Current Events
Can terrorism really wipe out Israel?
This is perhaps the most profound short piece on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict I've read in a long time.
Olbermann: The Beginning of the End of America
This is a couple of weeks old, but I just now got around to watching it. A very powerful commentary from Keith Olbermann on Bush's government. It gave me chills.
Babies With Made-to-Order Defects?
Pre-implantation genetic screening is a technique that can be used by concerned parents to screen their potential children for birth defects or diseases that would significantly impact their quality of life. I've commented before about how this type of screening is going to be increasingly necessary as medical advances allow for defective genes to become more prevalent in our gene pool. Couples like Gibson and Cara Reynolds want to take this in the other direction. The Reynolds have dwarfism, a genetic defect that has non-trivial health and social implications. Their chances of having a normal child are 25%, but they would rather use genetic screening to eliminate that possibility, so as to ensure that their children also have the same genetic defect.
Levels of Government
When you think of the word "government", what government do you think of? US federal government? Your state's government? County? City? I'm a big fan of self-governance. When people get together and decide that they want their government to do something, they frequently skim over the definition of "government" without even thinking. Getting their measure passed by any of these governments will have roughly the same effect for their local community. Why is it that people automatically think "state" or "federal" when "government" comes into the picture?
Voting in St. Louis
So I voted this morning, and had my choice of voting (a) with a paper ballot; or (b) electronically. Having read much of what's come out about electronic voting machines, I was a little wary, and asked if it had a paper audit trail I could see. The lady at the desk said yes, it did. So I opted to go electronic.
Bombarded by Politics
I am being bombarded by political ads, telephone calls, visitors and junk mail. It has never been this bad, and I'm getting really fed up with it.
Net Neutrality: You pay either way!
So I've been seeing this commercial off and on a bit, and it really annoys me, because it's extremely misleading. It suggests that supporters of Net Neutrality want to push "their" costs onto you. The reality is, both sides mean more costs for you.