Snow, et al.

Oh, have you heard lately how cool I am? Pop by Elwood's page and check it out. Also, there's some cool shit about religion and the south side. Not in that order.

I am hugely thankful and relieved that we made it through the blizzard without incident. (What are the technical specs on a blizzard? Is it a certain windspeed or amount of snow? Insight is appreciated.) I'm also feeling a twinge of guilty fun while thinking about everyone on the east coast who's suffering through it as I type. Enjoy it, guys. We got the first course, so don't go complaining that we never share.

$40,000,000

So, now that the inauguration is over, I guess it's time to tally up the tab. Will it reach the $40 million that people were projecting? It seems odd to me that a President who has racked up the largest debt in our country's history and has dragged us into a war that will not be ending anytime soon would spend so lavishly on his SECOND inauguration party. Geez, act like you've already been there before!

So, what could we have spent this $40 million on instead of a foolish party for a bunch of rich white people?

_200 armored Humvees with the best armor for troops in Iraq.
_Vaccinations and preventive health care for 22 million children in regions devastated by the tsunami.
_A down payment on the nation's deficit, which hit a record-breaking $412 billion last year.

See the article here

I know one thing it could buy that a few of us would enjoy. A whole lot of this (which I think we'll need over the next four years):

All about dialogue

or, Letters to People We Can't Stand.

This morning I heard a great piece on 848 about a Chicago man who writes letters to the president every single day. He confessed during the radio interview that he's pretty sure Mr. Bush does not read and savor his letters daily, but hopes that there is some White House staffer in a sub-basement who is reading and enjoying the daily contact.

One of my colleagues in my virtual office writes this in her morning greeting:

Good morning, Hand doctor then Admin, It's a sad day when a war mongering, would be dictator can spend $4 million on a party when the DC public hospital is closed, our children are not learning what they need to souvive, teen birth rates are high, HIV is spreading like wildfire and our senior are choosing medicine or food. Shame on G. W. Bush.

In my daily semi-work-related surfing, I was delighted to find new content on abortionclinicdays, a blog written by two docs who work part-time in an abortion clinic and blog (in a HIPPA-friendly way) about their thoughts and experiences at work. There is ALWAYS a debate festering in the comments section between the pro- and anti- factions, but that debate has not yet risen to a shout in most threads. I have a lot of respect for the people on both sides who are able to express their opinions without petty verbal violence; many of the people I work with have given up on dialogue. I also have great respect for the authors, who continue to post despite the animosity they receive on a weekly basis.

And, 'cause I'm not always as mature as my links, I want to share Maureen Dowd's column today on how Condi can't do math. Divisive, yes, but funny.

Also in the Not Dialogue category: James Dobson and his group Focus on the Family are attacking SpongeBob SquarePants as being "pro-homosexual". A lawyer for the multicultural foundation that SpongeBob is working with states that Dobson and other critics "need medication". Way to help the children, guys.

True dialogue requires honesty. When I listened (briefly) to the president's inaugural address, I was struck by how pretty his words sound. Respect for all citizens, self-determination for oppressed nations abroad, safety and liberty, etc, etc. It took me a minute to remember that all his promises have been empty in the past. We have the same problem with this president as most liberals have with the war in Iraq: we keep getting talked into giving it one more chance before we give up on it.

Bush has been scratching open the same frustration I have recently felt at work, with my friends, and with my family: it doesn't count as dialogue if you're the only one talking.

Sub news

"Give me a stopwatch and a map, and I'll fly the Alps in a plane with no windows." --Hunt for Red October.

The USS San Francisco rammed an underwater mountain about 360 miles southeast of Guam last Saturday. The maps the sub was using were from 1989, and failed to accurately chart the obstacle, though satellite photos from 1999 recorded its presence. The sub was going about 30 knots at impact. One sailor was killed. The NYTimes is obtaining most of its information from emails sent by Rear Adm. Sullivan and a sailor on board the sub, which were circulated around the sub community before they were leaked. I wish I could talk to the families.

Flotsam

What I'm listening to: the January 4 episode of Odyssey, which is all about New Year's Resolutions and keeping promises to one's self, and what might happen when we see ourselves as untrustworthy. I'm a geek, I know, but I'm enjoying it.


Hey, baby, you got a cracker?? This poor bird fell in love with Elwood over the last weekend. I'm sure he's pining away on his perch in Madison, even as we speak. I was flattered by his marginal attention to me, since I am a lowly female. But his best squawks and chirps were reserved for my husband. Feckless home-wrecking bird!

In my tireless quest to bring girl politics to the Tally Ho, I remind you of the existence of the Scarleteen Newswire . Heather kicks ass on bringing all those reproductive rights issues to light, though she's sadly fallen down on the case of that Spokane woman who couldn't get a divorce because she was pregnant. In breaking Chicago news, Elwood discusses the tragedy of people always having to wear pants. Or perhaps it's really about modernism. I dunno.

C'mon, it's 2005! Up and at 'em! Doesn't anyone else feel a blog entry coming on??

"wave of mutilation"

its a pixies song. anyway, as the numbers rise in the toll due to the tsunami, i feel things need to be put in perspective...

let me throw out this question: if you could prevent the tsunami, would you? hell yeah! how about the daily death of 29,000 children? according to unicef (pdf) 29,000 human beings under five years old die of largely preventable diseases each day. we must each become responsible for the wave of poverty in our global system. the time is now.