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Though I'm sure the politic hounds among you already know, John Edwards has once again thrown his hat in the presidential ring. The candidate announced his bid for the presidency at a press conference held in the now infamous lower ninth ward of New Orleans saying "no place better demonstrates the two Americas I've talked about for a long time".

While the former Senator was dutiful in outlining his plan for Iraq, his campaign is centered on lessening the gap between the upper and lower classes. Edwards has set a bold 30 year goal for eradicating poverty, and though the budgeting for the social programs required to meet that goal haven't yet been fleshed out, I'm sure we can all feel the collective shudder coming from fiscal conservatives on both sides of the party line.

Last election cycle this strategy didn't play too well, but footage of Katrina's devastation (and of the ruble that still compromises much of the lower income sections) should serve as a perfect illustration for his platform. Pictures speak louder than words, as his campaign manager clearly understands, and I strongly suspect that Edwards' "Two Americas" will be more than just a late night punch line this time around. There are a few minor points that may play in the presidential hopeful's favor as well:

Having been Kerry's vice presidential pick he's well known to the American public.

He escaped much of the previous primary's mud slinging, simply having been labeled "unexperienced" - a label that may not stick so well four years of public service, several diplomatic visits, and one anti-poverty center later.

He's a Southerner. Democrats have a hard game in the South, and a home town advantage may be the only way for a Democrat to win.

He's made up for past "sins", playing up to both the antiwar crowds that attacked him for his original support for the war in Iraq and to the organized labor groups that largely ignored him last go round.

Lastly - he's still cute, and he's not Hillary.

BetaPwned

No, not the vitamin. Gilead Sciences Inc. and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. have put aside their scientific rivalry to collaborate on a common goal - a single pill, taken once a day, to combat the AIDS virus. The treatment isn't a new medication, but rather a combination of the three licensed AIDS drugs most commonly prescribed to newly diagnosed HIV patients; Sustiva, Viread, and Emtriva. Because the medication is merely a more convenient formulation for previously licensed drugs the companies don't expect any difficulty receiving FDA approval and are already producing test lots of the pill.

Though the medication's price has not yet been determined, the companies have stated that they are "fully committed" to offering the pill at sharply reduced prices in developing nations where the treatment will be exceptionally helpful to those unable to understand the complex drug regimens currently used. Here in the states a single prescription, rather than the common two or three, could save insured customers around $100 a month, and uninsured customers a great deal more.

Looks like the upcoming Presidential State of the Union Address will be full of the smoke and mirrors we've all come to know and love. Well, know at least.

Feeling the heat from Iraq as body counts rise, despite earlier assurances that the first free elections would cure all ills, and still dazed by a myriad of Republican scandals and indictments, Bush is hoping to hypnotize opponents with talk of health care. The topic is popular in domestic priority polls and the administration is hoping that bringing out the compassionate in their compassionate conservative moniker will help bail out their Republican counterparts in the November elections.

Virginia Governor Tim Kaine has been asked by national Democratic leaders to deliver the party's response.

Titled "Deus Caritas Est", God is Love, Pope Benedict the XVI's first encyclical is due to be released at noon on January 25th. Though the Pope maintains that the encyclical, which is the most authoritative type of papal declaration, is intended to illuminate the nature of charity and the relationship between spiritual and erotic love, one can't help but speculate on the timing. Incorrectly defining the Greek word "eros" as "the love between man and woman", despite the Greek's use of the word to describe any form of erotic love regardless of gender, the early reports regarding the encyclical read like protest statements against the global tide toward same-sex marriage rights. Hinting that marriages beyond defined bounds are "reduced to mere merchandise" and that erotic love "risked being degraded to mere sex" without the balancing component of spiritual love founded on the Christian faith, I've no doubt the document will be utilized by those seeking to outlaw partnership rights for same-sex couples here in America.

The second portion of the document, dealing with the necessity of charitable works, was written by Pope John Paul in the final years of his papacy.

Looks like we're not alone.

Robert H. Lupton of Princeton University recently presented findings to the American Astronomical Society regarding a dwarf galaxy that has begun merging with our good old Milky Way. The dwarf galaxy lies in the direction of the constellation Virgo at some 30,000 light years distance from the earth. While some of the dwarf galaxy's stars have been observed by telescope for centuries, they had previously been assumed to belong to our own. No doomsday scenarios here though - the Milky Way's girth will simply continue to grow as the new galaxy, and the hundreds of thousands of stars it brings will it, slowly merge.

So far stem cell research has been a hot topic between research proponents and the pro-life community, but a group of British scientists are poised to change the nature of the debate. Led by Professor Chris Shaw, the group has proposed using human/rabbit embryo hybrids for the controversial research and the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority, which governs the field, isn't ruling out the possibility. Made of rabbit cell material, but controlled by human DNA, legal experts say it is not clear whether the embryos would legally be considered rabbit or human. Regardless, without the hope of viability pro-life groups would largely loose their teeth in the debate.

Move over Operation Rescue, I fear PETA is about to take the stage.

I didn't get the position at BCAP. Funk continues. Less commentary, more links.



Devil's Panties - No, it's not Satanic Porn. It is however a decent comic resplendent with fetishes.


Girl Genius - Science Fiction fantasy with both great art and a great plot.


Asylum on 5th Street - "It's the story of a comic artist turned landlord, a cynical writer monkey, and an apartment building full of unstable tenants. Wacky hijinks ensue." What more can I say?


Nodwick - Gamer geeks rejoice in the glory that is Nodwick. Published weekly.



Bleh. I'm done. Check back tomorrow for more links.

** The following links may not be suitable for those that are easily offended and basically devoid of sick humor. I know this is typically a political blog - I'm in a funk. Please don't flame me because you found something on the sites I list disgusting. I didn't write them, I simply enjoy them. If, on the other hand, you wish to flame me personally for enjoying them, suggesting that said enjoyment is a clear sign of mental health issues... flame away. **



Yeah, I've got a definite geek thing going today. I haven't heard back from BCAP yet about yesterday's interview and I'm not feeling so hot on the health front. Nothing to be done execept sink into a warm, comforting, bath of geekdom.

So, without further ado - here are a couple of web comics you ought to be reading.

Bob the Angry Flower - Bob is, well, an angry flower; it's right there in the title folks. Joined by his cohorts Stumpy, yep - he's a stump, you're catching on, and Freddie the floating fetus Bob wails on humanity, quantum physics and other assorted goodness. The artist also blogs a few political rants here and there - good stuff overall.

Appropriateness: Some bad language and loads of black and white etched violence.

Pithy quote: "I don't have to stand here and justify my existence when I could be gorging myself on millions of pork chops!!!"



Something Positive - Join Davan, Aubrey, Jason, PeeJee, my favorite malleable cat Choo-Choo Bear, and a huge cast of supporting characters in this alternately disturbing, touching, and sometimes downright poignant comic. Published mostly, almost, daily-ish, it's nearly always an excellent read.

Appropriateness: Bad language and kink.

Pithy quote: This was really hard, not because there weren't tons of wonderful quotes for me to choose from, but because most of the quotes I adored were just not suitable for some of the forums I post in. I'll settle for this one - "Nothing like a woman's touch to make a man crumple into a fetal ball of humiliated emotion."


I'll post more as the week progresses. With any luck, I'll soon have a new job and the motivation to actually schedule my time. I know it's shocking, don't wet yourselves.

I'm starting to sense a pattern here - warning, apathy, program cuts, death.

It seems that levy system warnings aren't the only thing to bring about program cuts and apathy in the Bush administration; he also ignored warnings regarding mine safety. David Sirota, formerly of the House Appropriations Committee, blogged the full story earlier today and was even nice enough to include the fact sheet put together by House Democrats that was presented to the Bush administration on August 5th, 2002. According to the fact sheet, Bush had to dig all the way back to the 1900's to justify safety cuts. Of course, no one in the administration was in danger of finding themselves buried alive

I recently began posting my blog on Writing Up with the thought that, while I'm certainly not going to make the kind of cash the site suggests I might, I could receive a nice $100 check five years from now and unexpected money is always a good thing. (The site claims that daily bloggers could earn as much as $1000 a month. Though they don't technically specify in what reality.) The basic premise of the site is this: You go and get yourself a Google Adsense account, start up a Write Up account that includes your Adsense publisher ID, and then post your blog. Google ads happily appear at the top of your blog article and along the right hand side. Advertisers pay Google for ad space, Google pays you for click throughs, Write Up gets half. You could, of course, just direct line it - skip Write Up and have Google pay you for a privately owned site, but chances are good you wouldn't get near the traffic.

So - blogging is good, but most likely not incredibly profitable. I started posting on Write Up this morning and I've earned a whopping 66 cents. Mind you, it's only been a couple of hours, and that's 66 cents I didn't have when I woke up, so I'm not complaining. In fact, I'm going to go ahead and recommend the site to other bloggers - you're doing it any way, might as well make some pocket change. But I digress...

What I'm loving are the ads that pop up. At one point my article on Bush's recent recess appointments brought up an add for brain disorders. An article on post partum depression featured an ad selling discount pulse oximeters, and a favorable review of V8 Splash drinks brought up an ad for short fiction stories. Most of the ads are spot on, of course, though opinion writers are likely to suffer ads from those with differing agendas; but some of them are out in left field which leaves one wondering exactly how profitable these ads are for the advertisers. Sure, I suppose it's possible that an individual reading through a daily blog on technical issues might suddenly get a craving to research phobia cures, but that can't happen all that often.

I have to admit a near overwhelming urge to play with the ads. Just think of what a writer like Will Durst, who uses phrases like "Because of him, this country is more polarized than a pawn in a poorly manufactured magnetic chess set", could do to the engine. It'd be brilliant: "Buy Your GOP Merch Here!", "Sick? Magnetic Bracelets at Low Prices!", "Low Cost Loans!", "Free Chess Tutor!".

Capitalism. Gotta' love it.

Why put up a fair fight when you can just slither through? President Bush pulled a few more fast one's on Wednesday using the Senate recess as another opportunity to appoint individuals that would have faced strict opposition on the floor. Here's a quick summary of who we're stuck with until January 2007:


Julie L. Myers as Head of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Bureau at the Department of Homeland Security. Myers is married to Homeland Security Chief of Staff, Michael Chertoff, and niece of former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Richard B. Myers. Formerly the Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement at the Department of Commerce, and lacking in both law enforcement and agency experience, Republicans and Democrats alike are wondering how she can possibly be qualified for her new appointment.

Tracy A. Henke as Executive Director of the Office of State and Local Government Coordination and Preparedness. Henke may be most known for her demands that information about racial disparities in police treatment of blacks in traffic cases be deleted from a news release while serving in an appointed post with the Justice Department.

Ellen R. Sauerbrey as Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration. Sauerbrey acted as Chairperson for the Maryland For Bush Campaign and is a staunch proponent of tax cuts, and opponent of abortion. Oddly enough, her biographies seem to leave out work relating to her current appointment.

Hans Von Spakovsky for the Federal Election Commission. Viewed as a key player in two disputed Justice Department decisions to overrule career staff in voting rights cases, Von Spakovsky has been criticized as undermining enforcement of civil rights laws.

Robert D. Lenhard, also for the Federal Election Commission. Lenhard acted as an attorney for the American Federation of State, Council and Municipal Employees in efforts to have the McCain-Feingold law, which banned soft money fundraising and spending by national political parties, ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Steven T. Walther, the last Federal Election Commission appointment, has close ties to Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid who recommended him for the position.

Gordon R. England as Deputy Secretary of Defense. As Secretary of the Navy, England made statements before the Senate Armed Services Committee calling for increased military spending. No big surprises there.

Dorrance Smith for Assistant Secretary for public affairs. As a former ABC producer her appointment, along with England and Walther's, actually makes sense.

Not that I find it all that odd to come across something ridiculous on the Concerned Women for America website, but this one will have me chuckling for a while. CWA is advising parents to keep their children away from Barbie.com because it's unsafe; just another tool for those promoting "gender confusion". (Click here to listen to CWA Culture and Family Institute Director, Bob Knight, describe the danger.) Apparently there is a poll on the site designed to determine favorite winter activities among Barbie fans, ages 4 - 70+ despite CWA's comments that 4 - 8 are the only options, but wasn't the inclusion of wearing "way-cool" winter clothes that has CWA in an uproar - it's was the third option of "I don't know" in the gender category.

A spokeswoman for Mattel, when contacted by ABC for comment, explained that the third option was an error meant to be a nonresponse option reading "I don't want to say". Until contacted by ABC Mattel knew nothing of CWA's objections, and the survey has since been corrected. Could it be that CWA is so wedded to their view that America's children are being groomed for a new world order that they didn't even bother investigating the possibility that the objectionable option was a mistake by making a simple phone call? Somehow I find that far more likely than the notion that a child can be made to question their gender by the innocuous inclusion of a third, nonspecific, option.

Tell you what - give me a call when Mattel includes "Trangendered" as an option. Until then, while I thank you for your constant insistence that one's sexual identity is something one can be recruited into, isn't there another form of inclusion and nondiscrimination you could focus on for a while?

Have a few spare hours you were hoping to fill with something almost divinely geeky? Check out Edge - The World Question Center. The Edge Foundation was established in 1988 and boasts some of the most interesting minds in the world. They seek to "promote inquiry into and discussion of intellectual, philosophical, artistic, and literary issues, as well as to work for the intellectual and social achievement of society." What you're going to find on the site are essays written by some amazingly brilliant and creative individuals, each in response to an annually posited question. There are some great questions; "What is today's most important unreported story?", "What questions have disappeared?", "What's your law?", and "What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?" are some of my favorites. This year's question, garnering 117 essays by some truly heady intellects, is "What is your dangerous idea?".

Oh yeah, baby. This is going to keep me stimulated for a while.

Yes, it's yet another petition I'm asking my readers to sign; though this one is a bit different than the ones you've seen in my blog previously. Instead of asking you to stick it to a corporate evil doer or champion a charity cause, I'm asking you to stick it to an internationally known non-profit - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals - by signing a petition to have their non-profit status revoked. (Take a Bite Out of PETA)

Try not to fall over.

I know it seems out of character for me, but hold your outrage for a moment. PETA has been up to some naughty business. They've given money to organizations labeled as domestic terrorists by the FBI and to individuals that conduct criminal acts in the name of advancing animal rights. Recently they've been caught committing fraud in order to obtain adoptable animals from vets and shelters only to euthanize them and toss the bodies in alley ways and dumpsters. These activities, beside being unethical, are in clear violation of tax-exempt standards. Perhaps by revoking their tax-exempt status PETA will get the hint that committing violence against humans and euthanizing healthy animals to 'save' them from brief periods of confinement simply isn't acceptable.



In the spirit of full disclosure I feel that I ought to end with the following rant:

I consider myself an animal welfare advocate. Animals are good, I like animals, and I think they deserve to be treated humanely. I believe that PETA, however, is an extremist organization. They're the squeaky wheel of the movement. In encouraging violance they've become akin to Operation Rescue. In their graphic and inacurate comics, they can be likened to Jack Chick. They're against keeping fish in tanks, silk harvesting, even well funded and humane zoos, classroom pets, bee farms, fishing, all forms of hunting, 'swim with dolphins' programs, and of course the eating of meat - or even the feeding of meat to your clearly carnivorous pets. These are neither mainstream, or even logically supportable, causes.

Yes, I do understand that silkworms are killed to make silk - but PETA's website claims the practice is painful. They're worms, folks. They don't have the neurological capability to feel pain. Same goes for fish and bees, contrary to PETA's claims. Yes, I also understand that some zoo's are horrible - but others do a great deal to maintain healthy and stimulating environments for their animals and contribute to both endangered species repopulation programs and to research. Publishing and promoting false information and leaning on emotional termonology and extreme viewpoints doesn't help the cause, it hurts it. Don't drown the good work you do, and the compassion you triumph, in ridiculous garbage.

Oh, and while you're at it - why don't you stop the practice of euthanizing 80% of the domestic animals you take in. You're not being kind, regardless of the chemical you use to do it, you're depriving healthy, adoptable animals of their lives and exposing yourselves as hypocrites in the process. Yes, damn it, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it's more humane to keep a dog in a cement lined cage for a few months until it's adopted into a loving home than to kill it.

Yeesh.

Poor Bushie just can't get a break - though his administration pounded their little fists, screamed "terrorism", and wrung their hands over imaginary signal interference threats, they still couldn't manage to trip up the march of technological progress in Europe.

Last year, President Bush laid plans to temporarily disable Global Positioning Satellites during national crises, claiming that terrorists could use the technology to their advantage... and apparently forgetting that counter-strike and rescue forces might also rely on GPS. Lucky for them, and for us, the European Union has made the first step in providing continual navigation services; and they're doing it better. "Giove A", the first of some 30 Galileo navigation satellites, was launched successfully earlier this morning. Though the Galileo system is not expected to be fully funcitonal until 2010, receivers will become commercially available in 2008 after three more satellites have been launched and the program's testing phase is deemed complete. Consumers will be able to switch between the US government sponsored GPS and civilian controlled Galileo as simply as changing cell phone networks - though with Galileo's continual signal, doubled navigational coverage, lack of governmental limitations and restrictions, and improved technology (Galileo will have a precision of about three feet, allowing the satellites to give not only street information but lane information, allowing users to navigate efficiently through traffic) I'm not sure why anyone would continue to use the glitchy GPS.

Originally set up by the European Commission and the ESA, the Galileo program is not strictly an EU enterprise. China, Israel and the Ukraine have already signed on to the program and discussions are also under way with India, Morocco, South Korea, Norway and Argentina. Two-thirds of the $4 billion budget allotted to the project will be contributed by the private sector and some 150,000 European jobs are expected to be born of it.

Pop on over and check out the latest Mark Fiore animation Get Smarter. It's a snappy little cartoon exploring Bush's happy surveillance activities. While you're there, spend some time digging through the animation gallery, or just buy the DVDs. Mark Fiore is one of my favorite political animators. He's insightful, intelligent, and pretty damned funny to boot.

Keep 'em coming Mark!

150 pounds of c-4, 250 pounds of sheet explosives, 20,000 feet of detonator cord and 2,500 blasting caps that were stolen from a New Mexico facility last week were recovered from a chop-shop in Bloomfield on the 24th along with several firearms. Four individuals were arrested in relation to the theft; authorities do not believe the suspects had ties to terrorist organizations or posed a terrorist threat.

Glad to see nothing went boom... but oddly still concerned about our security preparedness.

After signing a petition regarding the FDA's refusal to approve Plan B for over-the-counter use (Plan B for Plan B Act) I was then taken to a petition against Target's current policy that allows pharmacists to refuse to fill Plan B prescriptions based on moral grounds (Are You Listening Target? Fill My Pills Now!). After signing that one, I was sent to yet another petition for Plan B. Curious, and strangely aroused - I love signing petitions, I clicked on the Sign a Petition link and was brought to a veritable petition smorgasbord courtesy of The Petition Site. I'm going to be happily placing my name and comments on petitions for hours.

There is a Santa Claus!

It seems that many countries have bowed out of the effort to prosecute Saddam Hussein due to an active opposition to the death penalty, and this has Secretary of State Condeleezza Rice wagging an angry finger in their general direction. "I'm sad to say that the international community has barely done anything to help Iraq prosecute Saddam Hussein" she lamented to an audience at the Heritage Foundation on Tuesday.

Now, now, Condi... before you get yourself all a twitter perhaps you should take a look around at the administration you're running with. Should you really be upset that the international community isn't interested in putting an individual guilty of war crimes and torture to death? If they start with Saddam, your boss just might be next.

Bush Bits

Am I the only one that finds it frightening that President Bush sent his top law enforcement officer to Capitol Hill yesterday to demand that congress pass the Patriot Act renewal? Sounds to me like Bush has more than a general interest in the Patriot Act as its currently written. Could it be, perhaps, that even he understands that many of the acts committed, past and present, are only legal as long as the Patriot Act remains untouched?

In related strong arm news, Congress recently managed to approve $25 million for research into a "sturdier, more reliable [nuclear] warhead than those designed during the Cold War". Apparently only bunker-busters are worth debate and discussion, this one slipped right under the radar.