Wednesday Quickie

Allow me to whine about not having any time to write. I haven’t posted here for over two weeks. I’m, check that, I have always been a faithful journal writer and haven’t even opened my journal in over two weeks. This weekend I have a dinner party on Thursday evening and then I plan to spend my weekend at home and sit here for several hours updating this blog. There are more pix I’ve wanted to add to my albums. I deleted my lists several weeks ago because I wanted to re-do them and haven’t had the time to do that, either.
I just wanted to do a quick post because there are several links to very good stories that I’ve been accumulating and I want to post them before they’ve expired. The first one is about Google. I prefer Google, using them for blogging, my email and my photo albums. Here’s a link to a posting on new personalized tools available at Google.

Google Expands Personalization With iGoogle
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070501/tc_nm/google_personalization_dc_2

I haven’t explored the iGoogle options yet because of time constraints, but am hoping to check this out this weekend.

Apes May Lead to Origin of Languages: Researchers
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070501/sc_nm/apes_language_dc_4

As most of you know I teach a foreign language and this is an interesting piece on the possible origins of languages.

Last Refuge of the Scoundrel by Gary Kamiya
http://www.salon.com/opinion/kamiya/2007/05/01/bush_defeatists/

This guy is one of my favorite journalists and I always look for his pieces at Salon. This one concerns the labeling of Democrats as defeatists because of their growing opposition to the Iraqi debacle. Check it out.

Mission Accomplished Speech
http://www.salon.com/news/primary_sources/2007/05/01/mission_accomplished/

This is great. Read this. This is the verbatim transcript of the monkey’s Mission Accomplished speech after he swooped down on the aircraft carrier and he stood before a banner announcing Mission Accomplished which was of course put up without Karl Rove’s knowledge.

A Tale of Two Horrors by Gary Kamiya
http://www.salon.com/opinion/kamiya/2007/04/24/virginia_tech/

This is a very, very powerful piece on the Virginia Tech massacre and the reaction to the loss of life. It brilliantly and movingly compares that reaction to our increasing numbness to the deaths of thousands of Iraqis for whom we have no names. It speaks to a loss of humanity. Just read it.

Bill Moyers
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/btw/watch.html

I don’t have access to American PBS so I haven't seen Moyers new series. Evidently he has returned with a new program and one of the first episode dealt with the complete and utter failure of the American press to objectively report on the lead-up to the war in Iraq. This article offers some background on that episode. Basically, as you know, the Bush junta fed the American press the information and they fed it back to the American people, few if any questions asked. Your press failed you.

Bush’s Favorite Historian by Gary Kamiya
http://www.salon.com/opinion/kamiya/2007/05/08/alistair_horne/

This is a very interesting interview with the British historian who has been a favorite of leaders from Bush to Pinochet to Sharon, some of the great butchers of our time. He is a very interesting read and I’m going to look for his books on my next trip to the book store. Evidently his most famous book is one on the Algerian war for independence from the French.

The Bush Beat by Glen Harkavy
http://villagevoice.com/blogs/bushbeat/archive/2007/05/cruel_and_usual.php

This blog was a great read on the Village Voice and then it was abruptly dropped when they went through some management changes. Well, it’s back now and it’s just as good as ever. The above link takes you to his posting on Israeli torture of Palestinians. It’s eye-opening. Bookmark his blog because he’s good.

Lou Dobbs A Call to the Faithful
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/05/08/Dobbs.May9/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Lou Dobbs writes about the dangers in the ever blurring lines of separation between church and state. It’s been an obviously growing danger for years and I think Dobbs just jumped on it now because he pissed off the religious hypocrites and they’ve gone after him. It’s still a good read.

Well, that’s it. Maybe part of the reason that I don’t have the time to write is that I read too much. Anyway, it’s time to make a before-dinner drink and then cook it and eat it. The usual. Cheers. More later.