Politics

State of Fear by Michael Crichton

December 26, 2004

Traveling over the holidays gave me some time to catch up on listening to audiobooks. On the way home tonight I finished Michael Crichton's State of Fear. Wow. A lot to think about.

There is a central theme I'm sure I agree with. We must find a way to separate the funding of scientific research from the political process. Especially as the political process of the United States increasingly falls into religious realms the problems become greater. When we can label a disease such as AIDS as a "sinners" disease (and yes I know that is not proper, but it is an observation not an endorsement) it becomes easier to dismiss it as something that doesn't impact people like me, and therefore it can be ignored. With today's political funding of scientific research we're more likely to get the results that are desired by the funders than those representative of independent investigation.

Juris Prudence

November 17, 2004

"The issue is not whether the decision should have been decided in the Florida or U.S. supreme courts, but that the Constitution had been violated. ... The only decision was to put an end to it after three weeks and looking like fools to the rest of the world. It was too much of a mess." said Justice Antonin Scalia.

There is an old addage that says it's better to keep one's mouth shut and let people think you a fool than open your mouth and prove it. Thanks to Justice Scalia for collectively proving to the world what they only thought until then.

Of web policy and foreign policy

October 28, 2004

Today the news comes that the campaign website for George W. Bush is blocking traffic from outside the US. The change means that for "security reasons" those outside the United States cannot view the site. So the short version of the story is that the man wishing to be elected by the American people to lead (and defend) our country, cannot get security experts who can secure their websites.

Are taxpayers being duped into paying for George Bush's reelection?

October 23, 2004

As the Internet has grown (into multiple internets according to a recent presidential malaprop) the White House has always had a site. Not surprisingly this is a site paid for by the citizens of the country. There are collections of information on the site. One of those documents includes this March 2002 press release in which President George W. Bush says about Osama Bin Laden, "I don't know where he is.  I  --  I'll repeat what I said.  I truly am not that concerned about him."

One might be tempted to look this up after the recent debate where the same President lied to the people once again and said that he'd never said such a thing. The problem is you would have a tough time finding it if you went to look at the March 2002 press releases. Here are three images from February, March and April 2002's Press Release pages on the website.

So it all boils down to a government official trying to change the story on what they did in the past.

A passing grade?

October 8, 2004

It's pretty scary to think that nearly half of the residents of the United States give W a passing grade on being president. When will folks wake up to the real record he has on defending America?

Maybe there are just too many people overcome by Bush II's speaking abilities.

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