So, as I enjoy my morning cup of coffee (which is going to cost more now evidently; good thing I have some good Panamanian, Ecuadorian and Salvadoran coffee stashed away in my fridge), I absorb the following news items:
President Bush is going to veto a bill banning water boarding. IDIOT!!!!! (You may hurl whatever invective you would like at this point.) However, a recent New Yorker magazine (25 February 2008) had a sad article, 'The Water Cure,' about the US army's use of water boarding in the very early 1900s in the Philippines. While some people were outraged, the majority said nothing and the government said they were unpatriotic. Teddy Roosevelt 'lurched from intolerance for torture to attempts to rationalize it and outrage at the antiwar activists who had made it a public issue.' So, really, things have not changed all that much.
[As an aside, one of the best books out there is Stephen Kinzer's Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq — New York Times Books, 2006.]
I may gain some howls from this, but given the continuation of shootings in schools, I am somewhat appalled to read about West Virginia and other places having hunting classes. I know, I know, I can hear the usual retorts about gun responsibility and I come from Vermont, which has a strong gun lobby (even Howard Dean got good ratings from the NRA), but I still am leery of encouraging this.
Lastly, with all the precipitation, roofs are collapsing all over New England. It's why I went out on the porch roof last Sunday (to some chiding from my cat sitter).
Enough. There's plenty enough to occupy me as I row later on this morning. I am going to break 2 million metres today but I can't remember how long it has taken me to get there (since 2005? 2006?).
It's a mess outside — we're in between storms. I never know what we'll get here because we're south of the break point for the upper tier of the state, but we're in the Greens (albeit in a valley), so we often get what the northern tier is going to get. Boston is expecting four inches of rain which is worse than the sleet/freezing rain/snow combo we're going to get.
Time for another cuppa.
3 comments:
We have had snain this morning. I need to dump the stuff off the plastic over the cat feeding station or whatever it is now that there is a real cathouse. Eventually I will put a greenhouse type building as a sort of vestibule around the back door. I intend to keep feeding the cats there. I like having them watch me do the dishes. Not quite the same as have them indoors but better for the allergies.
Keeping prayers going for the safety of you and your buildings.
'snain' -- I like that and I know exactly what you're talking about. Good neologism or sniglet (invented words for real situations).
Well, at last we woke up to a dusting of white powder in West-Central Alabama. It was lovely, but it was gone by 9:00 a.m. as I drove off to the ECW Blackbelt Convocation Meeting. I always wish for a bit more than we got this morning, but I am glad we don't have to worry about ice dams or a collapsing roof. I am sure you all will be glad when spring has sprung.
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