Record-High Number of Americans in Prison

Well, I guess if I'm going to criticize Saudi Arabia, then I have to criticize the US also... because we have 1% of our adults behind bars.... China has similar numbers..but they have 4 times our population.

The sad thing is that this is starting to change... not because it's wrong... or because a better way has been proven effective... but merely because it's starting to COST TOO MUCH.

To be fair, a lot of these people deserve to be in prison... but not all of them, even if they are guilty as hell, there has to be a better punishment than just locking them up.

Record-High Ratio of Americans in Prison

also from CNN [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Bring Them Home

Let Bring them home... not US troops, but the millions of displaced Iraqis....but "the Surge" is working.

FOXNews.com - Angelina Jolie Says Troop Surge Creating Opportunity to Help Iraqi Refugees

Staying to Help in Iraq - washingtonpost.com [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early

This is hilarious... mainly because is sometimes seems like it could be true.

Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early

Thanks to Gizmodo for the link [This Post Continues after the jump...]

180 Lashes for Having Coffee With Student

I sometimes wonder if all the attention this is getting in the west helps or hurts the situation over there. But with all these reports coming out these days, I can hardly consider Saudi Arabia to be a friend or ally.

FOXNews.com - Professor Faces 180 Lashes for Having Coffee With Student - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Compact fluorescent lightbulbs come with mercury risk

High-efficient lightbulbs come with mercury risk - The Boston Globe

Nothing is "free".... you can have an efficient light bulb, but it's hazardous if broken. I actually had a 7-year CF bulb fail on me (actually it never worked, it was DOA). It's sitting on a shelf in my office because I don't know how to dispose of it. Throwing it in the garbage just didn't seem right, but I don't want to make a special trip to the hazardous dump just for one bulb... and I've always suspected that our local hazardous dump just throws everything away anyways (totally unfounded cynicism on my part)

This bulb isn't broken... but if it had broken...

If a bulb breaks, get children and pets out of the room. Ventilate the room. Never use a vacuum -- even on a rug -- to clean up a compact fluorescent light. Instead, while wearing rubber gloves, use stiff paper such as index cards and tape to pick up pieces, then wipe the area with a wet wipe or damp paper towel.

In addition to this hazard, I've always wonder how much energy is used and pollution is produced in the manufacturing of the bulbs. Since they are more expensive, they must take more energy, more expensive material, or more manpower to make than normal bulbs. So I wonder what the life-cycle cost really is in both energy and pollution terms. Then add to that disposal costs, and I wonder if these things make as much sense as everyone says...


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Thanks to the Volokh Conspiracy for the link and of course Instapundit which is where I saw it first. [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Our Mounting Credit Card Debt

I thought this gave some numbers on the total Credit Card Debt but it only says 2.2 TRILLION was spent on credit cards last year. I assume a lot or most of that was paid off, but maybe this is the portion that was not paid off. Either way, we owe a lot of money.

And the US is a consumer driven economy, but we're consuming more than we can pay for. Add this to the government total debt and it looks more and more like everything is based on AIR. How long can this go on?

I really fear the whole system is going to stumble and fall one day. And just because I don't have any debt other than my mortgage, I doubt I will be any better off. We have a tendency of bailing people out -- which might make people with lots of debt that vanishes actually better off then me. But I'm hardly going to run up a huge debt and count on everything crashing and being bailed out by the government. With my luck, the crash would happen the day after I paid everything back or defaulted and they took everything away.

When credit cards put you in jeopardy - CNN.com [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Whole Disk Encryption may not be Secure Enough

This just shows that nothing that is easily accessible to the user can be fully protected from an attacker. Every lock HAS to have a key, and no matter how strong the lock and safe are, the key still has to be protected.

If I understand it, this is similar to how the new BluRay and HD-DVD protection has been broken. Software that plays these disks has the have the KEY somewhere in it, somewhere in memory. All the can do is try and hide it. But you've given the KEY out freely, and just hope no one can find it unless using the authorized software. That's just silly.

Disk encryption may not be secure enough, new research finds | The Iconoclast - politics, law, and technology - CNET News.com [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Obama supporter cannot name any of Obama Achievements

Here is Texas State Senator Kirk Watson on national cable television trying to "support" Obama... but he can't...



He says Obama "inspires" and is able to "layout a vision" and "solutions" but apparently none of them can be named. Please don't share with any Democrat in Texas or Ohio until after they nominate this guy.

from InstaPundit [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Same-Sex Penguin Book Censored

The book "And Tango Makes Three" has been removed from a school library in Virgina. Supporters of the book say it's removal is CENSORSHIP.

Well DUH... you Damn well better believe it is CENSORSHIP. And I'll fight with all I have to for the RIGHT and the RESPONSIBILITY to CENSOR what my child is expose to. Any parent that doesn't is not a fit parent.

Children simply do not need to be exposed to gay propaganda like this. I bet the other books in the library are all censored and age appropriate. Just because this is a cute illustrated story about a baby penguins doesn't make it age appropriate. I can all but garantee you that it was written with the intent to teach children that gay couples raising children is "normal" and "natural" and "acceptable".

This is the one area I will not compromise on. Gay Marriage is fine with me as long as the people vote for it and a court doesn't force it on us. Protection for gays in the work force, fine with me as long the the gay person isn't causing the business to loose customers. Gays in the Military, fine with me as long as codes of behavior are still enforced.

But Gay's adopting children? Absolutely NOT. Children can only be created by a male and female parent and I think they should only be raised by male and female parents. Adoption is not a right, it is a privilege and society has every right to set rules and conditions and to "pass judgment" on who can and who cannot adopt a child. Just like parents have the right to pass judgment on (aka CENSOR) what books their children should be exposed to.

The only possible exception to this is when one member of the gay couple is also the biological parent of the child. The state should never take a child away from his/her biological parent unless actual abuse is taking place. In this case, the partner of the child's biological parent should be given some parental rights to give the child a semblance of the stability of a two-parent household.

I don't know if "Tango" was related to one of the male penguin raising it, but it doesn't matter. Children are no capable of drawing that subtle distinction and should not be exposed to this stuff at their age. period.

FOXNews.com - Children's Book About Same-Sex Penguin Couple Causes Flap in Virginia - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Government is Good?

Yesterday I turned 37. My loving parents (thanks mom and dad!) sent me an amazon gift card for getting older. I immediately went to amazon.com to start looking for some birthday booty. And I came across this:

Government is Good - An Unapologetic Defense of a Vital Institution

I have yet to read through a lot of it, however, there are some things that make my hair stand on end such as the sections entitled: Taxes are Good, The Case FOR Bureaucracy and Why We Need More Government.

This will obviously require a much more in-depth read on my part.

More later...... [This Post Continues after the jump...]

US Satellite Shot - Needed for Safety or a Weapons Test?

Well Russia says it's just a veiled weapons test. But has a NASA engineer that has at least heard the word "hydrazine" before today, I think there is room for concern. I was surprised what survived from Challenger, video tapes with data still on them, science experiment data, and other things all survived. This Satellite failed days after launch, so it's tanks are FULL and reasonably could be a hazard to anyone near an impact site.

But that doesn't mean it won't be a great weapons test also!! And if it really has happened like the US says, it is a great SHORT NOTICE test of a weapons system. An excellent opportunity not to be passed up.

Plus, it is very different from China's recent test. First, we are telling everyone beforehand. Second, this satellite is days away from reentering the atmosphere - therefore it is much lower than other operational satellites and the debris will be in the same low orbit and not harm any other satellite. The debris will also re-enter the atmosphere in a few days or weeks. The Chinese satellite was not functioning but in a normal orbit, it's debris caused lots of problems with other operating satellites.

Russia: US Satellite Shot a Weapons Test

As a side thought, wouldn't it be GREAT if this satellite wasn't a "failed" imaging satellite at all? Maybe it was launched just to be a target. They could even have some control over it and have picked the time for this test. If this becomes a conspiracy theory I want credit for mentioning it first!! (I haven't read this anywhere else, but I'm sure others have thought of it or even written about it, but I should get some credit for starting an unfounded rumor, and my NASA credentials might even give it an unfounded air of plausibility.)

Anyways, I would hope our military could pull something like this off, I mean all the alien technology has to be good for something. [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Superdelegates make winning Elections Irrelevant

Top Clinton Adviser Says Superdelegates Will Decide Election, Obama’s Victories ‘Irrelevant’ - You Decide 08!

This is wonderful. If Clinton wins this way, it will destroy the party. Obama might even be able to run as an independent like Lieberman did when the "party" selected someone the voters of Connecticut did not want. In that case it was the voters of the democratic primary that selected a different candidate, but while they won the primary, they were unable to force that choice onto the voters of Connecticut. And Lieberman won "independent" of the party.

Likewise, the party super-delegates might be able to force the nomination of Clinton, but Obama might be able to run "independent" of the party leadership. But of course, do that would almost guarantee loosing the general election, and Obama may be wise to avoid that.

But if Clinton wins this way, I can see the first question in a debate with McCain.

"Senator Clinton, if elected, how can you be trusted to enforce laws that you disagree with or that harm your political ambitions if you don't even follow the rules of your own party when they are in your way."

I think it is interesting to see that the "leadership" of BOTH parties are loosing control of the party. Both Obama and McCain are winning even though they were not the choice of the "establishment". They both appeal greatly to moderates and centrist, but I think Obama will be seen as the more "radical" or "extreme" and "liberal" of the he and McCain. Especially if he ever gives details of exactly what CHANGE he is going to bring. [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Florida’s Marriage Amendment - Part 1

Ok it’s time for me to stake out a position on the Florida Marriage Amendment. Florida4Marriage.org has gotten enough signatures to get this proposed Amendment on the Nov 2008 ballot.

“Inasmuch as marriage is the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife, no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized.”

As far as I understand it has passed all the usual challenges and WILL be on the ballot.

Let me first say that I did NOT sign the petition even though I had an opportunity to do so. The reason I did not sign is that I thought this was TOO STRICT. I firmly believe that we need a constitutional amendment to define “marriage” as “legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife”. This is to prevent the Florida courts from doing what was done in Massachusetts, which is to read into the constitution a meaning that was never intended. This is badly needed.

However, the 2^nd part of the amendment does not limit the courts; it limits “the people” as represented by their legislature. It would prevent any kind of “Civil Union” or “Domestic Partnership” from being created or recognized in Florida. Even if was passed by the state legislature and signed by the Governor (and therefore supported by a majority of the people). This is what I think is too strict. Don’t get me wrong, all things being equal, I would only vote for representatives that would promise to vote against this sort of law. But do I have a right to stop a future majority from defining marriage as they see fit? (More on this later)

One reason I did not sign the petition is that I don’t think it will pass, mainly because it is too strict like I said. I even emailed the organization pushing for this asking them to rewrite the language of the amendment. Doing so would increase the chances of it being passed. We are in desperate need of passing a amendment to define marriage and control the courts, there is not as much of a need to control the legislature because it is more directly controlled by the people.

Even with the amendment, we are not fully restricting the will of the people in the future to pass any given law. They simply would be required to pass another amendment to allow Civil Unions or even “gay-marriage” if they have a 60% majority. In a way, this is good because it prevents the legislature from quickly passing a law like this without real public debate on the issue.

So I have to decide how to vote for this. On the one hand I think it is desperately needed to be a check on the power of the courts. On the other hand I think it is a little bit too strict in that it prevents a mere majority (50.1%) of voters from establishing “Civil Union” type relationships. However, it would not prevent a large majority (+60%) from doing so, and it would require enough time and public debate that it would only pass if people really supported it.

When I started writing this I was thinking I would end up saying I was going to vote against this amendment. Not signing the petition was in a way a “vote against” it, so I was leaning towards actually voting against it. But I’m not so sure now….

MarriageProtection.org

Opposition Groups
Florida Red and Blue

News Stories
Florida to vote on gay marriage ban amendment [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Condominium Owners ban Smoking

I'm really getting confused... IS this still a FREE country?

Condominium owners tell smokers: Take it outside

This is indeed a slippery slope - where does it stop?

• Ban watching PG-13 or above movies because someone my hear a bad word.
• Ban non-organic food because the pesticides get into the air and can harm humans.
• Ban certain cleaning or pest control products (even though they are legal) because the residue may be harmful.
• Ban private religious activity because you don't want someone summoning Satan (or the stay puff marshmallow man) next door.
• Ban entering the building if you are sick (germs can spread easier than smoke)
• Ban having a Gun in the building even if you have a license
• Ban scented candles or air fresheners (I'm extremely allergic to some of these items)
• Ban any music or other sound that can be heard outside the condo, even if only during t he time the door is opened to come in or out.
• Ban Sex (it doesn't physically harm anyone, but it makes the people not getting any feel bad and thus effect the mental health of people living in the condos)

[This Post Continues after the jump...]

Limits on CIA Interrogations

FOXNews.com - Congress Pushes Limits on CIA Interrogations in Face of Threatened Bush Veto - Politics | Republican Party | Democratic Party | Political Spectrum:

"Republican presidential contender Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who was tortured as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, voted against the measure Wednesday."

WOW!! I had expected McCain to vote FOR this. I wonder what his reasons are. I support limiting what the CIA can do, but maybe not this much.

The CIA should have a window of very harsh methods (including water boarding) for getting current information quickly. But once that window has passed, there are less and less reasons to continue to use the harsh methods. To me "torture" is the POINTLESS inflicting of pain and suffering to punish someone, or to "get even" or just to be cruel or to get a false confession. If there is reasonable reason to believe the person has information that can stop an eminent attack, or lead to the capture of other terrorist, then I say just about anything goes. But if they hold out for days or a week or two then...

A - The info he has is old anyways.
B - He may start giving false info just to stop the interrogation
C - He may not really know anything (or anything more than he already told)
D - He may just be strong willed and have "beaten us".

There comes a time when the risk of option 'D' becomes small enough and the chances of A,B or C (or others) being true become large enough that we must stop the harsh techniques. They have become pointless and therefore I would consider continuing them to be "Torture". He could still be subjected to other less harsh, more long term, techniques but eventually he should become "just a prisoner" and simply held.

Until trial of course.

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By the way, the argument that Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller made that "Retaliation is the way of the world. What we do to others, they will do to us — but worse," is just silly. Terrorist have no limits on what they are willing to do. What we do with our prisoners may be used in propaganda, but will in no way make terrorist attack us more or in "worse" ways. Nor will it make them treat people they kidnap or capture "worse". It shows Mr Rockefeller doesn't know what he's talking about, and is just using this as his own propaganda against President Bush. [This Post Continues after the jump...]