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One step forward, Many steps back

Sunday, June 8, 2014

The Texas Republican Party gave a rare victory to gay rights advocates this week by removing language that stated that “homosexuality tears at the fabric of society” that has been in the party platform for decades.

But instead, they inserted a new plank that recognizes “the legitimacy and efficacy of counseling, which offers reparative therapy and treatment for those patients seeking healing and wholeness from their homosexual lifestyle.”

“Reparative therapy” is psychological treatment that attempts to turn gay people straight. Such counseling has been condemned by the American Psychological Association and many other major health organizations. It is especially harmful to minors and has been known to cause serious psychological harm. In fact, a law making such treatment illegal for minors was passed in California, and a similar law was passed in New Jersey and signed by Republican presidential hopeful Chris Christie (which may explain why the delegates cheered when Christie finished a distant 11th in their 2016 presidential straw poll).

In other areas, the Texas Republican party platform moved further to the right. For example, tea party groups succeeded in winning a harder line on immigration, even though this will cost the party votes in states like Texas where the hispanic population is increasing.

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Do telcos have a future?

Saturday, June 7, 2014

I had an interesting discussion with a friend recently. We were talking about the fact that there really is almost no need for telecom companies any more.

Originally, telephones had to go through a large, centralized switch to connect one phone to another and to connect to long distance trunk lines that tied different cities together. Hence, there once was a requirement for a telecom company, both for local telephone service and for “long distance” service. Already, the need for any distinction between long distance and local has gone away. After all, my phone service now makes no distinction between calling someone in the same city, or someone in 60 countries worldwide.

But now, it is technologically reasonable to replace the centralized switches of our telecom system with “mesh nets”, where calls are forwarded through other nearby phones.

Likewise, there is absolutely no need for the internet to have a “backbone”. In fact, having centralized points for routing internet traffic creates points of failure, and is what makes it easy to spy on us. It is also the only reason why we have arguments about “net neutrality” — the backbone gives power to internet telecoms that makes it possible for them to discriminate against internet traffic.

What would be preferable to having a centralized backbone is to have lots and lots of local connections between ISPs. That would be far more robust, more secure, and harder to game for profit.

A side point is that maybe we should not be fighting for net neutrality rules. After all, if the telcos are able to freely destroy net neutrality and completely screw up the internet, maybe that will give incentive to people to create a new, better, decentralized internet that is not dependent on the telcos.

I am of two minds about this, but it is interesting to think about. Comments? Opinions?

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Late Night Political Humor

Friday, June 6, 2014

“Newly leaked documents show the NSA has been collecting millions of pictures of people online for its sophisticated facial recognition program. Americans said it’s a huge violation of their privacy – then they went back to posting selfies every 30 minutes.” – Jimmy Fallon

“In a new interview, President Obama revealed that his daughter Malia recently went to her first prom. She wore a corsage on her wrist while her date wore a red laser dot on his head.” – Jimmy Fallon

“President Obama had lunch with Hillary Clinton. Hillary told the president, ‘After phoning my top advisers, I think I’ll run for office.’ And the president said, ‘I know. I listened in.'” – Craig Ferguson

“A lot of people in Washington were shocked by this Obama-Hillary meeting. I’m not sure about Nancy Pelosi. She looks shocked all the time.” – Craig Ferguson

“President Obama said Hillary Clinton would be very effective if she ran for president. And Joe Biden said, ‘Thank you very – wait, what?'” – Jimmy Fallon

“This morning President Obama announced a new 600-page proposal to lower carbon emissions and help stop global warming. Step one: Stop printing 600-page proposals.” – Seth Meyers

“Marijuana dispensaries in San Jose, California, will give out free weed to people who vote in tomorrow’s municipal election. Which should backfire when the winner of the election is ‘Pizza’.” – Jimmy Fallon

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New Outbreak of Science Denial

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Science denial – not just for conservatives!

Perhaps it is just evolution in action?

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As American As…

Monday, June 2, 2014

The recent GOP summit in Louisiana, conservatives held a straw presidential poll, which was won by Texas Senator Ted Cruz. There’s just one problem — Cruz was born in Canada to a Cuban father, and is still a citizen of both the US and Canada.

Yup, the same right-wing nuts, some of whom still stridently claim that Obama was born in Kenya, want an admitted foreigner to be president. It doesn’t get much more hypocritical than this.

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That’s why they call it Denial!

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Ruben Bolling
© Ruben Bolling

If you think that climate change deniers will ever wise up, don’t hold your breath. Because … Benghazi!

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Late Night Political Humor

Saturday, May 31, 2014

“Toronto Mayor Rob Ford’s car was involved in a DUI. Somehow a woman named LeAnne McRobb wound up in his car. You know what a McRobb is? It’s half Rob Ford, half McRib.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“A woman got a DUI while driving a car that belongs to Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. So, I’m starting to think maybe it’s the car that has the problem.” – Jimmy Fallon

“This Rob Ford is something else. His car gets pulled over for DUI even when he’s not in it. It’s over. The machines have won. I mean, for God’s sake, Rob Ford’s Cadillac Escalade is drunk.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“A new study found that legalizing marijuana in Colorado has created more than 10,000 jobs. And that’s just selling lava lamps at Spencer’s Gifts.” – Jimmy Fallon

“Fans of ‘The Price is Right’ got angry at President Obama yesterday because a speech he was giving interrupted the show. So let me fill them in on what they missed: Three people you don’t know got called down, and they were extremely happy about it. That’s all you missed.” – Jimmy Fallon

“The organizing committee for the 2016 Olympics in Rio just announced that 38 percent of the venues are completed. When asked if they’d be done in time for the Summer Games, Rio said, ‘Wait – SUMMER games?'” – Jimmy Fallon

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Free Market Security

Friday, May 30, 2014

An article in VOX makes the case that the TSA should be abolished. Their point? There is no evidence that the TSA makes us any safer. None. And there is plenty of evidence that the time and money we spend on security theater damages our country far more than terrorism could ever hope to do.

But what I found especially interesting is near the end of the article. They propose making airport security be the responsibility of the airline. That way, some airlines could provide tougher security for those people who want it, and other airlines could provide more casual security, for those people who would rather trade a little security for convenience and personal dignity. It would also allow us to determine what security measures actually help prevent terrorist acts, and which ones are a complete waste of time (e.g., checking liquids and nail clippers).

Personally, I think airport security has always been a waste of time. It was originally implemented in the wake of a rash of airplane highjacking, but what reduced the incidence of highjacking was Cuba throwing highjackers in jail.

I think it would do more to prevent terrorism if we would stop killing random civilians using drones.

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Late Night Political Humor

Thursday, May 29, 2014

“Yesterday President Obama made an unscheduled stop at a Little League game while he was on his way to a fundraiser. Yeah, because there’s nothing parents love more than their kid’s Little League game getting even longer.” – Jimmy Fallon

“In New Hampshire, a police commissioner who called President Obama a racial slur has resigned. He also publicly apologized to New Hampshire’s entire black community, a guy named Steve.” – Conan O’Brien

“It’s primary season, which thanks to global warming, will soon be our last remaining season.” – Stephen Colbert

“It’s springtime and earlier today Chris Christie closed the George Washington Bridge for a pollen study.” – David Letterman

“Why would [Hillary Clinton] run? In the past month, she faced new Benghazi allegations, the return of Monica Lewinsky, Karl Rove speculating on her brain damage and the rumors that she only got into the White House by sleeping with the president. A lie? Probably.” – Stephen Colbert

“A high school girl has invited Joe Biden to be her prom date. Isn’t that nice? However, her father is refusing to let her go with a guy who can’t really describe what he does for a living.” – Conan O’Brien

“The U.S. is accusing Chinese military officials of spying. When asked why they did it, the Chinese officials said it’s payback for all the times your students cheated off the Asian kid.” – Conan O’Brien

“The FBI has reversed its policy and will now hire people who have smoked pot in the past three years. When asked why, the FBI said, ‘Because we couldn’t find anyone who hasn’t smoked pot.'” – Conan O’Brien

“Vladimir Putin ordered all Russian troops stationed near Ukraine to be pulled back to their home bases. It’s the first time Putin has pulled back since that one time someone tried to hug him.” – Seth Meyers

“Pope Francis will bring a rabbi and a Muslim leader with him when he travels to the Holy Land this week. Or as bartenders put it, ‘We’ve been expecting you.'” – Jimmy Fallon

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End Game

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Torb
© Torb

There’s an old saying that nobody, on their deathbed, ever says that they wish they had made more money or worked longer hours. And yet we still succumb to greed, regardless of the consequences.

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Late Night Political Humor

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

“Karl Rove thinks we shouldn’t have Hillary Clinton in the White House because she fell and hit her head a couple years ago, spent three days in the hospital, and maybe she has brain damage. You know, I don’t recall the Republicans being this concerned with mental fitness during the years when Reagan was talking to house plants in the White House.” – Bill Maher

“The new ‘Godzilla’ opens this weekend. They’re finally able to control Godzilla when New Jersey Governor Chris Christie closes down the George Washington Bridge.” – David Letterman

“Yesterday Chris Christie said he thinks it would be fun to run against Jeb Bush for the Republican presidential nomination. While Jeb Bush said it would be fun just to watch Chris Christie run.” – Jimmy Fallon

“President Obama was here, touring New York sites in need of repair. He wants to spend money on our infrastructure. For example, the port authority needs fixing. And the Tappan Zee Bridge, where the renovation is already finishing up way ahead of schedule – like Obama’s second term.” – David Letterman

“Today President Obama took his 1,001st flight aboard Air Force One. And they still made him take his shoes off at security.” – Seth Meyers

“New Rule: Now that Clay Aiken’s opponent in the Democratic primary for Congress died after a ‘accidental fall down the stairs’, the Republican Aiken will face next might want to consider dropping out. Because this is Clay Aiken we’re talking about. And apparently Clay Aiken is going to take what Clay motherfuckin’ Aiken wants. Which might explain why every single face he’s ever made looks like a guy who just pushed someone down the stairs.” – Bill Maher

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Pound Foolish

Monday, May 26, 2014

Tom Toles
© Tom Toles

In the last ten years, the total level of student loan debt has gone from $300 billion to $1.1 trillion. And we are now learning that this level of debt among people just starting to enter the real economy is significantly hurting the economy.

It makes perfect sense – people with crushing student loans can’t afford to buy a house, so this is hurting the housing market. Just since 2008, the number of 27- to 30-year-olds with a mortgage dropped from 30% to 22%. They are also less likely to buy cars.

Even worse, they cannot start their own businesses, and since 60% of jobs are created by small businesses, there is a long-term negative effect on employment and the economy.

Other countries subsidize college educations, or even provide it for free.

And it isn’t just our shortsightedness about higher education that is turning around and biting our economy in the ass. There is plenty of evidence that each homeless person costs taxpayers $31,065 a year (in emergency room visits, and homeless-related crimes), while it would only cost around $10,000 to house them. And after spending that $30K+, they are still homeless and less likely to have a job and otherwise contribute to the economy.

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Return of the Jedi

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Obama in a speech this week, makes a really good case against “false equivalences” from the media. I couldn’t have said it better myself!

You’ll hear if you watch the nightly news or you read the newspapers that, well, there’s gridlock, Congress is broken, approval ratings for Congress are terrible. And there’s a tendency to say, a plague on both your houses. But the truth of the matter is that the problem in Congress is very specific. We have a group of folks in the Republican Party who have taken over who are so ideologically rigid, who are so committed to an economic theory that says if folks at the top do very well then everybody else is somehow going to do well; who deny the science of climate change; who don’t think making investments in early childhood education makes sense; who have repeatedly blocked raising a minimum wage so if you work full-time in this country you’re not living in poverty; who scoff at the notion that we might have a problem with women not getting paid for doing the same work that men are doing.

They, so far, at least, have refused to budge on bipartisan legislation to fix our immigration system, despite the fact that every economist who’s looked at it says it’s going to improve our economy, cut our deficits, help spawn entrepreneurship, and alleviate great pain from millions of families all across the country.

So the problem… is not that the Democrats are overly ideological — because the truth of the matter is, is that the Democrats in Congress have consistently been willing to compromise and reach out to the other side. There are no radical proposals coming out from the left. When we talk about climate change, we talk about how do we incentivize through the market greater investment in clean energy. When we talk about immigration reform there’s no wild-eyed romanticism. We say we’re going to be tough on the borders, but let’s also make sure that the system works to allow families to stay together…

When we talk about taxes we don’t say we’re going to have rates in the 70 percent or 90 percent when it comes to income like existed here 50, 60 years ago. We say let’s just make sure that those of us who have been incredibly blessed by this country are giving back to kids so that they’re getting a good start in life, so that they get early childhood education… Health care — we didn’t suddenly impose some wild, crazy system. All we said was let’s make sure everybody has insurance. And this made the other side go nuts — the simple idea that in the wealthiest nation on Earth, nobody should go bankrupt because somebody in their family gets sick, working within a private system.

So when you hear a false equivalence that somehow, well, Congress is just broken, it’s not true. What’s broken right now is a Republican Party that repeatedly says no to proven, time-tested strategies to grow the economy, create more jobs, ensure fairness, open up opportunity to all people.

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Turnabout is Fair Play

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Ben Sargent
© Ben Sargent

In light of revelations of widespread spying by the NSA (as revealed by Edward Snowden and others), it just seems a tad hypocritical of the US to accuse China of spying on US companies.

The US tries to assert that the US spying on foreign companies in the name of national security is ok, but China spying on US companies in order to benefit Chinese companies is not. But unfortunately, the US seems to have lost any moral authority it ever had with regard to spying.

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Erratic

Friday, May 23, 2014

I’m in the middle of a big move to a new state, so posts might be a little erratic for a bit. But this is good timing, since now that the primaries are largely over, not much is going on politically. Even late night comedians aren’t making many political jokes right now!

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