RelentlesslyOptimistic

Knitting Fun: Ski Masks

The instructions are available on the site, if you want to knit this little monstrosity yourself. My birthday's in June, if you're so inspired, and need the lead time...

SWAPATORIUM: Ski Masks.
Found these ski masks in McCall's Needlework & Crafts Magazine from 1965. They are all a bit disturbing, but the little girl is just plain nightmarish.

Hate Less, Care More

From the good folks at Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, home of Fred Phelps, professional hate-monger, picketer of funerals, etc.

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Excuse me, I have to go wash my browser..
From Raw Print via Daily Kos

First They Came For The Communists....*

From Juan Cole

That the Revisionist-Zionist extremist Daniel Pipes has fond visions of rounding up Muslim Americans and putting them in concentration camps isn't a big surprise. That a mainstream American newspaper would publish this David-Dukeian evil is. Of course, this is also a man that President Bush appointed to a temporary vacancy at the United States Institute of Peace, after the Senate understandably balked at a regular appointment for him.

Pipes's little project requires him to attempt to justify the interment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. I hope Asian-Americans realize that a key wing of the Republican Party, i.e. the Neoconservatives, wishes them ill.

In typical neocon fashion, he attacks his opponents with his own fallacies. Sounding remarkably like a holocaust denier (after reading the editorial, you can just imagine him saying that "Hitler was misunderstood," can't you?), he calls liberals revisionists before they can accuse him of the same:

"In the United States, this intimidation results in large part from a revisionist interpretation of the evacuation, relocation and internment of ethnic Japanese during World War II."
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*To continue with the WWII era references that Mr. Pipes started:

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—
because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me—
and there was no one left to speak out for me.
--Martin Niemöller

Help Needed - Give Now

Update: The number killed is over 120,000. The scale of the disaster is hard to comprehend. I've seen a few people saying they'd wait to see where their contributions could make the most difference. The place your contribution can make the most difference is now. The more that can be done to decrease the risk of cholera, the more that can be done to stabilize infrastructure and societies, the less death and further devastation there will be in the long run. If you want to fight terrorism, give generously to help the victims of this disaster, and do it now.

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The recent earthquake and tsunami have resulted in at least 60,000 100,000 killed, and hundreds of thousands left homeless. Many of the people most affected live on less than $2 per day, and have no reserves to help themselves after this disaster. How much do you make each day? Help now, and help tomorrow too if you can.

A personal endorsement: Save The Children spends 90% of its funding on program services. If you work in the non-profit field, you know that's phenomenal, and that's where I sent my first contribution.

For other giving options, visit The Command Post, which has a constantly updated, huge list of organizations working on helping earthquake victims.

George Will On Democracy In Iraq

“Iraq is just three people away from democratic success. Unfortunately, the three are George Washington, James Madison, and John Marshall.”

Via The American Conservative

BobHarris on what $35 million will buy you

Bob Harris offers more perspective

What's $35 million?

The amount it takes to fix up one park in Pittsburgh.

It's exactly one new school in Montclair, New Jersey.

It's what Dick Cheney put in his own back pocket by ditching his Halliburton stock.

And it's one four-thousandth of what the U.S. has spent invading and occupying Iraq.

Or as Robert Silvey points out in the link below, "Or the cost of the Iraq war every 4 hours and 43 minutes."

Bob Harris has more - read the rest here.

Sound of one hand slapping forehead

from This Modern World by Tom Tomorrow

A Rush Limbaugh caller wants to know where all the foreign aid from other countries for America was during the Florida hurricanes.

OK all you Limbaugh listeners, try to follow along at home as I walk you through this. No matter what you've heard, the US is a very, very wealthy nation. The per capita income in the US is about $35,000. Hurricane Charley hit on Friday, August 13th. By Tuesday, August 17th, FEMA had already issued more than $2 million in checks for disaster relief. Ten days later President Bush asked Congress for $2 billion dollars for aid (he wasn't on vacation then, and its possible that the election had something to do with the amount). Since then the Small Business Administration alone has provided more than $1 billion to Florida businesses to fix hurricane damage.

Meanwhile, Malaysia's per capita income is $3,550, Thailand's is $2,000, Sri Lanka's is $850, India's is $450. The US poverty level for an individual with no children is just over $9,000.

To spell it out so that even Rush's most drug addled listeners can understand, even the poorest among us tend to make several times the average per capita income in the countries hit by the quake and tsunami. And it is tragic that some people lost their lives and their homes in the Florida hurricanes. Meanwhile at least 120,000 people were killed in Asia, and the extent of the damage will make it difficult for aid to reach those in need.

This disaster is much worse than the Florida hurricanes, even all four of them put together. Without the aid that we and other charitable people and governments provide, people will soon begin to starve to death or die of cholera and other diseases.

So lighten up, try to hate less and care more, like Jesus said.

Politics and Hope

This article serves to remind us that politics goes through cycles, and while things seem particularly bad now, the ascendancy of the idiotocracy will end. I gotta say, too, that it's encouraging to see that Joe McCarthy, the man who gave "witch hunt" a bad name, made the cover of Time Magazine. It makes this year's "Person of the Year" cover easier to take.

The Paranoid Style in American Politics By Richard Hofstadter,  Harper’s Magazine, November 1964, pp. 77-86.

"How can we account for our present situation unless we believe that men high in this government are concerting to deliver us to disaster? This must be the product of a great conspiracy on a scale so immense as to dwarf any previous such venture in the history of man. A conspiracy of infamy so black that, which it is finally exposed, its principals shall be forever deserving of the maledictions of all honest men.…What can be made of this unbroken series of decisions and acts contributing to the strategy of defeat? They cannot be attributed to incompetence.…The laws of probability would dictate that part of…[the] decisions would serve the country’s interest."

Senator [Joseph] McCarthy, speaking in June 1951 about the parlous [sic] situation of the United States.

Via Dave Does The Blog

CNN AP Knows What's Most Important: Tsunamis shatter celebrity holidays

CNN.com - Tsunamis shatter celebrity holidays - Dec 28, 2004

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- A German statesman, a Czech super model and a Swedish Olympic ski champion were among the vacationers whose search for peace and sun in tropical southern Asia was shattered by the tsunamis that spared neither rich nor poor.

Too pathetic for words. I didn't expect to need this category again so soon.

Update: It's an AP wire story, though so far only CNN has used that headline. As of 7:15 Central Time, Google finds 281 uses of the first paragraph. Most seem to use some variation of "Celebrities Among Victims of Tsunami."

Maybe there is a positive side to this. Maybe those who live vicariously through TV will better grasp the extent of the disaster, and be moved to help.

From Geek Life via Sparkwood & 21

Actions speak louder than words: Compassionate conservatism? Christian charity? Pure selfishness?

"Actions speak louder than words," a top Bush aide said after criticism for pathetic response to tsunami tragedy

Talking Points Memo: President's latest response to the tsunami tragedy: badmouth Bill Clinton. 

From the Post ...
"a White House official said: "The president wanted to be fully briefed on our efforts. He didn't want to make a symbolic statement about 'We feel your pain.' "
Many Bush aides believe Clinton was too quick to head for the cameras to hold forth on tragedies with his trademark empathy. "Actions speak louder than words," a top Bush aide said, describing the president's view of his appropriate role.

Actions speak louder than words: stay on vacation, don't make any public statement, and commit a paltry $15 million to aid. When criticized, get defensive, add $20 million (still less than the expected cost of the inaugaration), and slam Clinton.

So what lesson exactly are we supposed to draw from those actions? Is this  compassionate conservatism? Christian charity? A reflection of pure selfishness? Hmmnn.....

I had to add a new category for this one.

Stingy, the 8th Dwarf

Some Excerpts from Robert Silvey in Rubicon: Stingy, the 8th Dwarf.

[Affected countries] need help from developed countries, as CNN reports:
[Jan] Egeland, the UN's undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief...went so far as to call the U.S. government and others "stingy" on foreign aid in general.

The US had pledged $15 million in aid when Egeland spoke, and his remarks shamed the Bush administration into adding $20 million more.

The State Department places the US last among all developed countries in donations of foreign aid as a proportion of Gross National Income (GNI).

Thirty-five million is the price of about 20 average homes in La Jolla, California. Or the annual income of 5 CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. Or the cost of the Iraq war every 4 hours and 43 minutes.

Here's one more comparison. The inauguration of George W. Bush will cost about $40 million, which is $5 million more than the total US donation to assist millions of destitute victims of the great earthquake and tsunami.

From First Draft via Bob Harris

Schools Replace Milk Cartons With Bottles

I'm surprised that this took so long. At least one company was trying to sell this idea back in 1995-96, when we were trying to help the KCK school district to implement recycling. It should make recycling in schools easier, assuming the bottles are HDPE.

The New York Times > AP > National > Schools Replace Milk Cartons With Bottles.

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Of course, there's always this option:

Pa. School District Implements Refillable Plastic Bottle Program

May  1, 1994 12:00 PM
WORLD WASTES STAFF
Perkasie, Pa. - Refillable plastic milk bottles reportedly have saved the Pennridge School District, Bucks County, Pa., $5,200 in collection fees while cutting lunchroom trash by 60 percent.

In September 1992, the school district replaced its lunchroom milk cartons with refillable eight-ounce plastic milk bottles. All 11 schools in the district use the bottles.

 

MISINFORMER OF THE YEAR

MISINFORMER OF THE YEAR
 

Of all the news anchors, columnists, pundits, and reporters whose work we've critiqued and corrected, one stands above all the rest. We're pleased to announce that with at least 75 (we stopped counting) lies, distortions, and mischaracterizations, television host, columnist, radio host, former Inside Edition anchor, man of the people, and Harvard University graduate Bill O'Reilly can now claim the title: 2004 Misinformer of the Year.

1. O'Reilly falsely claimed Bush didn't oppose 9-11 Commission.
2. O'Reilly falsely claimed Iraq had ricin.
3. O'Reilly repeated discredited claims on Iraq-Al Qaeda link.
4. O'Reilly fabricated "Paris Business Review" as source for success of French boycott.
5. O'Reilly cited phony stats to argue that taxes on rich are excessive.
6. O'Reilly confused on elementary economics.
7. O'Reilly doctored quotation to suggest Soros wished his own father dead.
8. O'Reilly questioned if Kennedy would show up to Democratic convention ... as Kennedy spoke behind him.
9. O'Reilly disparaged Democrats with trifecta of voter falsehoods.
10. O'Reilly on the radio: Three lies, one broadcast. (7/7/04)

Via The Sideshow

Musician's Urinal

Via: A Welsh View: A Musician's Toilet.

Big Box Conversions

How Communities Are Re-Using the Big Box

"Big Box" stores, like Wal-Mart, Home Depot, etc., are centrally located, with easy automobile access, and lots of parking. Communities are experimenting with ways to use closed stores, and artist Julia Christensen has compiled a presentation on the creative uses, everything from schools and churches to a Spam Museum.

 Via Treehugger