Recommended Reads:
What You Lose on the Roundabout (Infinity Publishing, 2007) is Christine Weaver's compelling memoir detailing her diagnosis of Parkinson's and her fight to keep a sense of normalcy while her body begins to shut down. Taking it in turns being both funny and painful, Weaver tells her story with a no-holds-barred honesty and a clear and engaging narrative voice. Combining photographs, poetry, and lucid scenes of struggle and redemption, Ms Weaver's story illuminates the difficulty of overcoming illness while bolstering an innate spirit of survival that, in the face of the most adverse conditions, makes humans of us all. - Aimee LaBrie
A.F. Rutzy's End Credits (Casperian, 2008) offers an imaginative romp through the mysteries of the afterlife. The fun begins when the novel's narrator, Raymond Kessel, dies while crashing the wrong funeral. The only problem is that the afterlife isn't remotely like anything his Sunday school teacher, Mrs. Simmons, promised. Instead of plucking a harp behind the pearly gates, he finds himself desperately trying to get a straight answer from a Grim Reaper named Cleo while inhabiting the body of a wealthy advertising executive. From here, the novel only grows curiouser and curiouser (to borrow a phrase) as Rutzy introduces us to a wide cast of memorable characters including (but not limited to) the previously mentioned angel of death, a desperate would-be rock star, a bumbling accountant, and a pair of wild hogs with an apparent fondness for sunglasses and shopping malls. Conjuring his vision of American excess with a careful balance of exuberance and aplomb, the Finnish author weaves an intricate web of characters and amusingly outlandish scenarios that had me hooked from the word "go." - Marc Schuster
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Quote Of The Day
"The oil industry goes up there and industrializes what has been a pristine area...suddenly it becomes the new Houston."
--FRANK O'DONNELL, president of the nonprofit group Clean Air Watch, protesting a plan to drill in the Arctic Circle.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
10 Things You Should Know about John McCain
There are some things I never seem to hear about John McCain from the media. I thought you should see this list. Please check it out and pass it on!
1. John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has "evolved," yet he's continued to oppose key civil rights laws.
2. According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain "will make Cheney look like Gandhi."
3. His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban.
4. McCain opposes a woman's right to choose. He said, "I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned."
5. The Children's Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in Congress for children. He voted against the children's health care bill last year, then defended Bush's veto of the bill.
6. He's one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a "second job" and skip their vacations.
7. Many of McCain's fellow Republican senators say he's too reckless to be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He's erratic. He's hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."
8. McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential candidates.
9. McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his "spiritual guide," Rod Parsley, believes America's founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a "false religion." McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church "the Antichrist" and a "false cult."
10. He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0—yes, zero—from the League of Conservation Voters last year.
John McCain is not who the Washington press corps makes him out to be. So forward this link to your personal network! And if you want stay in the loop on MoveOn's work to get the truth out about John McCain, sign up here.
Thanks!
SOURCES:
1. "The Complicated History of John McCain and MLK Day," ABC News, April 3, 2008
"McCain Facts," ColorOfChange.org, April 4, 2008
2. "McCain More Hawkish Than Bush on Russia, China, Iraq," Bloomberg News, March 12, 2008
"Buchanan: John McCain 'Will Make Cheney Look Like Gandhi,'" ThinkProgress, February 6, 2008
3. "McCain Sides With Bush On Torture Again, Supports Veto Of Anti-Waterboarding Bill," ThinkProgress, February 20, 2008
4. "McCain says Roe v. Wade should be overturned," MSNBC, February 18, 2007
5. "2007 Children's Defense Fund Action Council® Nonpartisan Congressional Scorecard," February 2008
"McCain: Bush right to veto kids health insurance expansion," CNN, October 3, 2007
6. "Beer Executive Could Be Next First Lady," Associated Press, April 3, 2008
"McCain Says Bank Bailout Should End `Systemic Risk,'" Bloomberg News, March 25, 2008
7. "Will McCain's Temper Be a Liability?," Associated Press, February 16, 2008
"Famed McCain temper is tamed," Boston Globe, January 27, 2008
8. "Black Claims McCain's Campaign Is Above Lobbyist Influence: 'I Don't Know What The Criticism Is,'" ThinkProgress, April 2, 2008
"McCain's Lobbyist Friends Rally 'Round Their Man," ABC News, January 29, 2008
9. "McCain's Spiritual Guide: Destroy Islam," Mother Jones Magazine, March 12, 2008
"Will McCain Specifically 'Repudiate' Hagee's Anti-Gay Comments?," ThinkProgress, March 12, 2008
"McCain 'Very Honored' By Support Of Pastor Preaching 'End-Time Confrontation With Iran,'" ThinkProgress, February 28, 2008
10. "John McCain Gets a Zero Rating for His Environmental Record," Sierra Club, February 28, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Thursday, July 17, 2008
July 17th
Today's Highlights in History
On July 17, 1975, an Apollo spaceship docked with a Soyuz spacecraft in orbit in the first superpower linkup of its kind.
On July 17, 1899, James Cagney, the Academy-Award winning American film actor, was born. Following his death on March 30, 1986, his obituary appeared in The Times.
On this date in:
1821 - Spain ceded Florida to the United States.
1898 - Spanish troops in Santiago, Cuba, surrendered to U.S. forces during the Spanish-American War.
1900 - Hall of fame pitcher Christy Mathewson made his major league debut with the New York Giants.
1917 - With the country at war with Germany, the British royal family changed its name from the German Saxe-Coburg Gotha to Windsor.
1945 - President Harry S. Truman, Soviet leader Josef Stalin and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill began meeting at Potsdam in the final Allied summit of World War II.
1948 - Southern Democrats opposed to the party's position on civil rights met in Birmingham, Ala., to endorse South Carolina Gov. Strom Thurmond.
1955 - Disneyland opened in Anaheim, Calif.
1961 - Baseball Hall of Famer Ty Cobb died at age 74.
1967 - Jazz saxophonist and composer John Coltrane died at age 40.
1979 - Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza resigned and fled into exile in Miami.
1981 - A pair of walkways above the lobby of the Kansas City Hyatt Regency Hotel collapsed during a dance, killing 114 people.
1996 - TWA Flight 800, a Boeing 747 bound for Paris, exploded and crashed off Long Island, N.Y., shortly after leaving John F. Kennedy International Airport. All 230 people aboard were killed.
1997 - Woolworth Corp. closed its last 400 five-and-dime stores, laying off 9,200 employees.
2000 - Bashar Assad, son of Hafez Assad, became Syria's 16th head of state.
2004 - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger mockingly used the term "girlie men" during a rally as he claimed Democrats were delaying the state budget by catering to special interests.
2005 - The Iraqi Special Tribunal filed its first criminal case against Saddam Hussein for a 1982 massacre of Shiites.
2007 - Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick was indicted by a federal grand jury in Richmond, Va., on charges related to competitive dogfighting.
On July 17, 1975, an Apollo spaceship docked with a Soyuz spacecraft in orbit in the first superpower linkup of its kind.
On July 17, 1899, James Cagney, the Academy-Award winning American film actor, was born. Following his death on March 30, 1986, his obituary appeared in The Times.
On this date in:
1821 - Spain ceded Florida to the United States.
1898 - Spanish troops in Santiago, Cuba, surrendered to U.S. forces during the Spanish-American War.
1900 - Hall of fame pitcher Christy Mathewson made his major league debut with the New York Giants.
1917 - With the country at war with Germany, the British royal family changed its name from the German Saxe-Coburg Gotha to Windsor.
1945 - President Harry S. Truman, Soviet leader Josef Stalin and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill began meeting at Potsdam in the final Allied summit of World War II.
1948 - Southern Democrats opposed to the party's position on civil rights met in Birmingham, Ala., to endorse South Carolina Gov. Strom Thurmond.
1955 - Disneyland opened in Anaheim, Calif.
1961 - Baseball Hall of Famer Ty Cobb died at age 74.
1967 - Jazz saxophonist and composer John Coltrane died at age 40.
1979 - Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza resigned and fled into exile in Miami.
1981 - A pair of walkways above the lobby of the Kansas City Hyatt Regency Hotel collapsed during a dance, killing 114 people.
1996 - TWA Flight 800, a Boeing 747 bound for Paris, exploded and crashed off Long Island, N.Y., shortly after leaving John F. Kennedy International Airport. All 230 people aboard were killed.
1997 - Woolworth Corp. closed its last 400 five-and-dime stores, laying off 9,200 employees.
2000 - Bashar Assad, son of Hafez Assad, became Syria's 16th head of state.
2004 - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger mockingly used the term "girlie men" during a rally as he claimed Democrats were delaying the state budget by catering to special interests.
2005 - The Iraqi Special Tribunal filed its first criminal case against Saddam Hussein for a 1982 massacre of Shiites.
2007 - Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick was indicted by a federal grand jury in Richmond, Va., on charges related to competitive dogfighting.
Monday, July 14, 2008
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