Hey, who knew? Everyone's favorite chief of staff is also a novelist! (That article is worth a read1 just for the phrase "the long and distinguished annals of the right-wing dirty novel." Really.)
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1 But it's not exactly G-rated material. Just to warn you.
Apparently the flooding in New Hampshire has made national news, because I've been getting a lot of calls and e-mails from worried friends and family. So I thought I should mention here too: I'm fine (although I appreciate the concern). We've been getting rain on and off for the past few days, and combined with the fallen leaves it has made some roads rather slippery, but I haven't seen any flooding in my area, at least so far! Keep your fingers crossed for me...
As the news isn't exactly looking great, I figured this deserved a link.
P.S. You're going to go see Serenity this weekend, right? Right? (Neil Gaiman even gave permission.)
I'm not even sure what to say, so I'm going to just leave you with a list of groups that are accepting donations to help with their hurricane relief activities. I have included both religious and secular groups and tried to get a decent variety, but this list is by no means intended to be exhaustive.
(Note: I am not personally vouching for or endorsing any of these organizations; I'm just trying to provide some information.)
America's Second Harvest
American Red Cross
Catholic Charities USA
Church World Service
Convoy of Hope
Episcopal Relief and Development
Evangelical Free Church of America
Evangelical Lutheran Church of America
Feed the Children
Habitat for Humanity
Hearts with Hands
Humane Society of the U.S.
Islamic Circle of North America
Mennonite Disaster Service
Noah's Wish
Operation Blessing
Salvation Army
Samaritan's Purse
United Jewish Communities
United Methodist Committee on Relief
United Way
Pat Robertson calls for assassination of Hugo Chavez.
This is just wrong on... so many levels. I can't even get my mind wrapped around it.
Nils Olav, penguin, promoted to Colonel in Chief of the Royal Norwegian Guard. I wonder how he feels about his military service? He was more or less drafted, after all. He is awfully cute.
(They never said "Beam me up, Scotty." I wish all the obituaries would stop quoting that.)
Real post later, but I just wanted to say that my thoughts are with those in London and all affected. See Stephanie for some great quotes. And see Northern Sun (which I just discovered today) for some great bumper stickers and other peace-promoting items.
As we all know, it's opening day for major league baseball. And, of course, the first game for the Red Sox is in New York, against the Yankees. (Why? Is it just for the drama? Do they do that deliberately?) This means...
that a large percentage of the population of the greater Boston area will become pathologically incapable of speaking about anything else
that we will get to hear, again and again and again, the blow-by-blow of last season, in which the Red Sox apparently did something comparable to defeating Hitler
that Red Sox t-shirts and caps will somehow suddenly qualify as "business casual" dress for work
that I will go back to being awestruck and amazed as I try really hard to believe that yes, people really do care that much
and that I resume the precarious activity of trying to like both the Yankees and the Red Sox. Wish me luck.
Look at this. Can you IMAGINE the size basket needed for that Easter egg? The $20 I spent on candy for my boyfriend's Easter basket is suddenly seeming not so outrageous.
This is pretty scary. I don't think it's necessarily directly related to whether the Constitution is taught in school, though. I don't remember ever being taught about the Constitution, but I don't think that newspapers should only publish things with government approval. And I'm positive I didn't think that in high school, either.
Prince Harry Dresses Up Like a Nazi
and
Mark Thatcher Funds a Coup in Equatorial Guinea
How . . . bizarre.
Have you seen this? Apparently there weren't any WMD after all. Apparently they stopped looking for them a month ago. There weren't any, and we know that now, but the Bush administration tells us that they weren't really the point, anyway. And we should just trust them, of course, because they're in charge.
Now, that's all one thing. That much I might not even find worth complaining about. But here's the clincher. At least according to the NPR story I heard, the administration stopped the search and didn't tell anyone. They only admitted it today after the story broke in the Washington Post. Ugh. That just seems so . . . cowardly.
Okay. Just had to get that off my chest. Back to knitting tomorrow.
Go check out Stephanie's idea.
