Archive: November, 2004
Bad Delay, Bad Yuck
Did your Republican member of Congress vote to repeal the House ethics rule that would have forced DeLay to step down from his leadership position if he were indicted for a felony? The answer is probably yes! But before you start raising hell, find out for sure.
Then, if the answer is still yes, its time to take a bite out of crime. Have at it.
Another Try at a Free iPod
Check out this great site that is giving away totally free iPods! I’ve joined and I think you should as well. It’s a completely legitimate offer, and this company has already given away $4 million in free stuff!
All you have to do is join, complete and online offer, and refer friends to do the same. That’s it!
Here is my referral link. To help me get my iPod, click this exact link to join, or copy and paste it into a browser:
Ridge to Resign
Tom Ridge is resigning as secretary of homeland security, ABC News has learned.
Ridge, the former governor of Pennsylvania, has sent his letter of resignation to President Bush, sources told ABC News.
A formal announcement is expected later in the day…More
Coming soon: Google TV?
An anonymous reader writes “Google, Microsoft and Yahoo are quietly developing new search tools for digital video, reports ZDNet. Google’s effort, until now secret, is arguably the most ambitious of the three, the report states. It quotes sources familiar with the plan saying the search giant is courting broadcasters and cable networks with a new technology that would do for television what it has already done for the Internet: sort through and reveal needles of video clips from within the haystack archives of major network TV shows.”
Bush Likely to Go Outside Staff for Economic Team
While Bush has been packing his cabinet with members of his staff so that he can keep tight control, the Washington Post is reporting that Bush is likely to go outside the White House for a new economic team that has the credibility to push legislation through Congress. “One senior administration official said Treasury Secretary John W. Snow can stay as long as he wants, provided it is not very long.”
Give “Marriage” to the Churches
While the Supremes refused to get involved in the gay marriage issue in Massachusetts, the decision has crystalized the strategy of the pro and con forces.
The justices made no comment in refusing to take the case. But both sides in the fight said the decision set the stage for years of further legal and political battles that, at least in the short term, would be likely to help conservatives at the polls.
Gay rights groups said the decision cleared the way for suits in lower courts around the country seeking to establish or expand same-sex marriage. Their socially conservative opponents said the court’s decision not to take on the issue would add momentum to the political battles to settle the matter at the polls, where the overwhelming success of measures forbidding same-sex marriages in 13 states has indicated that the issue is a big winner for conservatives.
It’s a battle worth fighting, but why keep fighting it using these tactics? It’s not that it could hurt Democrats in elections, since that’s a dynamic that at best, has a limited shelf life (younger voters are increasingly tolerant of people loving people).
Rather, let’s shake up tactics. The conservative bigotted position is untennable. It has no basis in fact or reason. Arguments against gay marriage are predicated entirely, 100 percent, on emotion. And the vehicle for those emotional appeals are the word “marriage”. A mere semantic.
Or it would be, if government rights and benefits weren’t predicated on that single word.
So let’s gift the word “marriage” to the churches, grant themexclusive use, and get the government out of the realm of “marriage”. That way, churches could define whatever it was they called “marriage” (you know, that thing with a 50 percent success rate), and leave the government to certify legal “unions” — you know, those things between people who love each other.
That way, the churches could find ways to really save marriage, by figuring out how to keep their flocks from divorcing, cheating and abusing their spouses…More
Genetically Engineered Plants Detect Land Mines by Changing Color
When the roots of these GMO flowers hit nitrogen dioxide (which leaches into the soil from buried land mines), the plant changes color.
SolarPC Annouces the $100 Personal Computer
Linux PR: SolarPC Announces the $100 Personal Computer talks about the latest PC - perhaps a response to Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer’s request to build a $100 PC.
Burning only 10 Watts, an aluminium case with a 20 year warranty, a lead free motherboard.
Down side: You need to order 100,000 units to get one, apparently…More