Today I am
A small blue thing
Like a marble
Or an eye
A small blue thing
Like a marble
Or an eye
With my knees against my mouth
I am perfectly round
I am watching you
I am cold against your skin
You are perfectly reflected
I am lost inside your pocket
I am lost against
Your fingers
I am falling down the stairs
I am skipping on the sidewalk
I am thrown against the sky
I am raining down in pieces
I am scattering like light
Scattering like light
Scattering like light
Today I am
A small blue thing
Made of china
Made of glass
I am cool and smooth and curious
I never blink
I am turning in your hand
Turning in your hand
Small blue thing
– Suzanne Vega
are all leaving office: AP/Yahoo
I guess George isn’t that fun a playmate after all, huh guys?
If we could get our neighbours to the north to address that aberration of a prime minister in Canada the job would be well on the way to completion, LOL.
Let us know if there’s anything we can do to help. We feel a bit guilty, being the source of the contagion and all…
Downward spiral continuing in Afghanistan.
Afghan capital rocked by blasts
Juan Cole has the scoop on this potentially explosive situation.
Suhail is former ambassador to Egypt of the new Iraqi government and stood against the imposition of Islamic law on Iraqi women. That a secular person is so stirred up about this suggests to you what the Sunni and Shiite fundamentalists are thinking. For most Iraqis, honor is bound up in the chastity of their women, at least in public, and a foreigner raping an Iraqi girl is a profound humiliation for the entire country. This matter is not going to go away quietly and if the Bush administration thinks it is just a matter of disciplining unruly troops, it has another think coming. Entire colonial empires have been shaken by such incidents in the past.
On top of everything else, this incident is going to have far reaching repercussions.
There is a terrible “deep frame’ embedded in young boys’ consciousness that first teaches the metaphor of sexuality as baseball game, an aggressive competition between boys to score, to make it to the next base, using the female body as playing field.
A metaphor that connects to this story of rape & murder by Nir Rosen’s description of a routine house search in an eastern Iraqi village near the Syrian border:
Link
BAGHDAD – Iraq’s prime minister called on Wednesday for an independent inquiry into the alleged rape and murder of a teenager and killing of her family by U.S. soldiers and a review of foreign troops’ immunity from Iraqi law.
[snip]
“Yes we will demand an independent Iraqi inquiry, or a joint investigation with Multinational Forces,” Nuri al-Maliki told reporters during a visit to Kuwait, in his first public comments since the case came to light five days ago.
“We do not accept the violation of Iraqi people’s honor as happened in this case. We believe that the immunity granted to international forces has emboldened them to commit such crimes and … there must be a review of this immunity,” he said.
[snip]
The rape element in a conservative Muslim society — highlighted by Maliki’s mention of “honor” — could make the case especially damaging for the U.S. military, which has recently tightened procedures to crack down on rogue elements.
You know that American soldier who was kidnapped, mutilated, and killed? He was from the same unit. Iraqi intelligence is good; American, less so.
Mutilated is a euphemism. ‘Nuff said. The time will yet come when Americans come to regret this war.
But not yet: It hasn’t gotten bad enough. It will.
And then America will discover it has run up a blood price it cannot pay.
Mourn now. While you can.
After the depressing stories above: “Now for something completely different.”
Astronomers have discovered what they believe is a ‘blob’ of hydrogen gas roughly the size of the Milky Way galaxy falling onto dark matter, located at a distance of 11.6 billion light-years. It is thus seen as it was when the Universe was only 2 billion years old, or less than 15% its present age. They believe the find represents the early stage in the formation of a galaxy.
Discovery’s fuel tank “performed very well” during the shuttle’s launch Tuesday, shedding small pieces of debris as expected without endangering the astronauts, a top NASA official said.
Children exposed to DDT while in the womb experience development problems, researchers say. The pesticide is still used in some developing countries to fight malaria. It was already known DDT was linked to premature births and low birth weight, in addition to environmental problems known for almost a half-century. Nearly all people, regardless of nation, tested contain measurable levels of DDT or its breakdown products in their body. And in a related item, the US Fish and Wildlife Service reports that since DDT was banned in the mid-1960s, the number of bald eagles in the continental U.S. has increased tenfold to over 7,000. The bald eagle is expected to be removed from the endangered species list in the next few years. DDT caused weakening of eggshells in birds.
A major study has added weight to the theory that environmental factors such as common infections may be a trigger for diabetes in children and young adults.
Drinking an eight ounce glass of pomegranate juice daily increased by nearly four times the period during which PSA levels in men treated for prostate cancer remained stable, a three-year UCLA study has found. Is it vodka-and-pomegranate-juice:30 yet?
Widely used multispecies habitat conservation plans that permit the incidental “take” of threatened or endangered species often include species that are not confirmed to be present in the planning area. The plans frequently fail to provide adequate conservation measures for such species, and as a result, species that are present but not confirmed to be are placed in increased danger.
A new Quebec study casts doubt on the popular theory that mercury poisoning from childhood vaccinations can cause autism. The study found the incidence of autism was higher in children who were vaccinated after mercury-containing thimerosal was eliminated from vaccines.
Floundering about is job #1: In a sharp shift of strategy, Ford Motor Co. plans to focus less on hybrid technology and more on alternative-fueled vehicles, Ford Chief Executive Bill Ford told employees. Ford backed away from a commitment made last fall to build capacity to make 250,000 hybrid vehicles by the end of the decade, calling that goal “too narrow” in a company-wide e-mail message released Thursday. Ford, which has faced criticism for lacking a consistent vision for its product development, had heavily promoted its commitment to hybrid technology, which taps battery power to boost fuel economy.
Knox’s news bits are the most upbeat item in the thread…what is the world coming to? 🙂
Too bad we couldn’t find a Panda Birthday party every day. Where’s Andi? She knows some marmots who are real party animals. 😉
I guess I need to find more erupting volcanoes to keep the mood consistent with the rest of the thread.
;-D
Wow. What an amazing picture! Thanks,KP.
That is pretty cool.
Renew America:
How kind of you to save that gem for the news bucket, instead of your roundup…but you left this part out:
And hey, every guy needs a child bride. Much easier to control women if they’ve never had a chance to be independent.
Too bad that guy’s mother didn’t have an abortion.
Actually, World O’ Crap tackles this article in the Lois Lane is a slut column, so I did link to this in the roundup. I thought you, in particular, would be sympathetic to Christian’s argument. I mean, how can you argue with this?
are you saying your marriage lacks “male-on-male sodomy or lesbian fisting.”
Mine did…an obvious reason for it’s failure???
You decide.
I was going to ask for a clarification, but then I decided against it…
in a person and then immediately follow that up with laughing ones ass off.
from me……AT LEAST!
Ever notice how most Christians blame all of their own shortcomings on everybody else? I have to admit though, that bawl baby ranting blaming of feminism for your lack of marriage and bedroom companionship is just priceless! All women are not feminists……in fact, far from it. To blame feminists because no woman would dare take the risk of mixing her DNA with yours is the worst case of “denial” I have ever witnessed! There are plenty plenty plenty of nice Christian girls out there willing to “lay down” for nice Christian boys. Please stop blaming me because none of them will lay down for you!
Militarytracy
Have I mentioned lately that you rock? 🙂
I need to go work on my Letter from Ted diary now…
Thanks Tracy-that’s great. That article was one stinkin pile of garbage from word one to the last. And it also always amazes me how these so called christians manage to make sex sound so sick and disgusting. I’ve come to the conclusion that maybe they continue to talk about sex so much because it’s the only time they really do have some sort of perverted orgasm.
What’s that saying about people who teach writing cause they can’t write a book of their own..I suspect the same goes for all these whacko’s like Falwell, Dobson etc with their obsession about talking about sex. Falwell was just at it again the other day talking about homosexuals in Hollywood, unmarried women having sex/babies blah blah blah..because of course that kind of stuff only happens in Hollywood don’t ya know.
<<<“they would realize that it is devout Christians who are having the best sex right now out of anyone on the planet.<<
Devout Christian MEN (of MY day) did too. It was always handy 24/7/365, sex of any kind they wanted, claimed as their “right” of course, from ever obedient wives who knew better than to refuse.
Women who were well taught, as I was, that giving your man sex on demand, (any form, any time,) just went along with being married: it was just another of the a crosses women were made to bear, just like getting beat up was, if you made your man mad. I even received specific advice from older women, tips and tricks for “getting through sex ” as fast as possible, without getting hurt too badly
THOSE are the “good ol days” cretins like this wish to recreate today.
How anyone like this dare call themselves “Christian” defys all human logic. I can only hope what goes asround truly does “come around” for so called ‘men” like this.