I'm not going to watch the video of American journalist James Foley being beheaded. At one time in my life, I probably would have, giving some justification about "needing to see what evil looks like," but in reality just indulging in the ghoulish voyeurism of the young. Today, I don't need to be reminded of what evil looks like; we've experienced too much of it to not recognize it.
Isn't the first sentence of this Associated Press story just precious?
INDIANAPOLIS - Loretta Rush was formally sworn in Monday as Indiana's first female chief justice, but her gender hardly was mentioned during the ceremony.
Mitch Daniels, just starting his second year as Purdue president, is winning praise from several quarters for his innovations there:
. . . many thought it was an odd match to have the famously conservative (especially fiscally) governor at the helm of a university. The move sparked a few protests from former students and wariness from faculty, many of whom were colorful with their predictions of doom.
Did the Supreme Court already settle the gay marriage issue, way back in 1972?
A whole lot of judges who are being asked to decide whether states may ban same-sex couples from marrying think the Supreme Court clearly gave them the answer last year: no.
Here’s the thing: Stories like this happen all the time.
British Columbia tightened its driving-while-impaired law in 2010 to make a BAC as low as .05 an offense, and they say the results have been significant:
Guess we should at least give this pro-choice advocte a salute for her stunning honesty and unwavering commitment: Stop calling aboriton "a difficult decision"
Mayor Tom Henry has had plenty of good ideas. But he had one very bad idea when he flirted with trying to get a casino here as an economic development tool. Casinos do not develop the local economy. In fact, building one is about the fastest way to wreck a local economy:
The U.K.'s Indpendent is, I believe, supposed to be a serious newspaper, not a supermarket tabloid. And yet . . . Here is the headline:
Silly question of the day: Is Hillary Clinton too hawkish for the left?
From the "some of us more equal than others" school of journalism comes this Tweet by one Stefan Becket, the poltics editor at .Mic, about two reporter getting arrested at the scene of unrest in Ferguson, Mo.:
Reporters are granted a privilege by the Constitution. Like it or not, their rights being violated rise about that of an average citizen's.
Now we know for sure this Red State/Blue State crap has gone too far:
I don't have anything to say about Robin Williams the performer or public figure. That's been well-covered all over the say. But I'm a little troubled by all the posible reasons given for the depression that led him to commit suicide: He had money trouble, his career was sputtering, he had survivor's guilt, his drug and acohol abuse caught up with him. Michael Levine, a publicist who knew him for 30 years, gets it right:
Are you embarrassed to be seen eating out alone?
About 57 percent of eating and beverage occasions now occur when people are by themselves, according to a recent report from The NPD Group, a market research firm. The portion is highest for non-meal occasions (industry speak for snacking) followed by breakfast, lunch and then dinner.
I've been victimized, and I've been scandalized. I've been traumatized, and I've been terrorized. I've been vandalized, and I've been trivialized. Now I've also been Balkanized:
This is a long and depressing article about how print journalism has gone from heady optimism a year ago when Jeff Bezos plunked down $250 million for The Washington Post to despair and fear today because Gannett, Tribune Company and E.W. Scripps -- three of the biggest players -- are kicking their newspapers to the curb as do-or-die stand-alones so they can concentrate on their TV properties.
So we're in another drive-by war:
President Obama says he doesn’t take lightly the decision to launch air attacks on Iraq — but you couldn’t tell that from the way he launched the attack.
[. . .]
The pope wants us to not waste time on "futile things":
Our life is made up of time, and time is a gift from God, so it is important that it be used in good and fruitful actions."
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Amir Zendehnam passionately supports marijuana legalization, same-sex marriage, abortion rights and the Republican Party.
