-
-
Emanuel seeks to cut funding for Cheney’s office, home | Chicago Tribune WASHINGTON—Responding to claims by Vice President Dick Cheney that his office is exempt from disclosing information about what it has classified as secret, Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) said Tuesday he will try to cut off the $4.8 million needed annually to run Cheney’s office and home.Last week, Cheney claimed he is not bound to disclose some national security requirements because, as president of the Senate, he is not part of the executive branch. On Tuesday, a Cheney spokesman accused House Democrats of playing politics.The controversy stems from an…
-
Daily Herald | Cook County Cherie Travis created the PACT Humane Society’s no-kill animal shelter seven years ago, but finds the problem of stray cats and kittens in the Northwest suburbs reaching an all-time high. PACT, which stands for People and Animals in Community Together, runs adoption centers at both PetSmart stores in Schaumburg. The group has the sole responsibility for saving all the stray cats and kittens found in Schaumburg, Rolling Meadows, Hoffman Estates, Palatine, Streamwood and Barrington Hills, Travis said. Though the PACT shelters have a no-kill policy, as long as its 20 cages are full, many other…
-
About 15 minutes ago, I was listening to Morning Edition on WBEZ with half an ear as I attempt to awaken fully and get going (I don’t have to be at work for more than an hour, I generally leave about 40 minutes from now). And OOPS! There it goes again!! WBEZ got knocked off the air a second time mid-sentence, and has been replaced by a shifting soundscape of radio noise, some in Spanish, some in Russian, bits of music, and now the EAS tones agian. Unfortunately, David took the digital recorder to work with him, and mylaptop does…
-
BBC NEWS | Health | Echinacea can prevent a cold Taking the herbal remedy echinacea can more than halve the risk of catching a common cold, US researchers say.
-
Today at church, it was just… cool. I can’t really describe it, except to say we were in the groove, dialed in, in the zone. Remember, I’ve been away for a week. 2 weeks ago, we had the first instance of “10am music practice” led by our choirmistress/organist. I like Mary very much, but She Must Be Obeyed in some things. So I was a little dismayed when 2 weeks ago, the music practice portion of the service went on and on and on – it was more than a little distracting. I could tell we had “lost” the congregation…
-
Salt Lake Tribune – Conservative, good; Liberal, bad — or is it? According to several studies, including one at Media Matters, this country is leaning more and more to the “liberal” side of the spectrum, in spite of “the L word” being synonymous with “bad” and “weak.”
-
JURIST – Paper Chase: House votes to reverse ban on overseas contraceptive aid The amendment would allow contraceptive aid to be given to nongovernmental agencies overseas, regardless of whether they promote or provide abortions.The aid ban, originally called the Mexico City Policy [Wikipedia backgrounder], was initially introduced under President Ronald Reagan in 1984 and required nongovernmental organizations to agree as a condition of their receipt of US funds that they would neither perform nor actively promote abortion as a method of family planning in other nations. This policy was in effect until it was rescinded on January 22, 1993. President…
-
Adults draw line in the sand in Lake Forest | Chicago Tribune “It didn’t use to be respectable to speak out in public in ways that were anti-child or anti-family, but now that sort of talk is very acceptable,” Beck said. Right, right. And in the same article, the backlash is already building. And even in the relatively positive statement above, wanting a kid-free zone is equated with being anti-child. It’s really more about wanting a quiet zone free of disturbance, but that’s not how it will be framed in the discussions to come. And all too soon, the “child-free”…
-
I’ve wondered about this before, but OneUtah.org’s post pointed out some recent studies that were collected about the huge disparity in health care, income, education, and plain old quality of life between “Blue” states and “Red” states, and offers an interesting analysis. First, some examples, none of which are going to be all that surprising, really. PERRspectives Blog: Health Care the Latest Red State Failure The same dismal pattern applies to a wide array of measures of social dysfunction and pathology. 8 of the top 10 states with the highest murder rates are squarely in Red America. 7 of the…