that I ever wished I lived in New York City.
New AIDS strain emerges
and it’s more virulent than the one we have now. The new strain was found by doctors in New York, and seems to be resistent to three of the four most commonly used AIDS drugs. Plus, instead of taking years to develop from an HIV infection into full blown AIDS, it takes only three or four months.
I was already concerned about the possibility of a bird flu pandemic, but this is another sign that the microbes continue to fight back.
Baghdad Burning
It’s not unusual for riverbend to move me with her writing. She’s in the heart of Baghdad, and that’s been a pretty terrible place to be for the past couple of years. In this recent post, she describes changes she’s seeing around her, as those who want Iraq to be governed by Sharia law begin to consolidate their power. As a feminist who has always valued my own independence, I don’t know how she will live with it. She starts out talking about the election:
I literally had chills going up and down my spine as I watched Abdul Aziz Al Hakeem of Iranian-inclined SCIRI dropping his ballot into a box. Behind him, giving moral support and her vote, was what I can only guess to be his wife. She was shrouded literally from head to foot and only her eyes peeped out of the endless sea of black. She stuffed her ballot in the box with black-gloved hands and submissively followed a very confident Hakeem. E. turned to me with a smile and a wink,
Sneering and gloating: moral values?
Billboard Blitz to Blast Hollywood
HUMAN EVENTS has learned that a billboard blitz “thanking” Hollywood for the reelection of President Bush will be unveiled early next week.
The advertisements feature the faces of liberal Hollywood icons Michael Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, Ben Affleck, Martin Sheen, Chevy Chase, Barbara Streisand, and Sean Penn, and offer thanks to Hollywood their help getting President Bush reelected….
Charming, aren’t they? So full of hatred and bile, I don’t believe Jesus would claim them.
Link via No More Mr Nice Blog
I do love this picture
I’m not convinced the vote will make things better, but for her sake, and all who joined her yesterday, I surely hope so.
Picture
Central banks begin to abandon the dollar
It’s been coming for a while, what with our insane deficits and all, but now they are shifting their reserves away from the dollar, and things may go downhill fast for the U.S. economy.
Yet another episode of paid propaganda
Conservative talk show host for sale
This is amusing, but really, what’s one more?
After all these years
Dr. King still says it best.
You may well ask: “Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches and so forth? Isn’t negotiation a better path?” You are quite right in calling, for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent-resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word “tension.” I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, we must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Letter from Birmingham Jail
As I am…
losing my last contract at the end of the month, I’ll be scarce for a while, finding new work. Sorry! I’m still watching, but energy to post is small.