Sometimes you just need to trust

Over the years I’ve heard all the arguments against giving money to panhandlers.  It’s a scam, it keeps them away from social services, they’ll only use it to buy drugs or alcohol … all kinds of reasons that set the homeless up as undeserving of charity.  But I don’t buy it.  If I have change [...]

Starved for justice

Hunger in America is on the rise. In 2008, 14.6 percent of U.S. households fell into the food-insecure category at some point during the year—the highest rate since the Department of Agriculture started recording stats in 1995. At the same time, legislation to improve childhood nutrition is now making its way through Congress. Last week [...]

When vaccination isn’t enough

Paralysis is making a comeback.  Polio has reemerged in Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nigeria, Uganda, Togo, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Mali in the last few years, if not completely undoing eradication efforts, then at least threatening them.  Most frightening of all is the fact that nearly 50% of the children afflicted have received 4 or [...]

They died for our cheap electricity

25 confirmed dead in West Virginia coal mine disaster.

Play it safe and save the planet

To emphasis the impact of overpopulation on other species, and to give people a chance to take action in their own lives, the Center For Biological Diversity of Tucson, AZ is distributing free Endangered Species Condoms depicting six separate species: the polar bear, snail darter, spotted owl, American burying beetle, jaguar, and coquí guajón rock [...]

A (revised) Modest Proposal

From Jeanette Cool, via Debbie Majewski: Subject: A Modest Proposal Given the refusal of poor people to die when they are no longer needed by the Free Market Given the refusal of poor people to pay their entire income for medical insurance, as they stubbornly insist in buying food This Modest Proposal will ensure that [...]

Sew for the gold

From my daughter Julia’s site, Quilter Geek: A poster in the Livejournal Quilting Community made a post about Quilts for Kids, a charity that provides donated quilts to sick children. I plan to donate one of my Easter-fabric pinwheel quilts to the cause. Not only do they accept donations using fabric from your stash, but [...]

Go Google!

Word is spreading quickly on Twitter. In response to an attempted brute force hack on its servers, Google is ready to pull the plug on China, with whom it had previously collaborated on censored search results. It appears that the target of the attack was the GMail accounts of human rights activists in the country. [...]

Don’t ask don’t tell (those names)

The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Roots on a whole new level

This is absolutely horrifying. The United Kingdom is rolling out Human Provenance, a program to collect tissue samples from potential immigrants in a plan which the Border Service says will allow them to accurately assess an applicant’s country of origin.  In effect, a mitochondrial DNA test (mtDNA) would be used to decide whether someone seeking [...]

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