The latest Wikileaks document dump

Bradley Manning and Julian Assange continue their two person campaign to destroy US foreign policy with the release of 251,000 documents from the State Department’s SPIRNET. 

Obviously I haven’t read all of the documents, and frankly I don’t know if I will try, but the snippets I have seen so far don’t really reveal anything new.  In fact the most interesting thing I have seen so far is this comment by the editor of Foreign Policy magazine:

Wikileaks says data dump "reveals the contradictions between the US’s public persona and what it says behind closed doors"

Actually, to me it reveals that the U.S. is remarkably consistent in what it says publicly and privately

He goes on to say that regardless these leaks will be damaging and I have to agree.  If for no other reason than people never really want to know what someone truly thinks of them deep down inside.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next couple weeks.  the press is already slobbering about how President Obama’s massive popularity is helping to mitigate the damage, but my understanding is a good number of the leaked documents were written on his watch.  If that’s the case what happens then?

Al Boar’s “An Inconvenient Expansion”

Great send-up of Al Gore.

h/t

Re-Reading the Classics–Tarnsman of Gor

Some of you may be familiar with the term Gorean, as in living a Gorean lifestyle, particularly in relationship to sexual practices.  This is the book that gave rise to the series that coined that term. Usually that would be enough to make me stay away but I read the book in 10th grade and the next 6 or 7 in the series after that over the course of that year (my parents really didn’t pay much attention to what I was reading, as much trouble as they had keeping me in school they were probably just happy I could read), and my memories of the book were a little different; so, when I saw this book on the shelf at a used bookstore I went ahead and grabbed it.

My memories were essentially correct.  This was a strong start to a series (28 or so books) that unfortunately started going off it’s track around book 5.  Combining elements of high fantasy and sword and sorcery it is the chronicle of the adventures of Tarl Cabot, an Earth born professor of English history who, in the tradition of John Carter, finds himself transplanted to another world where he discovers his true calling as a warrior.   After that he indulges in the usual warrior things kidnapping and falling in love with the princess, fighting impossible battles, escaping impossible odds, only he does while riding around on a giant bird.  (That’s where the title comes from.)

Beyond that the book is competently written.  It’s not epic prose, but it’s straightforward and easy and the characters have enough development to draw you in.  Norman will never win any major prizes for his style but he also won’t turn off many readers because the books are too dense.  And, on the plus side he doesn’t appear to be a frustrated songwriter so unlike Tolkien his characters don’t burst into song every three pages followed by page after page of discussion of the rhyme, meter, and meaning of the lyrics.  I swear that entire series would have been a short story if it hadn’t been for the constant minstrel shows, but I digress. 

In closing – Decent book, good story, but don’t bother following up with the rest of the series unless you are into the whole dominant / submissive lifestyle.  If that is the case reading the books aren’t going to damage you more than you already are.  (Just Kidding, to each his own you sickos)

Ready for Boycotts?

Apparently FreedomWorks, a “tea party umbrella group” is:

Jesse Jackson isn't the only activist that can use corporate boycotts for political purposes. Starting next year, the huge Tea Party organizer FreedomWorks will urge supporters to punish huge corporations like General Electric and Johnson and Johnson for backing President Obama's progressive agenda.

…

Their initial focus will be on consumer firms that lobbied for passage of Obama's agenda items that helped their firms. "We are going after the rent-seeking corporations feeding at the public trough," said FreedomWorks' spokesman Adam Brandon.

Personally I would like to see them go after CEOs who go from company to company driving them into the dirt.  In my opinion that drives a lot of corporate bad behavior such as rent seeking. 

That aside, I’m not sure how successful this will be, I can’t remember the last successful boycott, but maybe it’s worth a try.

source

NPR Headline: Terror Verdict Complicates Issue Of Detainee Trials

Really?  You mean no one warned them that it might not be a good idea to try some terrorism cases in a civilian court, that once prisoners caught on the battlefield or by the CIA they will start asserting their civil rights and evidence will fly out the window. 

Oh wait a minute, we all did!!!!

Just another notch in Obama’s hubris stick.  Smartest President evah!

Looks like the World (of Warcraft) is –NOT- breaking today.

Forgot it was maintenance day and I started to log in to play and lo and behold patch 4.0.3 , she be a downloading mon.

Since phase 4 of the elemental invasion just started yesterday (fire, floods, pestilence, all that good stuff) I thought we would see the actual shattering on the 23rd.

NEVER MIND – As I was typing this I read that this will not be the shattering won’t occur until 4.0.3a.  Damn it. Patch Notes here.  No big undocumented changes, looks like just a bug fix on awarding Justice Points.

REMINDER:  Army of Morons is still recruiting on the Hellscream US server.  Any member online can add you.  There are usually two or three of us on at any given time so scream in trade chat or IM me.  My main is Colgallan and my alt is Kirttraz

Technorati Tags: World of Warcraft,Cataclysm,WoW,Geeks,Games.

Not Intellectually Curious Enough?

I’m not exactly sure what that means, but Lisa Murkowski claims that it is a quality whose lack disqualifies Sarah Palin from the presidency.

Lisa Murkowki told CBS News' Katie Couric today that she would not support Sarah Palin for president because Palin lacks the "leadership qualities" and "intellectual curiosity" to craft great policy.

"You know, she was my governor for two years, for just about two years there, and I don't think that she enjoyed governing," Murkowski said. "I don't think she liked to get down into the policy." The Alaska senator added that she prefers a candidate who "goes to bed at night and wakes up in the morning thinking about how we're going to deal with" important issues.

I know Murkowski is a pariah in conservative GOP / Tea Party circles right now, but she may have a point.  Palin occasionally addresses a policy point, but it usually a short blurb on facebook or twitter.  I have yet to see any in-depth policy positions from her. 

That lack isn’t in itself disqualifying; she isn’t actually running for any office yet, but as a “kingmaker” and the de facto spokesperson for the Tea Party wing of the GOP I would like to see some sort of solid articulated position on issues.  That lack at this point indicates to me that she is trying to follow the Obama model of success based on celebrity vs. substance.  In my mind that is disqualifying.

Note:  In general I like Sarah Palin, and if she does start articulating a solid set of policies I would be willing to support her (the highly coveted Chad endorsement).  The other thing I would like to see is some updated jokes.  Mama Grizzly and pit bull jokes can only last so long.

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Speaking of intellectually curious, this kind of got my goat yesterday;  Ace was posting on that simplistic NY Times budget calculator and the following were seen in the comments:

“After they eliminate ALL other unconstitutional agencies then they can look at SS and Medicare.”

…

“Why don't we bring the spending back as much as possible to that proposed by the US Constitution.  We'd have to repeal an ammendment and change the Interstate Commerce clause, but I know of no better time to start doing it than now, what with the national political climate the way it is. “

I’m just curious, have you guys actually read the constitution (the commenters there, not the readers here)?  No specific executive branch office or department, other than President, and Vice-President, are mentioned by name in the constitution.  Are they all unconstitutional? No, the departments are established by legislative act, as the constitution intended. Secondly, show me one place in the constitution where budget priorities are set.  Is it like “National Treasure”, the Freemasons secretly embedded a budgeted road map on the back of the constitution and only those with the right combination of colored lenses and tin-foil hats can read it.  Thirdly,  if you are changing the constitution, then you are not returning to it.  You are changing it more to your liking.  That’s fine that’s what the amendment process is for but be honest about it, and if you are going to start bitching about what the constitution says then at least actually know what it says. 

I know what these guys are trying to argue, that the government has usurped power that was supposed to be reserved to the states.  That maybe a valid argument, but the points they are putting forward in support of it are not. 

Balance the Budget

Today’s NY Times has an interactive feature that allows you to attempt to balance the federal budget.

I save $465,000,000,000 for 2015 but still came up short for 2030.  29% of my savings were in “tax increases” and 71% in spending cuts.  I wouldn’t say that this is a particularly accurate model given the limited choices available, for example there aren’t any real choices for Social Security reform other that raising the eligibility age and using an alternate means for calculating inflation, but it was fun to try.

Speaking of social security – I was thinking that a good reform would be to divert 5% of an employees payroll taxes into a diversified portfolio (like a 401K basically but all participants would be on the same plan) this amount would increase say 2% per year over the next 47 years.  This would allow the current beneficiaries to continue with their benefits and move the system into a plan that gave better returns than the current one.  It’s a far from perfect solution but one that might be politically possible.

Want a laugh?

Go see 4 Lions.

I had never heard of the film until earlier this week when Robert Horton from the Everett Herald reviewed it and described it as having a Monty Python like appeal; I figured if anyone could make suicide bombers funny it would be Monty Python so I went tonight and I laughed my butt off.   The entire film is just absurd, from the would be mujahedeen whose entire knowledge of the Koran comes from a book called “The Cat Who Went To Mosque”, to the fanatic who claims, spark plugs are a Jewish conspiracy to control global transportation, to the storage container that is internationally recognized as Egyptian territory for the purposes of questioning suspects.  There is a larger point being made about disaffection among the Muslim population in Britain but it isn’t overbearing.  The best absurdist humor I have seen in quite awhile.  HINT- Stay for the credits the is some extra goodness there.