Some news of the day, in easy to swallow bites
A Supreme take on tolerance
One cool thing about retired justices of the Supreme Court is they tell us what they really think about things, like John Paul Stevens dropping his impartiality to talk about the community-center-with-a-mosque-near-ground-zero affair that we discussed back in August.
He said that a nation built by people who fled religious persecution “should understand why American Muslims should enjoy the freedom to build their places of worship wherever permitted by local zoning laws.”
(snip)
He called the [National Japanese American Memorial] “a powerful reminder of the fact that ignorance — that is to say, fear of the unknown — is the source of most invidious prejudice.”
Princess Leia inspires boy—to build hologram
Another cool thing—real holograms!
Worst thing about being president was name-calling?
Former President George W. Bush says the lowest point of his presidency was when Kanye West called him a racist over the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina. Really? It wasn’t September 11, or not catching bin Laden, or the economic crash with the bankruptcies, foreclosures, debt, and job losses? It wasn’t lying to start a war that’s cost thousands of American lives and tens of thousands of Iraqi lives, or Abu Ghraib? Not even the fact you couldn’t help ease the very real suffering of those victims of Katrina? (And why do you care what Kanye West thinks? Are you really so self-absorbed that you think that’s the worst thing that happened during those eight years? Really?)
A lot of that daily 200 mil is for Michelle’s hairdressers
You can say almost anything and be believed, if you’re careful who you speak to. Citing only a report in one Indian newspaper, which cites only one unnamed source, the geniuses of the political right have been trumpeting their disgust about the “fact” that our government is going to spend $200 million a day on President Obama’s diplomatic trip to India, including sending 34 warships to sit security off the coast of Mumbai. Yeah, more than the daily cost of the war in Afghanistan, or the full purchase price of the New Jersey Nets. Talk about your willing suspension of disbelief…
We’ve also just learned that water is wet
No, really: they sequenced Ozzy Osbourne’s DNA and confirmed what had long been suspected: he’s a mutant.
HEY, IT'S PAT RYAN'S BLOG! 