Global
I celebrate your new robotic fleet,
the unmanned killer plane technology.
Behind a far-off screen controllers mete
out surprise attack on unsuspecting enemy.
They continue to war, denying defeat,
and punishing us for the philanthropy,
of our reward expectant GOP elite.
I too face hidden bombers I can’t see,
when I patrol that same endangered street,
so I need robots who will die for me.
the unmanned killer plane technology.
Behind a far-off screen controllers mete
out surprise attack on unsuspecting enemy.
They continue to war, denying defeat,
and punishing us for the philanthropy,
of our reward expectant GOP elite.
I too face hidden bombers I can’t see,
when I patrol that same endangered street,
so I need robots who will die for me.
Hello from Brookings Hall.
My name is Meredith, and I am one of about 20 Washington University students occupying the admissions office in Brookings. We're determined to continue our sit-in until the chancellor, Mark Wrighton, agrees to negotiate a living wage for all campus employees. Right now anyone directly hired my the school earns a living wage, but subcontracted custodians, groundskeepers, and food service employees start off at $7.50 an hour. This is is a far cry from the $9.79 per hour with full benefits that the St. Louis Board of Aldermen decided was enough to survive. Washington University is not a poor school; we could easily pay our workers adequately if only we considered them more important than plasma screen TVs in the library and other amenities. We need to show Chancellor Wrighton what our priorities are, and we need community support to do so. We hold rallies on the quad outside our window every day at noon and 5 and have started a tent city there as well.
Even if you've heard more than enough about Terry Schiavo, it seems useful
to consider why Bush's political grandstanding backfired. Over seventy
percent of Americans, including solid majorities of self-described
evangelicals, opposed the intervention of the White House and Congress.
Those surveyed mistrusted the Bush administration's blatant disregard for
local control, the rule of law, and the right to be protected from a
capricious federal government.
Their responses also speak to a broader shift in how we deal with difficult end-of-life issues. For twenty years, gradually increasing majorities have agreed that for all our technological inventiveness, what some people need most is the right to die in peace.
You'd think that this belief--that the most difficult intimate decisions must be our own--would also raise support for maintaining the right to abortion. But it hasn't. In the 30 years since Roe v. Wade, support for keeping abortion legal, and without onerous restrictions, has stayed even, at most, and new onerous restrictions keep getting imposed.
Their responses also speak to a broader shift in how we deal with difficult end-of-life issues. For twenty years, gradually increasing majorities have agreed that for all our technological inventiveness, what some people need most is the right to die in peace.
You'd think that this belief--that the most difficult intimate decisions must be our own--would also raise support for maintaining the right to abortion. But it hasn't. In the 30 years since Roe v. Wade, support for keeping abortion legal, and without onerous restrictions, has stayed even, at most, and new onerous restrictions keep getting imposed.
The central lesson in the Terri Schiavo case is not to be found in the
broad area of right to life. A freedom to choose a merciful end for a
long-suffering and much beloved relative within the bounds of the law is
likewise a diversion from the truth. What needs to be understood and
remembered by the American people is the unprecedented and obscene level of
hypocrisy exhibited by the GOP majority in Congress, and by the Bush White
House.
Hypocrisy is said to be the tribute vice makes to virtue. Both executive and legislative branch Republicans are pandering to their fundamentalist Christian base by deceitfully claiming those virtues implied by the phrase, "culture of life." The hypocrisy lies in the fact that any true belief in the sanctity of life would have to include a stand against capital punishment, and a total aversion to pre-emptive wars based on deceit. And the vice which spawns such hypocrisy is a sordid eagerness to turn a political profit from the suffering of innocents like Terri Schiavo who cannot even protest their manipulation.
Hypocrisy is said to be the tribute vice makes to virtue. Both executive and legislative branch Republicans are pandering to their fundamentalist Christian base by deceitfully claiming those virtues implied by the phrase, "culture of life." The hypocrisy lies in the fact that any true belief in the sanctity of life would have to include a stand against capital punishment, and a total aversion to pre-emptive wars based on deceit. And the vice which spawns such hypocrisy is a sordid eagerness to turn a political profit from the suffering of innocents like Terri Schiavo who cannot even protest their manipulation.
AUSTIN -- Why in the name of sanity, you may ask, should an aging, overweight spinster like myself agree to go bungee jumping with her nephew? My fellow aunts will understand immediately, however, when I explain that the nephew in question is 15, wears his baseball hat backward and has attitude.
As a veteran aunt (helped raise one set of two, am working on the next set of three), I have been enjoying my recent stint as non-parent in residence. Being an aunt is a great gig. You get to hand the kids back at the end of a week or a month, so discipline is not your problem. Veteran aunts never insist on vegetables or museums. Aunts without children of their own have an extra edge, since we're not really, exactly grown-ups. As permanent non-parents, we can still side with kids. We can Mame it up all we want. (All this may hold true for uncles as well. I'm just not well-informed on that angle.)
As a veteran aunt (helped raise one set of two, am working on the next set of three), I have been enjoying my recent stint as non-parent in residence. Being an aunt is a great gig. You get to hand the kids back at the end of a week or a month, so discipline is not your problem. Veteran aunts never insist on vegetables or museums. Aunts without children of their own have an extra edge, since we're not really, exactly grown-ups. As permanent non-parents, we can still side with kids. We can Mame it up all we want. (All this may hold true for uncles as well. I'm just not well-informed on that angle.)
"April Fools! We're not really going to wreck the bankruptcy system and turn families over to the gentle mercies of credit card companies! We just wanted to see how extreme we could get and have the media still believe it!"
That's what I'd like to hear the United States Senate announce today, but I won't hold my breath.
When a majority of U.S. Senators, including 19 Democrats, voted to pass the bankruptcy bill, some of them may have thought that no one was watching. Certainly consumer groups, labor, community organizations, and civil rights groups had written the bill off as virtually unstoppable. Stopping it was not at the top of their agendas, each already overloaded with other defensive battles against the Bush onslaught.
That's what I'd like to hear the United States Senate announce today, but I won't hold my breath.
When a majority of U.S. Senators, including 19 Democrats, voted to pass the bankruptcy bill, some of them may have thought that no one was watching. Certainly consumer groups, labor, community organizations, and civil rights groups had written the bill off as virtually unstoppable. Stopping it was not at the top of their agendas, each already overloaded with other defensive battles against the Bush onslaught.
March 19, 2005—After the 2004 election I thought I would barf if I heard one
more Democratic pundit or politician lament the lost election and blame it on
the party's "message." As grassroots activists across the country reported
thousands of election irregularities and voting machine "glitches" that
overwhelmingly benefited Bush, the Democratic leadership seemed unusually willing to
look the other way. John Kerry quickly conceded, former President Carter
attended Bush's ignoble inauguration, and Bill Clinton now pals around with Bush the
First.
Rank and file Democrats are tearing their hair out.
Now, in a gesture calculated to win back their base, but gain little else (in terms of voting security), both House and Senate Democrats have offered a flurry of bills (with many state legislatures following in hot pursuit) that require ballot printers for touchscreen voting machines.
Incredibly, none of these bills call for the ballots to be counted .. except in the extremely remote event of a recount.
Rank and file Democrats are tearing their hair out.
Now, in a gesture calculated to win back their base, but gain little else (in terms of voting security), both House and Senate Democrats have offered a flurry of bills (with many state legislatures following in hot pursuit) that require ballot printers for touchscreen voting machines.
Incredibly, none of these bills call for the ballots to be counted .. except in the extremely remote event of a recount.
AUSTIN, Texas -- Some days, it's hard to pick the outrage du jour, but hypocrisy is always an inviting target, and the United Nations oil-for-food scandal provides a two-fer. We have been hearing much right-wing huffing over the dreadful, terrible, awful, unprecedented, worst-ever scandal in all history. One indignant winger was livid because The New York Times devoted more coverage to the collapse of Enron than to the earth-shaking U.N. scandal.
Those throwing conniption fits over the United Nations' misdeeds (failure of oversight, according to the Volcker Report) might want to meditate a bit on the role of the U.S. government in all this before they further embarrass themselves denouncing perfidious foreigners.
Those throwing conniption fits over the United Nations' misdeeds (failure of oversight, according to the Volcker Report) might want to meditate a bit on the role of the U.S. government in all this before they further embarrass themselves denouncing perfidious foreigners.
The first quarter of 2005 brought significant media dividends for the
Bush-Cheney limited liability corporation.
Stakeholders received windfalls as mainstream news outlets deferred to consolidation of power from the November election.
A rollout of new “democracy” branding -- kicked off by the State of the Union product relaunch -- yielded at least temporary gains in psychological market share. For instance, repackaging of images in the Middle East implemented makeovers for several client governments. Actual democratic threats, inimical to Bush-Cheney LLC interests, remain low.
Our major domestic financial goal, the privatization of Social Security, is out of reach for the next several quarters. However, in view of the magnitude of potential profits, this massive effort will continue.
More problematic, in retrospect, was the March expenditure of political capital in the Schiavo gambit. Returns on media investment, as gauged by opinion poll data, have been disappointing. However, base earnings are likely to accrue to beneficial levels due to high volume from fundamentalist buy-ins.
Stakeholders received windfalls as mainstream news outlets deferred to consolidation of power from the November election.
A rollout of new “democracy” branding -- kicked off by the State of the Union product relaunch -- yielded at least temporary gains in psychological market share. For instance, repackaging of images in the Middle East implemented makeovers for several client governments. Actual democratic threats, inimical to Bush-Cheney LLC interests, remain low.
Our major domestic financial goal, the privatization of Social Security, is out of reach for the next several quarters. However, in view of the magnitude of potential profits, this massive effort will continue.
More problematic, in retrospect, was the March expenditure of political capital in the Schiavo gambit. Returns on media investment, as gauged by opinion poll data, have been disappointing. However, base earnings are likely to accrue to beneficial levels due to high volume from fundamentalist buy-ins.