I know, I know -- I've read your emails. It's all the same -- whither the shoe blogging? At first, the concern, the questions. But then the love so quickly turns to hate; the thrill of surprise turns into the tyranny of expectation. I do understand.

But I'd grown weary of pillaging the net for photos. Morose rummaging through my own closet. Clearly, I needed to seek inspiration. To take action. I needed to drag this blog to the cutting edge and be willing to bleed for it.

This I have now done. Follow me over the jump as we traipse from pancakes to Prada into the darkest heart of consumer America.

If hindsight was 20-20, they should have thought about the repercussions. The biggest mistake was going into Iraq in the first place, you know what I mean? Somebody really should of thought about that in advance - what kind of mistake it was going to be - before they went ahead and did it. If they would have known there was going to be repercussions, then they could of just stayed out. But I guess 20-20 hindsight is pretty good usually.

Is that the latest People? You done with it? I wish they'd turn the volume up, you can barely hear Wolf with all this noise. Nah, I don't want to move. It'll just be more bad news anyway.

I guess everybody agrees it was a mistake now. Wish we could rewind that tape and do it over. Do it right this time, though, without all the mistakes and things. But who could of known Iraq would get all messed up? I think Bush had bad advice, that's all.

Somebody should of told him, yeah that's my bag. Somebody should of told him it was a mistake ta, y'know, send troops overseas, keep your eye on Osama. Wish somebody had told us at the time it would of been a mistake. Then we wouldn't be in the mess we're in now, I guess.

Can someone out there explain to me what it is with Christians? Don't get me wrong. Some of my best friends say they are Christians. And let me also tell you that I have spent plenty of time in Baptist services and can still sing from memory those standard hymns. And I know people who talk of the Judeo-Christian tradition, but let me tell you it wholly misunderstands the Judeo part of that supposed pairing.

It would be hard to exaggerate the importance of the Supreme Court ruling today in the Hamdan case. The Court invalidated the use of military tribunals in Guantanamo, by means of which Bush & Co. had hoped to keep these prisoners beyond the reach of pesky things like normal rules of evidence and procedure.

But that is just one aspect of this sweeping decision. More fundamentally, the Court ruled that the President’s executive powers are limited even during wartime by statute and treaties; that the Authorization of the Use of Military Force (2001) did not necessarily vest the President with broad new powers neither stated nor envisioned; that unless Congress says otherwise, the President is bound by international treaties on waging war; and that in particular Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, the minimum or baseline protection prohibiting cruel or demeaning treatment of prisoners, applies also to captives picked up during operations against al Qaeda.

Altogether, this ruling implies some striking things. It means, at a minimum, that the ‘harsh’ interrogation techniques that the US has been using are illegal. In fact, they ought to be classed as a war crime. The ruling may also imply, by rejecting unlimited Executive aggrandizement based upon the AUMF, that the President’s warrantless domestic spying programs would be found to be illegal. When the program was exposed, the only semi-rational justification that Bush Co. advanced was based upon AUMF.

In other words, Bush struck out today.

June is Torture Awareness Month. This essay was written by Mash of Bloggers Against Torture and posted to Unbossed with permission. -- Avila--

[On Sunday, June 25] . . . . I attended a teach-in at the Georgetown University Law Center on Torture and Extraordinary Rendition. The panelists discussed the issue of torture, current torture cases, and pending legislation that will attempt to stop the Bush Administration from torturing. There were many legal, constitutional, and practical arguments put forth as to why torture should not be practiced. However, one argument stood out amongst all the rest. That argument was made by Nora Mislem - a woman, a mother, a torture survivor. In this post I want to tell you her story as best as I can convey with written words. Her story is her argument against torture.

Want a labor perspective on your news. Here is one minute broadcast of today's headlines you will not be hearing anywhere else.

You can also hear the National Vice-President for Women’s and Fair Practices of the American Federation of Government Employee's (AFGE) Andrea E. Brooks discuss the Administation's attack on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

When the excellent bloggers at Unbossed.com asked me to join their team, the second question that came up was who I am and how do I define my writing? (I can’t get any mileage at the moment out of the first question - what my pseudonym means – so I’ll leave it to one side.) My immediate response, “a regular, old-fashioned bitch on wheels,” doesn’t seem entirely adequate, after further reflection.

What I really am is proud of the American democratic tradition, and indignant at what our nation has become under the stewardship of George W. Bush. The news media had little time for the concerns of people like me, so I was drawn to communicate them on line.

For my inaugural post at Unbossed, I chose a topic that really ought to make anybody indignant. The Pentagon (yeah, them again) created a small unit three years ago to find solutions to the roadside bombs in Iraq. That budget has exploded and defense contractors are making a killing. But the IED problem is no closer to being solved.

She's 11 years old. I've never tried to talk with her in detail about detention or torture. I didn't know how. I do know that she cries when she hears "sad" music at ballet or sees an injured animal in a movie.

This weekend, an estimated 20,000 (and possibly up to 60,000) "non-members" of the Rainbow Family of Living Light will descend on Routt National Forest near Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

In an annual rite of tribal gathering to pay homage to the Earth, one of their non-leaders apparently thought it was a good idea to invite the entire population of a small city to camp in a drought-threatened park in a region where 592 fires have burned over 143,000 acres since January.

Dude! Put down the patchouli incense pot and THINK!

First, a new report published by the International Labor Organization (ILO) finds that in the industrialized world working hours are increasingly unpredictable.

Coloradoans beware! There are traitors in our midst!

Their names are Wayne Allard and Ken Salazar. They are U.S. Senators.

Written by Betsy Angert of Be-Think and posted with permission. Many thanks to the author for sharing this thought-provoking essay with Unbossed readers. -- Avila

On the morning of June 21, I awoke to news that I wish I had known earlier. June 20, 2006, was World Refugee Day. I found my own lack of awareness for the date troubling. I pondered further; I wondered of our collective consciousness.

Nurses' working conditions have been complaining about their working conditions, including the pay. As a result nurses are leaving nursing, and nurses have been in short supply in recent years. According to the Boston Globe, "Demand for full-time registered nurses exceeds supply by nearly 170,000 nurses this year, according to the American Hospital Association. That shortfall is expected to widen to more than 1 million by 2020, the trade group estimates."

A recent report by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research says, Solving the Nursing Shortage through Higher Wages. The report seconds what should happen through the magic of the market the administration so often touts. When there is a shortage, the market should increase pay and make working conditions better . . . and more people would want to become nurses or return to nursing.

Unless there is a conspiracy to depress wages.

While the news of Warren Buffett's announcement to make a large philanthropic gift to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is making headlines, the lesser publicized decision of a trail-blazing liberal benefactor has the potential for even greater global influence.

Remember Medicare and the push to shoo seniors onto its drug prescription plans? Shoo? Actually drive them like cattle into a box canyon with the brush set on fire behind them. A new report helps explain why.

YOU DID IT!!

PROOF THAT YOUR VOICE COUNTS!!  

Thanks to the massive public outcry in support of the Valle Vidal Protection Act (HB3817), Rep. Tom Udall, champion of the Valle Vidal from day one, has been able to move the bill out of committee and onto the floor of the House of Representatives.  At the same time Rep. Heather Wilson has decided to co-sponsor the Valle Vidal Protection Act and Rep. Steve Pearce has voiced his support for the bill.  In a further step forward, New Mexico Attorney General Patricia Madrid has reiterated her  long-time support for protecting the Valle Vidal in any way she can.  Media stories on these victories can be found at the following links:

http://www.abqjournal.com/...

http://www.freenewmexican.com/...

http://taosnews.com/...

http://www.madridforcongress.com/...

THIS IS NOT THE END.  THERE IS MORE TO DO!

Yesterday M.Suskind dissected the silence being imposed on us all. Today on Daily Kos a gnostic points out that at the same time the admnistration was pursuing victory through a campaign of tarring those asking for an exit strategy with the phrase "cut and runners" the administration was actually cutting and strolling out of Iraq. In fact, this has been going on for a long time - the language of "staying the course" coupled with trying to leave in the dead of night.

So did the press point this major inconsistency out?

OK, almost all. Life wasn't necessarily that great even 450,000 years before Karl Rove was a gleam in his daddy's eye. But if you want to see a pretty neat site about a cave where homo erectus lived as long ago as 700,000 years ago, this is really it. Tools, comments by homo erectus hunters in their native tongue, hoofbeats of the hunted animals [turn on your volume], hunting scenes, geological details, panoramic camara views. Nice music, too. I'm sure it is completely authentic H.E. chanting. You can view the site in its native French or in English or Spanish.

You have the right to remain silent... your Miranda rights, should you be a US citizen under arrest.

Then again, silence may be imposed on you.... i.e. if you are outed by a malicious troll you may lose your right to post anonymously on the web.

Silence may be imposed on you because you are a "company man" or a "company woman." You may have signed a loyalty oath. You may be under a gag order. You may be prevented talking about research, or products under development.

You may be a gagged whistleblower whose protections of free speech have been withdrawn by a corrupt regime. (See: National Security Agency Whistleblower Warns: Domestic Spying Program a Sign the US Decaying Into a "Police State"

Written by diarist HoundDog and posted to Unbossed with permission. --Avila--

Simon Jenkins of the UK Times Online offers a grim assessment of developments in Afghanistan saying 80% of the country is no longer under control and predicts disaster unless the West is willing to put 120,000 new troops into Afghanistan.

Under the Afghan sun, a dark new reality is taking shape

Overheard at the drug store:

I WANT SOMETHING TO BUY!!!!!!!!!

I'd guess that America's proud, and apparently not so discerning, little consumer was about six-years-old. What does that say about American culture that this kid didn't want a car or a ball or a game?

* based on A Taxonomy of Consumer Motives through Preferred Brand Personality : Empirical Findings for 11 Countries.

Thanks to a new set of recommendations in Consumer Reports, tuna’s mercury levels are back in the news. If you’re pregnant (or perhaps even “pre-pregnant”), here’s one more dilemma to add to your list.

For several years, pregnant women and children have been cautioned against eating fish with high levels of mercury, because mercury can harm developing nervous systems. In 2004, the FDA and EPA issued a recommendation advising pregnant women to eat no more than 12 ounces per week of several low-mercury types of fish, including canned light tuna. Now, the July issue of Consumer Reports cautions pregnant women not to eat canned light tuna at all, because tests show that some light-tuna samples contain higher mercury levels.

Close your eyes. Metaphorically, because I want you to keep reading. I am now going to say one word: "Dog". Now tell me what image is in your mind. Is it Barkley, the cute bichon frise from down the hall? Or Killer, the canary island mastiff, the vicious breed that attacked Diane Whipple? Whatever it is, you have an image that comes to mind when someone says dog, and each of us has a different image. They vary so widely that it is almost hard to believe that they are all conjured up by the word "dog".

So what do you do if you want to replace the image of Killer with that of Barkley?

As it goes with dogs, so it goes with all issues political.Gay marriage, abortion, contraception, national health care, welfare, and all the other divisive issues. How do we talk across these visceral imbedded images and be heard?

Author Eric Maria Remarque was born today—June 22, 1898. His most famous novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, is a horrifying account of war and its physical and psychological victims.

Monday, June 26 is the International Day Against Torture.

When Arab And Islamic Media Denounce Guantanamo Human Rights Violations, that just redefines paradigm shift to me.  Being condemned by two of the world's perennial violators of human rights is so incredibly shameful it makes me sick.   Knowing they are absolutely correct in their denunciation stings even more. It gets worse, though . . . . every single day that the Seventh Circle of Hell, Caribbean-style, continues to exist is another layer of our ongoing national disgrace.

Frist things, Frist. I mean First. I mean that Frist's things come first.

I mean that through disasters, such as Katrina, and the disaster that is our Iraq policy, Bill Frist is focused like a laser on getting the estate tax repealed.

It's like that kids' game where you hit the critter on the head and another one pops up. It's like the undead that are killed and come back to life. Here are recent stories from Forbes, Fox, and USA Today.

By Michael Suskind
June 18, 2006

Are you now, or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?

This is the question that I heard as a litany in my childhood. One by one I watched people of great integrity being nailed on this and other questions. They were given a choice, to out their friends, or lose their ability to live and work in the United States.

CALL REP. HEATHER WILSON RIGHT NOW!!!

505-346-6781

The Valle Vidal Protection Act (HB 3817) is on the move!!  This morning, our bill passed out of committee and moved the the floor of the House of Representatives.

THIS MEANS that Rep. Heather Wilson has ONE DAY to sign onto the bill as a co-sponsor.  ONE DAY.  If she does not sign on tomorrow a huge opportunity will have been lost.

What are you and/or your community doing to prepare for the the coming energy price spike?

Energy is FINALLY the issue of the day.  FINALLY!!!  In our daily battle against the El Paso Corporation, lots of information comes my way.  I'd like to continue sharing it with you all. All of these articles appeared within the last 10 days.

Please note that some of the commentary and analysis is not my own (clearly, the most brilliant and insightful observations are indeed my own) but comes, rather, from informed and trusted allies. Once again, thank you to BB, JA, JG, ML, ESG, Jill, Jen, Steve and others.

While we find more and more Republican Latinos in the U.S., there is an unfounded myth out there that Catholicism naturally draws Latinos away from the Democratic Party and into the Republican Party. I'm here to contest this myth, at least from a Mexican perspective.

This is via Daily Kos diarist kidneystones and used with permission.

When are progressives going to start talking about the stupifying number of corpses that continue to pile up around the world? Maybe when we realize that paralysis, not indifference, is the only real obstacle preventing us from saving millions of lives.

Despair is not an option; it's a form of self-indulgence.

I'm in travel mode, so today there are just a couple science links. Back next week.

First, not exactly the Book of Wurms or wyrms, but how about the website of worms? If c. elegans is your worm, this site is for you.

With many thanks to Suskind at Drawing The Line for permission to post his analysis of opposition research: The First Amendment on trial, excerpts of real online anti-anonymity lawsuits and a call for support of the Online Integrity Statement and Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Recently we have seen another case of internet outing motivated in bad faith, with intention to do harm, and to undermine the political process. There is a struggle being fought to protect online anonymity, and it is tied to the struggle to fight against the invasions of privacy by the government via the telecommunications companies that have obliged the current administration's National Security Agency.

The short answer? Hepatitis E, typhoid, dysentery and cholera, which have doubled between August 2002, before the US-led invasion, and a year later. So reported the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), a UN agency tasked with coordinating responses to severe humanitarian crises. Seventy percent of all children's sicknesses are linked to contaminated water, the report adds.

The Tigris River water is a concentrated cocktail of pesticides, fertilizers, oil, gasoline and heavy metals, reports Dr. Husni Mohammed, an Iraqi who holds a PhD in Environmental and Biological Science and has researched the condition of the Tigris.

perro amarillo stands in solidarity with the schoolteachers of Oaxaca and their struggle for human dignity against the Mexican government. Perro's photographs of the demonstration bring a clear and poignant message of standing up for democracy in this beautifully written and inspiring story. Many thanks to perro for his permission to post this to Unbossed. --Avila

No matter how hip I think I look, in my jeans and sandals, she spotted me for a tourist and stepped out of the march to explain what was going on. She spoke little English but her statement was as concise and accurate as could be. Tears welled up in my eyes.

"Yo se," I replied. "Soy muy simpatico."

Remember last summer’s G8 summit at Gleneagles, Scotland? Bono, Bob Geldorf, and others hosted a massive concert beforehand to call for global poverty alleviation, while scientists and environmentalists pushed for worldwide action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The summit yielded promises from G8 leaders on aid, trade, debt, and climate change -- though, as Izzy warned us, there were reasons to be wary of conditions attached to aid and debt relief packages.

Eleven months later, advocates and scientists are reminding G8 leaders of their commitments to address poverty and climate change as they prepare for the 2006 G8 summit in St. Petersburg next month.

Most of us includes those of us who work for a living. The working class, the workers. This is not a long post, but I want to draw your attention to Workers Independent News.

They produce radio shows, podcasts, and other content that has a worker (i.e. our) point of view as opposed to a corporate point of view. They are being truly creative- for example, lacing spots on hip-hop stations and producing content through barter relations. It's an easy site to navigate around.

So I leave you to go play.

And support them.

I'm channeling Ms. Manners today. Sorry. Notice how polite that apology was?

Few things are harder than knowing what to say to someone who has suffered a death of someone close to them. It's so difficult that my observation is that most of us avoid it like the, er, plague. Probably a bad analogy.

I was in that number until I had a death in the family. Most people said nothing. Not a word. It was so painful to have no acknowledgement. And when people said something, I was so touched and grateful.

So now I've changed my ways. What is needed is so little, so easy, and so meaningful, so community building, so human. So here's the inside scoop.

On Saturday, georgia10 at DailyKos posted an interesting essay on Joe Lieberman's re-election bid—CT-Sen: Lieberman Refuses (Again) To Rule Out An Independent Run .

The money quote:

For all the buzz about how bloggers are transforming politics, and they most assuredly are, the movement so far has measured its successes in men like Jeff Seeman and Paul Hackett, Ohio congressional candidates who used the Web to compete well in 2004 and 2005 - and then lost.

"I'm heartened by that record," Lieberman said Friday, smiling.

As usual, there was much gnashing of teeth in the blogosphere about Sen. Lieberman's remarks. However, there's some important missing context to this story that actually heartens me.

Joe, you're toast and let me tell you why.

This past week, I cried in public. I cried surrounded by photos and stories of truly beautiful women, men, and familites, but mostly of women. These were the sorts photos you would find in ads featuring executives or strong loving families.

But these were the photos of people who had been on welfare and were grateful that welfare had been there for them.

Yes. Indeed.

Thank God

I'm saved!

“My daughter, who was two years old at the time of the hydraulic fracturing would vomit every night when she would get out of the bath tub upon going to bed…”
- Thomas McKenzie, Repton, Alabama

So, you think that natural gas is a ‘clean fuel’? Well, think again. In fact, it may be killing you right now.

This morning I described the different points of air, soil and water contamination that occur during drilling and production. I also discussed some of the toxins associated with the natural gas industry and the effects they have on the human body. In Part II, we will look at the actual, on the ground impacts many families are encountering at the hands of this unregulated industry.

As natural gas drilling explodes around the western United States, very few people seem to be asking: what are the potential public health issues associated with this new form of industrialization? Will this industry result in a host of multi-generational diseases and health afflictions unparallel in American history?

An awesome and dangerous experiment is being enacted on the American people without a hint of discussion, forewarning or consideration. A toxic stew is being deliberately injected into our air, drinking water and blood streams without our knowledge or consent. We are all at risk.

So, you think that natural gas is a ‘clean fuel’? Well, think again. In fact, it may be killing you right now.

As natural gas drilling explodes around the western United States, very few people seem to be asking: what are the potential public health issues associated with this new form of industrialization? This is part one of a two-part series on the health effects of natural gas drilling in the United States and what that means to the families who are increasingly in the path of this monstrous and unstudied enterprise. What will be the effects of natural gas drilling on our collective health? What will this mean for our health care system in the near future?

Will this industry result in a host of multi-generational diseases and health afflictions unparallel in American history?

Yes. An awesome and dangerous experiment is being enacted on the American people without a hint of discussion, forewarning or consideration. A toxic stew is being deliberately injected into our air, drinking water and blood streams without our knowledge or consent. We are all at risk.

In Part I, I will describe the different points of air, soil and water contamination that occur during drilling and production. Then I will discuss some of the toxins associated with this industry and the effects they have on the human body. This afternoon, in Part II, I will describe the actual, on the ground impacts many families are encountering at the hands of this largely unregulated industry.

"I feel like an alien, like I don't fit into my own environment. It's frightening," says Haire, 55, tears filling her pale slate eyes as she looks through her living room window out on her back fields. "It's horrifying what's happening here. The changes that have happened in the past 18 months are so dramatic. It's just a nightmare."

This blogger-defiled sign outside the NSA conference being held simultaneously at the Riviera Hotel pretty much sums it all up.

For those of us who have seen An Inconvenient Truth or one of Al Gore's lectures on the subject, we have to be concerned about how our stressed environment will provide food.

Take a look at Plant Stress.

More news and analysis by Danny K on 1st Lt. Ehren Watada, who refused deployment to Iraq on June 7, 2006.

While I sit and type these words a brutal war wages in Iraq, where American troops and an insurgency hell bent on mayhem and destruction play hide and seek and whack-a-mole, trading massacres with retribution, and retribution with massacres.

Meanwhile half a world away, in a military camp in Washington state, a young lieutenant sits waiting his punishment, having announced his refusal to be deployed at the end of the month to the hell-on-earth chaos of the Mosul neighborhoods.

WorldCantWait examines the CDC's policies toward women and a new report promoting selective sanctity of life and anti-abortion policies. Many thanks to WorldCantWait for permission to share this excellent essay with Unbossed readers.

Not planning on getting pregnant? The Center for Disease Control (CDC) doesn't care. As far as they are concerned, if you are one of the 62 million women in the U.S. of childbearing age, you are pre-pregnant. A vessel. You are a future fetal incubator.

And, according to the CDC, the medical establishment, government, media and cultural crusaders should join in enforcing this state of pregnancy preparedness on you.

The short answer? Hepatitis E, typhoid, dysentery and cholera, which have doubled between August 2002, before the US-led invasion, and a year later. So reported the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), a UN agency tasked with coordinating responses to severe humanitarian crises. Seventy percent of all children's sicknesses are linked to contaminated water, the report adds.

The Tigris River water is a concentrated cocktail of pesticides, fertilizers, oil, gasoline and heavy metals, reports Dr. Husni Mohammed, an Iraqi who holds a PhD in Environmental and Biological Science and has researched the condition of the Tigris.

Civil war.

Yet we don't hear it described as such in the corporate media, nor from the Bushco administration. Their propaganda insists that Iraq is not yet in a civil war.

What does real conscientious objection mean? Lt. Watada has taken a stand against a war he considers unlawful. Original content by Daniel K; Many thanks for his permission to share real citizen journalism with our Unbossed readers.

On June 7, 2006, I posted the news that a Fort Lewis soldier is poised to become the first U.S. military officer to publicly refuse to deploy to Iraq. I also posted this in my very first diary entry at Daily Kos
here.

Last night, I had the fortune to attend a gala honoring one of my heroes, Chilean President Michele Bachelet. The theme of the dinner, which was hosted by The White House Project and the Chilean Embassy, was “a Celebration of Women’s Leadership,” and the vibe in the venue was indeed a celebratory one.

This could be a cool site - The People's Archive.

Its purpose is to film "for posterity the life stories of the great thinkers, creators, and achievers of our time. The people whose stories you watch on this site are leaders of their field, whose work has influenced and changed our world as we know it."

There's just one thing missing . . . see if you notice it.

That gentle roar you may have heard on Monday afternoon didn't come from Denver's new High-Occupany Toll Lanes (HOT) that opened to little fanfare and which were quickly dubbed Lexus Lanes.

It was actually a celebration by thousands of residents, activists, and bloggers upon hearing that Governor Owens signed HB-1003--Requirements for Private Toll Roads [link to PDF].

The culmination of Unbossed's Roads Scholars series and concerned citizens mobilized by Stupid Slab and Front Range Toll Road Warriors resulted in Colorado House Transportation and Energy Committee Chair Rep. Jack Pommer working to better regulate private toll roads.

Unfortunately, with the good news comes some bad, some weird, and some frustrating.

Energy seems to be the issue of the day.  FINALLY!!!  In my daily battle against the El Paso Corporation, lots of information comes my way.  I'd like to continue sharing it with you all.

Once again, that you to BB, JA, ML, Jill, Steve and others.

To follow up on AvilaAvila's post from yesterday, take a look below. What percentage now apply?

On the December 19 edition of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight, guest host Kitty Pilgrim claimed that Democratic criticism of President Bush's controversial decision to authorize wiretaps of American citizens without warrants is "a fairly risky move given that any day there could be another attack."

Pilgrim's comment came during a discussion with Wall Street Journal columnist John Fund, CNN senior analyst Jeff Greenfield, and CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin.

PILGRIM: And it certainly seems like a clear stand against the president on terror, a fairly risky move given that any day there could be another attack.

Yesterday's post about banning .edu domains from access to defense information may reflect the battle over freedom of inquiry now playing out in Pennsylvania. The concern isn't about schools like Grove City College and its narrow range of views.

No, this is a project of conservative faux academic groups (examples here) that says academics are forcing their students to sign on to the liberal-feminist agenda and making conservative students so uncomfortable they cannot get a decent education.

Pennsylvania legislators have been and are now holding hearings to impose restrictions on classroom discussion.

I've had an ongoing love affair with Anne Lamott's writing guides for several years.

Whenever I feel overwhelmed by current events and the latest misadventures of the crooks, thieves, and miscreants inhabiting the White House, I am reminded of her father's advice: "Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird."

Imagine my joy upon revisiting Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life when I came across a passage that is surely the daVinci code of liberally blogging.

Yawn! So what's new, you may ask. DSS (Defense Security Service) also decided that anyone with a .com domain can come on over and check things out. But faculty, students, anyone from higher education: there is a big keep out sign up. I haven't checked it out myself, but I recall word that www . whitehouse . com is a porn site. They get access. Anyone from www.umich.edu is barred, banned, persona non grata.

You’ve probably already heard about the “birth tax” concept –- the idea that each US child born today will have to shell out $28,000 just to pay off our country’s debt. And, of course, there’s the whole global warming thing. Recent studies in Canada and the US also highlight another problem we’re handing off to the next generation. In this case, it’s our children’s bodies that bear the burden.

And what can be more tinfoilish than the myth that people have landed on the moon? There is a website that has the photos and the explanations to debunk the claim that Apollo 16 was shot on a backlot somewhere, as well as other space-related conspiracy theories.

I know you've all been clamoring for kilt blogging but, honestly, after recent events, it's just been too traumatic. It's not even a question anymore of when we'll resume, but if. So why not indulge my other obsession: shoes.

I know you're probably expecting sassy boots or high-heels from me, but before we get too deep into this and start having to get all Freudian, I'm going to keep it simple. I'm going to start with my favorite shoe, a shoe you might not suspect me of loving -- an American Icon.

The Chuck Taylor Converse All Star.

The discussion continues. See the prior post for Abu Khaleel's responses to questions.

I want to post one thing here for separate discussion and leave the yesterday's book discussion to matters of policy, politics, and information.

Here I want to offer an opportunity to explore one question:

Welcome to the Unbossed Book Club—where progressive ideas and thought-provoking literature connect.

We are discussing A Glimpse of Iraq, a compilation of first-hand war zone posts by Iraqi blogger, Abu Khaleel, which has been excerpted here this week.

It is always surprising how some people think that because "we" are good and decent and have high and noble ideals, then everything "our side" does has to be good… or at least, justifiable. Thus, they justify to themselves and to others some truly grotesque acts. Such people exist in probably all countries of the world; America seems to have its fair share of them.

From the Preface to A Glimpse of Iraq [typos are mine - i.e. Shirah]

This book is an attempt - by an Iraqui - to give a concise picture of Iraq to those not familiar with it.

It gives little glimpses of Iraq and its people: some facts, some of their customs and nature through little true stories and anecdotes to give a "feel" of the diversity and complexity of the country. A few widely-spread myths, oversimplifications and inaccuracies are also tackled. But it cannot claim to be exhaustive or even comprehensive. On the contrary; only little glances of each aspect addressed are given to cover the widest possible spectrum to the non-expert reader.

From A Glimpse of Iraq

Family Matters

We are surrounded by Death and violence to an unbelievable extent. People who follow the news of the various atrocities and violent incidents are sometimes shocked, sometimes bewildered and sometimes repulsed. Being on the inside, close to these happenings is much worse. It also feels differently.

After a while you somehow get used to many new feelings. Being at risk of being killed or blasted or finding yourself in the middle of violence that you were not part of becomes such a reality that you find yourself accepting it as a ‘natural’ part of life. That can happen anytime, any place. Finally you do not care anymore.