litch: (Default)
2005-10-20 02:16 pm
Entry tags:

Target sucks

From [livejournal.com profile] contentlove
A 26-year-old Missouri woman was refused Emergency Contraception when she handed her prescription to a pharmacist at a Target store in Fenton, MO, on September 30

When people have complained to Target about this they have told them to go to another store.

I think that is very good advice.
litch: (Default)
2005-10-09 07:26 am
Entry tags:

(no subject)

Heard an interview sith scott ritter on the bbc feed kut plays early sunday. He's got a show on the new al-jazeera(english) channel. It was an interesting interview, downright hostile in a couple places.

Not really what I wanted to wake up to but it's kinda tough for anyone listening to him to place him as anything other than a passionate patriot opposed to his country's actions.
litch: (Default)
2005-09-02 09:05 am
Entry tags:

advice on maintaining your sanity

I've not been paying as much attention to the katrina aftermath as a lot of people, thank the gods I have a job to keep me busy. But given my newshound tendancies I've been paying enough to feel depressed and overwhelmed.

So my advice to anyone else feeling that way:
take care of the people close to you
try to not think about the shit you can't do anything about
give money to the red cross every time you feel guilty
turn off the news
don't read the katriablogs
exercise
try to give people who are avoiding the story some space

to put that in action:katrina politics )
litch: (Default)
2005-08-26 05:00 pm
Entry tags:

the fake war orphan

Wow,
now, that's what I call punked:
http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/breaking_news/12477693.htm

From one of the stories:
"To Kodee, Bush is her father's boss and she does not understand why people think he is evil. She has also has a very difficult time understanding the war protesters and has begun to fear them the way most kids fear the boogeyman or monsters."
litch: (Default)
2005-07-30 01:51 pm
Entry tags:

Politcal cartoons

I really like political cartoons, at their best they manage to say trenchant, acute, illuminating expositions on our society. It can humanize the wonky policy debates and remote principles into something real and emotional. I regularly read http://www.cagle.com/politicalcartoons which has some of the best. It also has an amazing amount of crap, particularly the right wing cartoons, every once in a while someone on the right draws a good one but for the most part they are lame, stupid of screamingly inane. Chuck Asay from the Colorado Springs Gazette is a particularly egregious example of a bad right wing political cartoonist.

On the other hand Kirk Anderson really blows me away on a regular basis,
like this example )
litch: (Default)
2005-07-07 03:53 pm
Entry tags:

The british genius of understatement

BBC interviewer (via NPR) talking to a woman walking home in london because all public transport was shut down:
"How do you feel about this attack?... Does it make you angry? Confused? Scared?"

Woman: "I'm a bit cross actually."
litch: (Default)
2005-07-07 01:51 pm
Entry tags:

Journalists in Jail

I've been meaning to write something about the Judith Miller being sent to jail for refusing to rat out her source but then I read this which pretty much covered my feelings on the issue Judith Miller chose to be a tool of the Bush administion, with any luck at all she'll only be one of the first of many eating prison food.
litch: (Default)
2005-07-03 10:05 pm
Entry tags:

After action report

Well I fired off my stick of half dozen mortars to frighten off the demons of oppression.


I don't think it did much good, them demons can afford good earplugs; oppression pays well.
litch: (Default)
2005-06-16 01:09 am
Entry tags:

Tags and heinlein's politics

I've just gone through my recent comments and added tags! to my journal entries. Since tagging started making news I've been excited about the possibilities it could offer to livejournal, the memories thing is lame and unworkable, but this could be really cool.

Of the posts on my recent page the top five entries have been:
money
dogpark
house
truck
scared

very prosaic, dogpark and scared are ok, but I would like for me to talk about more besides my truck, house, and money, but they're a whole lot of my world right now so I suppose it is to be expected

I also found this great page that talks in detail about something I've always known a little about. Despite Heinlein's decidedly libertarian stylings, the times he has truly involved himself in politics (and not just written stories with charecters talking about it) he did so as a far left wing liberal democrat.
litch: (Default)
2005-06-13 03:33 pm
Entry tags:

The war next door

So anyone paying attention to the war for nuevo laredo?

There are two gangs fighting for control of drug trafficing route into the US through Texas, one based in Juarez/Sinaloa and the other on the Gulf coast/matmoros. The front line for their struggle is nuevo laredo, and like any good mexican drug gang they are thoroughly enmeshed in the local police. To the point that there have been shootouts between police loyal to one faction and those loyal to another.

Last week the new chief of police was shot within hours after being sworn in, then this weekend the Federales sent a convoy in to investigate and the local police ambushed them and shot one of the investigators

So then they sent in the army and LOTS of federales and flew most of the local polic to mexico city for questioning.