Author: Ruby Sinreich

It should come as a surprise to exactly no-one, but having documentation definitely changes things.

“If Congress passes a Human Life Amendment to the Constitution that would prohibit abortion except when it was necessary to prevent the death of the mother, would you actively support its ratification by the Texas Legislature?”

Miers, elected to the city council, checked “yes” to this and nine other questions, including whether she would like to have the endorsement of the anti-abortion group’s political action committee.
– Miers backed abortion ban in 1989-Senate papers – Yahoo! News

According to a new poll commissioned by AfterDowningStreet.org:

50% agreed with the statement:

“If President Bush did not tell the truth about his reasons for going to war with Iraq, Congress should consider holding him accountable by impeaching him.”
– Poll: Americans Favor Bush’s Impeachment If He Lied about Iraq | Democrats.com

Some information from Frank Rich writing behind the NYTimes paywall, via the indispensable Ed Cone:

Very little has been written about the White House Iraq Group, or WHIG. Its inception in August 2002, seven months before the invasion of Iraq, was never announced. Only much later would a newspaper article or two mention it in passing, reporting that it had been set up by Andrew Card, the White House chief of staff. Its eight members included Mr. Rove, Mr. Libby, Condoleezza Rice and the spinmeisters Karen Hughes and Mary Matalin. Its mission: to market a war in Iraq.

Continue reading “The real scandal” →

IKEA has created a goofy flash website to highlight some of their latest creations. They claim that they “asked 28 designers to explore and experiment…” and some other grand, creative-sounding stuff like “What if the wildest ideas become the wisest solutions.” But I think it’s really just a high-concept way to roll out their products for 2006. And I still don’t want to sit on a rocking chair made out of nothing but metal and rubber bands. 😛

Even since I visited Europe I have felt strongly that gas prices should be at least 5 times more per gallon (or just double current prices). This would discourage excessive driving while simultaneously creating a huge base of funds to support transit and pay for environmental clean up from decades of auto use.

The recent increase in prices has been a good test for how individuals and economies would react.

The number of riders on the Piedmont, a train that runs daily between Raleigh and Charlotte, rose last month by about 1,650 people, or nearly 58 percent, from September 2004.
–Winston-Salem Journal | Regional Briefs

I also read that our regional buses have seen a doubling in ridership recently. I’m trying to find a link to that…

Now that 5 years of irreparable damage is done to our country and our planet, the media wakes up and begins to tell the truth about Bush. This is exacly why I depend more on bloggers than on paid journalists to tell me what’s really going on. I never once believed the WMD bullshit, for example. It amazed me that anyone couldn’t see through that garbage.

Behind the NYT paywall, Krugman drops more science about how the media is only just now reporting on weaknesses that Bush has had all along.

Read the speeches Howard Dean gave before the Iraq war, and compare them with Colin Powell’s pro-war presentation to the U.N. Knowing what we know now, it’s clear that one man was judicious and realistic, while the other was spinning crazy conspiracy theories. But somehow their labels got switched in the way they were presented to the public by the news media.

Continue reading “Too little too late” →

My old friend Chris Kromm blogs at Facing South and makes a compelling case that

Progressives need to step up to the plate, and 1) support the fight for a democratic, just and sustainable rebuilding in the Gulf, and 2) work tirelessly and with laser focus to return issues of poverty and inequality to the top of the national agenda.

This is a great opportunity to put progressive issues on the front burner, let’s hope it’s not our last chance! I’m already dismayed at how the Gulf Coast has left the national headlines.

Some pictures I took with my phone while walking around Carrboro this week:

I use Bloglines to read my two-hundred-and-something feeds and I like it pretty good, in spite of the lurking fear that they are looking for a way to cash in on me.

My respect for them really increased when they published this letter to Congress about FEC regulation of blogs last month, and today they rolled out a few small improvements that make Bloglines even easier to use. Just in time, considering Google is trying to give them a run for the money. I’ve tried Google’s new aggregator, and I found that it just doesn’t work as well although it’s certainly prettier than Bloglines. I’m not switching yet, but it’s always good to have options.

Continue reading “I have a crush on Bloglines” →

There’s an interesting discussion going on at the News and Observer’s Editor’s Blog where the N&O’s Executive Editor Melanie Sill is taking issue with something reported by the N&O Obsbudsman Ted Vaden about something Jay Rosen said at ConvergeSouth.

Jay says journalists should consider aspiring to the standards of bloggers rather than the other way around. Melanie says he’s out of touch and dissing the hard work of reporters. What does that have to do with his point?

I feel compelled to point out that this is just the kind of conversation and the kind of accountability that is enabled by blogs and are difficult if not impossible in any other medium. Journalists need to stop fighting and start thanking blogs!