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Wednesday, May 30th, 2012
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ontd_political
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Ishihara Unplugged: China A ‘Thief,’ America ‘Unreliable’
Calling China a “thief” waiting to break in, and the U.S. a “rather unreliable” ally, Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara Tuesday made a new suggestion on Japan’s defense strategy: speed up the development of conventional weapons and space technology.
Taking his signature rhetoric of confrontation one step farther, Mr. Ishihara used an appearance before foreign journalists to make the case that Japan can show off its technological prowess by developing weapons and bringing them to the testing stage in a short period of time. Specifically, Mr. Ishihara noted, Japan has a strong edge in conventional strike missiles and unmanned spacecraft.
“Japan doesn’t have to start manufacturing nuclear weapons. We could still have capabilities for deterrence,” the governor said during his appearance at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan.
Mr. Ishihara, 79, is a novelist-turned-politician who has been governor of Tokyo since 1999. He has long been known for his combative style and nationalistic views and has often upset officials in cities from Beijing to Washington with inflammatory remarks about bilateral relations. He first burst on the scene during the peak of Japan’s boom era in 1989, Mr. Ishihara co-authored a book titled “The Japan That Can Say No,” touting the superiority of Japan’s business model over America’s.
( Those scribes who came Tuesday for fresh meat weren’t disappointed. )
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Oh, look, Ishihara's gone off the rails again. Must be a day ending in "-y."
Also, good luck with that Tokyo Olympics bid, bro.
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Comments: Read 3 or Add Your Own.
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ontd_political
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 DON Ritchie was said to have salt water in his veins.
He loved fishing, he loved boats and he loved the navy.
But it was his love for life that earned him the epithet Angel of The Gap, according to friends and family who paid tribute to the Sydneysider at his funeral service on Friday.
About 300 people, including local MP Malcolm Turnbull, gathered at the HMAS Watson Naval Chapel in Watsons Bay to farewell Mr Ritchie, who died on Sunday.
The 85-year-old lived just metres from The Gap, the notorious Watsons Bay cliff, where for half a century he helped hundreds of people to reconsider ending their lives.
"He was a fisher of men," said friend and priest the Reverend Father Tony Doherty.
"He threw his line out to terrified people whose lives were shattered and gradually brought them to shore.
"He caught hundreds of people with a honeyed net ... and gave them a little time and attention at a time in their lives when things were just bleak."
Born in Vaucluse in 1926, Mr Ritchie served in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) before working as a life insurance salesman.
From the time he moved into his house on Old South Head Road in 1964, the former seaman kept a voluntary watch on those entering The Gap from his bedroom window.
"He couldn't see people without helping them," his tearful daughter Sue told the service.
"His story has travelled far and wide ... he'd be so surprised."
( Read more... )
source
Don Ritchie's wikipedia page has more info
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Comments: Read 4 or Add Your Own.
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ontd_political
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Activists working to repeal Maryland's same-sex marriage law have collected more than twice the signatures needed for a referendum — likely ensuring that the measure will be on the ballot for voters to decide in November.
The law's opponents submitted 122,481 signatures in favor of a referendum; 55,736 are required. If enough are verified as legitimate, as expected, Maryland will be in the center of a national debate on same-sex marriage, with groups on both sides preparing to spend millions.
The Rev. Derek McCoy, who heads the leading group opposed to the law, called the effort "absolutely exhilarating."
"Marylanders have a right to vote on this issue," said McCoy, executive director of the Maryland Marriage Alliance, after the group dropped off boxes of petitions outside the Maryland secretary of state's office.
The state board of elections has 20 days to review the signatures.
The marriage law would be the second on this fall's ballot. Opponents of a law to allow some illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition at Maryland universities have won a referendum on that measure. A campaign is under way against a third law, the state's new congressional districting map.
Maryland's Democratic-led General Assembly passed a law in March legalizing same-sex marriage, but it does not go into effect until January 2013. The date was picked to give opponents time for a referendum.
Opponents collected petition signatures in every county in Maryland, according to a report they filed with the state. They found the most in Baltimore County, with 20,363 opposing the law. In Montgomery County, a Democratic stronghold where all but one lawmaker voted for same-sex marriage, 16,611 people signed, the second-highest number.
Three other counties accounted for more than 10,000 signatures each: Prince George's, Anne Arundel and Harford.
The effort far outpaced last year's successful initiative to trigger the referendum on the in-state tuition law. The coalition opposing that law submitted 47,288 signatures at this point in the process.
McCoy said recent endorsements for same-sex marriage by President Barack Obama and the NAACP had the unintended effect of energizing the opposition. "Every day we have had more and more momentum," McCoy said.
But gay rights advocates argue that public opinion is moving in their direction, citing the results of recent polling they commissioned.
"We expected them to make their numbers," said the Rev. MacArthur Flournoy, faith leader for Marylanders for Marriage Equality, a group that supports the law. "Once stories are told, people see that hearts and minds are changed."
McCoy dismissed the polling as "propaganda."
Once the state Board of Elections certifies signatures, both sides can form formal ballot committees. Those committees can accept unlimited donations for their campaigns, with their first financial disclosure reports due four weeks prior to the November referendum.
In a petition-campaign report filed Tuesday, the Maryland Marriage Alliance reported spending roughly $70,000 collecting signatures — and said it has about $10,000 left over.
Funds raised included a $25,000 check from the National Organization for Marriage, a national group that has poured millions into other states to defeat same-sex marriage laws. It provided an additional $48,000 worth of services.
The financial report showed that donations of $50 or less came from donors across the country — including Arkansas, California, Alabama, Ohio, Texas, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.
Later Tuesday afternoon, Del. Neil Parrott, a freshman Republican from Frederick County who led the in-state tuition repeal campaign, pulled up in his hatchback and dropped off an additional 12 boxes of petitions against same-sex marriage. His organization, MDPetitions.com, was paid $18,000 for help with the effort.
Parrott said last year's in-state tuition campaign felt "more spontaneous."
"This was more organized," he said. "It speaks well for the organization and for the energy opposing the law." He estimated that 20 percent of the signatures came from an online tool he developed last year for the tuition law drive.
Parrott is also heading up an effort to repeal the congressional map that the General Assembly passed during an October special session. He has until Thursday to submit an initial 18,579 signatures. He declined Tuesday to say how many names he has collected.
Source
Turns out that hoping it wouldn't go to referendum was just too much to hope for...
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ontd_political
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So I thought I'd keep up with the weird news about bodies. Because well. I like to be cool, and apparently other people like to be disturbing as fuck.
Ottawa police say they have found a second body part in a package as they investigate the delivery of a human foot to the Conservative Party of Canada's headquarters in downtown Ottawa.
Police would not say what the body part was, nor where it was found, though they did say it was not found at the Conservative Party offices on 130 Albert Street where the foot was sent.
Police were called to the building at 11:20 a.m. ET after a suspicious package was delivered there. Police called for the hazardous materials unit after they noticed what appeared to be blood on the package.
The Hazmat Unit and Emergency Operations Section inspected the package and determined that there was possibly a human foot in the box. A coroner later confirmed it was a human foot.
Package delivered through Canada Post
Major Crimes Staff Sgt. Bruce Pirt said the suspicious package was delivered through Canada Post and conceded it's possible it was sent as a "gruesome message."
The foot was decomposing and there was a stench when a CPC employee opened it, said Pirt. He would not say whether the foot belonged to a male or female.
Police found the second package in the course of the investigation, but would not reveal any more details.
Police are working with Canada Post to determine the origins of the packages and said they may also be in touch with morgues and funeral homes to see if they are missing any body parts. A HAZMAT team was called to the Conservative Party headquarters in Ottawa after what looked like blood was found on a package.
Ottawa police are also checking to see if their case is connected with an RCMP investigation in Montreal after police there found a human torso in a pile of garbage in the Côte-des-Neiges borough.
News shocks MPs
Sgt. Steve Hodgson said Conservative Party staff members were shaken up by the incident.
Conservative Party spokesman Fred DeLorey said Ottawa police are investigating and all questions should be referred to them.
Several Members of Parliament said they were caught off guard by the news.
"It's shocking for somebody to do that," said Labour Minister Lisa Raitt. "I'd hate to be the one opening that."
source also has a video
Canada Post may suck, but that doesn't mean we should make them transport dismembered body parts as.... political statements?
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Comments: Read 23 or Add Your Own.
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ontd_political
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Last week, the journal Foreign Policy published an extraordinary article – not extraordinary because of what it says, but because of who said it. It was written by Aaron David Miller, a lifelong D.C. foreign policy bureaucrat who served as a Middle East adviser to six different Secetaries of State in Democratic and GOP administrations. Miller’s article, which compared Barack Obama and Mitt Romney on foreign policy, was entitled “Barack O’Romney,” and the sub-headline said it all: “Ignore what the candidates say they’ll do differently on foreign policy. They’re basically the same man.” It began this way: “If Barack Obama is reelected, he ought to consider making Mitt Romney his new secretary of state” because “despite his campaign rhetoric, Romney would be quite comfortable carrying out President Obama’s foreign policy because it accords so closely with his own.”
Miller devotes himself to debunking one of the worst myths in Washington, propagated out of self-interest by conservatives and progressives alike: namely, that there is a vast and radical difference between the parties on most key issues and that bipartisanship is so tragically scarce. In the foreign policy context which is his expertise, Miller explains that — despite campaign rhetoric designed to exaggerate (or even invent) differences in order to motivate base voters — the reality is exactly the opposite: That brings up an extraordinary fact. What has emerged in the second decade after 9/11 is a remarkable consensus among Democrats and Republicans on a core approach to the nation’s foreign policy. It’s certainly not a perfect alignment. But rarely since the end of the Cold War has there been this level of consensus. Indeed, while Americans may be divided, polarized and dysfunctional about issues closer to home, we are really quite united in how we see the world and what we should do about it.
Ever wondered why foreign policy hasn’t figured all that prominently in the 2012 election campaign? Sure, the country is focused on the economy and domestic priorities. And yes, Obama has so far avoided the kind of foreign-policy disasters that would give the Republicans easy free shots. But there’s more to it than that: Romney has had a hard time identifying Obama’s foreign-policy vulnerabilities because there’s just not that much difference between the two.
A post 9/11 consensus is emerging that has bridged the ideological divide of the Bush 43 years. And it’s going to be pretty durable. . . . As shown through his stepped-up drone campaign, Barack Obama has become George W. Bush on steroids.
( Read more... )
Source
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ontd_political
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Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign misspelled the word “America” on its new iPhone app, and it’s already paying a price for it.
In the app, the phrase “A Better America” is misspelled “A Better Amercia.” The misspelling was picked up and tweeted widely Tuesday night, soon spawned a hashtag-driven Twitter meme in which people imagined just what Amercia stood for and what kind of policies Romney had planned for Amercia.
Source has screenshots of mocking tweets from random people.
EL OH EL.
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ontd_political
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When a group of Chinese cyclists threw a stray dog a bone, little did they know that they were at the start of an epic journey that makes Lassie Come Home look like a walk in the park.
The cyclists, on a 1000-mile (1600-kilometre) expedition from Chengdu to Lhasa, came across the small white mongrel in the mountains around Yajiang, a Tibetan area of Sichuan, five days after starting out.
One of the riders, 22-year-old Xiao Yong, tossed the dog a chicken drumstick. To his surprise, it began to follow them - and stayed the course for 20 days to become a sensation in China.
The dog - since named Xiao Sa, or Little Sa - climbed 12 mountains higher than 13,000ft, and stuck with the group during heavy storms. Indeed, as cyclist after cyclist dropped out, exhausted by the steep mountains and the thin air of the Tibetan plateau, the dog kept him and his colleagues going, said Mr Xiao.
"There was one day when we climbed the 14,700ft-tall peak of Anjiala mountain," he said.
"We did more than 40 miles uphill and at the end I had to get off my bike and push. The dog ran ahead of me and stopped at a crossroads.
"She waited for a while, but got bored because I took so long, so ran back, put her paws on my calves, and started licking me."
He said the dog had enough energy to run with the cyclists for at least 30 to 40 miles a day, although he would occasionally carry it in a box on the back of his bike. At night, Xiao Sa slept on the cyclists' raincoats - and would share in their rations, being fed custard tarts, boiled eggs and sausages.
There were some fierce encounters with other dogs along the way. "Once, a large dog started chasing us along a series of dark tunnels and his barking drew a whole pack of others," said Mr Xiao.
"I put Xiao Sa on my bike and started peddling desperately.
"One of my bags was ripped, but otherwise we got away."
Mr Xiao said at first he suspected the dog of following them only for food, "but I can now see a bond between us from the way she looks at me. I think we have definitely moved beyond food".
He has since adopted the dog. Yesterday, Xiao Sa was travelling in a manner more befitting its celebrity: after being given a full medical by a vet in Lhasa, it was returning to Chengdu by passenger plane.
source has a video!
for those of you who can't watch video, this is NOT a big dog. it appears to be some type of llasa/terrier mix. it's tiny!
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Comments: Read 9 or Add Your Own.
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ontd_political
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With a line-up that includes Drew Barrymore, David Beckham, Orlando Bloom, and Ricky Martin, the UN's choice of ambassadors has been known to cause raised eyebrows or the odd smirk. Seldom, however, has there been such anger, or questioning of the organisation's credibility, as that greeting the appointment of a new international envoy for tourism: Robert Mugabe.
Improbable as it seems, the Zimbabwean president, who is widely accused of ethnic cleansing, rigging elections, terrorising opposition, controlling media and presiding over a collapsed economy, has been endorsed as a champion of efforts to boost global holidaymaking.
( Read more... )
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ontd_political
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TORONTO - Public funding of Catholic schools clashed with the right to religious freedom Monday as one of the most powerful church leaders in Canada attacked the Ontario government's anti-bullying legislation.
"Please consider the implications for all when legislation is enacted that overrides the deeply held beliefs of any faith community, and intrudes on its freedom to act in a way that is in accord with its principles of consciences," said Thomas Cardinal Collins.
The Liberal government initially said Catholic trustees could determine the name for new anti-homophobia student clubs called for in the legislation.
However, last Friday Education Minister Laurel Broten announced all schools would have to allow the groups to be called gay-straight alliances if that's what the students want.
"Why is a piece of provincial legislation being used to micromanage the naming of student clubs?" asked Thomas Cardinal Collins, Archbishop of Toronto.
"We all are committed to obeying the law, but we can question whether the law is wise, whether the law is just or whether a law is a kind of intrusion or limiting of religious freedom."
Broten said she changed her mind after hearing from students at committee who said they don't want her or principals and trustees dictating the names of their clubs.
"We know that words matter. The message that we’re giving to Ontario students today is you will be listened to, it’s your club," Broten told reporters.
"The premier and I were both very clear that it was not for us at Queen’s Park to tell them what the name of their club should be, but neither should it be for someone else sitting in some other office in the province to tell them what the name of their club can’t be."
Broten didn't want to speculate about what action she would take if the Catholic schools don't allow clubs to be called gay-straight alliances, but suggested cutting funding for those who don't obey the law was one option.
Collins, who is also president of the Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario, said trustees and principals are the legitimate stewards of the spiritual tradition of Catholic schools, not students.
"Should one student suddenly be able to determine the method to deal with the issues in a school?" he asked.
"I find that very puzzling. The point at issue here is the imposition of the one approach to deal with an issue to which there are many approaches."
The cardinal warned other faiths could become targets of the government if the anti-bullying bill becomes law and doesn't allow Catholic schools the right to deal with homophobia in their own ways.
"I would say to people of other faiths and even those who disagree with us on (gay-straight alliances): if this could happen to us it can happen to you in some other area," he said.
"When religious freedom becomes a second-class right, you also will eventually be affected."
Collins did not point out that no other religious group gets public funding for their schools in Ontario.
The Ontario Catholic School Trustees Association called the word gay "a distraction" and said anti-bullying legislation is supposed to protect all students, not just those who are picked on because of their sexual orientation.
"We don't want to focus on the name," said OCSTA president Marino Gazzola.
"We want to focus on the content and what the groups are all about. These are externally developed groups that do not necessarily reflect the unique values of our students."
The government could not say what percentage of Ontario households or voters are separate school supporters or how much taxpayers have to pay to subsidize the Catholic education system.
The Progressive Conservatives said the Liberals were picking a fight with the Catholic school system, which gets about 33 per cent of Ontario's $24-billion annual education budget.
"The government has decided in this case to be aggressive, they want to provoke the Catholic education system for whatever reason," said Tory education critic Lisa MacLeod.
The Green Party of Ontario said the gay-straight alliance issue is a good example of why the cash-strapped province needs to eliminate the separate school system entirely.
"This absolutely is an example of how dangerous it is when you start funding one religion at the exclusion of all others," said Green Leader Mike Schreiner.
"We're talking about cutting essential services, including a number of services in the education sector, without even considering or having a conversation about the most obvious source of duplication in the system, which is the fact that we fund two separate school boards."
The Tories said they would try to block the amendment that would force Catholic schools to allow gay-straight alliances by that name.
"I’m personally of the view if children want a club they should have a club. However, you have to allow the school community to have a say in that as well," said MacLeod.
"I believe that there needs to be less, not more government intrusion in the lives of people, and we don’t believe that Queen’s Park should be legislating kids’ clubs names, regardless of what they are."
The New Democrats said the Liberals have finally got it right by admitting you can't solve a problem like homophobia if you're afraid to use the word "gay."
"It’s pretty clear that all the boards should be following the same rules," said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.
source
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ontd_political
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The Health Service has removed the word ‘dad’ from a pregnancy handbook for fear of offending gay and lesbian parents.
Officials decided to use the term ‘partner’ throughout the 200-page guide, titled Ready Steady Baby, after receiving a complaint that ‘dad’ was discriminating against same-sex couples.
But the omission of the word has angered some campaigners who claim that traditional family values are being undermined.
( Read more... )
Source
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_wirehead_
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- Mon, 12:26: my cat is... really into these shoes @lydiacbrooks lent me. he basically hasn't left their side since yesterday. http://t.co/hJg0TMWP
- Mon, 12:32: OKCupid profile winner of the day: "I'm looking for a women to enjoy life with." ... "I love to read all kinds of books.and most movies."
- Mon, 15:11: RT @levarburton: Sigh! Was just involved in a rear end collision. There was no need call police... #bydhttmwfi #protectandserve? http:// ...
- Mon, 22:53: actually, yes, i *did* just devil a single egg. and it was delicious.
- Tue, 01:10: RT @neilhimself: Sleep well, except for those of you just waking up, already asleep, or in the middle of your days. #inclusivegoodnights
- Tue, 09:36: RT @KnightOfStarz Holy shit, the world is amazing. Omelette.
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kylecassidy
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Big news A) of course is that my book, War Paint: Tattoo Culture & the Armed Forces is out and you should buy a copy -- you can order it at your local brick and mortar store or get it from Amazon.
Big news B) is that the Amanda Palmer Kickstarter will likely hit $1,000,000 sometime today. So far 61 people have chosen the Bed Song Book which Neil & I are doing together. This is significant in that the books are $1,000 a pop. I'm kind of thunderstruck by this and, of course, there's significant pressure to make it the bast looking art book on the planet.
I'm still finishing up a few more photos for the Bed Song book, so if you're in Philly, especially West Philly and still want to be in on it, drop me a line.
Big news C) is that I shot a video for Ego Likeness last week and saw a rough cut of it last night and it looks very, very nice.
Big news D) is Roller Derby related. If you haven't already, please "like" the Facebook page. It's the best way to keep up with what's happening with the Roller Derby Portraits project and also, it'll be a lot easier to convince a publisher to take on the book if it's got 5,000 facebook fans already.
Big news E) is a top sekret projekt with S.J. Tucker which some of you might know about -- Shadowcaptain is in charge of leaking rumors about that -- you'll have to track him down on the Interwebs and stalk his feeds, but if you're interested in what SJ and I might be doing, you should enjoy the treasure hunt.
Big news F) is that I'll be at the Amanda Palmer Kickstarter Party in NYC this Thursday. Say "hi" if you see me.
I think that's it. Be well everybody. Do something special today.
Add me: [LiveJournal] [Facebook] [Twitter] [Google+] [Tumblr]
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Comments: Read 14 or Add Your Own.
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ontd_political
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Divided Memories: History Textbooks and the Wars in Asia
Some common assumptions about history textbooks used in Japan turn out to be ill-founded. Far from inculcating patriotism, as many overseas observers assume, Japanese high school textbooks tend to dryly present a chronology of historical facts, with little interpretive narrative added. This is the finding of the Divided Memories and Reconciliation project by the author and his colleague Professor Gi-Wook Shin, involving an in-depth comparison of history textbooks used in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and the United States.
Japanese history textbooks and their treatment of the wartime era has become an almost constant subject of international dispute in the last three decades. For critics, both inside and outside Japan, the content of those textbooks is evidence of a failure to take responsibility for the outbreak of the Asia-Pacific War or to acknowledge the suffering the Japanese military imposed on conquered Asian nations and the crimes committed in combat with the Allies. The decision of the Japanese education authorities to approve certain textbooks for use, or to reshape the content and language of the books, is presented as evidence of a nationalist tilt in Japan. Most importantly, Japanese textbooks were seen to fail to properly educate new generations of Japanese about their past.
Those views are not without some substance. Japanese history textbooks do not provide students with a detailed accounting of Japanese colonial rule, particularly in Korea. They have avoided or downplayed some of the more controversial aspects of the wartime period, such as the coercive recruitment of women for sexual services by the Japanese Imperial Army, the so-called comfort women. And at times, under pressure from conservative revisionists and their political supporters, the textbook screening process of the Ministry of Education has attempted to soften language describing Japan’s aggression.
The Divided Memories and Reconciliation project of the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia Pacific Research Center (APARC) at Stanford University, however, belies the essence of this widely held view of the particularly egregious nature of Japanese history textbooks. The project, directed by Professor Gi-Wook Shin and myself, was a multiyear study to better understand how historical memory about the wartime period is being shaped. It began with history textbooks and moved on to look at the role of popular culture—in particular film—and of elite opinion in shaping the view of the wartime past. Significantly, the Stanford project adopted a comparative approach, looking at Japan in comparison with other major Pacific war participants, principally China, South Korea, and, not least, the United States.
Methodological Approach for the Project
The study of history textbooks deliberately avoids the trap of focusing on the most controversial, and least used, textbooks. The project compared the treatment of the wartime and immediate postwar periods (1931–51) in Asia in the most widely circulated high school national history or world history textbooks recently or currently in use in China, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, and the United States, along with textbooks used for college-preparatory classes (with the aim of focusing on the formation of elite opinion). Translations of those textbooks were prepared and the research team presented comparative excerpts of the treatment of eight key historical issues, such as the Marco Polo Bridge incident and the atomic bombing of Japan. This allowed scholars, experts, the media and others, for the first time, to actually compare how historical memory is shaped in those school systems. It broadened the context for understanding the role of textbooks beyond those used only in Japan.(*1)
( The textbooks were selected based on two criteria. )
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I posted a similar story to this, about the history of the textbook issues, but this article actually compares how WWII is portrayed in the most commonly used textbooks in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, and the US. (And the source has pictures of pages from books from each country.) I don't think a lot of people realize the Japanese textbooks people get mad about are only used in a very tiny fraction of Japanese schools.
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Comments: Read 38 or Add Your Own.
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ontd_political
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Dear Girls,
You are powerful beyond words, because you threaten to unravel the control of corrupt men who abuse their authority.
In the United States last week there were people who wouldn't let boys play a baseball championship final because a girl was on the opposing team. She'd already had to sit out two games because of their demands. Why? Did she, a competitive athlete and a member of her team, choose to? Was she being good and respectful when she acceded to their demands? Why were they not asked to forfeit their games? What messages were sent to her and her teammates? This is not complicated. It sent the wrong messages. Confusing messages. Incoherent messages. You need to know that she should have been allowed to play and not have had to sit out two games. These people, and others like them, all over the world, led exclusively by religious men, are scared of you and will not let you be. You worry them constantly.
If you were not powerful, they would not take you so seriously and they take you very, very seriously. You should, too. You can set the world on fire.
( More awesomeness ahead )
--
Source has lots of links you should check out
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Comments: Read 68 or Add Your Own.
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http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=2214 | | archive - contact - sexy exciting merchandise - cute - search - about |  | | | ← previous | May 28th, 2012 | next | May 28th, 2012: I got a bunch of emails from Actual Physicists about yesterday's comic! TOTALLY REASONABLE OBJECTIONS INCLUDE:
- If the universe were shrinking but the speed of light were constant, then all sorts of things are broken
- If the universe were shrinking then the speed of light would slow proportionally, and therefore it would be undetectable, therefore there's no change if it's true or not so it's an irrelevant theory that may as well be true for our universe
(I liked this one quite a bit)
- Our universe is actually expanding and the speed of light remains constant so why would shrinking be different
These are all very good points! Rather than accept the blame for this myself, as author, I will pass it entirely off on Utahraptor, who was wrong but has his friends SO ACCUSTOMED to him being right that now they accept it without questioning. OH SNAP did I just turn a writing / research mistake into character development? OH SNAP-A-DOODLE.
Also thanks to everyone who emailed me - I love this stuff and it's always awesome to hear from people who do it professionally! – Ryan
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ontd_political
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Everyone knows women can be bitches sometimes, right? Unless they're cougars, that is, on the prowl -- or if they're a bit younger, they're more like vixens, kinda foxy. They henpeck when married and go wet and wild when single. They can take out their claws out or put them away. (Who doesn't love a good catfight?)
Less dangerous are the girls and the young women, softer and fuzzier, who are more like bunnies, or, as the English say, like birds. Either way, diminutive and harmless. Girls like these are more like pets. Chicks or kittens.
Everyone does it, using language that renders women as animals; the list is endless. This culturally ingrained misogyny, as reflected in acceptable language that dehumanizes half the world's population, is not limited to any one country or religion, or followers of one or another ideology.
But in U.S. politics, a particular trend has emerged among a certain set of conservatives: that of equating a woman with a farm animal. When, last week, Safeway Senior Vice President General Counsel Bob Gordon stood before a shareholders’ meeting telling a "joke" that portrayed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi as being worth less than a pair of hogs,he clearly had no reservations about publicly making this joke and obviously thought it was funny. After all, he was only elaborating on a meme that's been evolving among right-wing Republican politicians in state legislatures.
( Read more... )
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ontd_political
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...doesn't realise the camera was still running.
Craig Oliver, David Cameron’s communications chief, was recruited because of his knowledge of television. He of all people ought, accordingly, to know of the dangers of a live microphone. Alas, I hear of the existence of a recording of Oliver acquainting Norman Smith, the BBC political journalist, with his views about a live report he filmed on Friday in Downing Street concerning Jeremy Hunt’s travails. “Craig came out and gave Norman both barrels,” says a BBC toiler. “It wasn’t broadcast, but it’s all on tape as Norman still had his mike on. It’s hilarious stuff.” ( Tony Blair also gave evidence to the Leveson Inquiry today... )1|2|3
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ontd_political
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A Christian psychotherapist lost her appeal last week against a ruling by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy that her behaviour in offering to therapeutically change a patient’s sexuality was negligent.
A decision given last week confirmed that Lesley Pilkington had been described by the BACP as “negligent”, “dogmatic” and “unprofessional” in her behaviour after she was approached by undercover journalist Patrick Strudwick.
In 2009, Mr Strudwick had pretended to be a gay Christian struggling with his orientation who wanted to become straight and received two counselling sessions from Ms Pilkington. Ms Pilkington was found guilty of professional malpractice in 2011 and filed an appeal against the decision, which was rejected last week.
Although it did not address gay conversion therapy directly, the appeals panel said the counsellor’s behaviour amounted to “professional malpractice in that Mrs Pilkington had failed to provide the complainant with adequate professional services that could reasonably be expected of a practitioner exercising reasonable skill and care.”
The BACP appeals panel said it was “of the opinion that, given that the complainant presented with depression and unhappiness, it is incumbent upon a practitioner to explore why he was depressed/unhappy and not to take at face value his assertion that it is because of an unwanted same sex attraction. Not to do this and to rush in and assume that the complainant’s depression and unhappiness must follow from his unwanted same sex attraction was below the standard expected of a reasonably competent practitioner.”
Stephen Evans, Campaigns Manager at the National Secular Society said Ms Pilkington was “guilty of religiously inspired bigotry parading as psychotherapy.”
He added: “There is no question of her religious freedoms being impeded. The important factor in the delivery of any therapy or counselling is that the professional providing the service adheres to their professional code of conduct. Mrs Pilkington clearly believes her religious beliefs are far more important than any code of conduct, which is why the BACP Governing body found unanimously that she was guilty of professional malpractice.”( Read more... )
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_wirehead_
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- Sun, 18:14: welp, i fried the screen on my beloved Nexus One in the heat today. :( what's the best Android phone?
- Sun, 18:17: p.s. - i cannot return texts until i get a new phone, though i may be able to (sort of) read them...
- Sun, 23:27: feeling melancholy. the future is scary and human relationships can feel unbearably complicated. all i can do is learn to love better.
- Sun, 23:30: we are all so different, sometimes i'm amazed any two people can communicate well enough to order a sandwich. but people do marry.
- Mon, 09:15: RT @Persona_ebooks: Pursue Your True Shelf at the JUNES Spring Home Decor Sale from Now until Thursday
- Mon, 09:16: RT @warrenellis: good morning sinners. time once again to pummel Monday weakly in the ankles
- Mon, 11:14: doing some more decluttering today. would anyone like a lightly used set of these? http://t.co/PS2KUmjl
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beeporama
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I went to a great party yesterday! You would think a party that was (1) outside, (2) attended by children and chickens, and (3) all day long would not be fun for me, but sometimes the stars align. The food was amazing (one host is a professional chef), friends were there, and I met new people and got a chance to do magic.
I have been really tired lately. I don't know if it is the weather or work or what. I've probably just been sleeping irregularly. But I'm taking a few days off this weekend, so that should be great.
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kylecassidy
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Happy Memorial Day. My book, War Paint: Tattoo Culture and the Armed Forces is out today. You can buy it from Amazon (pay no mind to that "4 to 6 weeks" - it's shipping now) or look for it in your local bookstore (special prize to the first person to send me a photo of it "in the wild").
A few years back I found myself looking at one of those ribbons on the back of a car that said "support our troops" and wondered what I could do to actually "support our troops" rather than just putting a magnet on my car. Soon after I met a WWII veteran with a tattoo of a paratrooper on his arm and I asked him about it. For the next two hours he told me about parachuting into France on D-Day, being wounded at the Battle of the Bulge, getting tattooed in Scotland while drunk -- I realized that nobody had asked him about it before and that we were losing these stories, so many of which had a significance so personal you may not be able to tell just looking at them, you had to ask.
War Paint is a collection of portraits and stories, there are also closeups of tattoos if you're interested in closeups of tattoos.
Click to read Nick's story
Thanks to everybody in uniform and especially the people overseas away from their families, in harms way, whether in uniform or not. Come home safe. And thanks to my publisher, Schiffer Books who saw something here. Happy Memorial Day.
And, in case you missed it, here's the talk I did at Franklin & Marshall college on War Paint. There's a long wonderfully flattering introduction, student Ann Leffel talks briefly about her tattoo photography project and I start about 12 minutes in. And I do answer the question "why should you thank a soldier if you're against the war?" which is something someone brought up here a few weeks ago.
Stories in Ink: Capturing the Art of Tattoos from Franklin & Marshall College on Vimeo.
I'd love it if you'd share with your friends.
Add me: [LiveJournal] [Facebook] [Twitter] [Google+] [Tumblr]
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ontd_political
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Rubble hinders decommissioning work at Fukushima No. 4 reactor
Mountains of rubble stand in the way of decommissioning the No. 4 reactor of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, part of an unprecedented challenge facing Japan to decommission four crippled reactors.
The No. 4 reactor building was opened to a handful of media organizations on May 26 for the first time since the nuclear crisis was triggered following last year's March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.
A reporter from the Tokyo Shimbun described the scene on the fourth floor as looking like that of a "battlefield after being bombed." The wall facing the sea had been blown off in a hydrogen explosion on March 15 last year.
"Pipes were severely bent," the reporter said. "Steel frames were also twisted and rusted. It was hard for me to believe such a thick wall was blown off over a wide area."
A tour of the No. 4 building by media outlets was given to coincide with an inspection by Goshi Hosono, minister in charge of handling the nuclear disaster.
What is most under threat in the No. 4 building, experts in and out of Japan say, is the spent fuel pool, which holds 1,535 fuel assemblies, an equivalent of those in three reactors.
( Many point out the risks of the collapse of the pool if another huge temblor with the power of last year's quake strikes the plant. )
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There are pictures at the source, and hooboy. Thank goodness the chances of another erthquake/tsunami like last year are really low (the last one before this was over 1000 years ago).
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http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2012/05/last-kickstarter-post.html posted by Neil
We're in the last four days of Amanda's Kickstarter. Over the last almost-a-month of the Kickstarter she's gathered a huge amount of support, set records for what crowdfunding can do, made the news internationally, and she is now planning a giant webcast block party in Brooklyn on Thursday night for the people who supported the project and to count down to 11:59 when the Kickstarter ends and she starts to play. She's certainly got enough supporters, and she's already well exceeded her goal and is somewhere off into the land beyond her wildest dreams. (As I write this she's 900% funded, and looks on course to make this a million dollar Kickstarter.) But I still thought I'd stick something up here, in the last few days, because... We put together the Evening With Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer Kickstarter last year, to raise the money to professionally record the West Coast tour we did in November. We raised a lot more money from the Kickstarter than we had expected, so we made everything we could even better than anyone had expected. The double CD we had planned to do became a beautiful triple CD package, for example, and then we did a special super secret bonus CD with a banana on it to go along with that - as well as over two additional hours of extra material we released digitally for all the supporters. We worked very hard to make sure that everyone who supported us got something better than they had thought they were getting when they signed up. And when the stuff started showing up in people's mailboxes and they started posting happy photographs of their stuff (like these...)   ...then people here and on Twitter and on Tumblr started sending me sad messages, telling me they wished they had supported the Kickstarter, they'd missed it as they hadn't seen it, or had forgotten, or were broke at the time -- but was it too late to get the stuff? I wrote back a lot, and said yes, I was sorry but it was too late. We'd only made enough for the Kickstarter backers. (We do plan to release An Evening With Neil and Amanda commercially, probably towards the end of the year. And it'll be a nice package, but it won't be what the Kickstarter folk got. That was special, and it was just for them.) Amanda will be releasing a version of her new CD to the public in September. That's the one you'll be able to buy at your local store. But the two CD set inside a book (the blue thing on the right), or the quadruple vinyl in its box, or whatever else she decides to throw in to the other levels, the art-book she's making -- that stuff will only exist for Kickstarter. If you want it, or any of the other rewards (down to the $1 reward that gets you the whole album digitally when it comes out, which I promise will be significantly cheaper than it'll be on iTunes) then this is really just a reminder that you only have four days to click on the Kickstarter link and support it...  ... Amanda did a post the other day on her blog and for backers, explaining that, no, a million dollar Kickstarter wasn't actually going to make her rich. People are signing up for things, she'll make the things and provide them, but she doesn't get to put a million dollars into a swimming pool and then throw it into the air, like Uncle Scrooge. It's not tax-free donations, it's people signing up for services. So, to clarify: The Kickstarter exists to fund a CD release (to the public, not Kickstarter supporters) and a tour (ditto). The Kickstarter money funds the studio and promotional costs (just as a record label might have done). The business model isn't, Make Money From 20,000 people. It's Use 20,000 people to crowdfund the costs of manufacturing and distributing and promoting a CD and a tour to the General Public. And then get rich from that. You'd think a band who took their video and studio and promotional budget from a record label and used it as income instead of as an investment in their future were being pretty shortsighted. That's the Kickstarter money: it's a video and promotional and design and manufacturing and touring budget. That's what it's for. ... There. That's the very last post about Amanda's Kickstarter, unless I start blogging from a rooftop in Brooklyn when it's all over, as the NYPD haul Amanda and the Grand Theft Orchestra away. She says they have all the permits in place for a midnight rooftop gig, and they've even hired the police to block off a road and so on. I just think of the Beatles on the roof of the Apple building, and the legion of uniformed cops who appeared to make them stop...  |
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ontd_political
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YouTube video of woman arguing with morality police, who demanded she leave the mall because of her manicured fingernails, goes viral.
By Haaretz | May.26, 2012 | 4:14 PM
An altercation between a young Saudi woman and an agent of the country's morality police over her nail polish in a Riyadh mall has stirred a public debate in the Middle Eastern kingdom, the Saudi Gazette reported on Saturday.
In a video the woman recorded of the incident and posted on YouTube, she can be heard demanding the agents of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice to leave her alone, as they instruct her to leave the mall at once.
“Why are you chasing me? The government said no more chasing! Your duty is to advise people… why are you looking at my manicure? I will never leave the mall!” she can be heard saying in the video.
Later in the video, the woman asked mall security to intervene in the incident and to get the morality police to stop harassing her. The security guards refused to do so, instructing the youth to listen to the agent, who they know to be "a good man."
The video went viral, the Gazette reported, with many Saudis posting comments in support of the youth and against her conduct. An official investigation into the incident by the commission will be opened, the newspaper said.
( Some context )
Source
Fierce. I hope this goes well for her.
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ontd_political
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Twitter has been flooded with controversy for the last week about the RadFem2012 conference, currently booked into the Conway Hall, which announced its membership as restricted to "women born women and living as women" (it originally said "biological women", but that got changed after much mockery). This disturbed the trans community, which it is meant to exclude, but also those feminists who regard trans-exclusion as something other than radical.
To be clear, I know no trans women, still less trans men, who want to spend time in a space organized by people who slander us. However, one of the main speakers at the conference is Sheila Jeffreys, who has a forthcoming book critiquing trans medical care. In much of her earlier writing (see, for example, page 71 of this journal), she calls for "transsexualism" to be declared a human rights violation and then surgery banned by international law, so it's fairly clear that we have an interest in the debate. What Jeffreys proposes has, of course, other implications for all women – the Vatican would love to make similar declarations about reproductive freedom.
There is also, more importantly, the question of whether what Jeffreys and her supporters say about trans people constitutes hate speech. As of two days ago, the Conway Hall expressed their concerns about the legality of trans exclusion, and about hate speech, to the conference organisers.
One of the problems with the Internet is that it is possible for people to lock themselves further and further into a restricted mind set where they hear no other voices. On the other hand, it makes it possible for those with a strong stomach to overturn every stone and find out just what people are saying and thinking. It's clear that Jeffreys and her supporters are very hurt and disappointed that so many younger women don't agree with her – Jeffreys blames the corrupting influence of post-modernism and queer theory; "trans-critical" lawyer Cath Brennan - who uses Twitter to deride trans people's experiences and mock non-trans feminists who are their allies - is also a RadFem2012 attendee.
Of course, the trans issue is only one aspect of the conference. Its mission statement makes it clear that this is a "female-only, activism-focused conference with a radical feminist agenda". Space will not be given to anti-feminist sentiments, which is arguably another way of saying that, on most crucial issues, the party line is predetermined and that any dissent from correct "radical feminist" thinking will be stigmatised and driven out. Jeffreys makes it clear in many of her writings that post-modernism and queer theory are the enemy, and that piercing, tattooing, BDSM and role play are all pollutions of a feminism that is nothing to do with choice or preference, everything to do with commitment. Indeed, the Radical Feminist Hub, to which she contributes regularly, links to resources arguing that what it calls "penis-in-vagina" sex is a bad idea, from which women should choose to refrain.
There are many debates within feminism, and the women's movement ought not to be a monolith of orthodoxy. There are, for example, legitimate arguments on both sides of discussion of sex work – whether the stress should be placed on prohibition or harm reduction, say. But such a debate will not be allowed at RadFem2012. I hate to say this of other feminists, but aspects of their feminism – the anti-intellectualism, emphasis on innate knowledge, fetishisation of tiny ideological differences, heresy hunting, conspiracy theories, rhetorical use of images of disgust, talk of stabs in the back and romantic apocalypticism – smack less of feminism than of a cult.
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ontd_political
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Jackson, Miss., schools to no longer handcuff students
Public schools in Jackson, Mississippi, will no longer handcuff students to poles or other objects and will train staff at its alternative school on better methods of discipline.
Mississippi's second-largest school district agreed Friday to the settlement with the Southern Poverty Law Center, which had sued over the practice of shackling students to a pole at the district's Capital City Alternative School.
Nationwide, a report from the U.S. Department of Education showed tens of thousands of students, 70 percent of them disabled, were strapped down or physically restrained in school in 2009-10. Advocates for disabled students say restraints are often abused, causing injury and sometimes death.
The Mississippi lawsuit was filed in June 2011 by Jeanette Murry on behalf of her then-16-year-old son, who has been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. It said staffers routinely restrained students for hours for offenses as minor as dress code violations, forcing them to eat lunch while chained to a stair railing and to shout for help when they needed to go to the bathroom.
The settlement, approved by U.S. District Judge Tom Lee, says all district employees will stop handcuffing students younger than 13, and can only handcuff older students for crimes. In no case will employees shackle a student to a fixed object such as a railing, a pole, a desk or a chair.
"It's apparent there were severe problems that we hope now are being addressed and will be alleviated," Lee told lawyers in court Friday, just before signing the settlement order.
Troubles at the alternative school helped spark the proceedings that have jeopardized the accreditation of the entire 30,000-student district.
The suit also reinforces criticism of alternative schools statewide. A 2009 report by the American Civil Liberties Union found that such schools "overemphasized punishment at the expense of remediation." That report urged that alternative schools focus instead on "intensive services delivered by a well-qualified staff in a highly structured but positive environment," so that students could return to and succeed at regular schools.
Nationwide, there are no federal standards, although legislation is pending in Congress. The U.S. Department of Education says Mississippi is one of 13 states with no statewide rules governing restraints.
National experts have said seclusion and restraint should only be used in emergencies when there's a threat of someone getting hurt. But people who aren't properly trained resort to restraints when students get out of control, they say.
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_wirehead_
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- Sat, 14:10: my cat's asleep all smooshed into the windowsill. haha aww. http://t.co/UTNjPWCq
- Sat, 14:12: RT @dddagradi: It's official! I'll be moving to San Francisco in June to help make awesome things at @heroku. I am *SO EXCITED*
- Sat, 14:14: RT @theevocater: every once and a while I remember the fact that there are people LIVING IN SPACE. SPACE! #space
- Sat, 15:18: practicing my Zen-like unattachment. It's Just Stuff. it's not what's important in life. you can always get more. ommmm...
- Sat, 16:24: RT @scattermoon: Ah, Engelbert. Can you imagine if he married Benedict Cumberbatch? Would the kids be Humperdinck-Cumberbatch? Cumberdin ...
- Sat, 21:20: FIREFLY xD
- Sat, 22:42: "oh, wait, we can't use my camera, my camera is playing music." --@chrisamaphone #firstworldproblems #partytweets
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ontd_political
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The East Asian Textbook Issue
Historical Background and Current Status
The Textbook Issue and International Relations in East Asia
The textbooks used in Japanese schools are drafted by private-sector publishers, but they are subject to approval by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT). In April 2011 publishers submitted their proposed textbooks for use in high schools starting in 2013. On March 27 this year, following completion of the authorization process, the contents were released to the media. Stories about the new textbooks in the domestic media have focused on their references to the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and nuclear disaster and on their bulked-up curriculum—part of a swing of the pendulum back toward a more rigorous approach to education. But on the international level the main subject of attention has been the treatment of historical and territorial issues in the new textbooks.
Why are international observers so interested in the contents of Japanese textbooks relating to these matters? It is questionable how much of a real impact these contents have on ordinary Japanese people’s views on history and territorial matters. Middle and high school social studies courses tend to be seen as exercises in rote memorization; once the exams are over the material generally vanishes from students’ heads. But partly because the textbooks are subject to official authorization, people outside Japan take their contents to express Japan’s “official” view of historical and territorial issues—notably, the history of Japan’s expansion into East Asia starting in the late nineteenth century and the territorial claims that overlap with those of Japan’s neighbors.
( The content of the textbooks is not just a matter of interest on the international level. The subject is also closely related to domestic political issues. )
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ontd_political
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In the months leading up to North Carolina’s vote this month to ban gay marriage, most of the state’s business leaders were conspicuously silent. While some executives spoke out against it as individuals, not one Fortune 500 company based in North Carolina, including Bank of America, Duke Energy, VF Corporation and Lowe’s, opposed it.
But one company did: Replacements Limited, which sells silver, china and glassware, and is based in Greensboro. Its founder and chairman, Bob Page, is gay. The company lobbied legislators, contributed money to causes supporting gay marriage, rented a billboard along the interstate near its headquarters, and sold T-shirts at its showroom. Its experience may explain why no other for-profit company followed its example.
Hostile letters and e-mails poured into the company from customers canceling their business and demanding to be removed from its e-mail list. “I understand that your company donated $250,000 or so to the effort to ban the marriage amendment,” read one. “I am very concerned that with an increased visibility and acceptance of the gay and lesbian lifestyle, one of my children, who would have grown up and been happily married to a husband, could be tempted to the lesbian lifestyle.”
Another read: “I was excited to see your wares and expected a pleasant shopping experience. Instead I was accosted by your political views, which I do not share. It was very uncomfortable and unpleasant browsing with all those signs and T-shirts against amendment one, to the point where I had to leave.”
A third said, “Money you used to support this opposition came from my many purchases from your company and that is not O.K. with me,” adding, “I will look for my replacement pieces elsewhere.”
Several writers seemed more sad than angry. “Visiting Replacements Limited has always been one of my favorite treats,” said one. “I had the privilege of experiencing your beautiful store firsthand,” began another. Both said they would never return.
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read the entire article at the source
MODS can someone remove the South Carolina tag for me? I got my Carolinas mixed up and it looks like I can only add tags, not remove them. Thanks :)
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ontd_political
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The Pope's butler has been charged in connection with the Vatican's inquiry into a series of media leaks.
Vatican magistrates have named 46-year-old Paolo Gabriele as the suspect in their investigation, saying he illegally took confidential documents.
A series of leaks, dubbed Vatileaks, has revealed alleged corruption, mismanagement and internal conflicts.
Last month, Pope Benedict XVI set up a special commission of cardinals to find the source of the confidential memos.
Mr Gabriele is the pope's personal butler and assistant and one of very few laymen to have access to the Pope's private apartments.
He lives with his wife and three children in an apartment within the Vatican walls, where Italian media report that a stash of confidential documents had been discovered.
"I confirm that the person detained on Wednesday for illegal possession of private documents is Mr Paolo Gabriele, who remains in detention," the spokesman for the Holy See, Father Federico Lombardi said, according to Italy's state broadcaster, Rai.
The Vatican's judge, Piero Antonio Bonnet, has been instructed to examine the evidence of the case and to decide whether there is sufficient material to proceed to trial.
Mr Gabriele has nominated two lawyers capable of representing him at a Vatican tribunal, and has met with them.( Read more... )
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ontd_political
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By Farhana Dawood ; BBC News, Hebron
It is rare to see women police officers on the streets in any part of the Arab world.
But in the Palestinian territories where civil police are themselves, a relatively new concept, concerted efforts are under way to bring more women into the force.
( read more )
source has 3 pictures
This is some good news, however, I do feel as if the only reason for female police officers is because it is convenient during the raids, not because they are so big on equality..
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ontd_political
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Vice President Biden, speaking Friday to families and friends of military personnel killed in action, gave a powerful retelling of the death of his wife and daughter 40 years ago — saying he'd realized then how grief might push a person to suicide.
"For the first time in my life, I understood how someone could consciously decide to commit suicide," Biden told a meeting of the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors at a hotel in Crystal City. The group offers counseling to relatives and friends of military personnel who have died. It was holding its 18th annual military survivor seminar.
"Not because they were deranged, not because they were nuts," Biden continued, according to a transcript. "Because they'd been to the top of the mountain, and they just knew in their heart they'd never get there again, that it was never going to get — never going to be that way ever again. That's how an awful lot of you feel."
In 1972, just after the Delaware Democrat was first elected to the Senate, his wife, Neilia, and his 13-month-old daughter, Naomi, were killed in a car crash. Biden's two sons — Beau, then 3, and Hunter, 2 — were grievously injured but survived.
On Friday, Biden told the military families how low the crash had brought him. "I probably shouldn't say this with the press here, but — no, it's more important — you're more important," he said.
Biden had actually told the story before, on page 80 of his 2007 memoir, "Promises to Keep."
"I began to understand how despair led people to just cash it in," Biden wrote.
On Friday, that story was a powerful section of a speech that illustrated Biden's particular style of rhetoric: frequently meandering, slightly pompous but movingly personal.
Biden often veered from the topic at hand — once, to tell the story of how he proposed to his current wife, Jill, five times before she said yes. He referred to himself, oddly, as "one of those folks they called the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee."
And, in a manner as unpolished as a living-room conversation, Biden told of climbing back out of grief.
"I have to tell you, I used to resent — I knew people meant well. They'd come up to me and say, 'Joe, I know how you feel,' " Biden said. The audience laughed.
"Right?" They clapped.
"You knew they meant well. You knew they were genuine. But you knew they didn't have any damn idea how you felt," Biden said to laughter. "Right? Isn't that true?"
Biden talked about his internal conflicts, as he tried to start another relationship after his wife's death. "You're going to go through periods when, after a while, you'll see somebody you may have an interest in, and you're going to feel guilty as hell. You're going to feel this awful, awful, awful feeling of guilt," he said.
Biden did not look like a vice president giving a speech: He hunched over, he looked down at his hands, he spoke at times haltingly and at times through clenched teeth.
And he told the story of his slow recovery — relying on family members and calling other people who’d been through the same kind of loss.
Biden said another elected official who had suddenly lost his wife advised him to start keeping a daily journal.
Write a "1" for the day, he advised Biden, if it feels as bad as the first day of your grief. For other days, write down a number that corresponds to your feelings — all the way up to 10.
"He said, 'You won't have 10s for a long time, but measure it, just mark it down.' And he said, 'After two months, take out that calendar and put it on a graph, and you'll — you'll find that your down days are just as bad as the first day,' " Biden said. “But here's what happens . . . they get further and further apart. He said, 'That's when you know you're going to make it.' "
Biden said he meant to offer these family members the same kind of hope.
"There will come a day, I promise you and your parents, as well, when the thought of your son or daughter or your husband or wife brings a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eye. It will happen," Biden said.
"My prayer for you is that day will come sooner or later," he continued. "But the only thing I have more experience than you in is this: I'm telling you it will come."
source
Feeling a lot of Biden love lately. Who has gifs/macros to celebrate all the things he "probably shouldn't say" and yet need to be said?
EDITED TO ADD: FULL VIDEO OF THE SPEECH AVAILABLE.
I cried watching it.
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ontd_political
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Deltona, Floriduh - Volusia County School officials stand by a Deltona High School nurse's decision to refuse a student his inhaler during an asthma attack, citing a lack of a parent's signature on a medical release form.
"It's like something out of a horror film. The person just sits there and watches you die," said Michael Rudi, 17. "She sat there, looked at me and she did nothing."
He said the school dean found his inhaler during a search of his locker last Friday. The inhaler was still in its original packaging -- complete with his name and directions for its use; however, the school took it away because his mother hadn't signed the proper form for him to have it.
School leaders called Sue Rudi when her son started having trouble breathing. She rushed to the office and was taken back to the nurse's office by school administrators and they discovered the teen on the floor.
"As soon as we opened up the door, we saw my son collapsing against the wall on the floor of the nurse's office while she was standing in the window of the locked door looking down at my son, who was in full-blown asthma attack," Rudi said.
Michael Rudi said when he started to pass out from his attack, the nurse locked the door.
"I believe that when I closed my eyes I wasn't going to wake up," he said.
The Director of Student Health Services, Cheryl Selesky, said that parents must sign the medical release form each year, which allows students to carry their prescribed drugs with them in school.
This year, the district had no record of his Rudi's signature, said Selesky.
"I mean its common sense if I saw an animal on the street in distress I would probably stop to help, why wouldn't she help a child," Sue Rudi said.
But Rudi is a senior, and his mother said the district has had records of his asthma throughout his years in the school.
She thinks her son could have died because of a technicality.
"How dare you deny my son something that we all take for granted, breath," said Sue Rudi. "Why didn't someone call 911?"
Selesky said the district is looking into whether proper procedures were followed by the school, and while nurses can't give medications without the proper authorization, it is district policy to call 911 when a student cannot breath.
Selesky could not explain why 911 was never called.
"I understand if you can't give it to him call 911," Sue Rudi said. "Why did you not call 911?"
Sue Rudi said she worries about the next student caught in a similar situation, and has filed charges against the nurse with the Volusia County Sheriff's Office.
"I want to press child endangerment charges for something they did to my son," Rudi said in the 911 call.
Local 6 reached out to the school district officials for more information, but they declined to interview.
WKMG Orlando
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_wirehead_
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- Fri, 18:38: today, i played the Ruby hacker with dyed hair who biked to the client meeting. i.e. i have become my first impression of @steveklabnik.
- Fri, 18:48: i don't know who i feel more sorry for when my cat is sick, him or me. #yuck
- Fri, 23:19: RT @neilhimself: RT @peaceanskittles: Found a signed copy of one of your books on an airplane. Would like to return to Madelyn, if I can ...
- Sat, 09:35: RT @swalterd: Of course on the east side of Austin there is a mule tied up next to bikes at a hipster bar. http://t.co/cG2OXFSE
- Sat, 09:36: RT @fart: i saw an ad on craigslist once that said “free firewood, u collect it” so i wrote the guy and said “bud you just wrote an ad f ...
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doktorvox's Friends Page
accomplished.
exhausted.