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No, the Humanity  (3/10/10)
Reading a Nicholas Kristoff article about what has been going on in the Congo. I was four sentences in, reading about a particular horror when I jabbed my mouse to take me off of the page.

Sex Ed-less  (3/9/10)
There is all sorts of huzzah-ing about an abstinence-only program that has somehow been construed to suggest that such teaching actually works. Well of course it works. On a handful of children, and good for them.

Bits & Pieces  (3/8/10)
People can vote if they are obsessively stupid and utterly devoid of all reason. They can exercise their power of the ballot if they are rooting for the apocalypse, if they support the subjugation of women, or if they think torture is a noble tactic.

Democracy’s Foundation  (3/5/10)
People can vote if they are obsessively stupid and utterly devoid of all reason. They can exercise their power of the ballot if they are rooting for the apocalypse, if they support the subjugation of women, or if they think torture is a noble tactic.

Bits & Pieces  (3/4/10)
Lauren Ashley is from Pasadena but she is calling herself Miss Beverly Hills. Beverly Hills ain’t happy about that, especially since this is another one of the those Bible-quoters who believes she should decide which people are entitled to marry.

Party or Wake?  (3/3/10)
Those too-far-out voices are presenting the left with some pretty big targets and mainstream "just say no" GOPers are concerned that the nutso contingent will hurt their chances of beating the Democrats in November.

In Nature’s Maw  (3/2/10)
If the vast majority of scientists who have warned about the impending dangers of global warming and climate change – our current unmentionables – are correct in their assessment, then it gives one extra pause when Nature ravages.

Bits & Pieces  (3/1/10)
The Iranians are reported to have moved all of their semi-processed uranium to a single above-ground site, and no one who should know knows what it means, or at least owns up to knowing it.

In Other News  (2/26/10)
Janet Jackson’s "wardrobe malfunction" is still before the courts six years later. The Black-Robed Nine ordered the Third Appeals to reconsider their tossing out of the FCC-levied $550,000 fine for the meaningless display.

Observations  (2/25/10)
The governor slammed fellow GOPers for their gross hypocrisy. He pointed out that many Republicans in Washington trashed the economic stimulus package while at the same time taking credit for the jobs that money created back home.

Down on Sarah  (2/24/10)
I can no longer sit on my hands about Sarah Palin. I have long resisted the innumerable opportunities to make note of her failings. My goodness, it’s like running around the backcourt as a millions lobs fall in tantalizing slow motion.

Bits & Pieces  (2/23/10)
The federal transportation safety yahoos are going to start random swabbing the hands and baggage of airport travelers to see if they have traces of explosives. No, this isn’t an effort to induce better hygiene, but it makes as much sense.

One Man’s Anger  (2/22/10)
Little will have been gained from this man’s action. Another was killed, several were injured, documents were destroyed, lives were upended, costs were added to the taxpayers’ bill. Surely there was a better way. We owe it to posterity to find it.

Observations  (2/19/10)
There are a lot of folks very upset that the Christmas plane failed bomber was Mirandized and given a lawyer. They say this is war so he should have been treated like any other prisoner. But should alleged terrorists not have rights, too?

It Ain’t Always about Race  (2/18/10)
But let’s also note that there are plenty of folks who aren’t at all racist who increasingly can’t stand what this man has done, which is very little, and mostly what he hasn’t done, which is a lot.

Diagnoses  (2/17/10)
Their work had more holes in it than Swiss cheese but the conclusion makes some sense. I mean, if you declare yourself bored to death, you’re very likely to see your life as meaningless, and subconsciously your body might start shutting down.

Presidential Bedding  (2/16/10)
I’m a-feared that the yahoos in Washington may overreach and issue an edict – for the benefit of bedding industry that requires every citizen – every true American – to buy a new bed set on the third Monday of the second month.

Bits & Pieces  (2/15/10)
If it gets to Lake Michigan and then into the other Great Lakes, it could destroy the $7 billion a year fishing industry. There was a plan to block off the locks in Chicago that open onto the lake. The Obama administration wouldn’t do it. 

Hurricane Carly  (2/12/10)
Among the technicalities her opposition might raise are her disastrous tenure at H-P – she forced through the absorption of Compaq computer, and maybe stepped on some pesky laws about selling technology to Iran – and a skimpy voting record.

Comic No More  (2/11/10)
There was considerable frustration apparent at the meeting; someone used the word "hot" to describe some of the Senators who think the White House should be leading, not just delivering unserviceable platitudes.

Obama and The Bankers  (2/10a/10)
His insistence that ours is a free-market system is utter nonsense. First of all, because it was taxpayer money that kept the markets afloat. Second, because the bankers own Congress which makes the rules that allow the bankers to bilk the American people.

Mainstream Retards  (2/10/10)
The teabaggers of today are represented, well-represented, overly so when you consider the mindlessness of so many on Capitol Hill. If they had half-a-brain, they’d toss their representatives into the bay, any bay.

Fixing the Senate  (2/09/10)
The upper chamber of our national legislature could certainly do more than they have. For that matter, a comatose rock exhibits more purpose than the United States Senate.

Money Makes the Candidate  (2/08/10)
I thought maybe Poizner was suffering from over-consulting. He had poured $20 million of his own money into his campaign while Whitman had invested $40 million into hers and both had spent hugely on presumed campaign experts.

Talking the Walk  (2/05/10)
It’s not that Obama’s vocabulary is out of reach – it’s actually quite basic – but he insists on painting murals when posters would reach more people more directly more quickly. This does not suggest that he should talk down to people. Quite the contrary.

Gambling with Life  (2/04/10)
"You don't go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage. You don't blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when you're trying to save for college. You prioritize. You make tough choices."

Misorganized Labor  (2/03/10)
They are asking for concessions from the union, including the right to promote on the basis of competence instead of just seniority. The union resisted and were ultimately locked out, threatening the viability of the whole town.

Patriots to Taiwan  (2/02/10)
The latest screw-up is his decision to sell $6.4 billion in weapons to Taiwan. This comes at a time when our relations with Beijing are particularly important, and when Beijing has entered an era of greater warmth with the islands nation.

Bits & Pieces  (2/01/10)
Authorities are still searching for the black boxes from the Ethiopian Airlines jet that crashed into the eastern Mediterranean last week. They hear the pings but unless they recover the boxes, no one will know why the plane went down.


The Eye Can’t See  (1/30/10)
There’s something particularly ironic in reporting a story about a news organization. At least when you are dealing with leaks in advance of an official announcement. In this case, the story is about layoffs at CBS News.

The Shame of It  (1/29/10)
The fact that the vital function served by Walter Cronkite and other serious journalists has been so successfully debased by Fox is an indictment of Jennings, Brokaw, Rather and their successors who have driveled network news into irrelevance.

Bits & Pieces  (1/28/10)
If you ever needed proof that the stock market is divorced from the economy, consider that the major indices rose on the day that the next U.S. budget was forecast to have a $1.35 trillion deficit.

Don’t You Wish  (1/27a/10)
Good evening my fellow Americans, I come to you tonight to apologize for the huge disappointment I’ve been these first 54 weeks of an administration that was supposed to be all about hope and change.

Pray for Us  (1/27/10)
It’s called a tefillin. It’s a pair of small leather cubes connected by straps. One is attached to the arm and the other to the head. Overly-religious Jews put them on as paean to their god for rescuing their forbears from Egypt.

Mother’s Milk of Politics  (1/26/10)
That’s why we’re in the mess we’re in today. Campaign reform is essential to getting our country back on track. Unfortunately those who would promulgate reform have been bought and paid for and are happy with the status quo.

The Shame at Justice  (1/25/10)
Considering how many people have been released from death row in the United States, one must presume that at least some – maybe many – of these prisoners in Guantanamo are innocent of the charges, completely or to some significant degree.

George Leonard  (1/23/10)
George believed that ideas were more important than those who voiced them. He was generous in spirit. He gave willingly of his thinking, both to peers and to those who approached him with integrity and purpose and a hunger for understanding.

Bits & Pieces  (1/22/10)
Sleep is one of the most under-rated factors for better health. A new study says if more people – especially the young – got more sleep, there would be less depression, and the problems that arise from it.

Voting for Quality  (1/21/10)
I asked her if she would vote for a Republican against Barbara Boxer if he had a better record and made more sense. No, she answered adamantly. Then you, I said, are part of the problem. We talked further. She shifted out of her adamance.

Global Thinking  (1/20/10)
it makes the point that the world needs not only an independent policeman to deal with man-made problems, but a rescue agent that can step in professionally and efficiently to cope with nature-borne troubles.

Miscellany  (1/19/10)
Some yahoos put together an image of what Osama Bin Laden might look like ten years after we last saw him. He was likely killed in the Tora Bora bombings in December of 2001, but surely the possible differences in his appearance are legion.

Haiti and Horror  (1/18/10)
Everyone would be a lot better off if we turned Haiti into a nature preserve, and sprinkled the remaining populace around the Caribbean and Latin America where they might be assimilated into healthier societies.

Parallel Universe  (1/15/10)
This is actually great news for the donkeys since Dodd was in serious trouble in Connecticut, and now he’s cleared the way for a popular Democratic state attorney general to run against a former TV wrestling executive.

A Billion Here, A Billion There  (1/14/10)
This rant is birthed by the Obama Administration asking Congress for another $33 billion for their wars. This is on top of a request for $708 billion for the Military Department; and puh-leeze, it hasn’t been about defense since the Second World War.

Bits & Pieces  (1/13/10)
"Game Change" particularly exorcizes the Edwards – yes, both John and Elizabeth – and their stunningly untoward behavior. Most revealing in the book is how few of the important truths were covered by the main stream media.

The Bent Reid  (1/12/10)
That’s something when you have the power of Senate Majority Leader’s office. If you can’t wow your constituents with brilliance and gleaming service, you can at least buy their patronage with limitless earmarks.

Courage over Incompetence  (1/11/10)
They were the sort of things that have happened not infrequently in the past without sending fighters aloft or causing pilots and flight attendants to soil themselves. It is the result, one might say, of edginess about terrorists attacks.

Fatherhood  (1/8/10)
I’m relieved, again, that I didn’t engage that task. For a number of reasons, most notably that without children I was able to stretch myself considerably more thin than if others were depending on me for food and roof.

Whackos  (1/7/10)
There are all too many whackos and dopes out there, a function of over-population and the fact that civilization – and we’re stretching the term here – fails to value intellect and logic enough to impart such essentials to the succeeding generation.

Flyin' Right  (1/6/10)
 I drove her down to the shuttle, and as her luggage was being hoisted into the back of the bus, I asked the driver if she might just drive right out to the plane so Denise wouldn’t have to wait in line.

Bits & Pieces  (1/5/10)
A U.S. federal judge threw out charges against five Blackwater agents accused of heinous crimes in the slaughter of 17 Iraqi civilians two years ago. The Justice Department agreed to not use what they learned in the interviews against them.

A Better Decade  (1/4/10)
Is it counterintuitive after all my ravings to think I might not be in high spirits for the holiday season? Dunno. The question – to myself, let’s note – reminds me of a bumpersticker I saw many years ago that stuck.

Spies Like Us  (1/1/10)
Are these people politically-motivated scare mongers driving up business for the military-industrial complex? Or should we hope instead that they are just stunningly incompetent? We're spending $45 billion a year on so-called intelligence and getting bupkis.