The Seventh Sense

New Year's Resolutions For America

With some shameful borrowing from around the blogosphere, plus some of mine own, here's the list of New Year's Resolutions for the entire American citizenry:

1. Become intelligent-thinking during political campaigns so as not to be deceived by jingoistic and meaningless phrases such as "Compassionate Conservativism," "I'm an outsider," and "Mission Accomplished"
2. Learn to distinguish between facts and opinions (including, "expert opinions")
3. Demand that leaders ask sacrifices in difficult times of all people as equally as possible.
4. When hearing a talking point, try to get past who is saying it, and instead, consider what is being said.  The medium isn't the message -- the message is the message.
5. Stop dumbing down or "religionifying" debate in society on issues important to our nation. Gay marriage, security, tax fairness, and choice come to mind.
6. Also, if something is bogus, call it bogus.  For example, intelligent design isn't science, and we don't have to call it "science" (or change the meaning of "science") in order to be "fair and balanced".  After calling it bogus, say why, with specific evidence.
7. Don't call something a war if it is not a war.  Don't call something a threat if it is not a threat.  I'm talking about militarily, as well as culturally.
8. Stop giving a damn who's sleeping with whom, and what they're doing when they're doing it.
9. Understand that there are people who have different viewpoints and lifestyles and religious preferences than you, and that the mere existance of such people does not in any way pose a threat to how you live your life.
10. If you want to talk about winning the war in Iraq, explain what the victory conditions are.  What does "winning" look like?  If you can't or won't meet that prerequisite, then get off your soapbox and shut up.
11. Being famous doesn't make you better equipped to be a leader, nor does it make your opinions more newsworthy than anybody else's.
12. Listen to people you disagree with.  In other words, if you want to know what a "typical liberal" thinks or wants, then listen to a "typical liberal" -- not Rush Limbaugh.
13. Check your source's sources.  If you are too lazy and/or don't have the time, that's cool -- but then don't opine on the subject until you are better informed.

John Avarosis Is Thinking Today

You can read his post here, or my summary below.

John points out that proponents of intelligent design argue that, even if ID is flawed, schools should "teach the controversy".  And to do that, they argue, schools need to inform students as to what intelligent design actually is.  "Give the students all the arguments for Darwinism and intelligent design, and let them make up their own minds" -- that's the battle cry.

Now as an aside, my point is that good sceince isn't determined by a popularity contest among sixth graders.   But that's a digression.

John takes that logic and rhetorically asks, "By the reasoning, shouldn't children be urged to read Why Heather Has Two Mommies and other gay tolerance books that the religious right has sought to ban from schools?"  After all, if we are going to "teach the controversy" about the origins of life*, then why not "teach the controversy" regarding alternate lifestyles**?

*  Not really a controversy from a scientific standpoint, but a manufactured one

**  A real controversy, although it really shouldn't be in this day and age

It's Not Really A "Ceiling" If You Can Raise It At Will

WaPo:

Treasury Secretary John W. Snow said yesterday that the United States could be unable to pay its bills in early 2006 unless Congress raises the government's borrowing authority, which is now capped at $8.18 trillion.

...

The last time Congress agreed to boost the debt limit was in November 2004 -- from $7.38 trillion to the current $8.18 trillion. The government's statutory borrowing authority was also pushed up in 2002 and 2003.

Snow's letter did not say how much of a boost to the current debt limit the department would like to see this time.

Instead, Snow implored, "I am writing to request that Congress raise the statutory debt limit as soon as possible."

Republicans control the Congress and the White House.  Republicans.  You know, the party that supposedly is the "fiscally responsible" one?  Don't talk to me about "tax and spend" Democrats anymore.  We cut the deficit and created a surplus.  Republicans are just borrow and spend.

Speaking Of Whistleblowers...

Craig Murray was once Britain's Ambassador to the Central Asian Republic of Uzbekistan.  At the time, he objected -- loudly -- to the U.S. use of "extraordinary rendition" (and Britain's complicity in it).  Specifically, Iraqi and Afghani war detainees were transferred by the Americans and Brits to Uzbek security forces, who extracted "torture-tainted" information.

No longer serving in the British government, Murray holds documents which show Britain's involvement in extraordinary rendition practices.  Sensing the political ramifications (the Brits deny they use torture, too), the Foreign Office demanded that Murray send those documents back, and sought a court order to block their publication.

Sorry, chaps.  You're too late.  Murray posted the documents on his blog today.

Here's an example from the "Murray Torture Memos", and a good example of why torture doesn't work.

At the Khuderbegainov trial I met an old man from Andizhan. Two of his children had been tortured in front of him until he signed a confession on the family's links with Bin Laden. Tears were streaming down his face. I have no doubt they had as much connection with Bin Laden as I do. This is the standard of the Uzbek intelligence services.

We should remember in all this that Uzbekistan is the last ember of the Stalinist Soviet regime, a fact which is apparently lost on Bush apologists, who love to praise Bush for his "moral clarity".

One More For The Road

As you probably know, there were so many hurricanes and tropical storms this year that the National Weather Service used up all of its pre-selected names and had to go to Greek names (Tropical Storm Alpha, Hurricane Beta, etc.).

Mother Nature's still at it though, and is determined to eat her way through the Greek alphabet before the year's end. 

Looks like she made it, too.  And just under the wire.  Here's the link to today's advisory about Tropical Storm Zeta (pictured right).

UPDATE:  Okay, maybe I'm wrong.  I think they skipped from Epsilon to Zeta.  Cheaters.

Cry Me A River

Reuters is reporting that Lynndie England, the U.S. soldier incarcerated for abusing detainees in Iraq (pictured right), was badly burnt in a prison kitchen accident.

Terrie England, Lynndie's mother was very upset.

England works in the prison's kitchen, where she suffered second- and possibly third-degree burns from being splattered with grease over her chest as she removed chickens from a tall oven, her mother, Terrie England, said in an interview.

"She was in severe pain," she said of the December 14 incident. "Everybody in the prison heard the scream."

Terrie England, who is caring for England's infant during her incarceration, faulted prison officials for not giving better treatment during a visit to the emergency room.

"They gave her nothing," she said. "When this happened I was furious. ... To think they give you nothing for pain."

Irony's a bitch, ain't it, Mrs. England?

On The Leap Second

Yes, we're getting an extra second this year, or . . . um . . . next year.  Well, in between years.  Or something.

Today, Steve Martin (yes, that one), speaking in the voice of Bill O'Reilly, reacts to the leap second:

“Look, look, look, look. A leap second is a denial of everything American, of everything good, of everything moral. They’re saying we need this seconds because the earth rotates on its axis and revolves around the earth, well this is the no spin zone. So we don’t need a leap second...."

“Please, don’t let these Darwinian leap-seconders, who believe that the planets revolve around the sun, who believe that rocks are sedimentary, igneous and stalactites, who are innocent dim-wit believers in a faith bordering on hating everything religious like trees and fruitcake, yet, who don’t believe in John 7:12:45:67:89, have their say.

“But you know what I love? Dialogue. Rational dialogue which allows me to say that aliens from a Iraqi loving planet want to abolish Christmas by adding a leap second to the Darwinian anti-God year. Dialogue is what keeps the American system God-loving and anti non-God. It also keeps the anti-God loving non-Iraqi loving insurgent deniers able to voice their hideous so-called opinions over the American loving tolerant airways. And now let’s take some calls.”

The Religious Wars Get Fashionable

Two stories:

(1)  "Devilish" Jeans A Hot Seller In Sweden

Cheap Monday jeans are a hot commodity among young Swedes thanks to their trendy tight fit and low price, even if a few buyers are turned off by the logo: a skull with a cross turned upside down on its forehead.

Logo designer Bjorn Atldax says he's not just trying for an antiestablishment vibe.

"It is an active statement against Christianity," Atldax told The Associated Press. "I'm not a Satanist myself, but I have a great dislike for organized religion."

(2)  In God We Dress

This frigid evening in mid-September, a store in Town Center called the Standard Style Boutique is supposed to secure citywide Cosmo-like credibility by nailing its first fashion show. Flumiani and his partners in the store have bet their fashion reputations on the idea that deep-pocketed nightlifers will finally grasp the allure of high-priced clothing. Flumiani wants to launch that revolution, but time is running out.

...In Kansas City, Flumiani has partnered with the Baldwins on a gamble that they could incite a similar reformation here. The team started with the Standard in Kansas. Next fall, they plan to launch their own Standard-affiliated label. Their vision is a brand made for celebrities and those who want to dress like them. Their dream is to convince change-resistant shoppers of the Midwest that their next must-have is a pair of $200 jeans from the Standard.

The catch is that they'll promote the Standard with Christian values in an industry known for selling with skin. The models have realistic waistlines. They're sober. And, with a standing-room-only crowd waiting inside Blonde, the novices are nervous. His new cropped pants resemble ravaged capris that might be good for river wading.

Pass the popcorn.

Wrong Investigation

The Justice Department is starting an investigation into the leak about the secret illegal NSA wiretaps.

Once again, the investigation isn't about the wiretaps themselves, but about the leaking of the fact of the wiretaps to the press.  You know ...trying to determine who the whistleblower is.

Oy.

This is all a nice segue to a guest post at Bradblog by Sibel Edmonds.  Ms. Edmonds was terminated from the FBI after reporting security breaches, cover-up, and blocking of intelligence with national security implications.  Now, she's the Director of the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition, and her thoughts begin as follows:

Without whistleblowers the public would never know of the many abuses of constitutional rights by the government. Whistleblowers, Truth Tellers, are responsible for the disclosure that President George W. Bush ordered unconstitutional surveillance of American citizens. These constitutional lifeguards take their patriotic oaths to heart and soul: Rather than complying with classification and secrecy orders designed to protect officials engaging in criminal conduct, whistleblowers chose to risk their livelihoods and the wrath of their agencies to get the truth out. But will they be listened to by those who are charged with accountability?

Read the whole thing.

I expect there will be a lot of comparisons in the weeks and months to come between the leak of classified information in L'Affaire Plame compared to the leak of classified information in L'Affaire NSA Wiretaps. 

Hopefully, I'm not stating the obvious, but there certainly is a salient difference between the two: the classified information exposed in the former (Valerie Plame's CIA status) was not illegal, but the classified information in the latter (the extrajudicial NSA wiretaps) was. 

Legally-speaking, I am not sure (yet) if the federal statutes care about the res of what is leaked.  Covert means covert, regardless of whether the subject matter is covertly legal or covertly illegal.

But politically-speaking, exposing secret illegalities of the intelligence community is far more culpable then exposing the secret status of CIA members as a means to cause embarrassment to political opponents.

In any event, it will be interesting to watch Bush apologists twist and argue that the "rule of law" is important when it comes to the leak of the NSA wiretaps, but not when it comes to the actual NSA wiretaps themselves.  That's a pretty tough tightrope act.

Vote Early And Often

World O'Crap started off with something like thirty "candidates", and through voting, it has whittled the pack down to five.

The election?  The "Ultimate Wingnut of 2005".  They are John Hindricket (of Powerline), Michelle Malkin, Ann Coulter, Pastor J. Grant Swank, Jr., and Dr. Mike S. Adams, Ph.D.

You can read samples of their work, and vote, here.