There's The Beef!

What Digby said, and what her little friend said too.

That, right there, is exactly why I said it's time to start up L'n'L again. I'm not as strong as The Terror of Santa Monica. The waves of terror and nausea that emanate from certain blogs and the newsmedia are tough for me to resist. I have to literally watch an episode of Babylon 5 (I'm just now watching it for the first time) and smoke some cigarettes in order for me to disengage from the chattering classes and remind myself that It's All Going To Be Okay.

Provided we don't blow off how much work has to be done and how important it is.

Which then reminds me that last few days' siesta actually involved me writing like a banshee in order to catch up with this semester's history class. I fell behind after a bit of the ol' gastroenteritis, and then hung around Club Sofa playing LEGO Star Wars for a few days afterwards. Dumb me.

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I Have a Lot of Respect for this Guy

Suspended without pay is a little extreme, I think. But then, again, I think that he deserves a medal.

My kid starts the WASL today. I spent the morning cutting up cantaloupes, so that I could send "healthy snacks" to school.

Luckily, my kid is a lot more relaxed about it than a lot of kids. The teacher, Mr. Chew, says that he has had kids throw up on their tests and get physically ill in other ways, because the test is so stressful.

He stated, on the news last night, that his biggest objection to the test was that it was "cruel".

I was glad that the article linked to an organization against the WASL. ('Cause I certainly need to get on another mailing list...)

I have spoken with state Senator Eric Oemig about eliminating the WASL. This was when he was running for office, so he said something to the effect of "retooling" it. And he also has worked very hard to repair the NCLB, which I also think should be scrapped. Senator Oemig is a tremendous asset to our legislature; in addition to making education his central concern, he immediately introduced an impeachement resolution his first month in the Senate.

Personally I feel that there are so many regulations put on our educators that they have lost the ability to actually educate.

I hope that Mr. Chew's message gets out. I hope that this country recognizes the wisdom behind his civil disobedience.

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Nice race car; sorry about the, um, trophy

I'm sooo not a race car person, it seems so pointless to me, and now, with gas prices rising daily, it seems like so much fiddling while the world burns. Still, this is hilarious - you gotta love the visual humor. Of course, as Melissa points out, where ever you find an accomplished woman, you'll find the idiots who feel compelled to downplay her accomplishments.

Thanks to Bitty for posting the photo so I could steal it. Check out her blog, ya'll - Milo, especially - there's poetry and her son's a Marine in Kuwait/Iraq, though it doesn't look like she wants to dwell on it too much. I totally understand that one! Virtual hugs, Bitty!

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Try and Hide in Paraguay bu$h!!

Six decades of single-party rule in Paraguay came to an end...

Left leaning, Fernando Lugo, won on a platform of change and "promise to help the poor".

Lugo, the 56-year-old ex-bishop, was a popular candidate as he campaigned to support the Paraguay's indigent population...

Lugo, who calls himself an independent, is backed by the Patriotic Alliance for Change -- a coalition of center and center-left parties.

"I believe that the politics of exclusion long practiced in this country doesn't have a future," Lugo has said.

He has also called for the renegotiation of Paraguay's hydroelectricity agreements with Brazil and Argentina, saying Paraguay, a landlocked country plagued by poverty, is losing money...

Bad news for the bu$h/cheney carpet baggers!

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