Politics

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/24/pakistan-barack-obama-air-strike Obama has ordered an airstrike against what was once an "ally in the war on terror" The goal of the strike was to target Al Qaeda leaders, potentially including Osama bin Laden All I can say is... about time?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123367405418643627.html?mod=googlenews_wsj Is it possible to find qualified people without tax issues or illegal houseworker issues?

I ran across this piece by Rush this morning, thought it was interesting. He's essentially proposing to let the republicans spend half the stimulus money their way and let the democrats spend half their way and then compare the results. I got a kick out of it, since I do like his proposed half better, but I don't see how this could ever settle the debate about how to get an economy out of a recession. Not like it could ever happen in the first place, but a fun idea nonetheless. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123318906638926749.html

Apparently groups like Amnesty International and even some governments are calling for Israeli soldiers to be prosecuted for war crimes. Not once amidst all of this hullabaloo does anyone even remotely suggest the same treatment for Hamas terrorists. Now I am not one to ever suggest that two wrongs make a right. Certainly if any member of the Israeli military deliberately committed some atrocity, then they should absolutely be prosecuted for it. But we all know what this is really about, don't we? This is about Israeli policy. Specifically the policies of dropping bombs on civilian areas that Hamas terrorists were hiding in, and/or the use of white phosphorous. …

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/13/AR2009011303372.html?hpid=topnews I'm surprised how much rigamaroll we've gone through to get here. After years of mincing definitions about what constitutes torture and what does not, we have something conclusive. A senior Bush administration official, Susan J. Crawford, responsible for reviewing practices at Guantanamo, has officially concluded that Mohammed al-Qahtani was tortured, due to a "combination of the interrogation techniques, their duration and the impact on Qahtani's health" So where do we go from here? I'd like to see a new administration which places human rights above getting an…

Just heard a bit of his inauguration speech on way home in car. I got a bit emotional. In this time of turmoil, war and financial unrest - I sincerely hope he is as successful a president you have had. Good luck guys! God Bless America! God Bless Barack Obama!

On January 26 Barack Obama had his first televised interview as President, which he gave to the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya. The subject was, naturally, his approach to the Muslim world. A lot of liberal commentators are celebrating it, declaring "the war on terror is over," etc. I wouldn't go that far, but I do think it's a huge improvement in tone over Bush, and I'm interested (and actually optimistic) to see how Islamic public opinion of the United States develops over the next few years. I think he came across as firm, but still respectful, openminded, and appreciative of the complexity of the situation. That alone should get him much farther than Bush, even if he doesn't …

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7817135.stm In light of this, was Israel's invasion of Gaza a good idea? I'm going to go with no.

(NOTE: This is a bump of an old thread, and this post is the original post from April of last year. Please see my reply below.) This week's action on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was interesting to follow. Lilly Ledbetter was a manager at Goodyear Tire for 20 years. In her lawsuit she alleged that she only found out after she retired that she had been paid significantly less than male managers -- even those with less seniority -- for her entire tenure at the company. A jury agreed and awarded her a quarter-mil in back pay and 3 mil in damages. The case went to the Supreme Court last year, and the justices overturned the case, on the grounds that it violate…

During the campaign the Obama camp promised a 5-day review of all legislation sent to if by Congress before signing. It did not do that with the Lilly Ledbetter act. Wups. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j1h3GiUlwDI_i-AbVyV7bQdhIkUwD961M7QG0 IMO this is a minor slip-up, but I hope it fixes this and follows-through on its promise of 5-day public comment reviews of ALL legislation before signing. This is the page that the White House has set up for these comments: http://www.whitehouse.gov/five_day_review/

Originally posted at: http://change.gov/agenda/urbanpolicy/ This statement, posted in mid-November, was pulled shortly after it started to gain publicity among various pro-gun organizations. For all of Obama's tech savvy, he seems to have forgotten that if you post something online then change it, it doesn't go away. Well guess what, IT'S BACK! As of TODAY! http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/urban_policy/ (they conveniently added an underscore for obfuscation) What the crap is this Obama? As far as I'm concerned, the Tiahrt Amendment protects law abiding gun owners against unreasonable search and seizure. What is repealing it going to accomplis…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-state_solution I'm seeing an increasing number of articles referencing this idea. It's a proposed way of solving the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Instead of having separate states of Israel and Palestine, they'd be unified into a single "Isralestine" where everyone would receive equal rights regardless of ethnic background. What do you think. Could it work? I think it's certainly an alternative to consider as the other alternatives seem to have all failed miserably and repeatedly.

http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/obama_abortion_policy/2009/01/23/174721.html Obama has overturned a Bush administration ban on giving funds to international organizations which, under an umbrella of other functions, perform abortions. Oh yeah, and he closed Gitmo. I give a thumbs up to both of these actions. So feel free to post here with updates on various Bush administration executive orders and policies Obama has overturned.

http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/maccain_obama_allies/2009/01/23/174580.html I kinda feel sorry for McCain... he was probably thinking "I bet I end up running against Hillary. I could cream that bitch!" but instead it's "Oh f*** Obama!" But yeah, seriously... surprising and pretty cool.

I was just watching Frontline's "Dreams of Obama" and I was struck by one of the segments which talked about his tenure at Harvard Law Review. He was apparently elected because of conservatives "crossing over" to vote for him, and he apparently got ten times as much criticism from the left as from the right during his time as President of the journal. I realize that doesn't prove anything with regard to his presidency, but it certainly suggests that he'll be the moderate consensus builder that he's been promising, doesn't it? I know I kinda gloat about the anger and frustration I'm predicting that the far left is going to see during this administration, but it sur…

So now that George Bush has departed the office of president and the inauguration mania has claimed down, I am wondering how people would grade Bush's Administration and where would you rank him in the list of all the presidents. Here are a few categories I can think of. Domestic Affairs: C+ -Education: B -I feel that No Child Left Behind although somewhat flawed was a large step in the right direction. -Economy: D+ -Although the economy has faced a huge collapse over last few months the problems with the economy where begun before Bush's tenure so he does not completely fail. -Other: C -George Bush was able to rally and unity a na…

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/11/17/obama.blackberry.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories This doesn't really make sense to me. They're concerned about the president's security and trackability when using a wireless communication device. Haven't all those untold trillions of DoD dollars produced a solution to this problem? I can see why the government would be paranoid about the president using a Blackberry, but seriously, isn't there some crazy satellite-based e-mail system that the US could equip the president with? As for tracking all the president's e-mail, just have that crazy device talk to Whitehouse e-mail servers which are compliant with government regulat…

Considering the profound implication for our understanding of the universe offered by the LHC, the fact that carbon-capture technology isn't in abundance, that there are plenty of diseases that are yet to be cured, and that there still people in the world who simply don't have food. I wanted to ask some general questions about scientific research. Where should funding for scientific research go to? (if you had to chose between funding research into agriculture, energy or medicine, which would you chose?) Where should it come from? (locally? nationally? internationally? from corporations?) How much of it should there be? (in the context of a recession)

Saw this story this morning. Good controversial letter from Rep. Goode to his constituents:

Some of the big names that were seeking clemency but did NOT get attention from the West Wing include Randall "Duke" Cunningham (bribery), George Ryan (racketeering), and Michael Milkin (fraud). But perhaps most significantly, there was nothing for Scooter Libby or Ted Stevens. Here are some interesting statistics. (Technically he could do more before he leaves office tomorrow at noon, but the press office says he's done.) Bush: 189 pardons 9 commutations Clinton: 396 pardons 61 commutations (source)

Any speculations as to what Bush is going to do in his remaining months?

Ran across this: The 20 most gerrymandered congressional districts in the US http://www.slate.com/id/2208216/slideshow/2208554/fs/0//entry/2208555/ Some of these are amazing,with the tenuous connection between parts of the districts. Are there any rules about this? I wonder if some mathematical limitation could be placed on how much surface length/area you have, or some limit to how convex or concave the district could be.

This is certainly shaping up to be one of the narrowest Senate races in history. With millions of votes cast, the difference between the two candidates has narrowed to a mere 200 votes, representing one hundredth of one percent of all votes cast. This is before a mandatory recount required by state law. One thing I do find interesting is how much of Coleman's meager lead has shrunk over the past week. This comes in a state with some onerous provisions that some have argued are intended to cause voter suppression and disenfranchisement, so much so that the Secretary of State's own ballot was marked as suspect.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/13/obama-dines-with-conservative-columnists/ So what do you think they talked about?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_the_Magic_Negro I think the point of this song, which first became widely known after airing on the Rush Limbaugh show in 2007, is to suggest that many (most?) white people voted for Obama because of "white guilt". I happen to think that there were many good reasons to vote for Obama, and think that criticism remarkably short-sighted and shallow, but I see nothing wrong with the writer expressing his opinion on the subject. It's distasteful, but it doesn't seem to contain the suggestion that people shouldn't vote for him because he's black (after all, the singer is pretending to be Al Sharpton, complaining about Obama coming in la…