Charlton Heston has left the building, as they say. He had a very long and interesting career, as actors go. And he was also famous for fighting for civil rights in the early 60's...so it is apropos this week when we're reminiscing about Dr. King to remember the contributions of others.
And I'm looking forward to week-long tribute of his movies, with such cheesy sci-fi wonders as:
Planet of the Apes 1968
Beneath the Planet of the Apes 1970
The Omega Man 1971
Soylent Green 1973
These 4 movies came out in my formative teen years, and thinking about them transports me back in time...curled up in bed reading Asimov and Clarke, staying up to enjoy late-night movies and sci-fi fantasies, right at the time of the ascension of color TV in the U.S. (and also in our household).
Late in life Heston became NRA President...and ultimately was suitably ridiculed by Michael Moore in Bowling for Columbine. Um...I'm not crazy about guns. Don't own one, have never fired one, don't really look forward to ever firing one.
In any case, though, I'll look out for these movies again this week.
"Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape."
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Saturday, April 5, 2008
The Main Reason Not to Vote for McSurge
Let's tackle the biggest one today. The War.
This is, without doubt, the number one reason why you should not vote for McSurge. Not now, not in 4 years. Not ever.
This illegal, immoral escapade has resulted in 4000+ of our soldiers getting killed, tens of thousands killed horribly maimed, hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis, millions of refugees, and 500 billion + from our treasury.
And St. John W. McSurge wants to stay. Even though he doesn't understand the difference between a Shi'ite and a Sunni. Even though he thinks staying 60 years in Korea is comparable to 100 years in Iraq.
70% of the American public thinks this war was a mistake, and he thinks it is our finest moment.
We have to rally around whoever his opponent will be; the only alternative is a 3rd Bush term (with McSurge playing the role of neocon whackjob).
This is, without doubt, the number one reason why you should not vote for McSurge. Not now, not in 4 years. Not ever.
This illegal, immoral escapade has resulted in 4000+ of our soldiers getting killed, tens of thousands killed horribly maimed, hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis, millions of refugees, and 500 billion + from our treasury.
And St. John W. McSurge wants to stay. Even though he doesn't understand the difference between a Shi'ite and a Sunni. Even though he thinks staying 60 years in Korea is comparable to 100 years in Iraq.
70% of the American public thinks this war was a mistake, and he thinks it is our finest moment.
We have to rally around whoever his opponent will be; the only alternative is a 3rd Bush term (with McSurge playing the role of neocon whackjob).
Friday, April 4, 2008
Martin Luther King & 1968
I turn 50 this year. I was 9 when Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, 40 years ago today. Bobby Kennedy was murdered later that summer, soon after my birthday, another American tragedy. And my father died in between, an American hero on a much smaller scale, but a hero of mine in any case.
So thoughts of 1968 bring back many sad and strange memories for me. It really seemed like the entire world was crumbling around us, between the war and the violence in the streets and all the protests and civil unrest. Nixon resurgent, and the beginning of his reign of error.
40 years have gone by...and where are the protests? We have a war as heinous, if not more heinous, than Vietnam, if only because we should be so much wiser. We have lost many of our civil rights in the meantime, because we've allowed fearmerchants like Bush and Cheney and Rove to steal them in the night like so many petty thieves. We have more people in prison per capita than mainland China, and we torture people routinely in the name of national security.
And Bush is trying for his 3rd term, via the zombie corpse of McSurge.
We could use a Rev. King right about now. In fact, there probably hasn't been an American moment in the past 230 years where we couldn't have used a Martin Luther King.
So thoughts of 1968 bring back many sad and strange memories for me. It really seemed like the entire world was crumbling around us, between the war and the violence in the streets and all the protests and civil unrest. Nixon resurgent, and the beginning of his reign of error.
40 years have gone by...and where are the protests? We have a war as heinous, if not more heinous, than Vietnam, if only because we should be so much wiser. We have lost many of our civil rights in the meantime, because we've allowed fearmerchants like Bush and Cheney and Rove to steal them in the night like so many petty thieves. We have more people in prison per capita than mainland China, and we torture people routinely in the name of national security.
And Bush is trying for his 3rd term, via the zombie corpse of McSurge.
We could use a Rev. King right about now. In fact, there probably hasn't been an American moment in the past 230 years where we couldn't have used a Martin Luther King.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
1001 Reasons Not to Vote For McSurge
I think this will be my next writing project...perhaps another blog, just devoted to McSurge.
There have to be at least 1001 reasons not to vote for this war mongering nutjob with all the anger issues.
So let's start at the beginning:
1. McSurge'll be the Oldest Man Elected President. 'Nuff said.
2. He's generally angrier than an Angry Beaver. Even his Republican colleagues think he's really crazy and hot-headed and ill-suited to be fingering the nuclear suitcase.
3. He ditched his wife and kids to marry a bleached blonde Budweiser beer distributor heiress. He clearly went after Cindy McCain because she was rich, and he was a relatively destitute Congressman. He certainly didn't pursue her for her conversation skills.
4. He's SHORT. He's joining a very long list of short, angry men who make problematic leaders...think Napoleon, Mussolini, Hitler, Kim Jong Il, Rudi 9iu11iai.
5. Enough with the self-proclaimed "maverick" title bullshit. He's never been a maverick in the true sense of the word. His overall conservative scores are ~80%, so he sides with them 4 times out of 5. When he does abandon a Republican viewpoint it is ALWAYS because it is highly unpopular. He's a frontrunning phony.
6. I read his crappy book, Faith of My Fathers. McSurge obviously suffered as a POW...but his recollection of his own pre-war young man behavior is repellent. He comes across as the smart ass bully with the multigenerational family ties and a chip on his shoulder.
7. He was accused of having an illegimate black daughter by Bush's campaign (Rove, primarily) but allowed his overweening lust for the Presidency to overtake any sense of decency. Instead of fighting Bush like a true maverick, he embraced him, both literally and figuratively.
8. He's friends with Joe Lieberman.
9. He sprinkles the trite phrase "my friends" throughout his speeches. Ugh.
10. Although he may be the phoniest man on the planet, and has flip-flopped on dozens of views and policies, he has the temerity to call his campaign "The Straight Talk Express."
I think I am off to a good start.
There have to be at least 1001 reasons not to vote for this war mongering nutjob with all the anger issues.
So let's start at the beginning:
1. McSurge'll be the Oldest Man Elected President. 'Nuff said.
2. He's generally angrier than an Angry Beaver. Even his Republican colleagues think he's really crazy and hot-headed and ill-suited to be fingering the nuclear suitcase.
3. He ditched his wife and kids to marry a bleached blonde Budweiser beer distributor heiress. He clearly went after Cindy McCain because she was rich, and he was a relatively destitute Congressman. He certainly didn't pursue her for her conversation skills.
4. He's SHORT. He's joining a very long list of short, angry men who make problematic leaders...think Napoleon, Mussolini, Hitler, Kim Jong Il, Rudi 9iu11iai.
5. Enough with the self-proclaimed "maverick" title bullshit. He's never been a maverick in the true sense of the word. His overall conservative scores are ~80%, so he sides with them 4 times out of 5. When he does abandon a Republican viewpoint it is ALWAYS because it is highly unpopular. He's a frontrunning phony.
6. I read his crappy book, Faith of My Fathers. McSurge obviously suffered as a POW...but his recollection of his own pre-war young man behavior is repellent. He comes across as the smart ass bully with the multigenerational family ties and a chip on his shoulder.
7. He was accused of having an illegimate black daughter by Bush's campaign (Rove, primarily) but allowed his overweening lust for the Presidency to overtake any sense of decency. Instead of fighting Bush like a true maverick, he embraced him, both literally and figuratively.
8. He's friends with Joe Lieberman.
9. He sprinkles the trite phrase "my friends" throughout his speeches. Ugh.
10. Although he may be the phoniest man on the planet, and has flip-flopped on dozens of views and policies, he has the temerity to call his campaign "The Straight Talk Express."
I think I am off to a good start.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
The Humor in Confidence Intervals
My writing job involves some statistical analysis. I get to make a group presentation about confidence intervals on Thursday. Confidence intervals can be narrow. They can be wide. The ability of confidence intervals to be wide allows me to tell a Steven Wright joke:
"Some people are afraid of heights....I'm afraid of widths."
"Some people are afraid of heights....I'm afraid of widths."
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
First McSurge Bumper Sticker Sighting
Saw my first robin 2 weeks ago.
Saw my first cardinal (female) Saturday.
Saw my first McSurge bumper sticker today...blue serif name on a white background...very unpresidential, very uncampaigny.
And there was no year listed...so maybe it was just an artifact from 2000...but on second thought it would have faded.
This being Massachusetts, it was lost in a sea of Clinton '08 and Obama '08 stickers, and the occasional Visualize Whirled Peas.
Saw my first cardinal (female) Saturday.
Saw my first McSurge bumper sticker today...blue serif name on a white background...very unpresidential, very uncampaigny.
And there was no year listed...so maybe it was just an artifact from 2000...but on second thought it would have faded.
This being Massachusetts, it was lost in a sea of Clinton '08 and Obama '08 stickers, and the occasional Visualize Whirled Peas.
Monday, March 31, 2008
40 Years Ago Today...
...LBJ told the world he was hangin' up his spurs, the lascivious old bastard.
I was tuned into POTUS08, XM radio 130, this morning when I heard his gravelly Texas drawl oozing out of my speakers mid-speech.
I remembered that in '68 Johnson had surprisingly announced that he was no longer in the running for re-election. It oocurred to me that this was probably the anniversary...why else would they be rebroadcasting one of his speeches? He would have had to have done it this time of year...
The speech was apparently 35 minutes long, so I guess I caught the last 20 minutes or so.
The announcement, at the very end, was jarring different from the tone of the rest of his speech. Much of what I heard was devoted to recapping history and progress in Vietnam. I enjoyed getting to hear most of it today, even though the whole time I kept thinking about the awful parallels with Iraq.
If only Bush had had such qualms in 2004, maybe we'd be out there by now. But no...he is not only ignorant, he's stubborn.
I was tuned into POTUS08, XM radio 130, this morning when I heard his gravelly Texas drawl oozing out of my speakers mid-speech.
I remembered that in '68 Johnson had surprisingly announced that he was no longer in the running for re-election. It oocurred to me that this was probably the anniversary...why else would they be rebroadcasting one of his speeches? He would have had to have done it this time of year...
The speech was apparently 35 minutes long, so I guess I caught the last 20 minutes or so.
The announcement, at the very end, was jarring different from the tone of the rest of his speech. Much of what I heard was devoted to recapping history and progress in Vietnam. I enjoyed getting to hear most of it today, even though the whole time I kept thinking about the awful parallels with Iraq.
If only Bush had had such qualms in 2004, maybe we'd be out there by now. But no...he is not only ignorant, he's stubborn.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
All Hail The Idiots In Our NCAA Pools
You know who the idiots are that you work with. The idiots in your NCAA pool.
They're the pack of Neanderthals who pick all their winners based on whether or not the mascot of one team could eat/kill the mascot of the other team, if they were animals engaged in mortal combat on Animal Planet.
They're the gang of jerks who give you score updates of tourney games in progress "after the first period."
They're the sort of dummies who couldn't tell Digger Phelps from Dig 'Em Frog.
They're the kind of morons who pick all four number 1 seeds to go to the Final Four.
And more than likely, these geniuses are winning your pool. Nice job, Brainaic.
They're the pack of Neanderthals who pick all their winners based on whether or not the mascot of one team could eat/kill the mascot of the other team, if they were animals engaged in mortal combat on Animal Planet.
They're the gang of jerks who give you score updates of tourney games in progress "after the first period."
They're the sort of dummies who couldn't tell Digger Phelps from Dig 'Em Frog.
They're the kind of morons who pick all four number 1 seeds to go to the Final Four.
And more than likely, these geniuses are winning your pool. Nice job, Brainaic.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Friday, March 28, 2008
1-888-995-DOPE
How hard is it to read a phone number aloud?
Apparently, this was fairly challenging for 43, who screwed it up the last time he tried it, too.
Can't remember the number?...turn around, W - it was on a big freaking banner behind you.
Apparently, this was fairly challenging for 43, who screwed it up the last time he tried it, too.
Can't remember the number?...turn around, W - it was on a big freaking banner behind you.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
McSurge, With a Side of Rice?
Rice-A-Phony, the San Francisco Treat, er, Ex-Stanford Provost Freak...
Condoleezza Rice, of Chevron shipping fame, is apparently looking to pad her resume before she interviews for the NFL Commish job she' s been cravin'. She attended a Grover Norquist-run conservative function earlier today, which triggered speculation that Condi wants to be considered for McSurge's VP slot. Go for it, girl.
What better way to tie McSurge permanently and fatally to Bush & Cheney and their failed Administration?
Condoleezza Rice, of Chevron shipping fame, is apparently looking to pad her resume before she interviews for the NFL Commish job she' s been cravin'. She attended a Grover Norquist-run conservative function earlier today, which triggered speculation that Condi wants to be considered for McSurge's VP slot. Go for it, girl.
What better way to tie McSurge permanently and fatally to Bush & Cheney and their failed Administration?
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Ceasefire, Please!
It has been awhile since the last primary. We're still 4 weeks away from the Pennsylvania primary. I wish the Democratic candidates and their moronic surrogates would kindly shut up 'til then.
In the last couple of weeks we have learned many things. We learned that Obama has a pastor who's a little bit crazy and a whole lotta hateful for a Christian. And we learned that something about a cute 8-year-old girl bearing gifts on a Bosnian tarmac convinced Hillary Clinton that snipers were emptying their rifles on her and Chelsea and Sinbad and Cheryl Crow.
We learned that Obama's advisor, Samantha Power, thinks Hill is a monster. We learned that Bill Clinton fantasizes about a race where both candidates love their country. We learned that James Carville thinks that Bill Richardson is like Judas.
Here's a thought, people. The Republicans are going to dip into the sewers to develop phony ideas to base their fall campaign on. There's really no doubt. No lie is scurrilous enough not to repeat; no rumor too disgusting or seedy not to mention. So let's let them wallow it this stuff. Let's stick to attacking our real, common enemy, the person we will rally against in the fall, regardless of who wins the Democratic nomination. St. John McSurge.
Here's what we've learned lately about McSurge. The country is in recession, and he's admitted he doesn't know much about economics. To reassure us on that front, his top economic advisor is former Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Deregulation), who spent his entire career stripping oversight from our financial markets.
On the religious front, we learned that McSurge actually solicited the endorsement of Minister John Hagee, who says the Catholic Church is the "Whore of Babylon."
We learned that Johnny Mac is so clueless, he needs Rape Gurney Joe Lieberman (R-Arizona) to prompt him for the correct foreign policy answers. We learned that McSurge thinks Purim is the Israeli version of Halloween.
We learned that McSurge has broken the spending caps according to federal election laws, and that media is continuing to give him a free pass.
Hillary, Barack,...and all of your surrogates...there is plenty to shoot at here. There's really no need to keep shooting at each other.
In the last couple of weeks we have learned many things. We learned that Obama has a pastor who's a little bit crazy and a whole lotta hateful for a Christian. And we learned that something about a cute 8-year-old girl bearing gifts on a Bosnian tarmac convinced Hillary Clinton that snipers were emptying their rifles on her and Chelsea and Sinbad and Cheryl Crow.
We learned that Obama's advisor, Samantha Power, thinks Hill is a monster. We learned that Bill Clinton fantasizes about a race where both candidates love their country. We learned that James Carville thinks that Bill Richardson is like Judas.
Here's a thought, people. The Republicans are going to dip into the sewers to develop phony ideas to base their fall campaign on. There's really no doubt. No lie is scurrilous enough not to repeat; no rumor too disgusting or seedy not to mention. So let's let them wallow it this stuff. Let's stick to attacking our real, common enemy, the person we will rally against in the fall, regardless of who wins the Democratic nomination. St. John McSurge.
Here's what we've learned lately about McSurge. The country is in recession, and he's admitted he doesn't know much about economics. To reassure us on that front, his top economic advisor is former Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Deregulation), who spent his entire career stripping oversight from our financial markets.
On the religious front, we learned that McSurge actually solicited the endorsement of Minister John Hagee, who says the Catholic Church is the "Whore of Babylon."
We learned that Johnny Mac is so clueless, he needs Rape Gurney Joe Lieberman (R-Arizona) to prompt him for the correct foreign policy answers. We learned that McSurge thinks Purim is the Israeli version of Halloween.
We learned that McSurge has broken the spending caps according to federal election laws, and that media is continuing to give him a free pass.
Hillary, Barack,...and all of your surrogates...there is plenty to shoot at here. There's really no need to keep shooting at each other.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Salamanders, Crocodiles, and the War
DARPA is good for something besides weapons of mass destruction, after all.
Funded by a million dollar DARPA grant, some scientists think they are well on their way to solve the problem of mammalian limb regeneration, perhaps within 10 years or so.
Salamanders can regrow limbs quite easily. And like mammals, these amphibians have limbs with complex joints, bones, cartilage, nerves and blood vessels similar to mammalian limbs. And before you pooh-pooh the idea because of the size differential, the authors point out that crocodiles can even regenerate whole tails, which are comparable to human limbs in girth.
According to the article in this month's Scientific American, one of the key differences that prevents us from regrowing limbs is that mammals have fibroblasts that promote fibrotic scarring instead of making a layer of regenerative cells.
So if we can trick our cells into bypassing this fibrotic scarring, and supply the severed area with enough nutrients, we should be able to someday restore all these poor soldiers who are coming back from Iraq with missing limbs.
Funded by a million dollar DARPA grant, some scientists think they are well on their way to solve the problem of mammalian limb regeneration, perhaps within 10 years or so.
Salamanders can regrow limbs quite easily. And like mammals, these amphibians have limbs with complex joints, bones, cartilage, nerves and blood vessels similar to mammalian limbs. And before you pooh-pooh the idea because of the size differential, the authors point out that crocodiles can even regenerate whole tails, which are comparable to human limbs in girth.
According to the article in this month's Scientific American, one of the key differences that prevents us from regrowing limbs is that mammals have fibroblasts that promote fibrotic scarring instead of making a layer of regenerative cells.
So if we can trick our cells into bypassing this fibrotic scarring, and supply the severed area with enough nutrients, we should be able to someday restore all these poor soldiers who are coming back from Iraq with missing limbs.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Your Future Robot Boss is a Fashion Challenged Perv
With a See-Through Head
Weird commercial today, shown during the NCAA tourney.
Product: Degree® deodorant/antiperspirant.
Plot: Hip young man of the future, getting ready for his busy work day, has Degree automatically applied to his pits via long robotic arms.
His commute into work is a Fifth Elemental amalgam of dangerous, high-speed near misses apparently inducing perspiration.
Conclusion: He enters his Robot Boss' office. Robot Boss scans Young Man's armpit areas, and satisfied that they are "under control" tilts his head and smiles approvingly.
Questions raised:
1) Why is the clearly male Robot Boss scanning his male employees?
2) I appreciated his yellow power tie, but why is the Robot Boss wearing suspenders? For that matter...why is he wearing clothes?
3) Why is Robot Boss' head see through? Wouldn't that be distracting to the employees of the future? Seeing crap flying by behind his big clear head while he's talking?
Weird commercial today, shown during the NCAA tourney.
Product: Degree® deodorant/antiperspirant.
Plot: Hip young man of the future, getting ready for his busy work day, has Degree automatically applied to his pits via long robotic arms.
His commute into work is a Fifth Elemental amalgam of dangerous, high-speed near misses apparently inducing perspiration.
Conclusion: He enters his Robot Boss' office. Robot Boss scans Young Man's armpit areas, and satisfied that they are "under control" tilts his head and smiles approvingly.
Questions raised:
1) Why is the clearly male Robot Boss scanning his male employees?
2) I appreciated his yellow power tie, but why is the Robot Boss wearing suspenders? For that matter...why is he wearing clothes?
3) Why is Robot Boss' head see through? Wouldn't that be distracting to the employees of the future? Seeing crap flying by behind his big clear head while he's talking?
Happy Easter!
I like Easter. My reasons are more attitudinal than religious.
I just get sick of winter. As I get older, I find that I dislike the cold & snow & ice more and more. I can handle it in small doses, but by the end of February I'm ready to purchase a flamethrower and just torch every organic object within 50 miles, if that will help me keep my core temp up.
And there is absolutely zero reason to tie Jesus' resurrection to chocolate bunnies and marshmallows and jelly beans, but I do share the joy kids get out of these rituals.
We held our annual family Easter egg hunt, and our new puppy joined in the festivities as well.
So spring has gotten off to an excellent start. Pass the Peeps.
I just get sick of winter. As I get older, I find that I dislike the cold & snow & ice more and more. I can handle it in small doses, but by the end of February I'm ready to purchase a flamethrower and just torch every organic object within 50 miles, if that will help me keep my core temp up.
And there is absolutely zero reason to tie Jesus' resurrection to chocolate bunnies and marshmallows and jelly beans, but I do share the joy kids get out of these rituals.
We held our annual family Easter egg hunt, and our new puppy joined in the festivities as well.
So spring has gotten off to an excellent start. Pass the Peeps.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Spring Has Sprung
the grass is riz,
I wonder where
the flowers iz...
Finally... a sunny, relatively calm day here in Rhode Island...after many windy and overcast days in a row. So wonderful to be able to take a walk at lunchtime and not have a gust of wind dislocate your shoulder. And the flowers are nearing riz. Our tulips and daffodils are beginning to stick their heads out through the mulch.
Compared to the weather our friends in the Mississippi Valley are enduring, I have nothing to complain about. The flood coverage is heartbreaking, watching whole towns and villages getting drowned.
But all of the drowned places will recover, eventually. They will be reborn; very much an Easter theme. Hopefully people will not rebuild so close to the rivers, next time. The silver lining is the silt deposited in all of the nearby farmland.
I wonder where
the flowers iz...
Finally... a sunny, relatively calm day here in Rhode Island...after many windy and overcast days in a row. So wonderful to be able to take a walk at lunchtime and not have a gust of wind dislocate your shoulder. And the flowers are nearing riz. Our tulips and daffodils are beginning to stick their heads out through the mulch.
Compared to the weather our friends in the Mississippi Valley are enduring, I have nothing to complain about. The flood coverage is heartbreaking, watching whole towns and villages getting drowned.
But all of the drowned places will recover, eventually. They will be reborn; very much an Easter theme. Hopefully people will not rebuild so close to the rivers, next time. The silver lining is the silt deposited in all of the nearby farmland.
Friday, March 21, 2008
1% Smith
from USA Today:
"One in six were too young to buy a beer. About two dozen were old enough for an AARP card. Eleven died on Thanksgiving Day, 11 on Christmas, and at least five on their birthdays. One percent were named Smith."
The article goes on to provide more demographic breakdown on the war's impact. You might think that reaching a milestone like 4,000 dead U.S. soldiers could give Americans heartburn, if not remorse. But you're probably wrong.
"Whether anyone pays attention to the benchmark is something else. "People tend not to be numerologists," says John Mueller, an Ohio State expert on war and public opinion. "These milestones basically have little effect on public support for a war. It's not like the stock market; people are more affected by events in wars than numbers."
"One in six were too young to buy a beer. About two dozen were old enough for an AARP card. Eleven died on Thanksgiving Day, 11 on Christmas, and at least five on their birthdays. One percent were named Smith."
The article goes on to provide more demographic breakdown on the war's impact. You might think that reaching a milestone like 4,000 dead U.S. soldiers could give Americans heartburn, if not remorse. But you're probably wrong.
"Whether anyone pays attention to the benchmark is something else. "People tend not to be numerologists," says John Mueller, an Ohio State expert on war and public opinion. "These milestones basically have little effect on public support for a war. It's not like the stock market; people are more affected by events in wars than numbers."
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Five Years Ago for the Iraqis...
Yesterday I wrote about the U.S. casualties.
Today is dedicated to the Iraqi victims of this illegal war. Click on "IRAQI SECURITY FORCE & CIVILIAN FATALITIES.
Regardless of whose numbers you choose...they are in the six figures.
from npr.org:
World Health Organization: 151,000 (May 2003 - Nov 2007)
Johns Hopkins School of Public Health: 650,000 (March 2003 - July 2006)
I'll take Johns Hopkins and WHO over any BushCo jive.
And I've heard estimates of 80,000 Iraqi refugee women forced into prostitution in Syria and elsewhere.
Let us pray that this is the beginning of the end.
Today is dedicated to the Iraqi victims of this illegal war. Click on "IRAQI SECURITY FORCE & CIVILIAN FATALITIES.
Regardless of whose numbers you choose...they are in the six figures.
from npr.org:
World Health Organization: 151,000 (May 2003 - Nov 2007)
Johns Hopkins School of Public Health: 650,000 (March 2003 - July 2006)
I'll take Johns Hopkins and WHO over any BushCo jive.
And I've heard estimates of 80,000 Iraqi refugee women forced into prostitution in Syria and elsewhere.
Let us pray that this is the beginning of the end.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Five Years Today...
Approximately 4000 American lives lost.
Over 20,000 injured soldiers.
Over 500,000,000,000.00 spent.
But after all of this, we are only sure of three things.
Bush thinks he was right.
Cheney thinks Bush was right.
And the American people know they are both wrong.
Over 20,000 injured soldiers.
Over 500,000,000,000.00 spent.
But after all of this, we are only sure of three things.
Bush thinks he was right.
Cheney thinks Bush was right.
And the American people know they are both wrong.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
2008: A Space Eulogy
So my favorite Sri Lankan writer has died. Sad. He apparently loved diving, and Sri Lankan waters were the closest thing to space he figured he'd ever experience.
Towards the end he began to resemble another hero of mine, Buckminster Fuller, and Clarke was at least as bright and worldchanging as Fuller was. I'll have to reread my Fuller books to see if he commented on Clarke's idea of geosynchronous communication satellites.
I also see that Clarke's novel Rendezvous with Rama is being made into a movie...I'm curious to see how that turns out. I loved Kubrick's 2001, and I'd love to see that on the big screen one more time before I die.
Towards the end he began to resemble another hero of mine, Buckminster Fuller, and Clarke was at least as bright and worldchanging as Fuller was. I'll have to reread my Fuller books to see if he commented on Clarke's idea of geosynchronous communication satellites.
I also see that Clarke's novel Rendezvous with Rama is being made into a movie...I'm curious to see how that turns out. I loved Kubrick's 2001, and I'd love to see that on the big screen one more time before I die.
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