Iddy's Pin-Up Boy

Beefcake


Some of my readers will know Iddybud's
Pin-Up Boy for April

News From The Blogs

News From The Blogs

Josh Marshall wants you to listen to the wild and wacky Mullah Dobson compare the Supreme Court to the KKK.

On the vote for confirmation of John Bolton and Lincoln Chaffee's expected "yes" vote, Marshall says he's "waiting to see if Sen. Chafee is concerned that Bolton was the guy who pretty much single-handedly resurrected the Niger uranium monkey-business at the State Department."

Michael Hawkins believes that our soldiers are being deemed non-persons and points to an Independent article which claims the US is 'smuggling wounded troops home' under the cover of darkness.

At Common Ills, they're talking about Danny Schecter and Buzzflash interviews with Barbara Ehrenreich. Other topics include John Bolton and the NY Times' revisiting the RNC protests of last fall, particularly Jim Dwyer's "Videos Challenge Accounts of Convention Unrest".

I just loved reading Saheli's flowing contemplation upon a
skull& floral dress. It reminded me of "A Contemplation upon Flowers" by Henry King, Bishop of Chichester:

"Brave flowers—that I could gallant it like you,
And be as little vain!
You come abroad, and make a harmless show,
And to your beds of earth again.
You are not proud: you know your birth:
For your embroider'd garments are from earth.

You do obey your months and times, but I
Would have it ever Spring:
My fate would know no Winter, never die,
Nor think of such a thing.
O that I could my bed of earth but view
And smile, and look as cheerfully as you!

O teach me to see Death and not to fear,
But rather to take truce!
How often have I seen you at a bier,
And there look fresh and spruce!
You fragrant flowers! then teach me, that my breath
Like yours may sweeten and perfume my death."

At Dirty Tricks blog, we learn that the Bush administration has named 15 states that it said had used "improper accounting techniques" to obtain excessive amounts of federal Medicaid money. Namely: Alabama, Alaska, California, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington.

Tara Liloia from Blog For America comments on Paul Krugman's latest column, where he asks what we should conclude from the fact that self-proclaimed conservatives make up only a small minority of professors at elite universities. Krugman reminds us that the Republican Party is being increasingly dominated by people who believe truth should be determined by revelation, not research.

Lorianne took a morning walk.

Zardozz tells us about a fight developing inside the giant publishing house PENGUIN over a book about Hillary Clinton.

Rox is not at all pleased with a comment she'd read about women. Rox also provides you with her 'guilty-pleasure' list of movies.

Here are a few of mine:

- Joe Versus the Volcano
- Ruthless People
- Caddyshack
- While You Were Sleeping
- Sleepless in Seattle
- The End of The Affair
- Beauty & The Beast (Disney)
- Mary Poppins (Disney)
- How Green Was My Valley
- Merlin (made for TV)
- What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
- Kill Bill (1 and 2)



..in progress

Quote/Photo

photo by Jude Nagurney Camwell

"Whoso walketh in solitude,
And inhabiteth the wood,
Choosing light, wave, rock and bird,
Before the money-loving herd,
Unto that forester shall pass
From these companions, power and grace."

Ralph Waldo Emerson (Woodnotes)

Middle East Issues on the Net

Hanan Ashrawi; Amira Hass; NPR's Robert Siegel and CAMERA

Palestinian legislator and frequent spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi spoke last week at Sarah Lawrence College.

The Palestinians, whose economy and infrastructure were devastated by recent fighting, can't do it alone, she said. They need better living conditions through freedom of movement, job opportunities, and an overall end to occupation, Ashrawi said. The construction of settlements in the West Bank and Israel's security wall threatened the viability of a Palestinian state, Ashrawi said.

The wall is controversial because it cut into Palestinian land and divided Palestinian towns and villages. Ashrawi hoped the United States would get involved in diplomacy, and said President Bush's hands-off policy contributed to the troubles of the past four years. She urged the United States to become a player in negotiations once again. "The window of opportunity is not going to be permanent," Ashrawi said. "We need positive involvement and positive interaction and possibly a coalition of the willing for peace."

The Journal News 4-6-05

The organization known as CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America ) is no fan of Ashrawi's. See them try to bring her down a peg (or two thousand) with their recent diatribe titled "Ha'aretz Gives Hanan Ashrawi a Makeover"

CAMERA is no fan of NPR's Robert Siegel, either. Professionally, it doesn't get much uglier than the exchange between Siegel and CAMERA's Andrea Levin. I see this as a disagreement between a woman with an agenda and a news reporter who stands accused of having an agenda. Your opinion on the matter will be subject to where you stand, ideologically speaking. I think it has "witch-hunt" written all over it.

"Ms. Levin seems to insist on her assertion that I present Palestinian positions as fact. She offers no apology for that, or for mixing up my work with others. As for when my reporting ended in Israel, when NPR needs a shrill Likud polemicist to handle its assignments, I'll check with her when it's time to knock off on a reporting trip."

- NPR's Robert Siegel about CAMERA's Andrea Levin

Haaretz reporter Amira Hass, who is the only Israeli journalist living in the Occupied Territories, was a guest on Democracy Now. See "Israeli Journalist Amira Hass Reflects on Reporting Under Occupation"

I enjoyed reading her recent story about a woman named Basama Bourkan.


I'll end this blog piece by telling you that poverty and hunger exist in the Middle East today, in Israel and in the Occupied Terrirtories. Regardless of whose side of the "fence" you may be on, remember these are human beings whose citizens suffer from violence, fear, and the poverty that comes with war. Its effects are seen here at home in America, too (you'll notice it if you're paying close attention). It isn't flashed on the Breaking News on FOX or the front pages of the newspapers, but the money our government is spending on war and the policies of the majority-holding GOP will only assure that more families will be struggling in years to come. The poor are the ones with the social invisibility, seldom heard, always the last to be recognized.

The United States government could end world hunger if they set their mind to it. Rich nations are using the WTO against poor countries.