Green Jello Hotdish

Americans are not the only parties objecting to Prime Minister Howard’s attacks. The Australian had this to say:

Mr Howard’s outburst surprised some Liberal MPs, already worried over loss of electoral support. But senior Liberal figures were confident Mr Howard had succeeded in drawing the political debate back on to the Coalition’s flagship issue of national security, and away from climate change.

A defiant Mr Howard refused yesterday to back away from his hardline criticism, despite concerns the remarks could damage Australia’s alliance with the US.

“If I hear a policy being advocated that is contrary to Australia’s security interests I will criticise it,” he told parliament as Labor moved to censure the Prime Minister.

Our neighbors to the north weighed in through this report from the Canadian Press:

Howard’s foray into U.S. politics dominated Monday’s session of Parliament and news bulletins in Australia, and triggered a sharp response from Obama and senators on both sides of U.S. politics, including one who called the comments “bizarre.”

The issue overshadowed the results of a new opinion poll published Monday showing Howard, who will attempt to lead his conservative coalition to a fifth term at elections expected later this year, is lagging badly behind Labour opposition leader Kevin Rudd.

In a nationally televised interview on Sunday, Howard said Obama’s plan meant al-Qaida leaders in Iraq should “be praying as many times as possible for a victory, not only for Obama but also for the Democrats” at presidential elections due late next year.

Rudd said Howard’s comments amounted to calling the Democrats “the terrorists’ party of choice” and could harm Australia’s future with a possible Democratic U.S. administration.

Meanwhile, over in England, the message boards have been abuzz:

Ha ha ha! As if anyone cares what the Australian PM thinks - like a large proportion of his countrymen he is illiberal, and borderline racist.

No need to worry about this election year, Mr. Howard. I’d start packing now.

Front page news from the BBC this morning as Australia Prime Minister John Howard has said a victory for Sen. Barack Obama in 2008 will usher in victory for Iraqi terrorists.

Excuse me?

I’m the first to tell you I’m cautiously on the Obama bandwagon — but not because of his war stance. I’m afraid that he won’t be able to withstand the brutal attacks against him with minimal experience at the Federal level. Of course, this could very well work in his favor in the eyes of the American public, as we saw with Jimmy Carter and others in the past. He’s a better candidate than Sen. Hillary Clinton, of course, because of the baggage she carries.

But if Obama’s already pissing off foreign heads of state as a candidate over his anti-war stance, I’m 100 percent all for him. While I was in Australia two months ago, during Labour Party Parliamentary leadership elections in December, Prime Minister Howard has bigger fish to catch before he can be critical of American candidates. The analysis in the papers, on television, and from conversations with my good friend and travel companion Bryan who had just spent five months in the country, all pointed to rocky roads ahead for the PM. Perhaps this is just an antic to bolster Australian support for the war — and Liberal Party leadership — in the only country that still claims any positive public backing for American Middle Eastern policy in polling data.

She went and visited the Lutheran church recently.

The UW Board of Regents has approved a proposal to revise the admissions policy for system schools. The policy takes a “holistic” approach to decision-making, taking into account not just the academic credentials of an applicant, but also non-academic factors including race, leadership, personal experience, “motivation,” traditional vs. non-traditional status and a host of other subjective standards. (It must be noted that this decision affects UW system schools other than UW-Madison, which has been operating under this policy for some time.)

Rep. Stephen Nass (R-Whitewhater) has publicly challenged the move, saying he would request fellow Republican AG J.B. Van Hollen to review the law’s constitutionality. Supporters claim the legal precedent from the U.S. Supreme Court which has decided in favor of allowing higher educational institutions to include race as a factor in admissions, however Wisconsin law prohibits non-academic criteria, including race, religion, sex nor national origin of U.S. citizens. They also claim the policy will make the UW representative of Wisconsin. Opponents say this is a new form of affirmative action and establishing quotas in admissions, and will deter otherwise academically-qualified applicants from applying.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a national watchdog group, has filed charges with the IRS against Mac Hammond, the leader of a sprawling megachurch Living Word Christian Center in north suburban Minneapolis. The claims against him are strong amid the growing backlash in the evangelical movement, of financial misappropriations and insider business deals. (Hammond claims the Bible says nothing about clergy living in poverty; that the biggest mistake of Christians is the belief that wealth is inappropriate.)

Before last year’s elections, Hammond and Living Word were also under fire for endorsing US Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN 6th) in worship. The StarTribune story also goes to tell about an ex-member who was shunned for wearing a John Kerry button and called a “baby-killer” by church members.

The Ku Klux Klan is making a comeback, fueled in part by the 35 million immigrants to the United States. While numbers are increasing after near extinction of the group, it’s still important to point out that any increase in the age of 24/7 media and communication is troubling, especially in the current social, religious and political environments. From the Christian Science Monitor article:

As it did from its founding, the KKK views itself has having a religious dimension. Members see “lighting” a cross as a symbol of faith. Today, Christian Evangelicals are much more likely than mainstream Protestants or Roman Catholics to believe that “newcomers threaten traditional American customs and values,” according to the Pew Research Center.

But, he adds, “The whole nature of hate group membership has changed with the advent of the Internet. You can take bits and pieces from whatever group you like without necessarily becoming a card- carrying member.”

The answer is: the Pacific Northwest, New England, Canada, or the Southwest.

The question is: where does DRJ want to take a road trip right now?

I’ve got a case of cabin fever like no other. So completely antsy. Even exploring Milwaukee is becoming boring — and there are plenty of urban exploration treasures here. I’ve rearranged my living room so many times in the past couple of days that I can’t move any more furniture, and I’m even considering just getting in my car and driving to Michigan for the hell of it.

But road trips are no fun by oneself. So, come up with the place — keep it within a weekend’s trip, obviously I’m not about quitting my job over this — and let’s GO! I’ll provide the car, you provide the company. Together we’ll find entertainment wherever it is we go.

We got sent home early from work today because of the weather. Folks were concerned with our cars not starting or breaking down on the way home. So now I am enjoying my unexpected afternoon free.

My apartment is 63 degrees, however, and I have the heat up all the way. I need a space heater or something. There is some moisture in the building, I can tell, since there’s a biting chill in here. Living on the first floor does have its downfalls.

It’s no secret I’m an Apple whore. I was born the year Macintosh was introduced, grew up with a minimum of three Apple computers in the house, and didn’t touch a PC keyboard until I was nine or 10 years old. As I started to develop my own computer literacy (all of which has been self-taught, mind you) I played with PC’s, even buying and building and tweaking them. But no matter what, I still always came back to Apple. It’s intuitive. It just works.

(To be fair, I also play around with *nix builds and other geeky things. But let’s not go there.)

This summary of the new Windows Vista is right on target. At work, I manage the all-PC (except for my Mac mini and personal iBook) network, and have been playing with the new OS for the past couple of days before we make a decision to roll it out. It is — once again, in typical Microsoft fashion — a cheap knockoff of Apple’s Mac OS X.

You see, Apple’s business model works. The popularity of the iPod, the prevalence of iTunes, the stability of the Mac and the growing number of converts is because of one thing: Apple is both a hardware and software manufacturer. Rather than developing for the lowest common denominator, Apple made the decision to develop only for its own products. (Well, until the explosion of the iPod and the porting of Internet-standard applications like QuickTime. But still mostly true.) Take your iPod. You love it because it’s intuitive. The wheel senses how fast you’re scrolling through and adapts. It’s what it needs to be without useless extras. And on top of it, all of that in a damn good-looking package. With Apple, they deliver the full product, and so can take the time and energy to make sure nothing is lost in translation.

Grumpy folks will tell me, That’s great, then why does Microsoft still dominate 90% of the PC market? Simple — people have accepted the fact that technology must be confusing, challenging, and are afraid of the unknown. People have accepted that lowest common denominator and buy into the rumors and hype that an Apple computer is the kiss of death for their business or livelihood.

Does Apple do everything correct? Absolutely not. Its products are priced out of reach for a solid chunk of the computing population and the company capitalizes on its loyal following by providing frequently frustrating service and support to veteran users. The everyday software developed is great for creative professionals or basic home users — but the middle ground is pretty much undeveloped and uninhabited.

But why go with the Chevy when you could pick a Cadillac?