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Why I don't blog about current events so much anymore.
June 27, 2006
Because everytime I start to get worked up about something...like this article, I read another blog on the feminist blog feed, say feministe, and someone else has already done a mighty fine job of interpretation and evaluation, like this:
And that’s why this biology debate makes me uncomfortable. It’s important and interesting, of course, to look at the biological causes of everything under the sun, including sexuality. But no one bothers looking at what makes heterosexual people heterosexual. I’ve never been asked when I chose to be attracted to men, and I’ve never had someone insinuate that perhaps my sexuality isn’t genuine. Researchers, as far as I know, have never bothered to look for the gene that made me straight.But yet people seem to think that if we can come up with a biological explanation for homosexuality, then we’ll finally be willing to give the gays their due. Because, you know, it’s ok if they can’t help it.
and, hell, even the comments are more astute than anything I would have to offer:
Also no research in what makes a girl become a lesbian. Why would anyone care about a girl’s sexual preferences!
So, I'm afraid it's back to my little hidey hole. Go on, now...get thee over to feministe, or the feminist blog feed!
Did he really say that?
June 19, 2006
CNN.com - Bush: Iran must stop uranium enrichment - Jun 19, 2006
If Iran's leaders want peace and prosperity and a more hopeful future for their future, they should accept our offer.
*sigh*
Someone REALLY doesn't get it.
May 5, 2006
Colbert took a swipe at Bush's Iraq policy, at domestic eavesdropping, and he took a shot at the news corps for purportedly being nothing more than stenographers recording what the Bush White House said. He referred to the recent staff changes at the White House, chiding the media for supposedly repeating the cliche "rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic" when he would have put it differently: "This administration is not sinking. This administration is soaring. If anything, they are rearranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg." A mixed metaphor, and lame as can be.
This one paragraph in this whiny article about how not funny Stephen Colbert is made me laugh out loud at the author's idiocy. Um, DUH! The POINT is that it's a mixed metaphor, you moron!
Jeez. If you are going to write a pan of a comedian's act, you should at least make an effort to understand the body of work.
Idiot.
[link via sister novena]
tough crowd!
May 1, 2006
Oh, my god! I am in LOVE with Stephen Colbert!
[link via no gods, no masters
You can thank Stephen Colbert here.
Naked Chimney Guy
April 25, 2006
Santa? No! It's Naked chimney guy!
"He told us he took off his clothes because as he was going down the chimney the clothes would rub up against it and slow him down," Branson said. "If it was skin on cement he felt he would go down easier."
Now, I'm not an engineer or anything, but...who on this earth thinks that removing your clothing will HELP you get down a chimney? That is, who, among people who actually think they CAN get all the way down a chimney.
Do you think HE'S one of the 30 some-odd percent in Bush's approval rating? That would explain a lot.
I am the decider.
April 24, 2006
I was watching the news shows this weekend, and I truly realized, yet again, why I'm so not wanting to pay attention to politics.
It's because...when I see the president of the united states on television throwing a total fucking temper tantrum and saying things like "I'm the decider! I decide things!" The absolute surreal ridiculousness of it all makes me want to hide somewhere.
And the danger inherent in that ridiculousness makes me want to do foolish things because, damnit, if we can really have a populace that supports a president that says such things (even if it is just 30 some-odd percent of the populace) ANYfuckinggoddamnthing is possible. Especially the Really Bad Things. You know, the ones that require leadership with actual BRAINS to stave off. And, not just brains, but...like, a sense of reality. Or SOMETHING.
"I am the decider." Holy sweet dancing Jesus...you know? And the newscasters listen to that reel, to that soundbite, and then just proceed with their little debate forum as if there isn't something horribly awfully unbelievably FUCKED UP going on. I seriously would feel a lot better right now if SOMEONE - ANYONE in mainstream media would just say "WHAT THE FUCK, PEOPLE? WHY IS OUR PRESIDENT SAYING THINGS LIKE "I AM THE DECIDER, I DECIDE THINGS!"
Gack. Just...gack.
Sandalistas! Ha!
March 22, 2006
Visitors Seek a Taste of Revolution in Venezuela
A more reasoned response than I could give
March 21, 2006
Not that this is worthy of reason, but ECHIDNE manages to actually use, like, words and stuff:
I don't know why I bother. Someone seriously arguing that "marginal productivity of CEOs" justifies their humongously enormous pay packets... The marginal productivity refers to the first derivative of the production function with respect to an infinitesimally small change in the labor input of the CEO, holding all other inputs constant. How does Snow measure this concept in practice? And does he really believe his own twaddle? Never mind the lack of empathy that it reveals; it also reveals someone who fell in love with Microeconomics 101 and never grew up.
Whereas I just flipped off my radio and taught my kids a few new cuss words.
For those unwilling or unable to listen to the report, basically our new Treasury Secretary (who, by the way, has a name that just INVITES you to make references to his bullshitting.) is talking about how the market rewards Hard Work, and that is why there is such a huge gap between laborers and CEO's. He did manage to throw in a "not that I think it's fair or anything" for good measure...but whether it's fair or not doesn't really matter, as long as we trust in the almighty market. All hail the all-knowing market!
Fuckwad.
This is, by the way, absolutely an example of what I referred to earlier, about idiot specialists drawing stupid conclusions without the benefit of other disciplines or experiences to mitigate their idiocy.
So, it's not just the US of A...
March 21, 2006
Go read this article, and then answer me this...WTF?
The article basically presents a study that links cancer to pesticide exposure, and then some dude says "Well, that's nothing to be concerned about - because I said so." So the article is titled "Doubt over Pesticide Cancer Link" and begins with this quote:
Experts have said people should not be alarmed by research claiming a link between pesticides in food and cancer.
But I see no evidence of studies that refute the actual study that says we should actually very much be alarmed! I really thought this kind of media manipulation was unique to the United States. Boy, was I ever wrong! Go UK! Get on that circular logic train!
This post is for my friend Tracy
March 19, 2006
Nina Totenberg, Tracy! Nina. Sexy Mama. Totenberg.
Blogging the State of the Union
January 31, 2006
I'm in the fullbleed chatroom if you want to cuss along with me.
http://fullbleed.net/chatroom/phpMyChat.php3
Oh, whatever with the wrinkly eyebrows and humbly folded hands.
WTF does "continue to lead" mean? Is that an aphorism for "continue to wage endless war."
"no one can deny the success of freedom, but some men rage and fight against it." Who wrote this shit?
Oh, my, fucking, god. This is the same speech as last year. They will bring the battle to our shores. Um. Isn't this getting old? When is he going to start talking about steroid use?
Many, many people are not applauding.
We've "changed our approach to reconstruction" - is this foreboding?
What the fuck ever. Second guessing is not second guessing. Hindsight IS wisdom, if you fucking pay attention to it. Guess what, it's called HISTORY, dude.
The token military guy just rolled his eyes.
He just introduced the Clay family. Will he introduce Cindy Sheehan? Is she there?
Nice evil wink there. Yeah. Dragging out the dead soldier's family really got him some props. Fucking asshole.
Here we go "The same is true of Iran" - Is he building a case here? He's building steam. Fuck.
Fuck.
Fuck.
Fuck.
"America will continue to rally the world to confront these threats."
Now he's speaking to the citizens of Iran...didn't he do this with Iraq?
Fuck.
What about a free from poverty United States?
Did he just say "expand the education of girls?" WTF?
"by statue." Our president has authority by statue! Evidently, he's been talking to large slabs of marble again.
Quit fucking yelling at me, fucker. I am not a terrorist and you have no right to my privacy.
Hillary laughs, and shakes her head.
Endless war.
Endless war.
Endless war.
Endless war.
Freedom is NOT endless war.
Even the cat is talking back at the television.
MEOW MEOW MEOW george meowfuckmeow Bush!
Wipe that fucking smarmy smirk off yr face. fucker.
This is what the former economy guru has to say about budget cuts. [hat tip to Pansy]
the American Competetitiveness Initiative. Oh fucking great!
Cindy Sheehan was mysteriously arrested prior to the speech. NoicE! [hat tip to spacemom in chat]
"Our greatness is not measured in power or luxuries, but by who we are or how we treat each other."
Violent crime rates are down...but hey! Let's arrest Cindy fucking Sheehan.
HUMAN ANIMAL HYBRIDS? Right, dude. Next he'll be decrying the existence of LIGERS!
Yeah. All we have LEFT is hope.
Leave it in the hand of the Christians, The freaking INVENTORS of stigma, to end the stigma of aids!
"We are in the middle of an ideological conflict we did nothing to invite."
Mr. President. Bite me. The End.
Jan 19 news & blog roundup
January 19, 2006
(because I refuse to use the phrase "blog dump")
Mr Morales has said in the past that one of his priorities will be to seek more rights for Bolivia's indigenous majority."Here, the indigenous people will be ministers," he said on Wednesday.
"Someone said that when we Quechuas and Aymaras were in government we'd make a ministry for white people, but we won't discriminate."
[source]
***
"The Voyage" is a nice introduction to the concept of saving face and sparing feelings. But it’s also about navigating a system you don’t need, one that actually slows you down in order for other people to do their jobs. It’s about other people not believing that you can actually accomplish something for yourself, about misguided good intentions and wasted time. It’s about bureaucracy in general and, viewed through my lens, school in particular.I look back on my own institutional-school career in the honors program at a series of exemplary public schools and I see mostly boredom, bureaucratic hoops that had to be jumped through, and oceans of wasted time. Rules are rules. What you as an indivudal may need or can do is neither here nor there in a system devoted to itself.
[source] (I really need to start posting to the homeschool blog)
***
Scientists believe that new habitats for butterflies are early effects of global climate change -- but that isn't news, by most people's measure. Neither is declining rainfall in the Amazon, or thinner ice in the Arctic. We can't see these changes in our personal lives, and in that sense, they are abstractions. So they don't grab us the way a plane crash would -- even though they may be harbingers of a catastrophe that could, quite literally, alter the fundamentals of life on the planet. And because they're not "news," the environmental changes don't prompt action, at least not in the United States.
[source]
***
Nigeria's government is planning a specific ban on same-sex marriages, with five years in jail for anyone who has a gay wedding or officiates at one.Information Minister Frank Nweke told the BBC the government was taking the "pre-emptive step" because of developments elsewhere in the world.
[source] (Looks like we're exporting pre-emption and hatred quite well! If we could only charge some sort of tax on that, we'd be set!)
***
The Italian government has announced that it will pull its troops out of Iraq by the end of the year.[source] ***
Iran is the regional superstate. If ever there were a realpolitik demanding to be "hugged close" it is this one, however distasteful its leader and his centrifuges. If you cannot stop a man buying a gun, the next best bet is to make him your friend, not your enemy.[source] ***
The official Vatican newspaper published an article this week labeling as "correct" the recent decision by a judge in Pennsylvania that intelligent design should not be taught as a scientific alternative to evolution."If the model proposed by Darwin is not considered sufficient, one should search for another," Fiorenzo Facchini, a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Bologna, wrote in the Jan. 16-17 edition of the paper, L'Osservatore Romano.
"But it is not correct from a methodological point of view to stray from the field of science while pretending to do science," he wrote, calling intelligent design unscientific. "It only creates confusion between the scientific plane and those that are philosophical or religious."
[source] [via]
***
and, finally...
If Wal-Mart were a state, it would rank 39th in population, right behind Nebraska -- and that doesn't include the dependents of the company's 1.7 million employees.This company doesn't negotiate discounted prices from suppliers of everything from panties to popcorn; it mandates them. Wal-Mart makes unions tremble and politicians swoon. It could grab a health-insurance provider by the throat, shake it a few times for effect, then swing the sweetest healthcare coverage deal in the universe.
But why should it, when it can pass its health-insurance costs to taxpayers?
[source]
Jan 15, 2006 News & Blog roundup
January 15, 2006
"Because these particles have come from inside a comet we know that essentially the particles haven't been heated since they became part of the comet, because the comet is made of ice," he told the BBC News website."That means that they contain information about the conditions that were present when they were incorporated into the comet.
"That time was four-and-a-half thousand million years ago, back when the Solar System formed, so what we hope to know from these particles is essentially what the Solar System looked like at that time, and essentially what we're all made of."
[source]
***
Ummmmm, I don't think he was exactly their idea of a "patriot" either:
While some say the flyover will provide a patriotic flair to the march during a time of war, others say it will represent support for the war — something King would not approve of.The Rev. Herman Price, chairman of the city's MLK Commission, said the flyover was meant to honor King, and he is dismayed by the divisiveness it has caused.
"It all depends on how you look at it," Price said Thursday. "They say the planes represent war and bombs and death, but at the same time those planes can also represent our freedom and peace."
But City Councilwoman Patti Radle, who objected to the flyover in a letter to the editor in Wednesday's Express-News, doesn't see it that way.
"War is a different system working for peace. Martin Luther King was not part of that system," she said.
City Councilwoman Sheila McNeil, whose district includes the march route, contented the flyover is exactly what King would have wanted.
"I think that the military plays too significant of a role in our community for us to ignore them and not include them in this march," she said. "They are the reason why we have peace, and this is MLK's peace march."
Let's see what the man himself had to say about war:
Well, theres: "The chain reaction of evil--wars producing more wars -- must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation." ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
And then there's "Perhaps a new spirit is rising among us. If it is, let us trace its movements and pray that our own inner being may be sensitive to its guidance, for we are deeply in need of a new way beyond the darkness that seems so close around us.
Over the past two years, as I have moved to break the betrayal of my own silences and to speak from the burnings of my own heart, as I have called for radical departures from the destruction of Vietnam, many persons have questioned me about the wisdom of my path. At the heart of their concerns this query has often loomed large and loud: Why are you speaking about the war, Dr. King? Why are you joining the voices of dissent? Peace and civil rights don't mix, they say. Aren't you hurting the cause of your people, they ask? And when I hear them, though I often understand the sources of their concern, I am nevertheless greatly saddened, for such questions mean that the inquirers have not really known me, my commitment or my calling. Indeed, their questions suggest that they do not know the world in which they live." [source]
And then there's: "He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it." -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr
Aw, fuck it. Just see if you can find anything on this fucking PAGE of quotes that indicate that the good Doctor would be the SLIGHTEST bit OK with having a military presence at a celebration that has anything to do with him.
Fucking people. GodDAMN.
***
In the "What the fucking Goddamn HELL?" department:
Hundreds of thousands of poor Americans have had their tax refunds frozen and their returns labeled fraudulent, according to the IRS's taxpayer advocate, Nina Olson. Testifying before Congress this week, Olson said the average income of these taxpayers is $13,000. Olson and her staff sampled the suspected returns and found that, at most, one in five was questionable.The poor citizens are seeking refunds under the Earned Income Tax Credit, a Reagan program to help the working poor. The total possible tax fraud amount involved in these returns is $9 billion — compared to the $100 billion problem with fraud by small businessmen who deal in cash. That's the kind of shrewd administration we've come to expect from the Bushies. Olson points out it is not only unfair, but also a waste of time. Meanwhile, mind-boggling sums in taxes are being evaded by those at the other end of the income scale.
***
I could say so many things about this quote:
A longer life doesn't necessarily mean a healthier life, however. While men succumb to fatal illnesses like heart disease, stroke, and cancer, women live on with non-fatal conditions such as arthritis, osteoporosis, and diabetes. "While men die from their diseases, women live with them," Perls comments.
But I'll refrain. The article is interesting, though. Sort of referred via Philobilon.
***
The thing is, we'd have to ensure the money wouldn't go to feed the fucking war machine:
Kevin Phillips and Jeff Gates have also urged that wealth taxation must now be put on the American agenda. Robert Kuttner adds that a wealth tax is “by definition, the most progressive way to raise revenue, since it hits only the very pinnacle of the income distribution.” Even Donald Trump a few years ago proposed a one time net-worth tax of 14.25% on Americans with more than $10 million in assets.Economist Edward Wolff points out that European practice offers a range of practical options—with most imposing a tax between 1 and 2.5 percent and all exempting a reasonable amount of wealth for those not among the top groups. One recent estimate is that if the upper range of such taxes were implemented in the United States, they might yield up to $450 billion a year.
***
And that's all I have time for this morning.
Saturday News Blogging
January 14, 2006
Just a few things I'm reading about this Saturday morning, before hopping off to work...
Two legal arguments have been offered for the President's right to violate the law, both of which have been seriously questioned by members of Congress of both parties and by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service in a recent analysis. The first--highly dangerous in its sweep and implications--is that the President has the constitutional right as Commander in Chief to break any US law on the grounds of national security. As the CRS analysis points out, the Supreme Court has never upheld the President's right to do this in the area of wiretapping, nor has it ever granted the President a "monopoly over war-powers" or recognized him as "Commander in Chief of the country" as opposed to Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy. If the President is permitted to break the law on wiretapping on his own say-so, then a President can break any other law on his own say-so--a formula for dictatorship. This is not a theoretical danger: President Bush has recently claimed the right as Commander in Chief to violate the McCain amendment banning torture and degrading treatment of detainees. Nor is the requirement that national security be at stake any safeguard. We saw in Watergate how President Nixon falsely and cynically used that argument to cover up ordinary crimes and political misdeeds.
[...]
As awful as Watergate was, after the vote on impeachment and the resignation of President Nixon, the nation felt a huge sense of relief. Impeachment is a tortuous process, but now that President Bush has thrown down the gauntlet and virtually dared Congress to stop him from violating the law, nothing less is necessary to protect our constitutional system and preserve our democracy.
“Well, I'm not going to try to beat around the bush. (Bad pun I’m thinking.) You were pulled over because you went to Cuba. Why did you go to Cuba?"I said that I was there to do research. He asked my profession. I answered that I was a language arts teacher, and I was interested in Cuba because it had an impressive history of eradicating illiteracy and was now devoting its scarce resources so that every school in the country had qualified teachers of the arts. He asked, "How were the schools? I hear they're really hands-on."
I thought for a minute about what I wanted to say and then, I admit, about what I thought he might want to hear. Then I told him that I found the whole education system very impressive.
I explained that Cuba has no racial or economic achievement gap and that they score among the top countries in the world in math and reading. I offered that this might be because they provide every Cuban child free preschool education, and of course, unlike any other third world nation I could think of (and some first world nations I wouldn’t even mention) they’ve had nearly 100% literacy in their nation since 1961.
I even let it slip out that they assiduously maintain low class sizes—20 in the elementary, 15 in the secondary grades—and are training thousands of new art and music teachers to meet their goals. They also give universal access and free tuition to all citizens for university level education. “I think they’ve actually achieved “No Child Left Behind,” I added. He seemed a little surprised by the last bit. "How many days were you there?" he asked.
Then he probed in his good-cop way, "How did you like Cuba?
Better weather than in Minnesota!” he winked. “But isn’t it extremely poor?" I said yes, from what I'd observed, the people were suffering greatly from the 42-year old US embargo, especially during the last 15 years since the Soviet block dissolved. I agreed that they had hardly any consumer goods and some foods were rationed, but I was impressed that they ate well nonetheless and were very healthy. “In Cuba they have a lower infant mortality rate and a longer life span than in the US.” I elaborated. “You know, they have free health care and great medical schools,” I added, but he didn’t pick up on the last things I’d said. He might have been trying to imagine a place with few consumer goods.
"That's too bad," he said. "That will get better some day soon." I didn't reply and there was a long pause. I said, "Well, I suppose all things change eventually." I was trying not to shudder as I pictured a Cuban version of Disney World.
[source]
In truth, Iran is entitled to enrich uranium under the terms of the NPT and has agreed to do so in a manner that is consistent with the strict rules of the IAEA. Iran will not, however, give up its "inalienable right" to convert uranium for peaceful purposes, such as making fuel for use in nuclear power plants.No other nation except Iran has been asked to forgo its rights under the NPT. The Bush administration expects the UN to annul parts of the treaty simply to accommodate its unfounded suspicions. But, why should Iran agree to be treated like an underling just to satisfy Bush? After all, Iran initially signed the NPT as a way of reducing nuclear weapons while Israel, the U.S., and other nations were busy building a new generation of nukes.
Besides, the conversion process takes place in front of IAEA inspectors and cameras that are set up to film the entire procedure. The IAEA is required to report any violations to the UN Security Council for punitive action. The watchdog agency was very successful in analyzing the true state of Iraq's "alleged" nuclear program. There's no need to suspect that they won't succeed here as well. (Israel, Pakistan and India all avoided this regimen and developed nuclear weapons secretly)
[source]
If there is a single principle to Alito's jurisprudence, it is this: He sides with those who exercise power and authority, and against those who don't.It does not matter if the power is held by giant corporations or police or prosecutors or immigration authorities. Unless, that is, the government is regulating such matters as health and safety. Then Alito is likely to rule that its power just can't extend that far.
"When there is a conflict between institutions and individual rights, Judge Alito's dissenting opinions argue against individual rights 84 percent of the time," University of Chicago professor Cass R. Sunstein wrote in an analysis that he conducted for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass. In almost all of these cases, Alito dissented from a court with a majority of Republican appointees. The Knight-Ridder news organization, which reviewed 311 published Alito opinions, reached a similar conclusion. It is darned near impossible to find a case in which Alito agreed with someone who claimed mistreatment by police, or discrimination on the job, or the improper denial of pension or pay.
[source]
[via]
The scope of the scandal swirling around DeLay was perhaps best described by former Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey, now a lobbyist: "Tom DeLay sent Buckham downtown to set up shop and start a branch office on K Street," Armey told the New York Times, referring to the row of lobby firms famously headquartered there. "The whole idea was: 'What's in it for us?' "Sounds accurate enough. But Armey's candid comment begs the question of why he and others in the Republican establishment didn't blow the whistle on this operation before the indictments came down. After all, bilking the Pentagon for millions, bribing officials and breaking campaign-finance laws is hardly small potatoes.
What irony that those once young Republicans, who hectored their elders about being more vigilant in defending the nation's taxpayers and security forces, should now end up accused with deeply betraying both.
[source]
But while encouraging city residents to return home and declaring for the media audience that "we will do whatever it takes" to save the city, the President earlier this month formally refused the one thing New Orleans simply cannot live without: A restored network of barrier islands and coastal wetlands.Tens of billions of dollars have been authorized to treat the symptoms—broken levees, insufficient emergency resources, destroyed roads and bridges—but next to nothing for the disease itself, that of disappeared land, which ushered the ocean into the city to begin with. No amount of levee building or stockpiling of bottled water will ever save New Orleans until the state's barrier shoreline is restored.
Just since World War II an area of land the size of Rhode Island has turned to water between New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico, most of it former marshland. And every 2.7 miles of marshland reduces a hurricane surge tide by a foot, dispersing the storm's power. Simply put, had Katrina struck in 1945 instead of 2005, the surge that reached New Orleans would have been as much as 5-10 feet less than it was.
[source] (I can't find the permalink, so if that url changes, the name of the article is "Goodbye New Orleans: It's time we stopped pretending" by Mike Tidwell)
& from that article, this link:
It is clear that Hurricane Katrina was no ‘natural’ disaster. Though nature played a part, human action played a key role in exacerbating this disaster. This website is the first step in a bipartisan effort to raise awareness about the connection between hurricanes and global warming.As we rebuild New Orleans and the entire Gulf Coast, we must simultaneously work to prevent the tragedy of Katrina from happening all across our shores; we must work to stop global warming. We invite you to learn how global warming is affecting our country and to get involved in the fight!
[source]
The Cliopatria Awards for History Blogging [via]
To this report, I say "Duh!":
Don't even ask about single-parent families, the news is so grim. Divorced women with children or divorced men with child support are three times as likely to file for bankruptcy as married counterparts. "All income is budgeted, there is no one at home who can work if the primary earner loses a job or gets sick, and no one is around to take over if a child gets sick or an elderly parent needs help," says Warren.Prefer the traditional '70s pattern, dad at work and mom at home? "The modern single-earner family trying to keep up an average lifestyle faces a 72-percent drop in discretionary income compared with its one-income counterpart of a generation ago." Mom works to keep the family afloat.
Globalization has reduced the cost of most household spending — clothing, food, appliances. Americans spend less on discretionary items than in 1970. It's the basic costs that are killing us, particularly housing and medical.
and that, my friends, is that.
News & Opinion Blogging, Jan 9, 2006
January 9, 2006
Just a few things I am reading this morning, while chatting with my friend George and listening to the children play:
One of Mr Morales' economic advisers said China could be interested in converting Bolivia's natural gas into environmentally friendly diesel.Mr Morales will meet Chinese President Hu Jintao on Monday.
Correspondents say his left-wing stance and anti-US speeches may have already won him support in Beijing.
"For the government of President Morales, hydrocarbons is a fundamental topic, in particular the industrialisation of natural gas," Carlos Villegas, an economic adviser to Mr Morales, said in Beijing.
"He invited the Chinese government, through its state companies, to participate."
[source]
***
Today begins the *Blog for Choice* campaign to raise awareness about reproductive rights and speak out against the confirmation of Samuel Alito. The hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee are set to begin at noon (eastern standard time, I believe). Not much will happen today, just mostly self-congratulatory opening statements and such. Also remember on January 22nd, the 34th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, there will be another Blog for Choice Day campaign. Be sure to check out the Bush v. Choice blog for the latest news. And I would like to say 'more power' to the National Organization of Women's campaign against Alito's confirmation called *Enraged & Engaged!* Speak out against Alito and those who threaten reproductive rights and civil rights and liberties, and let's NEVER GO BACK![source]
***
The Cost of War: An Economists View
This paper attempts to provide a more complete reckoning of the costs of the Iraq War than have previously been provided, using standard economic and accounting/budgetary frameworks. Of course, a final tally will have to wait the end, and even the President has made it clear that there is no clear end in sight. And even then, it will be years before we can be sure about whether our estimates of future costs—increased costs of recruiting or payments for disability or the health care costs of the injured veterans—were accurate.[...]
The paper is divided into two parts. In the first, we provide an estimate of the “direct” expenditures, and provide adjustments to reflect the true social costs of the resources deployed. The second provides an estimate of the macro-economic costs; the effects of the War on the overall performance of the economy, taking into account both the effects of the expenditures themselves and of the increased price of oil, some of which at least should be attributed to the War.
[source] [via Echidne] [see also] [via]
***
America: this is what you are allowing your government to do in your name:Detain and torture prisoners without due process. Use chemical weapons on other members of humanity. Spy on Americans without a court order (I hope my conversations put them in a coma of boredom). Carpet bomb cities filled with human beings like yourselves. Destroy the infrastructure of other countries. Destroy the infrastructure of American cities. Cut taxes on the rich while pouring money and blood into the thirsty sands of the Middle East. Decimate our treasury. Rape the environment. Et cetera, et cetera, ad nauseum.
Hillary Clinton told me that the "wheels of government grind slowly." This is a tired clich and it is unacceptable blather while the war machine is grinding the bones of our children. It is time for us wide awake Americans to make our elected officials speed up the timetable for withdrawal from Iraq.
[source]
***
Hugh Thompson, an Army helicopter pilot who rescued Vietnamese civilians during the My Lai massacre, reported the killings to his superior officers in a rage over what he had seen, testified at the inquiries and received a commendation from the Army three decades later, died yesterday in Alexandria, La. He was 62.[source] [via]
***
If Pres. George Bush broke laws when ordering wiretaps and secret spying on U.S. citizens, a key Senate Democrat said he would not rule out calling for his impeachment."I think there is an orderly and dignified way to find out what happened," said Russ Feingold of Wisconsin. "And, if there was a legal violation there needs to be accountability ... you can't put the cart before the horse, but I would not rule out any form of accountability."
That would include impeachment, Feingold told reporters.
[source] [via]
***
lections, if taken seriously, mean you pay some attention to the will of the population. The crucial question for an invading army is: "Do they want us to be here?"There is no lack of information about the answer. One important source is a poll for the British Ministry of Defence this past August, carried out by Iraqi university researchers and leaked to the British Press. It found that 82 per cent are "strongly opposed" to the presence of coalition troops and less than 1 per cent believe they are responsible for any improvement in security.
Analysts of the Brookings Institution in Washington report that in November, 80 per cent of Iraqis favoured "near-term US troop withdrawal." Other sources generally concur. So the coalition forces should withdraw, as the population wants them to, instead of trying desperately to set up a client regime with military forces that they can control. But Bush and Blair still refuse to set a timetable for withdrawal, limiting themselves to token withdrawals as their goals are achieved.
There’s a good reason why the United States cannot tolerate a sovereign, more or less democratic Iraq. The issue can scarcely be raised because it conflicts with firmly established doctrine: We’re supposed to believe that the United States would have invaded Iraq if it was an island in the Indian Ocean and its main export was pickles, not petroleum.
[source]
***
But it's good for our health to lose weight, right? Maybe. Last year, the federal government never did quite explain a major discrepancy in published research on obesity-related deaths among its own scientists. Seems that earlier estimates of 400,000 annual deaths attributed to obesity were a tad overstated. While the more accurate figure is closer to 100,000, you will still see the original exaggerated number getting tossed around by lazy journalists.Still, the government says all the ballyhoo over obesity is well deserved when we consider the health-related consequences of carrying around too much heft. Perhaps, but that still doesn't mean as a policy matter, it's something we should be paying so much attention to when it's really beside the point.
[...]
Obesity shifts the focus away from policy and places it back onto the individual. What's the first thing you think of when you hear the word obesity? A fat person, right? And what images go along with that? If you have the biases of most Americans, that the person is lazy (among other negative traits) and is responsible for their own fat fate. Nutrition advocates couldn't have invented a more self-defeating "framing" than obesity.
Despite the strategic obstacles, when I try raising the problem of the obesity focus with my colleagues, I don't get very far. "We are stuck with it," one said. Another told me how "nutrition" hardly got any media attention, but now that the focus is "obesity," it's finally on the map. Maybe, but for how long and with what consequences?
We all know people who can eat anything (or don't exercise) and not gain an ounce, but this doesn't mean they are healthy. Plenty of others (myself included) eat a perfectly healthy diet, get enough exercise, and yet for whatever reason, cannot attain "optimal" weight. And most of these folks are quite healthy by any other measure. So instead of focusing on weight, why not concentrate on what everyone says we are really worried about anyway? In the long run it's our health and not our weight that matters most and that emphasis will bring about more significant and enduring policy change.
[source]
***
A movie theater owned by Utah Jazz owner Larry Miller abruptly changed its screening plans and decided not to show the film "Brokeback Mountain." The film, an R-rated Western gay romance story, was supposed to open Friday at the Megaplex at Jordan Commons in Sandy, a suburb of Salt Lake City. Instead it was pulled from the schedule.[source] [via]
Maybe David is Right...
January 5, 2006
Could it be possible that as the US gets more creepy and evil, other countries are actually starting to become...enlightened?
"The issue of awaiting-trial inmates has become an endemic problem in Nigeria... The conditions of the prisons are just too terrible. The conditions negate the essence of prison which is to reform," Mr Ojo said.
Perhaps there IS a war coming, and perhaps it's not the holy war that our government and religious right seems to think is prophesied.
News Blogging
January 4, 2006
I might not be able to muster the strength to write about it...but at least I can link to it and read about. Here are a few news items that are of interest to me:
Mr Chirac, who plans to run for re-election in 2007, also announced the establishment of a slavery remembrance day in France - on a date to be announced later this year."The question of slavery is a wound for a large number of our fellow citizens, in particular overseas," he said.
"France has set an example by being the first country in the world - and still the only one today - to recognise slavery as a crime against humanity. I have decided to establish a day of remembrance in France."
[source]
Evo Morales, known simply as Evo to his supporters, has promised to give the country's indigenous people, who make up more than 50% of the population, a greater say in the running of Bolivia's affairs.Many have felt left out, that a small group of elite businessmen and wealthy families had been running the country for their own benefit for too long.
[source]
"We are here to resolve social problems, economic problems," Mr Morales said."This movement is not only in Bolivia; Fidel in Cuba and Hugo in Venezuela are logging triumphs in social movements and leftist policies."
Earlier, Mr Chavez said the two men were building an "axis of good".
"The axis of evil - do you know who the axis of evil is? Washington - that's the axis of evil. And their allies in the world, who threaten, who invade, who kill, who assassinate," he said.
[source]
US Soldiers kill several to save...um, what now?
"If there were gunmen or criminals in that house, is it right to blow up the whole family?"
Short answer: No.
Hussein al-Falluji, a lawyer and a national leader of the Sunni-dominated Iraqi Accordance Front, said: "Once again the occupiers have shown their barbarism. They never learn from their mistakes... People's resentment is increasing."
Long answer: We're fucked. But, hey, we're not the MOST fucked, so let's just keep blowing people up until we are, mkay?
[Source]
Darby spoke to that issue, commenting on the treatment of 9th Ward residents in a Post-Katrina world. "It's a shame that we have to go to these lengths in the United States of America in order for these residents to be heard. There are elderly residents living in the Lower 9th Ward without services. They have no power, no water, no medical treatment, and they are being told that they can't be here. Federal agents patrol these dark streets and threaten to arrest any resident that stays in this curfew area for trespassing in their own homes. Neither the city, state, nor federal government has any solution as to where else they could stay. Most residents were left to die when the storm was approaching. Then they were shot at and called looters when they scavenged for food. They ended up at the convention center where the government left them for days without water or even toilets. They were then evacuated all across the nation. The government told them they couldn't come back and physically guarded this area with machine guns and refused to allow these residents to even see their homes. Most of these residents haven't received any money for their homes yet."Common Ground is protesting the injustice of the attempted seizure, pointing out that privately-owned properties are being confiscated through eminent domain without the due process generally allowed to its owners. It is a move by the government that could set a dangerous precedent for the private property rights of all owners.
See, I KNEW that was why it was important for the Common Ground Collective to be there.
[source]
Newsweek: Where do you put George W. Bush in the pantheon of American presidents?Chomsky: He's more or less a symbol, but I think the people around him are the most dangerous administration in American history. I think they're driving the world to destruction. There are two major threats that face the world, threats of the destruction of the species, and they're not a joke. One of them is nuclear war, and the other is environmental catastrophe, and they are driving toward destruction in both domains. They're compelling competitors to escalate their own offensive military capacity—Russia, China, now Iran. That means putting their offensive nuclear missiles on hair-trigger alert.
The Bush administration has succeeded in making the United States one of the most feared and hated countries in the world. The talent of these guys is unbelievable. They have even succeeded at alienating Canada. I mean, that takes genius, literally.
I am so in love with Mr. Chomsky. Swooooooooooon.
[source]
It also said the combination of the title Get Rich or Die Tryin' and the image of 50 Cent with a gun "could give the impression that success could be achieved through violence".
Now, I'm not a huge fan of images of children and guns juxtaposed...and I'm not a huge fan of thug culture. But WTF? Where do we get off blaming 50 Cent for this impression. Hello? Open your fucking eyes! Our entire society gives the "impression that success could be achieved through violence."
I suppose as long as it's not black people using violence as a means of attaining success, it's OK.
Fuckres.
[source]
Because I am the world’s foremost authority on other people’s dysfunctional hetero relationships, this struck me as baloney. But one must tread lightly around women who love assholes, for their tormentors have taught them to recoil from truth. Here’s the speech I reluctantly choked back: “You’ve got fucking cancer! You’re automatically on the high road! The fucker ditched you in the middle of a life-threatening trauma! Overnight him a dead rat! And date the hot farrier!”But she wasn’t ready for patriarchy-blaming, so I put a sock in it. She really just wanted to decant her anguished soul onto a bald and total stranger. Since I was the only other patient in there under 80, that bald stranger was me.
It's not actually NEWS blogging, but it's why we love Twisty. So much.
There. That wasn't so bad.
The Cost of Crazy & The Power of Logic
December 8, 2005
I totally appreciate the logical mind of Mr. Rowland, as he puzzles out the, as he calls it, "batshit crazy" assertion that killing a mentally ill person proves that armed air marshalls are necessary.
&, actually, it makes me wonder if my thoughts about logic vs. emotion are misguided. Perhaps it's just that most people apply logic in an illogical manner. When David makes the absolutely logical argument that the cost of gunning down people rather than attempting to provide care for them is detrimental to us as humans, it strikes an emotional chord AND it makes sense.
Thanks, Mr. Rowland. You are rocking my world this week.
This headline sort of made me giggle.
October 19, 2005
Chomsky is Voted World's Top Public Intellectual
Chomsky is Voted World's Top Public Intellectual Missing from list: young, women, and the French Honour leaves linguistics professor underwhelmed
I know it shouldn't have...but it did. Maybe it's the use of the word "underwhelmed"...perhaps it's the juxtaposition of "young" "women" and "THE French."
Owning your bullshit - and calling it out.
October 17, 2005
I want to applaud Mike Wise forliving up to his name. I appreciate the way he cops to his bullshit, and then ever-so-articulately brings up the issue of Native American sports mascots.
[Link via Miz Geek]
Egalia has the word on Rove
October 6, 2005
Tennessee Guerilla Women: Rumor: 22 Plame Indictments, Rove Too
Visualize Rove in leg shackles. Rumors are flying around Washington - and the internets - of 22 Plamegate indictments that could come as early as Thursday (today!) or Friday.
I just had to put this here.
September 29, 2005
because it makes my little heathen heart proud:
RELIGIOUS belief can cause damage to a society, contributing towards high murder rates, abortion, sexual promiscuity and suicide, according to research published today.According to the study, belief in and worship of God are not only unnecessary for a healthy society but may actually contribute to social problems.
[I swiped it from a comment at Norbizness' site]
Nearly 1000 trampled in Iraq
September 1, 2005
Panic of war sparks human tragedy in Iraq | csmonitor.com
Wednesday's celebration of the martyrdom of Shiite Imam Mussa Khadim, a descendant of the prophet Muhammad poisoned by a Sunni king in the 8th century, was supposed to be a symbol of Shiite Iraq's new political power and freedom, since it was a pilgrimage that was banned under Saddam Hussein. The massive celebration also served to underscore the country's rising religious fervor in the face of so much violence. But the day that ended with about 800 deaths - most from a stampede sparked by rumors of a suicide bomber, and others from insurgent mortar attacks - was perhaps one of the most painful examples of the centuries-old division between Shiite and Sunni branches of Islam.At 8 a.m., mortars and Katyusha rockets slammed into two neighborhoods near the shrine, killing 15 and injuring about 30.
An hour later, victims of poison - apparently in the free food and water available along the pilgrims' route - trickled into hospitals, according to Iraq's Health Minister. A leading Shiite politician alleged that 100 people were killed by poison.
Then at 10 a.m., the wave of the tragedy crested and broke. As tens of thousands of Shiite pilgrims poured onto the Bridge of the Imams toward the shrine, backing up at the end of the bridge to be checked for explosives, men in the crowd began shouting there was a suicide bomber, survivors say.
The crowd then surged. Strong men pushed and shoved to get to safety. Children, women, and the old were trampled.
The death toll is now up to almost 1000, with over 800 injured. I'm not sure if that includes those that were poisoned.
There is so much sadness in the world right now that I hardly know where to begin to mourn.
Chavez says no to DEA spying.
August 8, 2005
BBC NEWS | Americas | Chavez says US drug agents spying:
"The DEA was using the fight against drug trafficking as a mask, to support drug trafficking, to carry out intelligence in Venezuela against the government," Mr Chavez said.
All Headline News - Venezuelan President Accuses DEA Of Spying - August 8, 2005:
He criticized US drug policy, saying the world's top consumer of drugs does little to lessen consumption. He also accused the CIA and FBI of minimal efforts to catch major drug kingpins in the States.
ETA:
Hmmmm...I wonder if this has anything at all to do with the preceding:
Rivarola said that the United States is keeping a particularly close eye on the tri-border area where Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil meet. The region is home to a large Arab community, which various intelligence services have identified as a source of financing and shelter for Islamic fundamentalist groups.There has yet to be any solid proof put forward of activities of this kind in the area, which is however well-known as a hotspot for arms trafficking and the smuggling of counterfeit goods that primarily end up in Brazil.
[...]
Most significantly, this means the U.S. troops in Paraguay could not be taken before the International Criminal Court if they were accused of crimes against humanity, genocide or war crimes.
”These important developments occur in Paraguay without anyone finding out,” complained political analyst, journalist and human rights activist Alfredo Boccia Paz, who told IPS that the legislators ”approved a framework agreement with no debate and without any information on it being published in the press.”
[...]
”Once the United States arrives, it takes it a long time to leave, said (Argentine Nobel Peace laureate Adolfo) Prez Esquivel. And that really frightens me,” remarked the journalist.
Ya think?
How Ironic
July 30, 2005
It's ironic that this article popped up on my MSN splash page, because I was/am cooking up a post later about monogamy, intimacy, and other fun stuff. I'm putting it here as a placeholder and a reminder.
Right now, though, I need to go get a long-awaited haircut. I'm playing hairdresser roullette, and I'm hoping whoever I get can satisfy my request for something short, cute, and sassy.
Wish me luck!
Where's the Dad?
July 30, 2005
I don't mean that in a "How Dare She Be A Single Mama" way. I mean it in a "If there is a male parental figure in or associated with this family, why isn't he being charged with neglect ALSO or INSTEAD OF the mom?" way.
It seems to me, carting 6 children to a medical appointment is more an issue of impossible logistics than necessarily one of bad parenting.
Fuck, I took TWO kids to a dental appointment yesterday, and I was totally shoved over the end of my wits by one of them in the process.
[thanks to snake haired girl for the link]
This shit freaks me RIGHT out.
July 17, 2005
The Dominion: Psychiatry and Human Rights
"They are already going into schools," said Oaks. "They are testing the kids and then pressuring (them) to be on the psych drugs but they've also called for this program to apply to every single adult, for instance through your general health care practitioner. In New York City already, physicians are being trained to ask certain mental health questions." The May-June 2005 issue of Mother Jones reported that "in one month, Texas put 19,000 kids on atypical antipsychotics. Half were overmedicated: and as many lacked a diagnosis that validated the drugs' use in the first place."
Not only is this yet another reason to homeschool, but it's a damn compelling argument to run off with my family and hide in a cave somewhere.
I don't think this is what Maude meant...
July 14, 2005
when she said "Consistency is not a human trait."
Which is it, George?
Reauthorize the Patriot Act...
but NOT the Voters Rights act.
Because, you know, you don't really need rights as a voter...particularly a voter of color...if you don't have any actual freedoms as a citizen.
but NOT if they are heroic Republicans.
I just don't have anything snide I can add to that. Just the overwhelming urge to start slapping people.
Thanks to Amanda for that link to newshounds.
Do they teach the definition of the word "satire" in public schools these days?
May 31, 2005
Drama Students Learn Tough Lesson: Dubya's No Joke
All went well until a high school senior and Bush supporter wrote a letter of complaint to the administration last week for the way the president was depicted, according to teachers and students. The complaining student added that Bush was also made to look "like an Israeli.""We had one student who was very upset," Lee said. "So much turmoil within himself, he was distraught. The older generation understood the message. I don't think the younger one did.
How about irony?
"If something is bothering a student on campus, we're going to address it. We're not going to sweep it under the table."
I suppose that's another reason to not send my kids to public schools. Sure, a lesson was learned. I wonder what lessons will be learned when we are ALL finally completely silenced by our government. What's the point of learning a lesson if you have no power to use that knowledge to enact change?
Ten Thousand People who Applauded Loudly...
May 18, 2005
Mr Bush's speech, delivered with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili at his side, was attended by tens of thousands of people who applauded loudly.
...and one person who tried to kill him.
Interesting.
US facilitated transport of illegal oil
May 17, 2005
BBC NEWS | Americas | US 'ignored Iraq oil smuggling'
"The US was not only aware of Iraqi oil sales which violated UN sanctions and provided the bulk of the illicit money Saddam Hussein obtained from circumventing UN sanctions," the report said."On occasion, the US actually facilitated the illicit oil sales."
Not that I'm actually surprised, mind you.
I was wondering where he was...
May 16, 2005
On a Bicycle in Beltsville, Blissfully Unaware
When the state of red alert was declared yesterday, the vice president was evacuated from the White House and the first lady was whisked to a secure location. But no precautions were needed for President Bush.
Thanks to Marian Douglas for letting me know.
This Should Be Interesting
May 12, 2005
BBC NEWS | Entertainment | John Cleese writing Aardman film
Why Can't We Wait?
May 10, 2005
In the UK, they are debating whether or not to include the Hepatitis B vaccine in the standard immunization cycle.
Hepatitis B virus is transmitted by contact with blood or body fluids of an infected person in the same way as HIV.
In the US, it's already a standard immunization administered, initially, at birth.
My question is, why not wait? If a child is not in a position to be infected by his or her mother, and infection is transmitted in the same manner as AIDS, what is the hurry in vaccinating tiny, undeveloped immune systems all at once.
I'm not a rabid anti-vaccine advocate by any stretch. I believe in educated decision making when it comes to the choice of whether and when to vaccinate yourself or your children. However, I can't see the side of people who refuse to acknowledge that the human body was not meant to be pumped full of chemicals, regardless of how beneficial those chemicals might be in preventing disease, from BIRTH.
There might not be any CONCLUSIVE evidence that vaccines are harmful, but common sense tells me that injecting foreign bodies into our children is something we should do with measured consideration and caution.
Look at that chart again. Seriously. If these immunizations are as potent as we need them to be to fight disease...wouldn't we benefit from spacing them out a bit and prioritizing based on risk/benefit analysis? Is it the children who are benefitting from clumping everything together? If not, who is? If they are, at what risk?
I agree with Debi, who posts a comment here: It's a calculated risk, either way. I just think it's preferable for people to have the right figures to calculate, whichever decision they ultimately make.