Bunch of articles

One about choosing a trade instead of years in college - haven't read the whole thing yet.

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One about interning at an organic farm

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One about the very firstest Jewish American Girl doll ever.

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An article on Stapleton, where I live! Evangeline and Ana have really enjoyed seeing all the sailors for Fleet Week, which kinda changes my ambivalence towards the whole occasion (any occasion that requires the use of multiple flyovers while also crowding the Ferry doesn't exactly get the thumbs up from me). Yesterday the boat was a full 15 minutes late, so we took car service home. The nieces called out the window "Hi sailor! Bye sailor!" at all of them passing, and they spent an amusing several minutes singing an impromptu song about the "three sailors" they saw when walking.

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One on how proposals to legalize gay marriage in NY (yay) are having trouble finding opposition. Good. I cannot believe the nerve of some groups trying to call themselves "pro-family". Fucking twits.

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An article on recent urban planning in NYC. Go look at it, it's got a nifty graphic with a before and after view of a street in Brooklyn

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FUCK.

Some parents see benefits from Lupron, a drug used to chemically castrate sex offenders and for endometriosis and prostate cancer. But mainstream experts condemn the protocol, marketed by 2 doctors.

This article gives far more attention to these doctors quacks than is deserved. Mainstream experts don't just condemn the protocol, they demolish it as being impossible. These "doctors" don't have any knowledge or learning or qualification in any of the fields they would need to be aware of to make the claims they're making. (If they did, they'd know they were wrong, but given that they're overcharging by thousands I'm sure they know that already and simply don't care.)

Link from here. I can't even type anymore, I'm so upset.

*deep breath*

I'm closing all my open tabs, so in contrast to that miserable rag of an article down there we've got an article about Health Care Reform and the Disability Community. The article proper is here. Can health care reform include identifying those things that quack like quacks and waddle like quacks as quacks? Please?

The ACLU is defending a girl who couldn't share her report on Harvey Milk with her class

I made the mistake of reading the comments (some of them, anyway) where I first picked up this link.

Let's just say they were appalling and leave it at that. Two things, though.

1. While the school's actions may not be censorship in the strictest definition, they were acting as an arm of the government to specially restrict where, when, and to whom this one child could share her knowledge. This sends a clear message about Harvey Milk in particular and gay people in general, and let's not talk about what it says about the pursuit of knowledge! (And don't give me that "sex" line. If you think you have to talk about this guy's sex life in order to talk about him, I suggest you get your mind out of the gutter. I know some of our politicians lack any sense of discretion, but seriously, we don't *have* to talk about it.)

2. I am so *sick* of reading about how "OMG, the ACLU only ever attacks Christians and Christian values and hates Christianity and is ebil!!!!!111" Aside from the exceedingly narrow view of who can be Christian, it's just flat-out wrong. Unless of course I'm imagining their defense of....

A Christian prisoner's right to preach (at least twice!)

A Christian church's desire to put their money where their mouth is and uphold their Christian morals by housing the homeless

The right of a Christian man to protest Wal-Mart for "supporting gay lifestyles and marriage". (I don't agree with his statement, but I sure do agree with his right to say it!)

The right of a second-grader to sing a religious song at a school talent show

I'll grant you, most of the ACLU's press releases on their work related to religious freedom is about non-Christians, usually being pressured by Christians. This, however, is not because the ACLU wishes to silence Christians, or because society oppresses Christians so much that very few of them can even make cases. What nerve! It's because Christians are the majority and often casually (and usually unintentionally) do things which harm other's religious rights! Well, of course. It's much easier for the majority to do things which harm the minority than the other way around, how could it be otherwise? Christians certainly aren't being persecuted as a group in the US. What an idea! And attempts to take away the special rights Christians often have really aren't the same as attempts to remove their/your religious freedom. No, really.

So, if any of you were interested in spouting that old ACLU canard about how they hate Christianity and traditional values (what is more traditional in this country than the first Amendment, I ask you!), please - educate yourself.

Few quick links

One about how poor people pay more - something <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/samuel_vimes#vimes.27_boots">Sam Vimes has known all along, of course. Thanks to tsukikage85.

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One about how poor people give proportionately more to charity than rich people. (Although I'm not sure I count money to family as charity.)