I am saddened by Jon's passing. My heart goes out to his family, and my thoughts to all of us who enjoyed his humor, and his passion. May the Light shine on in memory.Friday Blogaround
March came in like a frosty lion. Here's how the LC saw it.- A Blog Around The Clock digs paleontology.The blogosphere will be a little less entertaining without Jon Swift.
- archy: avalanche!
- Bark Bark Woof Woof: Karl Rove is back.
- Bloggg: darn right Moi's mad.
- Dohiyi Mir: playing the lottery with votes.
- Echidne Of The Snakes: No yeast for you, Blanche.
- Florida Progressive Coalition Blog: five good stories about Florida politics.
- Left Is Right: Popular Science's archives are on-line.
- Pen-Elayne on the Web: watch this video and try not to yell "Moustrap!"
- Rook's Rant's Sunday night is a lot like mine.
- rubber hose confronts another obstacle.
- Scrutiny Hooligans and the gang stands behind same-sex domestic partner benefits.
- Stupid Enough Unexplanation reality vs. the dictionary.
- The Invisible Library and writing on writing.
- The Yellow Something Something with one silver lining in the Texas primary.
- WTF Is It Now?? -- Did you know that the ACORN videos were faked?
The madness is about to begin. And with it, usually the last major storm of the winter.Friday Blogaround
This was another interesting week. Let's see how the LC saw it.- A Blog Around The Clock: may I have the envelope, please...March on.
- archy gets published.
- Bark Bark Woof Woof: King of the nuts.
- Bloggg: they spy.
- Dohiyi Mir: a crash of symbols.
- Echidne Of The Snakes: making a killing.
- Florida Progressive Coalition Blog: a fifty-state strategy.
- Left Is Right: bits and pieces.
- Pen-Elayne on the Web: Jeff 'n' Erin's EPIC wedding.
- Rook's Rant: an end and a beginning.
- rubber hose: Syria beckons.
- Scrutiny Hooligans: place your calls.
- Stupid Enough Unexplanation: FDR
- The Invisible Library: plotting away.
- The Yellow Something Something: Steve sums up the summit.
- WTF Is It Now?? birther control.
I personally think John was never a conservative. He was always contrary. It is just that at the time of Bush and his push for war, John had failed to see he was a contrarian. Had he recognized this particular personal characteristic, he would have never sided with all the batshit crazies to begin with. Thankfully, he came late to this realization, and so when he made the switch, elevated himself to a higher standing in Blogstonia.Anyone want to take a wild guess how Americablog and others in the progressive blogosphere would have reacted if Obama and Rahm had passed a bill in the Senate that appealed to 12 Republicans? I can hear the screams. There would be ActBlue accounts by the dozens to primary Obama.
It just never stops. And if Rahm steps down, they'll just find someone else to act as the bogeyman.
He recounted all the grief he and his family went through while work on their kitchen renovation dragged on and on and on. "During that time, I had blood lust against my contractor," Inslee said. "Six months went by, and he was still arguing with the plumber. Eight months went by, and there were still wires hanging down everywhere, and he was having trouble with the building inspector."I have to admit, this makes me feel hopeful. Why? I do not know. Still, it does do a fine job of pointing out how the emotions of the moment do not necessarily define the outcome of the moment.
But eventually, the job got done. "And now I love that kitchen," Inslee recalls saying. "I bake bread in that kitchen. My wife cooks great meals in that kitchen. The contractor's now a buddy of mine, and I've had beers with him in that kitchen."
Inslee looked at his colleagues and declared: "We've got to finish the kitchen." His point was that Americans won't experience any of the benefits of health-care reform until Congress puts a new system in place.
I called Inslee about his kitchen oration after Rep. David Wu (D-Ore.) told me it was one of the turning points in calming Democrats' nerves. "Now," Wu says, "people run into him in the hallway, smile and say, 'Finish the kitchen.' "
First, the mortality rates in question are national mortality rates. The authors of the report look at national death rates and see whether they rise, fall, or fail to change on average when the country is at war. They find a general decline. But this doesn't mean people aren't dying where war is happening. They are. The question is why this isn't resulting in a spike in mortality at the national level. Here's why:So, despite the ongoing examples set by the Conservative/Republican/Tea Party faction of the human race, it seems we really are evolving.
a) Peacetime mortality rates are declining steadily around the globe. This is largely due to the revolution in child survival caused by immunization campaigns. So death rates are already falling, and the question is whether enough people get killed in today's conflicts to reverse that decline. They don't, because...
b) Wars are generally much smaller and more localized than previously, so a conflict breaking out in one province of a country, for example, doesn't necessarily reverse the already steady decline in peacetime mortality rates. At most, it may slow it a bit. (There are exceptions in the data - Rwanda in 1994, for instance.)
c) Today, when wars break out, an influx of humanitarian assistance arrives on the scene to increase life-saving interventions such as vaccinations against the kinds of diseases - malaria, diarrhea, and respiratory infections - that account for the massive death tolls in conflict zones, as well as significant numbers of preventable deaths in peacetime. These additional interventions offset the numbers being killed due to violence in buttressing the overall national survival rate, particularly for children under five. In some cases, they actually cause more people within the country to survive than might have been the case in the absence of the war.