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Helpless is a beautifully written article about being a mentor to troubled youth. It's not very uplifting, but the truth is we don't have any surefire way to help these kids find their way out of poverty and despair, and that's shameful.
Millions of Iraqis Vote in Relative Peace.
Liberation is the most important thing for all Iraqis," said Sunni grocer Omar Badry. "I don't care if we die of thirst and hunger, as long as the Americans leave."
If they had put a referendum on the ballot to vote America out of Iraq, I wonder what the outcome would have been?
In all seriousness though, I'm happy to see the Iraqis so committed to the genesis of a new government. And I'm also shocked, shocked I say, at the recent statements made by Bush 43. It almost sounds as if he's starting to level with the American people, and that can only be a good thing.
Story here.
[Killer whales have] the dubious distinction of ousting polar bears as most polluted Arctic mammal.
Reason #72,491 why I'm not a modern Republican. The free markets have no interest in protecting the environment from the by-products of industry.
I just started hearing about the case of Tookie Williams this week. He's on death row, scheduled to be executed on Tuesday; found guilty of four murders in the late 70s. He's notable as one of the founders of the Crips gang, but more recently for the children's books he wrote and the impact he's had keeping kids from following in his footsteps. There are two things about this situation that sadden me. The first is that society in general has very little success getting through to these inner city kids in question. It seems like a terrible shame to extinguish a voice that has such a positive effect where so many others have failed, all in the name of vengence (or whatever the reason is for executing people). The second is that this particular situation speaks of redemption to me. It says to me that a person can make amends if he or she has the strength and willpower to do so. It says to me that no one is a lost soul.
On a more philosophical note, my overly idealistic view is that people would naturally act in a just manner if not for the corrosiveness of social conditioning and a negative developmental environment. Society punishes that which it creates, and that is not justice.
There's an interesting new story on the Huffington Post that makes a very good case for why "rendition" (aka torture) is a bad idea. The fact that we're in the bizarro position of trying to make rational arguments against using torture, well, that just goes to show how incredibly bad this adminisitration has been for America. But back to the HuffPo story, it turns out that one of the key pieces of evidence the administration used to make their case for war was based on false information provided by a prisoner who simply wanted to "escape harsh treatment." A case for war built on false information obtained through inhumane treatment of detainees. Outstanding.
Osama's Homobortionpotandcommiejizzporium. Merry Fuckin Christmas O'Reilly!