Street Prophets

News from the 'Net

Never pick a fight with people who buy their ink by the barrel. That's the sage advice of my all-time favorite professor back in journalism school. Wisdom, it seems, that Palin's lawyer never learned.

Keep in mind, neither the New York Times nor the Washington Post made any reference to the embezzlement rumors, but Palin's lawyers apparently threatened the papers anyway, just in case editors were thinking about looking into the allegations. ... seems like an odd strategy for the governor's attorney. For one thing, it's awfully difficult to win a defamation case against a news outlet covering public officials.

For another, there's no surer way to pique a reporter's interest in allegations than demanding that major outlets ignore the issue.

Iraq invasion was about the oil Two years before the invasion, the oil industry suggested invading Iraq. Help explain why, as soon as he took office, Bush started planning for it.

Universal health care can be cheaper than our current system. Most developed countries manage to do it.

News from the 'Net

Gov. Sarah Palin Quits Her Job Quitters stick to it. Winners quit. Riiiiight. I hasten to note: This is proof positive of a loving God.

Have you seen her speech?

Everything about this was hopelessly bizarre. The speech was written by an amateur and delivered by an amateur. It was rambling, petty, and defensive -- for no apparent reason. Palin didn't deliver an announcement so much as she rambled on for about 20 minutes. And if you watch all the way to the very end of Part II, you'll notice that Palin wasn't actually speaking to the press or a large audience, but rather, about 10 supporters. The transcript doesn't do it justice, but it makes it easier to notice the near-constant contradictions. She says she's "given my reasons" for quitting, in the same breath as she says she doesn't feel the need to "explain" her decision. She blasts those who take the "quitter's way out," and then quits.

(with video)

News from the 'Net

Neocon Media Murdoch Press Blows Gasket Over Al Franken's Victory

Unarmed in a battle of wits

Al Franken is a comedian, but he has accomplished a lot of other things during his life as well which I'm sure the likes of Mike Allen are aware of, but do their best to ignore, and instead decide to belittle him as Allen did here. The other thing that bears noting is that most successful comedians are also wicked smart, as is the case with Franken. Those in the beltway bubble would do well not to challenge or mock professional comedians.

The Great Right Hope

"The only chance we have as a country right now is for Osama bin Laden to deploy and detonate a major weapon in the United States."

The Prayer Closet

I am sad to report this will be the last Prayer Closet I will be posting. It has become clear to me that it is time for me to move on and to spend my time tackling some other projects. Thank you for your support and your nice comments, your contributions have been invaluable to me. I love you and will miss this time with you.

May God grant you always...
A sunbeam to warm you,
A moonbeam to charm you,
A sheltering angel, so nothing can harm you.

~Irish Blessing

Tea Time

We are car shopping. Kidlet #1 is in an early college program, which means that this fall as a high school sophomore he'll be taking 14 hours of college credits on a local campus. Since this is still a public magnet school program, the system does provide busing, but it's complicated: catch an express bus at oh-god-thirty and spend well over an hour, each way, including at least one transfer, and never mind if your last class ends at 1:30 and the bus doesn't leave until 3:15.

The school is also on the far end of the county, so catching a ride with one of us is not going to be an option. We do have some carpool possibilities, but even that involves....a third car for our family. This is both exciting and depressing-- car shopping and all the possibilities of pretty shiny new toys is a heckuva a lot of fun, but the idea of this one family contributing to so much fossil fuel consumption just goes against the grain.

So of course we're looking at hybrids and late model used cars with great mileage. Ironically, my son will have the longest commute of our family at about 40 miles round trip each day. By contrast, I drive about 15-20 and my husband drives maybe 10 (in good weather he often bikes to work, although the roads he needs to take are not particularly bike-friendly.)
We're test driving the Hondas (Civic hybrid, Insight and Fit) and the Toyota Prius, as well as scouring the ads for used models.

We tend to keep our cars and drive them into the ground, so we don't get many chances like this. It's kind of strange to think that the newest car will probably go to our newest driver, but given the circumstances it just doesn't make sense to give up my Odyssey for the longest commute! Besides I still need to be able to transport an entire soccer team and a full size cello on a pretty regular basis. :-)

So what are you driving these days, if you drive at all? If money were no option, what cars would you be test driving? I won't ask you what Jesus would drive, but how much of a role do your values play when you make a consumer decision? What was your first set of wheels like? And as always, what are you drinking, and what's for dinner? This is an open thread.

The Prayer Closet, a daily prayer request thread

Thanks to Jeannette for today's photo taken in New Orleans

Stay with us....

News from the 'Net

94% of the health care insurance market is now under monopoly or near-monopoly conditions

-- the official term of art is 'highly concentrated'. In other words, there's no mystery why insurance costs keep going up even as the suck quotient rises precipitously. Because in most areas there's little or no actual competition.

Tomorrow Is Deadline For US Troops To Leave Iraqi Cities Iraqis jubilantly celebrate U.S. troop withdrawal.

Obama Becomes First Prez To Celebrate Gay Pride At WH

Neocon media at play David Gregory on the Pitney question: 'Imagine if Bush had done this'. Um, OK

Police raid a gay bar in Texas on the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising.

Shortly after midnight on Sunday, police raided a gay bar in Fort Worth, TX, and arrested seven customers for public intoxication. (One man was reportedly taken to the hospital “with bleeding in his brain after officers threw him to the ground and used zip-ties to handcuff him.”) Police said they were simply conducting an “alcohol beverage code inspection” when several customers made sexual advances toward the officers. However, the owner of the Rainbow Lounge, J.R. Schrock, said that claim was a “lie.” “The groping of the police officer — really? We’re gay, but we’re not dumb,” Schrock said.