Even the Swiss Are Rude.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, and just plain mean.

Vatican and Muslims condemn Swiss minaret ban vote

Religious leaders across the world have criticised Switzerland's referendum vote to ban the building of minarets.

The Vatican joined Muslim figureheads from Indonesia and Egypt, as well as Switzerland, in denouncing the vote as a blow to religious freedom.

France's FM Bernard Kouchner expressed shock at the ban which, he said, showed "intolerance" and should be reversed.

More than 57.5% of voters and 22 out of 26 cantons - or provinces - voted in favour of the ban on Sunday.

The proposal had been put forward by the Swiss People's Party, (SVP), the largest party in parliament, which said minarets were a sign of Islamisation.

More at the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8385893.stm

The best is French FM Koucher's intolerance of intolerance:
"I am a bit shocked by this decision," Mr Kouchner told France's RTL radio on Monday. "It is an expression of intolerance and I detest intolerance."
(Yeah, that's the country where the headscarf caused controversy when the gubmint decided to ban that "religious symbol" in schools.)

I get it, though. People are afraid of other cultures impinging on their own cultural traditions and rights, and that kind of behavior so outmoded, don't you think? I mean, when is the last time a white western country invaded some other nation to impose their own values and ways of living, including religion?

What a maudlin baby!

Jerbus, I'm sitting here all teary-eyed. Aaaandrea is married now, and Gilbert wore this cool little tie, and I realized how long it's been since I've seen them and how sweet that time was back in Burlington, as short as it was, and how much I love all my peeps back there and am so happy for Andrea and how nice it is when people run into each other and decide they like and care enough about each other enough to make the big commitment. And stick to it. Jesse said on the plane that neither Sarah nor Andrea has a hurtful bone in her body. Good for you, Andrea. Congrats and happy trails.

In Case I Haven't Been Clear in the Past

Bill Gates, you are a fraud. I hope you have a crappy Thanksgiving.

Doling for Dollars

New York City

Doling Out Doses of H1N1 Vaccine

The New York City department of health has come under fire for distributing rations of the still scarce H1N1 vaccine to corporate health centers--including those of Wall Street firms--despite shortages faced by hospitals and pediatricians. Officials defended the decision, arguing that they are simply increasing the types of locations where the shot is available.

[The following text appears within a chart. Please see hardcopy or PDF for actual chart.]

H1N1 tally

• Requested

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1938716-1,00.html#ixzz0XgwwJoCn

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

27,400/1,200

Citigroup Inc.

7,200/1,200

Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

5,400/200

Columbia University

11,100/200

SOURCE: NYC DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1938716-2,00.html#ixzz0XgwgGIqX
from TIME, Vol. 174, No. 20, November

Cops

Pills

What the herk, people? I'm a mess again. Bawling like a baby one minute, laughing the next. The worst thing of it all is that I can't just go to profs, who are expecting me to get work done well on time, and say, "I'm having a real challenge with depression and am having a lot of trouble focusing; can I have a little more time, please?" It's not like having the flu.

Really, what is that all about anyway? On the one hand, how many people in this country take antidepressants or anti-anxiety pills or sleeping pills and the pharmaceutical companies make millions, but at the same time, we aren't supposed to admit we are depressed because somehow that's like having an unmentionable disease and we'll be considered weak. What gives?

So, this morning I had to just chill and do normal people stuff, after an hour of trying to work my way through a chem problem that should have been pretty straightforward. You know, do the dishes, scoop the litter box, sweep the floor... Just to remember I'm a human being not a math machine. Shite, I could always find something to pay the bills if I get canned from this program for being too dumb.

Ouch.

Yay!

TRACY WINS NL MANAGER OF THE YEAR AWARD

Rockies manager Jim Tracy on Wednesday won the National League Manager of the Year Award, the Baseball Writers Association of America announced. Under Tracy last season, the Rockies were 74-42 and earned the National League Wild Card slot in the playoffs. Tracy is the second Rockies manager to win the award. Don Baylor earned the honor in 1995. Tracy got 29 of a possible 32 first-place votes. Additionally, just moments after Tracy was named NL Manager of the Year, the Rockies announced they signed him to a three-year extension through 2012.

Classic Maine

Thanks to Joe Merrill for the pic.

Speaking of such things, I got back from Maine last night. Coolest thing that happened yesterday: I got on the plane in Manchvegas, and there was former housemate Jesse, whom I had not seen in about 7 years. We enjoyed lunch and a beer and catching up on the flight to De Troit. Very nice.

While I was there, Mom went into the "Everything is bad here; the economy sucks," mode, and I was like, "Yeah, just like everywhere." Seriously, the small towns there look to be in no worse shape, as far as "closed" and "for rent or lease" signs in empty store fronts, than here in Wyoming. Peeps, this country is a mess. We are slaves to the dollar bill, y'all. We all know that, right?

I mean, I had to have Dad ship me a box of stuff UPS because it would have cost me 20 bucks to check a bag on the plane. Jesse and I were talking about how cool it would be to fly Southwest because they have free flight for your bags, except that the fact that free bag check is an anomaly in this country now is sick. That an airlines advertises that as a bonus is a gross misrepresentation of reality.

The FFM says why don't I give up like he did? Beats the hell out of me.

Things I Have to Relearn Regularly

Family is a sweet deal for a couple hours at a time, every few years.

The people who say "thank you" to those who serve our country in a military role, are not those who have the capacity to make sure the same government that hires and sends them on ridiculous missions takes care of them when they get home.

I apologize for being brutally honest here, all my fine socialist compadres, but there are very few well-paid and benefitted members of that same government who truly care about the people they presumably represent- or at least have the balls to actually pursue the agenda they purport to embrace.

(I still respect you; we just all have our Achilles heels.)

Even young teenagers who play sports don't like to walk.
This is a pic of my nephie, who is one of those little punks.

Or The Man Who Sort of Rhymes

I've been a little distracted, but mostly good, despite the FFM's harping on me amidst his naps, this weekend, working on the Soil Chem. It's hard like Mexico, and time consuming! (He doesn't hear me when I say it aloud to him, so maybe this way it will sink in.)

Thanks for the break, Ebony. This is a riot.

Whoo! Whooo!

We haven't had a little poetry here in a long time, even though the FFM did send a sweet-sweet Mark Strand poem out last week. You know I love that guy.

Here is yesterday's gem. Maybe the FFM should start his own blog. Well, then I'd probably be ripping off his stuff.

Speaking of poetry, remember to check out what my bro is up to with all that on Clouds for Pillows.

A Pair of Barn Owls, Hunting

by David Wagoner

Now slowly, smoothly flying over the field
Beside the orchard into the after-light
Of the cold evening, the ash gold owls come sailing
Close to the branches, gliding across the arbor
Where the bare grapevines ripen only shadows
In the dead of winter, and at the end of a garden
Suddenly flare their wings, hover,
And swerve, claws first, down to the grass together.
"A Pair of Barn Owls, Hunting" by David Wagoner, from Traveling Light: Collected and New Poems. © University of Illinois Press, 1999.

What the FFM Brought for Breakfast Today

Can Prosecutors Be Sued By People They Framed?
by Nina Totenberg

Do prosecutors have total immunity from lawsuits for anything they do, including framing someone for murder? That is the question the justices of the Supreme Court face Wednesday.

On one side of the case being argued are Iowa prosecutors who contend "there is no freestanding right not to be framed." They are backed by the Obama administration, 28 states and every major prosecutors organization in the country.

On the other side are two black men — Terry Harrington and Curtis McGhee — men who served 25 years in prison before evidence long hidden in police files resulted in them being freed.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120069519

Framing is OK! Prosecutors are immune! Even if they know you are not guilty! Cops are immune, too! Don't you feel super safe? I know I do.