The Man Who Saved The World

Ken AshfordForeign AffairsLeave a Comment

Incredible(!) story from The Moscow News about something that happened in 1983 that you didn’t know about, because you were sleeping soundly in your bed.  I reprint it here in full: The Man Who Saved the World Finally Recognized Sirens blaring, warning lights flashing, computer screens showing nuclear missiles on their way, one man in charge of a red button … Read More

Schiavo’s Body Is Dead

Ken AshfordAssisited Suicide/Schiavo, Breaking News, Health Care, Right Wing Punditry/IdiocyLeave a Comment

RIP, finally. UPDATE:  The response from the right-wing blogosphere — full of death poems and scripture, not to mention wailing and gnashing of teeth — was a little TOO predictable, don’t you think? UPDATE #2:  I take that back.  I was just home for lunch and caught about 20 minutes of the cable news networks.  Man, do they want this … Read More

Now THIS is a Living Will

Ken AshfordHealth CareLeave a Comment

Slightly altered from Robert Friedman’s brilliant column: * In the event I lapse into a persistent vegetative state, I want medical authorities to resort to extraordinary means to prolong my hellish semiexistence. Fifteen years wouldn’t be long enough for me. * I want my spouse and my parents to compound their misery by engaging in a bitter and protracted feud … Read More

Those Evil, Terrorist Loving “Libruls”

Ken AshfordRepublicansLeave a Comment

From Thoughtcrimes.org: Issue Liberal Position Osama bin Laden Position NeoConservative Position Abortion Favors Opposes Opposes Prayer in School Opposes Favors Favors Separation of Church & State Favors Opposes Opposes Censorship Opposes Favors Favors Pre-emptive Attacks Opposes Favors Favors Interpretation of Religious Scripture Not Literal Literal Literal Women’s Rights Favors Opposes Opposes Death with Dignity Favors Opposes Opposes Theory of Evolution … Read More

Technology – A Pain In The Arse

Ken AshfordRandom MusingsLeave a Comment

Having trouble getting your cable modem to recognize your network router?  Yeah.  Bummer.  Remember the good old days when the hardest thing to do — technologically speaking — was programming your VCR clock? Of course, nothing beats this — a seven minute instructional (silent) film from 1927 called "How To Use The Dial Phone".  We may laugh now, but it … Read More

Religious Right Represents One Small Part of Spectrum

Ken AshfordAssisited Suicide/Schiavo, GodstuffLeave a Comment

Barbara O’Brien has a must-read over at The American Street.  To quote the best parts is an injustice to the whole thing, but I reluctantly will selectively quote and summarize anyhow: Right now Michael Schiavo and his supporters are hoping an autopsy of Terri Schiavo’s brain will eventually settle the matter of her persistent vegetative state beyond a shadow of … Read More

We So Crazy

Ken AshfordForeign AffairsLeave a Comment

57 per cent of Australians think US foreign policy to be as great a threat as that of Islamic fundamentalism. Can’t imagine why.  Unless you think about it. I mean, of ALL the nations on this planet, which one has been involved in more wars and had more of its troops in other sovereign lands?  Which nation invokes "pre-emption" as … Read More

Baghdad’s Grassy Knoll?

Ken AshfordIraqLeave a Comment

Body and Soul has the low-down on the killing of Nicola Calipari, the Italian intelligence agent who American soldiers shot and killed early this month as he was transporting an Italian kidnap victim to safety. The U.S. government story has always been that the American soldiers, located on the most dangerous road in Baghdad, got a little jumpy and fired … Read More

Sweet Charity Coming To Broadway After All

Ken AshfordPopular CultureLeave a Comment

From Playbill: It was on. Then it was off. Now it’s back on again. Broadway will see Sweet Charity at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on April 11 with Charlotte d’Amboise in the lead, and Christina Applegate joining the show on April 18, producer Barry Weissler told Playbill.com. Opening night will be May 4. Good news, if you happen to like … Read More

The Dirty Scoutmaster

Ken AshfordSex/Morality/Family ValuesLeave a Comment

Douglas Smith, Jr. in September 2004, talking about the character of the Boy Scouts and why it is important that the Scouts exclude gays: Some intolerant elements in our society want to force scouting to abandon its values and to become fundamentally different. They want scouting to forego its constitutional rights, affirmed in 2000 by the Supreme Court in BSA … Read More

United States Government Debunks Bush

Ken AshfordSocial SecurityLeave a Comment

Even as Bush is going out trying to sell gullible midwesterners about how grrrrreat it would be if Social Security were nothing but private accounts, the United States government’s social security website clearly indicates how ill-advised Bush’s scheme is: Q: I think I could do better if you let me invest the Social Security I pay into an Individual Retirement … Read More

Archaic Backwater Law Used To Discriminate Against Woman

Ken AshfordSex/Morality/Family ValuesLeave a Comment

Unbelievable.  But then again, it’s Wilmington. Woman Sues Over N.C. Anti-Cohabitation Law By Associated Press March 29, 2005, 7:58 PM EST WILMINGTON, N.C. — A former sheriff’s dispatcher who quit her job after her boss found out she lived with her boyfriend is challenging North Carolina’s law against cohabitation. Debora Hobbs said she was told to get married, move out, … Read More

Photos of the Day

Ken AshfordGodstuffLeave a Comment

From here: The look on the "3 Of A Kind" woman is priceless.  Check out the other poster "Judge Greer = Poo Head". Bonus:  The Fake Photo of the Day.  Reflecting on the Schindler’s recent business deal where they sold email addresses of supporters to spam marketers, we now have, courtesy Billmon: