Everybody is talking about how big the win was for Romney, but getting only 42 percent of the vote in a state that trails only Utah and Idaho in percentage of Mormon population, especially given his years in neighboring Utah, and this was NOT a "big" victory. That said, a few other things show up:
1. The non-Mormon part of the Nevada GOP is pretty libertarian; the fact that Paul couldn't crack 20 percent shows (yes, Paul-tards) that he has a ceiling that's not all that high.
2. The fact that Gingrich got more than 25 percent in a four-person race with a dysfunctional state organization shows that Romney and the GOP establishment count him out at their peril.
February 04, 2012
The varieties of infinity, or why heaven won't work
I'm an avid nonfiction reader. So, especially at larger libraries, I just head to the new books display and grab what I want ...
While at the same time, knowing I can't read every book I want to.
That has an analogy to Western monotheisms' view of a perpetual, individual-soul afterlife. (Hinduism and some other religions besides the Judeo-Islamo-Christian tradition may fall here, too, but I'm focused on them.)
The analogy? Has roots in one Georg Cantor and the mathematics of infinity.
If you have any familiarity with this, you know there are different infinities of sets, such as
So, heaven would be a sort of “bounded infinity,” and,
aside from medieval Christian notions of the real greatness of heaven being to
bask in the glory of god, we would see our individual infinities as essentially
“bounded.” That, in turn, would be a sort of psychological pain.
While at the same time, knowing I can't read every book I want to.
That has an analogy to Western monotheisms' view of a perpetual, individual-soul afterlife. (Hinduism and some other religions besides the Judeo-Islamo-Christian tradition may fall here, too, but I'm focused on them.)
The analogy? Has roots in one Georg Cantor and the mathematics of infinity.
If you have any familiarity with this, you know there are different infinities of sets, such as
א-null, א-one and א-two. Well, picture your or my individual
infinite life in heaven as א-null. Well, if the “set” of א-null is multiplied
by itself, we get א-one, a different level of set-infinity. Arguably, even though
the number of people in the Western version of heaven, with no procreation,
will be finite, one could still say that all the works they will produce will
be something like א-one to an individual person’s א-null.
Ron Paul tries to fudge on abortion
It sounds like the good doctor is perfectly OK with a "morning after injection" of estrogen for rape victims, while at the same time, with his "honest rape" comment, claiming many such women wanting to take him up on his pro-choice offer might lie about the reason why.
Hey, Paul-tards, your straight shooter is a panderer. Deal with it.
Hey, Paul-tards, your straight shooter is a panderer. Deal with it.
Shale gas - giant Ponzi scheme
The idea that the fracking-driven shale-based natural gas boom might be a giant Ponzi scheme surprises me not a bit. Having previously lived at the edge of the Barnett Shale in
Dallas-Fort Worth, I have some degree of knowledge about exploration costs for shale gas, so I know it's often a marginal venture on dollars-and-cents right now, at least.
And, this is NOT the answer:
And, there's the hypocrisy of hard-right Republicans in red states wanting to subsidize gas fracking in Wyoming and Texas, too.
And, that's not the only problem. Production estimates in many fields may have been overstated. That definitely appears true for the Barnett.
Then, there's the environmental issues. If most fields have a quick peak then quickly drop after that, there's a lot of "sunk" longer-term environmental costs for short-term gain, not even counting possible migration of fracking fluids.
And, this is NOT the answer:
Federal and state lawmakers are considering drastically increasing subsidies for the natural gas business in the hope that it will provide low-cost energy for decades to come.Yes, its cleaner, in terms of emissions, than coal. But, so are wind and solar, so let's give them more subsidies instead. They're cleaner than natural gas. And in the case of solar, at least, it's not that far from high population densities in the Desert Southwest and Texas.
And, there's the hypocrisy of hard-right Republicans in red states wanting to subsidize gas fracking in Wyoming and Texas, too.
And, that's not the only problem. Production estimates in many fields may have been overstated. That definitely appears true for the Barnett.
Then, there's the environmental issues. If most fields have a quick peak then quickly drop after that, there's a lot of "sunk" longer-term environmental costs for short-term gain, not even counting possible migration of fracking fluids.
CIA asshattery in censorship
I am currently reading Ali Soufan's "The Black Banners." To refresh the memory of some, or to inform others who don't know who he is, Soufan was the FBI's top Arabic-speaking agent, who was already on the trail of al-Qaeda's growth before the East African embassy bombings in 1998.
Well, the CIA felt "the need," as Soufan notes in the introduction, to redact/censor stuff that was already in the public record.
And, at times, this gets ridiculous.
In one chapter, describing the interrogation of al-Qaeda leader Abu Zubaydah, due to the details of the pages, we can tell just what the CIA insisted had to be blacked out. The first word in the chapter is "I," with Soufan talking about how he was packing a suitcase for a vacation when he was ordered off to Pakistan. Also censored are other individual words such as "we," "me," "my" and "us."
(Soufan is charitable in general in the book but has not a lot of good to say about the CIA.)
Well, the CIA felt "the need," as Soufan notes in the introduction, to redact/censor stuff that was already in the public record.
And, at times, this gets ridiculous.
In one chapter, describing the interrogation of al-Qaeda leader Abu Zubaydah, due to the details of the pages, we can tell just what the CIA insisted had to be blacked out. The first word in the chapter is "I," with Soufan talking about how he was packing a suitcase for a vacation when he was ordered off to Pakistan. Also censored are other individual words such as "we," "me," "my" and "us."
(Soufan is charitable in general in the book but has not a lot of good to say about the CIA.)
February 03, 2012
Neoliberal environmentalism - big bucks and cheapness
Or, the greatest example to date of how Gang Green enviromentalism's top dog, the Sierra Club, shows how a jokingly self-referential moniker from the start of the Clinton Administration well earns its deeper meeting.
So, Chesapeake, one of the biggies in natural gas fracking, was a biggie in funding Sierra Club's "Beyond Coal" campaign, eh? And, former executive director Carl Pope was fine with sucking up to Sierra execs? (What, no Clorox branding campaign?) And, kept a lot of Chesapeake giving to Sierra secret.
Fortunately, new executive director Michael Brune has put the kibosh on such money, though there's no word if he'll also kill the Clorox branding. But, I wouldn't hold my breath.
As the story notes, Brune is only talking about this decision 18 months after it happened. Plus, he's claiming the decision was Sierra's alone while Chesapeake says it was mutual.
Maybe it was mutual because Chesapeake knows it's part of a giant Ponzi scheme. (Having previously lived at the edge of the Barnett Shale in Dallas-Fort Worth, I have little doubt this is true,at least to a degree, from what I know about shale gas.)
So, while Brune, who came to Sierra from Rainforest Action Network, may be step up on Pope, how much of a step up, and how co-opted he has been, remains to be seen.
That said, with all this money, Sierra Club, even before the recession, was cheap. I know that because I applied for a job copy editing "Sierra," the club's magazine, back in 2005 or so. And, they were offering $33,000 a year for a job located in San Francisco. Really.
Then came the Clorox branding fiasco, the suspension of the charter for the Florida chapter for protesting that and other things, and more. Before that application, IIRC, came Sierra being asked if the tschotschke backpack it was peddling came from China, and Pope telling members "trust us, it's ethically made," but not saying more.
Sierra's got a long ways to go. David Brower is surely turning over in his grave.
So, Chesapeake, one of the biggies in natural gas fracking, was a biggie in funding Sierra Club's "Beyond Coal" campaign, eh? And, former executive director Carl Pope was fine with sucking up to Sierra execs? (What, no Clorox branding campaign?) And, kept a lot of Chesapeake giving to Sierra secret.
Fortunately, new executive director Michael Brune has put the kibosh on such money, though there's no word if he'll also kill the Clorox branding. But, I wouldn't hold my breath.
As the story notes, Brune is only talking about this decision 18 months after it happened. Plus, he's claiming the decision was Sierra's alone while Chesapeake says it was mutual.
Maybe it was mutual because Chesapeake knows it's part of a giant Ponzi scheme. (Having previously lived at the edge of the Barnett Shale in Dallas-Fort Worth, I have little doubt this is true,at least to a degree, from what I know about shale gas.)
So, while Brune, who came to Sierra from Rainforest Action Network, may be step up on Pope, how much of a step up, and how co-opted he has been, remains to be seen.
That said, with all this money, Sierra Club, even before the recession, was cheap. I know that because I applied for a job copy editing "Sierra," the club's magazine, back in 2005 or so. And, they were offering $33,000 a year for a job located in San Francisco. Really.
Then came the Clorox branding fiasco, the suspension of the charter for the Florida chapter for protesting that and other things, and more. Before that application, IIRC, came Sierra being asked if the tschotschke backpack it was peddling came from China, and Pope telling members "trust us, it's ethically made," but not saying more.
Sierra's got a long ways to go. David Brower is surely turning over in his grave.
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