| Guess Which Drug Is Illegal?
It has been deemed highly dangerous, potentially toxic, even lethal, and for years the government and the Centers for Disease Control and your own mother have issued all sorts of lies and alarmist B.S. about it, like how it drains spinal fluid, induces brain aneurisms, makes you vote Libertarian. Which is not to say taking it doesn't have its random dangers, but, you know, please. This drug is famous for producing incredible feelings of euphoria, openness, warmth and love and happiness in almost everyone who takes it. It is staggeringly effective, non-addictive, and when taken somewhat responsibly and with a slight hint of intelligence, has very few, if any, notable or permanent side effects. Its positives border on miraculous. It can effortlessly break down long-held psychological barriers, remove obstacles to communication and stifled emotion, make patients/users feel open and happy and much better able to handle stress, anxiety, all manner of trauma.
Will 'Amnesty' Sink McCain?
The perennial controversy over what to call McCain's amnesty is silly. Every program in the world that has allowed illegal immigrants to stay has been called an "amnesty." McCain himself called it "amnesty" as recently as May 2003, when he told the Tucson Citizen "I think we can set up a program where amnesty is extended to a certain number of people who are eligible … Amnesty has to be an important part ..." But once the focus-group results were in, "amnesty" became a four-letter word. ...[snip] Real Straight Talk would be to say "Sure, it's an amnesty, but we don't really have any choice" ... P.S.: The McCain, post-focus-group argument is that it can't be "amnesty" if it has some requirements--e.g., to pay a fine, learn English, etc. But it turns out that Ronald Reagan's 1986 "comprehensive" reform, which he and everyone else called an "amnesty," had requirements too, including payment of fees.
UK : Anglican Archbishop Supports Aspects Of Sharia Law
The archbishop's comments are unhelpful and may add to the confusion that already exists in our communities. All British citizens must be subject to British laws developed through Parliament and the courts." Khalid Mahmood, Muslim Labour MP, said: "This is very misguided. There is no half-way house with this. What part of Sharia law does he want? The sort that is practiced in Saudi Arabia, which they are struggling to get away from? Muslims do not need special treatment or to be specially singled out. This would not contribute to community cohesion." Trevor Phillips, the chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said on Channel 4 News: "We are all equal before the law. What I fear he may be doing is giving succour to extremists who basically want to say, 'Muslims, they're different'...
Ron Paul: Not a Good Choice
YAF is a "conservative" youth organization, which is now primarily a conservative Libertarian organization. Here is a brief summation of the current organization from Wikipedia:On college campuses, the independent YAF chapters have been involved in activities including rallies supporting the armed forces, advocacy for strict control of illegal immigration, demonstrations against affirmative action and protesting liberal campus speakers. YAF has also organized protests against legislation enacting anti-discrimination protection for transsexuals. YAF's "Sharon Statement (from being adopted at Sharon. Connecticut) clearly embraces a small and limited government, a "free" market and deregulation. 1 | 2 www.bestcyrano.org/avenger212/ Rowan Wolf is an activist and sociologist living in Oregon.
Fears, tears surround gift-giving
Most of us have too many possessions as it is without feeling obligated to keep things we don't really like. A respectable waiting period is appreciated but not required. If I give someone a gift that I never see again, I do not blame the person. We have enough undefined guilt floating through our lives, especially us German Lutherans, without adding to it.
But, rather than play it safe, I still like to give a real gift. I accept the risk of a whiff in exchange for the exhilaration of occasionally hitting a home run.
But, as I said, I'm old-fashioned that way.
From what I see now, anyone over 10 years old wants the cold hard cash. This does not satisfy my urge for gifts-in-boxes giving. It's hollow. It's too easy. It feels like I haven't honored the person with even a passing thought.
Shoppers become stingy with gift cards, the latest sign of consumer ...
NEW YORK (AP) — Here's a sign of how shaky the economy has become: Wal-Mart says its shoppers are redeeming their holiday gift cards for basic items — pasta sauce, diapers, laundry detergent — instead of iPods or DVDs. Merchants had hoped shoppers armed with gift cards would provide a lift after a dismal holiday shopping season — partly because shoppers tend to spend even more than the value of the card. But that didn't seem to happen last month, and retailers are feeling the pain. Yesterday, the nation's retailers turned in their worst January in almost four decades as high gas and food prices, a slumping housing market, tighter credit and a tougher job market pushed consumers to the edge. Sales at 43 retailers surveyed by the UBS-International Council of Shopping Centers rose just 0.5 percent in January, well below the original 1.5 percent forecast.
Council tenants are told to seek work or lose home
She has a BA in American literature which means she read The Grapes of Wrath and the works of Jack London who wrote about the poor of this city before she was born, yet she seems to want to torture the people who have least in society, unemployed council tenants, many of whom have known despair for most of their lives. It appears that New Labour Ministers want to attack and humiliate the poor while giving themselves pay rises, and protecting the fat cats who expect to be made Peers in the ludicrous Honours List by putting their ill-gotten millions into the Party. The Flint-hearted Ms Flint heralds their downfall in the next election unless Geo. Brown throws the caber at some of them. Or uses the claymore to chop them down to size. Pete, London .
MYOB FirstEdge 3
I've been using MYOB FirstEdge to fill my small business accounting needs since it first came to market back in 2002 ( ). My reasons for choosing FirstEdge are quite simple: The program meets my very basic needs with the same level of quality as its much more expensive sibling, MYOB AccountEdge 2007 ( ), or of any of its competitors, like Intuit's QuickBooks. The latest version of FirstEdge, version 3, doesn't offer much in the way of major new features—most of those that have been added are enhancements to existing tools such as Address Book contact syncing—but it has been reprogrammed as a Universal Binary, which makes it possible for FirstEdge to run natively on both Intel and PowerPC-based Macs. Considering that MYOB already offers a full-featured business accounting package, it would be easy to assume that FirstEdge is a dumbed-down version of AccountEdge—a program with just enough features to entice you into forking over full price for the full version.
Va. hookup thief released after pleading guilty Gay
A Richmond resident was sentenced to jail time Jan. 10 but released soon after for stealing money and credit cards from men he hooked up with in Arlington. Shawn Boyd, 36, was sentenced at the Arlington County General District Court to 12 months in jail and 10 months probation. Since he had already served jail time while awaiting his trial, he was released on the same day he was sentenced. Boyd served his time in the Arlington County Detention Facility. As part of a plea bargain, Boyd pleaded guilty to petty larceny and failure to appear in court in September 2005. Boyd stole a credit card from an Arlington resident on Feb. 15, 2005. He also stole less than $200 from another Arlington resident on March 19, 2005. Officer Loreann Grimes, team coordinator for the Arlington County Police Department’s Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit, said Boyd had been hooking up with men he met online and stealing their money and credit cards afterward.
Other Voices: A roundup of views on Fidel Castro's resignation
This explains the subdued reaction of Cubans on the island and in Miami. As long as Castro is physically capable, he will use his considerable personal power to hold up the failed communist system. Even in his resignation notice, he promised to continue writing his "Reflections," a series of editorials that regularly skewer the proposals of his designated successor, brother Raúl. .
May 2006
We are democrats and progressives. We propose here a fresh political alignment. Many of us belong to the Left, but the principles that we set out are not exclusive. We reach out, rather, beyond the socialist Left towards egalitarian liberals and others of unambiguous democratic commitment. Indeed, the reconfiguration of progressive opinion that we aim for involves drawing a line between the forces of the Left that remain true to its authentic values, and currents that have lately shown themselves rather too flexible about these values. It involves making common cause with genuine democrats, whether socialist or not. The present initiative has its roots in and has found a constituency through the Internet, especially the "blogosphere". It is our perception, however, that this constituency is under-represented elsewhere — in much of the media and the other forums of contemporary political life.
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