I don’t even know if George Bush could have been so brazen: Obama to Leave Up to 50K Troops in Iraq Through 2011 . Here were some quotes from the GOP:
Few issued statements, and what praise there was came largely from Republicans. Sen. John S. McCain (R-Ariz.) said he “supports the plan to leave 50,000 troops in Iraq as briefed by [chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff] Admiral [Michael] Mullen and [Defense] Secretary [Robert M.] Gates.”
Rep. John McHugh (NY), the senior Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, said that the president’s withdrawal plan “is one that we should pray for, plan for and work toward.”
Laws and Breaking Them
Arkansas House approves bill allowing guns in churches
Oregon proposes increase in beer tax to pay for alcohol abuse programs
Will the Recession Doom the Last Sunday Blue Laws?
The age of designer babies has arrived. The Fertility Institutes have announced the “pending availability” of “expanded testing that can greatly increase the odds of achieving a healthy pregnancy with a preselected choice of gender, eye color, hair color and complexion.” Apparently this is an unregulated field of science in the USA. More details are available from SingularityHub.com.
Rule-Breaking: Some More Pottering About from Touchstone Magazine:
The other day day I came upon this piquant title among the children’s books in the New York Times Book Review: How Alice Roosevelt Broke the Rules, Charmed the World, and Drove her Father Teddy Crazy.
I’m pretty sure I recognize the genre, and am decidedly of the Hillaire Belloc school when it comes to the like. I have not seen many Newbery or Caldecott Award books lately with titles like, How Johnny Smith Broke the Rules and was Chopped to Pieces Under the Wheels of a Train, or, How Suzy Jones Broke the Rules and Lost Both Arms in the Grain Auger
The Church
Missionaries get hard labor for words in email.
the 16th edition of the Ethnologue went to press (link is to 15th edition)
To eat or not to eat?. At a traditional Chinese funeral, should a Christian eat the meat offered to the deceased?
Clip the Tip? Point/Counterpoint on Male Circumcision
Economy
There is cheap housing in Detroit for anyone interested.
Clearly even Scrooge McDuck knows more than our economic managers:
I really think that one line about the Detroit housing should be adjusted for Pirate Speak: Thar’ be cheap housin’ in Detroit, ya mateys! It just sounds cooler that way.
“The age of designer babies has arrived.”
Gattaca isn’t just a movie anymore.