E-mails to SMS: 2008-07-13

Friday, July 18, 2008

A Message to Loyal Readers of this Blog...

Hello Loyal Readers,

Just a quick note to let you all know that I am on the road - currently accessing the internets from the Tillamook Public Library (a loverly facilty, I might add - fund Public Libraries!!!). I wanted to also let you know that I am having trouble with my laptop. "Bad pool header" is the message I am getting whenever I try to log on, and I don't think that that is a good thing. I'll be back in Tulsa on Sunday evening and have my laptop into Geek Rescue on Monday, so I hope to be back online by Monday evening - please stay tuned... And I'll leave you all with a beautiful shot of the Oregon Coast to dance around in your heads while I am away.

Monday, July 14, 2008

In Praise of Librarians

I am in Portland, Oregon attending the American Association of Law Libraries Annual Meeting and being in the company of fellow librarians (not all of whom are radical and militant, but many of whom are) I would like to point out and praise one brave member of my chosen profession who stood tall this last week and had the audacity to express a fairly innocuous sentiment (McCain = Bush) and was escorted off the premises for her simple expression of free speech. The librarian's name is Carol Kreck and she has blogged about her experience on the Huffington Post. Not only is this a curious sentiment to object to (McCain = Bush) as it would seem that any good Republican would not only welcome a comparison between a sitting president and his own party's candidate for the same office, but also it is curious that any self-respecting Republican would find fault with a sign that merely compares two prominent party stalwarts. It was even more strange that this sign caught the attention of the local police department who saw fit to escort Ms. Kreck away from an event that candidate McCain was about to appear. The event at which McCain was about to appear was being held in a public building - Denver Center for the Performing Arts. The irony apparently lost on the police who, under orders from the McCain campaign, removed and ticketed Ms. Kreck for attempting to enter the McCain campaign event.

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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