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There really isn't a convenient way to split a check and allow the parties to all still pay with a credit card (at least not in any of the restaurants I've ever been too). We live in a credit card/debit card world now (even the Salvation Army now accepts them) and that sort of thing is actually needed.

http://www.prx.org/pieces/30720

I think this is the same show i listened to this past weekend on NPR/RadioLab/...

It is very interesting. Ran about an hour.

Also, the stuff in our guts can identify each and every one of us probably as much as DNA does:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97303406

Bah, don't worry about the executives. They already have a entire language of obfusciation and everybody else just posts the dirt to their MySpace blog.

It's not that I'm worried about executives. It just feels both pointless and overly intrusive to me, which is a bad sign for any government policy. From there, it seems a small step to require Internet providers or search engines to start logging the same sort of data. It doesn't really seem all that far-fetched.

This is a mountain in the eye of most journalists. Photojournalism is no different that journalism...you shouldn't be allowed to screw around with the facts, as mal-composed and uninteresting as they may be. I see little ethical difference between the adding a flag to an image and adding an extra missile. Post-processing to improve the clarity and visibility of the subject (exposure adjustments, dodge and burning, sharpening, cropping) is not the same as adding and subtracting visual facts.

If the DoD wanted to provide a photo of the general in front of a flag, then they should have submitted a photo of her taken in front of a flag.

NA, and see if in old age it can say "I love you, be good":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_(parrot)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14293868

clearly he means that auto mechanics will be able to fix your car remotely from 35~250 million miles away regardless of where it breaks down. they can even get your car unstuck remotely if you ever get stuck in a ditch.

suck on that OnStar! all they can do is unlock your car.

McCain cannot stop 527s from doing anything, if he coordinated anything with them, even if attempting to make them stop negative campaigning, he has to count their efforts against his expenditures. I don't mean to call you a moron seeing how this was Obama's claim, but he knows full well that you can't control 527s and keep them as 527s. McCain has and did admonish them when they stepped out of line but he cannot exert any control over them as Obama knows.

Obama managed to get moveon.org's 527 shut down, got Progressive Media USA vastly scaled back, and he also asked people not to donate to 527s.

Saying 'I don't want to see any 527 ads on my behalf' is not illegal. Saying 'Do not donate to 527s' is not illegal.

That is probably what he was wanting McCain to do.

The amazing thing is that Republicans understood this '527' condition five months ago, and were mocking his concern about Republican 527s by saying they hadn't shown up and claiming his worries about them were an excuse to not accept public financing.

As it turns out, of course, Obama was right, and they did show up, and Obama spent his money countering them. Money he wouldn't have had if he'd opted into public financing.

I heard about this book recently on NPR, though I haven't had a chance to read it yet, so can't comment on how good it is: http://www.amazon.com/Crime-Reason-Closing-Scientific-Mind/dp/0465005071/

a truly remarkable list of "present" votes in such a relatively short career

130 out of more than 4000, often as a strategic move, & something that is not uncommon in the Illinois state legislature.

For example, he has voted very consistently for increased gun and ammunition restrictions. Including openly supporting the DC ban and voting in favor of a similar ban in Chicago. Yet he stood behind a podium and said he believed the second amendment "must mean something" and was an individual right, rather than a collective.

He said "I think there is an individual right to bear arms, but it's subject to commonsense regulation" (like background checks), and "The notion that somehow local jurisdictions can't initiate gun safety laws to deal with gang bangers and random shootings on the street isn't born out by our Constitution." Additionally there is ample discussion about how to interpret the 2nd, and case law that roams back and forth on the issue (and note, that Heller was a divided decision). So I don't think I totally buy your premise that to say the 2nd is an individual right requires that you not support local firearm regulations. Inconsistency would be to support incongruous sides of an argument, but to hold a consistent (if not extreme originalist/black-and-white) view doesn't qualify in my mind. In fact, I bet most people are somewhere in the middle and neither "AK-47s for everyone!" nor "Only squirt-guns allowed!"

An individual right != an unlimited right, note SCOTUS in Robertson v. Baldwin the late 1890s:

the "Bill of Rights," were not intended to lay down any novel principles of government, but simply to embody certain guaranties and immunities which we had inherited from our English ancestors, and which had, from time immemorial, been subject to certain well recognized exceptions arising from the necessities of the case. [...] Thus, the freedom of speech and of the press (Art. I) does not permit the publication of libels, blasphemous or indecent articles, or other publications injurious to public morals or private reputation; the right of the people to keep and bear arms (Art. II) is not infringed by laws prohibiting the carrying of concealed weapons

-Ted

Is Obama really that much better than McCain? Would McCain have been worse than Bush? I just saw two complete liars campaigning. Obama just got away with telling bigger lies.

You know, I typically think of myself as the most cynical sonofabitch I know... but even I hadn't cast such disparaging eyes at both candidates.

Frankly, my candidate won the presidency last night, and even I felt a wave of emotion as Obama delivered his speech to the hundred-thousand folks in Grant Park.

Yes, Obama is better than McCain for his humility and ability to gather people around him and rally for a cause, find solutions. The McCain/Palin ticket frightened the bejeezus out of me solely for the "one heartbeat" factor. I could go on about all of the GOP ticket's flaws... Palin is(was) a post turtle, McCain's intermittent visible symptoms of dementia, war-mongering ("bomb, bomb Iran"???)...

"... who gets to elect whether a secret ballot or open card signature will be the process used?"

Read your own quote: "The card-check process would take the place of NLRB-supervised secret ballot elections currently used to determine whether a majority of employees want union representation.

If the EFCA passes, the secret ballot elections are gone. Even George McGovern is opposed to this.

Acorn is accused of:

* registering false names
* registering people (like the starting lineup of the dallas cowboys) in multiple places
* voter fraud in florida

CNN has covered this multiple times, in allegaionst about fraud in pennsylvania and nevada, and admissions about fraud in ohio

And since you don't seem to understand how voter fraud works: People are supposed to get exactly one vote. Only living, real people, who (to simplify) are citizens of the location in which they live are supposed to vote, and only in the place where they live. Dead people are not allowed to vote. Imaginary people are not allowed to vote. People are not allowed to vote multiple times. You can only vote (in many places) if you register to vote, some time in advance of the election.

Now, imagine that some organization, we'll call them WALNUT, comes along, and registers lots of dead people, and lots of imaginary people, and lots of living real people in multiple places (such as registering Bob Barker in Las Vegas, Boston, and Las Angeles). Come election day, this same organization (or a conspiratorial organization) uses these false registrations to enter votes. This allows the organization's members to vote once for themselves, and once for each additional registration. If enough false votes are submitted, this can tip an election. When an election is close (As some polls indicate that this one will be) a smaller number of fraudulent votes can tip the election. This can cause the person who was not the choice of the electorate (as determined per the election process, according to the rules) to become the elected.

Of course, you could be just a little shite who doesn't care about free, valid elections, and would rather minimize a very real issue, than to fix whatever problems that occur. If that's the case, then you can go suck it.

Well the word is out on bump keys, which are an easier method of entry in most cases, yet burglaries are down. I don't see key photos as a particularly meaningful threat to most of us.

You're kind of oversimplifying Obama's position. Ironically, it's the same oversimplification that his opponents are fond of.

It's true that Obama was against the war from day one. But he's also smart enough to see that the U.S. has some responsibility to clean up the mess it's made. I don't see him simply ordering Petraeus to pack up and leave. What he will do is insist on realistic goals, and a drawdown that will take months, not years.

I found accounts of Obama's conversations with Petraeus during the Iraq junket to be pretty interesting. (I think the one I'm thinking about is summarized here, though I could be misremembering.) While they didn't exactly come to a meeting of the minds, their differences of opinion turned out not to be that basic. The picture you end up with is an Obama strategy for the Middle East that's not so much a retreat as a completely different offensive strategy.

It looks like the CRA actually had quite a lot to do with large numbers of sub prime mortgage securities being improperly rated and sold. Which is the basis of the current financial crisis after the people who obtained those loans began to default on them devaluing those securities.
The bottom line is that legislating that banks take on increased risk in order to provide loans to people who are unlikely to be able to pay them back was a bad idea. The banks tried to offload that risk onto other investors and because of the misrating of the mortgages they succeeded.

That's only one part of the puzzle here. Yes, the CRA encouraged more risky loans, but that alone wouldn't have caused the problems. The banks aren't stupid and they don't plan to lose money on their loans. Nobody forced them to make the loans. They'll only make those risky loans when they think they are covered by insurance. That's what AIG was doing with credit default swaps.

The problem there was that those were deregulated back in late 2000 by the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which allowed AIG and others to insure these securities without any disclosure or even a capital reserve requirement, things that are standard for insurance companies.

So, thinking they're covered, the banks start throwing money at everyone, and raking in huge profits on these securitized loan packages that nobody seems to really understand even now. They did it for the same reason that they always do things. Profit. Unfortunately, when the housing market went south, AIG had no way to cover those securities, and thus the banks were screwed.

Compound that with the problems with the ratings agencies and their symbiotic relationship with the financial institutions, the problems with trading software, the rampant speculation even by large institutions, bizarre assumptions about the housing market, and other issues that we probably haven't figured out yet, and you can see that it's not nearly as simple as pointing at the CRA as the source of the problems.

Now if we could just clean out the assholes who caused this current economic meltdown that started at Freddie and Fannie.... Sens Dodd (Banking Cmmt Chairman) and Obama (#2 lifetime money take in only four years), Rep Frank (Chief House cheerleader for subprime lending while fucking the guy in charge of subprime lending for close to decade while overseeing em), etc.

Wrong. The CRA may have encouraged more lending to people on the low end of the pay scale, but it certainly isn't responsible for lenders handing loans out like halloween candy to anyone and their dog, with no proof of employment, collateral, etc. Banks aren't that stupid. They believed they'd make that money back one way or another. Either the person pays, or they're insured. That's one big area where things went wrong. Remember AIG? Remember credit default swaps? Remember who deregulated those so that AIG and the banks didn't have to disclose any info about them, and AIG didn't have to maintain a capital reserve to cover them like any normal insurance company would? Remember who else supported this?

And that's just the beginning too. There are a lot of factors involved. It's just stupid to try to point to one thing and pin everything on it. There were horrible assumptions made about the real estate market, serious problems with the ratings models used for these securities, huge increases in speculation, and problems with trading software that helped to compound the problems. And that's just some of what we know now. There's probably a lot more factors that we'll learn about over the next year or so too.

I would celebrate, but I know in my heart he'll be replaced by someone just as bad. Our body politic is rotten to the core.

Mark Begich, mayor of Anchorage, is the man who will most likely replace him if Stevens loses on Nov. 4th. However, I have read that there is no rule in the Senate which forbids senators from being convicted felons. With the option of a Bush pardon still on the table, it is entirely possible that Stevens could hold his senate seat.

Really, you're [sic] big flip-flop citation is about baseball teams? Very important stuff that is.

It is, actually, when one is talking about a neophyte, who started running for President after only 140-something days as a Senator, and whose only prior executive experience consists of chairing a failed local non-profit organization. During his 8 years as an Illinois law-maker, he voted "Present" 129 times (15 times per year — just how many decisions did they make there?) — whatever the excuses for such indecisiveness, the sheer number of the "maybes" is rather large.

We don't know much about Obama, and what we do know, is unflattering...

I was thinking about some next generation communications that would reduce latency on the internet by a massive amount, but couldn't think of any good word, hence I put 'quantum' in quotes. Since I've heard of quantum entanglement and related experiments, was just saying maybe new discoveries in natural phenomena will find ways around current internet latency. Also there is this article here:

Trapping light and saving it for later
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7314502

Are you ready for the inevitable conspiracy theory? Here it is, cooked up between my wife and myself after discussing the implications of renewing our passports shortly.

The problems are actually a feature. Let me explain. Remember how the old Soviet-bloc countries didn't like their nationals traveling because they would see how much better the rest of the world was? (Don't get me wrong, I like it here just fine.) Well, if everyone who hears about this says "I guess I won't be traveling any time soon", it effectively stops travel (usually by the intelligentia) all the while allowing the govt to say "We have no travel restrictions on our own citizens".

Of course, all this is nonsense. Our current administration would never feign incompetence to obtain other goals. Yet there's plenty of other information that suggests there's no tom-foolery about this and that the incompetence is real.

So in short, I'm not sure which it is, but the bottom line for me is that I'm waiting until the last minute in the hopes that some of the recommended features are implemented by then.

...who's takeaway from the article is that we need to build more nuclear plants?

America does need to build more nuclear plants.
The rest of the world is because it is safe and clean.

Chernobyl, 3 Mile Island, need you name more?

Yes, you do.

Even reasonable environmentalists are considering nuclear.

At least, I do not believe any Pope ever has apologized for the crusades, to name just one tiny thing.

The prior Pope did actually explicitly apologize for the crusades, among other things.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1071456

The current Pope has also apologized for other failings of the Catholic church.

A staggering number of people in this country dont believe results that these scientists / engineers come up with, I don't think the (Quoting Palin) *ahem* 'Joe Six Packs' of this nation care.

This election is going to come down to what it always does, who has: 'who's the candidate I can see having a beer with'

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17316144

CBS and FOX won't do it to Obama because they *like* Obama. They don't mind if Obama uses their videos to help him win the election.

>>>I hope they pursue this by addressing flaws in the DMCA.

Do you actually know that Obama's campaign hasn't had takedowns used against them, or are you assuming?

** (The real blame lies with the 1990s president who repealed the Glass-Steagall of 1933 which allowed banks to invest in risky stocks, and thereby created the current crisis. But the media is being hush-hush about that. Don't want to risk losing the Obama election.)

Sure. I'm sure that a single piece of legislation caused the whole thing. I notice that you conveniently forget that the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act was sponsored by republicans (Phil Gramm strikes again), and passed the senate on a party-line vote with only one democrat crossing over. But sure, you go right ahead and believe that the Republicans are in no way responsible for our situation.

I notice also that you neglect to take any notice of other things that contributed quite a bit to our situation, such as the Commodity and Futures Modernization Act of 2000 (more of Phil Gramm's handiwork). This was also a republican bill, but it was supported by a few dems as well. You might want to look into how this relates to the AIG situation and how that affected the banks.

From credit default swaps to the paper market drying up to NINA loans, these two episodes gave me more information in two hours than I could gather watching every single major TV news show for weeks.

Which is why NPR, as a whole, currently has THE best journalism and reporting in the entire country. The major networks (Fox, CNN, ABC, MSNBC, etc.), frankly, look pathetic when you hold them up to the quality and depth of coverage you get from NPR.

Personally, I love their vast library of podcasts.

This particular piece is pretty bad, but I heard one of the more lucid explanations of the whole mess and bailout response by NYTimes reporter Gretchen Morgenson on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross. That was back on September 23. You can find the podcast here; it's a little stale now as the baleout has evolved since, but Gretchen Morgenson won me as a fan that day.

How's it working out for you having your government take a "hands off" approach to your banks? (assuming you are an American).

Clue yourself in. The subprime crisis was caused by government intervention, not by any "hands off" approach. Just because people can co-opt the word "deregulation" for their own purposes doesn't mean any less regulation is occurring. Check out this excellent article written 8 years ago that predicted the whole thing, down to the huge dollar amount:

The Trillion-Dollar Bank Shakedown That Bodes Ill for Cities

Right. A single cause for a multi-trillion dollar meltdown. If only it were that simple. Rather than try to pin the whole thing on the CRA, perhaps you might also want to look into the Commodity Futures Modernization Act as well, which deregulated the type of insurance (credit default swaps) that banks were using to allow themselves to make the insane loans they were making. The CRA may have been misguided and caused some more risky loans to be made, but it certainly didn't, on its own, lead to lenders giving large home loans to people with no evidence at all that they could pay it back. Nor did it allow for the obfuscation of the value of these loans through the creation of these ridiculous securities, which is one of the main causes of all of the problems. Nobody knows the true value of these things. That causes panic.

By deregulating credit default swaps, the government (republicans in this case, and Phil Gramm specifically), allowed companies like AIG to insure these mortgage backed securities, even though they couldn't really know their true value. To make matters worse, they weren't required to disclose any of this, and they were not required to have a capital reserve to cover the insured securities either, so when home values started crashing, they couldn't cover even a fraction of the securities that they insured. The whole house of cards came down.

Banks thought they had it made, and were loaning to anything with a pulse because they figured they were covered either way, either the person pays, or they collect the insurance. AIG thought that they'd just sit back and watch the premiums roll in and that they were facing little risk. They both thought they were getting a good deal. Why they thought home prices would never fall remains a mystery.

A statement blatantly stolen from NPR's Melissa Block.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95441421

Another one to be aware of is Michigan Republicans using lists of foreclosures in the precinct and challenging a voters eligibility to vote based on that list. NPR Story, Michigan Messenger Story.

If you're concerned about this, look up your states Voter Eligibility and Identification Requirements on a state.XX.us website. Print out a copy and bring them with you. If you're challenged, challenge them right back and stand up for fellow citizens around you who are being unfairly challenged.

It was Minnesota. Here is a link to the story. Looks like SC isn't the only one facing Republican voter intimidation.

But for anyone still reading this (and reading at the 1 level, since one assumes this comment ain't going anywhere in moderation), if you want a sane take on naked short selling that isn't from someone with fingers all over the pie, NPR did a piece on naked short selling recently as part of their regular podcast/blog called Planet Money (which is a fantastic primer on the financial crisis in general).

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2008/09/listen_up_naked_short_selling.html is the link for the piece on naked short selling, and it's absolutely worth a listen.

You have it exactly backwards. We do need a stock market and privately traded companies are subject to a lot less regulation regarding transparency then publicly traded ones. According to William Bernstein an efficient capital market is essential to economic growth.

I don't see what's brand new. What makes these recent shenanigans different from the ones that caused the stock market crash of 1929?

You're blaming the wrong market anyway. It's the credit markets that have run amok and caused this crisis. Unregulated, private trading in the credit market. Have a listen to this podcast.

Obama will castrate our military and destroy our nuclear deterrent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxL8NcNACBY

He will tax corporations and high income earners that employ the population of the US, which will force them to cut jobs and send the unemployment rate skyrocketing.
http://obama.3cdn.net/b7be3b7cd08e587dca_v852mv8ja.pdf

He sees dead people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=galtZF0nKYc

He wants to take the guns out of the hands of law abiding citizens, leaving us at the mercy of criminals.
http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/barack_obama_gun_control.htm

He'll cut and run from Iraq, knocking the legs out from under the Iraqi government as they are finally finding their footing.
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/iraq/

He believes homosexuals are entitled to more rights than straight people.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/23/debate.transcript/index.html

He believes in mob rule concerning criminal punishment.
The Audacity of Hope, by Barack Obama, p. 58

He refuses to call terrorists "terrorists" even when presented with evidence.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15251928

He will prevent us from keeping sensitive materials confidential, which will place national security at risk.
http://www.cfr.org/publication/14356/

He would talk with terrorist countries without demanding that they cease their efforts to murder innocent people and abide by the rule of law.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3Oj7Jn9rv4

He believes we should reward people who ignore the existence of a country's sovereignty and illegally enter the country instead of forcing them to abide by the law.
http://obama.senate.gov/news/060923-sen_obama_at_to/index.php

He believes the government should regulate the internet.
http://obama.senate.gov/podcast/060608-network_neutral/index.php

He believes in making those who have money pay for the healthcare of those who do not have money.
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/

He believes we should take corn, a staple food for the US, and use it for ethanol production, which will cause shortages in food supply and produce car exhaust that is more dangerous to humans than gasoline burning cars.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/01/05/new_us_congress_looks_to_boost_alternate_fuels/?p1=MEWell_Pos5

He believes that parents should have no choice but to send their children to government run schools to be indoctrinated by sub-standard teachers.
http://www-news.uchicago.edu/citations/04/041027.obama-ct.html

In short, he's an anti-American, anti-military Marxist who will destroy the US before he can be voted out of office. I don't like McCain and I have problems with many of his positions, but he will, at the very least, keep the US from crashing and burning within the next 4 years (provided the Dems don't win Congress).

And no, he's not a Muslim (as far as we know). He's not black (he's bi-racial). He's not a Christian (against everything Ch

Obama will castrate our military and destroy our nuclear deterrent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxL8NcNACBY

He will tax corporations and high income earners that employ the population of the US, which will force them to cut jobs and send the unemployment rate skyrocketing.
http://obama.3cdn.net/b7be3b7cd08e587dca_v852mv8ja.pdf

He sees dead people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=galtZF0nKYc

He wants to take the guns out of the hands of law abiding citizens, leaving us at the mercy of criminals.
http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/barack_obama_gun_control.htm

He'll cut and run from Iraq, knocking the legs out from under the Iraqi government as they are finally finding their footing.
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/iraq/

He believes homosexuals are entitled to more rights than straight people.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/23/debate.transcript/index.html

He believes in mob rule concerning criminal punishment.
The Audacity of Hope, by Barack Obama, p. 58

He refuses to call terrorists "terrorists" even when presented with evidence.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15251928

He will prevent us from keeping sensitive materials confidential, which will place national security at risk.
http://www.cfr.org/publication/14356/

He would talk with terrorist countries without demanding that they cease their efforts to murder innocent people and abide by the rule of law.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3Oj7Jn9rv4

He believes we should reward people who ignore the existence of a country's sovereignty and illegally enter the country instead of forcing them to abide by the law.
http://obama.senate.gov/news/060923-sen_obama_at_to/index.php

He believes the government should regulate the internet.
http://obama.senate.gov/podcast/060608-network_neutral/index.php

He believes in making those who have money pay for the healthcare of those who do not have money.
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/

He believes we should take corn, a staple food for the US, and use it for ethanol production, which will cause shortages in food supply and produce car exhaust that is more dangerous to humans than gasoline burning cars.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/01/05/new_us_congress_looks_to_boost_alternate_fuels/?p1=MEWell_Pos5

He believes that parents should have no choice but to send their children to government run schools to be indoctrinated by sub-standard teachers.
http://www-news.uchicago.edu/citations/04/041027.obama-ct.html

In short, he's an anti-American, anti-military Marxist who will destroy the US before he can be voted out of office. I don't like McCain and I have problems with many of his positions, but he will, at the very least, keep the US from crashing and burning within the next 4 years (provided the Dems don't win Congress).

And no, he's not a Muslim (as far as we know). He's not black (he's bi-racial). He's not a Christian (against everything Ch

Obama will castrate our military and destroy our nuclear deterrent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxL8NcNACBY

He will tax corporations and high income earners that employ the population of the US, which will force them to cut jobs and send the unemployment rate skyrocketing.
http://obama.3cdn.net/b7be3b7cd08e587dca_v852mv8ja.pdf

He sees dead people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=galtZF0nKYc

He wants to take the guns out of the hands of law abiding citizens, leaving us at the mercy of criminals.
http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/barack_obama_gun_control.htm

He'll cut and run from Iraq, knocking the legs out from under the Iraqi government as they are finally finding their footing.
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/iraq/

He believes homosexuals are entitled to more rights than straight people.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/23/debate.transcript/index.html

He believes in mob rule concerning criminal punishment.
The Audacity of Hope, by Barack Obama, p. 58

He refuses to call terrorists "terrorists" even when presented with evidence.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15251928

He will prevent us from keeping sensitive materials confidential, which will place national security at risk.
http://www.cfr.org/publication/14356/

He would talk with terrorist countries without demanding that they cease their efforts to murder innocent people and abide by the rule of law.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3Oj7Jn9rv4

He believes we should reward people who ignore the existence of a country's sovereignty and illegally enter the country instead of forcing them to abide by the law.
http://obama.senate.gov/news/060923-sen_obama_at_to/index.php

He believes the government should regulate the internet.
http://obama.senate.gov/podcast/060608-network_neutral/index.php

He believes in making those who have money pay for the healthcare of those who do not have money.
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/

He believes we should take corn, a staple food for the US, and use it for ethanol production, which will cause shortages in food supply and produce car exhaust that is more dangerous to humans than gasoline burning cars.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/01/05/new_us_congress_looks_to_boost_alternate_fuels/?p1=MEWell_Pos5

He believes that parents should have no choice but to send their children to government run schools to be indoctrinated by sub-standard teachers.
http://www-news.uchicago.edu/citations/04/041027.obama-ct.html

In short, he's an anti-American, anti-military Marxist who will destroy the US before he can be voted out of office. I don't like McCain and I have problems with many of his positions, but he will, at the very least, keep the US from crashing and burning within the next 4 years (provided the Dems don't win Congress).

And no, he's not a Muslim (as far as we know). He's not black (he's bi-racial). He's not a Christian (against everything Ch

Obama will castrate our military and destroy our nuclear deterrent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxL8NcNACBY

He will tax corporations and high income earners that employ the population of the US, which will force them to cut jobs and send the unemployment rate skyrocketing.
http://obama.3cdn.net/b7be3b7cd08e587dca_v852mv8ja.pdf

He sees dead people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=galtZF0nKYc

He wants to take the guns out of the hands of law abiding citizens, leaving us at the mercy of criminals.
http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/barack_obama_gun_control.htm

He'll cut and run from Iraq, knocking the legs out from under the Iraqi government as they are finally finding their footing.
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/iraq/

He believes homosexuals are entitled to more rights than straight people.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/23/debate.transcript/index.html

He believes in mob rule concerning criminal punishment.
The Audacity of Hope, by Barack Obama, p. 58

He refuses to call terrorists "terrorists" even when presented with evidence.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15251928

He will prevent us from keeping sensitive materials confidential, which will place national security at risk.
http://www.cfr.org/publication/14356/

He would talk with terrorist countries without demanding that they cease their efforts to murder innocent people and abide by the rule of law.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3Oj7Jn9rv4

He believes we should reward people who ignore the existence of a country's sovereignty and illegally enter the country instead of forcing them to abide by the law.
http://obama.senate.gov/news/060923-sen_obama_at_to/index.php

He believes the government should regulate the internet.
http://obama.senate.gov/podcast/060608-network_neutral/index.php

He believes in making those who have money pay for the healthcare of those who do not have money.
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/

He believes we should take corn, a staple food for the US, and use it for ethanol production, which will cause shortages in food supply and produce car exhaust that is more dangerous to humans than gasoline burning cars.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/01/05/new_us_congress_looks_to_boost_alternate_fuels/?p1=MEWell_Pos5

He believes that parents should have no choice but to send their children to government run schools to be indoctrinated by sub-standard teachers.
http://www-news.uchicago.edu/citations/04/041027.obama-ct.html

In short, he's an anti-American, anti-military Marxist who will destroy the US before he can be voted out of office. I don't like McCain and I have problems with many of his positions, but he will, at the very least, keep the US from crashing and burning within the next 4 years (provided the Dems don't win Congress).

And no, he's not a Muslim (as far as we know). He's not black (he's bi-racial). He's not a Christian (against everything Ch

Obama will castrate our military and destroy our nuclear deterrent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxL8NcNACBY

He will tax corporations and high income earners that employ the population of the US, which will force them to cut jobs and send the unemployment rate skyrocketing.
http://obama.3cdn.net/b7be3b7cd08e587dca_v852mv8ja.pdf

He sees dead people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=galtZF0nKYc

He wants to take the guns out of the hands of law abiding citizens, leaving us at the mercy of criminals.
http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/barack_obama_gun_control.htm

He'll cut and run from Iraq, knocking the legs out from under the Iraqi government as they are finally finding their footing.
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/iraq/

He believes homosexuals are entitled to more rights than straight people.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/23/debate.transcript/index.html

He believes in mob rule concerning criminal punishment.
The Audacity of Hope, by Barack Obama, p. 58

He refuses to call terrorists "terrorists" even when presented with evidence.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15251928

He will prevent us from keeping sensitive materials confidential, which will place national security at risk.
http://www.cfr.org/publication/14356/

He would talk with terrorist countries without demanding that they cease their efforts to murder innocent people and abide by the rule of law.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3Oj7Jn9rv4

He believes we should reward people who ignore the existence of a country's sovereignty and illegally enter the country instead of forcing them to abide by the law.
http://obama.senate.gov/news/060923-sen_obama_at_to/index.php

He believes the government should regulate the internet.
http://obama.senate.gov/podcast/060608-network_neutral/index.php

He believes in making those who have money pay for the healthcare of those who do not have money.
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/

He believes we should take corn, a staple food for the US, and use it for ethanol production, which will cause shortages in food supply and produce car exhaust that is more dangerous to humans than gasoline burning cars.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/01/05/new_us_congress_looks_to_boost_alternate_fuels/?p1=MEWell_Pos5

He believes that parents should have no choice but to send their children to government run schools to be indoctrinated by sub-standard teachers.
http://www-news.uchicago.edu/citations/04/041027.obama-ct.html

In short, he's an anti-American, anti-military Marxist who will destroy the US before he can be voted out of office. I don't like McCain and I have problems with many of his positions, but he will, at the very least, keep the US from crashing and burning within the next 4 years (provided the Dems don't win Congress).

And no, he's not a Muslim (as far as we know). He's not black (he's bi-racial). He's not a Christian (against everything Ch

Latency from heat that isn't there?

already been done..
here, well sort of.

the paperclip (alluding to magnetism)... My initial thoughts are that this is a successful (achieved, whether or not the victims want it to be a) sabotage act. We already heard that crackers broke in but were contained or blocked. Often, thefts and heists are facilitated by insiders. I wonder which (if any) internal "agents" is a mole. Even just yesterday, having read the link about acts of internet sabotage/cyber attacks:

http://net-security.org/secworld.php?id=6554

I wouldn't be surprised if a US or US-sympathetic student or agent working on the scientific teams helped map the security protocols/topology and insert the mole. Why dare slam the US? Well, because we CONSTANTLY are bombarded with what appear to be outrageous lies about *China* constantly attacking (when "probing" might be the better description?) US military sites. The report/link on the attacks indicates that China's currently interested or succeeding in planting trojans/bots/mechanisms in less secure academic facilities. And, the US' Semiconducting super collider never took off:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94481272

So, who knows with unassailable certainty that the US (aside from risking losing access to treasured scientific Data from the LHC) wouldn't have tinkered with the idea of delaying or sabotaging the LHC? NOBODY! But, there could be other culprits, to be fair...

OTOH, if there are any Chinese nationals as scientists/workers there, i doubt they'd have a motivation for doing it. It's not as if they have a domestic collider program. They're busy with the ship construction, manufacturing, and space programs - and, i suppose, - if Crawl Street implodes, they will try to advance Shanghai or other places as financial centers, inviting in many of the brightest being purged or dropped from New York. And, who's to SAY (with certitude and factuality) that the US WILL AND SHALL remain the financial processing center of the world? NO ONE can.

Anyway, I bet any overheating or tube/ring failures will end up being reported as unfortunate mechanical failure. Even if it is sabotage, it'll be kept hushed to not help any attackers know for certain that THEIR act was the one that did in the LHC and deflated the short-lived jubilation felt over activation of the LHC...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94764491

Someone scrawled "So long and thanks for all the fish" on the giant portrait of Lehman CEO Richard Fuld on which employees of the company wrote their final farewells (Artist Jeffrey Raymond).

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94640730

One guest of Science Friday has contended that corn ethanol has gotten a bit much of a bad rap. That ethanol production really takes out the part of the corn that cattle can't digest anyway. Most corn in the US isn't suitable for direct human consumption, it's mostly grown as food for cattle. The by-product of ethanol production is still just as good as the original corn for feed, which I've also seen corroborated in the corn exposé documentary "King Corn".

I found the story: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93636627

I haven't found anything that shows he's connected with the corn lobbies, though it's still possible.

I just this morning listened to Woodward's interview on Fresh Air and he talked specifically about this in a very vague, shadowy manner. Basically his point was that although the surge is credited with improving security, the gains are in large part due to some double-super secret new method we have of killing large amounts of people quietly, precisely and from afar. It seriously sounded as if the we had developed a death ray or something. It was creeeepy.

Good to know it's only sort of a death ray.

I heard the same story on NPR yesterday. Here's a link to the story summary and the full audio with Rowling's explanation:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94407484

Indeed. Let's just hope this doesn't cause other ill-informed loudmouths to make technologically-ignorant mistakes

i.e. - http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94407503

*Democrats* are blowing smoke?

What about Palin's repeated claims that she turned down Congress's support of the Bridge to Nowhere?

The fact is that she *campaigned on* her efforts to get federal dollars for the Bridge, that she continued to push for the Bridge until it was clearly never going to happen, then she *still* took $200 million in federal funds for the Bridge - she just spent it on other Alaskan transportation.

Palin is the governor of a state that has a smaller population ( 700k) than many cities, and she brings up much the same scary rhetoric about Iraq being God's plan as Bush. (To be fair, she does say we should pray that the war is God's plan and that we are following it, but she says it in a confusing way that I'm pretty sure is intended to sound like a claim of divine support for the war to her fundamentalist supporters.)

Claims that she is a small town extremist are much more accurate than what she says about herself in her own speeches.

Along those lines, I had listened to an NPR snip about this very thing quite a while back. There isn't much more information than this but, well:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18504117

NPR Science friday just had a discussion with GeoEye. They will also snap a photo of anyplace you ask them to for a cost. They go into some details of the process and it was a neat little interview. Things like it's in a polar orbit, whipping around the north to south pole every 90 minutes.

Let me remind you that there are locations in the Netherlands which are more than two times below sea level compared to that of New Orleans. New Orleans is of course much more prone to storms than the aforementioned place but I do not see why technology could not solve this [reinforcement] issue.

A couple differences: Parts (10-20%) of New Orleans are settling an inch a year, while parts of the Netherlands are settling a tenth or a quarter of an inch a year. 55% of the Netherlands is below sea level, so efforts to preserve it will have steady national support. Only a small section of the Mississippi river delta is below sea level. Still, towns in the Netherlands are in fact being told they can't build anything new. And there are mitigation efforts that work for river flooding that won't work for hurricane flooding, such as floating foundations. All in all, the Netherlands has good reason to take their situation much more seriously than New Orleans does, and it shows in what they have done.