Thursday, June 30, 2005

The Micro-Pundit:  BlogPAC?

BlogPAC.  The idea of a blogging political action committee (PAC) just boggles the mind.  But not only have liberal bloggers organized and founded a PAC (think moveon.org, Focus on the Family Action, et al), they have also begun to make some waves on their key issues.

I stumbled across BlogPAC via CNN this morning (story).  The story basically talks about how bloggers are going mainstream in an attempt to influence politics more directly, with BlogPAC as the primary example.  Of course, the article talks about how bloggers of all political persuasions are trying to keep the Federal Election Commission from regulating bloggers as political speech and extending some of the campaign finance rules to bloggers.  And I recommend that everyone read the article for that reason alone.

But I just can’t get by the idea of bloggers organizing a PAC.  Wild....

[Crossposted to The 5th Estate]

Wednesday, June 29, 2005

The Daily Mantra:  Vacation

Sometimes you just have to turn off the Internet, the news, even your blog and get away from it all for a few days.

Sunday, June 26, 2005

The Daily Mantra:  Toddlers

Be prepared to spend a LOT of time playing with your 16 month old toddler if you’ve been away from him/her for a week straight.

Friday, June 24, 2005

The Micro-Pundit:  Beyond Political Dichotomies

Recently, I’ve begun pointing people toward The Political Compass as an alternative to the standard, and artificial, liberal/conservative, right/left, red/blue dichotomies that dominate politics in the United States.  The compass appears to better represent the complexities of modern political and social views than any simple continuum possibly could.

But the creators of the Political Compass are not the only people trying to break people out of their reliance on the standard political continuums.  I stumbled across another one yesterday, this one created by the pollsters at the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press (PRCPP).  This excellent site has all sorts of interesting data about how the U.S. is viewed globally, what the people’s views on various issues are, but they also detail what they call “typology.”

Based on statistical information, PRCPP has generated 9 broad categories of people in the United States, from “enterpriser” to “conservative” to “disaffected” to “liberal.” They provide visitors to the site the opportunity to classify themselves with a questionaire and to see how the different typologies view the many different issues facing the country today.

(Here’s a question - if 86% of the country supports increasing the minimum wage, why hasn’t it happened?  Maybe because the “enterpriser” typology segment that opposes the minimum wage has so much money that they can buy their political allies?  This is why I strongly support continuing campaign finance reform.)

The PRCPP is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that, as far as I can tell, has earned quite a bit of respect over the years for their careful polling.  The fact that organizations like the PRCPP are looking “beyond red vs. blue” is an excellent sign for the future.

[Crossposted from The 5th Estate]

Thursday, June 23, 2005

The Micro-Pundit: Dumbshit Supreme Court Decision

I’m generally happy with the Supreme Court.  Over the years, they’ve made decisions that I think provide excellent guidance for the country.  Decisions like those that made the execution of minors and the retarded “cruel and unusual punishment,” that erased anti-sodomy laws, that granted so-called enemy combatants access to the U.S. court system, et al.  But they made a dumbshit decision today.

The court, in a 5-4 decision that was lambasted in a dissent by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, gave cities the authority to seize private property for the benefit of a different private party if the seizure benefits the city in the process.  Maybe it’s just me, but this one fails my gut check.  Thankfully it was decided by only 5-4, so there’s a pretty good chance that it’ll get overturned in the future.  (Story)

[Crossposted from The 5th Estate]

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Nanotech and Cancer

Nanotech.  Nanomachines.  The terms themselves invoke reactions as wide ranging as dread, concern, and optimism.  The dread tends to come from the fear that the ultra-small materials and devices of the science fiction of Eric Drexler and Greg Bear, among others, will destroy our civilization and turn everything into a “grey goo.” The concern generally results from a careful assessment of just how unknown the risks of nanotech truly are.  And the optimism tends to come from realizing just what the upside potential for nanotechnologies really is.

Today, I read about a new application of nanotechnology that has me thinking more on the optimism side of the reactions.  Scientists at the University of Michigan attached chemotherapy drugs to a nanoparticle polymer and used folic acid to convince cancer cells to take up the particle.  Because the particle was so small, it slipped through the cell membrane and poisoned the cancer cells. (Story)

Now, the tests have only been performed in mice thus far, but if it works for humans too, then scientists may have developed something that, if not a silver bullet to kill cancer cells, just might make cancer a chronic but no longer fatal disease.  And that would be a truly wondrous use for nanotechnology.

Monday, June 20, 2005

The Miscreant’s Dictionary:  “Humor”

humor

something that far too few people have good senses of

Sunday, June 19, 2005

The Daily Mantra:  Moisturizer

Always keep a small tube of moisturizer around to return normalcy to your hands after using public bathroom soap.

Thursday, June 16, 2005

The Miscreant’s Dictionary:  “Goldenrod”

Goldenrod

a pretty, late blooming plant with clumps of yellow flowers responsible for the consumption of dozens of antihistamine tablets by thousands of hay fever sufferers every year.

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

Flag Etiquette

I was out for a run Monday morning when I passes a flag window decal on a car.  The words printed across the flag were “These colors don’t run.” The flag image itself was quite discolored from exposure to the sun, with the blue field gone pale, the red a weak pink, and the white yellowed with age.  And I was offended, as I often am, by the callous disregard for the nation’s flag.

There are three main problems with this decal:

1. The flag was displayed as a decal on a car.  Car-displayed flags are supposed to be fastened to short poles and mounted on the front fender only.  No window decals, no bumper stickers, no flags with reversed fields (blue in the upper right corner, often on the right side of a vehicle for “aesthetic” reasons).  Also, no flag should ever be displayed in a fashion that permits easy damage, and window decals and bumper stickers are quite easily damaged.
2. Text was printed across the flag.  This is considered disrespectful of the flag according to the US flag code. (Section 8g)
3. The flag itself had discolored badly.  When a flag becomes so dirty that it is “no longer a fitting emblem for display,” (a subjective measurement, but IMO this flag qualified), it should be honorably destroyed, preferably by burning.  I doubt that most people would carefully remove a flag decal and then burn the plastic.

And that’s not even the worst disrespect for the flag I’ve seen around my house.  My neighborhood has a Chrysler PT Cruiser that has a flag paint job.  The flag is not supposed to be displayed in a way that allows them to be easily soiled, and a car is soiled by road grime and birds all the time.  And flags are not supposed to be flown outdoors after dark unless properly illuminated.  Driving a flag-coated car after dark through city or rural streets certainly doesn’t qualify as “properly illuminated,” although parking the car under spotlights would be fine.

I’ve already explained the problem with decals and stickers.  Flags in the bed of pickup trucks have the same problem, plus they are easily soiled by contact with the truck bed.  Flags attached to the front hood have the added problem of being displayed horizontally when flags are supposed to always be displayed so they can fly free.

Flags are never supposed to be used as anything that is intended to be thrown away.  So no flag paper plates, napkins, paper tablecloths, or disposable lighters.  Flags are never to be used for something that is easily soiled, so no flag doormats, dishtowels, dinner plates, mugs or cups, or beach towels.  Flags are never to be worn except on patches and lapel pins (and then only over the heart or on military uniforms, police and fire uniforms, or on the official dress of patriotic organizations), so no flag caps, shirts, pants, shoes, coats, socks, belts, ties, or worst of all, underwear.  And the flag should never, under any circumstances, be used for advertising purposes.

Two years ago I wrote a scathing commentary that I submitted to the Denver Post for publication.  It was promptly rejected, probably because I took a very aggressive tone and, while some people could get away with that, the editors probably concluded that I wasn’t worth the hate mail.  I can’t say I was surprised, but I was disappointed.  But my disgust at all the improper uses of the US flag has not changed.

Please, if you have a flag on your care, either display it correctly or not at all.  Don’t soil your flags.  Our nation is a living entity and the emblem of our nation should be treated as if were a living thing as well.

I find it quite ironic ,and very sad, that protesters who burn the flag as a protest or who desecrate it by urinating or stomping on it are according the flag more respect than most patriotic Americans.  At least the protesters aren’t ignorant of the rules of the flag.  As U.S. citizens, we should be more respectful of the icon of our nation.

The flag, and the United State of America, deserve better.

[Crossposted to The 5th Estate]