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Something New - My First Contest 2007-11-27 22:48:37 I've been approached by a publishing company who asked me to assist in promoting one of their books "Winning Without Compromising Yourself"in return I get to post an article by one of their authors andf they'll drop by a couple of times tomorrow to field questions in the comments section AND one lucky reader will win a copy of the book with the first and second runners up winning Dyre Portents T-Shirt or a Dyre Portents coffee mug. (Didn't know they existed? Me either.) additionally everyone who enters receives a free link to their blog or website.Rules for winning the book, shirt, mug, and linkage:1: To enter contestants must post a link to tomorrow's featured post on their blog, website, LJ, myspace page etc then post a link to it in the comments thread of the featured post within 48 hours of my posting it.2: On Friday November 30th all URLs will be placed into a hat and the three winners will be drawn and posted on this blog along with the URLs of all those that didn't win (ak ...

Making Marriage a Private Affair 2007-11-27 00:01:58 From the NY Times:WHY do people — gay or straight — need the state’s permission to marry? For most of Western history, they didn’t, because marriage was a private contract between two families. The parents’ agreement to the match, not the approval of church or state, was what confirmed its validity. For 16 centuries, Christianity also defined the validity of a marriage on the basis of a couple’s wishes. If two people claimed they had exchanged marital vows — even out alone by the haystack — the Catholic Church accepted that they were validly married....Not until the 16th century did European states begin to require that marriages be performed under legal auspices. In part, this was an attempt to prevent unions between young adults whose parents opposed their match.The American colonies officially required marriages to be registered, but until the mid-19th century, state supreme courts routinely ruled that public cohabitation was sufficient evidence of a valid marriage. ...

Taliban Resurgent 2007-11-26 01:25:28 From Reuters: Resurgent Taliban closing in on Kabul: report The conflict in Afghanistan has reached "crisis proportions," with the resurgent Taliban present in more than half the country and closing in on Kabul, a report said on Wednesday. If NATO, the lead force operating in Afghanistan, is to have any impact against the insurgency, troop numbers will have to be doubled to at least 80,000, the report said. "The Taliban has shown itself to be a truly resurgent force," the Senlis Council, an independent think-tank with a permanent presence in Afghanistan, wrote in a study entitled "Stumbling into Chaos: Afghanistan on the brink." "Its ability to establish a presence throughout the country is now proven beyond doubt," it said. "The insurgency now controls vast swaths of unchallenged territory including rural areas, some district centers, and important road arteries." Senlis said its research had established that the Taliban, driven out of Afghanistan by the U.S. invasion in late 2001, h ...

Thompson Alleges Fox News is Biased Against Him 2007-11-26 00:38:33 Fox News? Biased? Say it ain't so! But against a mainstream Republican? That's new.From The Hill: Thompson charges Fox News is biased against his campaignFormer Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) suggested on Sunday that Fox News is biased against his campaign, charging that the network highlights commentators who have been critical of his run for the presidency.In an interview on "Fox News Sunday," host Chris Wallace pressed Thompson on how some conservatives have lambasted Thompson's campaign and showed clips of Fox conservative commentators Charles Krauthammer and Fred Barnes criticizing the former senator. Thompson said, "This has been a constant mantra of Fox, to tell you the truth." He noted that other conservatives have praised his bid for the GOP nomination and took issue with a Fox promo that focused on polling in New Hampshire, where Thompson is registering in the single digits.He said he is running second in national polls and has been leading or tied for the lead in ...

Stem Cell Debate Defused? 2007-11-21 00:58:34 From the NY Times:Two teams of scientists reported yesterday that they had turned human skin cells into what appear to be embryonic stem cells without having to make or destroy an embryo — a feat that could quell the ethical debate troubling the field. All they had to do, the scientists said, was add four genes. The genes reprogrammed the chromosomes of the skin cells, making the cells into blank slates that should be able to turn into any of the 220 cell types of the human body, be it heart, brain, blood or bone. Until now, the only way to get such human universal cells was to pluck them from a human embryo several days after fertilization, destroying the embryo in the process. The need to destroy embryos has made stem cell research one of the most divisive issues in American politics, pitting President Bush against prominent Republicans like Nancy Reagan, and patient advocates who hoped that stem cells could cure diseases like Alzheimer’s. The new studies could defuse the issue ...

SCOTUS to Take on 2nd Ammendment 2007-11-20 23:58:58 From ScotusblogAfter a hiatus of 68 years, the Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to rule on the meaning of the Second Amendment — the hotly contested part of the Constitution that guarantees “a right to keep and bear arms.” Not since 1939 has the Court heard a case directly testing the Amendment’s scope — and there is a debate about whether it actually decided anything in that earlier ruling. In a sense, the Court may well be writing on a clean slate if, in the end, it decides the ultimate question: does the Second Amendment guarantee an individual right to have a gun for private use, or does it only guarantee a collective right to have guns in an organized military force such as a state National Guard unit? The city of Washington’s appeal (District of Columbia v. Heller, 07-290) seeking to revive its flat ban on private possession of handguns is expected to be heard in March — slightly more than a year after the D.C. Circuit Court ruled that the Second Amendment right is a ...

Chuck Norris for Huckabee Ad 2007-11-20 23:19:08 Probably the funniest campaign ad this election season so far.h/t to Donklephant ...

Ron Paul Tops Thompson in NH GOP Polls 2007-11-20 00:36:19 Placing him in fourth place according to a CNN poll. Meanwhile Giuliani and McCain are within the margin of error for second place with Romney solidly in first. Ron Paul's ad blitz is having an effect and Thompson's lack of well anything resembling momentum, excitement, or organization have cost him dearly. I think McCain isn't as much gaining momentum as he is picking up Giuliani defectors as Giuliani has been making it very clear that he'll trade his values for votes. I'm betting after NH we'll see the GOP lineup pared down to the top four. Frankly I'm hoping McCain ends up beating Giuliani and Ron Paul does better than the poll estimates once all the votes are tallied in NH. ... Ron Paul

Stupid Ethics. 2007-11-17 01:23:09 Last week The Misses picked up a stray emaciated dog which happens a couple of times a year. Standard operating procedure is to nurse it back to health and then find it a home or give it to a local no kill shelter. However SOP broke down this time because the dog in question is a pit bull. I know the breed well enough to know that if they are properly bred they are great dogs. This one initially showed all the right signs friendly, completely submissive to humans, highly affectionate.It also showed signs of having been beaten as any sudden movement of my arms or raising my voice caused it to cringe severely. Long story short, I take it home stick it in the back yard feed it water it and then later when it comes time to let our dogs out the pit bull goes after our largest dog(40 pounds and very fine boned) a Husky/Border Collie mix (also a rescue). I'm able to pull it off with no harm done. This strongly suggests that the dog was bred for fighting.Over the course of the past week we ...

A Little Perspective 2007-11-15 23:21:12 I keep seeing a little ticker on blogs that counts the number of US Servicemen killed in Iraq and I recall thinking about a year ago, "We lost more than that on D Day." Now I've studied enough history to know that troop losses in Iraq are in fact tiny compared to most of the other wars we fought. In fact the current losses in American troops don't equal the losses of certain single battles fought in previous wars. Below are a few examples:Battle of Shiloh 1754 Union Soldiers killed 1728 Confederate soldiers killedBattle of Gettysburg 3,155 killed Union Soldiers Killed 4,708 Confederate Soldiers killedCivil War 110,000 Union Soldiers killed 93,000 Confederate troops killedWorld War I 5,525,000 Allied troops killedBattle of the Bulge 19,276 American Soldiers deadBattle of Normandy Beach 1,465 American troops deadWWII 407,300 American soldiers killedKorean War 36,516 Americans troops killedTet Offensive 6,328 Allied Troops KilledViet Nam 58,209 American soldiers killed (200,000+ v ...

She's Got a Point 2007-11-15 00:41:46 Probably one of the best arguments against federal poverty based entitlement programs I've heard in a long while courtesy of Wendy McElroyI'm all for helping the poor. I just think it should be private, and voluntary.At this point I usually hear the objection, "But that's not enough! Small scale solutions like that will never solve the problem!"Today it hit me: why the hell not?To be more specific: the question should not be how do increase the scope of the (private) solution. It should be, why is the problem so damned big?Let's face it: if you're living in a society in which anywhere from one-quarter to one-half of the population can't meet their basic needs through their own efforts -- where a half-trillion dollar enterprise is needed to "help the poor" -- then there is something fundamentally wrong with your society; and redistributing wealth, from those who have managed to succeed to those who have not, is avoiding the real problem. Whether the problem is the legions of ove ...

Republicans for Obama? 2007-11-15 00:05:06 Looks like he's getting up to 15% republican volunteers in some areas of Iowa in addition to placing third in a poll of Iowa caucus goers according to the blog The Iowa Independent. Obama Touts Republican Crossovers The campaign for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama has been listening as Iowans have gathered in small groups to whisper about the one thing they most worry about: electability. In response to those concerns, the campaign has released a list of 268 Iowa Republicans who will be crossing party lines to caucus with Democrats on Jan. 3, 2008. "To Iowans, electability means that we need to win this election," said Dale Hedgecoth, one of Linn County for Obama's most out-spoken and active volunteers. "There are some of these other candidates that are carrying too much baggage. We need a cross-over vote from Republicans in this primary and we need independents to come over as well. I believe that will happen at caucus time and, if Barack Obama is the candidate, I believe it will also ...

An Evangelical on Torture 2007-11-14 08:37:37 Over at The Evangelical Outpost Joe Carter tackles the question, "Who would Jesus waterboard?" His answer? No one. Who allowed our country to succumb to such fear and moral cowardice that we parse the the meaning and definition of "torture?" I blame myself, and implicate my fellow Christians. We have remained silent and treated an issue once considered unthinkable--the acceptability of torture--like a concept worthy of honest debate. But there is no room for debate: torture is immoral and should be clearly and forcefully denounced. We continue to shame ourselves and our Creator by refusing to speak out against such outrages to human dignity....As Christians we must never condone the use of methods that threaten to undermine the inherent dignity of the person created in the image of God. ... There is something clearly repugnant about our unwillingness to distance ourselves from the fear-driven utilitarians willing to embrace the use of torture. I've wondered "Where is the evangelical ...

McCain Campaign Bouncing Back? 2007-11-12 23:56:41 From Rasmussen Reports:Election 2008: Clinton vs. McCain & RomneyMcCain Leads Clinton By Two While Clinton Tops Romney by Five The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Election 2008 shows Arizona Senator John McCain (R) leading New York Senator Hillary Clinton (D) by just two percentage points, 47% to 45% While the “lead” is statistically insignificant, it’s the first time since May that McCain has had any advantage over Clinton. The election poll also found Clinton leading former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney 47% to 42%. But, Romney is gaining some ground on the Democratic frontrunner. Romney trailed Clinton by six in August. But given how fluid the Republican nominating contest is proving to be, McCain may have a chance to jump-start his campaign. His strong performance in general-election match-ups with top Democrats may help. McCain is virtually tied with Senator Barack Obama and trails former Senator John Edwards by a modest amount. At the moment, ...

Veteran's Day 2007-11-11 23:21:37 The Things That Make a Soldier Greatby Edgar Guest The things that make a soldier great and send him out to die, To face the flaming cannon's mouth nor ever question why, Are lilacs by a little porch, the row of tulips red, The peonies and pansies, too, the old petunia bed, The grass plot where his children play, the roses on the wall: 'Tis these that make a soldier great. He's fighting for them all. 'Tis not the pomp and pride of kings that make a soldier brave; 'Tis not allegiance to the flag that over him may wave; For soldiers never fight so well on land or on the foam As when behind the cause they see the little place called home. Endanger but that humble street whereon his children run, You make a soldier of the man who never bore a gun. What is it through the battle smoke the valiant soldier sees? The little garden far away, the budding apple trees, The little patch of ground back there, the children at their play, Per ...