Cascajun

From the PeoplesARTCoOP:

The obliviation of antediluvian excrescences postulates a didactic promorphistic inclusionary ascensional sine qua non, perhaps rectifying the recidivisual deconcurrence of reductive influences, remaining not ineffectual per se though expressing a certain contradissonance trending towards mass disembarkation. We seek to reconfirm the aforementioned while attaining a hitherto unforeseen unknowability.

I know those guys; they really do trend toward a mass disembarkation.

In a videotaped statement Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, disclosed some shocking details of the housing bailout legislation being rushed through Congress:

• The two troubled federal mortgage agencies, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, will be given unlimited access to the U.S. Treasury without requiring any further approval from Congress.
• The U.S. national debt ceiling will be raised by $800 billion, which suggests that the bailout is expected to cost a lot more than the country is being told.
• All credit card transactions will have to be reported to the Internal Revenue Service, as if the country isn’t under enough government surveillance already.

With the nomination locked away, Obama now has shifting views on FISA, NAFTA, and the campaign finance system.

As the NYT wrote:

Mr. Obama is an introspective candidate, and perhaps the best analyst of his own political style. “I serve as a blank screen,” he wrote in The Audacity of Hope, “on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views.”

That sounds like a chameleon, to me.

Karma karma karma karma karma chameleon
You come and go
You come and go
Loving would be easy if your colors were like my dream
Red, gold and green
Red, gold and green

I’m a man without conviction
I’m a man who doesnt know
How to sell a contradication
You come and go
You come and go

Nathan Myhrvold talks about a few of his latest fascinations — animal photography, archeology, BBQ and generally being an eccentric genius multimillionaire.

The New Scientist YouTube channel has video posted about pitcher plants.

The property where I grew up in Louisiana has pitcher plants on it, mostly growing in hillside seepage bogs.

My friend Doug is a paraglider and gave me some of his video footage. I put this short film together this morning.

A closer look at my attempt to clear the snow covered log on a trail called Mullet.

That’s pure fun!

I’ve been going on some snow rides with my buddies the past few weekends. We’ve had some video camera’s along and captured some footage. Here is my first attempt at editing a short video with iMovie on my MacBook.

This also happens to be the first thing I’ve uploaded to YouTube. Obviously I’m a novice, as I can’t seem to set a still for my nice new video. Fortunately YouTube has set a default image, making that patently obvious to everyone. Nevertheless, I can now check off two more of those “must do before you die” pop-culture geek things!

Update: I see the still image I selected for the video is there now…nice.

Here is a partial transcript of a John Edwards YouTube interview where he categorizes items as rights or privileges.

Question: A college education?

Edwards: Right.

Q: Health care?

E: Right.

Q: A livable wage?

E: Right.

Q: Owning a handgun?

E: Privilege.

Q: American citizenship for someone not born here but has worked here for one year?

E: Working for one year? That’s a hard one, because I think people have to earn citizenship. I think I would have a period be longer than one year.

Q: Five years maybe?

E: Five years for sure.

Q: Access to the Internet?

E: That should be a right.

Wow! The only item that Edwards thinks is a privilege, and not a right, is a right found in the Bill of Rights.