Sociopathology

I hate facebook. Here is one more reason why.

UPDATE: Hmm…it looks like you need to sign into see the page.  It’s for the “Friends for Sale” application, and here’s the description on the site:

“Buy and sell your friends as pets! You can make your pets poke, send gifts, or just show off for you. Make money as a shrewd pets investor or as a hot commodity! Friends for Sale is the bees knees!”

The Conservative Interest

This is a fascinating article on the trade-offs involved for conservatives assuming a November Obama-McCain match-up.

On the whole, it reconfirms a number of my positive inclinations towards Obama. But given several other issues on which there are distinct differences between him and McCain (e.g., prosecution of the Iraq war, Supreme court judicial appointments, Ethanol subsidies, legislative experience, et al.), I’m still supporting McCain.

UPDATE: On the other hand, here’s a slight wrench thrown in the works.  Everyone that I’ve read up to this point, Pro or Con across the political spectrum, seems to be working on the assumption that an Obama presidency obviously would be a good thing for race relations in the country.  Derbyshire, on the other hand, quite sensibly points out 1) that Obama might not be a very good president, and 2) that a failed Obama presidency could undermine the race relations benefits initially gained by his election.

Oy!

Recent experiences with last-minute computer printing have led me to consider the possibility of modernizing the story of Hanukkah to involve a beleaguered law office and a miraculous ink cartridge…

Tolerance

An interesting argument from Iranian ambassador to Spain:

“Our laws allow for the amputation of the hand that steals. This is not accepted by the West, but the field of human rights should take into account the customs, traditions, religion and economic development,” he said in comments reported by the newspaper El Mundo.

So…human rights should acknowledge exceptions to human rights. Right….

It reminds me of a quote by one Sir Charles Napier regarding the Indian practice of Suttee:

“You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.”

Quite.

“momentary case of stumbly fingers”

Isn’t there a vote confirmation screen or something like that? I know this is Illinois and we have our own “peculiar” brand of politics…but seriously:

The rules allow state lawmakers to clear up a mishap if they suffered from a momentary case of stumbly fingers or a lapse in attention. Correcting the record is common practice in the Illinois Legislature, where lawmakers routinely cast numerous votes in a hurry.

But some lawmakers say the practice also offers a relatively painless way to placate both sides of a difficult issue. Even if a lawmaker admits an error, the actual vote stands and the official record merely shows the senator’s “intent.”

And so as not to pick on Obama prematurely, as the link does, I’d like to find out the actual statistics of how often this kind of thing happens, etc.

Overdetermination

This is one point that’s always bothered me when attempting to have a reasonable discussion about Iraq…or about any other complex contentious issue in life, come to think of it.  Multiple motives can and frequently do exist!

November?

Archilochos:

Οὐ φιλέω μέγαν στρατηγὸν οὐδὲ διαπεπλιγμένον
οὐδὲ βοστρύχοισι γαῦρον οὐδ᾽ ὑπεξυρημένον·
ἀλλά μοι σμικρός τις εἴη καὶ περὶ κνήμας ἰδεῖν
ῥοικός, ἀσφαλεώς βεβηκὼς ποσσί, καρδίης πλέως.

Plus Ça Change…

I culled this little gem from a friend’s dissertation that I’m editing.  “Summer Reading” apparently has been dreaded by students ever since its inception:

 ‘there was a terrible day when a holiday book was suggested, in order that our minds should not relapse too much during the long summer holidays.’

-Dorothea Brooks

(Dunning, Dunning (ed.), Graham Street Memories, 1881-1931, Francis Holland Church of England School for Girls, London, 1931, p. 69.  )

Salvation

And people claim Republicans are the religious crazies…

Cognitive Dissonance

From the Wikipedia entry on Frantz Fanon:

 A similar case of Fanon’s name being used to give to artist’s revolutionary cause a sense of timeless authority is by Digable Planets. Digable Planets refer to Fanon in their rap-jazz cut “Little Renee” from the Coneheads motion picture soundtrack.

“Timeless authority”, indeed…