Tag: Open Thread

Jan 08 2009

The Stars Hollow Gazette

After the big scare this might be an appropriate time for me to let everyone know I’m not planning on going anywhere.

I like DocuDharma, I like all you guys, and I enjoy our time together more than I can easily express.

I’m constantly bragging about you to my friends and relations who uniformly tell me that they much prefer the content of this site to any of the others I post at.

During the last few months I’ve been involved in some heavy lifting projects in other places and in real life also, so I haven’t been able to be as active as I would want.  These projects involve changes to my schedule which will take some getting used to, at least for me.

I want to thank you for your patients and tolerance and I’m hoping that conditions will soon stabilize so you can expect more regularity from my performance.

Jan 07 2009

The Morning News

The Morning News is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Grand Canyon, Loch Ness compete as nature wonders

By ELIANE ENGELER, Associated Press Writer

1 hr 49 mins ago

GENEVA – The Grand Canyon, Mount Everest and Loch Ness will vie with more than 200 other spectacular places in the next phase of the global competition for the New 7 Wonders of Nature, organizers said Wednesday. The 261 nominees from 222 countries include some of the most famous mountain peaks, lakes, and other attractions, such as the Great Barrier Reef and Niagara Falls.

Over a billion people are expected to join in Internet voting that will nominate 77 semifinalists for the top natural wonders, which will share in the glory already enjoyed by the seven man-made wonders chosen 18 months ago.

“We are calling on people all over the world to actively show their appreciation for our … natural world by joining together to celebrate the most extraordinary sites on our planet,” said Tia Viering, spokeswoman of the New 7 Wonders campaign.

Jan 07 2009

Pony Party – Open Thread!

This Pony Pen is an Open Thread!  Chat away!  Please do not rec the Pony Pen.

Jan 06 2009

Open Thread

Over at Your Right Hand Thief, oyster links to a multi-leveled story about a government informant.

An abundance of moral dilemmas if you like that kind of thing.  Interesting, as well, that the story was written by a New York Times intern writing out of Texas:

-Renee Feltz is a fellow at the Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism and an intern with the investigative unit at The New York Times.

The link is from the online page at the Texas Observer.

* * * * * * *

And a different kind of dilemma, captured in rant by the ever miraculous Gentilly Girl, whose fire burns bright:

Yet another example of outsiders coming in, smacking down $$$ for a home in an old neighborhood and then going bat-shit insane when they finally realize that the culture they were surrounded by wasn’t exactly their cup of tea. And then they attempt to stop our cultural expressions to suit their desires.

Open thread is open!

Jan 04 2009

Weekend News Digest

Weekend News Digest is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Female bomber at Shiite shrine in Baghdad kills 38

By PATRICK QUINN, Associated Press Writer

2 hrs 34 mins ago

BAGHDAD – A woman hiding among Iranian pilgrims with a bomb strapped under her black robe killed more than three dozen people on Sunday outside a Baghdad mosque during ceremonies commemorating the death of one of Shiite Islam’s most revered saints.

The suicide attack, the most recent in a series that has killed more than 60 people in less that a week, was the latest to mar the transfer of many security responsibilities from the U.S. military to Iraqi forces.

Iraqi security forces have deployed thousands of troops in Baghdad and in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, just south of the capital, to safeguard against attacks during the ceremonies. Attacks by al-Qaida in Iraq, Sunni insurgents and even a Shiite cult have killed hundreds of people in recent years.

Jan 03 2009

Weekend News Digest

Weekend News Digest is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Analysis: Bush’s personality shapes his legacy

By BEN FELLER, Associated Press Writer

2 hrs 37 mins ago

WASHINGTON – President George W. Bush will be judged on what he did. He will also be remembered for what he’s like: a fast-moving, phrase-mangling Texan who stays upbeat even though his country is not.

For eight years, the nation has been led by a guy who relaxes by clearing brush in scorching heat and taking breakneck bike rides through the woods. He dishes out nicknames to world leaders, and even gave the German chancellor an impromptu, perhaps unwelcome, neck rub. He’s annoyed when kept waiting and sticks relentlessly to routine. He stays optimistic in even the most dire circumstances, but readily tears up in public. He has little use for looking within himself, and only lately has done much looking back.

Bush’s style and temperament are as much his legacy as his decisions. Policy shapes lives, but personality creates indelible memories – positive and negative.

Jan 01 2009

Pretty Paltry New Year

Parades!

Where are the Mummers?  Wasn’t there some kind of Orange Bowl Parade?

The Rose Bowl Parade is at 11 am on NBC, ABC, and HGTV (which does by far the best job).

Football!

Outback Bowl 11 am (supposedly on ESPN).

  • South Carolina
  • Iowa

Capital One Bowl 1 pm ABC

  • Georgia
  • Michigan State

Gator Bowl 1 pm CBS

  • Nebraska
  • Clemson

Rose Bowl 5 pm ABC

  • Penn St.
  • USC

Orange Bowl 8:30 pm Faux

  • Cincinnati
  • Virginia Tech

I have to say this is a completely substandard performance.  I should be able to hangover hazed glut myself on sex, violence, and consumption through a dimly remembered bacon and eggs benedict, pancake, bloody mary, mimosa binge for a solid 24 hours.

I am expecting you to provide substitute amusement.

Dec 31 2008

The Morning News

The Morning News is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Warren’s inauguration prayer could draw more ire

By RACHEL ZOLL, AP Religion Writer

26 mins ago

President-elect Barack Obama’s choice of Rick Warren to deliver the inaugural invocation drew one kind of protest. Whether the evangelical pastor offers the prayer in the name of Jesus may draw another. At George W. Bush’s 2001 swearing-in, the Revs. Franklin Graham and Kirbyjon Caldwell were criticized for invoking Christ. The distinctly Christian reference at a national civic event offended some, and even prompted a lawsuit.

Warren did not answer directly when asked whether he would dedicate his prayer to Jesus. In a statement Tuesday to The Associated Press, Warren would say only that, “I’m a Christian pastor so I will pray the only kind of prayer I know how to pray.”

“Prayers are not to be sermons, speeches, position statements nor political posturing. They are humble, personal appeals to God,” Warren wrote. His spokesman would not elaborate.

Dec 31 2008

Pony Party – The GazettE Edition!

The Pony Party is an Open Thread.  Please do not rec.

Dec 30 2008

Open Thread

Interesting post over at zuky, who quotes Rabbi Michael Lerner of Tikkun Magazine on the present situation in Gaza:

From the standpoint of Tikkun, war is the wrong response. If Israel wants peace with Palestinians, it can achieve it by negotiations based on the Saudi peace initiative; it cannot achieve it by killing more Palestinian civilians or even by wiping out the current generation of Hamas activists. There is no path to peace-peace is the path. And if Israel wants to destroy Hamas, it has one clear way: rebuild Gaza and the West Bank with a massive Marshall Plan type enterprise-adopt our Strategy of Generosity and renounce the strategy of domination. Trust in God, trust in love, trust in kindness, trust in generosity-and give those strategies a ten year chance to work and Israel will get far more security than it will achieve by this latest violation of international law, Torah ethics, and common sense.

There is no path to peace-peace is the path.

I have no expertise on this issue, but I do find that line compelling.  Would that we’d all learn that precious path.

Open Thread is hereby Open!

Dec 28 2008

Weekend News Digest

Weekend News Digest is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Euro currency turns 10; seen fulfilling promise

By MATT MOORE and GEORGE FREY, AP Business Writers

4 mins ago

FRANKFURT, Germany – Ten years ago, Europe launched its grand experiment with a shared currency – and watched it plunge in value before recovering.

But as the anniversary approaches of the Jan. 1, 1999, arrival of the euro, economists say the new currency is finally fulfilling its promise as a way to lower borrowing costs, ease trade and tourism, boost growth and strengthen the European community.

And doing it amid a global financial crisis that, for the moment, underlines the safety in numbers that comes from joining one, big currency.

Dec 24 2008

The Morning News

The Morning News is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Obama, 2 aides met with Blagojevich investigators

By NEDRA PICKLER and BRETT J. BLACKLEDGE, Associated Press Writers

15 mins ago

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama and two of his top aides met last week with federal investigators building a corruption case against Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, accused of trying to swap Obama’s Senate seat for cash or a lucrative job.

The interviews with Obama, along with incoming chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and adviser Valerie Jarrett, were disclosed Tuesday in an internal report produced for Obama on contacts with Blagojevich. The report supported Obama’s insistence last week that there had been no inappropriate contact with the governor’s office by Obama or his staff.

Obama delayed releasing his report until U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s staff had completed the interviews with Obama and his two top aides, incoming White House attorney Greg Craig said in the review he wrote for Obama.

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