Owner: Asymmetric URL:http://www.nelsonguirado.com Join Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 19:07:22 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: 38 years in the making, my blogs. I have sections for movie, book, and television reviews; political commentary from a moderate perspective; Catholicism and religion; Cuban music; tech reviews; and some things I think are funny. Site statistics:Click here
Fidel Castro and Christmas 2007-01-17 22:32:38 I have the Castro
blues. I'm happy that a change in leadership is coming soon, but I'm sad because I don't know how exactly to commemorate this fortuitous event. I live in Los Angeles so there won't be any street parties. I could go over to my parents house, I guess (whoo hoo!). If I were at his bedside I could live blog his last moments (OK, a gasp-another-wait; he's coming to; no, it was just the Spanish doctor holding his head-and 1, 2, 3, there he goes- We have death!) I feel kind of like those people who hate the pressure of Christmas
. Oh, well.
Listen, Whatever you do, don't let them vote.
Daily Kos attacks Ledeen for soldier remarks 2007-01-17 19:05:00 The Daily
Kos, in its usual dismissive and unserious manner criticized this article by Michael Ledeen for this paragraph:
Note that an increase in embeds doesn’t necessarily require an increase in overall troop strength. We’ve got lots of soldier
s sitting on megabases all over Iraq. They should be out and about, some of them embedded, others just moving around, tracking the terrorists, hunting them down. I don’t know how many guys and gals are sitting in air-conditioned quarters and drinking designer coffee, but it’s a substantial number. Enough of that.
By replying thusly:
Their level of disrespect for the poor soldiers stuck with the consequences of the mistakes made by Bush, McCain and the rest of the pro-war crowd is breathtaking.
But telling. The "support our troops" rhetoric only applies as long as they're making conservatives look good. Otherwise, they get heaped with scorn.
A reader replied:
Not sure about our troops but I'll bet that 100% of Read more:attacks
, Daily Kos
Conversation with Dawkins nueve 2007-01-17 17:31:50 We now continue with Dawkins
' post at the Huffington Post (I know, but that's what it's called). When last we left our intrepid atheist, he was insisting that God follow the rules of science. Today we continue with Dawkins trashing an argument for God nobody's used since 1450 and, even then, missing the point.
Another of Aquinas' efforts, the Argument from Degree, is worth spelling out, for it epitomises the characteristic flabbiness of theological reasoning. We notice degrees of, say, goodness or temperature, and we measure them, Aquinas said, by reference to a maximum:
Now the maximum in any genus is the cause of all in that genus, as fire, which is the maximum of heat, is the cause of all hot things . . . Therefore, there must also be something which is to all beings the cause of their being, goodness, and every other perfection; and this we call God.
That's an argument? You might as well say that people vary in smelliness but we can make the judgment only by reference to Read more:Conversation
Conversation with Dawkins ocho 2007-01-16 21:59:24 We continue.
Previous posts in this series:
1. Uno
2. Dos
3. Tres
4. Cuatro
5. Cinco
6. Seis
7. Siete
Accepting, then, that the God Hypothesis is a proper scientific hypothesis whose truth or falsehood is hidden from us only by lack of evidence, what should be our best estimate of the probability that God exists, given the evidence now available? Pretty low I think, and here's why.
First, most of the traditional arguments for God's existence, from Aquinas on, are easily demolished.
Mr. Dawkins
says that most arguments for God are easily demolished. I agree. The question is: how many arguments does Dawkins need? One good one should suffice, no? OK let's see his demolition project.
Several of them, such as the First Cause argument, work by setting up an infinite regress which God is wheeled out to terminate. But we are never told why God is magically able to terminate regresses while needing no explanation himself. To be sure, we do need some kind of explanation for the orig Read more:Conversation
Castro nearing death 2007-01-16 21:23:02 This story on Fidel Castro
reports that Castro is in grave condition, being attended to by a Spanish doctor-I guess the ones he sent to Velenzuela weren't good enough for el Commandante. Anyways, let's look out for the contrast in coverage from the left media (Nation, etc.) between Castro's death
and Pinochet's.
And I promise to not let people vote for nearly 47 years and have my brother take over when I die.
McGovern's last Hurrah 2007-01-16 18:23:47 Seems kind of morbid calling this statement by McGovern his last Hurrah. He could say something just as emotional and irrelevant next year. I don't understand, for example, the cradle of civilization remark. So? The North Vietnamese didn't think the war was needless. Neither did the Chinese and Russians who helped them. They needed something. Can somebody explain which rights are being subverted? Somebody should take it to the supreme court and let them know. They already decided against the president once.
One blogger thought these empty pronouncements were genial and courageous:
I'm afraid I wasn't much interested in American when George McGovern was a Senator (I was still at school here in Sydney), but he certainly sounds like an intelligent, insightful man of courage. He definitely gives George Bush & Dick Cheney a bucketing here:
=> Read more!
Martin Luther King-Great American 2007-01-15 23:08:35 As a teacher, I've taught about MartinLuther
King every year since I started teaching about 13 years ago. I must say that of all the different birthdays commemorating American
heroes, I, as well as my students, get most emotional for MLK's. I think it has to do with the simplicity of his message, men should be judged by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin, combined with his personal courage and the now near-universally accepted justness of his cause, racial equality under the law, that appeals to people across the age and racial spectrum-and it should; he was a great man.
I won't make any political or cultural points today; let's just celebrate Martin Luther
King, be proud of the progress we've made, and conscious of anything we need to clean up.
Read more:Great
, Martin Luther King
LA Times notices Latino Racism 2007-01-15 22:27:53 I'd like to draw your attention to an article by Tanya K. Hernandez in the LA Times
confirming that non-Whites can be racists. And Hernandez isn't just talking about the context-mediated, almost-excusable, resentment-racism that some American Blacks may have for Whites, but includes the I don't want my daughter marrying your kind variety of racism many (not me) normally associate exclusively with White-Americans. Hernandez' point is important for a couple of reasons:
1. To many outside of the Latino
community-especially those who consider themselves progressives (and therefore mainly concerned with equality) such pronouncements are often met with hostility because they go against the progressive practice of lauding the oppressed and attacking the those in power.
2. Honesty is necessary to combat any problem.
I plan on elaborating Hernandez' point in my own Asymmetric manner sometime this week. Read more:Racism
You must have a nice life if you worry about global warming. 2007-01-18 08:33:15 A site called Bloodless Coup (whew! that's a relief!) worries about this:
Yep... that global warming stuff is ALL made up
The north of Greenland is melting:
All over Greenland and the Arctic, rising temperatures are not simply melting ice; they are changing the very geography of coastlines. Nunataks — “lonely mountains†in Inuit — that were encased in the margins of Greenland’s ice sheet are being freed of their age-old bonds, exposing a new chain of islands, and a new opportunity for Arctic explorers to write their names on the landscape.
“We are already in a new era of geography,†said the Arctic explorer Will Steger. “This phenomenon — of an island all of a sudden appearing out of nowhere and the ice melting around it — is a real common phenomenon now.â€
In August, M Read more:worry
Carl's Jr. Restaurant Files for Bankruptsy 2007-01-18 04:27:53 Carl's Jr. Restaurant, for years the perfect second date destination due to the bump-up in service from McDonald's, (check this out baby, they bring the food to the table), has decided to call it quits. As anybody who's looked at that poster knows, Karl Karcher began his fast food empire in 1941 when he borrowed money for a Hot Dog stand. He called it Carl's instead of Karl's because...well, it was 1941.
The company fell into hard times after it introduced the Six-Dollar burger in 2001 at the then-unheard of proce of $3.95. "We lost two dollars on every burger; it had to end sometime," said former CEO Andrew Pudzer. The Rosie O'Donnell ad with her washing a car didn't help either.
Pudzer hopes the company can find financing to keep afloat. One things for sure: say good-bye to a great food bargain.
Replacing Paris was a mistake. Not only did Rosie not fit in the bathing suit, she went through 9 $6.00 burgers. That's $54.00 right off the bat.
Cooliris-annoyance, cool, or cool annoyance? 2007-01-18 03:06:13
I have to admit that I'm coming aroung to Firefox. As mentioned in this review, I usually use Avant Browser, but Firefox has three features that are kind of winning me over. The first one is the ability to include a search box from which you can choose wikipedia (Asymmetric only consults the most accurate sources), Websters (not that I need help spelling), IMDB (last search-Sikozu from Farscape), and some social networking sites like Digg. The second one is that Firefox doesn't crash on some sites like Avant does. And the third is the automatic spell check (for my wife).
So, one of the things you can get for Firefox is this Cooliris thing I found on Internet Tidbits. It's supposed to give you a preview of each link you hover over. I can see the usefulness of such a plug-in, but I had my suspicions. After all, if a site says it talks about D&D miniatures, I trust it will be a website; do I really need it proven to me? Plus, I thought, how annoying is having every link pop-up
Finally, we get to vote for the greater of two evils. 2007-01-19 01:26:48 Or ten, rather. Here's the Asymmetric take on the Moonbat Hall of fame voting at Moonbat Early Warning System
Hugo Chavez: A lefty with delusions of Castroism. Chavez really doesn't belong on this list for the following reasons:
1. He had to ask permission from his people before starting to ruin his country.
2. His friends, the Palestinians; Iranians; and college professors, don't present the threat that a nuclear Kim does.
3. To be fair, he hasn't starved his people or threatened to destroy a country.
4. If he continues his progressive policies, (a regress to 1960s Cuba), we in the U.S. should be receiving an influx of gorgeous Venezolanas:
Thanks, Mr. Chavez
New York Times
The fact that they complained about a leak about Iraq's nuclear program that now, because of the action they opposed, has no chance of resurrection while themselves leaking important secret information about an ongoing conflict that may do some real damage takes a lot of gall and places this venera Read more:Finally
, greater
Democrats not concerned about gas proces. 2007-01-19 07:23:21 WASHINGTON — House Democrats
in the first weeks of the new Congress plan to establish a dedicated fund to promote renewable energy and conservation, using money from oil companies.
Remember the Democrats decrying high gas prices a few months ago? Apparently, low gas prices aren't as important as high taxes. I don't mind closing loopholes or even raising taxes. What I do mind is wasting it on some pork projects.
And, the Democrats prove for the 583rd time how hypocritical they are. What happens to the price of gas when it's taxed more? Maybe they can raise taxes and offer a rebate to consumers to offset higher gas prices. Read more:concerned
If you make me listen to the police, I'll sue. UCLA Taser case 2007-01-19 07:14:01 LOS ANGELES — A UCLA student who was shocked with a Taser
by campus police after refusing to show his identification card sued the university, claiming his civil rights were violated.
Mostafa Tabatabainejad, 23, alleges University of California, Los Angeles campus police officers used excessive force by repeatedly shocking him with the stun gun Nov. 14, according to the lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court.
Tabatabainejad refused to show his student ID to a security guard during a check at the Powell Library because he believed he was singled out based on his Middle Eastern appearance, the lawsuit said. He is Iranian-American...
...Tabatabainejad said he tried to remain calm, explaining to the officers that he was a student and that he suffers from bipolar disorder. The lawsuit claims the officers violated the Americans With Disabilities Act and caused intentional infliction of emotional distress.
OK. So do I have to show my ID if I don't want to? What's the message?
Global Warming Comment from Tiffany 2007-01-19 04:55:47 I received this comment concerning my story on global warming:
I am very sorry to hear that you feel global warming and mass extinction is something to joke or kid around about. Surely you are aware that all of the earths systems: the atmosphere,lithosphere,hydrosphere, and her biosphere are all interrelated. Each one of these systems have the ability to effect the other. Global
warming is a real serious concern. I strongly suggest that you do some sound research before making "fun" of a serious life or death situation. Your comments and suggestions are merely uneducated opinions that may unfortunately lead some people to question the validity of global warming and other environmental issues. POINT: you are hurting others around you- really all living creatures are being indirectly harmed by your suggestions. We must act ethically to one another and also to all of the living creatures on this earth. I am not writing this to you in order to cause anger or defense. I simply pray that yo Read more:Comment
, Global Warming
, Tiffany
Siniyah takes steps in establishing police force, security 2007-01-19 21:04:21 SINIYAH, Iraq — Due to the insurgent uprisings around the last week of October, the majority of the Sinyah’s police officers, the mayor and the entire city council resigned.
The uprisings resulted in the complete destruction of the police station and left the city without security
.
However, the city of Sinyah has not given up.
After the devastating blow, a new police station is now being built and police officers are being trained to standard, said Antoine Dunmeyer, commander, Company A, 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division.
I won't give up until Iraqis throw in the towel.
Read more:steps
The Louis Proyect seeks to determine how dumb people can be 2007-01-19 20:45:06 I would rather live in:
1. Sweden
2. Canada
3. Cuba
Sorry, you're out of time. It's tough, I know. Louis
Proyect thinks it's tough too now that:
The Cuban economy has done quite nicely over the past 10 years, enough to catapult it into the top tier of the UN Human Development Indicators along with Sweden, Canada, etc. Read more:people
63rd Fallen Comrades MAJ Charles Soltes, Jr. 2007-01-19 17:01:13
MAJ Soltes, 36, voluntarily transferred to the 426th Civil Affairs Battalion out of Upland, Calif. from the 7214th IMSU in Garden Grove, was killed on Oct. 13, 2004, in Mosul, Iraq, when his convoy was ambushed by insurgents. He was one of two Soldiers killed and five injured. MAJ Soltes and his wife Sally shared an optometry practice in Irvine. He also left behind two sons, Ryan, 7, and Brandan, 9, and his parents, Charles
and Nancy Soltes.
Rest in Peace Read more:Fallen
Machito videos 2007-01-20 04:32:59 I'm getting addicted to watching these old videos
on youtube. Here's Machito:
How does one defend the fairness doctrine? 2007-01-20 04:05:58 I've heard it proposed and my policy is to take every argument seriously, but how does one defend this? Here's what I've come up with so far:
1. People who listen to AM radio but have never attended college, read a newspaper, or watched television might get the impression that everybody's conservative.
2. ummm....I don't know. I'm all tapped out. Can anybody help?
http://www.gameaccount.com/img/mail/GAinsider25062004/fairness
-guaranteed.gif Read more:doctrine
Jack Bauer/ 24 season 6 premiere review 2007-01-20 02:50:07 OK. I made the mistake of live blogging 24 on two separate blogs-Reviews and Politics and Culture. However, you can read it all by clicking on here. I'm not one for excuses, but, in my defense, I was distracted during the whole show by the Asymmetric staff (sorry honey, but it's the truth).
All 24 review
s need to be divided into two categories, drama and politics, or they blend into each other and make for a mish-mashy mess.
Politics:
I'm a conservative who thinks that some Muslims wish to harm me because I'm not a Muslim, but I also don't hate Muslims in general and hope that we can avoid a clash of civilizations with the combination of strong Westerners and moderate Muslims. Therefore, my criteria for political perfection in terrorism-related fiction includes acknowledgment of Muslim terrorism, hope through Muslim moderation, and recognition of everybody's individual humanity. True Lies handled the subject well while Sum of all Fears (Nazi terrorists in 2000?) and Casin Read more:Bauer
, Jack Bauer
Iraqi body count proposal 2007-01-20 23:18:10 Many of you, including some whose opinion I count
as being aligned with progress, have said that my study was not the best way to count Beeazelbush's victims in Iraq. OK, let's split the difference between the Lancet near-fascist interpretation and and my more progressive approach and call it 23 million. That's still as many as died defending the Soviet Republic from Prescott Bush (oh where have all the anti-fascist heroes gone?). Read more:Iraqi
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