In thinking about the situation involving our good republican friend Tom DeLay, I found nice passage by Melville that addresses his situation quite elloquently. From page 114 of my copy of Moby Dick:
"Men may seem detestable as joint stock-companies and nations; knaves, fools, and murderers there may be; men may have mean and meagre faces; but man, in the ideal, is so noble and so sparkling, such a grand and glowing creature, that over any ignominious blemish in him as his fellows should run to throw their costliest robes. That immaculate manliness we feel within ourselves, so far within us, that it remains intact through all the outer character seem gone; bleeds with keenest anguish at the undraped spectacle of a valor-ruined man. Nor can piety itself, at such a shameful sight, completely stifle her upbraidings against the permitting stars."
Monday, April 25, 2005
Heads buried in Iraqi Sand
The folks of W, Rove and Co have their heads buried in the big kitty litter box we know as Iraq. The economy may be going well for them and their investors/base, but they have their noses so deep and long in the stench they think it smells like roses. Unfortunately, these folks can't see past their own good fortunes [obtained to the detriment of so many others]. Real Americans know otherwise.
Slice:
According to John Snow, the Treasury secretary, the global economy is in a "sweet spot." Conservative pundits close to the administration talk, without irony, about a "Bush boom."
...The point is that people sense, correctly, that Mr. Bush doesn't understand their concerns. He was sold on privatization by people who have made their careers in the self-referential, corporate-sponsored world of conservative think tanks. And he himself has no personal experience with the risks that working families face. He's probably never imagined what it would be like to be destitute in his old age, with no guaranteed income.
...In that context, it's worth noting two more poll results: in one taken before the recent resurgence of violence in Iraq, and the administration's announcement that it needs yet another $80 billion, 53 percent of Americans said that the Iraq war wasn't worth it. And 50 percent say that "the administration deliberately misled the public about whether Iraq has weapons of mass destruction."
Slice:
According to John Snow, the Treasury secretary, the global economy is in a "sweet spot." Conservative pundits close to the administration talk, without irony, about a "Bush boom."
Yet two-thirds of Americans polled by Gallup say that the economy is "only fair" or "poor." And only 33 percent of those polled believe the economy is improving, while 59 percent think it's getting worse.
Is the administration's obliviousness to the public's economic anxiety just partisanship? I don't think so: President Bush and other Republican leaders honestly think that we're living in the best of times. After all, everyone they talk to says so.
...The story is very different for the great majority of Americans, who live off their wages, not dividends or capital gains, and aren't doing well at all. Over the past three years, wage and salary income grew less than in any other postwar recovery - less than a tenth as fast as profits. But wage-earning Americans aren't part of the base....The point is that people sense, correctly, that Mr. Bush doesn't understand their concerns. He was sold on privatization by people who have made their careers in the self-referential, corporate-sponsored world of conservative think tanks. And he himself has no personal experience with the risks that working families face. He's probably never imagined what it would be like to be destitute in his old age, with no guaranteed income.
...In that context, it's worth noting two more poll results: in one taken before the recent resurgence of violence in Iraq, and the administration's announcement that it needs yet another $80 billion, 53 percent of Americans said that the Iraq war wasn't worth it. And 50 percent say that "the administration deliberately misled the public about whether Iraq has weapons of mass destruction."
...But Americans are feeling a sense of dread: they're worried about a weak job market, soaring health care costs, rising oil prices and a war that seems to have no end. And they're starting to notice that nobody in power is even trying to deal with these problems, because the people in charge are too busy catering to a base that has other priorities.
End slice:
Sunday, April 24, 2005
Skunked
Got skunked this weekend on the windsurfing front. Little opportunty given the number of strom fronts moving through the area.
Folks were out on Friday for about a two hour window when the gusts were ratcheting upwards of 40 knotts. The few people I knew who were on the water said it was, "hell, like a machine gun - spitting at you one minute and the next, no wind."
Regardless, I didn't make it out given the spouse broke a promise to come home from work early and relieve me of the parenting responsibilities. Alas, the boys and I had fun post nap playing with trains, drums and a whole mess of other toys.
Saturday and Sunday were filled with high rain clouds and rain, but never relized the clearing winds that usually follow storm fronts out of the bay, even after it got sunny in the late afternoon.
Harumph, no sailing which makes for a very grumpy dad...maybe next weekend.
Folks were out on Friday for about a two hour window when the gusts were ratcheting upwards of 40 knotts. The few people I knew who were on the water said it was, "hell, like a machine gun - spitting at you one minute and the next, no wind."
Regardless, I didn't make it out given the spouse broke a promise to come home from work early and relieve me of the parenting responsibilities. Alas, the boys and I had fun post nap playing with trains, drums and a whole mess of other toys.
Saturday and Sunday were filled with high rain clouds and rain, but never relized the clearing winds that usually follow storm fronts out of the bay, even after it got sunny in the late afternoon.
Harumph, no sailing which makes for a very grumpy dad...maybe next weekend.
Driving Somewhere this Summer?
What is our fair president doing about oil prices? I recall one administration ago that a certain president opened up the reserves to undercut our good OPEC friends.
Humm, but the increase in gasoline and crude prices really only helps his buddies in the industry. So I suppose we souldn't expect much from W, Rove and Co. ...that is, unless it means desecrating our wilderness lands in the name of fixing a problem that needs a much more dramatic, short and long term solution.
Slice:
Running for president five years ago, George W. Bush pledged to jawbone energy-exporting nations to keep oil prices low and to win passage of legislation to spur more domestic energy production.
Delivering on either count has proved difficult for the Texas oilman.
Soaring oil and gasoline prices are beginning to take a toll on U.S. economic growth and on Bush's approval ratings. To get his long-stalled energy agenda passed, the president is putting more of his political prestige on the line.
...Still, the president acknowledges that there is little that he or Congress can do to quickly lower gasoline prices, which have climbed past $2.20 a gallon nationwide.
Critics also claim that Bush's energy bill does little to promote conservation or alternate energy approaches, and that he has done little of the lobbying of oil-country leaders that he promised during in his first presidential campaign.
...Jerry Taylor, an energy analyst at the Cato Institute, a Washington-based think tank that advocates less government regulation, said the idea that "jawboning OPEC or arranging for nice relations with OPEC will somehow get us more oil is utter illusion."
"The Saudis will produce as much oil as they think is necessary to maximize revenue. Period," Taylor said.
End slice:
Well, this is not a novel idea - the bottom line is indeed the bottom line. If it makes the already rich more money, then so be it. Of course we could select, as Cesar Chavez once suggested, to boycott. But the average American won't be willing to give up on their wheels, not even for a day.
Or, could we do that one day? Boycott oil and not buy any and not use any for one whole day?
Humm, but the increase in gasoline and crude prices really only helps his buddies in the industry. So I suppose we souldn't expect much from W, Rove and Co. ...that is, unless it means desecrating our wilderness lands in the name of fixing a problem that needs a much more dramatic, short and long term solution.
Slice:
Running for president five years ago, George W. Bush pledged to jawbone energy-exporting nations to keep oil prices low and to win passage of legislation to spur more domestic energy production.
Delivering on either count has proved difficult for the Texas oilman.
Soaring oil and gasoline prices are beginning to take a toll on U.S. economic growth and on Bush's approval ratings. To get his long-stalled energy agenda passed, the president is putting more of his political prestige on the line.
...Still, the president acknowledges that there is little that he or Congress can do to quickly lower gasoline prices, which have climbed past $2.20 a gallon nationwide.
Critics also claim that Bush's energy bill does little to promote conservation or alternate energy approaches, and that he has done little of the lobbying of oil-country leaders that he promised during in his first presidential campaign.
...Jerry Taylor, an energy analyst at the Cato Institute, a Washington-based think tank that advocates less government regulation, said the idea that "jawboning OPEC or arranging for nice relations with OPEC will somehow get us more oil is utter illusion."
"The Saudis will produce as much oil as they think is necessary to maximize revenue. Period," Taylor said.
End slice:
Well, this is not a novel idea - the bottom line is indeed the bottom line. If it makes the already rich more money, then so be it. Of course we could select, as Cesar Chavez once suggested, to boycott. But the average American won't be willing to give up on their wheels, not even for a day.
Or, could we do that one day? Boycott oil and not buy any and not use any for one whole day?
A Signal to the End of the Tyranny of the Majority?
Responsible republicans? Questioning their leadership? Perhaps cooler heads will prevail in Congress as the reichwingers are definately giving responsible republicans a bad name.
Slice:
Mr. Bush is still sticking with Mr. Bolton and Mr. DeLay. But Republican concerns undercut his attempt to paint the criticism of both men as partisan. The fast-emerging question for him and the other Republicans is, when they will realize that nothing in the American system provides for the party that wins an election to do whatever it wants, no matter what objections are raised by the minority party or even some of its own members? The point is not lost on American voters: primal party loyalty is no substitute for effective, democratic government.
End slice:
Slice:
Mr. Bush is still sticking with Mr. Bolton and Mr. DeLay. But Republican concerns undercut his attempt to paint the criticism of both men as partisan. The fast-emerging question for him and the other Republicans is, when they will realize that nothing in the American system provides for the party that wins an election to do whatever it wants, no matter what objections are raised by the minority party or even some of its own members? The point is not lost on American voters: primal party loyalty is no substitute for effective, democratic government.
End slice:
Saturday, April 23, 2005
Updated Blog Roll
In case you didn't notice, I wanted to point out that I have cleaned up my blog roll by deleting the people I don't visit very often or at all anymore. The blogs now listed are vibrant and viable. No dead links.
Also, I am looking for other great blogs out there to blog roll. Thus, if you were only able to view one blog a day - every day for a month (besides yours) which would it be and why?
I am currently watching Porquoi Pas, God Dem, Bring it on, and the Right Wing Nut. Open to suggestions, but not spam.
Also, I am looking for other great blogs out there to blog roll. Thus, if you were only able to view one blog a day - every day for a month (besides yours) which would it be and why?
I am currently watching Porquoi Pas, God Dem, Bring it on, and the Right Wing Nut. Open to suggestions, but not spam.
Do They Still Hate Us?
Yup...I suppose bombing the crap out of Iraq is not the best way to win friends and influence people.
Slice:
Just a short question to get the dialog rolling: Is his god the same god we worship?
Slice:
"I will not apply for death," Mr. Moussaoui said. "I will fight every inch against the death penalty."
Judge Brinkema, a soft-spoken judge who has been in charge of the case from the start, offered evidence of familiarity with him and his habits as she questioned him closely about whether he fully understood the implications of his plea. She flattered him with compliments on his sophistication about the law, and added that Mr. Moussaoui, who has advanced business degrees from a college in England, "is extremely intelligent with a better understanding of our legal system than some of the lawyers who have appeared in court."
Mr. Moussaoui told her, "I know I cannot expect any leniency from the Americans."
As marshals led him out, Mr. Moussaoui shouted: "Allah akhbar! God curse America!"
End Slice:Just a short question to get the dialog rolling: Is his god the same god we worship?
Do the Republicans Think They Will be the Majority Forever?
With a fair number of "high" powered politicians (including one Dick we know) flapping their gums about fillabuster, you would think that the reichwingers feel like they are going to be in the majority in perpetuity.
Perhaps they might like to do a little more protection of minority rights than squandering the built in safeguards that keep the majority from tredding all over the minority for the time when they are no longer our "moral" majority.
Don't Tred On Me.
Slice:
Vice President Dick Cheney plunged the White House into the judicial confirmation battle on Friday by saying he supported changing the Senate rules to stop the Democrats from blocking judicial nominees and would, if needed, provide the tie-breaking vote.
..."If the Senate majority decides to move forward and if the issue is presented to me in my elected office as president of the Senate and presiding officer, I will support bringing those nominations to the floor for an up-or-down vote," he said. "On the merits, this should not be a difficult call to make."
Perhaps they might like to do a little more protection of minority rights than squandering the built in safeguards that keep the majority from tredding all over the minority for the time when they are no longer our "moral" majority.
Don't Tred On Me.
Slice:
Vice President Dick Cheney plunged the White House into the judicial confirmation battle on Friday by saying he supported changing the Senate rules to stop the Democrats from blocking judicial nominees and would, if needed, provide the tie-breaking vote.
..."If the Senate majority decides to move forward and if the issue is presented to me in my elected office as president of the Senate and presiding officer, I will support bringing those nominations to the floor for an up-or-down vote," he said. "On the merits, this should not be a difficult call to make."
Senator Harry Reid, the Democratic minority leader, responded by accusing Mr. McConnell of bluffing and President Bush of lying.
"Last week, I met with the president and was encouraged when he told me he would not become involved in Republican efforts to break the Senate rules," Mr. Reid said in a statement, referring to a breakfast held between President Bush and Congressional leaders. "Now it appears he was not being honest, and that the White House is encouraging this raw abuse of power."
End Slice:
Perhaps the W, Rove and Co. should consider appointing new people rather than rehashing the last week's cassarole for the courts. These folks have green mold growing all over them. With the number of lawyers out there, I am sure they can find some new candidates to consider rather than change some longstanding and very useful tools that do indeed prevent the tyranny by majority.
YeeHaaa!
I say, Kinky for Governor! Yeehaaa! That would be a hoot. Let the voters of Texass decide.
Slice:
Friedman, a nonpracticing Jew who lists Jesus Christ among his heroes, describes his campaign as spiritual and a natural attraction for unaligned and disenchanted voters. Texas has taken an image beating, he believes. The cowboy has become an international symbol of recklessness, not the stoic rider of the purple sage Friedman sees.
He wants to rally his fellow Texans to a new level of confidence in their state.
"What I'm trying to do is maybe use a little humor to knock down the windmill that is politics as usual, and to get all of us together and make that Lone Star shine again," Friedman told the Houston gathering to sustained applause. Later, Friedman acknowledged that his biggest challenge is to get people to take seriously the man who wrote such songs as "They Ain't Makin' Jews Like Jesus Anymore" and his chauvinism-laced "Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in the Bed."
Even he isn't sure how serious he was at first.
"It's the Bee Gees kind of thing, you know, 'I Started a Joke,' " Friedman says, citing the 1969 pop song. "Maybe it was that at one time, maybe not so much a joke but certainly an impossible dream…. But you know, I believe we can do this."
Slice:
Friedman, a nonpracticing Jew who lists Jesus Christ among his heroes, describes his campaign as spiritual and a natural attraction for unaligned and disenchanted voters. Texas has taken an image beating, he believes. The cowboy has become an international symbol of recklessness, not the stoic rider of the purple sage Friedman sees.
He wants to rally his fellow Texans to a new level of confidence in their state.
"What I'm trying to do is maybe use a little humor to knock down the windmill that is politics as usual, and to get all of us together and make that Lone Star shine again," Friedman told the Houston gathering to sustained applause. Later, Friedman acknowledged that his biggest challenge is to get people to take seriously the man who wrote such songs as "They Ain't Makin' Jews Like Jesus Anymore" and his chauvinism-laced "Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in the Bed."
Even he isn't sure how serious he was at first.
"It's the Bee Gees kind of thing, you know, 'I Started a Joke,' " Friedman says, citing the 1969 pop song. "Maybe it was that at one time, maybe not so much a joke but certainly an impossible dream…. But you know, I believe we can do this."
Friday, April 22, 2005
A Classic Case of Fry the Little Guy
Looks like the big fish are getting away...and the even bigger fish of W, Rove and Co. will get off on the whole Abu Ghraib torture flap just plain old scott free - with their halos all shined up for public viewing.
Slice:
After her change-of-command ceremony at Huachuca last month, Fast said of the Abu Ghraib debacle, "Could I have done something to prevent this? I think we all ask ourselves that question."
End slice:
I have an answer - how about not going to Iraq at all, like GW Senior advised in his telling of Desert Storm.
Slice:
After her change-of-command ceremony at Huachuca last month, Fast said of the Abu Ghraib debacle, "Could I have done something to prevent this? I think we all ask ourselves that question."
End slice:
I have an answer - how about not going to Iraq at all, like GW Senior advised in his telling of Desert Storm.
Another page from the Rove Playbook
It happened again...I was making a comment over on the Cranky Liberal and decided the comment would make a worthy post. I believe my comment can stand alone, but in concert with Cranky, it becomes a more powerful dialog. I suggest you take a look at the Crankster's post from today and then come on back to review my comment:
Here's my comment (which you could see also on the Crankster's post):
Sun Tzu also murdered the favorite mistress of his employer to make a point. You do have a point. The huddled masses have actually no clue what is going on in congress and would rather not have to think about it becuase they have been anethestitized by the Mass Media Propaganda Machine. When they are done working two or three jobs, there isn't much energy left to fight the reichwing who are well endowed to continue doing what they do best. The trouble is that Rove is so good at what he does that most of us have no clue what we are paying him (taxpayer bux pay his salary) to do. The reichwingers are simply following the playbook of the master.
If we adopt those tactics, we then sink to their level. And when you select to lie down with the dogs, you too, will get fleas.
As to where that leaves us, on the ethical and moral high road, I suppose that makes us look self righteous and again, another black mark is set against us for the reichwing is very good at taking very postive attributes (intellectual, activist) and making them sound oh so very bad.
Let's vote the bastards out in 06. Aside from faxing or calling your congressional rep, is there much else we really can do?
Hope, dare I say pray? As our President today goes to the National Parks to display his prowess as our "environmental" president and gets set to sign legislation that encroaches on the ANWR, the average person takes a look at the still images and is fooled yet again..remember the aircraft carrier landing with the "mission accomplished" banner. If the perception is that it is true, then that is all that matters for the spin miesters in W, Rove and Co.
Here's my comment (which you could see also on the Crankster's post):
Sun Tzu also murdered the favorite mistress of his employer to make a point. You do have a point. The huddled masses have actually no clue what is going on in congress and would rather not have to think about it becuase they have been anethestitized by the Mass Media Propaganda Machine. When they are done working two or three jobs, there isn't much energy left to fight the reichwing who are well endowed to continue doing what they do best. The trouble is that Rove is so good at what he does that most of us have no clue what we are paying him (taxpayer bux pay his salary) to do. The reichwingers are simply following the playbook of the master.
If we adopt those tactics, we then sink to their level. And when you select to lie down with the dogs, you too, will get fleas.
As to where that leaves us, on the ethical and moral high road, I suppose that makes us look self righteous and again, another black mark is set against us for the reichwing is very good at taking very postive attributes (intellectual, activist) and making them sound oh so very bad.
Let's vote the bastards out in 06. Aside from faxing or calling your congressional rep, is there much else we really can do?
Hope, dare I say pray? As our President today goes to the National Parks to display his prowess as our "environmental" president and gets set to sign legislation that encroaches on the ANWR, the average person takes a look at the still images and is fooled yet again..remember the aircraft carrier landing with the "mission accomplished" banner. If the perception is that it is true, then that is all that matters for the spin miesters in W, Rove and Co.
Thursday, April 21, 2005
A Naked Act of Resistance
Oh, this man has some courage - Chutzpah, I think...but he does have point.
Slice:
As the student who asked Justice Scalia about his sexual conduct, I am responding to your posts to explain why I believe I had a right to confront Justice Scalia in the manner I did Tuesday, why any gay or sympathetic person has that same right. It should be clear that I intended to be offensive, obnoxious, and inflammatory. There is a time to discuss and there are times when acts and opposition are necessary. Debate is useless when one participant denies the full dignity of the other. How am I to docilely engage a man who sarcastically rants about the "beauty of homosexual relationships" [at the Q&A] and believes that gay school teachers will try to convert children to a homosexual lifestyle [in oral argument for Lawrence]?
If you cannot stomach a breach of decorum when justified outrage erupts then your support is nearly worthless anyway. At least do not allow yourselves to become complicit in discrimination by demanding obedience from its victims...
We protestors did not embarrass NYU, Scalia embarrassed NYU. We stood up to a bigot for the values that make NYU more than a great place to learn the law. I repeat my willingess to discuss this issue calmly with anyone who respects my identity as a gay man. I have had many productive talks with classmates since Tuesday and I hope that will continue.
End slice:
Debatable or not, the only enforcement of sodomy laws will no doubt be prosocuted on homosexual couples and not heterosexual couples, thus making the law constitutionally unbalanced. You can't descriminate. If sodomy is to be against the law, that must mean for all combinations of couples, not just the one's you don' t like.
Slice:
As the student who asked Justice Scalia about his sexual conduct, I am responding to your posts to explain why I believe I had a right to confront Justice Scalia in the manner I did Tuesday, why any gay or sympathetic person has that same right. It should be clear that I intended to be offensive, obnoxious, and inflammatory. There is a time to discuss and there are times when acts and opposition are necessary. Debate is useless when one participant denies the full dignity of the other. How am I to docilely engage a man who sarcastically rants about the "beauty of homosexual relationships" [at the Q&A] and believes that gay school teachers will try to convert children to a homosexual lifestyle [in oral argument for Lawrence]?
Although my question was legally relevant, as I explain below, an independent motivation for my speech-act was to simply subject a homophobic government official to the same indignity to which he would subject millions of gay Americans. It was partially a naked act of resistance and a refusal to be silenced. I wanted to make him and everyone in the room aware of the dehumanizing effect of trivializing such an important relationship. Justice Scalia has no pity for the millions of gay Americans on whom sodomy laws and official homophobia have such an effect, so it is difficult to sympathize with his brief moment of "humiliation," as some have called it. The fact that I am a law student and Scalia is a Supreme Court Justice does not require me to circumscribe my justified opposition and outrage within the bounds of jurisprudential discourse.
Law school and the law profession do not negate my identity as a member of an oppressed minority confronting injustice...If you cannot stomach a breach of decorum when justified outrage erupts then your support is nearly worthless anyway. At least do not allow yourselves to become complicit in discrimination by demanding obedience from its victims...
We protestors did not embarrass NYU, Scalia embarrassed NYU. We stood up to a bigot for the values that make NYU more than a great place to learn the law. I repeat my willingess to discuss this issue calmly with anyone who respects my identity as a gay man. I have had many productive talks with classmates since Tuesday and I hope that will continue.
End slice:
Debatable or not, the only enforcement of sodomy laws will no doubt be prosocuted on homosexual couples and not heterosexual couples, thus making the law constitutionally unbalanced. You can't descriminate. If sodomy is to be against the law, that must mean for all combinations of couples, not just the one's you don' t like.
$ 600.00 Dollar Jeans?
Okay, so if you are paying upwards of 6 big ones for your denim, I suppose you don't care how much a gallon of gas costs, or that you can get them a lot cheaper elsewhere, or made by some one else.
But hey, at least your taxpayer bux are being well spent in Iraq. Six more folks go down proving again that the ROI isn't worth it.
But hey, at least your taxpayer bux are being well spent in Iraq. Six more folks go down proving again that the ROI isn't worth it.
Chart your Monetary Progress
Found this via a link from the Crankster. Thought you all might like to have a look a the success our current Administration has had in helping us folk in the middle class.
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Trust
I have always said:
If that is indeed the case, why do so many folks still trust W, Rove and Co?
Trust takes a lifetime to earn and a moment to break.
If that is indeed the case, why do so many folks still trust W, Rove and Co?
Media-ocracy?
Sometimes Blog Explosion delivers. Found what could be a fantastic video feed via another BE personality: While I haven't had time to watch the full run (it takes about 50 mins for just part one and some serious bandwidth), the first few minutes give you a sense of what I have been talking about re: the Mainstream Media Propaganda Machine.
Regardless your political/religious ideology, you should enjoy the piece if you can spare the time and you have big pipes.
Regardless your political/religious ideology, you should enjoy the piece if you can spare the time and you have big pipes.
More Tax Breaks for the Already Rich
No doubt, we won't see any kind of windfall due new drilling in Alaska...more to the contrary, the big fat capitalist pigs will get bigger in the short, near, and long term...and we will still be getting hosed at the pump. As gasoline prices go past 3 bucks, you don't think the industry will shrink the price when they are used to such exorbitant profits, do you?
Slice:
The bill calls for $8.1 billion in tax breaks over 10 years, most of it going to promote coal, nuclear, oil and natural gas energy industries.
Development of the Alaska refuge has been a contentious issue for nearly a decade. Environmentalists fear a spider web of drilling platforms and pipelines would harm the area's polar bears, caribou, migrating birds and other wildlife.
Senate Democrats have pledged to filibuster any energy bill that would open the refuge to oil companies. An amendment to strip the Alaska refuge provision from the energy bill failed Wednesday night 231-200.
A final vote on the energy legislation is expected by the House on Thursday.
Humm, could we perhaps fund public transit to the tune of 8.1 billion instead and still have the same economic affect? Or, perhaps we could give folks a tax break to put solar panels on their roofs to the same number and spread out the wealth a bit rather than have the energy moguls have their way with us and our Congress.
Slice:
The bill calls for $8.1 billion in tax breaks over 10 years, most of it going to promote coal, nuclear, oil and natural gas energy industries.
Development of the Alaska refuge has been a contentious issue for nearly a decade. Environmentalists fear a spider web of drilling platforms and pipelines would harm the area's polar bears, caribou, migrating birds and other wildlife.
Senate Democrats have pledged to filibuster any energy bill that would open the refuge to oil companies. An amendment to strip the Alaska refuge provision from the energy bill failed Wednesday night 231-200.
A final vote on the energy legislation is expected by the House on Thursday.
End Slice:
Humm, could we perhaps fund public transit to the tune of 8.1 billion instead and still have the same economic affect? Or, perhaps we could give folks a tax break to put solar panels on their roofs to the same number and spread out the wealth a bit rather than have the energy moguls have their way with us and our Congress.
Good Christian Behavior
Just wondering if spitting tabacco juice in someone's face constitutes good Christian behavior?
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
One more post on DeLay
Found a great link via the Crankster.
Here's a handy map in case you are getting confused by Tom DeLay's shenanigans.
Here's a handy map in case you are getting confused by Tom DeLay's shenanigans.
More on Activist Judges
I just had to link you to this article. I loved the title...it's what I have been saying all along.
Slice:
The idea that liberal judges are advocates and partisans while judges like Justice Scalia are not is being touted everywhere these days, and it is pure myth. Justice Scalia has been more than willing to ignore the Constitution's plain language, and he has a knack for coming out on the conservative side in cases with an ideological bent. The conservative partisans leading the war on activist judges are just as inconsistent: they like judicial activism just fine when it advances their own agendas...
...When it comes to judicial activism, conservative judges are no better than liberal ones - and, it must be said, no worse. If conservatives are going to continue their war on the judiciary, though, they should be honest. They do not want to get rid of judicial activists, a standard that would bring down even Justice Scalia. They want to rid the courts of judges who disagree with them.
End slice:
Every judge is an Activist. It all depends upon one's perspective. And we all know, truth is a slave to perception.
Slice:
The idea that liberal judges are advocates and partisans while judges like Justice Scalia are not is being touted everywhere these days, and it is pure myth. Justice Scalia has been more than willing to ignore the Constitution's plain language, and he has a knack for coming out on the conservative side in cases with an ideological bent. The conservative partisans leading the war on activist judges are just as inconsistent: they like judicial activism just fine when it advances their own agendas...
...When it comes to judicial activism, conservative judges are no better than liberal ones - and, it must be said, no worse. If conservatives are going to continue their war on the judiciary, though, they should be honest. They do not want to get rid of judicial activists, a standard that would bring down even Justice Scalia. They want to rid the courts of judges who disagree with them.
End slice:
Every judge is an Activist. It all depends upon one's perspective. And we all know, truth is a slave to perception.
What gets you out of bed in the AM?
Oh, to have only a modicum of Lance Armstrong's drive and spirit. His name is certainly not a misnomer. At one time, I think one of the shoe conglomerates was going to spark a new slogan campaign - Super Human is Redundant. I would say in Lance's case, you betchya.
"If I was to win it, I would be the oldest champion in modern history and my dream is to go out on top. But I'm scared of going one race too many. All champions worry about losing -- it's the fear that gets them up early."
Monday, April 18, 2005
Bush in Thirty Seconds
All you ever need to get a little bummed out and perhaps lifted up that many folks see through the smoke and mirrors of the W, Rove and Co.
Found one on Education. There are many other video clips to watch if you follow the links.
Found one on Education. There are many other video clips to watch if you follow the links.
Evidence we are Losing This War On Terror
Shea at Constantly Amazed...has a nice post yesterday presenting the litany of evidence that W, Rove and Co are really up to no good and could actually be justifiably tried for War Crimes..and most certainly, they are not winning the war on terror.
Slice:
In other words: Bush & Co. are losing the war on terror! Want to know why? Because they had no intention of winning it! They are the terrorists, and they are perpetuating the war for their own profit!
Slice:
In other words: Bush & Co. are losing the war on terror! Want to know why? Because they had no intention of winning it! They are the terrorists, and they are perpetuating the war for their own profit!
Perhaps the Best Song of All Time
Dusting off some of my old albums. Came across the Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits Album. One of my all time favorites as well as, poetically, perhaps the most powerful song ever written is on that album - Kathy's Song
Here are the lyrics:
What about you....no doubt, you have a vote as to the all time best song ever composed and sung: What are they? Leave a comment below and fill us in.
Here are the lyrics:
I hear the drizzle of the rain
Like a memory it falls
Soft and warm continuing
Tapping on my roof and walls
And from the shelter of my mind
Through the window of my eyes
I gaze beyond the rain-drenched streets
To England where my heart lies
My mind's distracted and diffused
My thoughts are many miles away
They lie with you when you're alseep
And kiss you when you start your day
And a song I was writing is left undone
I don't know why I spend my time
Writing songs I can't believe
With words that tear and strain to rhyme
And so you see I have come to doubt
All that I once held as true
I stand alone without beliefs
The only truth I know is you
And as I watch the drops of rain
Weave their weary paths and die
I know that I am like the rain
There but for the grace of you go I
What about you....no doubt, you have a vote as to the all time best song ever composed and sung: What are they? Leave a comment below and fill us in.
Catherine the Great
For those of you who don't follow marathoning, the results of the women's race in Boston today were nothing short of extrodinary. Catherine Ndereba won a fourth victory in a come from behind...well, actually, the others didn't really stand a chance. She smoked them. This puts her in some stellar company.
Now We Know
Lance announced that this July's Tour de France will be his last. Razor sharp focus places him, obviously, in the favorite category. Also, when it comes down to the Tour, there are not many that can hang with Lance, particularly if he musters the same or an improved team as he had last year.
Win or lose, Lance is stepping off the competative bike. Either way, it will be exciting to watch.
Slice:
I will cut right to the chase and say that after a lot of thought, considering the season and the races I was going to do this year, and having decided to focus on the Tour, at the same time I have decided that the Tour de France will be my last race as a professional cyclist. (Lance was visibly choked up as these words came out.) So July 24th will be the last one after more or less 14 years in the professional peloton, it will be the last one - win or lose. Having said that, I am fully committed to winning a 7th Tour.
Win or lose, Lance is stepping off the competative bike. Either way, it will be exciting to watch.
Slice:
I will cut right to the chase and say that after a lot of thought, considering the season and the races I was going to do this year, and having decided to focus on the Tour, at the same time I have decided that the Tour de France will be my last race as a professional cyclist. (Lance was visibly choked up as these words came out.) So July 24th will be the last one after more or less 14 years in the professional peloton, it will be the last one - win or lose. Having said that, I am fully committed to winning a 7th Tour.
There are a few people I would like to thank that have been very helpful along the way. First and foremost, I think the biggest inspiration in my life now and the biggest inspiration to this decision is my children. They are the ones that make it easier to suffer, but they are the ones who have told me that it's time to come home. And so without them, none of this would be possible. The second is my mother, she's been a great force that I have learned a lot from.
Patriots Day and The Boston Marathon
Today is Patriots Day in MA. The marathon from Hopkinton to Beantown is underway. Having run the thing once myself, I can just picture the race as it is run. The good thing about the internet is that I can tap into the action almost as it happens. I think OLN (the Canadian broadcasting network is showing it live), but I get much more work done while seeing the updates at Runners World.
At this point, it looks like it is going to be a strategic and tactical race rather than the usual Kenyan blow out. The men have been turning in 5 minute miles up until the last one where they ran 4:55. Those times are altogether slow for winning the race. The person who won London yesterday finished in 2:07 - now that is smokin'. Incidentially, the folks stacked up in the front pack are capable of running faster than that. Perhaps the cheering section through Wellesley will be a nice pick-me-up for the pack as they pick up the pace toward the latter part of the distance. It is going to be a day of negative splits no doubt.
Run Harriers, Run.
At this point, it looks like it is going to be a strategic and tactical race rather than the usual Kenyan blow out. The men have been turning in 5 minute miles up until the last one where they ran 4:55. Those times are altogether slow for winning the race. The person who won London yesterday finished in 2:07 - now that is smokin'. Incidentially, the folks stacked up in the front pack are capable of running faster than that. Perhaps the cheering section through Wellesley will be a nice pick-me-up for the pack as they pick up the pace toward the latter part of the distance. It is going to be a day of negative splits no doubt.
Run Harriers, Run.
Sunday, April 17, 2005
Weekend Windsurfing Report
Okay, so I wimped out and didn't jump in at Ocean Beach. Waves were too washed out and hairy, with bigger ones on the horizon. The breeze was about 4.7-able, but too on shore to make it easy to get out over the break. There was one or two guys out with more to follow - and one really good local named Jeff riding a 5.0 and an 85 liter board. He was very good and had no trouble. There is something to be said for experience and lcoal knowledge.
Anway, I tooled over to Crissy and dropped in with the 85 liter board and the 5.4 square meter sail. Big fin. Flood tide all afternoon but I was able to make it up to Fort Point, but there wasn't much of a wave to be found bending around the point. Alas, it was a beautiful day and the sun was out and because it wasn't super cranking, there were only two to four guys out there as they came up wind to take a look.
Missed yesterday as my second son turned one on Friday and the party was Saturday afternoon. It was a good time, but that left no room for windsurfing.
Any day on the water is better than not.
Slice:
Fitness is "a side benefit," said 57-year-old Susie McGuire of San Diego. "Being in the water is uplifting. It's better than Prozac and beats any antidepressant on the market."
Anway, I tooled over to Crissy and dropped in with the 85 liter board and the 5.4 square meter sail. Big fin. Flood tide all afternoon but I was able to make it up to Fort Point, but there wasn't much of a wave to be found bending around the point. Alas, it was a beautiful day and the sun was out and because it wasn't super cranking, there were only two to four guys out there as they came up wind to take a look.
Missed yesterday as my second son turned one on Friday and the party was Saturday afternoon. It was a good time, but that left no room for windsurfing.
Any day on the water is better than not.
Slice:
Fitness is "a side benefit," said 57-year-old Susie McGuire of San Diego. "Being in the water is uplifting. It's better than Prozac and beats any antidepressant on the market."
Each One Teach One
Slice:
If you teach a child to throw rocks at windows, you can’t very well be angry with him when you come home and all of your windows are broken out. He is just using the knowledge he learned in the way he was taught. In the same vein, if we allow our children to sit in front of a television or video game for hours at a time, if we allow them to ignore their teachers or disrespect us as parents, if we give them everything they ask for and expect nothing in return, we can’t blame them for becoming uneducated, disrespectful, anti-social adults.
End Slice:
Whether you want to be or not, you are an educator. This puts a different light on statements from professional athletes indicating their lack of desire to become roll models. The shift for society needs to go from independence and the boot strap model for success toward a system of values that encourages each individual to become expert in some arena and value that expertise to the degree that we feel comfortable having that person teach our children that skill.
I have often said, and been chastised for it, that what we need, instead of a draft for the military or something like Americorps (which in and of itself is a fine program), to make it mandatory for all individuals (for two years at any point in their lifetime) to teach in a local school system. That is, when they feel that they are expert enough in some area, they would then be trained to deliver that expertise to some students in their local area. Wouldn't it be great for students to learn scuba and marine science from a professional in that field? What about learning knitting from the local expert in that subject.
This idea requires, of course, not the trashing of the school system as we know it, but an expansion of our definition of what is good teaching, and what comprises a high quality curriculum. We most certainly would still need a professional corps of highly trained and professionally educated teachers that instill the basics - reading, writing, mathematics, problem solving, and how to learn on your own, etc... This same corps of professional teachers could continue the basic "college bound" curricula. The professional corps of teachers would also have the responsibility of teaching these citizen teachers how to convey their knowledge to students. Because the number of citizen teachers would vary every two or so years, the curricular choices for students would change continuously and no doubt, students would find something to wet their appetites and move toward a more expeditionary mode of learning.
One year, students could take business practices and ethics from a local company CEO. The next, they could take ichthyology from the curator of the local science museum. Moreover, students would be encouraged to follow their own curiosity. While they could be guided down the path to fulfilling college entrance requirements, not all students would be pushed into that kind of restrictive curriculum. Not all students want or need to go to college either. Graduation requirements would have to flex as well, but I am certain, that once students are exposed to the citizen experts, they will find something or some area of interest that lights their fire and gets them productively involved in contributing to our society in a positive way.
Now this idea is very raw and pretty much a radical shift from what we are doing in schools today, but in this day and age, where information is available at the click of a button, educators ought be in the business of igniting the expeditionary spirit among students and then getting out of their way, and providing the proper resources and support to help them get to where they want to go.
Remember as kids, when you accidentally dropped a magnet in the sand box and found it covered with iron fillings? I spent days dragging all my magnets though the sand to collect as much as I could. I was fascinated by the project, which led me to many questions about what was happening. I am sure I was learning about physics, and exploration, and learning how good it feels to be successful at something, that it ignited a spirit for learning, that despite the best efforts of our public schools (and I have attended public schools exclusively for my whole academic career), that spirit was never quashed. Unfortunately for kids today, their expeditionary spirit is trampled some where during 2 and 7th grades and the main motivation to attend high school for many is purely social.
Unleash the expeditionary spirit, provide them with educators of many stripes, and get out of their way. Each one should teach at least one, but expanding the pool of both teachers and subject matter will open the door to all kinds of learners and all kids can find a niche that allows them to be the best that they can be. This is a move away from a "contribute if you can" modus operandi toward an "everyone has something of value to teach another." That is, value is placed on each and every individual and the assumption is not one of complacency, but that each individual has the capacity to learn toward the level of excelling in a particular area and also could teach in that arena once they are able to become expert (which they can and do) in their own field.
Have We Lost the Judicial Appointee Battle, or Not?
This just in on the wire. Even if we have failed to block the filling of the courts with folks the reichwingers support, many appointees still judge according to the law rather than their religious beliefs as DeLay and co would like. Just take for instance all the judges in the Schiavo situation.
Slice:
The looming battle over President Bush's nominees to the U.S. appeals courts might derail the Senate, but it probably won't make much difference in the federal courts. That's because Republican appointees already dominate them.
Ninety-four of the 162 active judges now on the U.S. Court of Appeals were chosen by Republican presidents. On 10 of the 13 circuit courts, Republican appointees have a clear majority. And, since 1976, at least seven of the nine seats on the U.S. Supreme Court have been filled by Republican appointees.
...Even if Bush wins approval for the dozen disputed nominees who have been blocked by Senate Democrats, only one circuit would change its ideological balance — hardly a seismic shift. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, now evenly divided, would become 10-6 Republican.
Though it remains a staple of conservative rhetoric that the courts are "out of control" and driven by "liberal activists," the GOP's control of the White House for 24 of the last 36 years has given Republicans — if not conservatives — a firm grip on the federal judiciary.
But the fact is that party labels don't necessarily mean much on the bench...
End Slice:
The propensity for the reichwingers to label judges "Activists" - as if that should be something negative - simply because they decide in favor of the rule of law over what certain senators and their ilk think/feel the ruling should be is yet another ploy to monger fear to the pedestrian populace in hopes that we don't think it through. This is yet another case of the pots calling the kettles black.
Slice:
The looming battle over President Bush's nominees to the U.S. appeals courts might derail the Senate, but it probably won't make much difference in the federal courts. That's because Republican appointees already dominate them.
Ninety-four of the 162 active judges now on the U.S. Court of Appeals were chosen by Republican presidents. On 10 of the 13 circuit courts, Republican appointees have a clear majority. And, since 1976, at least seven of the nine seats on the U.S. Supreme Court have been filled by Republican appointees.
...Even if Bush wins approval for the dozen disputed nominees who have been blocked by Senate Democrats, only one circuit would change its ideological balance — hardly a seismic shift. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, now evenly divided, would become 10-6 Republican.
Though it remains a staple of conservative rhetoric that the courts are "out of control" and driven by "liberal activists," the GOP's control of the White House for 24 of the last 36 years has given Republicans — if not conservatives — a firm grip on the federal judiciary.
But the fact is that party labels don't necessarily mean much on the bench...
End Slice:
The propensity for the reichwingers to label judges "Activists" - as if that should be something negative - simply because they decide in favor of the rule of law over what certain senators and their ilk think/feel the ruling should be is yet another ploy to monger fear to the pedestrian populace in hopes that we don't think it through. This is yet another case of the pots calling the kettles black.
Would Privitizing the Rail System Work?
Amtrak is having trouble keeping the busy Boston to DC rail corridor open and on time, even with fancy new trains and having finished the infrastructure to support the Acela (which runs right through the wonderful little town where I was raised).
I have oft thought it would be wonderful to have a larger and more extensive rail system that negated the need to own a vehicle, sort of like Europe. The trains there may be off schedule a lot, but you can get to many places with out so much as a comfy pair of walking shoes. Even so, the size of the US may be prohibitive, but certainly you should be able to travel the coasts without having to get on a bus to link - but alas, on the West Coast, you can't. Travel by train is, at least for me, a romantic way to go. The last thing I want to do is interrupt an adventure by getting forced to use some bus that smells like a public toilet because they never open the windows and always use re-circulated air.
Is it time to end the public subsidy of the Amtrak Rail system in favor of privatizing the system and allowing the competitive forces of capitalism work that hopefully would improve it? Or, would it prove to be a failed experiment like the deregulation of the energy markets?
P.S. This is totally aside, but since I mentioned the energy markets, does anyone know what the heck is happening to Kenny boy Lay, by the way? Does he still have his hand deeply entrenched in W's pants pockets?
I have oft thought it would be wonderful to have a larger and more extensive rail system that negated the need to own a vehicle, sort of like Europe. The trains there may be off schedule a lot, but you can get to many places with out so much as a comfy pair of walking shoes. Even so, the size of the US may be prohibitive, but certainly you should be able to travel the coasts without having to get on a bus to link - but alas, on the West Coast, you can't. Travel by train is, at least for me, a romantic way to go. The last thing I want to do is interrupt an adventure by getting forced to use some bus that smells like a public toilet because they never open the windows and always use re-circulated air.
Is it time to end the public subsidy of the Amtrak Rail system in favor of privatizing the system and allowing the competitive forces of capitalism work that hopefully would improve it? Or, would it prove to be a failed experiment like the deregulation of the energy markets?
P.S. This is totally aside, but since I mentioned the energy markets, does anyone know what the heck is happening to Kenny boy Lay, by the way? Does he still have his hand deeply entrenched in W's pants pockets?
Saturday, April 16, 2005
Jihad?
If it has a Christian orientation, isn't it still a Jihad?
Slice:
Right-wing Christian groups and the Republican politicians they bankroll have done much since the last election to impose their particular religious views on all Americans. But nothing comes close to the shameful declaration of religious war by Bill Frist, the Senate majority leader, over the selection of judges for federal courts.
Perhaps, we should be working to prevent the onslaught of faith and the pushers of Christian religion upon those who believe differently instead. Vote the bastards out.
Even if they don't use bombs but emotional terrorism to exploit their cause, doesn't that make them equaly devious as other terrorists?
Here's a solution. Let's not turn on the television when this broadcast comes out. If they speak into the forest and there is no one there to listen, at least the Nielson Ratings will be down.
Think of the push to tell people about the forthcoming testimonial as part of the Mass Media Propaganda Machine that is pushing the reichwing agenda...like Al Jazeera uses videos of beheadings.
Slice:
Right-wing Christian groups and the Republican politicians they bankroll have done much since the last election to impose their particular religious views on all Americans. But nothing comes close to the shameful declaration of religious war by Bill Frist, the Senate majority leader, over the selection of judges for federal courts.
Senator Frist is to appear on a telecast sponsored by the Family Research Council, which styles itself a religious organization but is really just another Washington lobbying concern. The message is that the Democrats who oppose a tiny handful of President Bush's judicial nominations are conducting an assault "against people of faith." By that, Senator Frist and his allies do not mean people of all faiths, only those of their faith.
...We fully understand that a powerful branch of the Republican Party believes that the last election was won on "moral values." Even if that were true, that's a far cry from voting for one religion to dominate the entire country. President Bush owes it to Americans to stand up and say so.
End Slice:Perhaps, we should be working to prevent the onslaught of faith and the pushers of Christian religion upon those who believe differently instead. Vote the bastards out.
Even if they don't use bombs but emotional terrorism to exploit their cause, doesn't that make them equaly devious as other terrorists?
Here's a solution. Let's not turn on the television when this broadcast comes out. If they speak into the forest and there is no one there to listen, at least the Nielson Ratings will be down.
Think of the push to tell people about the forthcoming testimonial as part of the Mass Media Propaganda Machine that is pushing the reichwing agenda...like Al Jazeera uses videos of beheadings.
Friday, April 15, 2005
New Vid to Tease Your Paradigm
Shea at Constantly Amazed...has been a busy blogger lately digging up some really interesting links and evidence that point the finger of blame directly on the W, Rove and Co. I would encourage you to take a gander at some of the more recent posts there in, but also have a look at the following vid from UK source. Note, it is not coming to you live from middle America...
P.S. here's an oldy, but a goody for those of you interested in Facism....and another fun song from the same location about one particular idiot.
P.S. here's an oldy, but a goody for those of you interested in Facism....and another fun song from the same location about one particular idiot.
Power Corrupts
Lord Acton was right, unfortunately. But there is more to his quote:
'Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men'.
Melville speaks a bit more descriptively on the matter. From page 246 of my copy of Moby Dick:
"Now, as you well know, it is not seldom the case in this conventional world of ours - watery or otherwise; that when a person placed in command over his fellow-men finds one of them to be very significantly his superior in general pride of manhood, straightway against that man he conceives an unconquerable dislike and bitterness; and if he have a chance he will pull down and pulverize that subaltern's tower, and make a little heap of dust of it."
I am wondering if there are republicans (the democrats being obvious) out there that have been pulverized by W, Rove and Co and left in their wake as they elevated themselves to the throne of our current Theocracy. If so, who might they be and what would we learn from their stories?
'Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men'.
Melville speaks a bit more descriptively on the matter. From page 246 of my copy of Moby Dick:
"Now, as you well know, it is not seldom the case in this conventional world of ours - watery or otherwise; that when a person placed in command over his fellow-men finds one of them to be very significantly his superior in general pride of manhood, straightway against that man he conceives an unconquerable dislike and bitterness; and if he have a chance he will pull down and pulverize that subaltern's tower, and make a little heap of dust of it."
I am wondering if there are republicans (the democrats being obvious) out there that have been pulverized by W, Rove and Co and left in their wake as they elevated themselves to the throne of our current Theocracy. If so, who might they be and what would we learn from their stories?
Beware the Christian Crusader
Like those that went before them, we should be wary of Christians who suggest they fight on our behalf.
From page 212 of my copy of Moby Dick:
For even the high lifted and chivalric Crusaders of old times were not content to traverse two thousand miles of land to fight for their holy sepulchre, without committing burglaries, picking pockets, and gaining other pious perquisites by the way.
From page 212 of my copy of Moby Dick:
For even the high lifted and chivalric Crusaders of old times were not content to traverse two thousand miles of land to fight for their holy sepulchre, without committing burglaries, picking pockets, and gaining other pious perquisites by the way.
Social Security Privatization is all Good for Professional Money Managers
Here's a fun little video clip I found surfing various blogs regarding W, Rove and Co's stance on privitizing Social Security.
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Meanwhile, The Rich are Set to Get Richer
W, Rove and Co are on a mission to help out "their base." Rich people. Congress, the rich folks that they are, are set to give themselves and their supporters/donors another tax break.
Remember, "Behind every great fortune is a crime." – Honore de Balzac, French novelist (1799-1850).
Unfortunately, there are not more wealthy individuals who subscribe to capitalism with a conscience.
Slice:
In 1997, the estates of fewer than 43,000 people — fewer than 1.9 percent of the 2.3 million people who died that year — had to pay any estate tax. The Joint Committee on Taxation projects that the percentage of people who die whose estates will be subject to estate tax will remain at about two percent for the foreseeable future. In other words, 98 of every 100 people who die face no estate tax whatsoever.
To be subject to tax, the size of an estate must exceed $675,000 in 2001. The estate tax exemption is rising to $1 million by 2006. Note that an estate of any size may be bequeathed to a spouse free of estate tax.
End Slice:
Given that most of us don't qualify, nor will we ever qualify to be taxed under the existing and the changing law, why are more people not outraged by the pending action by Congress?
Equal Opportunity for Edcuation
As the tag line reads in my header, "There is a big difference between an equal opportunity for education and an equal opportunity for an equal education," in light of Ken's post and my reply there may be more needed to clarify.
Indeed,"equal opportunity for an equal education" may inherently require unequal treatment in different school settings.
Let's just ask three questions here. What's the difference between public schools in Compton, CA and Beverly Hills, CA? Given that both school districts are in the general Los Angeles vacinity, why are they so different and how should we fix the disparity between the two?
Indeed,"equal opportunity for an equal education" may inherently require unequal treatment in different school settings.
Let's just ask three questions here. What's the difference between public schools in Compton, CA and Beverly Hills, CA? Given that both school districts are in the general Los Angeles vacinity, why are they so different and how should we fix the disparity between the two?
Common Sense on Public Education
There is a very fine post raised by Ken over at Common Sense regarding the status of public education. As usual, I had to reply and the comment makes a fine post on its own. I am pasting it here, but you may want to visit Ken's location to read his tretise laden with some very fine questions about public education:
My two cents - for what its worth:
Fine post and many challenges, Ken. The nub of it is that the trouble with public education involves the whole of society.
Where steroid laden ball players are paid exhorbinent salarys to swing a bat or toss a ball, teachers can't afford to live in the cities within which they serve. On the other hand, paying teachers more is not often on the docket for politicians, local, sate or federal because that usually involves an increase in taxation. It is mystifying why people are willing to pay more to keep prisoners and build new state of the art prisons, but can't seem to muster a few bucks per student to improve the schools. It costs more than 30K a year to house and feed and keep a prisoner. Students, on the other hand are substantially cheeper - less than 10K. Schools, good ones, keep people out of prison. go figure.
On another front, when Sun Micro Systems put up their new, brand spanking campus up in East Palo Alto, the local middle school was litterally falling down around the kids, teachers, administrators and parents. We have to ask ourselves, why is it that corporate folks wouldn't think of going into a building that they couldn't see out of the windows (as they were designed), but are willing to have the local kids founder in the dimly lit, moldy rooms that are a sad exuse for shools. What we need is capitalism with a conscience. If it is good enough for Sun, then it is good enough for the school five blocks away from the palacial spread of a campus that capitalism built.
When I was teaching Mathematics in a high school in Connecticut, and I dared to fail some students, the parents would go over my head and see if they could fudge the numbers up so little jonny or sally could at least pass out of learning fractions. I had parents outright lie for their kids and I had kids who did so many drugs over the weekend that they fell asleep in my classroom. Who's fault is that?
As you hit the nail on the head, the solution lies in the whole of the society. We need a bigger hammer, and we need everybody swinging. Unfortunately, the federal government is so distracted by politicing that we end up with poorly funded new programs (no child left behind) and underfunded programs that actually work (head start). That, my friend, is twisted. In the end, the kids suffer, and our society needs to figure out what to do with unproductive, poorly educated work force.
As you can tell, the argument is cyclical. Like the chicken and the egg questions, you have to start with one or the other, but it is best if we work on all the fronts by talking about educational reform not from the stance as a school problem, but one that is a burden on the whole of society.
Our schools are only as good as the communities within which they are embedded. If the community doesn't care, change won't happen. And, indeed it does need fixing.
My two cents - for what its worth:
Fine post and many challenges, Ken. The nub of it is that the trouble with public education involves the whole of society.
Where steroid laden ball players are paid exhorbinent salarys to swing a bat or toss a ball, teachers can't afford to live in the cities within which they serve. On the other hand, paying teachers more is not often on the docket for politicians, local, sate or federal because that usually involves an increase in taxation. It is mystifying why people are willing to pay more to keep prisoners and build new state of the art prisons, but can't seem to muster a few bucks per student to improve the schools. It costs more than 30K a year to house and feed and keep a prisoner. Students, on the other hand are substantially cheeper - less than 10K. Schools, good ones, keep people out of prison. go figure.
On another front, when Sun Micro Systems put up their new, brand spanking campus up in East Palo Alto, the local middle school was litterally falling down around the kids, teachers, administrators and parents. We have to ask ourselves, why is it that corporate folks wouldn't think of going into a building that they couldn't see out of the windows (as they were designed), but are willing to have the local kids founder in the dimly lit, moldy rooms that are a sad exuse for shools. What we need is capitalism with a conscience. If it is good enough for Sun, then it is good enough for the school five blocks away from the palacial spread of a campus that capitalism built.
When I was teaching Mathematics in a high school in Connecticut, and I dared to fail some students, the parents would go over my head and see if they could fudge the numbers up so little jonny or sally could at least pass out of learning fractions. I had parents outright lie for their kids and I had kids who did so many drugs over the weekend that they fell asleep in my classroom. Who's fault is that?
As you hit the nail on the head, the solution lies in the whole of the society. We need a bigger hammer, and we need everybody swinging. Unfortunately, the federal government is so distracted by politicing that we end up with poorly funded new programs (no child left behind) and underfunded programs that actually work (head start). That, my friend, is twisted. In the end, the kids suffer, and our society needs to figure out what to do with unproductive, poorly educated work force.
As you can tell, the argument is cyclical. Like the chicken and the egg questions, you have to start with one or the other, but it is best if we work on all the fronts by talking about educational reform not from the stance as a school problem, but one that is a burden on the whole of society.
Our schools are only as good as the communities within which they are embedded. If the community doesn't care, change won't happen. And, indeed it does need fixing.
Leathal Hypocricy
I wonder...how do folks who subscribe to the "Culture of Life" paradigm reconcile someone like Eric Robert Rudolph?
Slice:
"Because I believe that abortion is murder, I also believe that force is justified and in an attempt to stop it."
"Practiced by consenting adults within the confines of their own private lives, homosexuality is not a threat to society. Those consenting adults practicing this behavior in privacy should not be hassled by a society which respects the sanctity of private sexual life. But when the attempt is made to drag this practice out of the closet and into the public square in an "in your face" attempt to force society to accept and recognize this behavior as being just as legitimate and normal as the natural man/woman relationship, every effort should be made, including force if necessary, to halt this effort."
"The plan that I finally settled upon was to use five low-tech timed explosives to be placed one at a time on successive days throughout the Olympic schedule, each preceded by a forty to fifty minute warning given to 911. The location and the time of detonation was to be given, and the intent was to thereby clear each of the areas, leaving only uniformed arms-carrying government personnel exposed to potential injury."
"After the disaster at Centennial Park, I resolved to improve my devices and focus the blasts upon a very narrow target. Toward this end I acquired a quantity of high explosives (dynamite). I shaped the charges in order to minimize the potential range of their destruction. However, I was still using clock timers which put the detonation outside of my control, thus leaving room for the same kind of disaster that occurred at the Park."
"Two attacks were carried out in the winter of 1997. The first in January was an abortion mill (Northside Family Planning). The second was a homosexual establishment (The Otherside Lounge). The abortion mill was closed that day but occasionally there was staff on hand to clean their blood-stained equipment, and these minions and the facility itself were the targets of the first device. The second device placed at the scene was designed to target agents of the Washington government."
"Despite the inherent dangers involved in timed devices, all of these devices used in both of these assaults functioned within the parameters of the plan, and I make no apologies."
"I really do not understand the psychological process that goes into the making of an abortion mill worker. "
"And now after the agreement has been signed the talking heads on the news opine that I am "finished," that I will "languish broken and unloved in the bowels of some supermax," and but I say to you people that by the by the grace of God I am still here — a little bloodied, but emphatically unbowed."
End slices:
Perhaps Rudolph should have looked more internally at the elevation of his own muderous intent and fixed that first?
Slice:
"Because I believe that abortion is murder, I also believe that force is justified and in an attempt to stop it."
"Practiced by consenting adults within the confines of their own private lives, homosexuality is not a threat to society. Those consenting adults practicing this behavior in privacy should not be hassled by a society which respects the sanctity of private sexual life. But when the attempt is made to drag this practice out of the closet and into the public square in an "in your face" attempt to force society to accept and recognize this behavior as being just as legitimate and normal as the natural man/woman relationship, every effort should be made, including force if necessary, to halt this effort."
"The plan that I finally settled upon was to use five low-tech timed explosives to be placed one at a time on successive days throughout the Olympic schedule, each preceded by a forty to fifty minute warning given to 911. The location and the time of detonation was to be given, and the intent was to thereby clear each of the areas, leaving only uniformed arms-carrying government personnel exposed to potential injury."
"After the disaster at Centennial Park, I resolved to improve my devices and focus the blasts upon a very narrow target. Toward this end I acquired a quantity of high explosives (dynamite). I shaped the charges in order to minimize the potential range of their destruction. However, I was still using clock timers which put the detonation outside of my control, thus leaving room for the same kind of disaster that occurred at the Park."
"Two attacks were carried out in the winter of 1997. The first in January was an abortion mill (Northside Family Planning). The second was a homosexual establishment (The Otherside Lounge). The abortion mill was closed that day but occasionally there was staff on hand to clean their blood-stained equipment, and these minions and the facility itself were the targets of the first device. The second device placed at the scene was designed to target agents of the Washington government."
"Despite the inherent dangers involved in timed devices, all of these devices used in both of these assaults functioned within the parameters of the plan, and I make no apologies."
"I really do not understand the psychological process that goes into the making of an abortion mill worker. "
"And now after the agreement has been signed the talking heads on the news opine that I am "finished," that I will "languish broken and unloved in the bowels of some supermax," and but I say to you people that by the by the grace of God I am still here — a little bloodied, but emphatically unbowed."
End slices:
Perhaps Rudolph should have looked more internally at the elevation of his own muderous intent and fixed that first?
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Bully Pulpit Promotes Bullies
I suppose we shouldn't be surprised about Bolton's pending confirmation for our rep to the UN. It smacks of the typical cronyism that has taken on mythic proportions in the W, Rove and Co.
Slice:
The longer John Bolton's Senate hearing for the post of United Nations representative went on, the more outrageous it seemed that President Bush could have nominated a man who had made withering disdain for that world body the signature of his career in international affairs. Some fear that the aim is to scuttle the United Nations. It's more likely, but just as disturbing, that this is another example of Mr. Bush's rewarding loyalty rather than holding officials accountable for mistakes, especially those who helped build the case for war with Iraq.
Slice:
The longer John Bolton's Senate hearing for the post of United Nations representative went on, the more outrageous it seemed that President Bush could have nominated a man who had made withering disdain for that world body the signature of his career in international affairs. Some fear that the aim is to scuttle the United Nations. It's more likely, but just as disturbing, that this is another example of Mr. Bush's rewarding loyalty rather than holding officials accountable for mistakes, especially those who helped build the case for war with Iraq.
Whatever the explanation, the hearing held by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee only added reasons for denying the job to Mr. Bolton. It turned up a third incident (we already knew of two) in which Mr. Bolton tried to have an intelligence analyst punished for stopping him from making false claims about a weapons program in another nation, notably Cuba. Trying to tailor intelligence is enough to disqualify Mr. Bolton from this job. But the hearings also provided a detailed indictment of his views on the U.N., multilateral diplomacy and treaties.
...Some of Mr. Bolton's Republican allies tried the "no harm, no foul" ploy, saying his misbehavior shouldn't count because he had ended up giving an accurate speech. Others said the issue was just a question of management style. But they are wrong. With America's credibility as low as it is, the last thing the nation needs is a United Nations envoy who tries to force intelligence into an ideological construct.
End Slice:
The bigger question for us should be was Bolton a source for the WMD scare mongering about Iraq?
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Two Quotes
I'm a fan of clicking to an Email's bottom to witness the interesting things people value as stipulated in a person's signature tag. If it is worthy of putting at the close of every email you send, that's saying something.
I'm also big on clicking to read a blogger's first post. If s/he can't say something profound in his/her first post, then perhaps the rest of the blog is not worthy of attention going forward. That said, in juxtaposition, the difference between a person's first and most recent post is also a good indicator of improvement.
Here are two quotes from a email signature I recieved the other day:
"Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand---melting like a snowflake." ---Marie Beyon Ray
"Time is a great healer, but a lousy beautician!"
Two quotes deserve two questions:
1) Do you have a favorite signature tag quote? Share, if so.
2) Do you have a favorite first blog post? Give us the link so we can follow it.
I'm also big on clicking to read a blogger's first post. If s/he can't say something profound in his/her first post, then perhaps the rest of the blog is not worthy of attention going forward. That said, in juxtaposition, the difference between a person's first and most recent post is also a good indicator of improvement.
Here are two quotes from a email signature I recieved the other day:
"Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand---melting like a snowflake." ---Marie Beyon Ray
"Time is a great healer, but a lousy beautician!"
Two quotes deserve two questions:
1) Do you have a favorite signature tag quote? Share, if so.
2) Do you have a favorite first blog post? Give us the link so we can follow it.
Monday, April 11, 2005
Street Protests are Folly for the Disenfranchised
I had another one of those moments - surfing different blogs and came up with a comment that would be a suitable post. Check out Moxie Grrrll for a post relating a interview with someone who was posted at Abu Ghrab for a bit.
Here's my comment:
Thanks for the update. I hadn't seen the interview, but frankly, I am not surprised in any way. The atrocities of the actions of war criminals are always hienous. But if those folks happen to be on the winning side, they never get prosocuted for their crimes.
As to the disaffected youth, make that all of placated, plump, supersized America. The folks who protested the Vietnam Conflict are still alive, but they remain silent.
The downside is that protest really doesn't work. If we all really didn't believe in the work of W, Rove and Co. we would just simply not send in our taxes. Or just staple our tax returns together with short note to the President saying, "Dear Mr. Bush. Don't use my tax money to kill innocent Iraqi citizens. Thank you."
That aught to snarl up the works a bit.
Here's my comment:
Thanks for the update. I hadn't seen the interview, but frankly, I am not surprised in any way. The atrocities of the actions of war criminals are always hienous. But if those folks happen to be on the winning side, they never get prosocuted for their crimes.
As to the disaffected youth, make that all of placated, plump, supersized America. The folks who protested the Vietnam Conflict are still alive, but they remain silent.
The downside is that protest really doesn't work. If we all really didn't believe in the work of W, Rove and Co. we would just simply not send in our taxes. Or just staple our tax returns together with short note to the President saying, "Dear Mr. Bush. Don't use my tax money to kill innocent Iraqi citizens. Thank you."
That aught to snarl up the works a bit.
Revolutionary Movements
These words by James Connolly (1907) are painted on the wall of the Starry Plough in Berkeley California:
No revolutionary movement is
complete with out its poetic
expression. If such a movement
has caught hold of the
imagination of the masses,
they will seek a vent in song
for the aspirations, fears, and
hopes, the loves and hatreds
engendered by the struggle.
Until the movement is marked
by the joyous, defiant singing
of revolutionary songs, it lacks
one of the most distinctive
marks of a popular revolutionary
movement; it is the dogma of the few
and not the faith of the multitude
complete with out its poetic
expression. If such a movement
has caught hold of the
imagination of the masses,
they will seek a vent in song
for the aspirations, fears, and
hopes, the loves and hatreds
engendered by the struggle.
Until the movement is marked
by the joyous, defiant singing
of revolutionary songs, it lacks
one of the most distinctive
marks of a popular revolutionary
movement; it is the dogma of the few
and not the faith of the multitude
Sunday, April 10, 2005
Mean Kids
Interesting question from my three year old son: "Daddy, why are some kids mean?"
Anyone have a good reply?
Anyone have a good reply?
Judicial Supremacy?
Is "Judicial Supremacy" the new form of bigotry (Like White Supremacy)? DeLay must be preparing the courts for when he is brought to trial for his malfeasance.
Slice:
"Judicial independence does not equal judicial supremacy," DeLay (R-Texas) said Thursday. Congress, instead of just complaining about federal courts that "run amok" in defending the right to abortion and banning school prayer, must set limits and "make sure the judges administer their responsibilities," he said, according to a report Friday in the New York Times.
He spoke by video to a conference titled "Confronting the Judicial War on Faith." Its sponsor was the Traditional Values Coalition, social-issue reactionaries who back legislation to restrict federal courts from ruling on anything involving God or basing any rulings on the precedents of foreign courts (for instance, in death penalty cases). Its so-called Constitutional Restoration Act is sponsored in Congress by Sens. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), Zell Miller (D-Ga.), Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), and Reps. Robert B. Aderholt (R-Ala.) and Mike Pence (R-Ind.).
...Judicial independence is one of this nation's distinguishing traits and a hallmark of our constitutional scheme. To endure, our democracy requires that legislators respect the independence of the judiciary, even when it comes to decisions they don't like.
End slice:
By the way, the Constitution needs "Restoration" like marriage needs "protecting."
Slice:
"Judicial independence does not equal judicial supremacy," DeLay (R-Texas) said Thursday. Congress, instead of just complaining about federal courts that "run amok" in defending the right to abortion and banning school prayer, must set limits and "make sure the judges administer their responsibilities," he said, according to a report Friday in the New York Times.
He spoke by video to a conference titled "Confronting the Judicial War on Faith." Its sponsor was the Traditional Values Coalition, social-issue reactionaries who back legislation to restrict federal courts from ruling on anything involving God or basing any rulings on the precedents of foreign courts (for instance, in death penalty cases). Its so-called Constitutional Restoration Act is sponsored in Congress by Sens. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), Zell Miller (D-Ga.), Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), and Reps. Robert B. Aderholt (R-Ala.) and Mike Pence (R-Ind.).
...Judicial independence is one of this nation's distinguishing traits and a hallmark of our constitutional scheme. To endure, our democracy requires that legislators respect the independence of the judiciary, even when it comes to decisions they don't like.
End slice:
By the way, the Constitution needs "Restoration" like marriage needs "protecting."
Windsurfing Report
Great day today. Started out on the 5.4 launched from Crissy Field. Headed up wind surprisingly well with my new 25 cm fin (Freewave, prepreg carbon fiber) from Maui Fin Works. Even against the flood tide. Got to the bridge and the waves were fun and mild at Fort Point. Then started the usual flukiness at the turn of the tides, so I headed back to the beach. Sure enough with the ebb came super wind. Of course, I was too tired to hang on for very long with gusts above 30 knotts. And, I had rigged too big a sail for that kind of wind. Really, I got blown off the water and had to pack it in for fear of getting my butt kicked on the outside. Better to sail safe so I can sail another day.
Yesterday was a bit of a downer, comparitively. Had the same set up, but the wind never cranked up. Got off the water in under an hour, which is not a good day in my book. But the wind came back today and I am thoroughly whooped. Off to bed for this happy camper.
Yesterday was a bit of a downer, comparitively. Had the same set up, but the wind never cranked up. Got off the water in under an hour, which is not a good day in my book. But the wind came back today and I am thoroughly whooped. Off to bed for this happy camper.
Another point from my personal philosophy of life
Nothing worthwhile is ever easy. And those things that are easy are seldom, if ever, worthwhile.
The Taxman Cometh
The heavy burden of taxes paid by the middle class let the rich stay rich. And W, Rove and Co. are all about improving the status quo to futher line the pockets of the tax evading wealthy class.
Slice:
Too bad you did not get a job as a hedge fund manager. If you had, you would not owe any taxes come April 15 on your share of the hedge fund's profits.
Hedge funds are unregulated investment pools open only to rich individuals and big institutions. They operate offshore. And for their managers, some of whom earned a half-billion dollars last year, taxes are deferred as long as they keep the hedge fund open and the profits offshore, while you get taxes deducted from your paycheck. And, thanks to our government, their tax avoidance is perfectly legal.
...For more than a decade, Congress has steadily eroded the capacity of the IRS to enforce the tax laws, with one exception. Since 1997, Congress has approved more than $1 billion in extra funds to audit the working poor. In recent years, parents who work full time at the minimum wage have been as much as eight times more likely to be audited than millionaire investors in partnerships.
The wealthy who mine the tax system face little risk of getting caught. Only 1 partnership in 400 gets audited, and agents say many audits are superficial and closed quickly to make statistical reports create the appearance of toughening enforcement.
...Bush says he wants a new tax system that will lower taxes on savings and investments and on "risk takers." He said a new system must be revenue neutral, meaning it will bring in the same amount as the old system.
If those with significant assets are going to pay less, there are only two ways to make up that revenue. One would be tremendous economic growth. The other would be to subtly shift more of the tax burden onto those Congress already watches closely: wage earners.
Slice:
Too bad you did not get a job as a hedge fund manager. If you had, you would not owe any taxes come April 15 on your share of the hedge fund's profits.
Hedge funds are unregulated investment pools open only to rich individuals and big institutions. They operate offshore. And for their managers, some of whom earned a half-billion dollars last year, taxes are deferred as long as they keep the hedge fund open and the profits offshore, while you get taxes deducted from your paycheck. And, thanks to our government, their tax avoidance is perfectly legal.
...For more than a decade, Congress has steadily eroded the capacity of the IRS to enforce the tax laws, with one exception. Since 1997, Congress has approved more than $1 billion in extra funds to audit the working poor. In recent years, parents who work full time at the minimum wage have been as much as eight times more likely to be audited than millionaire investors in partnerships.
The wealthy who mine the tax system face little risk of getting caught. Only 1 partnership in 400 gets audited, and agents say many audits are superficial and closed quickly to make statistical reports create the appearance of toughening enforcement.
...Bush says he wants a new tax system that will lower taxes on savings and investments and on "risk takers." He said a new system must be revenue neutral, meaning it will bring in the same amount as the old system.
If those with significant assets are going to pay less, there are only two ways to make up that revenue. One would be tremendous economic growth. The other would be to subtly shift more of the tax burden onto those Congress already watches closely: wage earners.
Feasting on Decomposing Bodies
Interesting Frank Rich article in today's NYTimes. Perhaps the most troubling quote Rich points out is that Fox News "Rehearsed" for the "breaking" of the Pope's death...and still got it wrong. Another reason not to watch the Main Stream Media Propaganda Machine.
Slice:
Slice:
Mortality - the more graphic, the merrier - is the biggest thing going in America. Between Terri Schiavo and the pope, we've feasted on decomposing bodies for almost a solid month now. The carefully edited, three-year-old video loops of Ms. Schiavo may have been worthless as medical evidence but as necro-porn their ubiquity rivaled that of TV's top entertainment franchise, the all-forensics-all-the-time "CSI." To help us visualize the dying John Paul, another Fox star, Geraldo Rivera, brought on Dr. Michael Baden, the go-to cadaver expert from the JonBenet Ramsey, Chandra Levy and Laci Peterson mediathons, to contrast His Holiness's cortex with Ms. Schiavo's.
As sponsors line up to buy time on "CSI," so celebrity deaths have become a marvelous opportunity for beatific self-promotion by news and political stars alike. Tim Russert showed a video of his papal encounter on a "Meet the Press" where one of the guests, unchallenged, gave John Paul an A-plus for his handling of the church's sex abuse scandal. Jesse Jackson, staking out a new career as the angel of deathotainment, hit the trifecta: in rapid succession he appeared with the Schindlers at their daughter's hospice in Florida, eulogized Johnnie Cochran on "Larry King Live" and reminisced about his own papal audience with MSNBC's Keith Olbermann.
...This agenda is synergistic with the entertainment culture of Mr. Bush's base: No one does the culture of death with more of a vengeance - literally so - than the doomsday right...
Saturday, April 09, 2005
Onward Christian Soldiers
Got this email and link from a friend and I thought the bloggisphere would be interested in the view point:
"Bush's visit to the Pope's funeral is out to find solidarity with bigots of all stripes. The tragedy is that it's too easy to assemble a majority of know-nothings, they know so little of the contradictions that exist among themselves. This is what the founders were against, the tyranny of the majority. That's why we have a republic and not a democracy."
"Bush's visit to the Pope's funeral is out to find solidarity with bigots of all stripes. The tragedy is that it's too easy to assemble a majority of know-nothings, they know so little of the contradictions that exist among themselves. This is what the founders were against, the tyranny of the majority. That's why we have a republic and not a democracy."
You Thought You Were Tough
I challenge anyone to keep up with Dean Karnazes. This man is insane...I used to windsurf the same beaches with this guy and met him on a number of occasions.
The bigger question is this: Is he running away from or toward something? Or is it, like old Doc Sheehan used to say, that he runs becuase he is an Animal, and a Child...
Slice:
Why? Why would a healthy, professionally successful, happily married father of two volunteer to run for 75 hours straight, putting one foot in front of the other, over and over and over again, for 262 miles?
...In his memoir, Karnazes does make an attempt to address the big "Why?" and to try to find rationality in his behavior. But there is no simple explanation.
He loves running, adores the simplicity and solitude of it. He's wild for a challenge — the more difficult, the better. He savors suffering, relishes escape and thrives on his obsession. He admits that his dedication "borders on psychotic," but he believes his addiction to pushing himself to tackle increasingly longer distances is overwhelmingly positive.
The bigger question is this: Is he running away from or toward something? Or is it, like old Doc Sheehan used to say, that he runs becuase he is an Animal, and a Child...
Slice:
Why? Why would a healthy, professionally successful, happily married father of two volunteer to run for 75 hours straight, putting one foot in front of the other, over and over and over again, for 262 miles?
...In his memoir, Karnazes does make an attempt to address the big "Why?" and to try to find rationality in his behavior. But there is no simple explanation.
He loves running, adores the simplicity and solitude of it. He's wild for a challenge — the more difficult, the better. He savors suffering, relishes escape and thrives on his obsession. He admits that his dedication "borders on psychotic," but he believes his addiction to pushing himself to tackle increasingly longer distances is overwhelmingly positive.
Typical! Sub Title: We Get What You Voted For
Unfortunately, not all of us voted for the current administration, and the "majority" (however infinitesimal the margin of victory was) opinion left us with W, Rove and Co.
Typical opperating proceedure for W, Rove and Co = Say one thing, and then do everything to undermine the ability of anyone to move positively on it.
Slice:
The Bush administration pays lip service to the goal of "ending chronic homelessness" - while undermining the very programs that keep poor people from ending up in the streets. The Housing and Urban Development Department is proposing unreasonable cuts in federal subsidies, which would make it harder for underfinanced housing authorities to keep their developments livable and safe. And a proposal in Congress would make it harder for the poor to get rental subsidies from Section 8, the public-private partnership that underwrites rents for nearly two million of the country's low-income families and encourages builders to develop affordable housing.
Typical opperating proceedure for W, Rove and Co = Say one thing, and then do everything to undermine the ability of anyone to move positively on it.
Slice:
The Bush administration pays lip service to the goal of "ending chronic homelessness" - while undermining the very programs that keep poor people from ending up in the streets. The Housing and Urban Development Department is proposing unreasonable cuts in federal subsidies, which would make it harder for underfinanced housing authorities to keep their developments livable and safe. And a proposal in Congress would make it harder for the poor to get rental subsidies from Section 8, the public-private partnership that underwrites rents for nearly two million of the country's low-income families and encourages builders to develop affordable housing.
This meat-ax approach has to stop. Congress needs to understand that poor people won't just disappear when the housing that serves them dries up.
Friday, April 08, 2005
Admonishment
This may have pertained to whaling, and written over 100 years ago, but still rings true today.
From page 205 of my copy of Melville's Moby Dick:
For God's sake, be economical with your lamps and candles! not a gallon you burn, but at least one drop of a man's blood was spilled for it.
From page 205 of my copy of Melville's Moby Dick:
For God's sake, be economical with your lamps and candles! not a gallon you burn, but at least one drop of a man's blood was spilled for it.
Jeff Gannon Exposes Himself
Found an interesting article by clicking through Wonkette (who was actually on a panel with Gannon). Here's a quote by the Jeffster that about sums up his character:
Gannon replied: "I was about the only news source providing that information without a filter. There is nothing wrong with reporting what the administration says about a particular issue. ... Why does everything have to be looked at through a lens that represents every point of view?"
End slice:
Humm, that just about sums it up.
Gannon replied: "I was about the only news source providing that information without a filter. There is nothing wrong with reporting what the administration says about a particular issue. ... Why does everything have to be looked at through a lens that represents every point of view?"
End slice:
Humm, that just about sums it up.
The Pope's Coffin
Do we really care what materials the Pope's coffin is made out of? I mean, really, I have read and heard numerous reports about the funeral service and a large number of them point out where and what the Pope will be burried in. Why?
P.S. saw another news report replete with photo of the tomb at 3:36 pm. Is it morbid curiosity that drives people to want to know this or will it be the next trend for the fashionistas?
P.S. saw another news report replete with photo of the tomb at 3:36 pm. Is it morbid curiosity that drives people to want to know this or will it be the next trend for the fashionistas?
Hey, Everybody Does it (Wink, Wink)!
If I cheat on a test, is it okay becuase everybody does it? No. So, why is this okay for DeLay and his ilk?
Slice:
Allies of Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas have finally gotten around to the "everybody does it" justification of the ethical lapses of their guy, the No. 2 Republican in the House. It's the excuse used after more specific defenses, such as "he couldn't have known where the money was coming from," begin to sound hollow.
In response to one recent discovery, the $500,000-plus paid by DeLay-controlled political committees to DeLay's wife and daughter, Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri (the No. 3 Republican in the House) said, "The things that Tom has been criticized about in one way or another every member of Congress could be criticized about…. I think he's taking arrows for all of us."
Let the arrows fly where they belong, then. If all members are shoveling that kind of special interest money to their kin, the voters would like to know the specifics.
...Over the last several years, The Times has exposed family/lobbyist ties among many lawmakers, notably Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Sens. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) and Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), former Sen. John B. Breaux (D-La.), and Reps. Nick J. Rahall II (D-W.Va.), and Curt Weldon (R-Pa.). Instead of improving its self-regulation, Congress has weakened its ethics rules to help DeLay, who is also facing possible indictment for political activities in Texas.
"Everybody does it." When children say that, their mothers ask: "Would you jump off a cliff if everyone did it?" Maybe Republican defenders of DeLay are thinking, "yes."
Slice:
Allies of Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas have finally gotten around to the "everybody does it" justification of the ethical lapses of their guy, the No. 2 Republican in the House. It's the excuse used after more specific defenses, such as "he couldn't have known where the money was coming from," begin to sound hollow.
In response to one recent discovery, the $500,000-plus paid by DeLay-controlled political committees to DeLay's wife and daughter, Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri (the No. 3 Republican in the House) said, "The things that Tom has been criticized about in one way or another every member of Congress could be criticized about…. I think he's taking arrows for all of us."
Let the arrows fly where they belong, then. If all members are shoveling that kind of special interest money to their kin, the voters would like to know the specifics.
...Over the last several years, The Times has exposed family/lobbyist ties among many lawmakers, notably Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Sens. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) and Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), former Sen. John B. Breaux (D-La.), and Reps. Nick J. Rahall II (D-W.Va.), and Curt Weldon (R-Pa.). Instead of improving its self-regulation, Congress has weakened its ethics rules to help DeLay, who is also facing possible indictment for political activities in Texas.
"Everybody does it." When children say that, their mothers ask: "Would you jump off a cliff if everyone did it?" Maybe Republican defenders of DeLay are thinking, "yes."
Thursday, April 07, 2005
Your Living Will
Got this via Email from a friend...falls into the spam catagory, but I had a good laugh:
Living Will
Living Will
I, _________________________ (fill in the blank), being of sound mind and body, do not wish to be kept alive indefinitely by artificial means.
Under no circumstances should my fate be put in the hands of peckerwood ethically challenged politicians who couldn't pass ninth-grade biology if their lives depended on it.
If a reasonable amount of time passes and I fail to sit up and ask for a Bombay on the rocks ; cold Pinot Noir, etc.(substitute your choice), it should be presumed that I won't ever get better.
When such a determination is reached, I hereby instruct my spouse, children and attending physicians to pull the plug, reel in the tubes and call it a day.
Under no circumstances shall the hypocritical members of the Legislature (State or Federal) enact a special law to keep me on life-support machinery. It is my wish that these boneheads mind their own damn business, and pay attention instead to the health, education and future of the millions of Americans who aren't in a permanent coma.
Under no circumstances shall any politicians butt into this case.
I don't care how many fundamentalist votes they're trying to scrounge for their run for the presidency, it is my wish that they play politics with someone else's life and leave me alone to die in peace.
I couldn't care less if a hundred religious zealots send e-mails to legislators in which they pretend to care about me. I don't know these people, and I certainly haven't authorized them to preach and crusade on my behalf.They should mind their own business, too.
If any of my family goes against my wishes and turns my case into a political cause, I hereby promise to come back from the grave and make his or her existence a living hell.
Signature _______________________________________
Witness _______________________________________
DATE__________
DATE__________
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Using Academics as a Tool to Screw the Public (yes, that's us)
Looks like it is no just PhillipMorris that is cooking research to support their nasty business. Cheveron Texaco is in the act as well (let's not get started on the pharmaceuticals).
Slice from the Chronicle of Higher Education:
Slice from the Chronicle of Higher Education:
Texaco drilled in the Ecuadorean Amazon from 1964 to 1992, and residents have sued the company in Ecuador's courts, saying that the pollution left behind has caused cancer and other illnesses, spoiled the environment, and destabilized communities. They argue that the oil company, which in 2001 merged with Chevron, should pay $6-billion to clean up the mess.
But ChevronTexaco insists that the pollution is not nearly as widespread as claimed, and that other factors are likely to have caused the health problems. Backing up those assertions are reports produced for the company by six scientists whom the oil company hired as consultants, including faculty members at Boston University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Texas School of Public Health.
Other scientists cried foul when quotations from the consultants' reports appeared in February on Texaco's Web site and, they say, in full-page advertisements in newspapers in Ecuador. The online statements criticize earlier studies, some of them published in the scientific literature, that showed connections between oil pollution and disease. The Web site, for instance, quotes Lowell E. Sever, a professor of epidemiology at Texas, as saying, "There is little or no evidence that would support a causal relationship between oil contamination and health effects."
...
Their concern extends to the actions of Texaco's consultants. In the letter, the researchers respond to some of Texaco's scientific criticisms and assert that "the place to air legitimate scientific concerns about the quality of published research is in the research literature itself."
"The original authors then have the opportunity to respond to the critiques in an environment of open scientific dialogue and scrutiny by scientists internationally," the letter says.
Several of the letter's signers told The Chronicle that they objected to the academic scientists' lending their prestige to Texaco -- "epidemiology for sale," according to Arthur L. Frank, a professor and chairman of the department of environmental and occupational health at Drexel University. "Why didn't they publish differing science and let the scientific community critique it?" he asked.
Joseph LaDou, the journal's editor, said he was happy to throw a spotlight on the consultants' practices. "What I thought was significant about this letter was the broad international signatures that it elicited," said Dr. LaDou, who is director of the International Center for Occupational Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco.
"The scientific community," he went on, "is getting a little bit impatient with these hired guns who are willing to have quote after quote of criticism of the scientific literature appear in corporate-sponsored Web sites, while at the same time ignoring a scientific process that reviews articles and generates scientific truth."
End slice:
Hey, if it gets another dollar in to the Big Oil Capitalists' wallet, you can pay many scientisits to say just about anything - just ask "Four out of Five Dentists..."
Scared Yet? Sub title: Congressional Reichwingers excuse murderous behavior
This is almost as heinous as the "Twinkie Defense."
From Today's NYTimes:
It was appalling when the House majority leader threatened political retribution against judges who did not toe his extremist political line. But when a second important Republican stands up and excuses murderous violence against judges as an understandable reaction to their decisions, then it is time to get really scared.
It happened on Monday, in a moment that was horrifying even by the rock-bottom standards of the campaign that Republican zealots are conducting against the nation's judiciary. Senator John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, rose in the chamber and dared to argue that recent courthouse violence might be explained by distress about judges who "are making political decisions yet are unaccountable to the public." The frustration "builds up and builds up to the point where some people engage in" violence, said Mr. Cornyn, a former member of the Texas Supreme Court who is on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which supposedly protects the Constitution and its guarantee of an independent judiciary.
...Echoes of the political hijacking of the Terri Schiavo case hung in the air as Mr. Cornyn spoke, just days after the House majority leader, Tom DeLay, vengefully vowed that "the time will come" to make the judges who resisted the Congressional Republicans' gruesome deathbed intrusion "answer for their behavior." Trying to intimidate judges used to be a crime, not a bombastic cudgel for cynical politicians.
End Slice:
From Today's NYTimes:
It was appalling when the House majority leader threatened political retribution against judges who did not toe his extremist political line. But when a second important Republican stands up and excuses murderous violence against judges as an understandable reaction to their decisions, then it is time to get really scared.
It happened on Monday, in a moment that was horrifying even by the rock-bottom standards of the campaign that Republican zealots are conducting against the nation's judiciary. Senator John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, rose in the chamber and dared to argue that recent courthouse violence might be explained by distress about judges who "are making political decisions yet are unaccountable to the public." The frustration "builds up and builds up to the point where some people engage in" violence, said Mr. Cornyn, a former member of the Texas Supreme Court who is on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which supposedly protects the Constitution and its guarantee of an independent judiciary.
...Echoes of the political hijacking of the Terri Schiavo case hung in the air as Mr. Cornyn spoke, just days after the House majority leader, Tom DeLay, vengefully vowed that "the time will come" to make the judges who resisted the Congressional Republicans' gruesome deathbed intrusion "answer for their behavior." Trying to intimidate judges used to be a crime, not a bombastic cudgel for cynical politicians.
End Slice:
When do we get to impeach these bastards?
What Makes a Good Christian?
More from page 81 of my copy of Melville's Moby Dick:
"...for I cherish the greatest respect towards everybody's religious obligations, never mind how comical, and could not find it in my heart ot undervalue even a congregation of ants worshipping a toad-stool; or those other creatures in certain parts of our earth, who with a degree of footmanism quite unprecedented in other planets, bow down before the torso of a deceased landed proprietor merely on account of the inordinate possessions yet owned and rented in his name.
I say, we good Presbyterian Christians should be charitable in these things, and not fancy ourselves so vastly superior to other mortals, pagans and what not, because of their half-crazy conceits on these subjects...
...let him be, I say: And Heaven have mercy on us all - Presbyterians and Pagans alike - for we are all somehow dreadfully cracked about the head, and sadly in need of mending."
"...for I cherish the greatest respect towards everybody's religious obligations, never mind how comical, and could not find it in my heart ot undervalue even a congregation of ants worshipping a toad-stool; or those other creatures in certain parts of our earth, who with a degree of footmanism quite unprecedented in other planets, bow down before the torso of a deceased landed proprietor merely on account of the inordinate possessions yet owned and rented in his name.
I say, we good Presbyterian Christians should be charitable in these things, and not fancy ourselves so vastly superior to other mortals, pagans and what not, because of their half-crazy conceits on these subjects...
...let him be, I say: And Heaven have mercy on us all - Presbyterians and Pagans alike - for we are all somehow dreadfully cracked about the head, and sadly in need of mending."
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Too bad the Curve wasn't thrown before the Election
Would W, Rove and Co had won the election if the information about WMD was not suppressed?
Cheats usually get expelled from shcool. If they are in public office, they just get promoted by W, Rove and Co, it seems.
When are the impeachment proceedings going to begin?
Slice:
Last October, just weeks before the presidential election, I wrote a column stating that the acting director of the CIA was suppressing a report to Congress that was potentially embarrassing to President Bush's campaign. The report had been completed by the CIA's own independent inspector general four months before the election, yet the agency rebuffed Congress' request that it be made public.
Now, thanks to last week's release of another report, that of the Bush-appointed Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction, we learn that the embargoed CIA report centered on the outrageous case of the now-infamous Iraqi informant known by the code name, "Curveball."
...To squelch the exposure of such widespread incompetence and deadly manipulation of national security intelligence is a betrayal of democracy.
Cheats usually get expelled from shcool. If they are in public office, they just get promoted by W, Rove and Co, it seems.
When are the impeachment proceedings going to begin?
Slice:
Last October, just weeks before the presidential election, I wrote a column stating that the acting director of the CIA was suppressing a report to Congress that was potentially embarrassing to President Bush's campaign. The report had been completed by the CIA's own independent inspector general four months before the election, yet the agency rebuffed Congress' request that it be made public.
Now, thanks to last week's release of another report, that of the Bush-appointed Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction, we learn that the embargoed CIA report centered on the outrageous case of the now-infamous Iraqi informant known by the code name, "Curveball."
...To squelch the exposure of such widespread incompetence and deadly manipulation of national security intelligence is a betrayal of democracy.
If the Judge decides against you, is he or she an Activist?
What is up with the reichwing "Activist" label for judges that decide against them?
Is it bad to be an Activist?
If so, what do you call some one who shoots and kills a clinic doctor in the name of the "right-to-life?"
Slice from the NYTimes:
Last week, Judge Stanley Birch Jr., a conservative member of the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, based in Atlanta, declared that in the Schiavo case, "the legislative and executive branches of our government have acted in a manner demonstrably at odds with our founding fathers' blueprint for the governance of a free people - our Constitution."Judge
Birch is right, but he should not be such a lonely voice. The founders established a system of government in which the three branches - legislative, executive and judicial - act as checks and balances for one another. Republicans in Congress and the Bush administration, unhappy with some rulings of the judiciary, are trying to write it out of its constitutional role. The courts will not always be popular; they will not even always be right. But if Congress succeeds in curtailing the judiciary's ability to act as a check on the other two branches, the nation will be far less free.
Is it bad to be an Activist?
If so, what do you call some one who shoots and kills a clinic doctor in the name of the "right-to-life?"
Slice from the NYTimes:
Last week, Judge Stanley Birch Jr., a conservative member of the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, based in Atlanta, declared that in the Schiavo case, "the legislative and executive branches of our government have acted in a manner demonstrably at odds with our founding fathers' blueprint for the governance of a free people - our Constitution."Judge
Birch is right, but he should not be such a lonely voice. The founders established a system of government in which the three branches - legislative, executive and judicial - act as checks and balances for one another. Republicans in Congress and the Bush administration, unhappy with some rulings of the judiciary, are trying to write it out of its constitutional role. The courts will not always be popular; they will not even always be right. But if Congress succeeds in curtailing the judiciary's ability to act as a check on the other two branches, the nation will be far less free.
Monday, April 04, 2005
Hey, What's another 80 or so Billion Amongst Friends
More proof the ROI (Return on Investment) is not worth the initial outlay in Iraq (Death Toll Reaching close to 1600 GIs).
Slice from the latest Move On Message.
Congress has barely debated the war in Iraq or its aftermath since it voted to authorize the use of force in October 2002. Now, the Bush administration is skipping the normal budget process to ask for an additional $82 billion to fund the American presence in Iraq. Among the big-ticket items, a $600 million embassy and some 14 "enduring" bases.[1] Those bases, and the absence of an exit strategy, will worsen, not improve the situation in Iraq.
And, remember the last $87 billion Congress authorized for the war: a whopping $9 billion of it is missing because of corrupt contracting.[2] We must root out the corporate corruption that has undercut the rebuilding efforts and lost billions of taxpayers' money.
As it considers another $82 billion for Iraq, Congress needs to insist that America has an exit strategy from Iraq with a timeline, that we do not construct permanent bases in Iraq and that we end war profiteering by corporations. Please sign our petition urging Congress to act today.
Slice from the latest Move On Message.
Congress has barely debated the war in Iraq or its aftermath since it voted to authorize the use of force in October 2002. Now, the Bush administration is skipping the normal budget process to ask for an additional $82 billion to fund the American presence in Iraq. Among the big-ticket items, a $600 million embassy and some 14 "enduring" bases.[1] Those bases, and the absence of an exit strategy, will worsen, not improve the situation in Iraq.
And, remember the last $87 billion Congress authorized for the war: a whopping $9 billion of it is missing because of corrupt contracting.[2] We must root out the corporate corruption that has undercut the rebuilding efforts and lost billions of taxpayers' money.
As it considers another $82 billion for Iraq, Congress needs to insist that America has an exit strategy from Iraq with a timeline, that we do not construct permanent bases in Iraq and that we end war profiteering by corporations. Please sign our petition urging Congress to act today.
The Niceties of Abstinence Education
Humm, it must be working...
Slice:
One in five U.S. teenagers say they have engaged in oral sex, an activity that some adolescents view as not sex at all and certainly less risky than intercourse, a report released Monday said.
The survey of 580 children with a mean age of 14-1/2 found 20 percent said they had engaged in oral sex, compared to 14 percent who said they had engaged in sexual intercourse.
In addition, one-third of the multi-ethnic 9th graders surveyed said they intended to have oral sex within the next six months and nearly one-fourth planned to have intercourse during the period. It was more common for boys to have performed oral sex on girls than vice versa, the report said.
Found a nice related link via The Crankster at a location called the Iron Hymen. Enjoy the link, I did.
Slice:
"Take it from me, girls – there's no good reason to rush into S-E-X. That's why I hope these scientific facts help you choose abstinence, so you need never know the heartbreak of being trapped in a loveless marriage just because you drank too many margaritas one night and gave up your honey pot to a pushy young cokehead from a so-called 'good family.'"
Slice:
One in five U.S. teenagers say they have engaged in oral sex, an activity that some adolescents view as not sex at all and certainly less risky than intercourse, a report released Monday said.
The survey of 580 children with a mean age of 14-1/2 found 20 percent said they had engaged in oral sex, compared to 14 percent who said they had engaged in sexual intercourse.
In addition, one-third of the multi-ethnic 9th graders surveyed said they intended to have oral sex within the next six months and nearly one-fourth planned to have intercourse during the period. It was more common for boys to have performed oral sex on girls than vice versa, the report said.
End Slice.
Found a nice related link via The Crankster at a location called the Iron Hymen. Enjoy the link, I did.
Slice:
"Take it from me, girls – there's no good reason to rush into S-E-X. That's why I hope these scientific facts help you choose abstinence, so you need never know the heartbreak of being trapped in a loveless marriage just because you drank too many margaritas one night and gave up your honey pot to a pushy young cokehead from a so-called 'good family.'"
Sunday, April 03, 2005
More Great News for Big Oil, and the Arabs
Well, bad news for us as the price per gallon cranks on up to three bucks here. Halliburton, W, Rove and Co. family members all win big when we pay more for gas.
This is another reason to green, clean, lean and mean on the fossil fuel industry.
As another blogger would stipulate - reduce, reuse, and recycle.
Slice:
By Joanne Collins MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Oil prices raced to a new all-time peak on Monday, climbing toward $58 a barrel as OPEC signaled it would discuss a second output rise to try to quell the market's relentless rally.
U.S. light crude hit a record $57.79 a barrel, surpassing Friday's high of $57.70, which was triggered by a forecast that prices could spike above $100 due to robust global demand and tight spare capacity.
This is another reason to green, clean, lean and mean on the fossil fuel industry.
As another blogger would stipulate - reduce, reuse, and recycle.
Slice:
By Joanne Collins MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Oil prices raced to a new all-time peak on Monday, climbing toward $58 a barrel as OPEC signaled it would discuss a second output rise to try to quell the market's relentless rally.
U.S. light crude hit a record $57.79 a barrel, surpassing Friday's high of $57.70, which was triggered by a forecast that prices could spike above $100 due to robust global demand and tight spare capacity.
Saturday, April 02, 2005
A Divider from the Outset and to the End
W, Rove and Co. and their cronies work the system to futher cleave the country as is their want...and just because they don't like the decision of the courts.
There is a system of Checks and Balances in Place and separation of the Courts from the Exec and Legislative Branches for a reason...a very good reason.
Besides, the legislature is a bit side tracked at this point, don't you think? MoxieGrrrl points us to another great Mark Fiore video clip.
Slice:
House Republican leader Tom DeLay's threat of retaliation -- even impeachment -- against federal judges for failing to do Congress' bidding in the Terri Schiavo case was just the latest manifestation of hostility from Capitol Hill toward the courts.
In the last year, the House has passed bills to divest federal judges of jurisdiction over legal challenges to the phrase "under God'' in the Pledge of Allegiance and to the federal law that allows states to refuse recognition to same-sex marriages performed in other states.
A bill has also been proposed to prohibit federal courts from considering suits over government displays of the Ten Commandments, a case recently argued before the Supreme Court.
No such court-stripping measure has become law since at least the 1860s.
There is a system of Checks and Balances in Place and separation of the Courts from the Exec and Legislative Branches for a reason...a very good reason.
Besides, the legislature is a bit side tracked at this point, don't you think? MoxieGrrrl points us to another great Mark Fiore video clip.
Slice:
House Republican leader Tom DeLay's threat of retaliation -- even impeachment -- against federal judges for failing to do Congress' bidding in the Terri Schiavo case was just the latest manifestation of hostility from Capitol Hill toward the courts.
In the last year, the House has passed bills to divest federal judges of jurisdiction over legal challenges to the phrase "under God'' in the Pledge of Allegiance and to the federal law that allows states to refuse recognition to same-sex marriages performed in other states.
A bill has also been proposed to prohibit federal courts from considering suits over government displays of the Ten Commandments, a case recently argued before the Supreme Court.
No such court-stripping measure has become law since at least the 1860s.
Windsurfing Report: Clasisc Day at Crissy
Today qualifies as a full blown Classic Crissy Field day. If you didn't have fun out there today, you had your carbon fiber mast stuck too far up your rear end.
Wind is still cranking with gusts to 29 as I type. I rigged my 4.7 square meter sail, but could have used the 4.2 up underneath the bridge (Golden Gate). Strapped it onto the 85 liter board (small 21cm fin) and went for it.
All the way up at the North Tower, very large rollers (rolling waves), about the size of a small sized fry shack (or a sugaring house for those of you in maple sap season). Breaking near Ft. Point. Got there, and was too tired to risk the breakers, so I stayed in the rollers for a while. Surfed em. Spent an hour on the water, and as I was pulling back into the beach, lots of folks were still rolling in from prior obligations to rig and go.
Big smiles all around as this cowboy has been sicker than a dog for almost a full week. Second Day on the water for yours truly.
Wind is still cranking with gusts to 29 as I type. I rigged my 4.7 square meter sail, but could have used the 4.2 up underneath the bridge (Golden Gate). Strapped it onto the 85 liter board (small 21cm fin) and went for it.
All the way up at the North Tower, very large rollers (rolling waves), about the size of a small sized fry shack (or a sugaring house for those of you in maple sap season). Breaking near Ft. Point. Got there, and was too tired to risk the breakers, so I stayed in the rollers for a while. Surfed em. Spent an hour on the water, and as I was pulling back into the beach, lots of folks were still rolling in from prior obligations to rig and go.
Big smiles all around as this cowboy has been sicker than a dog for almost a full week. Second Day on the water for yours truly.
Friday, April 01, 2005
Doing
I was trying to come up with some kind of snappy fools post today. Something like, "I had lunch with Terri Schiavo's Ghost and the Pope." But, I couldn't get past the title. So, I am going to leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Angels In America:
"It's what comes after the doing that makes the doing hard to do."
"It's what comes after the doing that makes the doing hard to do."
Pregnancy and the Christian Teen
Found a nice post over at the Cranky Liberal. He points out the prevention first act. Just wondering what happened to all the high quality sex ed programs that W, Rove and Co put the quash on.
If we talk about sex in schools, does this mean that girls will get pregnant? Discourse is not an invitation for intercourse. Unless of course, you talk about sex and STDs to a Christian Teen, it seems.
If we talk about sex in schools, does this mean that girls will get pregnant? Discourse is not an invitation for intercourse. Unless of course, you talk about sex and STDs to a Christian Teen, it seems.
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