One of the small luxury items I have a weakness for is soap. Especially triple milled french soap. I found a great deal on some today and I immediately treated myself to two bars - "Currant" and "Citrus" :)

Just look at how pretty they are! I almost don't want to use them because the wrapping is so pretty. There's even a fake jewel attached to them!

http://slacktivist.typepad.com/slacktivist/2008/10/faith-and-works.html

"Let's play along, shall we? Let's try, for the sake of argument, to accept the premise of this ad: Abortion is indistinguishable from killing babies and politicians who support abortion rights are the kind of people who would do nothing and pass by if they saw a baby -- a poor, adorably helpless baby -- abandoned in the path of an oncoming train.

The people who composed, prepared, funded and shipped this mailer do not believe any of that.

They're not lying, exactly. They like the idea that something like this might be true. They want the world to be like this. They want the world to be easily divided between heroes and villains, and they want to be able to count themselves on the heroic side of that divide. And if you really, really want something to be true -- if you really, really, deep in your heart, wish you deserved to be able to think of yourself as the heroic rescuer of imperiled babies -- then declaring it to be true isn't really lying, is it?

But however much they want to believe this, they don't. They can't.

...

"So, as I said, let's play along. There is a baby on the railroad tracks and there is an approaching train. We are witnesses to this impending tragedy. What are we obliged to do? How ought we to respond?

Princeton law professor Robert George has thought long and hard about this. That baby on the railroad tracks, George says, ought "... to be the central issue in the consideration of any voter."

Huh?

Apparently there's no immediate urgency. No need to rush onto the tracks and whisk the baby away to safety before the train arrives. We just need to remember that the baby and the train are there and, every two or four years, make the abstract acknowledgement of that fact the "central issue" when we vote. If enough of us do this, the theory goes, we may, over time, establish a substantial Republican majority in our national and state legislatures. And that Republican majority may, over time, produce judicial appointments which might, in turn, over time, lead to a reinterpretation of the law and the Constitution in a way that might, over time, save that poor, innocent baby on the railroad tracks.

Seriously, can you imagine any human responding so dispassionately and abstractly and irresponsibly languidly to an actual baby-on-the-railroad-tracks scenario? Anyone who suggested such a response would be regarded, rightly, as a fool or a monster. It's almost too absurd to imagine such a response:

YOU: Ohmygod! There's a baby on the tracks!

THEM: Yes. Yes there is. And next November, we need to be sure that we make this horrible situation the central -- nay, the single -- issue that determines how we cast our votes.

YOU: But the train's coming! Shouldn't we --

THEM: Vote straight-ticket Republican? Yes we should. Yes we must. And, next November, yes we will.

Anyone who talked like that couldn't really believe that there was really a baby on the railroad tracks. And they don't really believe it."

---

anyway, all of slacktivist is a fantastic read, but let us observe this assessment.

if anyone in this community considers abortion to be mass murder, an atrocity, a holocaust... why have they not responded to this "threat" in kind? we knew how to deal with Hitler, so why do we (or more importantly, conservative religious groups) tepidly condemn the undue course of action pursued by, say, George Tiller's murderer?

it's an unsustainable political belief because it does not scale properly with the premise it puts forth.

discuss.

I did my 20-mile run today, and it went much better than I had expected after the problems I had encountered the past few weeks. Now for three weeks of tapering.

I didn't walk at all during the entire 20 miles, but I did make a pit stop for four minutes at ten miles. There was a conveniently placed contractor's porta-jane there, and I needed to make use of it. And I stopped for about another half minute or so for traffic lights.

I started running at 11:07:28, and finished at 4:01:10: 4:53:42 total time, for a 14:41 pace including the stopped time. This was about 20 minutes faster than my 20-mile run while training for Nike last year. And I collapsed after that run last year.

ETA: At about 12 miles, my left foot and ankle started to hurt, and by 14 miles, I was at the "one more mile, and then I'll decide" phase. By 17 miles, it stopped hurting more, and I wasn't going to quit with only 5K left. And I didn't even feel it during the last mile and a half or so.

Today's run put me at 115 miles for the month and 1,001 for the year.

Oh, I'm going to dig out the Garmin 301, with its 13-hour battery, for the marathon.
/ETA

The only downside was that the 8-hour battery on the garmin flaked out in the 19^th mile. It had just enough juice left in it for me to start and stop it just as I finished the run, so it could record the finish time, and compute the total elapsed time. I guess that I'll wear my 301 for the marathon; it has a 13-hour battery, so it should last the 6+ hours for that race.

HYDERABAD, India (AP) -- The 86-year-old governor of a southern Indian state resigned Saturday, a day after a television news channel broadcast a tape allegedly showing him in bed with three women, an official said.

Gov. Narain Dutt Tiwari's office has denied the allegation, denouncing the tape as fabricated.

Tiwari, a veteran governing Congress party leader in Andhra Pradesh state, sent his resignation letter to the Indian president on Saturday, citing health reasons, a state official said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to reporters.

The scandal hit as Andhra Pradesh is engulfed in social unrest. Outrage over a delay in creating a new state there erupted into violent demonstrations in several cities earlier this week.

Pressure mounted on Tiwari to quit after the tape allegedly showing him in bed with three women was broadcast Friday, prompting the opposition and women's right groups to hold street protests in Hyderabad, the state capital, demanding his resignation.

A statement issued on Friday by Aryendra Sharma, an aide to the governor, said ''the news channel report is fabricated, false and malicious to tarnish the image of the governor.''

The television channel ABN Andhra Jyoti News, broadcast the tape, said it was made in a sting operation. The three women were from his northern home state of Uttrakhand, it claimed.

They were brought to Hyderabad by another woman who was allegedly promised a mining lease by the governor in return for sexual favors, the television channel claimed.

The woman said she decided to expose Tiwari through a sting operation after he did not keep his promise, the channel said.

A court stopped the channel from broadcasting the tape again later Friday after a petition filed by Sharma, the governor's aide, who said the video was ''likely to demean and denigrate his office.''

Tiwari had earlier served as the top elected official of northern Uttar Pradesh and Uttrakhand states and as a federal minister.

www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/12/26/world/AP-AS-India-Governor-Resigns.html

I bought groceries (salad! apples! mmmm!) and mopped the floor. I am a hero. I have done nothing else productive today. :)

Well, there's this:

( End of the Year Fic Meme )

- Christmas Eve was good. I worked during the day and then I went to my mom's for dinner and presents. I got a 32" flat screen TV from my mom so now I can finally buy myself that Wii I've been craving. ;) I still won't be able to watch actual TV since that requires a digital box and stuff, but I don't feel like I've been missing out on much during the last few years. :P

- Christmas Day was good as well. Worked all day and then went to my mom's for dinner with the extended, extended family. Then I did what every respectable Swede does on Christmas Day and went clubbing with the SSG and assorted accquaintances. This tweet pretty much sums up the night: Hello techno remix of crazy. And hello young man, pls stop wiping your blood on my shirt. *LOL* The young man in question was the SSGs baby brother who cut his hand open on a piece of glass and decided that the appropriate reaction was to a, lick his hand and b, wipe it on my shirt.

- Today I have really not done a lot. I wrote a little, ate a lot of chocolate, wrote a little, drank some water... You know, the usual lazy day shenanigans. :P It's snowing like mad outside. The weather institute warned that we could get like six inches of snow, I'm starting to think we will get six feet. This is madness.

- I hope you all pulled through the holiday season in one piece. I know it's rough for a lot of people. ♥

The U.S. Congress passed legislation increasing the U.S. debt limit by $290 billion before recessing for the year.

The Senate vote today was 60-39 to raise the limit on federal borrowing to $12.39 trillion, enough to tide the government over for about two months. The House approved the legislation Dec. 16. The measure, which would be the fourth debt-limit increase in 18 months, now heads to President Barack Obama for his signature.

The Senate’s Democratic leaders had to settle for the short-term increase following conflicting demands among their rank-and-file over proposals to reduce the government’s budget deficit. Some lawmakers threatened to withhold their votes for a bigger increase in the debt ceiling unless Congress created a commission to cut government spending.

Raising the limit is a “serious and a sobering reminder we have work to do in restoring fiscal balance and discipline to government,” Montana Democrat Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said in a written statement.

Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, the top Republican on the Budget Committee, criticized the Democratic majority for its handling of the debt.

“While it is critical to protect the government’s ability to meet its financial obligations, Congress should not consider passing a long-term debt-limit increase unless the legislation also includes enforceable and meaningful measures to curb out- of-control government borrowing and spending,” Gregg said in a written statement.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2009-12-24/senate-votes-to-increase-debt-ceiling-by-290-billion-update1-.html

Restrictions Rise After Terrorism Attempt

Transportation authorities began imposing tighter security measures at airports on Saturday and ordered new restrictions governing the activities of passengers during flights as investigators conducted searches to learn more about the Nigerian engineering student accused of igniting an incendiary device aboard a Northwest Airlines jet as it landed in Detroit on Friday.

The White House declared the incident “an attempted act of terrorism.” The plane, an Airbus A330 wide-body jet with 278 passengers coming from Amsterdam, landed safely around noon on Christmas Day after passengers helped subdue the suspect.

Less than 24 hours after the terrorist attempt, travelers at airports around the world, from Frankfurt to Rochester, N.Y., began experiencing heightened screening in security lines. Even as airlines began limiting United States-bound passengers to just one carry-on bag, travelers will feel the most significant changes during the actual flights.

According to a statement posted Saturday morning on Air Canada’s Web site, the Transportation Security Administration will severely limit the behavior of both passengers and crew during flights in United States airspace — restricting movement in the final hour of flight. Late Saturday morning, the T.S.A. had not yet included this new information on its own Web site.

“Among other things,” the statement in Air Canada’s Web site read, “during the final hour of flight customers must remain seated, will not be allowed to access carry-on baggage, or have personal belongings or other items on their laps.”

( Read more... )