Posts from — March 2009

Ron Paul in favor of legalization, Stephen Baldwin against:

One of these positions is conservative, the other is not. Ron Paul’s debate skills aren’t great and his answers are a bit scattered, but Baldwin doesn’t really have a coherent case, from what I can hear.

I’ve yet to hear someone convincingly argue Baldwin’s side, and I really would like to. Has anyone seen a good debate about this? I’m not looking for a pamphlet for one side, but an actual discussion.

A telling Baldwin quote: “That’s just a fact, I don’t care what anybody says, what the debate is.”

While watching this, I wondered if this would be something that Rush Limbaugh and I would agree on, as the conservative argument seems very compelling to me, but apparently not. Oh well, I tried.

More confirmation of facts we already know:

The United States engaged in acts of torture and “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment” upon prisoners held at secret detention sites operated by or in conjunction with the CIA, according to details from a secret report by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Such acts constitute violations of the United Nations’ Convention Against Torture and the Geneva Conventions, the Red Cross said.

The ICRC is the appointed legal guardian of the Geneva Conventions and oversees the treatment of prisoners of war.

(CBS News)

I don’t see why torture would be on some list of things that people can claim we shouldn’t look back and investigate. If Cheney strangled someone because he thought it would make the country safer, we wouldn’t just say “wow, he was crazy, but anyway, let’s keep going, look to the future, don’t bicker about the past!” There are several hypothetical crimes of previous administrations that I’d be unwilling to bother investigating, even with evidence, but this isn’t one of them.

(tangent)
It’s been over a week since I’ve posted- the longest non-vacation drought in over a year. I’m weeks behind with things to write, but I’ve been busy and tired, I hope to start catching up soon.

“Our goal is to bring down approval numbers for [Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and for House Democrats. That will take repetition. This is a marathon, not a sprint.”
– Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.)

(source, via)

I’m at a loss for words (or at least, words used in polite conversation).

Last month’s pillow fight cost the city $40,000
(via waxy)

A disturbing story from Denver:

A 24-year-old ski lift operator who fatally shot the general manager of the Eldora ski area was determined to kill co-workers who weren’t Christian, according to court records obtained Thursday.

(via)

And Catholic apparently qualified as “not Christian”. When I read this story, I couldn’t help but think back to the Sept 2001 Onion article God Angrily Clarifies ‘Don’t Kill’ Rule:

“Look, I don’t know, maybe I haven’t made myself completely clear, so for the record, here it is again,” said the Lord, His divine face betraying visible emotion during a press conference near the site of the fallen Twin Towers. “Somehow, people keep coming up with the idea that I want them to kill their neighbor. Well, I don’t. And to be honest, I’m really getting sick and tired of it. Get it straight. Not only do I not want anybody to kill anyone, but I specifically commanded you not to, in really simple terms that anybody ought to be able to understand.”

Taliban say Obama’s call on moderates “illogical”

Thanks, Taliban Spock!

(OK, I couldn’t find one with a full beard)

Last week, kutiman posted a bunch of youtube videos that he had mashed together to form 7 tracks of new music. It’ll make more sense when you watch… here’s “Mother of All Funk Chords”, the first one:

If you’d like to watch all of them, try this site.

One of the more clever segments was the second section of this song, “I’m New”:

(around 4:35, though the whole thing is pretty good)

The mix of classical piano and R&B is just amazing.

I drove over to Ocean Beach today to go running. The weather was perfect: 60 degrees and sunny with a cool wind. I decided to take my camera with me on the run, and stopped in a few places to take pictures:

My route took me north through Ocean Beach up through Lincoln Park and back, then I meandered a bit in Golden Gate Park (mostly to check out the windmill). I think I totaled somewhere between 3 and 4 miles. I hope to go back there tomorrow to explore more of that end of Golden Gate Park.

Eventually I plan on taking the bus to the beach and running back home through the park, or taking the bus there and running to the presidio to take the bus back. I want to explore a bit more first, though.

Jindal talking with Larry King:

King: Do you want him [Obama] to fail?

Jindal: I don’t want those policies to be adopted. I want my country to succeed, but I don’t want policies to be adopted.

King: What if the policies work?

Jindal: Well, again…

King: What if they work?

Jindal: This is where we have a fundamental disagreement. I don’t think it’s going work … to spend in excess of our revenues.

(source)

His answer to the first question is reasonable, but it’s the last part that worries me. King’s hypothetical supposes that Jindal’s beliefs are incorrect and that empirical evidence eventually makes that clear. Wouldn’t that at least merit reconsideration? I’m not saying that Obama’s policies will or won’t work, but in light of evidence, people shouldn’t just cling to ideologies (conservative or liberal). Far too few politicians are willing to admit that they don’t know everything and show some reasonable amount of intellectual curiosity.

The Daily Show’s recap of CPAC was brilliant, hilarious and incisive: