I know I said postings would be light. I didn’t say they would stop. It’s Saturday morning. I have a few minutes. It’s misty rain outside. Peet’s was crowded. Mike and Susan joined us for coffee and something sweet. Well, I had a bagel.
The tyranny of language.
An above the fold story on Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez in the NY Times had me going. In spite of the best efforts of the Bush administration, Chavez is a hugely popular figure among the poor and peasants of Venezuela. The Times quotes a Chavez critic:
“This is not a dictatorship but something more complex: the tyranny of popularity.”
In some places that is called, “the will of the people.” In other places they call it, “democracy.” If only it could be true here.
Making noise about a moment of silence.
The Trib reported:
A federal judge today issued a preliminary injunction barring a suburban school district from implementing the state’s new law mandating a moment of silence at the start of classes, calling the statute too vague and “likely unconstitutional.”
U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman made the decision at a hearing on a lawsuit brought by local atheist activist Rob Sherman over issues related to the separation of church and state. Sherman sued Township High School District 214, in which his daughter is a freshman at Buffalo Grove High School.
Dave Zirin on Bonds indictment.
Arguments raged in the teachers lounge over Barry Bonds. I go with Zirin on this:
The fact is that Bonds is under attack from a collection of torture-loving, Habeas Corpus shredding, illegal wire tapping, political operatives. The idea that a Barry Bonds indictment becomes the first act of Mike Mukasey’s Justice Department only exposes Sens. Diane Feinstein and Chuck Schumer, and the other Democratic pols who backed his confirmation. They called him “a man of character” as well as “a strong leader, committed to depoliticizing the agency’s operations.” There is no evidence of character and leadership in this indictment; only the tawdry political desire for headlines.
Fred Klonsky 