Destor on Ordering a Pizza Conservatively in Texas
Ramona: Hatred in a Lovely Church
Gallup: Obama 46, Romney 46
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Destor on Ordering a Pizza Conservatively in Texas Ramona: Hatred in a Lovely Church Gallup: Obama 46, Romney 46 |
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Hello dagsters. Several weeks ago, longtime dag reader California Paige suggested that dagblog should add a "reader comment interface." I was very keen on this suggestion and enthusiastically promoted it to the whole dag crew. The whole dag crew was open to the idea, but some of us were troubled by the fact that we didn't know what a reader comment interface was. So we scratched our virtual heads and engaged in a tedious semantic debate over the term "interface" until Orlando came up with the brilliant idea of asking Paige what she meant.
What Paige meant, according to Paige (who is not entirely unbiased), was this: "A way for readers to leave comments that aren't specific to a blog post -- so either a general, open-thread sort of thing or some sort of reader blogs."
Ask and ye shall receive, though ye might have to wait patiently until Genghis has time to code it for ye. But the waiting is over. At long last, "some sort of reader blogs" have arrived at dagblog. Commence rejoicing.
Now I know what many of you are wondering: "What the heck is a reader blog?" An excellent question; I'm glad that you asked. A reader blog is your opportunity to write about whatever it is that you'd like to write about--Rwandans in Congo, African-Americans in the White House, cockroaches in your underwear, whatevs. Just keep it clean. Relatively clean. No racist rants or fart jokes please. Racist fart jokes are way, way out. We reserve the right to delete you, ban you, and ridicule you, in no particular order.
Anyway, quit reading this post and start writing your own. If you're logged in, just click the link on the top left that says helpfully, "Create reader blog entry." If you're not logged in, then get logged in. Yes, I'm talking to you, anonymous not-logged-in person.
PS Once some of you blog, we'll list the latest reader posts in the right column. If we find a post we particularly like, we'll stick it on the front page. I assure you that this is a great honor.
By Ismail Kahn, New York Times, May 23/24, 2012
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A Pakistani doctor who helped the Central Intelligence Agency pin down Osama bin Laden's location under cover of a vaccination drive was convicted on Wednesday of treason and sentenced to 33 years in prison, a senior official in Pakistan said.
A tribal court here in northwestern Pakistan found the doctor, Shakil Afridi, guilty of acting against the state, said Mutahir Zeb Khan, the administrator for the Khyber tribal region [....]
By Sergei L. Loiko, Los Angeles Times, May 23, 2012
MOSCOW — Stiff new penalties aimed at opposition protesters were given preliminary approval Tuesday by Russian lawmakers loyal to President Vladimir Putin, the target of mass rallies and demonstrations before his March election victory.
The bill, which opposition parliament members termed draconian and protested by threatening to file out of a legislative session, calls for fines of up to $50,000 and up to 200 hours of community service for organizers of rallies and demonstrations that grow violent or exceed the approved number of participants.
The sanctions were approved on first reading by parliament's lower house, which is controlled by Putin's United Russia party. They mark a return by the Kremlin to a tough stance against critics after concessions during the recent election campaign [...]
Also see:
Russians back Putin, strong leadership
Washington Post, May 22, 2012
A Pew survey of 1,000 Russians found that President Vladimir Putin is well-liked by more than 70 percent of citizens, especially older adults.
Associated Press, May 21, 2012
HAVANA — It was all sunshine, smiles and celebratory speeches as officials marked the arrival of an undersea fiber-optic cable they promised would end Cuba's Internet isolation and boost web capacity 3,000-fold. Even a retired Fidel Castro had hailed the dawn of a new cyber-age on the island.
More than a year after the February 2011 ceremony on Siboney Beach in eastern Cuba, and 10 months after the system was supposed to have gone online, the government never mentions the cable anymore, and Internet here remains the slowest in the hemisphere. People talk quietly about embezzlement torpedoing the project and the arrest of more than a half-dozen senior telecom officials.
Perhaps most maddening, nobody has explained what happened to the much-ballyhooed $70 million project....
By Tamasin Ford in Monrovia, Guardian.co.uk, May 22, 2012
Husbands, not strangers or men with guns, are now the biggest threat to women in post-conflict west Africa, according to a report by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) released on Tuesday.
The IRC report, Let Me Not Die Before My Time: Domestic Violence in West Africa, based on data collected over 10 years by the IRC in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Ivory Coast, said domestic violence is the "most urgent, pervasive and significant protection issue for women in west Africa" [.....]
By Lolita C. Baldor, Associated Press, May 22, 2012
WASHINGTON -- Uncle Sam may not want you after all.
In sharp contrast to the peak years of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the Army last year took in no recruits with misconduct convictions or drug or alcohol issues, according to internal documents obtained by The Associated Press. And soldiers already serving on active duty now must meet tougher standards to stay on for further tours in uniform.
The Army is also spending hundreds of thousands of dollars less in bonuses to attract recruits or entice soldiers to remain.
It's all part of an effort to slash the size of the active duty Army from about 570,000 at the height of the Iraq war to 490,000 by 2017. The cutbacks began last year, and as of the end of March, the Army was down to less than 558,000 troops.
For a time during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army lowered its recruiting standards [....]