Lawrence

Greetings. We'll be at Free State tonight. It turns out they were closed for repairs last week. A few of us ended up at Jo Schmo's.

But we will be at FSB tonight. Ask for us at the front desk.

Seen on an anti-Palin protest sign in Alaska:

“I see Russia, I’ve heard of France, I wear Chinese underpants.”

Hi Folks. We will be at free state tonight. Ask for us at the front desk.

Here is some info about an event going on tonight that I know a few DL folks will attend before heading down to our event.

LAWRENCE — The Hall Center for the Humanities at the University of Kansas has announced the first speaker in the 2008-2009 Humanities Lecture Series.

Susan Estrich, the Robert Kingsley Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of Southern California, will discuss “The 2008 Election: What’s at Stake” at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 23 at Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union. The event is free and open to the public.

Estrich is one of the nation’s leading legal scholars. Known for her quick wit and humor as a commentator on Fox News Channel, Estrich was the first woman to run a national presidential campaign, the first female president of the Harvard Law Review and the youngest woman to be tenured at Harvard Law School.

A former Supreme Court law clerk, Estrich is a passionate believer in the rule of law. Estrich is perhaps best known in academic circles for her path-breaking work on the law of rape, notably her book “Real Rape.” A senior adviser to four presidential campaigns, Estrich is a regular contributor to the Washington Post and Newsweek. Her book, “The Case for Hillary Clinton,” is an impassioned argument for Clinton as the Democrats’ leading candidate for president in 2008.

Founded in 1947, the Humanities Lecture Series is the oldest continuing series at KU. More than 150 eminent scholars from around the world have participated in the program, including authors Vladimir Nabokov and Aldous Huxley. Recent scholars have included Edward Said, Dava Sobel, Sherman Alexie and E.O. Wilson. Shortly after the program’s inception, a lecture by one outstanding KU faculty member each year was added to the schedule.

Greetings. We'll be meeting tonight at Free State tonight, 8 until 10 p.m. I anticipate a good turnout. The Fall Equinox is right around the corner. The election is less than 2 months away. The weather is wonderful (about a month premature!).

Ask for us at the front desk.

Did you know John McCain invented wireless technology? (from Dailykos.com):

How John McCain Invented Cell Phones and WiFi
by Devilstower
Tue Sep 16, 2008 at 09:30:12 AM PDT
Now that John McCain has at last turned in his answers to Science Debate 2008 (after peeking at Barack Obama's answers for a couple of weeks) there are some interesting tidbits hidden among his rambling responses.

Take this reply to a question about maintaining America's lead in innovation.

I am uniquely qualified to lead our nation during this technological revolution. While in the Navy, I depended upon the technologies and information provided by our nation’s scientists and engineers with during each mission.

Let's stop there for a second. Here John McCain insists he's uniquely qualified to discuss technology because... he used some. Forty years ago. This is the same kind of high standard by which he assured us that Sarah Palin knew more about energy than anyone else in America, and Phil Gramm was one of the smartest people in the world on the economy. At least he didn't claim any MacGyverite tech affinities developed in Hanoi.

Okay, let's continue.

I am the former chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. The Committee plays a major role in the development of technology policy, specifically any legislation affecting communications services, the Internet, cable television and other technologies. Under my guiding hand, Congress developed a wireless spectrum policy that spurred the rapid rise of mobile phones and Wi-Fi technology that enables Americans to surf the web while sitting at a coffee shop, airport lounge, or public park.

And, stop. There you have it, people. John McCain not only invented cell phones, he tossed in wifi as an afterthought.

Let's go back and see how McCain's hand guided that development.

With the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the Senate passed the first major revision to telecommunications law in 62 years which provided the foundation for much of the cell phone and Internet regulation over the next decade. The bill passed 81-18 and was signed into law by President Clinton. McCain voted against the act.

In 2002, McCain authored the "Consumer Broadband Deregulation Act of 2002" which eliminated the requirement of the 1996 law that telecommunication companies provide access to competitors. It didn't pass.

In 2003, the Internet Tax Freedom Act was passed, putting in place a moratorium on taxes for activities on the Intenet. The bill had 11 cosponsors – McCain wasn't one of them. He did vote for the bill, but since it passed 97-3, that's definitely "guiding" with a small 'g.' Granted, this wasn't directly a bill about wireless, but since McCain doesn't seem to have authored any law on wireless technology, I'm having to search for connections.

Of pending legistlation, McCain is not a sponsor of the "Connect the Nation Act" – though Senator Obama is. McCain is not a sponsor of Senator Rockefeller's call for a universal next generation broadband by 2015 – though Senator Obama is. And of course, McCain isn't a sponsor of the "Internet Freedom Act" that would ensure net neutrality – though Senator Obama is. That last is no surprise. McCain has repeatedly opposed net neutrality, saying that companies have a right to restrict speed or even limit access to sites "when you control the pipe you should be able to get profit from your investment."

So, McCain's "guiding hand" seems to consist of opposing the legislation that laid the groundwork for the communications we have today, and authoring failed legislation designed to benefit big carriers. Of course, we should probably be glad that John McCain really didn't invent the cell phone or wifi, otherwise we'd all be getting our wireless services from one monolithic company free to restrict our access to only the pages that pay for the privilege. And we'd all be using "Jitterbugs."

Update [2008-9-16 12:36:29 by Devilstower]: Not only did John McCain invent the cell phone and wifi, he was the first to tie them together in his other invention the Blackberry.

"He did this," Douglas Holtz-Eakin told reporters this morning, holding up his BlackBerry. "Telecommunications of the United States is a premier innovation in the past 15 years, comes right through the Commerce committee so you're looking at the miracle John McCain helped create and that's what he did."

So now we know what McCain has been doing while missing all those votes in the Senate. He's been moonlighting as a Canadian MP -- RIM, the company that makes the Blackberry, is headquartered outside Toronto.

Hi Folks. We'll be at Free State tonight. It's fall. I will be a little late but I will get there. Ask for us at the Front desk.

How about that Sarah Palin! Here's a blurb from www.dailykos.com about her being the commander in chief of the Alaskan National Guard:

A Sneak Peek at Palin as C-in-C.
by Kagro X
Tue Sep 09, 2008 at 11:30:54 AM PDT

Honoring military service by trading promotions for political favors, eh?

The Republican way.

VoteVets' Brandon Friedman has the story:

Sunday 31 August 2008: Major General Craig Campbell, Adjutant General of the Alaska National Guard, tells the AP that:

he and Palin play no role in national defense activities, even when they involve the Alaska National Guard. The entire operation is under federal control, and the governor is not briefed on situations.

The quote is used against Palin throughout the media for several days.

Then Brandon points out that three days later, General Campbell says it again, in the Boston Globe:

[T]he Alaskan governor is not in the site's chain of command and has no authority over its operations, according to Maj. Gen. Craig E. Campbell, the adjutant general of the Alaska National Guard who commands the roughly 3,800 state militia members.

But then...

Friday 5 September 2008: Only two days later, Campbell's story has completely fip-flopped. Now he's suddenly praising Palin, appearing on Fox News to gush about what a superb commander-in-chief she is:

"I'll tell you, in the last few days, I've been watching the press, and I've not been very pleased with what I've been seeing about the chastising of the National Guard by having it diminished by the insinuation that a commander-in-chief of the National Guard doesn't really control the military. The National Guard has 500,000 people in it around this great country, serving in states and overseas. National Guards are state military forces run by governors, and Sarah Palin does it great."

Result? Cha-ching!

Monday 8 September: After the weekend--and after his complimentary remarks--Major General Campbell is promoted within the Alaska National Guard to the rank of Lieutenant General. The promotion is not recognized outside the state of Alaska, but he is promoted with his third star, nonetheless.

Sign on the dotted line and get a promotion, General. Hell, you had no choice. You know she'd fire you if you didn't.