Archive for 2008
November 1, 2008
THE TRAILER FOR Lord of the Rings: Conquest is out.
BILL STUNTZ REPORTS some good news on the cancer front. Glad to hear it.
ORRIN HATCH, UNPLUGGED.
CHARGING POLITICS AT THE D.O.J.: “The highest-ranking Republican in the House is accusing the Republican-led U.S. Justice Department of playing politics when it comes to investigating voting-fraud allegations and monitoring balloting in Ohio.”
FASTER THAN A BUGATTI VEYRON: Jay Leno drives an all-American supercar.
NOW YOU’RE RICH IF YOU MAKE over $120,000. Gee, it’s halved in, like, a week. How long before it’s down to $60K?
UPDATE: Well, here’s a bid for $70K, but I don’t know if it counts . . . .
ANOTHER UPDATE: HEH: “Bottom line: If you make over 30 grand, you might want to restructure yourself as an offshore corporation in the Turks & Caicos.” That’s silly. I’m sure you’re safe up to $45K. Well, pretty sure.
CATAPULTS VS. AIRGUNS at the long-distance pumpkin chunking contest. Plus, talk of electromagnetic rail guns in the future. Is this a great country, or what?
BUZZ ALDRIN: Purchase a lovely new home, on Mars. “Aldrin, speaking to the AFP (Agence France Presse, a global news agency), said the men and women who board the world’s first non-stop flight to Mars should establish a long-term colony on the Red Planet. The time and expense required to send them there warrants more than a brief sojourn, he says, so those who are on board should think of themselves as pioneers. Like the Pilgrims who came to the New World or the families who headed to the Wild West, they should not plan on coming back home.”
UPDATE: Reader Clinton Edwards writes: “The problem is that the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 (which covers the moon and other celestial bodies) forbids private property ownership. You can’t go to Mars and stake a claim to a few acres like you could in New England or the Old West. Instead your homestead belongs to whoever happens by.”
That’s not really correct. Rob Merges and I discuss the issue at some length here.
AN UNDERWATER CAR THAT ACTUALLY EXISTS: The Rinspeed Squba. Video at the link.
BARACK OBAMA: “CHRISTIANIST” THEOCRAT?
Several gay friends and wealthy gay donors to Senator Barack Obama have asked him over the years why, as a matter of logic and fairness, he opposes same-sex marriage even though he has condemned old miscegenation laws that would have barred his black father from marrying his white mother.
The difference, Mr. Obama has told them, is religion.
As a Christian — he is a member of the United Church of Christ — Mr. Obama believes that marriage is a sacred union, a blessing from God, and one that is intended for a man and a woman exclusively.
My guess is that the reason he’s not getting more flak on this is that lots of people who’d be upset by it just don’t believe him. What will they say if it turns out he’s telling the truth?
GOOD NEWS IS NO NEWS: US deaths in Iraq plunge to wartime low in October.
TAXACHUSETTS NO MORE? A report on the Massachusetts income tax repeal initiative.
Thanks to the tenacity of Carla Howell of the Committee for Small Government, voters may be able to eliminate Massachusetts’s income levy through Question 1 of a ballot referendum. In 2002, a similar ballot question asking for the repeal of the income tax earned 45 percent support. Today, with jobs and residents fleeing the economically limping Bay State, the political climate for eliminating the income tax is even more hospitable. Backers also hope that the repeal would force Massachusetts to practice tough fiscal discipline.
It certainly seems to have the powers-that-be spooked. And here’s more on the subject. “You would think that proposing a major reduction in the taxes the Commonwealth takes from each of us would be a difficult and carefully measured calculation as much of our many billions in taxes are well spent. However, given the recent history of our governance, the decision turns out to be easy. To adopt the current mantra Massachusetts needs ‘change!'”
Our podcast interview with Initiative promoter Carla Howell is here.
JAMES JOYNER ON SPREADING THE WEALTH AROUND: “It’s one thing, though, to lament the unfairness of, say, Paris Hilton having millions while you’ve got only thousands and quite another to advocate the government taking away her money and divvying it up.” What I find interesting is the movement of the poll numbers on this over the past few months.
DAVID BERNSTEIN on Obama and affirmative action. “I know some Obama-haters are inclined to use this against him, but, in fact, given his successes ever since, Obama would more likely be the poster child in favor of affirmative action.”
WASHINGTON POST: Obama Campaign to Return Aunt’s Donations.
UPDATE: Heh: “It seems like the ultimate modern global economy – First we outsourced our jobs, and then savings, and now we outsource the voting and campaign fund raising. Go USA!”
UPDATE: “any and all appropriate laws.”
MOVING TOWARD TRUE NANOTECHNOLOGY: “Self-propelled microbots navigate through blood vessels.”
IN THE MAIL: Thomas Nevins’ The Age of the Conglomerates: A Novel of the Future.
SEATTLE’S THE STRANGER publishes addresses and photos of homes displaying Republican signs. Political intimidation and incitement to violence, or just colorful journalism? Note the discussion in the comments.
UPDATE: Oh, heck. Let’s have an Insta-Poll on this one. Please be sure to read the article and look at the photos before voting.
ANOTHER UPDATE: The Stranger link now redirects to Drudge, who also had an item on this. I think it’s safe to infer that it was the folks at The Stranger who did that, and that they’re feeling the weight of criticism. Kinda tacky, though.
ROGER KIMBALL: Commander-in-chief vs. Nanny-in-chief, or two cheers for selfishness. “‘Selfishness’ can be a vice. It can also be another name for that ‘well-ordered self-love’ that Thomas Aquinas extolled as ‘right and natural.'”
Hillel had some similar observations.
COMING SOON: Obama Derangement Syndrome?
BRIAN WANG HAS highlights from the Singularity Summit.
OBAMA’S AUNT IS LIVING ILLEGALLY IN THE UNITED STATES, according to an AP report. Hmm. Wouldn’t that make her donations to Obama’s campaign illegal?
UPDATE: I see that Power Line is asking about the donations too.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Thomas Prewitt emails:
Based on her assertion that all people who are “thrust into the public spotlight” have their records checked, I call for the immediate and comprehensive review of all the Ohio state records of Helen Jones-Kelley, Director, Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, and the public reporting thereof. This would include tax, DMV, court filings, child-support, and all other records that could detect any possible unmet financial obligations held by Ms. Jones-Kelly.
After all, we don’t want the slightest obligation to go unmet due to her pending financial windfall as a byproduct of her new celebrity status. Seems only fair, right?
Turnabout notwithstanding, I think people should leave her alone. But they should ask the Obama campaign some questions.
JOHN TIERNEY: ‘Misleading’ Research From Industry? “Now some researchers have looked to see what kind of hierarchy actually exists. After analyzing weight-loss research conducted over four decades, they’ve found that the quality of data reporting in industry-sponsored research does seem to be different from that in other research: It’s better.”