Jonathan's blog

jasonk, this one's for you ;-) ...from Obama's announcement of an exploratory committee:

The decisions that have been made in Washington these past six years, and the problems that have been ignored, have put our country in a precarious place. Our economy is changing rapidly, and that means profound changes for working people. Many of you have shared with me your stories about skyrocketing health care bills, the pensions you've lost and your struggles to pay for college for your kids. Our continued dependence on oil has put our security and our very planet at risk. And we're still mired in a tragic and costly war that should have never been waged. But challenging as they are, it's not the magnitude of our problems that concerns me the most. It's the smallness of our politics. America's faced big problems before. But today, our leaders in Washington seem incapable of working together in a practical, common sense way. Politics has become so bitter and partisan, so gummed up by money and influence, that we can't tackle the big problems that demand solutions. And that's what we have to change first. We have to change our politics, and come together around our common interests and concerns as Americans.

I have some optimism that it's possible to do what Obama describes above. Will he? Probably not...we've heard the rhetoric of being a uniter rather than a divider before...but I've got hope.

I came across this story recently in James Montgomery Boice's The Minor Prophets. It reminded me how Dave Keim used to tell it every year to the college students at Laurel in Knoxville. Wonder if he still does.

In the 19th century there was an acrobat (Jean Francois Gravelet) who was known by the stage name Blondin because of his fair coloring. Blondin gained a reputation for himself in Europe before coming to America, and once here he gained even greater fame by walking across Niagara Falls on a tightrope. Thereafter he was associated in everyone's mind with the Falls. He did numerous stunts on his crossings. On one occasion he pushed a wheelbarrow across. On another he paused to eat an omelet. Once or twice he carried his manager on his back. On one of these latter occasions, after he had reached the edge again, he is said to have turned to a man in the crowd and to have asked him, "Do you believe I could do that with you?" "Of course," answered the man. "I've just seen you do it." "Well, then, hop on," invited the acrobat. "I'll carry you across." "Not on your life!" replied the spectator. There was clearly a form of belief in the man's first response, but it did not result in action. What is called for spiritually is a belief that will fully commit itself to Jesus, thereby allowing Him to carry the believing one over the troubled waters of this life.

Via Digg, from a Forbes.com article of the same title from late November by Michael Learmonth:

Comedy Central has made a good living out of skewering the political right. Now Fox News Channel, a primary source of material for Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, is teaming with the exec producer of "24" to try its hand at a news satire show for conservatives to love. Joel Surnow, co-creator of "24," is shooting two half-hour pilots of a skein he described as " 'The Daily Show' for conservatives," due to air in primetime on Saturdays in January.

"There will be some elements of 'The Daily Show' and some of 'Weekend Update,' " Surnow said.

"This Just In" is the working title (Wikipedia, www.thisjustin.com), and it's supposed to premeir this month. I haven't heard anything more definite yet.

From a WaPo article of the same title by Donna St. George from late November:

When war started in Iraq, a generation of U.S. women became involved as never before-- in a wider-than-ever array of jobs, for long deployments, in a conflict with daily bloodshed. More than 155,000 women have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Among their ranks are more than 16,000 single mothers, according to the Pentagon, a number that military experts say is unprecedented. How these women have coped and how their children are managing have gone little-noticed as the war stretches across a fourth year.

In the military, parental status is not a barrier to serving in a war. All deploy when the call comes -- single mothers, single fathers, married couples -- relying on a "family-care plan" that designates a caregiver for children when parents are gone.

From a BBCNews article of the same title from a few weeks back:

Robots could one day demand the same citizen's rights as humans, according to a study by the British government. If granted, countries would be obliged to provide social benefits including housing and even "robo-healthcare", the report says.

The paper says a "monumental shift" could occur if robots develop to the point where they can reproduce, improve themselves or develop artificial intelligence. The research suggests that at some point in the next 20 to 50 years robots could be granted rights. If this happened, the report says, the robots would have certain responsibilities such as voting, the obligation to pay taxes, and perhaps serving compulsory military service. Conversely, society would also have a duty of care to their new digital citizens, the report says. It also warns that the rise of robots could put a strain on resources and the environment.

So, when the day comes that a robot is indistinguishable from human...will a distinction be made between human/human adultery/fornication and human/robot adultery/fornication? What would Asimov say?