of privately owned public space, and I suddenly sounded to myself about a quarter of a century younger. I sounded, that is to say, like Richard Garner.)

In pre-Internet days, both of these gentlemen would either would have become regular contributors to the Libertarian Alliance or to something like it, or they would have been frustrated at not being able to do that because it was too much of a bother, what with them having to worry about whether someone like me would like their stuff enough to publish it. Now they can just blog. Beautiful. For both, I am sure that this is a huge liberation.

The older you get, the more you realize that: When you argue with idiots, you become an idiot.

Trey Givens replies to Michelangelo Signorile who bashes Mary Cheney.#

'What makes me call him a collectivist?' I'm so happy you asked. I call him that because he is.

His entire letter is about how Mary Cheney owes something to gay people because she's gay and is related to our Vice President. Mr. Signorile is upset because Mary Cheney isn't the kind of lesbian he thinks she should be. He's very clear in accusing her of cavorting with "the enemy." (I'm not quoting him, please don't sue. Those are quotey marks of disbelief.)

[...]

Oh, wait. I always forget that I share some kind of unconditional love-bond with all the other gays. It's what gives us our ability to arrange flowers, you know. It's also how we communicate. Do you know that gay guy at your work? I do. I know all gay people and all gay people know me. It's like that giant thing in outer space that powers Green Lantern's ring except it's kind of opalescent and shimmery with body glitter.

Julie Leung remembers her history of learning German.#

German to me was the language of 'ich hab's" (bingo) games on Fridays with pretzels as rewards (we still envied those French students getting crepes!), our teacher Frau B. with her skiing tales and Swiss dialects, learning parts of grammar I didn't know existed - later on the language of Doppelganger, Tin Drum and Faust, what I studied and discussed, memorized and acted out in high school and college.

More than that, it was my family heritage. The language my grandmother and great-grandmother used to discuss my Christmas gifts - hence my motivation! Marzipan and Tannenbaum songs, anise cookies and pancakes rolled up with applesauce and powdered sugar.

It will be strange to look back at my life like this. Not that Julie is particularly ancient, or that I am particularly young, but I don't feel like I've done that much that I could talk about with much insight. Maybe I'm just not thinking of it.

It's either that I don't have the neutrality of age and not being pissed off about things any more. Or, It is difficulty to pull things from the sky and you must first be inspired by some event or happening--this inspiration will allow you to remember some detail of your life worth sharing. Maybe both.