E-mails to SMS: 2007-09-23

Friday, September 28, 2007

Spector Goes Free?

Stephanie (er, Chris Boy-Toy Lavoie) posted my little Phil Spector collage on the SMS web site.

Check it out:

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Iraq War Cost = 720 Million a Day

The American Friends Service Committee has been doing some calculations and the results are not encouraging for those of us who value peace over war, health over death, infrastructure over destruction, and education over genocide. AFSC (a Quaker peace organization) has determined that the occupation of Iraq is costing the American taxpayer 720 million dollars each day. That is the equivalent of building 84 new elementary schools or providing 6482 families with new homes or making sure over 423,529 children have health care or outfitting over 1. 2 million homes with energy-efficient renewable electricity. What could you do with 500,000 dollars each minute for the next 24 hours???

I don't know about you all, you are probably making loads more money than I am, but it will likely take me the better part of the next ten years to earn what this country spends in Iraq every damn minute of every day. That's a butt load of cash and I challenge any right-wing Bush/Iraq war supporter to tell me exactly what we are getting for this outrageous price tag. What are we accomplishing over there? The Iraqis don't want us in their country any more (if they ever did). The animosity that we are generating in the Muslim world is unparalleled and certainly counterproductive in our struggle against terrorism.

Please visit the AFSC's web site and sign their petition to end this fiasco in Iraq and redirect our national spending to real things that help real people.

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Quote of Week (05/10/09)

"In some way, the quiet terror of severe depression never entirely passes once you’ve experienced it. It hovers behind the scenes, placated temporarily by medication and renewed energy, waiting to slither back in, unnoticed by others. It sits in the space behind your eyes, making its presence felt even in those moments when other, lighter matters are at the forefront of your mind. It tugs at you, keeping you from ever being fully at ease. Worst of all, it honors no season and respects no calendar; it arrives precisely when it feels like it."
Daphne Merkin, NYTimes Magazine, May 6, 2009

Quote of the Week (04/26/09)

"Five years after the Abu Ghraib revelations, we must acknowledge that our government methodically authorized torture and lied about it. But we also must contemplate the possibility that it did so not just out of a sincere, if criminally misguided, desire to “protect” us but also to promote an unnecessary and catastrophic war. Instead of saving us from 'another 9/11,' torture was a tool in the campaign to falsify and exploit 9/11 so that fearful Americans would be bamboozled into a mission that had nothing to do with Al Qaeda. The lying about Iraq remains the original sin from which flows much of the Bush White House’s illegality."
Frank Rich, NYTimes, April 26, 2009

Quote of Week (02/27/09)

"Throughout America’s history, there have been some years that appeared to roll into the next without much notice or fanfare. Budgets are proposed that offer some new programs or eliminate an initiative, but by and large continuity reigns.
Then there are the years that come along once in a generation, when we look at where the country has been and recognize that we need a break from a troubled past, that the problems we face demand that we begin charting a new path. This is one of those years."
President Barack Obama, The White House, February 26, 2009

Quote of the Week (02/07/09)

Quote of the Week (12/01/08)

Another Good Quote (10/23/08)

"I look at these people and can't quite believe that they exist. Are they professional actors? I wonder. Or are they simply laymen who want alot of attention? To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. 'Can I interest you in the chicken?' she asks. 'Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?' To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked."
David Sedaris, on undecided voters
The New Yorker, October 27, 2008

Quote of the Week (04/18/08)

"Senator Obama, in my view, is head and shoulders above the rest. He has the depth, the reflectiveness, and the resilience to be our next President. He speaks to the America I've envisioned in my music for the past 35 years, a generous nation with a citizenry willing to tackle nuanced and complex problems, a country that's interested in its collective destiny and in the potential of its gathered spirit. A place where '...nobody crowds you, and nobody goes it alone.'"
Bruce Springsteen, April 16, 2008