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Saturday, January 11, 2003 |
Say a Little Prayer For Me
Two really funny stories on Snopes this week; I haven't seen these before and probably wouldn't be fooled by them, but they're funny.
9:40:57 PM Permalink
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Helen Thomas Socks It to the White House
Must read. The President deplores the taking of some innocent lives, by some people. Sometimes.
HELEN THOMAS: At the earlier briefing, Ari, you said that the President deplored the taking of innocent lives. Does that apply to all innocent lives in the world? And I have a follow-up.
MR. FLEISCHER: I refer specifically to a horrible terrorist attack on Tel Aviv that killed scores and wounded hundreds. And the President, as he said in his statement yesterday, deplores in the strongest terms the taking of those lives and the wounding of those people, innocents in Israel.
MS. THOMAS: My follow-up is, why does he want to drop bombs on innocent Iraqis?
9:34:49 PM Permalink
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Skeptics Annotated Bible
skeptic's annotated bible. [MetaFilter]
The entire text of these books, annotated from a skeptical, nay antagonistic point of view. Probably a little over the top, and there's so much debate in the scholarship around this stuff that there's plenty in here for everyone (not just believers) to argue with. Still, it's a big effort, and thanks to the author for doing this.
8:30:16 PM Permalink
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The Wrongfully Convicted. Here are the stories of the 13 men who were wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death in Illinois since... [TalkLeft: The Politics of Crime]
If you're in favor of the death penalty, read this and say that it would have been OK to kill these men in our name. And in the same piece, Patrick Leahy proves himself to be an honorable, courageous politician with his innocence protecation act. If you aren't speaking out about this and voting accordingly, you're partly responsible for the killing of innocent people by the state.
8:18:25 PM Permalink
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Reform? Republicans Take It All Back. On Tuesday, after the new Congress was sworn in, Republican members passed several House rules that overturned some of their old ethical reforms. By Ryan Lizza. [New York Times: Politics]
One of the first things Republicans did in 1995 after they took control of the House was to adopt tighter ethics rules for House members, in response to what they saw as decades of Democratic arrogance and abuse.
On Tuesday, after the new House was sworn in, the Republicans passed their first piece of business for the 108th Congress: House rules that overturned some of their old reforms.
8:11:55 PM Permalink
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Low Fat Squash Chile
I just made a big pot of this chile, and it's cooking now. Taste-testing while it's simmering has had very positive results. Using mostly squashes, it's low-cal, low-fat.
12:54:28 PM Permalink
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Silence and Forgetting
Thanks to Randy Alfred for forwarding this link along in an email; I've been meaning to post it. Jon Carroll is a terrific writer.
IN ANY DISCUSSION on the probable conflict in Iraq, people in favor of such a war frequently mention Neville Chamberlain at Munich. The lesson of Chamberlain's infamous meeting with Hitler is obvious: Appeasement does not work with madmen or with dictators. Rather than bringing peace, it only promotes a longer and more horrible war.
10:32:21 AM Permalink
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Guardian by Joe Haldeman
Just read Joe Haldeman's newest; he's really a cut above most sf writers, and sometimes (The Forever War) is among the best of them all. Rosa Coleman is married to a rich abuser in Philadelphia, 1880s. Courageously, she takes her teenage son, leaves her husband, and the two of them embark on a trip which leads across the country and then to gold rush Alaska. Along the way, she has several strange encounters with a raven who warns her cryptically about her plans. The payoff comes in Alaska when the raven turns into a man and gives her glimpses of possible futures. It's a good novel, Rosa's story is well told and evocative, if a little familiar, McMurtry-like. The payoff scenes are well done, but not as dramatic as I had expected them to be. Still, a good book, with an emotional punch and good characters.
10:30:08 AM Permalink
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© Copyright 2004 Steve Michel.
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