Oops! – Bush Unaware Mikes Were Still On – Yahoo! News When reporters left, Bush spoke about the National Security Agency program that he authorized four years ago and which has drawn criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike. However, the microphones stayed on for a few minutes. That allowed journalists back at the White House to eavesdrop on Bush’s defense of the eavesdropping. His private statements were basically no different from what he’s said in public. “I want to share some thoughts with you before I answer your questions,” Bush began. “First of all, I expect this conversation we’re about…
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I’ve been tagging del.icio.us links with this phrase today: RhetoricOfFailure. In fact, I bundled it together with a lot of other terms, like “CorruptRepublicans” and “SmirkingBastards” and “anti-truth.” Because every time I read a news item about something that didn’t go so well lately for the current Administration, I tag it and add it to the growing linkslist of failures. . I’ll be adding a new tag to the bundle: “Disengaged.” I just ran across this article from Boing Boing, and began sobbing helplessly at the needless loss of life and property because a bunch of elected and appointed officials…
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It’s Alive! It’s Alive! It’s… not quite dead, but it’s feeling better. Call your Congressdrone: Error may snag $39 billion spending-cut bill – Yahoo! News WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A typographical error in a $39 billion U.S. domestic spending-cut bill signed into law by President George W. Bush on Wednesday could mean another vote on the measure that passed only after Vice President Dick Cheney intervened with a tie-breaking vote. The law, which sparked fury among Democrats and strong opposition from some Republicans in an election year, cuts funds for health care, student loan and other programs. This time, MAYBE, we…
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Salt Lake Tribune – Salt Lake Tribune Home Page Women’s ‘pill bill’ dies again Contraception: Planned Parenthood director tells lawmakers to provide ‘health care that eliminates the need for abortion’ Insurance and business leaders gave the all-male (emphasis Blogula Rasa’s) Senate Health and Human Services Committee the reasons they were looking for to kill the so-called “pill bill” for the eighth year in a row Wednesday – complaints about unfunded mandates, health care costs and meddling in the marketplace. Sen. Scott McCoy, a Salt Lake City Democrat, argued SB42 would simply put in law what most Utah insurance companies already…
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Salt Lake Tribune – Salt Lake Tribune: Evolution bill survives by a vote A proposal targeting evolution survived its toughest challenge Wednesday when it eked out of a House committee by one vote. SB96, which requires teachers to say the state doesn’t endorse any theory involving the “origins of species,” needs only the support of the full House to pass the Legislature after gaining approval by the House Education Committee 7-6. The bill is the brainchild of Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, who is disgusted that some educators teach that humans have a common ancestor with chimpanzees. Please don’t make…
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Indonesia’s mountains unveil a ‘Lost World’ | IndyStar.com Oh, man! I love me some golden-mantled tree kangaroos! I want one for Christmas! JAKARTA, Indonesia — Soon after scientists landed by helicopter in the mist-shrouded mountains of a remote Indonesian province, they stumbled on a primitive egg-laying mammal that allowed itself to be picked up and brought to their field camp. Among the things discovered by scientists in Indonesia’s remote Foja mountain range: Long-beaked Echidna: The largest species of the egg-laying group of primitive mammals called the Monotremes, seen three times during the monthlong expedition. The enigmatic creature has never reproduced…
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There are still some oddities encountered working with blogging client ecto. But I’m getting used to it. The nag screen comes up every time I start the thing, but I’ve seen nags that are much more obnoxious. Okay, 3,2,1 let’s jam. iTunes: Cowboy Bebop: Tank! (Opening Theme): Cowboy Bebop OST [3:30] First of all, I’m still not clear as to whether I’m saving a draft, or publishing to blog, or saving a whole new duplicate post. I’ve had a couple of dupe so far. It’s probably a force-of-habit thing that I’ll get over. I do like the “auto-save every X…
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I ran across a couple of mentions that there were “extra,” extra-offensive cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him, if that is the proper phrase). The sources were a little too tinfoil for me to quote and link verbatim, so I went looking around. Wikipedia led me in the direction of the Danish newspaper that originally published a set of 12 cartoons – the originals are reproduced (in a very tiny format) on the Wiki page. If you really want to see them, you may… especially for comparison purposes. The Danish paper has an English-language section on the…
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“most annoying hold music” – Google Search I’ll add to this Google search on the “most annoying hold music” by saying that Continental Airlines’ agency desk (where travel agents call and request help with pricing and ticking issues) is teh brain-sucking evil. Its print equivalent would be saying “doot!” several thousand times, to a mindlessly peppy and very short tune. Thus, you hear the same short musical phrase dozens of times while waiting to find out from the agent if they can help you or not. Sometimes, it’s a dog’s life being a travel agent. That is all.
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Well, she’s gone. I never read “The Feminine Mystique” for some reason; maybe it was considered “old hat” or something when I was taking Women’s Studies classes. I had a personal encounter with her several years after college: I was drunk, silly, and sitting next to her in First Class on a flight home from a SABRE training class in Dallas. Ms. Friedan asked the flight attendant to move me far away from her, and be quiet. Heh. Well, I guess that was the real reason I never read her book, even though I respected her as a pioneer. But…