Considerettes

bits in a bye [#1! on Google]

Most likely, this was a typo, and the intent was to find out how many bits are in a “byte”. Being a computer geek, I’ll tell you that the answer’s 8.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Jay Tea over at “Wizbang!” isn’t liking the trend he’s seeing wherein discussion is stifled because of who’s making a point. His most recent case in point is Michael J. Fox on embryonic stem cell research. When Fox makes the point, then arguing against it makes it sound like you don’t want to cure him…that guy, right there on the TV.

Another example is Cindy Sheehan, whom the press and the Left (but I repeat myself) continue to hold up as a representative war mom, even though there are plenty of other parents of dead soldiers that still support the war. No one else is covered on the news with nearly the same level of publicity when they speak out because Mother Sheehan is the last word, not because of her point, but because of who she is. End of discussion. One of the post’s commenters notes that only war moms who were critical of the war were said to have “moral authority”, with the others had other, not so nice names given to them.

Jay gives some great examples in the other direction, such that if we were to get rid of anything conceived by someone who’s actions we found repugnant, we’d have to toss out all our Volkswagon Beetles and computer transistors. His point is that ideas should stand on their own merits, no rely on or be buttressed by who agrees with them.

I’m not sure I’m quite the absolutist as Jay is about this. I do think that people with certain life experiences can give us more insight. But the notoriety or the sympathy of a person should not stop the discussion.

Popularity: 5% [?]

During the debate over the proposed (now enacted) Georgia constitutional amendment stating that marriage was the union of a man and a woman, critics of the proposal said that it was not necessary, since there was already a law on the books banning same-sex marriage. The New Jersey Supreme Court today put the lie to that line of reasoning. To some judges, it doesn’t matter what laws are already in effect; they want to set the legislative calendar.

Saying times have changed, New Jersey’s highest court on Wednesday guaranteed gay couples the same rights as married heterosexuals but left it to state lawmakers to decide if such unions can be called marriage.

“Times and attitudes have changed,” the New Jersey Supreme Court said in a nuance 90-page ruling that was neither a clear victory nor a defeat for gay marriage, which is currently legal in the United States only in Massachusetts.

“Despite the rich diversity of this state, the tolerance and goodness of its people, and the many recent advances made by gays and lesbians toward achieving social acceptance and equality under the law, the court cannot find that the right to same-sex marriage is a fundamental right under our constitution,” the ruling said.

Stating that gay couples must have the same rights as other couples, the court said gay advocates must now “appeal to their fellow citizens whose voices are heard through their popularly elected representatives.”

With that in mind, the court gave the legislature six months to either amend the state’s marriage statutes to include gay people, or write a new law in which same-sex couples “would enjoy the rights of civil marriage.”

New Jersey’s marriage statutes define marriage as being between a man and a woman.

The ruling leaves state lawmakers with two options — allow gays to marry in the same way as others, or develop a parallel system of unions for same-sex couples. That second option would leave New Jersey with civil unions akin to those in Vermont.

While it sounds magnanimous for the court to leave it to the legislature, they still set a requirement for what the legislature must do. While they say that the appeal must be made to “their fellow citizens whose voices are heard through their popularly elected representatives”, they then go on to direct the legislature what to do, which is not at all a case of popular representation. All the people are left with are naming rights, as Hugh Hewitt notes. What a case of double-speak!

I say again, the Left has raised the bar, changed the playing field, made new rules, whatever cliche you want to use. Constitutional amendments are the only tool left to wield for those who oppose this, so it should come as no surprise when it is wielded. And no complaints, either. Either use the legislature and the courts as they were intended, or get ready to be met on the field of your choosing.

Technorati Tags: same-sex marriage, New Jersey, constitution

Popularity: 6% [?]

In the case of homeschoolers in Germany, previously covered here and here, the kids are now being forcibly carted off to public school.

A Nazi-era law requiring all children to attend public school, to avoid “the emergence of parallel societies based on separate philosophical convictions” that could be taught by parents at home, apparently is triggering a Nazi-like response from police.

The word comes from Netzwerk Bildungsfreiheit, or Network for Freedom in Education, which confirmed that children in a family in Bissingen, in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, have been forcibly hauled to a public school.

“On Friday 20 October 2006 at around 7:30 a.m. the children of a home educating family … were brought under duress to school by police,” the organization, which describes itself as politically and religiously neutral, confirmed.

A separate weblog in the United States noted the same tragedy.

Homeschoolblogger.com noted that the “three children were picked up by the police and escorted to school in Baden-Wurttemberg, with the ‘promise’ that it would happen again this week.”

The Network for Freedom in Education, through spokesman Joerg Grosseluemern, said the Remeike family has been “home educating their children since the start of the school year, something which is legal in practically the whole of the (European Union).”

Technorati Tags: education, homeschooling, Germany

Popularity: 12% [?]

James Taranto’s “Best of the Web Today” today has an e-mail from a soldier in Iraq. With his experience with what’s going on with the Army, the culture and the changing circumstances, his suggestion is that the correct policy needs to be something between “stay the course” and “cut and run”. It seems to me to be a very insightful look at reality there. Some of his suggestions are, I’ll admit, tough to swallow if indeed they’d be necessary. Definitely worth the read (and as always, getting the daily e-mail of this column is recommended). He concludes:

James, there’s a lot more to this than I’ve written here. The short of it is, the situation is salvageable, but not with “stay the course” and certainly not with cut and run. However, the commitment required to save it is something I doubt the American public is willing to swallow. I just don’t see the current administration with the political capital remaining in order to properly motivate and convince the American public (or the West in general) of the necessity of these actions.

At the same time, failure in Iraq would be worse than a dozen Somalias, and would render us as impotent and emasculated as we were in the days after Vietnam. There is a global cultural-ideological struggle being waged, and abdication from Iraq is tantamount to concession.

Later, Taranto quotes Nancy Pelosi, who’d most likely be Speaker of the House after a majority Democrat win.

“But you don’t think that the terrorists have moved into Iraq now?” Stahl continues.

“They have,” Pelosi agrees. “The jihadists in Iraq. But that doesn’t mean we stay there. They’ll stay there as long as we’re there.”

She seems to think (or is trying to sell us on the idea) that the moment we leave, all will be well with the world and the jihadists will become model citizens or at least stop attacking American interests. As the sergeant tells us (gotta read the whole thing), there’s more going on than just terrorism, and it’s not easily dealt with, and especially not dealt with by running away.

Technorati Tags: James Taranto, Iraq, Middle East, war, terrorism, Nancy Pelosi, stay the course, cut and run

Popularity: 15% [?]

Eighteen months ago, Scott Adams, the Dilbert cartoonist, lost his voice to what he describes as an “exotic” disease; Spasmodic Dysphonia. Here’s how he describes it:

Essentially a part of the brain that controls speech just shuts down in some people, usually after you strain your voice during a bout with allergies (in my case) or some other sort of normal laryngitis. It happens to people in my age bracket.

I asked my doctor – a specialist for this condition – how many people have ever gotten better. Answer: zero.

Scott decided that he wasn’t going to take this lying down and started working on figuring out a way to cure himself, or at least make himself better as much as possible. His post, entitled “Good News Day”, of how he did this and how successful he has been is really an amazing read. Imagine figuring out how to reprogram your brain.

Technorati Tags: Scott Adams, Spasmodic Dysphonia, Dilbert

Popularity: 7% [?]

The Iraqi government sounds to me like it would like you to vote Republican, please.

Iraq’s deputy prime minister today urged the international community not to “cut and run” from his country.

Barham Salih called for realism but not defeatism

Barham Salih was speaking after talks with Tony Blair amid growing pressure on both sides of the Atlantic for an “exit strategy” for the withdrawal of American and British troops from Iraq.

Mr Salih said in Downing Street that the future of Iraq was vital to the future of the Middle East and world order.

“This is a society that was traumatised by 35 years of tyranny and trying to build a functioning democracy in the heart of the Islamic Middle East.”

The elected government of Iraq needed to make tough choices, but for some time it would be reliant on the support of the international community, he said.

As I’ve noted before, even the United States didn’t have a constitutional government spring forth immediately following the Revolutionary War. It took years for us to agree on a Constitution, and even that took more than one attempt. (The first attempt gave too little power to the national government.) Further, we were not nearly as oppressed by the government we threw off as the Iraqis have been. A lot of long-buried tensions have come to the surface, as well as the influence of terrorists and nearby rogue states that don’t want to see democracy work in the region. Leaving before Iraq is ready will simply fulfill the politically-motivated prophesies that the Left has been pronouncing since the war started.

Technorati Tags: Iraq, Barham Salih, cut and run, Middle East

Popularity: 8% [?]

Via Redstate.com comes exposure of the tactics of those who want to move forward with human cloning and embryonic stem cell research with taxpayer money. They can’t get the citizenry to accept it at face value, so they’re engaging in classic Orwellian misdirection.

The proposed Missouri constitutional amendment 2 says, for example, that it will prevent human cloning. However, as Missourians Against Human Cloning notes in their explanation of the language of the amendment, what it says on the ballot is quite different from what the amendment actually says. In fact, the amendment allows for “Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer”, which is the textbook definition of human cloning. The “human cloning” that is banned, as per the amendment, is just the implantation of the results of that transfer into a human womb. If it stays outside, it ain’t a clone, so they say. But the ballot language doesn’t define its terms, so they hope to pull one over on Missourians by saying the right words, but not meaning what most folks think they mean.

This is just bullet point 1 in a list that also includes a blank check to the biotech industry. The Redstate post has links to lots of good information about this situation. It doesn’t say much for their cause at all that they have to resort this these sorts of underhanded tactics to get their way.

Why do I care about what happens in Missouri, if I’m in Georgia? Because if this deception works there, it will be exported, make no mistake.

UPDATE: Scott Ott at ScrappleFace hits the nail on the head, with his own video production of “Michael J. Embryo”, and some biting wit that drives the point home.

Technorati Tags: cloning, embryonic stem cells, Missouri

Popularity: 9% [?]

Now here’s an idea for all those previous-edition schoolbooks.

With school shootings a growing concern across the country, a candidate for state superintendent of schools in Oklahoma is running on a platform of defense.

His idea? Storing old textbooks beneath the desks of all public school children for use as shields from gunfire.

In a videotaped experiment, Bill Crozier even went so far as to test various books and various firearms.

Crozier, a Union City Republican challenging incumbent Democrat Sandy Garrett, said he would put thick used textbooks under every desk for students to use in self-defense.

Crozier’s experiment began with shots fired at a calculus textbook from an AK-47 Russian-style assault rifle. The shot penetrated two textbooks at once. Shots from handguns were generally stopped by thick books.

And people suggest that kids who get homeschooled aren’t getting socialized. Well, they’re wrong, but even if they were right, they’re also not getting shot at.

Technorati Tags: homeschool, guns, education, Oklahoma

Popularity: 13% [?]

First we had Walter Cronkite and Sen. Edward Kennedy come out against wind power in their backyard of Nantucket Sound. Now the Left is protesting clean-burning natural gas.

Former James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan and other celebrities gathered Sunday to protest a natural gas facility proposed for a site 14 miles off the Malibu coast.

“We have to use our voices and band together and stop this,” said Oscar winner Halle Berry.

The gathering _ also attended by Cindy Crawford, Jane Seymour, Dick Van Dyke and Tea Leoni _ was intended to raise awareness about how the energy industry has invested billions to liquefy and ship natural gas across oceans.

There are five facilities proposed for California, with three along the Southern California coastline. One of the world’s largest energy companies, Australian-based BHP Billiton, is seeking to build the terminal off the coast of Malibu and Oxnard. A decision is expected next year.

BHP officials say the terminals would provide a reliable source of low-polluting energy. Opponents, however, say the terminals would not meet clean air requirements and could be terrorist targets.

“Could be terrorist targets”? Hey, let’s stop building high-rise buildings, or shopping malls, or theaters to watch your movies in. They could be terrorist targets, too. And this natural gas plant would be 14 miles away from shore, not in the middle of a crowded suburbia.

This isn’t just a NIMBY issue–Not In My Back Yard–it’s an attempt to keep this clean fuel it out of anyone’s backyard.

Brosnan, who hosted the protest, said his opposition to the terminals extends beyond the beach in his backyard. He plans to oppose other proposed terminals, including one in Long Beach and one in Port Hueneme.

Where do these liberals elites expect clean energy to come from? You have to build wind farms, or solar farms, or natural gas plants or geothermal plants or something. If you’re serious about caring about global warming, why be against something like this? As soon as they come up with some sort of energy that will replace all our energy needs, not take up space, not ruin views, and not be a terrorist target, then let’s talk. Until then, this is simply actions that belie their words.

Technorati Tags: energy, natural gas, global warming, Pierce Brosnan, Halle Berry, Sierra Club

Popularity: 8% [?]

Abdul Rahman is a convert to Christianity from Islam, and escaped the death penalty in Afghanistan (in what was mostly a face-saving maneuver by the courts there). See my previous posts on the subject here and here. Having moved to Italy, he’s gone, but not forgotten.

The kidnappers of an Italian journalist in Afghanistan have offered to free him in exchange for a Christian convert who fled the country, an aid agency says.

Photojournalist Gabriele Torsello was seized last week while travelling on a bus in southern Afghanistan.

The kidnappers will free Mr Torsello, a Muslim convert, if Abdul Rahman returns from Italy where he was granted asylum earlier this year, the aid agency says.

Mr Rahman had escaped a possible death sentence for becoming a Christian.

He had been charged with rejecting Islam and released this March after being deemed mentally unfit to stand trial on a charge of apostasy.

(Hat tip: Michelle Malkin)

Rahman still needs our support and our prayers.

Technorati Tags: Abdul Rahman, Afghanistan, Christianity, Islam, Gabriele Torsello

Popularity: 13% [?]

Looks like NBC is responding to pressure not to show the singer Madonna up on a mirrored cross during the upcoming televising of her concert.

After weeks of controversy, NBC has decided not to show pop star Madonna suspended from a giant cross and wearing a crown of thorns when the network airs a special of her “Confessions” tour, a source close to the organization of the event said on Thursday.

The source spoke after NBC announced it had revised the two-hour concert special, which airs November 22, but did not elaborate on what changes would be made.

The source said the portion of the “Live to Tell” song in which Madonna sings suspended from a giant cross and wearing a crown of thorns will not be shown in the broadcast. Instead, cameras will cut to other shots or images while Madonna is on the cross. She steps away from the cross to finish the song.

Whether this means that NBC is developing something of a spine, or if this is purely a financial decision (some affiliates “expressed uneasiness” about carrying the special) is yet to be seen. However, couple this with the addition of a religiously toned-down version of the Christian-values “Veggie Tales” for Saturday mornings by NBC, and the network seems to be moving back somewhat from the general media position that it’s OK to offend Christians. Baby steps, but in the right direction.

Technorati Tags: Madonna, NBC, media, Veggie Tales, christianity

Popularity: 11% [?]

I was in J C Penny this evening, and while browsing around I noticed that the background music sounded familiar. For a minute I thought that it was some song that had a melodic phrase similar to a very popular piece of music; just an interesting coincidence. But as I listened to see if the melody changed, I realized that what I was listening to was the more popular tune.

“Angels We Have Heard On High”.

I said to the guy at the register, “Christmas music? Already?” He gave a light-hearted roll of the eyes and said, “Tell me about it.” I love Christmas music, don’t get me wrong (my father is a non-repentant Christmas-aholic), but this does seem a little early.

So you know what that means, right? When you start hearing Christmas carols played in the stores, it’s almost…

Right. Halloween.

Technorati Tags: Christmas, Halloween, music

Popularity: 16% [?]

I’m highlighting a podcast today because, well, I’m in it. And my contribution has nothing to do with the subject of the podcast. But, hey, it’s me, so I thought I’d mention it.

The Java Posse is a podcast for Java developers (or, as in my case, Java wannabees). I’ve been listening to them for quite some time, and there was something about they way they talked that caught my attention after a while; their use of the word “so”.

Often you’ll hear them say, “So the next news item…”, or “OK, so, the applet of the week is…”, where “so” is something akin to the use of the word “like” by teenage girls. What’s interesting is that many of the folks they’ve interviewed in the past, and many technology folks I hear interviewed on other podcasts, do the very same thing. I wasn’t sure if it was a regional thing, but the Posse has guys from California and England, so I don’t think it’s that. Could be a geek thing, but I consider myself something of a geek (though not necessarily a well-travelled one).

Anyway, I thought I’d have a little fun with it. I recorded their (first ever) audio listener feedback, and overused “so” myself, and I injected some examples of their usage as well (including one interviewee). I sent it to their group e-mail address, and the guys really took it well, in the spirit it was intended. They included it in this week’s news round-up. It’s not mentioned in the show notes, but about 55 minutes in (about 13 minutes from the end), they play it and comment on it. If you’ve not heard the podcast before, you won’t get the joke quite as much, so this pointer is more for regular Posse listeners.

If you’re not a listener, but you are a developer, and even if you don’t work with Java, this is a good podcast to pick up. They also touch on languages that play well with Java, IDEs, new applications and applets written in Java and a lot of other things. They’re not just language geeks. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.)

So, thanks Posse for including this, and glad you enjoyed it.

Technorati Tags: podcast, Java Posse

Popularity: 12% [?]

Will sanctions really work this time? Unlike those in Iraq, in which our “allies” made deals under the table, it looks like even China is going along with the UN resolution against North Korea; not just in word but, so far, in deed. That was one of the big questions before the vote; would China go along. The big question after the vote is whether or not this is a smokescreen; playing nice here and there to mask backroom deals.

Another big question is whether or not the sanctions will have the desired effect on North Korea. Both questions will require that we be vigilante in making sure they are fully in force, and also not kid ourselves that they just need more time when it becomes apparent they’re not working.

Technorati Tags: China, North Korea, sanctions, United Nations

Popularity: 18% [?]