Today's Cultural Warfare Update

Review of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science, a book that, amoungst other things, is pro-creationism, calling scientists, and this is a quote, "white-coated, lab-cloistered purveyors of political correctness";

Was "South Park" episode cancelled by Catholic League complaints?;

Family Research Council's Justice Sunday III pep-rally for Alito promoted more by Focus on the Family;

Focus on the Family's coverage of the failed California anti-marriage initiative signature-gathering effort;

ABC News report on Concerned Women for America's Robert Knight accusing Barbie of being part of the "transgender movement";

Author of "The Marketing of Evil" describes Brokeback Mountain as the "rape of the Marlboro Man," says that movies making people feel good about child rape are probably next;

Weekly Standard: "plural marriage" is waiting in the wings;

Cal Thomas, columnist who looks strangely like a younger Saddam Hussein in this column's photograph, calls for fundamentalists to pull their children entirely out of public schools after the Dover decision;

Virginia legislator (Delegate Bob Marshall (R-Manassas)) introduces ban on reproductive assistance for unmarried women; it's specifically an attempt to stop lesbians from having children; he sponsoured a ban on GBLT adoption last year;

Seniour British Muslim leader condemns GBLT people as immoral and not to be accepted;

GBLT group I'm not familiar with challenges Massachusetts anti-marriage initiative in court - includes ACTION ITEM;

Focus on the Family attacks "family-friendly" cable tiers as just being away to avoid being forced to offer a la carte programming;

FotF attacks NBC's new The Book of Daniel, says it "mocks Jesus"; includes ACTION ITEM to demand NBC affiliates yank the show;

FotF article on the Alito nomination, which they consider vital;

California Lutheran school expels two girls the principal thinks are lesbian; admits there was no physical relationship, but says the emotional tenor of the relationship was unacceptable; girls are now suing;

Traditional Values Coalition ACTION ITEM to write NBC affiliates to yank The Book of Dainel as "anti-Christian";

National Review's David Klinghoffer reacts to Dover decision by declaring that you can have God or Darwin, pick only one;

Traditional Values Coalition slams Alito opposition as being radical and dedicated to "lobbying for the lowering of the age of sexual consent for teens; legalizing public sex in parks and highway rest areas; and the legalization of prostitution";

TVC notice of upcoming Alito hearings; includes ACTION ITEM to call your senators to vote to confirm him;

Albertan social conservatives content to stay quiet about their issues (anti-abortion, anti-marriage) during the election in order to help the Tories get more seats;

( Articles and excerpts )

photography gains ground on reality

There's a Signpost Up Ahead

2006 is gonna be kinda funky, if Petroleum Review's major oil and gas projects summary is on target. Basically, they think that the major projects calendar CERA is using doesn't take normal projects slippage adequately into account, and as a result, new oil supply points are going to come online at a slower rate - slower enough that we might not just be growing oil supply more slowly than demand, but enough that there could be an actual fall in overall production.

Of course, projects can be rushed, and that's certainly likely to happen if the supply-demand gap gets large enough to send oil prices high enough. But, well, that's kind of a mess under the best of circumstances. And the rest will be made up via demand destruction. Hopefully that will occur in the form of strong energy savings measures, rather than economic contraction.

Personally, it doesn't make me feel any better that all the largest products (both in peak flow rates and total recoverable reserves) are either in central Asia, where we've been losing friends and where China and Russia (who has just demonstrated a happy willingness to use energy politically) are both nearer and stronger, or are in the Persian Gulf area and controlled almost universally by fundamentalist governments of one sort or another - southern Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. And I'd maybe feel a little better about Iraq if the Bush administration hadn't signaled that it's giving up on the last of its good goals a couple of weeks ago, by planning not to ask for any more reconstruction aid to Iraq. I can't decide whether that means a retreat to desert pipeline bases or a simple expectation that whatever Iraqi government gets formed in 2006 will ask us to leave. Now.

Remember all the people talking about how international reputation and what foreigners think of America doesn't matter and shouldn't be taken into consideration? Oh wait, maybe it should. Ah, well, it's a bit late for that now. I sure hope those hydrothermal pilot projects play out well.


Stream by Burke-Gilman Trail

I don't mean that hydrothermal comment sarcastically. Neither is the picture a comment. There's some seriously interesting work - as in, at least one large-scale pilot project - being done on oceanic lower-temperature hydrothermal power generation that would, if successful, throw massive amounts of electrical energy our way. It'd be, aheh, best to live near the coasts, of course, but on the other hand, that's what long-distance transmission lines are for. I'm for 'em! And what I know about them indicates they're the sort of thing that could turn out to be real. I sure hope so. Low-energy societies pretty much suck.

Monday's token miles: 0.5
Tuesday's token miles: 0.3
Wednesday: 3.5 miles (biking!)
Miles out of Hobbiton: 561.2
Miles out of Rivendell: 101.4
Miles to Lothlórien: 365

The best part about the biking - aside from having done it in the winter, which is new ^_^ - is that I biked up the hill without stopping. Go me. I wasn't doing that before the rains, so doing it today - it didn't rain today, so I biked my errands - was kind of strange!

I've got half an essay in my head about the political methods of the Old Left and their adoption by the New Right. But it's not all there yet. It might never be! I dunno.

Now I'm running out of leafpics! Not to worry, though; I've got some mushrooms that you'll like, I hope, and some sky and city pictures that'll make up the bulk of winter posting - maybe enough to call them a series, I'm not sure. Some of them make me very happy. ^_^

Anyway, the next picture above the cut is the first from the November set; the picture below, the last of the October; an alternate take of a leaf previously posted.


Four to Go

( Alternate take of a previous picture )

in other news

Courtesy st_rev, djBC's Bring the Jugs!, the Glenn Miller Orchestra vs. Public Enemy:

http://www.djbc.net/mashes/djbc-bringthejugs.mp3

I don't think it's as good as Freelance Hairdresser's "marshall's been snookered" mashup of Eminem and Scott Joplin, but it still makes me happy. ^_^