Tom Hanks on Obama

“I want the president of my country to embody the America I have been waiting for.”

we’ll always have amsterdam

…?

Dutch bill to ban magic mushrooms

But the association of owners of so-called “Smart Shops” where the hallucinogenic fungi are sold say that magic mushrooms, which contain the hallucinogenic ingredient psilocybin, are only dangerous when they are taken together with alcohol or other drugs.

The Dutch cabinet has proposed a bill to ban the sale of hallucinogenic or so-called “magic mushrooms”.

A majority of MPs is expected to back the proposal, which comes after a number of accidents, mostly involving tourists.

The health ministry said the number of incidents linked with the use of magic mushrooms had almost doubled in the last four years, mainly in Amsterdam.

But owners of the shops that sell them say the ban is unnecessary.

“The use of mushrooms can produce hallucinogenic effects which can lead to extreme or life-threatening behaviour,” the health ministry said in a statement late on Friday after the cabinet decision.

aol taiwan

aol.tw

And Hong Kong.

And Sphere in play.

And the iPhone interface.

Despite Time-Warner’s wingeing and waffling, AOL seems to be getting less irrelevant.  I’m suddenly interested.

tla wuz

TLA wuss?  No sir.  I caught a falling metal pole and saved a maiden’s head from hurt!  Really did, over on the far (South?) side of the exhibitions hall.  Then me and some likely lads secured the rest of the frame, and got the roughnecks called in to re-bolt the bastard.

But, yes, TLA.  Had my doubts about it, my prejudices.  Really did and still do.  But it was good on the whole.  Better than good, and more than worth the time, traffic, and money.  Just wish my bureau-crew had backed me a little better, sent me for more than a day.  But hey, I appreciate what I did get to do.  Very much.

http://ishush.blogspot.com/2008/04/thursdays-tla.html

ron paul and barack obama

You know that old adage, “hope for the best, prepare for the worst”?

That’s a major difference between the philosophies of Paul and Obama.  Paul hopes for the best, inspires us to rise to the challenge of living by our own laws.  And so does Obama.  But Obama has no blind hope in the ultimate benevolence of the Invisible Hand.

Obama is hoping, yes.  But he’s also preparing.

?

good mag: nuclear weapons

[Via Infosthetics]

squirrel is out

It’s no accident that the GOP race is down to three men who are clear about who they are: McCain, Huckabee and, yes, Ron Paul.

B-bye. B-bye, now.

secrecy and secret secrecy

Well, I’ll be.  Lookie this:

CRAWFORD, Texas - President Bush on Monday signed a bill aimed at giving the public and the media greater access to information about what the government is doing.

The new law toughens the Freedom of Information Act, the first such makeover to the signature public-access law in a decade. It amounts to a congressional pushback against the Bush administration’s movement to greater secrecy since the terrorist attacks of 2001.

Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas.

Happy New Year.

get tasered