] Artists produce visual art, writers produce words to tell
] stories, musicians produce songs. All of these things
] require at least four things the way I see it.
]
] 1) Perseverance - These people must be able to keep
] trying, even if they do not like how something they are
] working on is turning out. They don't just decide
] they can't do it and quit because it's too
] hard.
]
] 2) Creativity - These people have to obviously have
] something in their heads that they want and know how to
] get out onto a media that they can share with the rest of
] the world.
]
] 3) Balls - They also aren't afraid to put their work
] out there for the world to see. They aren't afraid
] of being laughed at because they know that its the best
] they could have done, and what does it mean if someone
] else makes fun of them?
]
] 4) Drive - They continue to work, learn, and grow at
] their skill by never being satisfied. By always pushing
] the limits of their abilities.

[ Kobi's a smart kid... i've already tossed some of my thoughts into his comment thread there, but since i saw that Tom memed it, i figured i'd bump. -k]

baudburn.com: Geeking in Style.: Comment on On Creation and Perseverance.

] My contention: Social Security privatization is not just
] unlikely to succeed, for various reasons that are subject
] to discussion. It is mathematically certain to fail.
] Discussion is pointless.

[ That's LA Times editorialist, Michael Kinsley... a somewhat interesting analysis, i haven't taken the time to critique as yet. -k]

TPM : Social Security Privatization is impossible...

] A linguist from the University of Pittsburgh has
] published a scholarly paper deconstructing and
] deciphering the word "dude," contending it is much more
] than a catchall for lazy, inarticulate surfers, skaters,
] slackers and teenagers.

Dude.

CNN.com - Dude -- professor studies 'dude' - Dec 8, 2004

Just in case you wondered. I know I did.

[ See, when i clicked this, i thought it'd be a joke site. It's even funnier that it's real... -k]

Positions for Intercourse To Be Avoided Following Total Hip Replacement

] The good news is that we may have figured out how to
] solve the moral problem that's been holding up stem-cell
] research. The bad news is that the solution will
] introduce a whole new kind of horror.

Interesting. Someone is finally thinking outside the box on this one, and I like it. Its not creepy...its a brilliant solution to the stem cell problem. Both sides win. I hope this is something the bioethics committee will really consider.

[ Agreed. -k]

Monster Farming - The creepy solution to the stem-cell debate. By William Saletan

] Family Values
]
]
] Yesterday:
]
] Bush introduced Mike and Sharla Hintz, a couple from
] Clive, whom he said benefited from his tax plan.
]
] Last year, because of the enhanced the child tax
] credit, they received an extra $1,600 in their tax
] refund, Bush said. With other tax cuts in the bill, they
] saved $2,800 on their income taxes.
]
] They used the money to buy a wood-burning stove to
] more efficiently heat their home, made some home
] improvements and went on a vacation to Minnesota, the
] president said.
]
] "Next year, maybe they'll want to come to Texas,"
] Bush quipped.
]
] Mike Hintz, a First Assembly of God youth pastor,
] said the tax cuts also gave him additional money to use
] for health care.
]
] He said he supports Bush's values.
]
] "The American people are starting to see what kind of
] leader President Bush is. People know where he stands,"
] he said.
]
] "Where we are in this world, with not just the war on
] terror, but with the war with our culture that's going
] on, I think we need a man that is going to be in the
] White House like President Bush, that's going to stand by
] what he believes.
]
]
] and today...
]
] A Des Moines youth pastor is charged with the sexual
] exploitation of a child.
]
] KCCI learned that the married father of four recently
] turned himself in to Johnston police.
]
] Rev. Mike Hintz was fired from the First Assembly of
] God Church, located at 2725 Merle Hay Road, on Oct. 30.
] Hintz was the youth pastor there for three years.
]
] Police said he started an affair with a 17-year-old
] in the church youth group this spring.

[ This has nothing to do with Bush, in the sense that I'm not so unreasonable as to pin the Reverend's actions on anyone but himself. I bring it up to point out a contrast I see all too frequently between moralist statements, and actual behavior.

On the right, "culture war" is code for "homosexual agenda", it's built into that frame. Something tells me the threat to Rev. Hintz' marriage was not homosexuality, but Adultery. Adultery with a youth over whom he could assert control, and authority.

I don't think hypocracy is necessarily as horrible as many of my generation do, but when you get up on stage with the president and decry the state of our values, you better be pretty clean yourself. -k]

Moral values... (from atrios)

] SEATTLE The unattached, freewheeling,
] consequence-free years following Frank Anderton's
] graduation from college are being spent in "one of the
] coolest offices in all of Seattle," the 24-year-old
] reported Tuesday.
]
] "Man, it's the greatest feeling in the world, knowing
] that I could do anything right now," Anderton said,
] sitting at his desk at 8:30 p.m. Friday.

[ Almost too real to be funny. Almost. -k]

The Onion | Wild, Unattached Twenties Spent At Work

] James Tobin, 44, of Bangor, Maine, the former regional
] director of the Republican National Committee in New
] England, faces charges of conspiracy to commit telephone
] harassment and aiding and abetting telephone harassment.
] He face a jail sentence of up to five years if convicted.
]
] Tobin allegedly took part in a conspiracy to jam five
] telephone numbers run by the New Hampshire Democratic
] Party, and one associated with a local Professional
] Firefighters Association, in an attempt to stop
] opponents' "get-out-the-vote" efforts. More than 800
] hang-up calls jammed the phone lines for about 90 minutes
] on election day, AP reports.

[ I look forward to hearing the facts of this case. If true, he deserves harsh penalties. Suppressing the vote is morally reprehensible behavior. -k]

Senior Republican charged in phone jamming plot

] In modern times there has never been anyone quite like
] Rove, possessing such a long working relationship with
] and influence over a president%u2014a newly re-elected
] one who will wield an expanded majority in Congress.
] "I've been searching for a parallel figure," said
] Marshall Wittmann, a political strategist and writer.
] "The closest is Bobby Kennedy in his brother's
] administration. But even that doesn't get it. Because as
] loyal as Karl is, his political ambitions extend beyond
] one family."

[ A compelling article on what we might be able to expect from the next four years... -k]

MSNBC - Rove Unleashed

] Florida's election supervisors, impressed by the success
] of early voting, proposed dramatic reforms Tuesday that
] would eliminate Election Day, replace it with an 11-day
] election season and do away with precincts.
]
]
] The association of the state's 67 chief elections
] officials voted in concept at its annual winter meeting
] in Orlando to informally present the idea to the
] Legislature and to start rallying support for what its
] members concede would be a sea change in how Floridians
] vote.
]
]
] ''I think the voters spoke loud and clear in the general
] election of 2004 that they want other options than to be
] limited to 12 hours on a Tuesday to vote," said Bill
] Cowles, Orange County supervisor of elections and
] president of the Florida State Association of Supervisors
] of Elections. "We should seize upon the opportunity in
] 2005 to make the changes so we can try it in 2006."

[ Mixed feelings on this. Extending the timeframe would seem likely to increase turnout, as it reduces the pressure on one day, diminishes lines, and so on. On the other hand, there would probably increased difficulty of getting certain groups (the poor and the elderly in particular) to polling places that would now be fewer and farther between, and also the centralization of ballots might promote a more dangerous environment for fraud.

I think these kinds of proposals deserve a lot of attention and discussion, because I think some changes are definitely needed.

I've always thought it made the most sense to simply make election day a national holiday. Voting is so undeniably critical to our way of life, it shouldn't have to be crammed in during lunch time. Volunteers would be far more acessible if they don't have to burn one of their precious 10 vacation days for the year. The fact that we already have 2 federal holidays in november is certainly a hurdle...

Ok, let the discussion begin... -k]

Election Reform in FL