It’s a pretty dreary day, and the roads everywhere around the area are flooded. 

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SHARING
Kevin has an unusually personal post:
Like Prof B, I suffer from chronic depression, though, also like Prof B, it’s obviously not debilitating. It just sucks. And while I’m not sure what choices she’s made in her non-anonymous life, I chose long ago to mention this very seldom and to very few people. (If you’re not [...]

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DO THIS IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME
Some more on the Charlotte Rescue Mission, via the Ann-Margrock Fan Club. First, a recap:
Asking for forgiveness, the pastor of Central Church of God announced from the pulpit Sunday that the Charlotte church will continue supporting two ministries it had decided to quit helping.
The Rev. Loran Livingston, though, told [...]

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RAINY DAYS AND MONDAYS
I was feeling guilty this morning. It’s one of those days where I just couldn’t get it together: First, I couldn’t find the right case file and then I couldn’t find my tape recorder.
But my beloved boss just called me from the road, and he said if I wasn’t already out, I [...]

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OH NO
Another huge earthquake in the tsunami disaster area:
BANGKOK, Thailand Mar 28, 2005 — A large earthquake struck off Indonesia’s Sumatra Island in the Andaman Sea late Monday, and the U.S. Geological Survey said it was a major quake measuring a magnitude of 8.2.
Thai officials issued a warning of a possible tsunami, three months after [...]

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I found a CD with my old demos while I was going through some things last night. “All That’s Left” is a song I wrote some years back, but I can feel it as if it were yesterday.
A storm blew across across the sky last nightGot up to close the windowStayed up to watch [...]

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ON FREE SPEECH
Julia, who’s brilliant before she’s even had her coffee, has some cogent thoughts on the rumored FEC limits on blogs:
I very much doubt that the FEC is going to decide that individual political speech is going to be held to a more rigorous standard than corporate speech. Besides, if they do, we would [...]

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THIS IS A TEST
I’m trying to test AudioBlogger, which theoretically allows me to make audio posts from the phone while I’m on the road. I did two test posts and neither of them showed up - but knowing Blogger, they very well may still appear out of nowhere. So don’t be frightened if they do.

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BYE BYE RICKY
Alas, I don’t have a subscription to Roll Call. But the nice folks at the DSCC are nice enough to share:
Erasing any doubts that they will wage a protracted, scorched-earth campaign to win a Senate seat in Pennsylvania, Democrats and their allies wasted little time last week highlighting what they see as Sen. [...]

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BUSHCO FAMILY VALUES
Via Mac at Pesky Apostrophe:
The Bush administration has sided with businesses in considering the overhaul of 76 regulations, claiming that the changes will help ease the burden on US manufacturing firms. Among the possible changes are the regulations carrying out the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which allows eligible workers up to [...]

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EVERY SPERM IS SACRED
TBogg comments on the recent stories about pharmacists refusing to dispense birth control on “moral” grounds:
After reading the article you will notice that no mention is made of pharmacists declining to sell condoms, which are disposable gulags for pre-Fetus-Americans. And ribbed condoms? Forget it, Sparky. Sex is for babies, not for pleasure. [...]

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CULTURAL VANDALS
Just another Kellogg Brown & Root production:
The sterile term “collateral damage” justifiably brings to mind the human tragedy of war. But the devastating and wanton damage inflicted on the ancient city of Babylon by U.S.-led military forces gives another meaning to the term. In this case, we are witnessing violence against one of the [...]

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HELP HERE, NOW
For everyone’s who’s ever been touched by his seminal work, “Be Here Now,” Ram Dass could use some help right now. Via Wayne Dyer:
In 1997 Ram Dass was struck by a semi-paralyzing stroke and became wheelchair bound. Still he wrote of his adventure in a powerful book titled, Still Here. He continued to [...]

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RENEGING
Excellent piece in today’s WashPo about the effects of BushCo undermining the civil service:
New personnel regulations at the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense will dramatically change the way 860,000 workers there are paid, promoted, demoted and disciplined. The plan is to spread the changes throughout all the land of federal government. [...]

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GOD’S LOVE
Speaking of good Christians:
(Lansing, Michigan) Doctors or other health care providers could not be disciplined or sued if they refuse to treat gay patients under legislation passed Wednesday by the Michigan House.
The bill allows health care workers to refuse service to anyone on moral, ethical or religious grounds.
The Republican dominated House passed the [...]

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LAWLESSNESS
Bob Herbert:
No charges were ever filed against Mr. Ali, and he was eventually released. But what should be of paramount concern to Americans is this country’s precipitous and frightening descent into the hellish zone of lawlessness that the Bush administration, on the one hand, is trying to conceal and, on the other, is defending as [...]

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MUSICAL CHAIRS
One of the young relatives I saw this weekend is in IT. He told he he “feels kind of bad” because he serves on a committee that’s looking to outsource his company’s help desk.
“They’re probably moving it to Prague,” he said. “India’s becoming too expensive.”
And so the game of global musical chairs continues…

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SMOKE AND MIRRORS
Molding the facts to fit their version of reality:
Research commissioned by the tobacco conglomerate Philip Morris found that cot [crib] death was linked to passive smoking, fuelling the debate on banning smoking in public places as the dangers of “second-hand smoke” become increasingly irrefutable.
The draft report was later modified to say that the [...]

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THE JUDY MILLER SHOW
Live from L.A., Judy Miller has a meeting with journalism students:
In the ensuing 90-minute class, students asked about Miller’s career and sources. The question on weapons of mass destruction arose when instructor Tolan singled out an April 2003 story under the Judith Miller byline.
The piece said a U.S. search team had located [...]

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DOUBLE DUTY
Showing support for the troops:
But Sergeant Savage’s experience was not unusual. Though statistics are scarce, court records and interviews with military and civilian lawyers suggest that Americans heading off to war are sometimes facing distracting and demoralizing demands from financial companies trying to collect on obligations that, by law, they cannot enforce.
Some cases involve [...]

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SIGH
What would Jesus do?
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - A church has withdrawn its support for a food pantry serving the needy because the pantry works with Roman Catholics.
Central Church of God explained its decision in a letter March 1 from minister of evangelism Shannon Burton to Loaves & Fishes in Charlotte.
“As a Christian church, we feel it [...]

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ANOTHER MEDIA WHORE
Another one:
At the same time one of Florida’s most visible television reporters brought the news to viewers around the state, he earned hundreds of thousands of dollars on the side from the government agencies he covered.
Mike Vasilinda, a 30-year veteran of the Tallahassee press corps, does public relations work and provides film editing [...]

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JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR

Tell me what you thinkAbout your friends at the topNow who d’you think besides yourselfWas the pick of the crop?Buddah was he where it’s at?Is he where you are?Could Muhammmed move a mountainOr was that just PR?Did you mean to die like that?Was that a mistake orDid you know your messy deathWould be [...]

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GOOD DOG!
It’s payback time:
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Christian conservative leaders from scores of Ohio’s fastest growing churches are mounting a campaign to win control of local government posts and Republican organizations, starting with the 2006 governor’s race.
In a manifesto that is being circulated among church leaders and on the Internet, the group, which is called the [...]

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DETAILS
Apparently they weren’t telling us the full story:
WASHINGTON, March 26 - The episode has been retold so many times in the last three and a half years that it has become the stuff of political legend: in the frenzied days after Sept. 11, 2001, when some flights were still grounded, dozens of well-connected Saudis, including [...]

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DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DO
In Bush World, there are different rules for the rest of us:
When the man’s kidneys failed, the DeLay family decided against connecting him to a dialysis machine. “Extraordinary measures to prolong life were not initiated,” said his medical report, citing “agreement with the family’s wishes.” His bedside chart [...]

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WHAT I’M LISTENING TO: “I Want Love,” Elton John, Songs from the West Coast.

I want love but it’s impossibleA man like me so irresponsibleA man like me is dead in placesOther men feel liberated
I can’t love shot full of holesDon’t feel nothing, I just feel coldDon’t feel nothing, just old scarsToughening up around my heart
But [...]

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RITTER ON ‘GODLESS PARASITES’
RAW STORY interviews Scott Ritter:
Raw Story: Several insiders have expressed concern over possible oil shortage riots. Would the Patriot Act be put to use, in your opinion, to address such riots?
Ritter: [The Patriot Act] is simply the NeoCons putting their judicial agenda in place by other means. It was a compilation of [...]

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ON TECHNICAL SKILLS AND JOB SECURITY
From one of my techie readers:
You might find this interesting… Another example of what “red state” Ohio Bush supporters either don’t care about or are ignorant of…
A former colleague at NCR, an IT manager, just sent this article with the comment:
“I got a whopping 1% salary increase this year [...]

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THE PEEPS ATTACK
I can’t figure out how to play this, but it sure looks like fun.

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