Current Events

Being the good guy

How do you know if you’re the good guy? Why is it important to be the good guy? I cringe every time I hear the White House Press Secretary proclaim, “we don’t torture.” It gets said over and over again, and I wonder if it’s like the politician who starts sentences with “honestly…,” or “quite frankly….” I think it’s sad that we…
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Important StuffPolitics

Science according to Bush

I’ve heard time and again about the White House censoring government reports to fit their view of the world, so I shouldn’t be surprised by this… Dr. Julie Gerberding is the director of the CDC, and she was in front of Congress to give testimony about the potential impact of global warming on our health. According to the AP, her testimony focused on the CDC’s action…
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BicyclingWellbeing

Finding my hidden bicyclist

On an intellectual level, I knew that going ten months without exercise (of any kind) would have an effect on my body. Yesterday I did twenty minutes on the rollers* in a low gear (with both resistance units removed), and I just about died. I was dizzy, my legs were reduced to two pillars of Jell-o, and my heart wanted out in a big way. I thought I was starting out slow, but maybe I need to…
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Current Events

"I apologize, but I'm not sorry"

BBC NEWS – US lawmakers’ apology to Canadian: “On behalf of my fellow citizens I want to apologise to you, Mr Arar, for the reprehensible conduct of our government for kidnapping you, for turning you over to Syria – a nation that our own state department recognises as routinely practising torture. This conduct does not reflect the values of the American people,” he…
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PoliticsSoapbox

Why is S-CHIP an issue?

An op-ed in the NYT discusses the big argument against expanding S-CHIP: that parents will drop private coverage in favor of S-CHIP (or substitution). An Overblown Fear About S-Chip – New York Times: New York estimates that only about 3 percent of the children enrolled in the program came from families that dropped employer coverage to obtain S-chip. Mathematica Policy Research, in a report…
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BethFamily and Friends

A great day

Do you know why today was a great day? It wasn’t because we did anything special, like go to an amusement park, or turn in a winning lottery ticket. It wasn’t because we went to another birthday party today (although that was a nice reason to leave the house for a couple hours). It wasn’t even because my head finally stopped hurting this evening (although it did, and it was a…
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Politics

Who Will Succeed Al Gore? - New York Times

I’m glad the NY Times did away with “Times Select.” I missed reading Thomas Friedman every week. It wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I learned that I could read full articles on Salon (without some kind of subscription) again. A few years back both Salon and The New Republic started charging, and I decided I’d pay for one… which ended up being TNR. Then came…
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