Are You Civically Literate?

Ok, check out this Civics quiz. I missed 4 questions for a score of 87.88. Two of them kind of business type questions. Average score for this quiz in November was 78.1. Take it and let me know how you did. It's sad that the vast majority of people who take this quiz (71%) cannot pass it.

Indefinite Detention?

The wingers are super concerned that their guns are going to be taken away over the coming years. Nevermind that it would be impossible due to the number of guns currently in the USA. But these same wingers don't seem to be concerned that G.W. Bush has mandated that legal residents of the USA can be imprisoned indefinitely if he deems they are enemy terrorists. Maybe the wingers figure as long as they have their guns, no one is going to take them away.

Anyone who has actually read the US Constitution can see that detaining someone indefinitely, incommunicado, and torturing them is unconstitutional. An editorial in todays NYT points out that a legal resident of the USA, Ali al-Marri, has been held and tortured for the last seven years.

Mr. Marri was arrested in Peoria, Ill., in December 2001 on criminal charges. In 2003, while his criminal case was pending, Mr. Bush designated him an enemy combatant, and he was moved to a Navy brig near Charleston, S.C. For 16 months, Mr. Marri was held incommunicado. During his detention, he reportedly has been subjected to treatment that borders on, or actually is, torture.

Yes, I understand that Mr. Marri has a funny middle eastern name so he is probably a terrorist and not a Christian. Think this matter doesn't concern you? Think again.

The federal appeals court made clear that its ruling upholding the president’s power to detain enemy combatants applies equally to American citizens. If the ruling stands, presidents would be able to throw out due process, habeas corpus and other basic constitutional and statutory rights for anyone they declared to have terrorist ties.

Just be thankful you don't have a middle eastern name....or do you?

HMMWV Zeus Laser

It's not quite a handheld raygun but it pretty much is the closest thing we have right now. The Economist reports on a laser mounted on a Humvee being used to destroy IED's in Iraq from a distance of 300 meters.

Wikipedia has more on the ZEUS-HLONS.

Conservatives See No Problems

Kevin Drum at Mother Jones has a pretty good post about conservative's inability to admit a problem exists. That's why they lack ideas about how to fix problems - they don't see or can't admit a problem exists to begin with.

Take global warming. Here's the rough conservative reaction to it starting in the early 90s:

1. It doesn't exist.

2. It exists but it isn't manmade.

3. It's manmade, but it's too expensive to do anything about.

Even this is a generous assessment. A lot of conservatives are still stuck at #2, and sizeable chunk at #1. What this means is that they're basically shut out of the conversation entirely. Which is too bad, because I'd actually be sort of interested to hear a conservative take on how to address global warming that accepts both its reality and the necessity of doing something about it.

But maybe this isn't right. Maybe it's just that these people who claim to be conservative are no longer true conservatives. I seem to remember a time when conservatives had solutions to problems besides "cut taxes".

Earth to Bush

Where the hell is G.W. Bush? Does he have the slightest idea that the US economy is going down the tubes? Is this just another lack of response like his lack of response to Katrina? Is Bush even interested in being President anymore? If not, can we just let Obama get on with solving the problem?

Shake a Tail Feather

Classic.

Does God Exist?

Turek vs. Hitchens Debate: Does God Exist? from Andrew Ketchum on Vimeo.

If you have a couple of hours to spare, listen to Christopher Hitchins debate (the rather shouty, preachy) Frank Turek as to whether God exists or not.

Die Turkeys....Die!

Sarah Palin's idea of "levity.

Krugman Scares Me

I really don't like it when Paul Krugman writes a column about the economic downturn, especially when he is worried.

How much can go wrong in the two months before Mr. Obama takes the oath of office? The answer, unfortunately, is: a lot. Consider how much darker the economic picture has grown since the failure of Lehman Brothers, which took place just over two months ago. And the pace of deterioration seems to be accelerating.

Any chance we can move Inauguration Day up so we can get some leadership in this country? The Democrats in Congress need it as badly as do the Republicans, maybe more so. Why are politicians sitting on their behinds while our economy goes down the tube?

Iraqi's Don't Want Us

Are these people ungrateful or what? You'd think the USA invaded their country for reasons based on "misinformation"; you'd think we were responsible for the deaths of ten's of thousands (at a minimum); you'd think we used despicable torture techniques in a horrifying prison (which no higher level person has yet to be held responsible); you'd think we liberated the majority who will now get revenge on the minority after we leave (of course they will).

Why are these people so ungrateful? I'm sure if the USA was wrongly invaded, we would be very greatful.

UPDATE: It seems that Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson disagrees. Things in Iraq are going really swell.

The cost of this success has been high for America, and some may argue that it has not been worth the price. But it is still a success.

Ok, let's all agree our adventure in Iraq was successful. That means we can come home now.....right?

Did Bush "Out" Eliot Spitzer?

Yes, the mainstream media is not always our friend. Story number 25 of the top 25 censored stories can be read here.

The exposure of New York State Governor Eliot Spitzer’s tryst with a luxury call girl had little to do with the Bush administration’s high moral standards for public servants. Author F. William Engdahl advises that, “in evaluating spectacular scandals around prominent public figures, it is important to ask what and who might want to eliminate that person.” Timing suggests that Spitzer was likely a target of a White House and Wall Street operation to silence one of its most dangerous and vocal critics of their handling of the current financial market crisis.

Was Eliot Spitzer going too far in implicating the Bush Administration in the subprime crisis? What is the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency? What role did they play in the subprime crisis? Will we ever find out?

There are 24 other stories that have not been covered very well by the mainstream media and surely not by FOX News.

Democrats Censor Lieberman

I guess we showed Joe Lieberman! As Josh Marshall says, Lieberman expelled from Pilates class in Senate gym. Joe Lieberman has been shown what happens when you become a traitor to your party......pretty much nothing. One thing hasn't changed in Democrats...at least not yet. Democrats are spineless. Now I'm almost hoping Lieberman will investigate the Obama White House for the next 4 years. It would serve us right.

By leaving Lieberman in charge of the important Homeland Security and Government Affairs Comm., Democrats have also shown us they don't really care if they have a competent Chair of their committees.

Atherosclerosis, Inflammation and Statins

One of my favorite medical topics was addressed in the NYT today, on the opinion page no less. "Who Should Take a Statin?" discusses a recent study which had to be prematurely ended so the placebo group could get the medicine too.

I've always been convinced that levels of C-reactive protein show a strong correlation with coronary artery disease. C-reactive protein levels in your blood are an indication of overall inflammation levels in your body. The study discussed in todays NYT's showed that treatment with a statin, a cholesterol-lowering drug, not only reduced cholesterol but also resulted in reduced levels of C-reactive protein.

The effects of statin treatment were amazing.

Those who got the statin had 54 percent fewer heart attacks, 48 percent fewer strokes and 20 percent fewer deaths from all causes. The participants included men 50 and older and women 60 and older with no history of heart disease or high cholesterol. But they all had high levels of CRP, and many had such other risk factors as high blood pressure, obesity and smoking. Whether the statin helped because it reduced normal cholesterol to even lower levels or because it reduced CRP levels is not clear.

If inflammation is the cause of coronary artery disease, then what is the cause of the inflammation? Could it be infection?

There are any number of papers correlating high levels of C-reactive protein as a cardiac risk factor. Find one of them here. There have been entire scientific sessions concerning infection and atherosclerosis. One review can be found here.

I'm currently reading Paul Ewald's book "Plague Time: The New Germ Theory of Disease". Ewald points out that infections can cause chronic disease such as gastric ulcers, cancer and possibly many, many others such as IBD, arthritis, coronary artery disease and even schizophrenia. If you don't want to read Ewald's book, you can find an article in The Atlantic Online by Judith Hooper discussing the book.

The "plagues" we need to worry about are not Ebola or Bird flu. We need to start concerning ourselves with the causes of chronic diseases that are currently responsible for high mortality in the USA. Whether infections are responsible for some of these diseases needs to be seriously considered.

Random Thoughts

"Random Thoughts" is a column published in the "Lake Champlain Weekly" which can be found for free in the North Country of New York and I imagine Vermont. This columnist provides insights into the minds of those individuals that still think G.W. Bush has been one of the greatest presidents in history. "Random Thoughts" are truly random, but there really is not much thinking involved in this column. Here is the latest example of a "random thought".

See where Toni Morrison and other writers think it's great that we've elected a 'literary' president who's already a published author. Well, the Germans once elected a guy who was not only a published author but an artist as well and we all know how well that went.

This is only one of a series of absurd "random thoughts" published every week by this hateful columnist.

Here's a really good one:

Good news is that a slight majority of Americans elected president a man who happens to be black. Bad news is it happens to be the ONLY thing they know about the man.

So Obama gets elected with a higher percentage of votes (52.6%) than Bush received in 2000 (Bush got 47.9%) and 2004 (Bush got 50.7%) but Bush and his supporters touted how Bush received a "mandate" to govern. No mandate for Democrats however, especially since Obama is so much like Hitler.

Shift Happens

This video is worth watching, even if it is over 8 minutes long. It asks some serious questions that need to be answered. Watch it, then join the conversation at shifthappens

Sullivan on Palin - Ouch!

Andrew Sullivan has a few things to say about Sarah Palin in a commentary called "Why Palin Still Matters".

This deluded and delusional woman still doesn't understand what happened to her; still has no self-awareness; and has never been forced to accept her obvious limitations. She cannot keep even the most trivial story straight; she repeats untruths with a ferocity and calm that is reserved only to the clinically unhinged; she has the educational level of a high school drop-out; and regards ignorance as some kind of achievement. It is excruciating to watch her - but more excruciating to watch those who feel obliged to defend her.

We need to figure out why almost 50% of our voters actually think someone like Palin is qualified to be President.

Lieberman Must Go

From Brave New Films

Raiding Al Qaeda in Pakistan

Remember how agast conservatives were that Obama suggested he would carry out military action in Pakistan if there was actionable intelligence concerning the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden? Turns out the Bush administration has been secretely raiding Al Qaeda in Pakistan and other countries.

The United States military since 2004 has used broad, secret authority to carry out nearly a dozen previously undisclosed attacks against Al Qaeda and other militants in Syria, Pakistan and elsewhere, according to senior American officials.

What's good for the goose....

Obama Election Immediately Stimulates Economy

Looks like the rednecks are getting ready for Civil War II. Gun sales are skyrocketing now that Barack Obama is President-elect. Their gonna take our guns away! I highly doubt it. There are already more guns in private hands in the USA than there are people. But yeah, gotta be ready for the coming revenge of the Blacks. Damn, Americans can be stupid.

Lieberman Should Join Republicans

Joe Lieberman doesn't like the deal Harry Reid offered him a few days ago. You can stay with the Democratic caucus but you need to step down as chair of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. Lieberman thinks it's a raw deal. Well, Joe, as all good conservatives continually remind us - actions have consequences and personal responsibility requires that you answer for your actions. You've got to go.

The people of Connecticut made a mistake re-electing you a few years ago. I doubt they will make the same mistake next time you have to run.