Terry Pratchett, best-selling author of the Discworld series, has posterior cortical atrophy, a rare form of Alzheimer’s disease, a degenerative disorder of the brain for which there is no cure. He knows that he is going to die, and he has come to terms with that. What he has not come to terms with is [...]
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The South Florida Raging Grannies weigh in on the recent CBS advocacy ad kerfuffle. What does CBS stand for? Watch the video to find out. Or, check out the Women’s Media Center to learn more. Here’s more about the raging grannies from Wikipedia. Murray Hill, Inc. is running for Congress. Here’s their press release. Here’s a Salon article. Below is their first campaign commercial. “Following the recent Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission to allow unlimited corporate funding of federal campaigns, Murray Hill Inc. today announced it was filing to run for U.S. Congress.” Activist [...] A federal trial in California recently got underway challenging the constitutionality of Proposition 8 (“Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California”). Interestingly, the legal fight against Prop. 8 is led by arch-conservative Theodore Olson and arch-liberal David Boies. Regardless of who wins, this case is likely to be appealed to [...] Ireland passed a blasphemy law last year that went into effect Jan. 1. A group of Irish activists have posted 25 blatantly blasphemous comments to challenge the law; including comments by Jesus (he was sentenced to death for blasphemy), Muhammad, Mark Twain, Bjork, and the following from George Carlin. (Thanks, EHP!) “Religion easily has the greatest [...] In his recent interview with Terry Gross at NPR Sharlet explains Stupak and Pitts role in the secretive, ultra-Christian C-Street cabal The Family, as well as their connection with Uganda’s proposed extreme anti-homosexuality laws. He also explains some about the Ensign affair and Coburn’s role. Florida Senator Bill Nelson is a member in good standing with [...] Jimmy Wales promotes a new site to help Tampa Bay’s homeless. Tampa Bay Homeless Resource Wiki. If you belong to some sort of community organization, charity, or good deeds club, you might consider spending an afternoon adding resources and information to the wiki. Colbert schools his audience on Santa Clara vs South Pacific Railroad. “Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company, 118 U.S. 394 (1886) was a United States Supreme Court case dealing with taxation of railroad properties. The case is most notable for the obiter dictum statement that juristic persons are entitled to protection under the Fourteenth [...] Hmmm, Libertarian protests are set to take an interesting new twist. A young woman in NH straps a gun to her hip and removes her top, all in the name of liberty. “State law does not require residents to have permits to openly carry guns, and she was not charged with any firearm-related crimes. “Last week, police prosecutors [...] Via the SPT – “TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida man born without arms says a Tampa bank would not let him cash a check because he couldn’t provide a thumbprint.” At a recent town hall meeting at Simpson University in Redding, California a man identified himself to Representative Wally Herger as a proud right-wing terrorist. Congressman Herger responded “God bless you,” then to the crowd, “there is a great American.” (UPDATE – I added the following video of the exchange between the right-wing “terrorist” and Rep. [...] AT&T, Verizon and Comcast are saying no to government stimulus money. Why? The Washington Post reports that one reason is to avoid the net neutrality rules attached. “Their reasons are varied. All three say they are flush with cash, enough to upgrade and expand their broadband networks on their own. Some say taking money could [...] Fundamentalism strikes another blow against equal rights for women, this time in Afghanistan. “Afghanistan has quietly passed a law permitting Shia men to deny their wives food and sustenance if they refuse to obey their husbands’ sexual demands, despite international outrage over an earlier version of the legislation which President Hamid Karzai had promised to review.” Easily a dozen police cars were parked along Rowlett this morning when I drove to school. DL saw the same thing a little over a week ago. The TPD Calls for Service lists about twenty “vehicle stop/traffic” reports between 11am and noon, but doesn’t say what the stops are for. I counted 21 stops between [...] “His name was Harvey Milk. And he was here to recruit us, all of us, to join a movement and change a nation. For much of his early life he had silenced himself. In the prime of his life he was silenced by the act of another. But in the brief time in which he [...] Bradenton, Gainesville, and Orlando all make the top ten meanest cities in the US for the way they treat their indigent populations. St. Petersburg comes in second. Boo. “Criminalizing homelessness is not only an inhumane way of approaching people who are poor and vulnerable, but is counterproductive in dealing with the problem of homelessness,” said Tulin Ozdeger, [...] My recent flights were relatively uneventful, nothing like this recent flight to Minneapolis. Passengers were held on board for six hours, overnight, after their flight had been re-routed due to bad weather. There were 47 people on a small commuter plane, one toilet, children and infants, no food, and no drinks. What stands out to me [...] Miami news anchor Charles Perez claims in this Daily Beast editorial that he was fired from his job because of his homosexuality. “My ex-employer will never admit this, but if the past decades have taught us anything, it is to be much more subtle about our prejudices. Getting rid of ‘the black guy’ or ‘the woman’ [...] Ice-T can namedrop Daryl Gates and say he’d like to shoot a cop “in the mother-fucking face,” but he’s got money and lawyers so it’s protected by the first amendment. Antavio Johnson is only twenty, not rich, and writes a song with a similar theme. He’s going to do time. “Authorities say a Lakeland man who used [...] The people of Sudan are protesting their government’s ban on wearing pants. Well, the women people anyway. “Sudanese police fired tear gas and beat women protesting outside a Sudanese court Tuesday during the trial of a female journalist accused of violating the Islamic dress code by wearing trousers in public.” In a show of solidarity outside the [...] Citing “pressure from the White House” (though specifically not Barack Obama) Rep. Alcee Hastings withdraws an amendment weakening DADT. “Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) said yesterday that he withdrew an amendment to a defense appropriations bill that would have weakened the military’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy because of ‘pressure’ from the White House and some ‘congressional [...] Huh? I had no idea. Time Magazine reports that “the Sunshine State is now the country’s leader in indoor marijuana cultivation.” Not only that, but “the marijuana grown this way is … some of the highest level of highs [THC] on the market.” “Among the best tipsters, they say, are electricians paid big money by growers [...] O’Reilly loses another round in his war against facts, evidence, and reality. As Andrew Sullivan notes: “The issue O’Reilly has with Holland is that, compared with the US in many respects, it values individual liberty.” (This clip is from December 2008. Not exactly breaking news, but still a nice example of the Internet’s ability to be used as [...] Women’s rights are perhaps THE most important issue facing global liberalism, and here’s a perfect example. In Sudan Lubna Hussein is facing a possible penalty of forty lashes for wearing pants in public. In a profound act of courage Ms. Hussein appeared at her court appearance wearing the same green trousers that got her in [...] Digby does a terrific job of getting to the problem at the core of Professor Gates’ recent arrest. The problem isn’t that he was profiled. The problem is we live in a world where cops cannot be criticized. “Indeed, it is very little different than exercising your right of free speech to tell a gang of [...] The Billy Bragg/Wilco version This machine kills facists. I’m gonna tell you fascists Race hatred cannot stop us All of you fascists [...] Despite showing the officer his driver’s license and his Harvard University ID, Henry Louis “Skip” Gates, one of the nation’s pre-eminent scholars was arrested at his home. Apparently he was getting a little too uppity. Here is a picture of his arrest - Here’s his mug shot - Charges have been dropped. Another example of how we live [...] This recent op-ed by Jimmy Carter (The words of God do not justify cruelty to women) has been popping up in a few papers and websites. It’s a great op-ed, and it’s an argument with which I’m particularly sympathetic. Women’s rights have come a long way in the Western world in just the last two [...] Not everyone is happy that India recently decriminalized homosexuality. Swami Baba Ramdev thinks homosexuality is a congenital defect that can be treated with the proper breathing exercises and meditation. “The high court’s judgment reversing a colonial-era ban on homosexuality has met with widespread opposition among many religious groups and conservatives.” “In an interview with the Times of India, [...] Another example of our post-racial society. (h/t Eric Deggans for catching this.) Deggans describes the clip - “Fox & Friends co-anchor Brian Kilmeade noting Nordic peoples from Sweden and Finland keep their populations “pure” by not marrying outside their nationality or race.” “We keep marrying other species,” sez Brian Kilmeade. OK, Brian, who is “we” and who is [...] |
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