All posts by Chris

Gall

Politics

As cynical as I am about the post-PATRIOT government, I was still shocked to hear that “the Justice Department redacted this line”:http://www.thememoryhole.org/feds/justice_redaction.htm from an ACLU court filing:

_”The danger to political dissent is acute where the Government attempts to act under so vague a concept as the power to protect ‘domestic security.’ Given the difficulty of defining the domestic security interest, the danger of abuse in acting to protect that interest becomes apparent.”_

So, they abused “domestic security” privileges to remove a Supreme Court statement condemning the very same abuse of privilege.

I have no response to that…

Sweet, sweet candy

Food

Ever wonder what “evaporated cane juice”:http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=120 really is? (If you’ve never seen the term before, it’s generally listed in the ingredients of natural foods instead of sugar.) I originally thought, “Wait a minute… that’s just sugar!” Kind of, but most sugar “isn’t vegan”:http://www.vegfamily.com/articles/sugar.htm because of the way it’s processed. So it’s not as different as “stevia”:http://www.truestarhealth.com/Notes/2169001.html, but it’s still something to watch for.

(Sorry, these things cross my mind when I’m drinking tea.)

Travelling with tots

Fun

I just (re)discovered that a flight to Barcelona from San Diego would take 14 hours. The flight back from Milan would take 16, and neither is counting the extra time due to security, check-in, and delays. Even the 7-hour flight to Hawaii was a challenge for Ben. Luckily, the Berkeley Parents Network has a really informative page on “surviving long flights with small children”:http://parents.berkeley.edu/advice/going/long-flights.html.

Conservatism and what’s wrong with it

Politics

Phil Agre has written an excellent article on Conservatism, both defining what it is and illustrating its opposition to democracy and equality.

Liberals in the United States have been losing political debates to conservatives for a quarter century. In order to start winning again, liberals must answer two simple questions: what is conservatism, and what is wrong with it? As it happens, the answers to these questions are also simple…

UPDATE August 2006:  I’m adding the keyword “aristocracy” to this, because that’s the real crux of Agre’s argument.