Choosing what we listen to

[I predict that nobody else will link these two stories..]

• The Vatican reiterates that it's folly to ignore scientific reason.

  "The faithful have the obligation to listen to that which secular modern science has to offer, just as we ask that knowledge of the faith be taken in consideration as an expert voice in humanity."

  Fair enough. Welcome to the battle to restore the Enlightenment.
  (via Follow Me Here)
  
  
• Meanwhile, the government releases a major report that nobody wants to hear, concluding that electronic voting systems as they currently exist shouldn't be trusted.

  It's been a full two weeks now since the non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO came out with their 107-page report [PDF] confirming what so many of us have been trying to ring the bell about for so long: The Electronic Voting Machines which are proliferating counties and states across America even as I type, are not secure, not accountable, not recountable, not transparent, not accurate and not adequately monitored or certified by anybody.

  A bipartisan Congressional committee announced the findings, but two weeks later not a single media report has appeared. Not big news in an off election year, or just too scary to contemplate? I'm more than a little scared...

Quote of the day/weekend

The coloring and reddening of the leaves toward fall is interesting; as if the sun had so prevailed that even the leaves, better late than never, were turning to flowers,—so filled with mature juices, the whole plant turns at length to one flower, and all its leaves are petals around its fruit or dry seed. A second flowering to celebrate the maturity of the fruit. The first to celebrate the age of puberty, the marriageable age; the second, the maturity of the parent, the age of wisdom. the fullness of years.

-- Henry David Thoreau
Journal entry of August 21, 1852

(via the Thoreau blog)

A collective of feminists

Probably more good discussion than anyone could process, and certainly likely to eat much more of your time than a visit to the Carnival of Cats (mewp!), the newly launched Carnival of Feminists offers its second installment. Everything from relationship politics and body image to female heroes and political networking. Worth a few visits.

(via gendergeek)

Update: in related news, a study identifies a group of behaviors that are possible predictors of violence in relationships, such as constant monitoring of a partner's whereabouts. A good reflection on these findings ponders ways to put the observation to use in avoiding or preventing possibly dangerous relationships.

(via Mindhack)

What distinguishes conservatives and liberals

Armando at dailyKos had an interesting piece yesterday that's worth a read, arguing that the difference is in the relative emphasis on the protection of the individual versus protection of his property. It does a good job of explaining differing stances on many fronts, from eminent domain to control over abortion decisions.

Scanning the fine print

Back in May, when 14 Senators worked out a compromise by which a filibuster showdown was averted, there was much speculation about how far this agreement would extend, and particularly about the meaning of the critical words "extraordinary circumstances" (under which a filibuster could again be considered). This issue arises again in current discussions about Alito, the first Supreme Court nominee to come before the Senate since the Gang of 14 worked their magic -- does the SC level automatically count as extraordinary? Will this group have a coherent response to the matter? etc. Houndcat at dailyKos catches some early telegraphing of how this might play out and what dynamics may be in play behind the scenes. The group may or may not have a coherent strategy for this fight, and may or may not be able to keep discipline. Since the hearings are now scheduled for January, we'll have some time for more clues to emerge.

Covering the polls

CBS did another poll this week, which resulted in a flurry of coverage about Bush's new low in approval ratings, but relatively less mention of the fact that people think that the story around the CIA/Plame leak is very important. Important insights into both our fellow citizens and the media that we rely on....

(latter note via Atrios)

Thursday kittens: love-fest edition

Yeah, Pixel and Pasha are pretty much inseparable. This week, instead of wrestling and chasing, we bring you lounging and cuddling! Mmmmmmm, kittens. (click for larger views)


a pause between rounds of action...


we take relaxation very seriously!
(this pic dedicated to Pasha, who goes for spaying today,
and to her soon-to-be-shaved tummy)


Past kitteny goodness (in reverse order):
22, 21, 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and 0

Of legislative dignity

The best take on this week's political showdown (see here) comes from the inimitable Fafblog, who is outraged! over such degenerate tricksiness:

Instead of focusing on the vital business of womb regulation and gay marriage bans, Harry Reid held the Senate hostage with some trivial piffle about weapons of mass destruction and manipulated prewar intelligence. "Oh the nation has been deceived, oh the president has lied us into a massive military quagmire." Well boo hoo hoo!

Don't miss the finale...

(via Bitch PhD)

I'm just glad he's on *our* side

When a 5-point whitetail buck blundered into his house, a man wrestled it for 40 minutes before finally killing it with his bare hands.

"He got kicked several times. He was walking bowlegged for a while," Deputy Doug Gay said.

Still, the better end of the deal...

(via boing boing)

Ouch, ouch, ouch

Because apparently operating your show of democracy out of pseudo-gulags isn't enough:

The CIA has been hiding and interrogating some of its most important al Qaeda captives at a Soviet-era compound in Eastern Europe, according to U.S. and foreign officials familiar with the arrangement.

I'm with Upyernoz, who responded to this news thusly:

every time i think my embarrassment for this country has reached its limit, something like this comes out and i find that i gotta add a whole new set of numbers to the old embarrass-o-meter.

Somebody call me when it's over...

Interesting poll

Gallup looked at American views of Alito and found a variety of interesting things, including that a majority think he should not be confirmed if he opposes Roe v. Wade, and that they are ok with a filibuster. More grist for the overheated mill.

(via Atrios)

Does anybody else remember the game Hammurabi?

It is an ancient ancestor of games like Civilization -- in it, you had just a few choices, along the lines of how many of the grain bags in your storehouse you would plant versus use to feed your people (update: screenshot!). You always wanted to plant or spend it, but quickly learned that not feeding your people was a poor long-term strategy, even with morality left out of the equation, as people would leave your city for those that treated them better, die, or possibly lead a revolt.

Apparently simple lessons like that are lost on Republican legislators, who are voting to cut food stamps and school lunches, even as hunger has risen hugely under their watch. I'm telling you, build all the cities you want, launch all the wars, but if your people desert you, the game is done.

A different look at the future Supreme Court

Ampersand points out a key thing that has been overlooked in debates over Alito's views and qualifications: as long as some conservative is confirmed to the court, Kennedy will become the new key Justice, the swing voter on a number of contentious issues in the way that O'Connor has been for so long. He cites some evidence of Kennedy's votes on past cases which may be more telling than any look at Alito for how future rulings will turn out.

Dramatic rumblings in the Senate

Senator Harry Reid pulled a dramatic power play on the floor of the Senate yesterday, catching the GOP leadership by surprise and scoring a major victory. Apparently Reid made an impassioned speech about the stalled investigation into intelligence about Iraq and how it was used to justify the war -- the committee in charge got as far as assessing the CIA's performance, but didn't look at Administration use of the information (the intended second phase of the undertaking). Reid claimed that the Libby indictment gives new impetus to examining the actions and motivations of the Bushies, and he invoked a rare procedural maneouver to get his way: in the middle of other business, he used "Rule 21" to call for a closed session of the Senate, which meant chasing out all the staff, cameras, and observers, and waiting for all absent Senators to arrive for the mandatory event. I'm not entirely clear on what went on after that, but apparently the threat is that Senate Democrats would continue to shut down normal business until the investigation was reopened. And it worked:

Senators haggled behind closed doors for a bit over two hours, then emerged with a deal: Frist and Reid each will appoint three senators to a task force to review the status of the Intelligence Committee's investigation into prewar intelligence.

A report is due in two weeks.

Amazing. The Republicans were apoplectic over this move, so Democrats have to walk carefully lest they find they've waked the sleeping giant. However, Reid and co. clearly sent a message here that

1. they want the investigation completed,
   
2. they're not going to let the Alito circus preempt the scandal about Administration misuse of intelligence and critics, and
   
3. they're prepared to use disruption as a source of power.

This last one is particularly important, as a "shot across the bow" in anticipation of upcoming Senate wrangling. The Democrats are not excited with Alito for Supreme Court, and they may decide to filibuster his nomination; if the Republicans think that countering by ending the filibuster option would be without cost, they've just seen otherwise. A "nuclear option" (see prev. discussion of that term here) would mean nothing getting done by anybody...

There's discussion of this dramatic show all over the place, but probably some good places to start are the analysis by Hunter at dailyKos of the significance of this event, and the CultureKitchen summary of what happened, which has links to video, transcripts, and tons of other bloggy goodness.

Update: Tristero at Hullabaloo expresses some pleasure and caution about this gambit.

Nepotistic post, the second

Just another cute pic of niece Sophie, in line with the theory of Cute Pics for Difficult Times. If you're lucky, I won't have any new ones burning a hole in my FlickR account for some time...



future Hummel model?

Quote of the day

Nature now, like an athlete, begins to strip herself in earnest for her contest with her great antagonist, Winter. In the bare trees and twigs what a display of muscle!

Henry David Thoreau
Journal entry of October 29, 1858

(via Thoreau blog)

Re-closing the door

Methodist minister Beth Stroud (of the Germantown area of Philadelphia) voluntarily took on her denomination's hierarchy when she chose to defy their ban on "practicing homosexuals" and admit her own lesbian lifestyle; see previous story (of her successful initial appeal) here. Now the highest appeal body of the church has officially defrocked her. Perhaps unsurprising, given the clarity of their rules; perhaps it will lead to discussions within the Methodist church about their priorities.

Meantime, it seems sad for all, given that she seems to have been universally liked and effective in her ministry:

No one - neither church judge, jury, nor prosecutor - contested Beth Stroud's skill and dedication as an ordained minister.

I don't know what ideological affinity might bind Stroud to the Methodists; for my part, I hope that she can find another branch of the greater Christian church that will accept her for who she is and welcome her many gifts. Or perhaps her lay ministry is service enough, and a prick in the side of those with a more limited view.

A home-town view of Alito

Philadelphia's Daily News offers 16 things you should know about Sam Alito, including many that aren't at the top of most national notice, such as his sports preferences and some local dust-ups.

7 At least earlier in his career, he came off as a little thin-skinned. In 1988, when a National Law Journal story suggested he wasn't having a very good year, he drafted a 522-word response to the 211-word criticism. " 'Not a good year' may have been amusing for casual readers, but the amusement required the sacrifice of even minimal journalistic standards," Alito wrote. "It is your publication that should be embarrassed."
. . .
16 Alito is such a regular at the T.M. Ward Coffee Co. in Newark that they named a coffee after him. "Judge Alito's Bold Justice Blend" is a mix of Colombian, Java and New Guinea with a bit of espresso.

heh, Bold Justice Blend. We now return you to your regular (more substantive) programming...

Missing a little Fitzmas spirit

The Washington Post points out that Libby's soft-shoe dance in the Plame/Iraq investigation worked -- that is, he may have lost his job, but Bush kept his.

In his impressive presentation of the indictment of Lewis "Scooter" Libby last week, Patrick Fitzgerald expressed the wish that witnesses had testified when subpoenas were issued in August 2004, and "we would have been here in October 2004 instead of October 2005."

Note the significance of the two dates: October 2004, before President Bush was reelected, and October 2005, after the president was reelected. Those dates make clear why Libby threw sand in the eyes of prosecutors, in the special counsel's apt metaphor, and helped drag out the investigation.

Sigh. Now my eggnogg is all curdled....

(via Armando at dailyKos)

Let the downpour begin!

Unexpected absence yesterday -- I took a day off, only to discover that techno-crap was keeping me from posting to blogs from home. grrrr!

You probably noticed that, um, we have a new Supreme Court nominee. "Scalito" must have gotten a third of the discussion on NPR all day, and this is only the start. Conservatives practically wetting themselves, but careful to say it's all about his credentials and intellect, not about his being to the right of any current court member (or a symbolic dissenter in critical case Planned Parenthood v. Casey). Liberals not fooled, predict major battle, possible filibuster and nuclear option.

From yesterday: Markos' summary of Alito the candidate, and of the prospects for a debate of ideas. Hunter thinks moderate Republicans are unhappy with the choice and the prospect of being pressured from all sides. And for a little over-the-top response, you can't beat the rudeness of the Rude Pundit, who opines that Bush only nominates motherfuckers:

And, yep, like a good motherfucker, Alito offers support for other motherfuckers: he's for abused wives being forced to tell their motherfucker spouses if they're pregnant, he's for non-whites to have the color of their skin used as a factor for hiring by motherfuckers, and he believes motherfuckers running colleges can discriminate against the disabled.

Good stuff. As a last note, here's something for the conspiracy theorists: did Bush nominate Miers as a bluff, to fill up the time until Fristmas was approaching, so that yet another SC nomination could be used to bury yet another Administration scandal? Only The Shadow knows...

Update: Slate offers a longer look at Alito (meaning a page or so), and People for the American Way have a 24-page PDF summarizing his career for those unsatiated by the media barrage...
(via Medley)