Today is the National Association of Letter Carriers’ annual food drive. That means you can donate to your local food bank just by sticking a few edible odds and ends into a bag and putting them out by your mailbox. Its a great way to get rid of that commercially packaged fruitcake and that dusty old can of beets. Just make sure you beat the mailman to the mailbox.

For the record while I generally not supportive of most unions (or the giving of fruitcake) I am however supportive of anything that makes it more convenient for people to voluntarily help out those hit hardest by higher gas prices (aka the working poor).

And now a related message from The Harlem Globetrotters..

Sununu for Veep?

Via Maria, Obama’s biggest general election liability: His bitter half

On the stump, she warmed up (or rather, berated) supporters by complaining about how her husband is an underdog even after he keeps winning primary and caucus after primary and caucus. With a scowl etched on her face, she bellyached that “the bar is constantly changing for this man.” Call the waambulance, stat.

Reminds me of Teresa’s shifting bar.

Embedding with the enemy

But in fact my religious beliefs are entirely separate from my political beliefs: the only connection is that I’m willing to buck the trend in both arenas.

Two posts on Israel at 60:
Via the Astute Bloggers, Israel at 60: The Hope,
After 60 Years, The ‘Lamp Unto The Nations’ Flourishes

Two suspicious Seattle ferry riders were “just businessmen”

Vote for Mamacita.

Japan has no kids

From the Terror Finance Blog-A PDF of the Comprehensive Survey of U.S. Efforts Against Threat Financing-MUST READ

Franco had better things to do with his time.

“The threat of a new ice age must now stand alongside nuclear war as a likely source of wholesale death and misery for mankind”

Platypus genetic code unravelled, which reminds me of Ogden Nash

I like the duck-billed platypus
Because it is anomalous.
I like the way it raises its family
Partly birdly, partly mammaly.
I like its independent attitude.
Let no one call it a duck-billed platitude.

Cross-posted at Fausta’s blog

When George McGovern says you can’t win and urges you to drop out of the race, that should be a clue to even the most stubborn politician…

 [Cross-posted at StubbornFacts.us]

The brutal military junta of Myanmar is admitting 22,500 deaths as a result of a cyclone that hit the nation on Saturday. Considering that this is the same government that admitted to only 3 deaths during it’s brutal repression of the popular uprisings several months ago, it’s safe to say that this number is far below the actual count. Even official news sources (all other sources are, as always, banned) are estimating 40,000 missing.

(more…)

Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith, today posted an intense condemnation of the western practice of censoring itself in regards to Islam and the terrorists who operate with its theocratic permission.  What’s most interesting about Harris’ article are his personal anecdotes about censorship by the mainstream American press.  Highly recommended reading.

(via memeorandum)

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The Ohio Attorney General is facing calls to resign after admitting to having an extramarital affair with a subordinate. I am, as always of two minds about this. On the one hand I don’t think any kind of legal sex should automatically to a resignation. On the other hand, as is generally the case, it’s not the sex, but the circumstance that’s the problem. He had sex with a subordinate, which IS unprofessional.

No word yet on whether he’s planning on dragging his humiliated wife in front of the cameras as a human shield while he says how much he regrets it.

In light of the recent pronouncement from the Swiss Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology regarding the fundamental rights of vegetation, (The dignity of living beings with regard to plants [pdf]), I expect new terms to crop up shortly as labels for the new class of offenses. Look for them to be used first in Canada, of course. Mark Steyn, watch out! Here’s a sample of what’s coming:

Vegicide: n. The unlawful killing of a plant.

[Read the rest at StubbornFacts.us.] (more…)

Maybe, just maybe, it’s a bad idea to drop a baby from a 50 foot high tower, no matter how “traditional” it is.

The food crisis is only getting worse, as a variety of factors (rising prosperity of India and China, corn ethanol, farm subsidies for western producers, rising oil prices etc.) are contributing to higher and higher food prices.

As African poor are selling off precious livestock just to buy basic staples, I’m almost glad they don’t have net connexions to see western press wringing their hands over the fact that buyers at costco can only buy one massive bag of rice each.

In what could be very troubling rumblings of things to come for Republicans, the Democrats won a longtime Republican district in Louisiana in a special election yesterday.

This comes just weeks after the Democrats won another house seat in Illinois (previously occupied by Dennis Hastert)  and 10 days before yet another special election in a heavily Republican district (Mississippi’s 1st district).

Texas Congressman Chet Edwards (D) wants to use the U.S.’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve to lower prices at the gas pump.  Needless to say, I think this is a bad idea, for reasons I list below.

He says the increased supply would help halt rising gas prices which are predicted to hit $4 per gallon by summer.

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Monica Conyers is the wife of Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) and a member (and President Pro Tem) of the Detroit City Council. She’s in a beef with the Council president, Kenneth Cockrel, and during a recent meeting of the Council began an insulting exchange with him. The exchange culminated with her calling him “Shrek,” which in context was clearly intended as an insult. (Incidentally, I have no idea why “Shrek” is a fitting insult to use in this context, and humbly bleg for enlightenment.) Naturally, this less-than-professional moment made all the local news up there.

Enter Kierra Bell, an eighth grader from Courtis Elementary School, who met Mrs. Conyers during a recent field trip to City Hall to learn how government works. Miss Bell politely asked Mrs. Conyers about the shouting match at the meeting of the Council, wondering why an adult would resort to name-calling. Mrs. Conyers first tried to respond by asking Miss Bell if she hadn’t ever gotten into an argument and called a playmate names. Miss Bell confirmed that she had, but pressed on. Mrs. Conyers resorted to the ever-so-adult defense of “but he started it,” claiming that Cockrel had been “disrespectful” to her. Miss Bell pointed out that Mrs. Conyers had the choice to not respond with insults, at which point Mrs. Conyers bristles and replies that “everybody has choices.” At that point, the brilliant Miss Bell turns out the lights on her: (more…)

THEY TOLD ME THAT IF GEORGE W. BUSH WERE RE-ELECTED, there’d be no more privacy. And they were right!

What’s that? Oh, you mean it’s NOT Post Like Glenn Reynolds Day anymore? Never mind…

In a monstrous fit of pique, the out-going left-wing government of Italy released on the web the salaries of every single Italian. The data was very popular for the 24 hours it was available, before being taken down because of a warning from the country’s “privacy watchdog.” Officials responsible for the actions, in a nice display of Newspeak, described the website as nothing more than an attempt to “improve transparency.”

The purpose of government transparency is to increase the accountability of the government to the people, not of the people to the government. Transparency in the one direction leads to democracy and the rule of law. Transparency in the other direction leads to fascism.

[Cross-posted at StubbornFacts.us]

I’m getting ready to board the plane. I’ll go to Turkey today, where I will spend 3.5 or even 4 weeks together with my fiancée. I’m looking incredibly forward to it, but I’m afraid that I won’t be able to post much… if at all. However, you all do not have to worry; the co-bloggers here will be more active and I asked a couple of people to post here. The two people I asked to guest blog are Fausta Wertz and PatHMV. I’m thrilled that they agreed to guest blog at PoliGazette, please treat them kindly (I’m talking to you, Christine). Kevin Sullivan also agreed to cross post his posts from Independent Liberal and many co-bloggers have told me that they’ll post as much and as often as possible.

Have a great couple of weeks, I know I will!

In other news: Gods in India go hungry due to the food crisis. Although I feel bad for the country’s Gods, I feel even worse for the poor parents everywhere who can no longer buy food for their children.

Take a look at this post. Look at the image used. Then at the credit. Now read the comment section. I believe we can call that being purposefully dishonest, while being able to deny one’s dishonesty nonetheless. (more…)

You know, this is something I appreciate. There’s a difference between European and American politicians; European politicians can be guided by their faith, but they don’t show it off. They’re guided by their religion, but they’re not using their faith in the hopes of winning elections. In America the situation is somewhat different. Well, entirely different.

So I respect Tony Blair and appreciate it that he decided to wait until he was out of office, before he would share with Brits (and others) what role his faith plays in his life, and in his politics: (more…)

Shalom International - a Jewish / pro-Israel organization - held a protest yesterday against former vice president Jimmy Carter and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. As the organization writes in its e-mail sent to me, they were protesting when ‘was greeted at the front door by Bush who called Abbas a ‘man of peace’ while two more Israelis were killed on the West Bank.’ (more…)

Big campaigns. “In a year when campaign spending is already setting records, Washington’s culture of cash continues to overwhelm efforts to reform Congress.”

The Dutch city of Enschede is currently hosting an exposition of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk; the father of modern Turkey. After the Ottoman Empire collapsed, the great powers planned on dividing the Empire between themselves, but instead they were forced out of the area which is called “Turkey” today, because of Mustafa Kemal’s (as he was known then) military leadership. (more…)