dirtier fingernails & cleaner minds |
Of the United States of his day, the American Indian Cowboy Humorist and Trick Roper Will Rogers said: "What the country needs is dirtier fingernails and cleaner minds." It's what I need too. |
-
Photo
Freda: Even I can shout a full-throated amen to this…a beautiful illustrated op-ed by Maira Kalman.
-
Link
Google Earth is the new Swiss drug czar.
Swiss police stumbled across a large marijuana plantation while using Google Earth, leading to the arrest of 16 people and seizure of 1.2 tons of marijuana as well as cash and valuables worth 900,000 Swiss francs ($780,000).
-
Photo
The Angela Peralta Theater in Mazatlan is exhibiting anti-American comics from around the world. If ever there was cause for shame and self-loathing, it’s viewing room after room after room of condemnations of ones country. It’s worse when you agree with the criticisms.
-
Link
Obama on abortion rights: rejecting the "Mexico City Gag Rule"
Freda: A sane U.S. policy on international aid for family planning? This is a brave new world.
The Mexico City Policy, also known as the Mexico City Gag Rule and the Global Gag Rule, is a United States government policy which requires all non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that receive federal funding to refrain from performing or promoting abortion services in other countries. Named for the venue of the United Nations International Conference on Population where it was announced, the Mexico City Policy was instituted by U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1984. (Thank you Wikipedia)
-
Photo
69
Notes
-
Link
25
Notes Sanjay Gupta on Medical Marijuana“I’m here to tell you, as a doctor, that despite all the talk about the medical benefits of marijuana, smoking the stuff is not going to do your health any good.” (via sexartandpolitics: absurdlakefront: notthatkindagay)
Freda: I’m underwhelmed by the “marijuana is medicine” argument for legalization. It’s not that I doubt pot’s ability to spur an appetite or help with pain, but there are better reasons for decriminalization. As a Mendocino County native, I can’t help but feel this is one of them:
Northern California’s Mendocino County has been known for marijuana growing for at least 30 years. Part of the state’s legendary Emerald Triangle of high-grade pot production along with neighboring Humboldt and Trinity counties, Mendocino has long profited from the underground economy. Last week, a local newspaper, the Willits News, tried to gauge just how large the profits may be, and the result is startling.
According to the News, the local marijuana industry will add $1.5 billion to the county’s economy this year. With Mendocino’s legal economy estimated at about $2.3 billion, that means the pot economy is almost two-thirds as large as all other legal economic activities combined. When combining the aboveground and underground economies, the marijuana industry is responsible for roughly 40% of all Mendocino County economic activity, a figure approaching the proportions of the Afghan opium economy. (via)
-
Photo
Freda: Negrito is all over Mexico, where references to the big guy in your office (el gordo: fat man) or the Korean girl at the corner store (la china, because all Asians are Chinese) are blunt, but rarely mean spirited. It’s symptomatic of a decidedly less politically correct culture than the hyper-sensitive (sometimes with good reason) United States.
I bought a Negrito from the vending machine at work today. A Negrito it basically a chocolate filled éclair. I told one of my coworkers, “this is an example of what you cannot do in the US.” His response, ”Right, because Obama would get mad.” (via: significantothers)
-
Quote
"Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon (D) was charged “with 12 counts of felony theft, perjury, fraud and misconduct in office, becoming the city’s first sitting mayor to be criminally indicted,” the Baltimore Sun reports."
via Taegan Goddard.
Freda: The Wire lives.
-
Quote
"The Cook Political Report mines voting and census data and finds that “in the past decade, the most significant predictor of a county’s shift in partisan preference has not been existing partisanship, or even income. It is level of educational attainment. Democrats have gained ground in places where those with at least a bachelor’s degree comprise high shares of the electorate, and have seen their fortunes fade elsewhere."
-
Link
Obama's next scandal: Taking his kids to the waterpark, and ditching the press to do so.
Freda: It’s these things that make it hard to stay angry at Obama, even when he does asshole and/or idiotic things, like picking Warren as his invocation pastor or Hillary as his Secretary of State.
-
Link
A chef who cooks local and organic food and picks some of it from a presidential garden could change things faster than any cabinet appointment, Ms. Reichl said. “It’s like the hat manufacturers being furious because J. F. K. didn’t wear a hat, and suddenly everyone in America stopped wearing hats,” she said. “It’s that simple.”
Freda: Food is good for you. Food policy is a political danger zone.
-
Photo
-
Photo
Freda: Tom Tomorrow, I love you.
-
Quote
"Sure, Vegas boasts of renewable power investments and energy-saving light bulbs. But bragging about such efforts rather than simply shutting stuff off is as silly as Arnold Schwarzenegger trumpeting his supposed commitment to environmentalism by pledging to make one of his Hummers more fuel efficient…But that’s always been the American way, hasn’t it? We don’t stop driving Hummers around a warming planet just like we don’t stop building population centers in deserts, just like we don’t stop gambling when wages drop, just like we don’t stop wasting energy on casino signs. Why? Because it’s fun to drive tanks, live in desert climates, double-down on 11 and gape at bright lights in the big city. And during the years of cheap energy, income growth and seemingly endless water supplies, fun always trumped pragmatism."
David Sirota in Salon. Will “Viva Las Vegas” always be America’s motto?
-
Link
Top 10 Gifts for Politics Geeks: Recession Edition
Freda: I say skip the presents altogether and spend your gift budget eating well, but this is an amusing list nonetheless.
