Poker Player turns $40 into $3.2 million. Only in Las Vegas.

Untelevised nicely sums up my take on the Democratic party candidates.

Ever wonder what "fo' shizzle my nizzle" means?

A quick update. Sorry I haven't been writing much, although I really want to. My powers of concentration have waned tremendously since the accident. I get little headaches after a short while, plus the lower back pain is always there.

I have, however, picked up a moleskin notebooks (as suggested by my Bro). I sketched out two ideas for a childrens book (gee, I wonder why that is on my mind) the other day and hope to expand them shortly.

My life is almost all waiting these days. Waiting for the Bureau of Disability to decide if I get Disability Insurance. Waiting for the accident insurance to settle. Either of which would allow me to start the career counseling and retraining process. I'm waiting for my back to heal, to see if the latest procedures will work, to see if I will ever heal.

It sounds depressing, I know. But I don't spend all my time thinking about it. Life goes on, even if it is in slow motion sometimes. Plus, little Indigo is on the way and I have new responsibilities to him now.

Happy Birthday Stacey!

Hey. My brother has a new blog. It links to mine and I'll provide a permalink back as soon as I can figure out how to install Moveable Type on my host. Meanwhile read David's commentary while he studies in Austria for the next 4 months.

Farmers Put Live Chickens in Wood Chippers! Somethings are just beyond words. I wonder if they've ever seen the movie 'Chicken Run'.

Digby has gone to the dark side. Where is Luke Skywalker when you need him.

btw, I'm back from a self-imposed two days of news and internet blackout (well gray out). Guess what, life goes on even while the cable news runs 24/7 war coverage.

America's new Scapegoats. Very much like the old ones (via tbogg).

I was very saddened to learn that David Bloom of NBC Today show fame died this morning. I knew him like most of America, as a talking head and reporter on TV. But I felt closer to him than I do most reporters, perhaps due to his personality and his position on morning talk shows. Over these last three weeks or so, I followed Bloom's reports with a deep fascination, this man was living one of my dreams (and I'm sure one of his) and doing it with such class and intelligence, that his work would be remembered with a wealth of awards and with incredible historical significance. It's difficult to express how I feel about the loss of this one human. I do recommend you read Partygirl, a blogger I've been following since 9/11, actually met him and shares her very personal story. My best wishes go out to his friends and family. They have experienced a tremendous loss and will not soon recover.

Again from kottke.org. He links to an important article from Dan Gillmor on how the American public is losing the civil liberties battle. It's all too reminiscint of Orwell's horrible depiction of world gone crazy with doublespeak in 1984.

Thin Ice. Another excellent E-sheep production. While you're there check out Rush Limbaugh Eats Everything. An oldie, but a goodie. (via Kottke.org)

The Globe and Mail prints a letter from Margaret Atwood to America. I've been fan of Atwood's since reading/seeing her "Handmaid's Tale" in college. Can't say I disagree with her sentiments here. In fact, the letter is like a litany of areas the U.S. left needs to focus on for the next election.

Digby thinks GW may be certifiable. Too bad this isn't like Star Trek where Bones can kick Kirk out of the command seat.

In another volley aimed at securing a Democratic White House, Kevin Drum at CalPundit serves up this excellent point:
"Rich countries rarely go to war against each other, and rich people rarely become terrorists — Osama may be a rich man, but his followers aren't. Therefore, if we truly want to be safe from terrorism in the long term, we need a foreign policy aimed at making poor countries rich. Tolerance and democracy will follow. This is an enormously sensitive and difficult problem, and I don't pretend to know how to attack it, but it's imperative that it be our goal. Nothing else will work."

He's talking about how the next Democratic presidential candidate can formulate a viable foreign policy in the wake of Bush's major mess. Something to think about.

Craig at BookNotes has a good roundup of war news that has flown under the wire of the major media.

Terminus has a post talking about political correctness coming from the right this time. Worth a read.

Oddly soothing. (requires flash)

There’s a serious argument to be made that terrorism throws the whole notion of just law on its ear. How is it possible to defend oneself against unseen forces except by aggressive policy? It’s an interesting hypothesis. But in order for it to carry any water as a just strategy, it cannot be pre-emptive and unilateral, both of which the US reserves as its right. If a new dispensation is going to be added to just war theory—that just cause includes pre-emptive strikes—it must also include further conditions. In the case of pre-emption, it must include a condition of international support.

-- Notes on the Atrocities.

Go read more of the above from Emma Goldman (another anonymous blogger). However, Emma leaves out the real justification for Bush's war with Iraq... spreading democracy throughout the region. I'd like to see her opinion on that.

Winds of Change starts to provide an answer to the question: "Where do they get young men like this?

Jeanne D'arc's Body and Soul posts a very important letter concerning the long debate over extremism vs. centrism. Needless to say this debate has been going on since the first conceptualism of liberalism, I don't think it will end anytime soon.