The most impressive thing really is how quickly and firmly he has established his hold on this position. It would have been the case already with a single term, but it’s a distinction he’ll hold for the ages after two.
IS GEORGE BUSH THE WORST PRESIDENT — EVER?
by Richard Reeves
“You taught me everything I know about exterior illumination.“
Clark Griswold to his father in Christmas Vacation
The Washington Post has a very cool feature on their news stories that I’ve been meaning to write about. Many of their articles include a sidebar block like the one shown here titled ‘Who’s Blogging?’. Using the blog search engine Technorati, the Post searches blogs for postings that reference and link back to articles on washingtonpost.com, and then in turn links back to them.
I think this is a very smart thing for the Post to do. Recognizing that bloggers are more likely to be offering some commentary about the news, rather than breaking new news, these links to bloggers who are discussing their stories enhance the news that the Post is providing by showing how it contributes to the online conversations and debates of the blogosphere.
And it can lead to some interesting connections. When I recently wrote a posting titled ‘Holy Ignorance‘ which commented on an article I read in the post about the development of a ‘Creation Museum’ being built in Ohio, the first comment posted in response came from the web developer who manages the web site for the Creation Museum. I’m pretty certain he wasn’t a regular on my humble blog, but found his way there from the list of links from washingtonpost.com.
Here’s a very interesting read from today’s Washington Post that gets past the surface level of the debate about Torture and whether it’s something that the United States does or doesn’t do. The article describes the underlying laws and conventions that specify how prisoners of war are to be treated, and the legalistic dance the Bush administration uses to backup Bush’s claim that “we don’t torture” while at the same time using techniques that if used against Americans, all would surely agree is torture. It’s a shameful example of one of the many ways that George Bush has diminished America.
Torture, American-Style
The Washington Post, 11/27/05
At the front end of our long Thanksgiving weekend, I was determined not to let it all be lost to mind-numbing hours of the Cartoon Network, or the isolation of our laptops. And so I found and dusted off one off my old favorite board games, RISK.
My older brother Sean really enjoyed this game, and I remember him teaching me to play on the set we had with armies made of small wooden blocks of different colors and shapes. It’s a great mix of strategy and luck. My current set dates to my college days, where many a battle was fought. But it’s been a real long time since my generalship has been tested on the RISK board. Colleen and Will were quick to take up my challenge to fight over the world. We’ve played two games so far this weekend. I won the first, but was the first to go in the second, and I’m typing this now as they engage in the final battle. There’s a special sort of fatherly pride to hear my daughter shout, “I’m coming into Irkutsk from Kamchatka with three!”. And she did.
Bush has the Floor
Originally uploaded by Indignico.
I found these great photos submitted to the Flickr group I created for campaign-related photos. So many choices! Ashcroft, Bush, Cheney, Zell, Bush and Elvis! Which would you choose? Hard to imagine much of a market for these in Tijuana.
And how about some Democrats? Maybe ours would be on Blue Velvet 🙂Look at that calendar to the right, a 10-day lull in my blogging. What a letdown I must be to my reader in Singapore. And for this, I’m sorry. The thing is I’ve been crazy busy lately. All good stuff, kids are coming and going from school and events, and our color-coded family calendar looks like some kind of patchwork of events. Work is crazy busy, also all good. The alternative to ‘busy’ at work is never good. Happily I work for a fine company that recognizes the need for some distraction now and then, and I’ve recently made good use of it.
And so, from time to time, there is no time. And the time available for worthy ruminations on the important and the mundane shrinks. I’m always thinking of things worth writing about, “I need to blog about that” is a frequent thought bubble hovering over my head. Maybe the Thanksgiving holiday will provide the opportunity to recharge and get some of those ideas out of my head and make room for something new. Not a lot of room in there you know, I have to keep a high turnover rate if I hope to find a good idea in there.
It’s 28 degrees outside, and that makes the cats nuts. They want out, they need in, they want back out. Upon re-entry this morngin, Kitty headed straight up to Will’s room and one of her favorite spots in the house, his chair next to the heat register.
I’m not sure exactly when Election Day became one of my favorites on the calendar. Obviously, the fact that I work in politics has much to do with it. Election Day is the culmination of a candidate’s and a party’s efforts to make their case. It is the day when the voters make their choice. It’s what our Democracy is all about.
There is much that is wrong with Election Days in our country. The 2000 Election revealed the dirty secret that America’s elections aren’t as smooth running and legitimate as we’d like to believe. Negative campaigning, low voter turnouts, and lack of real choices are all problems with our system. But they can be fixed.
At the end of the day, the dust will settle and we’ll have some results. But first, go vote. Vote Democrat, Vote Republican, vote for the person rather than the party, vote however you choose, but just vote. It matters and it counts.
