La Salle Debain

Well That wasn't supposed to happen. But it did so nothing remains but to congratulate the victors and prepare for the next round. People seem to think I ought to be more upset about this but I'm not. While I'm sure there will be a round of recriminations or two, McCain-Palin gave it as good a shot as they were going to do under the circumstances so there's really no point in wondering about what might have been.

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I wish everyone a happy Diwali and nothing but good fortune and prosperity in the new Gujarati year called Sharvari (V.S. 2065)

This year the local mandirs got wise and lobbied the city for permission to hold a firework display however we had horrible weather today so we didn't go. I had already prepared my own stash of fireworks anyway so we enjoyed them at home.

On the presents front, I got a much needed woollen hat, another tulasi plant (lets see how long before I kill this one.) and a gift certificate for audiobooks which I used to get "Slaughterhouse 5" by Kurt Vonnegut, "Naked Lunch" by William S. Burroughs, and "A Clockwork Orange' by Anthony Burgess. And of course all the sweets I could eat.

Once again I crushed all beneath my booted toe at Hungry Hungry Hippos.

Joerg Jaspert has posted a proposal to add some new types of contributor status to the Debian project. I like it. Clint Adams on the other hand is not a fan

Here's why I think it is a good idea. For some time, I have been involved in trying to get people involved in Debian particulary, but not exclusively, Indians. One thing I have heard over and over again is that getting involved is too overwhelming. Obviously there are some people who are motivated enough to deal with all the hurdles but there are others who could contribute something but lack the time or inclination to go through the whole New Maintainer process. Some kind of lesser privileged status with would enable them to participate with less responsibilities. And, it must be acknowledged, with less rights, but this type of person would not care about being able to vote or login to project servers. It can be argued that they can already do this via alioth or sponsorship but this proposal formally acknowledges that they are part of the Debian team. Being on the inside may in time give wallflowers the impetus to get more involved and eventually seek full developer status.

We already have this in part with the Debian Maintainer appellation which seems to be working well, this proposal just extends the idea a little bit.

One thing which was not made clear was if the proposal is a fait accompli or if there will be a GR about it. I think there ought to be one to give skeptics a chance to really prod and poke this thing or we will end up with another morass of recrimination and backbiting like what happened with dunc-tank.

Wow this Joe the Plumber phenomenon really seems to have Democrats spooked as they are now scrambling to find any possible dirt on the guy who dared to question Dear Leader. One might think people with a solid 6-10% lead wouldn't need to be so desperate but Adam is probably well aware of the Democratic partys penchant of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. A lot of these progressive types are still nursing resentment for the "swiftboating" of John Kerry and wary that it will happen again so todays strategy is pre-emptive douchebaggery before Karl Roves evil minions can sully the pristine reputation of their fair candidate.

What they don't realize is that calling Kerry an America hating traitor worked because there was reasonable evidence that he threw his medals away, and made speeches denouncing his country which are typical of acts people associate in their minds with America hating traitors. The 527s exaggerated but the exaggeration would not have worked if there was not an element of truth behind it. Now no one is disputing that Obama actually did make the "share the wealth" remark. Whether the person he said it to is a republican plant or some other sort of nogoodnik is immaterial. Obama is a redistributionist and that is precisely the reason why liberals want to him to be president.

And how pathetic is the "dirt"? He owes backtaxes? Gee I wonder why someone who already owes money would be apprehensive about having to pay more? A lot of people owe money at one time or another and even have liens placed as a result. Perhaps it is relevant to mention that for someone in public office (like oh, say, Charles Rangel who I'm sure Adam will discuss in his next post.) but for a private citizen? Isn't that one of the "chilling effects on free speech" we were going to be subjected to in Bush's America?

The other one one was how is not a real plumber. Apparently he is not licensed but, sit down for this one, it is actually possible to do work without a piece of paper from the government. Really! I've seen it happen. Is it always a good idea to ignore licensing regulations? Well they often serve to protect the public from malpractice but then again they often prop up cartels. Here in the NY/NJ area plenty of people of all political persuasions seem to be willing to take the risk of hiring unlicensed plumbers and other tradesmen because at the end of the day, it's the, you know plumbing, that makes you a plumber nothing else. And none of this has any bearing on Obamas policies or what they mean for America.

So if you like socialism and think its what America needs, feel free to make the case to the voters and perhaps they will agree with you or perhaps not. But stop with with the ad hominems against people who point that out.

Aaaaaargh

Aaaaaargh

It's Gandhi not Ghandi.

-- Jaldhar (not Jhaldar)

obRevolution: Capitalism has been the most successful revolution of our times because it allows the greatest number of people the possibility to make their own revolutions if they want. (Or not if they don't want—a possibility which is never taken into account by wild-eyed beret wearers.)

Martin Kraft talking about swinegate asks:

Is the next thing we'll see tears on stage?

No we already did that. I'm sure the international press featured lots of discussion of the gender card at the time that I missed. Oh by the way did I mention we just bought a 40 inch high definition plasma tv? It's awesome. Anyway if you read Republican commentators such as here you would see that many of them think it isn't a good idea to dwell on this topic.

If Obama says he didn't intend to attack Gov. Palin I for one believe him but he really didn't forsee his remarks would have this result? Really?

I don't know what it says about Debian but while the political content of my last post was ignored, I have received a steady stream of email today saying Michael Palin was in fact the lumberjack in "And Now For Something Completely Different" Obviously I am unfit to be a heartbeat away from the DPL.

obTheOtherPalin: Today is Ganesh Chaturthi so I have been to busy praying to watch it. I presume it will be on youtube or something by tomorrow. In any case as long as she didn't embarass herself, my view that she will be a plus for the McCain campaign still stands.

In the original version of "The Lumberjack Song", the lumberjack was played by Michael Palin but in the later Monty Python live shows and the film "And Now For Something Completely Different" the role was taken over by Eric Idle.

The McCain campaign made a great tactical move by choosing Sarah Palin. She appeals to all the constituencies where McCain was weak: women, Christians, Libertarians, small state residents, energy policy wonks, corruption fighters, capitalists, gun enthusiasts, and Tina Fey fetishists.

Downsides? She is inexperienced in national affairs but I really don't think the average voter will care. After all many of them were willing to overlook a similar level of inexperience in Obama. And there is one minor possible ethics situation which again will only excite the true believers. When it turns out to be overblown it may actually rebound in Palins favor as an example of MSM manipulation.

She can also take the change meme away from the Democrats though that was already on the rocks what with the FISA vote and the choice of Neil Kinnock as his VP nominee. No, the lacklustre convention in Denver clearly showed that far from being the post-ideological, audaciously hopeful candidate of the future, Barack Obama is merely John Kerry with rhythm.

So what do the Dems have have left? The traditional Democratic themes of "We're not Bush" (that worked sooo well the last two times didn't it?) and "The Earth is about to explode in a fiery cataclysm." As the situation in Iraq improves, the economy climbs upwards from recession and petrol prices continue to come down its going to be harder to sustain the necessary level of gloom and doom.

While Republicans shouldn't exhale just yet (and the title of this post is just a teensy bit hyperbolic,) things are looking pretty good for us at the moment.