May 1, 2013

3 pals of Boston Marathon bombing suspect charged with coverup

The three friends, who are all 19-years-old, allegedly went to Tsarnaev’s dorm room after the FBI photos came out April 18 and left with a backpack that contained fireworks tubes that had been emptied of their explosive powder, according to the documents....

...They then "collectively decided to throw the backpack and fireworks into the trash because they did not want Tsarnaev to get in trouble," Kadyrbayev told agents, according to the complaint.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/01/18001437-3-pals-of-boston-marathon-bombing-suspect-charged-with-coverup?lite

May 1, 2013

Happy Anniversary, Al-Quaeda

Two years ago President Obama brought to fruition his shift in priorities to focus on capturing or killing bin Laden. Did he make the right choice?

May 1, 2013

over reliance on standardized testing is counter productive; reason #1

had a parent-teacher conference today about a kid who never turns in his homework and the mom asked me "the tests are over with, why are you making them do homework?"

April 29, 2013

I am old enough to remember when kids were allowed to actually bring guns to school

and I am only 40 something. deer rifles in the back windows of pick ups in the high school parking lot were not uncommon in rural East Texas in the 1970s and even 80s. Of course that is also back when seat belts weren't required and it was legal to drive down the road drinking a beer if you were at least 18.

I wouldn't support returning to such policies, I'm just making a my-how-times-have changed and I guess I'm getting old observation.

April 29, 2013

has the youtube comments section always been full of holocaust deniers and straight-up Nazis?

And I am not using the word as a hyperbolic substitute for conservatives, but actual Nazis. I was watching some pretty good documentaries on WWII from the BBC and other reputable, mainstream broadcasters and I mean, jeez.

And are there more of these people than I thought, or is this just the internet artificially magnifying things?

April 28, 2013

Gene Robinson on Episcopalianism on Colbert

"It is like advanced placement religion. It's for thinking people" Bishop Robinson.

http://www.colbertnation.com/full-episodes/thu-april-25-2013-gene-robinson

"You are part of a heretical religion and being sent to Hell" Stephen Colbert

April 28, 2013

"The Hard Rock Cafe of catostrophic policy decisions"

Jon Stewart on the Bush Library.

April 28, 2013

The Lesson of Boston

There’s also a danger built into the American experiment, the very nature of which leaves us exposed. Our rightly cherished diversity can make the challenge of belonging that much steeper. Our good fortune and leadership mean that we’ll be not just envied in the world, but also reviled.

The F.B.I. averted its gaze from the older Tsarnaev brother after it couldn’t find any conclusive alarms because that’s what the government is supposed to do, absent better information. We don’t want it to go too far in spying on us. That means it will fail to notice things.

While we can and will figure out small ways to be safer, we have to come to terms with the reality that we’ll never be safe, not with unrestricted travel through cyberspace. Not with the Second Amendment. Not with the privacy we expect. Not with the liberty we demand.

That’s the bargain we’ve made. It’s imperfect, but it’s the right one.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/28/opinion/sunday/bruni-the-lesson-of-boston.html?hp&_r=0

April 27, 2013

Leftist priests: Francis can fix church 'in ruins'

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — A new pope from Latin America who wants to build "a church for the poor" is stirring hopes among advocates of liberation theology, a movement of social activism that alarmed former popes by delving into leftist politics.

Pope Francis has what it takes to fix a church "in ruins" that has "lost its respect for what is sacred," prominent liberation theologian Leonardo Boff said Saturday.

"With this pope, a Jesuit and a pope from the Third World, we can breathe happiness," Boff said at a Buenos Aires book fair. "Pope Francis has both the vigor and tenderness that we need to create a new spiritual world."

http://news.yahoo.com/leftist-priests-francis-fix-church-ruins-213627659.html

Well he is still a homophobic asshole, but let us hope this guy is right.

April 27, 2013

Rick Perry's $487 Million Corporate Slush Fund Doesn't Need Your Stinkin' Audit

The Texas governor doesn't agree that his corporate-handout fund needs an audit—because he and two other GOP pols already monitor it.

"The administration has lowered standards in the past so that companies could create fewer jobs than they had promised, and it has canceled contracts after criticism over companies such as Bank of America's Countrywide, which continued to be an Enterprise grantee as it collapsed and laid off thousands of workers nationwide...

"Perry's office is basically accommodating a process by which taxpayer money is transferred to corporations, not invested in state infrastructure," says Matt Angle, the director of the Lone Star Project, a political action committee devoted to strategic communications and research for Democrats....