Music and a Poem

As you can tell, I’m being unimaginative today so here’s a random 10:
Uh-Oh, Love Comes To Town Talking Heads
I Hate The TV Violent Femmes
Call Me Blondie
Dear Prudence The Beatles
Dance Along The Edge Concrete Blonde
Sora ni Saku Lisa Komine
Higher Ground Red Hot Chili Peppers
Cecilia Simon & Garfunkel
I Heard It Through The Grapevine Creedence Clearwater Revival
Waitin’ On A Sunny Day Bruce Springsteen
Paperback Writer The Beatles
Locomotive Breath Jethro Tull
and a [...]

MA Ballot Questions

There are 3 ballot questions in Massachusetts this year. Here they are with my commentary (if you want to see the full wording and an argument for/against, go here):

Question 1 is asking whether the state income tax should be eliminated. A yes vote will get rid of the tax, a no vote will keep it. [...]

More ‘Rights for Me, not Thee’

Here’s more evidence of how people who are religious are given preferential treatment:
After a group of doctors challenged a South Dakota law forcing them to inform women that abortions “terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique living human being” — using exactly that language — President Bush’s appointees to the federal appeals courts took [...]

Somalia and the DR Congo

It seems that there might be a glimmer of hope in Somalia:
Somalia’s transitional leaders made important concessions toward peace on Sunday, agreeing to accept insurgent troops within their ranks and detailing a plan for a phased pullback of Ethiopian soldiers, currently the most powerful force in the country.
Of course, this is Somalia, so it’s only a [...]

Same Sex Ballot in California

It seems that the ballot on same sex marriages in California is going to be close. I actually agree with this:
Similar marriage amendments are on the ballot next month in Arizona and Florida. But religious conservatives have cast the campaign in California as the decisive last stand, warning in stunningly apocalyptic terms of dire consequences [...]

Tomboys?

This type of thing
Malaysia’s main body of Islamic clerics has issued an edict banning tomboys in the Muslim-majority country, ruling that girls who act like boys violate the tenets of Islam, an official said Friday.
The National Fatwa Council forbade the practice of girls behaving or dressing like boys during a meeting Thursday in northern Malaysia, [...]

My Most Played Songs and a Poem

Just to shake things up a bit, here are my twenty-five most played songs (I was going to put in my top 10 (duo), but there are 15 tied for eleventh) with the number of times the song has played:
Please Please Me The Beatles 17
Blame It On Cain Elvis Costello 17
Secret Garden Bruce Springsteen 15
Shadow Man The Dickies 15
Generator Foo Fighters 15
Circle Sarah McLachlan 15
Me And My [...]

Blasphemy

Here’s another example of how tolerant religions can be:
In a case that has illustrated Afghanistan’s drift toward a more radically conservative brand of Islam as well as the fragility of its legal system, an appeals court Tuesday overturned a death sentence for a student convicted of blasphemy but sentenced him to 20 years in prison.
What [...]

Aid to Burma Not Equal?

It seems that the aid to Burma is not being spread equally:
Aid workers say they hope that this intensive effort in the delta, where only a small fraction of the country’s population lives, has opened up the possibility to expanded humanitarian operations at some point. But they acknowledge that for now the generous assistance in [...]

India Joins the Race to the Moon

India is now really joining in the race to the moon. They’re expected to launch a space shipto the moon tomorrow. If they succeed, they’ll join Japan and China with ships orbitting the moon. It could get interesting. There doesn’t seem to the latest information at India’s Space Research site, but there some pictures of [...]

Mugabe Adds Insult

Given something like this:
Zimbabwe’s opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, missed talks in Swaziland on the crisis in his country Monday after his rival and negotiating partner, President Robert Mugabe, refused to give him a passport.
I’m not real optimistic that there will be a deal.  This isn’t a big deal, just annoying. This is the bigger problem:
But [...]

A Right to Discriminate?

Well, it seems the Bush administration wants to go out as it came in: declaring that religion trumps anti-discrimination laws:
In January 2001, Mr. Bush’s first two executive orders created an Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives in the White House and in five federal agencies, telling them to ease the way for church groups to [...]

Another Picture of Mercury

Messenger flew by Mercury a second time last Monday. Here’s a nice picture it took (Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington):

What’s To Know?

It seems to be around midterm time, so posting is sparse and the trees sympathise. Still, there’s always time for a random 10 (including a 1 minute song and a 12 minute one):
If You Want My Love Cheap Trick
Dangerous The Doobie Brothers
Measure Kristin Hersh
jesus Pajama Slave Dancers
Hotwax Beck
She’s a Sensation The Ramones
Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight James Taylor
Don’t Talk (Put Your [...]

Taking Honesty Out of Roe v Wade

I’m a bit slow with this, but David Lewis Schaefer has an article ‘Putting some honesty in Roe v. Wade debate’ that takes out honesty from the debate.
It starts off ok, noting that the decision rests on what some people consider shaky grounds, a right to privacy (although this:
If the Constitution contains a right to privacy, [...]

More Gay Marriage

I don’t want to go into the weekend with such a downer of a post, so here’s some good news: Connecticut will now allow gay marriages:
“In accordance with these state constitutional requirements, same sex couples cannot be denied the freedom to marry,” said the majority opinion, which was written by Justice Richard N. Palmer.
State Senator [...]

Levels of Problems

As our parents always tell us, there’s always someone who’s worse off than you are. The economy of the US might still be a mess with the stock market jumping crazily, but:

the economy in Iceland might just be gone:

Trading in the Icelandic krona ceased, with foreign banks no longer willing to take the currency — [...]

An Early Poem

I actually have a bit of time before my 8 am class, so let’s put up a random 10 (I don’t know why I put in the links, I assume you know about this youtube place):
It’s A Raggy Waltz Dave Brubeck
Professional Widow Tori Amos
Mama Told Me Not To Come Randy Newman
No Need to Argue The Cranberries
Superhero Jane’s Addiction
Broadway The Clash
Carolyn’s Fingers   Cocteau [...]

They’re Listening

You know how the Bush administration claimed that they were only listening to terrorists with the phone taps? Well,
Despite pledges by President George W. Bush and American intelligence officials to the contrary, hundreds of US citizens overseas have been eavesdropped on as they called friends and family back home, according to two former military intercept [...]

MA Income Tax Question 1: Vote No

I haven’t posted about the resolution to get rid of the income tax in Massachusetts, because it should be obvious where I stand if you’ve read many of my posts (which doesn’t apply to many people, I know). But this article has such an amazing statement, I have to put it up:
As an MBTA employee, George [...]