Justice Sandra Day O’Connor has resigned. I just happened to have an NPR webcast on and heard the Resident’s statement. And Justice Rehnquist is stepping down any time now, too. The climate in this country is going to get remarkably stormy and dangerous for women whose birth control method fails them. Thank God I got the snip, and I’m probably already past it anyway. But thank God. I’ve already stopped by the NARAL Pro-Choice America website. They’re asking for people to contact our senators. If you have a story to tell, there’s a website called I’m Not Sorry. It seems…
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An entire month of festivities has begun in an annual festival designed to remind the humble employees that we are a valuable part of the company. It’s fairly innocuous, rah-rah stuff, with treats and events most days. And special dress-up fun, too. It’s all in good fun and only coincidentally it runs the entire month before the company-wide employee survey, which is important in our world because some management ratings are based on it. Today we were supposed to show up in company logowear. We’ve been given a variety of freebie shirts over the years, so I dragged the first…
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Columnist Dan Froomkin noted that it was possible to do a word search on messages posted at Americasupportsyou.mil, and wondered if certain words were more likely to show up in a search than others. A participant in his Live Online chat today obliged with an interesting list of searches: White House Talk: Dan Froomkin Douglassville, PaRe: americasupportsyou.mil Keyword search: pray – 9,425 god – 5,488 Christian – 96 Islam / Muslim – 4 Republican – 46 Democrat – 18 media – 230 democracy – 137 Interesting results. Dan Froomkin: Fabulous. Thanks. Other word searches are encouraged. Some attendees obviously think…
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Leaders from the Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths have urged Tony Blair to play “the fullest part” in helping the world’s poorest countries. The prime minister must use the UK’s G8 presidency to help “halve extreme poverty”, they say in a letter. The G8 leaders must cancel the debt of the poorest nations, they add. The letter is from by the Archbishops of Canterbury and Westminster, the Chief Rabbi, the Council of Mosques and Imams chair and the Free Churches head. Now that’s what I call ecumenicalism in action. There’s actually hope they’ll succeed, too.
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So the big question about Bush’s address on Iraq tomorrow night is whether he will come to the podium equipped with a speech that addresses the mounting concerns of the American people — or whether he will simply roll out a repackaging of the talking points that contributed to the disconnect in the first place. What is “audio-animatronic?” See? That was an easy one. Fortunately, the Resident is a Pod People. So he never lacks for tunes… or text.
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It has been to Downing Street, caught the imagination of Nelson Mandela and attracted a plethora of celebrities – so just what is Making Poverty History? In just six months the campaign has grabbed numerous headlines and can count on the support of pop stars, clergy and statesmen alike. So what are the coalition’s AIMS? How is it FUNDED? How are the CHURCHES involved? What has it got to do with the POLITICIANS? Why does it attract the CELEBRITIES? And just what are those WRISTBANDS? I’ve ordered some of the British wristbands. The American version is available here. Live 8…
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Oh well. It was silly to think there’d be humanity, understanding, or reconciliation from the opportunists who grabbed Terri Schiavo’s inert body and dragged her, head lolling obscenely, into battle. They’re too busy sending out inflammatory fundraising emails and preparing the heavily-Photoshopped “2006 Terri Schiavo Swimsuit Calendar.” Being at war, even a “culture war,” means admitting no errors, not until it’s over. Which is why we’re fighting wars on “terror” and “the culture of death” rather than wars on “Iraq” and “The Schiavo Case.” Those might end, after all. Adam rightly notes that the lack of apology from the “activists”…
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Freak season lets Utah skiers go 4th – Yahoo! News Okay, I heard this on WXRT on the way in, and now it’s front page in the Chicago Trib. The people of Chicago are might envious of this thing you call “snow.” Today’s temp is supposed to get up to 95 or higher. No rain in sight, it was a dry spring, and there are watering restrictions out here in Burbclavia. I expect later in the summer there’ll be an outright ban. And then the other day, there was a massive hailstorm in Colorado Springs, and right now there’s flooding…
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Personally, this horrifies me on so many levels: Arkansas Family Expecting 16th Child How can someone justify this large a family as a moral imperative? Our country consumes the bulk of the world’s resources in fossil fuels and yet are behind other nations in the percentage of our gross national product that we donate to poor countries. We don’t donate 0.7% like some of our peers. “Extreme poverty can be reduced, and indeed eliminated, in our generation,” Sachs told journalists last week in a national conference call. “What it will take is increased investment.” How much? To the American who…
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We’re making an attempt here at Chez Guique to be more active and eat better. We went for the bike ride the other night – 11 miles, not too shabby – and today I felt like a salad rather than a gutbomb at the office cafeteria. I stood behind a rather heavy woman who very slowly picked individual leaves of lettuce out of the bin in the salad bar. Then she very slowwwly and deliberately put 4 ladles of French dressing on her salad. I waited until she moved away, then added a couple of items and crunchy things to…