Thursday, July 05, 2007

Hyperion the Sponge

I'm amazed and at the same time sort of freaked out (in a sci-fi kind of way) when I see picture like this one of Saturn's moon Hyperion. This sucker's a long ways away, and yet we have a picture taken from a scant 384 miles away.
Digg Report: Today's #1 Digg, at 2902 Diggs, is a story about a lady who wore an (inappropriate?) shirt on July 4th. I think it's the lady wearing the Union Jack.

Back to Digg silliness, I guess, but it is a bit early in the day.

The West to Blame for Darfur?

Interesting: place blame for the genocide in Darfur on global warming, which of course is blamed on developing nations, thus directly make the West guilty of crimes against humanity. That's what this story seems to be implying, anyways (although I may be connecting some of my own dots here).

With one stroke, the blame is shifted from African tribalism and radical Islam to the West. I'm telling you, someone out there has some real political chops.

Ahmadinejad Buys Gas from Chavez

This New York Times headline is surreal: "Iran, Low on Gasoline, to Be Supplied by Venezuela." I knew that Imajihadi (or whatever his name is) and Chavez are buddies and influential members of the anti-America crowd, but I didn't know that Iran's refinery capacity was so low that it needs to import gasoline.

Bizarre.

Putin Continues to Play Bush

Putin continues to play Bush like a fiddle. This time, he's trying to virtually take over the missille defense shield, essentially (as far as I can tell) suggesting that the entire radar infrastructure be based in Russia. So far, Bush has said "Nyet" to that proposal, but stranger things have certainly happened.

We lack real leadership throughout government, which puts us at a distinct disadvantage. I dream of a Jefferson or Madison or Washington to come out of nowhere, but dreaming doesn't really help.

Update: Putin puts some teeth into his "offer."

China Covers Up 750,000 Pollution-Related Deaths

An environmental coverup! And no, it's not by Bush. I'm sure the environmentalist movement will be all over this story.

Bill Gates No Longer #1

It's odd that a third-world tycoon would take over the #1 spot as richest man on the planet. Not that it matters, since such astronomical wealth is based on the vagaries of the stock market, but still, something strikes me as, not wrong exactly, but not exactly right about it, either.

Boing Boing Wants One-Sided Debate Starring MIchael Moore

Boing Boing wants to see the healthcare debate an entirely one-sided affair, with the one side being... Michael Moore. They're publicizing a MoveOn effort that calls on presidential candidates to refuse money from the healthcare industry, and they're doing so by handing out flyers at screenings of "Sicko."

I fear for the future healthcare of my children. Michael Moore is known by everyone to make exploitative, sensationalist movies (which I refuse to call documentaries) that twist and evade facts to make his point. That anyone would consider this to be the definitive statement on healthcare, and to want to disallow the healthcare industry from trying to influence in some way the laws that will destroy their ability to provide quality care, is beyond my ability to comprehend.

The Left has moved into a world into which I, and I hope most Americans, can't and won't follow.