Everybody’s surging now, come on and go surging with me! Yes, the GOP may have finally hit on a rebranding gimmick that will appeal to their own: border surge! If you like the the zillion dollar Iraq and Afghan surges, you’re gonna love this deal! [Read more…]
As a kid who loved fireworks I looked forward to this time of year for months. Neighbors used to come from all around to watch my fireworks shows. This year pyrotechnic displays are not limited to the US, they’re lighting up the skies in Egypt , too. The awe inspiring glare of rockets and star-shells don’t just signify independence, they harken back to antiquity, signifying ancient celebrations and, today, act as a potent reminder of the most ambitious and iconic projects ever undertaken by our young species. I speak here of rockets.
The pillars of flame lofting vehicles to the skies may appear at first glance to be the most complex and advanced technological creations ever dreamed up by human kind. But they are the first machines driven by means other than human and animal muscles ever created. What’s more, those mere curiosities led to directly to the engines that now fuel every facet of our modern civilization. And to think it all started with mystics and apprentices over a millennia ago in the Middle East and Asia, who could never not have imagined they were embarking on the first small step in a journey that would lead to the bloodiest wars on record, and the greatest modern marvels of peace and prosperity the world has ever witnessed. [Read more…]
Growing up it was common here in Texas to hear someone say “It’s gonna be a hot summer!.” It was a set up for sarcasm of all ages. This is Texas! It’s blazing hot every summer. But there is some relief afforded by the mild eccentricity of the earth’s orbit today: [Read more…]
Per usual I’m getting all kinds of obstacles thrown in my way on getting the lousy disability I paid good money to secure while a complication from heart surgery was taken care of. It’s getting grim financially as time drags on with no disability forthcoming, yet. Bad enough that I’ve had to start cutting important meds in half to to stretch them out. But I’ve been frugal with what you guys sent me last time. I’ll hopefully be released next week with a doc’s note to allow me to start working again. Best of all I have a job interview for something paying a tiny bit more next week! I’ve also improved my appearance and health, see below for the burlesque show.
If not for you
r generosity a few months ago when circumstances grew dire, when atheists helped save me from homelessness, while followers of Republican Jesus turned their back on me, I don’t know where I’d be right now.
I can’t thank you enough — those reader contributions greatly increased my prospect for a full recovery after the freak heart attack I suffered in Dec 2012. So here’s a pic of my progress, I hope you don’t think it’s too tacky. I’m posting it so that will readers will see I’ve made the most of those contributions by not wasting any money on luxuries or fattening foods, choosing instead to eat right even it sometimes costs a little more and leaves me short on food at the end of the month, and choosing to bust my ass getting into shape.
It took months, lots of aerobic work, hours a day of weight training, and more sits ups and crunches than I care to remember to get any results at all. I’m know I’m no Arnold Schwarzenegger. There is still a lot of work ahead obviously and I’m nervous and self-conscious just to show this much!
But I’m proud of losing almost forty pounds and putting on some small bits of muscle, none of which would have been possible without you. I already feel better than I have felt in many years and this healthy lifestyle offers me something I have sorely missed for those years: something personal to look forward to. Thanks again from the bottom of my godless heart!
Via NYT — CAIRO — With a potentially violent showdown looming between Egypt’s military and the Islamist backers of President Mohamed Morsi, the country’s top generals summoned civilian political leaders to an emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss a new interim government while moving tanks toward the presidential palace and restricting Mr. Morsi’s travel — new signals of an impending military takeover. A top presidential adviser said a coup already was under way.
Hashtag #Egypt; #Cairo; Twitter feeds RichardEngel: Reports military deploying at key sites and intersections, not only in #cairo . Also highway to Alexandria
Bear in mind the military in Egypt is by some accounts I;m seeing, the less extreme, more secular interest. How it would play out if they take over though is anyone’s guess.
Two men with HIV are now free of the virus after a bone marrow transplant to treat lymphoma. But how that happened is a mystery for now. [Read more…]
Prayer does not work any more than any other magic incantation works. Most people know this, including the religious, which is why prayer is only seriously relied upon exclusively when there is no practical solution available. But some fundamentalists have been so thoroughly taken in by the anti-science faction that they opt for prayer alone and refuse medical treatment even when circumstances become dire. If they do that for themselves, well, they’re just fatally ignorant. When that willful ignorance causes the needless suffering and death of someone under their care, it’s homicide. At least that’s how the Wisconsin Supreme Court decided in one tragic case: [Read more…]
Ahh, EW. I swear, one of these days you’re gonna take off a prosthetic mask and reveal Jon Stewart cackling underneath. This week the former pastor turned neoconfederate apologist clumsily tried to turn the tables on the Republican War on Women with this howler: [Read more…]