Back in business

After a small hiatus, I'm organized enough in my new place to get this thing on the road again. Luckily this was a good news week so the blog practically writes itself.

First off, the Republican convention came and went. Since I didn't have internet access until Friday and had no cable, I basically missed the whole thing. However, most media outlets didn't, who took the time to relay Bush's message of a safer world with a Republican administration and their attempts to soften the Republican image. There was also some discussion on whether Bush's domestic policies were (and will be) effective for the current economic malaise, how the there was mixed success on the goals iterated by Bush four years ago, and the disturbing tendency for the Republicans to frame the debate making it 'unpatriotic' to vote against the president. As Zell Miller put it:

While young Americans are dying in the sands of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan, our nation is being torn apart and made weaker because of the Democrats' manic obsession to bring down our commander in chief.

Yes, that 'manic obsession' is called a Presidential election. I know it would be easier for the Republicans to just do without them, but fortunately every four years the American citizenry gets to chose to change directions if they believe the current course isn't leading them where they want to go. Second prize goes to Vice President Cheney, who stated quite literally that American faces a higher risk of terror attacks with a Democratic ticket in the White House. No mention on how or why, just straight out fear-mongering.

The media has recently picked up on the many errors and omissions in the speeches given at the convention, starting with the claim that he voted against a pile of military machinery that is currently used by the troops. This article shows that most of these cuts came during the end of the Cold War when, given that the Soviet Union disbanded, it might make sense that you don't need as much machinery as in the middle of the Cold War -- not to mention that many Republicans were also calling for the cuts, George Bush's father included. In addition, other weapons systems that Kerry 'voted against' cited in the Republican propaganda first, occurred 14 years ago and second, occurred because of his opposition to a larger defence bill in general, not to the specific systems that were contained. Like this Slate article says, Republicans could have just as easily used this argument to say that by not voting for the defence bill, Kerry actually voted to abolish the armed forces. But that might arise some suspicion as to the veracity of the claim.

Anyway, one would expect that an online magazine like Slate would look into these claims, but the important thing is that mainstream papers like the Washington Post are now actually doing research and finding that many Republican statements at the convention were either misleading or out-right false. The Toronto Star reports that part of Arnold's speech where he talks about 'seeing Soviet tanks' and 'leaving a socialist state' is historically incorrect, first having grown up in a British-occupied sector that the Russians left two years before his birth and second pointing out that all of Austria's chancellors were Conservatives from 1945 to 1970. The Campaign Desk takes aim at the hypothetical Republican accusations about Kerry's Vietnam war record, and in the best part of the article state:

"In four months of service," {US Republican Senator Allan] Simpson said in reference to John Kerry, "it's very difficult for this cowboy to understand how you get three purple hearts. Just mark it down, that's all I'm saying."

It was the equivalent of a Democrat going on the air and saying, "Well, I've heard George Bush used to do a lot of cocaine 30 years ago, and I know it's tough to stop doing drugs, so it's just difficult for this American to understand how it could be that he's not still coked up to the gills every day. Just mark it down, that's all I'm saying."

Even Chris Matthews from MSNBC's Hardball, a very unlikely Kerry supporter, is decrying the Bush campaign's tactics after they did a hatchet-job to his interview with Kerry in order to mislead the public on Kerry's positions. Finally, at least two swift boat veterans has publicly admonished the Republican-backed group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth for using their names without permission.

The Kerry campaign struck back after the week-long 'hate fest' (to use a Republican term), reminding people that it's hypocritical to challenge his war record when neither Bush nor Cheney actually served in Vietnam and refocusing the debate on the poor economy and the lack of progress in Iraq. In fact, Bush's military record is the focus of a new ad (Quicktime movie) paralleling the SBVFT ad, where an air guardsman who served in Bush's unit claims that he never saw him there, and challenges anyone in the unit who claims to have seen him to come forward. No takers so far. Since this issue gets confusing, I found this graphic that shows a timeline of Bush's reported military service.

Despite all of this, President Bush did get a bounce out of the convention with some polls showing him beating John Kerry in the popular vote, though with the 1000th military personnel killed in Iraq, an overall increase in the rate of fatalities, and the budget deficit coming in much worse than expected, Kerry still has issues on which he can capitalize. Interestingly enough, though not really surprising, an international poll of 35 countries of the world showed that only 5 would re-elect Bush if they could vote in the election. Canadians supported Kerry at a 61% level while Bush was dwindling at 16%. It just goes to show the level of dislike of this current administration internationally -- a dislike that can only dampen efforts for international cooperation that America now desperately needs if Bush is re-elected. The chances for the American people to be exposed to both candidates in the same room has recently decreased though, as reports have President Bush backing out of one of the three proposed debates. On a lighter convention note, the New York Press lists its 1001 things to hate about the convention.

In Sudan, the UN is considering armed intervention to halt the ongoing humanitarian crisis as thousands continue to flee new episodes of violence. Former Canadian general Romeo Dallaire who was in charge of UN troops when the Rwandan genocide was underway lashed out against the current measures, calling them lame and obtuse. Swedish Foreign Minister Liala Freivalds echoed similar feelings, accusing the UN of dragging its feet on the issue. Oxfam, in order to raise money for relief working Darfur, has released a CD with artists like REM, Jet and David Gray volunteering their songs.

Also:
- A piece in the New Scientist explains why its likely that an alien civilization will send us a message on a physical body instead of by radio or other means.
- Two new rocky planets have been discovered outside of our solar system.
- Cassini has found a new ring around Saturn.
- A European probe will examine the dark side of the moon.
- You can now bet on whether scientists will figure out major problems and theories by a certain time.
- The progress towards the hydrogen economy is taking some steps forward.
- Oceans currently act as big CO2 sinks that slow global warming, but at the risk of killing marine life.
- Apparently some scientists are studying whether stress influences cows to become lesbians.
- Low fat diets have been clinically proven to be as effective as Atkins.
- A new procedure could use magnets to pull cancer drugs into tumours.
- Why women live longer on average than men.
- Though not commonly discussed, the WHO issues a report showing the suicide kills more globally than murder and war put together.
- New implantable contact lenses work for people who can't have LASIK.
- An interesting piece on the connections between disgraced media mogul Conrad Black and Republican defence official Richard Pearle.
- Now that the next Olympics is in Beijing, human rights organizations have four years to spotlight the many abuses of the government to put pressure towards reform.
- In one of the more pressing social issues in China, the ratio of boys to girls born is now 117 for every 100 girls, leading social scientists to believe that up to 15% of Chinese men will be unable to find wives in the coming years.
- Sex scenes have recently become more explicit in Hollywood movies.
- David is 500 years old but should not be taken as an example of how you should stand -- a Pilates expert says his poor posture would cause him lower back weakness and pain.
- The Passion of the Christ has beat the one-week DVD and VHS sales record in the United States, replacing Lord of the Rings.
- Bill Clinton underwent a quadruple bypass operation after suffering from chest pains.
- President Bush has some interesting ideas of what OB/GYNs do. (Windows Media file)
- The Log Cabin Republicans are witholding their support from Bush because of his stance on same sex marriage.
- The French headscarf ban went into effect this week.
- A paper on World War IV.
- An interesting article on the new US army uniforms, with a history of previous ones.
- Makeup and perfume markets have been shifting younger and younger in recent years.
- Project Rebirth, a website that will document through a web camera the reconstruction of the World Trade Center site has launched.
- A lefty view of the top 10 big stories that the news media are missing.
- A funny guide to how to acquire and keep a geek guy.
- A site that counts, well, almost everything.
- Three flash photo-essays, one on Brazil, one on Burma, and one on Eastern Europe.
- A site with pictures that will make you think you're on acid.