The First Decade

July 12, 1997


July 12, 2007

A Modest Blog

I know I've told a few of you how much I'm in love with Jon Swift. For those of you who aren't familiar with him, you must acquaint yourselves with his blog, stat. His latest post, Do we need another terrorist attack?, is amazing. And once you've read that, check out The Best of Jon Swift. You'll laugh, you'll cry.

Oh, but before you go, please check this out first.

You Snooze, You Lose

Since when is sleeping in public illegal in Chicago? "Sleeping dangerously" -- please! People, I can't count the number of times I've fallen asleep on Chicago trains and buses, back when I commuted to a day job. If I had to pay $300 for every infraction, I'd be living on the street. And then where would I sleep, huh? Where??

These are a few of my favorite things

In no particular order:

1. The way my kids laugh
2. Thunderstorms
3. My husband's smile
4. My wonderful family (immediate and extended)
5. Board games
6. Sleeping in
7. Star Trek
8. Getting completely lost in a really gripping book
9. Dogs (especially mutts)
10. The fact that my kids sleep through the night (usually)
    

Everyone Panic!

The end is near! Check out Eight Likely and Unlikely Ways Life on Earth Could End and fear, my friends.

(What, no Apocalypse?)

In Defense of the Nutjobs

The situation: At a protest, a 10-year-old boy stands on a U.S. flag. His mother is then charged with negligent child abuse, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, flag mutilation, and disturbing the peace.

Of course, any card-carrying liberal would be up in arms with cries of, "Free speech!" But what if that charged mother is Shirley Phelps-Roper, daughter of Fred Phelps, founder of the Westboro Baptist Church -- you know, the church that stages protests at military funerals because soldiers' deaths are America's punishment from God for accepting homosexuals.

This is yet another test of our ability to really and truly support free speech. "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it," right? (Well, I won't sacrifice my life for those nutjobs, but I will write a blog post about them.) The ACLU is set to defend Phelps-Roper, as well they should. When we pick and choose which free speech to defend, we will slowly but surely lose all free speech.

News story found at Fark.com.

Scooter

Obviously, it's not at all surprising that the president decided to commute "Scooter" Libby's sentence, and I think we all know a pardon is right around the corner. But what do republicans make of this situation? What do supporters of our president, all 29% of them, say to justify this to themselves? What makes it okay for the president and his cronies to be above the law? I'd really love to know.

Cloverfield

Do you guys know anything about this Cloverfield phenomenon? That's a mighty fine viral campaign, if you ask me. I'm downright obsessed with these sites: Ethan Haas Was Right and Ethan Haas Was Wrong.

Found at Bad Astronomy -- go there to read more.

Sickos

We'll be spending our day drinking Pedialyte and watching The Wrong Trousers.

How to Meet Smart Women

If anyone were trying to snare me, this would work. (Like how I just called myself smart there? Eh?)

Found at Bad Astronomy.