Just got this in the mail yesterday:

I removed my street address (and moved since that address so this was lovingly forwared by the post office), and the email formatting was mine (no need to spam Mr. Barve). I'm certainly pleased. I get paid as a consultant and this would have eaten into my earnings big time, enough that I would have had to think about moving out of the state, and having just moved back to Maryland would have made me sad. Now I can stay put for a while.

I think it's been decided:

After all, a bunch of young hot celebrities, plus Karim Abdul Jabbar and an old guy playing the piano all say that we can...

Now can someone please tell me where I can get that Cherry Ice Cream!?!?!

The founders of Ben & Jerry's endorsed Barack Obama on Monday, and lent his Vermont campaign two "ObamaMobiles" that will tour the state and give away scoops of "Cherries for Change" ice cream.

[ Ben & Jerry's founders endorse Obama - Yahoo! News ]

This is what is wrong with the press, there are dozens of stories across the Internets about this publicity stunt. As far as I can tell not one mentions what the flavor is. Nor do any mention if this is a one-up publicity flavor or if it is going to be available nation-wide. No story mentions the availability, or the ObamaMobile routes, or existence of the flavor outside Vermont, or even why cherries would be for change.

I like cherries. I like Chery Garcia. I like premium ice cream with cherries. Blah blah blah Obama, what about the real story here, it's all about the Cherries! Next time, press, ask what is in the frick'n ice cream already.

A month after the new Rockville City Council took office, a new majority voted 3-2 on Monday to adopt a weekly refuse collection schedule and scrap the twice-weekly pickups maintained by their predecessors.

«snip»

Marcuccio, who participated in the pilot program, echoed other residents’ objections to weekly service. The trash in her weekly receptacle "stinks to high heaven" in the summertime, she said during the council meeting.

"Just to go to once a week is not lowering the price," she added. "I hope people understand that. It’s simply lowering the rate the price will rise."

The change in frequency is projected by staff to save the city more than $600,000 in fiscal year 2009 and more than $850,000 the following budget cycle. Those savings reflect personnel and equipment efficiencies, but do not mean the $32.70 monthly rate is going to decline.

[ Rockville trash vote overturned ]

Since this appeared to be one of the largest factors in the recent election, the message seems to be heard loud and clear. What I find disappointing is Marcuccio's lack of understanding of the complete issue. It's not all about the money. Reduced numbers of trash collections should encourage all of us to think twice about what we throw away, how we throw it away, and how we can improve our waste management. Personally I have been happy as a lark with the Rockville paper recycling. At first I assumed it was like many places and all I could recycle was newspapers, but I read the recycling page more carefully and what constitutes "Mixed Paper":

• Cardboard/cardboard boxes (Corrugated cardboard)
• Magazines, catalogs, telephone book, computer paper, paperback books, unwanted mail
• Newspapers (including inserts)
• Paper (computer and office and other clean and dry paper)

This now includes enough paper materials that I have about 2 bags every 3 weeks of stuff that would usually just get land-filled. Sure I would prefer to keep my fees down, but more importantly I would like to keep Rockville's land fills empty. Oh, and remember Rockville, recycling is mandatory not optional.

Larry Wilmore is one funny cat. Did a piece on the Daily Show about Obama and his blackitude, and ended the piece with a bit of Parliment's Chocolate City. I think it's genius and Obama should use it as his campaign music from this point out.

Tell 'em to make sure they got their James Brown pass
And don't be surprised if Obama is in the White House

[ Lyrics for Parliament's Chocolate City ]

Is Barak Obama "black enough"?

She disputed the notion that Obama's upbringing in Hawaii was much different than hers in Chicago's predominantly black South Side.

"We are not that far apart," she told the Sun-Times. "He was raised in his grandmother's home, and his grandmother is from Kansas, eating tuna with pickles in it. The same conversations that we had around my kitchen table, we have at her house on Christmas. We are not that far apart. It's just that it feels like people have benefitted from us feeling and believing that we are far apart."

[ Forum Puts Obama's Heritage in Focus | The Trail | washingtonpost.com ]

Ah, so you can tell if the childhood tuna has pickles in it. But doesn't everyone put pickels in their tuna fish salad? Or am I "black enough"?

KIND Fruit + Nut is available in ten flavors: Nut Delight, Macadamia & Apricot, Fruits & Nuts in Yogurt, Almond & Coconut, Sesame & Peanuts, Almond & Apricot, Almonds & Apricots in Yogurt, Walnut & Date, Banana & Oatbran, Fruit & Nut Delight.

[ Peace Works ]

I get mine at the Whole Foods. They're right by the checkout. I first picked up a couple for the birthing of Zahra, because it was a tip from the hospital that many new fathers forget to eat, and faint. I figured that a quick snack bar would put and end to that, and these looked yummy. And they are. However the package mentions that they have some social agenda. Just to make sure it wasn't some crazy social agenda, I finally did the research, so I could enjoy my new favorite snack bar without worrying that I was causing ill in the world.

5% of the profits from KIND go to OneVoice, a Peaceworks Foundation initiative, that fosters moderate consensus.

[ KIND Fruit & Nut Bars ]

OneVoice? Never heard of them. But it appears that they may actually be a good organization. Here's the little video they put together to explain their mission:

So PeaceWorks makes products to raise money for their foundation whose primary beneficiary is the OneVoice movement that hopes to change the Israeli/Palestinian conflict from a Jew v. Muslim or Israel v. Palestine or Left v. Right or Them v. Us to a Everyone v. The Crazy Extremists conflict. Good luck there, if it works it will be a great example for the other hotspots of the world to follow.

And that certainly sounds like a good cause. So I get to enjoy my snack bars and perhaps even help the world in a tiny tiny fashion.

Apparently a Muslim woman in the UK wore an all-over swimsuit to go swimming in Britain and received a bit of flack for it. I just need someone to explain this logic to me:

I'll tell you why you shouldn't go swimming like this in Britain; it's because women in this country are equal to men and are not obliged to cover themselves up when swimming - or indeed at any other time - because some men somewhere have decided that's how it has to be. Women in Britain fought for and died for the right to be equal. In this country we are able to dress, or undress, exactly as we see fit. If that's not your choice, poor you. But don't be surprised when people mock you and pass comment on your totally inappropriate clothing for swimming.

[ Comment by Linda Allan of Bath - The Guardian ]

This is the problem with "freedom" in the west, and likewise the issue I've always had with women's rights in the west. The freedom and choice were hard fought and won, and if you don't use that freedom to choose exactly the same as everyone else, then you are an affront to that freedom. But how is that freedom?

One of the things I've come to respect the most about my wife's country of Indonesia is their respect and reverence for the different traditions, ways, cultures, and practices of the peoples of their country and ultimately the world. They understand that each people have their own adat, and in order to be civilized there must be respect for each other.

Props to Islamophobia Watch.

A comedian emerges as the Edward R. Murrow of our day.

[ Thank You Stephen Colbert. ]

Ain't that the truth...

If you don't know what the fuss is all about, then check out this you tubed CSPAN coverage of Stephen Colbert at the White House Correspondents' Dinner:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

Props to Sajous.

Did he bring world peace? Debt relief to poor nations? Cure disease? No, but he did put Bill O'Reilly in his place, with style, for all the world to see:

"I am not smart enough to debate you point by point on this, but I have a feeling about 60% of what you say is crap. . . . but I don't know that for a fact." Dave says to Paul Shaffer, "Yeah, 60%. I'm just spit-balling here."

[ CBS | Late Show with David Letterman : Wahoo Gazette ]

For possibly just today you can catch the whole video on Dave's website, look for the link to "Big Show Highlight" and if the thumbnail show Bill O'R, then that's the one you want.

I have a handy alarm clock that automatically adjusts for daylight savings. Thanks to the US Congress, I get to replace it next year:

Starting in March 2007, daylight time in the United States will begin on the second Sunday in March and end on the first Sunday in November.

[ Daylight Time ]

How on earth could congress make a change to the US policy regarding Daylight Savings and not have it be to get rid of it? Now we're extending it by another month (give or take)?

And, for those of us that write software, we need to think hard if we coded for daylight savings anywhere, and update that code. Perhaps congress is worried that we don't have enough to program, and changing the rules frequently will help to employ programmers...

It's about time that someone stood up for decency.

The Senate defied the White House yesterday and voted to set new limits on interrogating detainees in Iraq and elsewhere, underscoring Congress's growing concerns about reports of abuse of suspected terrorists and others in military custody.

[ Senate Supports Interrogation Limits ]

The only obstacle now is ensuring that the House follows suit.

Despite his victory last night, McCain has two major obstacles remaining: House GOP leaders object to attaching it to a spending bill, and Bush could veto it.

But you can help to mitigate this risk by contacting your representative and letting them know how important this is to you, the American voter.

(Note: Some readers may point out that they are not American voters. Perhaps you could just forward the URL for this article to any American voters that you know...)

For years the only country in the EU without full recognition of their language was Ireland (though I don't know about the new countries added recently). While I can understand the practicality of this, it always seemed like a bit of a slight. Now that's been rectified:

Ireland's national language is the 21st to be given such recognition by the EU and previously had the status of a treaty language.

[ BBC NEWS ]

So what is the war on terrorism really about?

The White House has approved a classified new strategy, dubbed Muslim World Outreach, that for the first time states that the United States has a national security interest in influencing what happens within Islam. Because America is, as one official put it, "radioactive" in the Islamic world, the plan calls for working through third parties--moderate Muslim nations, foundations, and reform groups--to promote shared values of democracy, women's rights, and tolerance.

[ USNews.com (4/25/05) ]

What I can't figure out is should I be happy? Sad? Indifferent? As an American shouldn't I be upset with state sponsored religion of any type? As a Muslim shouldn't I be upset with the US meddling?

Though, perhaps it's not the US using moderate Islam, but God using the US to fund Islam...

I'm rather curious to hear the opinions of my readership (small as it may be).

Frequently I find Anisa Mehdi's editorials a bit too liberal, but this one is spot on:

Now that the elections in Iraq are over, the work of writing the Iraqi constitution can begin. A Shi'ite religious party will have the most representatives, raising some concerns that the constitution will be based on Islamic law. But commentator Anisa Mehdi says that basing the new constitution on the laws of Islam is a good idea.

[ NPR : Islamic Law and the Iraqi Constitution ]

Though I think pointing out terrorists justifications for obscene acts of violence has little to do with Islamic law.

Apparently there is a large movement afoot:

"As adults we must each own our own beliefs," said Prof. Fidelma O'Leary, biology, St. Edward's University, to a packed auditorium in Goldwin Smith on Friday night. Her lecture, "An American Woman's Jihad," detailed her spiritual journey as an Irish-American Muslim.

[ The Cornell Daily Sun - An American Woman's Jihad ]

OK, maybe not, but the did put "Irish-American Muslim" in print. Maybe we should form a PAC so we can be heard on the hill.

Economic Left/Right: -0.62
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -1.74

[ The Political Compass ]

And if these guys know there stuff, they've pegged me as a supporter of Nader and/or Cobb. Of course since I live in Virginia, I can't vote for either without writing them in...

Wha?

A London-to-Washington flight was diverted to Maine on Tuesday when it was discovered passenger Yusuf Islam - formerly known as singer Cat Stevens - was on a government watch list and barred from entering the country, two federal officials said.

[ Guardian Unlimited | World Latest  ]

Apparently we don't mind looking like the stupidest country in the world. And, apparently, we have no one doing any PR work, who would certainly point out that this confirms that the US isn't fighting terrorism, but fighting Islam. I'd like to see W step in and reverse this immediately, or I might have to do the unthinkable.

Today, after four years of discovery battles and summary judgment briefing, the trial court ruled that Nader's use was, in fact, fair. A strong victory against overzealous copyright and trademark ownership and for non-commercial political speech.

[ LawGeek ]

Outstanding. A victory for Nader. A victory for free speach. A victory for America.

Courtesy: Joe Grossberg

Thousands of women marched through Paris on Saturday to press for equal rights for women and show support for a law to ban Islamic head scarves in public schools.

[ Yahoo! News - Thousands March in Paris for Women ]

So equal rights means restricting religious freedoms? Am I the only one who finds this all together backwards? What's next, civil rights marches to reinstate slavery?

Update: I've figured out what's next. To help blur the class lines, the French will ban clothing for women. And if that still allows for some degree of individuality (read non-equalness) they'll ban hair shortly after that, and require all women to go bald.

Four years ago, Nader appeared on the ballot in 43 states and Washington, D.C., garnering only 2.7 percent of the vote. But in Florida and New Hampshire, Bush won such narrow victories that had Gore received the bulk of Nader's votes in those states, he would have won the general election.

Exit polls from 2000 show that about half of Nader's voters would have backed Gore in a two-way race. Nader dismisses the spoiler label.

[ Yahoo! News - AP Poll Finds Bush, Kerry Tied in Race ]

So if 1/2 of Nader's voters would have backed Gore, who would the other 1/2 of his voters have backed? I am so fed up with the Democrat's lame whining about Nader running. If you man is so darn good, he should have little to worry about. And if he's not that good, he should drop out since he's reducing Nader's chances of winning.

For the record I am a republican, that's right a republican. And I've just bought Nader's book to see what he's all about.

Why? I like giving all sides the benefit of the doubt and reviewing what they have to say.

As for the dems, I don't think they have what it takes to run the country. Their man Clinton was just a Northern Virginia Republican living in the wrong state, and Jimmy Carter (a man I respect for his post-presidential career) was highly ineffectual. JFK? We'll likely never know what how he would have been judged by history, due to his unfortunate circumstances. Kerry's best asset? He's the “most electable” against Bush. He's not the “best candidate” or “the right man for the job” or any other political posturing, he's just the guy that most democrats think has the best chance of ousting Bush. Personally I don't think that's the best way to pick the countries leader.

With that I say, each man to his corner and come out fighting, but not whining please.