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Wow. After catching the highlights on Countdown, there was apparently quite the slugfest between Senator Clinton and Senator Obama at the Democratic debate last night. Which might actually help Senator Edwards do better, and which looks like it’s trying to get the Democrats to follow the Republican lead in terms of fracturing the voting populace and producing people who might jump ship for someone else in the general election. This happens after Senator Obama put forth a strong speech in Atlanta before the debate. Frustration with the way the Clintons are campaigning together, despite it being Hillary’s name solely on the ballot? I don’t know. In two weeks or so, though, the matter will be “decided” before it is decided.
The United States Federal Reserve, feeling the panic from other markets, cut the prime rate three quarters of a percentage point in an attempt to head off further bad economic times. The stock markets do not seem to be responding to the cut in a positive manner.
In international news, the Guardian reports strategists will recommend to NATO commanders that the West stay ready to launch pre-emptive nuclear strikes to stop proliferation and WMD usage. Because glassing a country over rogue elements or because they look too close to getting nuclear weapons and they’re not friendly to the West is a great solution to the problem.
An independent panel in Canada will recommend that the Canadian forces stay in Afghanistan until 2011, a move that may threaten Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government, even though it looks like both the Liberals and the Conservatives are equally matched.
In science, elephants are evolving smaller tusks, because of poaching of their larger-tusked brethren. Humans certainly make an impact on their environment, don’t they?
A poll from Sacred Heart University says the American populace does not trust nor believe the newsmedia. I don’t blame them, with blowhards, pundits, and opinion commentators masquerading as deliverers of news and the selection strategies by which certain networks live and die not really syncing up with reality that much. Blame Kennedy, if you like, since he got his photogenic self elected after televising his debate.
Mayor 9/11 was a vindictive mayor, according to many who felt the brunt of his wrath. Is this really someone who you want to become President, who would dismiss and harass his critics for nothing more than they criticized Mayor 9/11?
The obligatory Heath Ledger's dead link.
Austin Cline, at Jesus’ General, reminds us what Republican family values are, including working three jobs just to stay at subsistence level, working longer hours to pay for insurances, and praising those who take no time off of their work to actually care for their families. All while those farther up the chain, the rich, the politicians, and the lobbyists, take their time, take vacations, and enjoy themselves. And while we enjoy the fact that George W. Bush is President for less than 365 days now, Wonkette reminds us that his first year in office was not quiet. Will his last year be silent or even more active?
A pump worker and her family have been accused of defrauding a gas station owner after the worker apparently set pump prices to dispense gas at .1 cents/gallon, and then reset the pumps after the family had gone through and filled up. And to think, we can thank certain Presidents and their Mideast meddling for helping to contribute to the rising price of crude oil.
After the tsunami hit in Thailand, it appears that normally nonreligious people are converting en masse to Christianity. Which is a curious event, taken on the face of being about religious conversion after disaster. But a few paragraphs in produces the real reason for such an uptick in conversions - it was a prerequisite for receiving relief aid. I suspect those conversions are going to be more like the conversions of the “barbarians” as Rome spread outward - in name only.
A lifetime achievement award, for excellent bodies of literary work, was given to Orson Scott Card by YALSA this year. The award has generated some discussion about whether someone whose personal opinions are interpretable as anti-homosexual should be given achievement awards. The science fiction writings are excellent, and are the primary reason for the award. As believers in their principles, YALSA and the librarians feel that the award should stand because personal opinions don’t figure in the matter. It’s not to say they approve of those opinions, but they recognize Card’s right to have those opinions and they can judge someone based strictly on their merits.
And now, a roundup of women’s issues, appropriate for the thirty-fifth anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. As such, NARAL encourages people to Blog For Choice. One flippant remark before the serious stuff - some of Oprah's fans are not happy that she chose to endorse Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton. That Oprah is endorsing a Democrat should be more than enough for most, but no, some are angry that she chose to endorse the black man over the white woman. You cannot satisfy everyone all of the time, I guess. Now, on to the serious issues. Starting in Saudi Arabia, with another case of showing just how few rights women have in that nation - a woman is appealing the annulling of her marriage after her own relatives sought the forced divorce on the grounds that she married beneath her station. Way to respect their decision. Back stateside, Erica Jong lays out the cards on the table and quotes Florynce Kennedy: "If Men Could Get Pregnant, Abortion Would be a Sacrament", a sentiment I agree with.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tscheese says that most women who get abortions have good reasons for getting them that are not "convenience" or as a manner of after-coitus birth control. This will not stop Mike Huckabee from trying to outlaw all kinds of abortion and the majority of contraceptives. Rounding out the anti-choice segment, Stephanie Simon peeks in on how anti-choicers are trying to get the young to adopt their positions. Hook ‘em young, if you can. Then see what happens when real-world experience gets to them.
Personally, I favor the ability to choose for a couple reasons. First, until the ideology that calls itself “pro-life” makes a decision to adopt all the children in the foster care system, will provide cradle-to-18 services such as health care and adequate nutrition for all children born to mothers in this country/world, and also has the reserves to be able to continue this platform for all the women in the country/world, they don’t have a right to tell a woman that she has to carry the child to term and give birth. Only the woman and her doctor really know whether she’s capable of physically birthing the child safely and can provide enough so that mother and child don’t starve. Second, those who carry the children should make the rules. Yes, it takes two to begin the process, but beyond that point, it’s a solo show, biologically. Why do we give the ability to make decisions about a woman and her child to men, who cannot have a child fathered on them by rape, who have no risk of death through the process of giving birth, and who do not have outward signs showing that they are going to have a child? It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to do it that way, but it’s tradition, I suppose, and men are very big on tradition when it suits them. Anyway, nobody’s right to choose whether or not they can safely raise a child should be abridged.
Next to last for tonight, the art department gets to show off some beautifully and ornately decorated vehicles in Pakistan.
Last for tonight, someone whose lists may be much more useful than mine - The Ririan Project collects lost of numbered lists for use in improving one’s life in quite a few different subjects. To get through such a site, a handheld espresso maker may be a useful tool to carry with you.
I prefer sleep, however. So sleep it is.
The United States Federal Reserve, feeling the panic from other markets, cut the prime rate three quarters of a percentage point in an attempt to head off further bad economic times. The stock markets do not seem to be responding to the cut in a positive manner.
In international news, the Guardian reports strategists will recommend to NATO commanders that the West stay ready to launch pre-emptive nuclear strikes to stop proliferation and WMD usage. Because glassing a country over rogue elements or because they look too close to getting nuclear weapons and they’re not friendly to the West is a great solution to the problem.
An independent panel in Canada will recommend that the Canadian forces stay in Afghanistan until 2011, a move that may threaten Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government, even though it looks like both the Liberals and the Conservatives are equally matched.
In science, elephants are evolving smaller tusks, because of poaching of their larger-tusked brethren. Humans certainly make an impact on their environment, don’t they?
A poll from Sacred Heart University says the American populace does not trust nor believe the newsmedia. I don’t blame them, with blowhards, pundits, and opinion commentators masquerading as deliverers of news and the selection strategies by which certain networks live and die not really syncing up with reality that much. Blame Kennedy, if you like, since he got his photogenic self elected after televising his debate.
Mayor 9/11 was a vindictive mayor, according to many who felt the brunt of his wrath. Is this really someone who you want to become President, who would dismiss and harass his critics for nothing more than they criticized Mayor 9/11?
The obligatory Heath Ledger's dead link.
Austin Cline, at Jesus’ General, reminds us what Republican family values are, including working three jobs just to stay at subsistence level, working longer hours to pay for insurances, and praising those who take no time off of their work to actually care for their families. All while those farther up the chain, the rich, the politicians, and the lobbyists, take their time, take vacations, and enjoy themselves. And while we enjoy the fact that George W. Bush is President for less than 365 days now, Wonkette reminds us that his first year in office was not quiet. Will his last year be silent or even more active?
A pump worker and her family have been accused of defrauding a gas station owner after the worker apparently set pump prices to dispense gas at .1 cents/gallon, and then reset the pumps after the family had gone through and filled up. And to think, we can thank certain Presidents and their Mideast meddling for helping to contribute to the rising price of crude oil.
After the tsunami hit in Thailand, it appears that normally nonreligious people are converting en masse to Christianity. Which is a curious event, taken on the face of being about religious conversion after disaster. But a few paragraphs in produces the real reason for such an uptick in conversions - it was a prerequisite for receiving relief aid. I suspect those conversions are going to be more like the conversions of the “barbarians” as Rome spread outward - in name only.
A lifetime achievement award, for excellent bodies of literary work, was given to Orson Scott Card by YALSA this year. The award has generated some discussion about whether someone whose personal opinions are interpretable as anti-homosexual should be given achievement awards. The science fiction writings are excellent, and are the primary reason for the award. As believers in their principles, YALSA and the librarians feel that the award should stand because personal opinions don’t figure in the matter. It’s not to say they approve of those opinions, but they recognize Card’s right to have those opinions and they can judge someone based strictly on their merits.
And now, a roundup of women’s issues, appropriate for the thirty-fifth anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. As such, NARAL encourages people to Blog For Choice. One flippant remark before the serious stuff - some of Oprah's fans are not happy that she chose to endorse Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton. That Oprah is endorsing a Democrat should be more than enough for most, but no, some are angry that she chose to endorse the black man over the white woman. You cannot satisfy everyone all of the time, I guess. Now, on to the serious issues. Starting in Saudi Arabia, with another case of showing just how few rights women have in that nation - a woman is appealing the annulling of her marriage after her own relatives sought the forced divorce on the grounds that she married beneath her station. Way to respect their decision. Back stateside, Erica Jong lays out the cards on the table and quotes Florynce Kennedy: "If Men Could Get Pregnant, Abortion Would be a Sacrament", a sentiment I agree with.
tscheese says that most women who get abortions have good reasons for getting them that are not "convenience" or as a manner of after-coitus birth control. This will not stop Mike Huckabee from trying to outlaw all kinds of abortion and the majority of contraceptives. Rounding out the anti-choice segment, Stephanie Simon peeks in on how anti-choicers are trying to get the young to adopt their positions. Hook ‘em young, if you can. Then see what happens when real-world experience gets to them.Personally, I favor the ability to choose for a couple reasons. First, until the ideology that calls itself “pro-life” makes a decision to adopt all the children in the foster care system, will provide cradle-to-18 services such as health care and adequate nutrition for all children born to mothers in this country/world, and also has the reserves to be able to continue this platform for all the women in the country/world, they don’t have a right to tell a woman that she has to carry the child to term and give birth. Only the woman and her doctor really know whether she’s capable of physically birthing the child safely and can provide enough so that mother and child don’t starve. Second, those who carry the children should make the rules. Yes, it takes two to begin the process, but beyond that point, it’s a solo show, biologically. Why do we give the ability to make decisions about a woman and her child to men, who cannot have a child fathered on them by rape, who have no risk of death through the process of giving birth, and who do not have outward signs showing that they are going to have a child? It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to do it that way, but it’s tradition, I suppose, and men are very big on tradition when it suits them. Anyway, nobody’s right to choose whether or not they can safely raise a child should be abridged.
Next to last for tonight, the art department gets to show off some beautifully and ornately decorated vehicles in Pakistan.
Last for tonight, someone whose lists may be much more useful than mine - The Ririan Project collects lost of numbered lists for use in improving one’s life in quite a few different subjects. To get through such a site, a handheld espresso maker may be a useful tool to carry with you.
I prefer sleep, however. So sleep it is.
