this is just sad.

Thousands of veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan are facing a new nightmare -- the risk of homelessness. The government estimates that several hundred vets who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan are homeless on any given night around the country, although the exact number is unknown.

--source

count me in

Americans have a third fewer close friends and confidants than just two decades ago — a sign that people may be living lonelier, more isolated lives than in the past.

--full story

Letter Of The Day

If Congressman Steve King thinks it safer to live in Iraq than Washington, D.C., King and his wife should move to Baghdad and live outside the Green Zone.

And if King is correct, we should bring all the troops home to make Washington, D.C., safer for people.
— Dan Malloy, Des Moines.

attribution

why i hate big corp

In fact, a CEO earned more in one workday than an average worker earned in 52 weeks, said the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. The typical worker's compensation averaged just under $42,000 for the year, while the average CEO brought home almost $11 million, EPI said.
...
For example, the chief executives of 11 of the largest companies were awarded a total of $865 million in pay in the last two years, even as they presided over a total loss of $640 billion in shareholder value, a recent study from governance firm the Corporate Library, found.

--story

from the GOOD NEWS dept.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Episcopal clergy and lay delegates Tuesday rejected a demand from fellow Anglicans that they temporarily stop electing gay bishops, leaving little chance the proposal could be revived at a national church meeting.

--story

saddam would be proud

Reporters Without Borders voiced dismay today at recent government initiatives aimed at imposing censorship and self-censorship about the security situation and the presence of foreign troops. News media editors and executives were summoned by intelligence officials and given instructions. Then a list of banned subjects was sent out to editors."

--story

two steps forward, one step back

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Pentagon document classifies homosexuality as a mental disorder, decades after mental health experts abandoned that position.

--story

why does science scare republicans so much? what are they afraid of? they're more sissie than the sissies they're beating up on.

two steps forward, one step back

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Pentagon document classifies homosexuality as a mental disorder, decades after mental health experts abandoned that position.

--story

why does science scare republicans so much? what are they afraid of? they're more sissie than the sissies they're beating up on.

read for yourself

a cable from the baghdad ambassador to washington:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/graphics/iraqdocs_061606.pdf

sooo, things AREN'T all honkey doory.

they're ALL crooked

The Journal has a campaign contribution analysis showing corporations hedging their bets in the last year and cranking up their donations to Democrats.

via slate's today's papers

watching mcbride

and i can't help but remember my time in san francisco. that magical city of nighttime lust. where the leather-crowd intermingles with the suit-crowd and pounds of semen is wasted nightly. mcbride reminds me of my friend who took me under his umbrella of wealth and we workd on several projects together. there was always this 'if we fuck, we'll never be friends' air about us, someething similar to mcbride and his sidekick. i don't even know if mcbride is filmed in san francisco or even whether the story is set in san francisco. but it could, and probably should. but mcbride is a decent crime-drama show. i give it an 8.

Quote of the Day

"By the time you add up the extreme cost of human lives,the cost of the "toys" of war,the maiming of troops,the total disruption of families on every side of the war,the destruction of land and livelyhoods,the cost which has to be taken out of the pockets of those not even born yet...how can they preach about "winning"? Only those with no sacrifice,those with ample stock in the companies who deal with war products and those who seem to thrive on all those ribbons,badges and flags seem to gain from any confligration."
--send in the clowns

attribution

when do they call it corruption?

The law forbids government officials from lobbying their former department or agency for a year after their departure. Homeland Security officials have shrunk that timeline by a variety of methods, many not unique to that department. But the piece identifies one key rule change, "created in late 2004 at the request of senior department officials, when the first big wave of departures began." The department was divided into seven components for purposes of the lobbying laws, so now a former official can lobby DHS officials right away, as long as the lobbyees are from one of the six components the official did not work for before.