Hard To Port, by Jim Kelly-Evans

Monday, February 20, 2012

Sardonicky: Rick Transit Gloria Mundi

Sardonicky: Rick Transit Gloria Mundi: Unintelligent Design Try as I might, I have been unable to escape the voice and visage of Rick Santorum, the overgrown Boy Scou...

Athiest Student Gets $$$ Support!

CRANSTON, R.I. -- A national association that says there's no proof for the existence of God is managing a scholarship fund set up for a teenage atheist at the center of a dispute over a prayer banner at a Rhode Island school. The American Humanist Association says 16-year-old Jessica Ahlquist was targeted with online threats after she challenged the constitutionality of the display at Cranston High School West. It says she stood up against her critics "with class and style." A federal judge last month ordered the banner removed. A school committee on Thursday decided not to appeal. Blogger Hemant Mehta started a campaign at the Friendly Atheist website to raise money for Ahlquist. The Friendly Atheist says the fund has brought in more than $40,000. The fundraiser runs through the end of February.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Sullivan: Christie's Cowardness

Photo: Occupy Philadelphia on the march. Andrew Sullivan on the veto of marriage equality in new Jersey:

Christie is a man whose candor I admire in many ways. But this was an act of cowardice and unfairness and a misguided disregard for representative democracy. How many other duly enacted laws must now be sent to the referendum process for final judgment. Why have a legislature at all? And this from the party that claims to defend the Constitution.

Sullivan struggles with his attraction to these bigots...he still can't pry himself away from his conservative leanings no matter how many times conservatives beat him (and us) up.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Rio 1988

Outside our hotel, the Hotel California, Copacabana in 1988. This was during our first trip to Rio.

The War In Oakland

Susie Cagle, Truthout:

October 25, November 2 and January 28 saw the strongest shows of force by the local and long-troubled Oakland Police Department, working in concert with more than a dozen other nearby agencies and wielding some of the most extreme weaponry US occupy activists have experienced. Occupy Oakland is far more than these street battles and mass arrests, but they are an important part of what shapes this movement.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Face Masks, Snipers and Aerial Surveillance: Chicago's Newest Anti-Protest Measures Revealed | Truthout

Each time a new measure that the city of Chicago is preparing for the coming NATO and G8 summits is unveiled, the tension in the city ratchets up a notch. The latest news comes in the form of reports that Chicago has purchased face shields, and may be considering the implementation of airborne surveillance technology...Chicago police officers, and any law enforcement the city chooses to deputize under the measures put in place for NATO/G8, will be equipped with 3,000 new face shields that "will fit easily over gas masks," according to The Chicago Sun-Times.

Face Masks, Snipers and Aerial Surveillance: Chicago's Newest Anti-Protest Measures Revealed | Truthout