Linguistic Malfeasance

warrantless searches on Americans = terrorist surveillance program

death tax = tax cuts for the wealthy

polluted skies = clean skies initiative

torture = enhanced interogation techniques (verschaerfte Vernehmung)

Children



Mother

VT City Relay Marathon

Blogging will be light for a couple of days. Tomorrow we leave for the VT City Marathon. This is the 4th year that Julia and her college roommates have teamed up to run the relay marathon. Then we celebrate with a huge family get-together after the race. A good time will be had by all (even if it rains).

What's Wrong With Moveon.org?

I don't get the conservative bashing of moveon.org. Yes, it's a progressive organization. But are members of moveon.org really the root of all evil? In response to the Iraq War funding bill, John McCain says "This vote may win favor with MoveOn and liberal primary voters, but it's the equivalent of waving a white flag to al Qaeda." He's implying that only liberals and moveon.org members want to end the war in Iraq. 63% of Americans want to end the war. They are not all liberals and members of moveon.org. What really bothers conservatives is that they have not been able to utilize the power of the Internets as effectively as progressive groups have.

You scored as Scientific Atheist, These guys rule. I'm not one of them myself, although I play one online. They know the rules of debate, the Laws of Thermodynamics, and can explain evolution in fifty words or less. More concerned with how things ARE than how they should be, these are the people who will bring us into the future. Scientific Atheist 67% Spiritual Atheist 67% Agnostic 42% Apathetic Atheist 42% Angry Atheist 33% Militant Atheist 33% Theist 17% What kind of atheist are you? created with QuizFarm.com

Rep. Gillibrand Votes to Continue Iraq War

What a big disappointment. I guess a vote that might help her to keep her job in the future is more important than ending a foolish war. 63% of the American people want us out of Iraq. Rep. Gillibrand...how about fighting to end the Iraq War rather than fighting to win your next election?

Speed Test

Ever wonder how fast your Internet upload and download speeds are? I find Speed Test to be a fun site to find the answer. I have the low cost, low speed Verizon DSL connection. It's cheaper than dial-up and of course much faster than dial-up. Fast enough for me at least.

Thanks President Sullivan

On to a Masters degree. Maybe a PhD???

Plague in the USA

An 8-year-old female hooded capuchin monkey named Spanky died from bubonic plague at the Denver (CO) zoo. Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague, is endemic in the USA (Western states) so it's not unexpected that an animal could die from this disease.

Force in the MidEast

From top to bottom: USS Nimitz (CVN 68), USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) and USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) in the Gulf of Oman. Enough force to take over almost any developing country on Earth. Why does Bush want to provoke the idiot running Iran? Do we really need another war in the MidEast?

SLU Graduation Weekend

We have a new graduate in our family. Julia graduated on Sunday. BS in Psychology (Honors). I'll have much more about graduation weekend but first I have to say that I'm very pleased that President Dan Sullivan's remarks to the Seniors were picked up by AP. President Sullivan made scathing remarks about the findings of the so-called "Spellings Commission".

"Almost every day we read in the newspaper of efforts by Spellings to dumb down the education for life we seek to provide at St. Lawrence and substitute something that is woefully inferior," Sullivan stated.

He added that the report of the Commission on the Future of Higher Education (the "Spellings Commission") was "meant to be a bold outline for how higher education in America should be reformed to meet the needs of students and the nation in the 21st century. Instead, it is in its major thrusts, in my view, a national embarrassment."

The text of the entire speech can be found here.