Read through all of tonight's "At the End of the Day" for a very important message regarding a fellow member of Left Blogistan in dire need.
- Pakistani's went to the polls today. Well, some of them, anyway. Turnout was low in the wake of violence that rocked the nation killed scores of Afghanis in the weeks running up to the elections. In some areas, local tribal leaders refused to allow women to vote. And speaking of those elections, the Pakistanis rebuked Musharraf by overwhelmingly electing opposition parliamentarians.
- A research study conducted at the University of Utah shows a positive correlation between payday lenders and the political power wielded by Christian conservatives. One of the co-authors explained the findings thusly "When the Christian Right allied itself with conservative Wall Street business interests in the 1980s and early '90s, consumer protection law was placed to the side as an inconvenient sticking point. The laws allowing an astonishing number of triple-digit-interest-rate lenders throughout most of the Christian South and Mormon West are a legacy of that political alliance." When you make a deal with the devil, that smell of sulfur that hangs in the air? Yeah, that;s a warning.
- John McCain lobbied for and earned the endorsement of former President George Bush today. This is, supposedly, going to shore up McCain's bona fides. Because if there is someone that diehard conservatives in the GOP love, it's George "Read My Lips. No New Taxes" Bush.
- And Speaking of that infamous broken promise by Poppy Bush McCain went down that same path in an appearance on This Week on Sunday, when he said that under his administration, he would absolutely not raise taxes. (No word on how he plans to pay for 100 years of war in Iraq, however.)
- The United States officially recognized Kosovo on Monday. Serbia is miffed, Russia too. Oh well. Let 'em stew.
- Researchers at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill have released a study that assesses human impact on the oceans and the results are chilling. The research was conducted by a team of researchers from the US, Canada and Great Britain. In all seventeen areas across which data was collected and analyzed,the human impact was obvious, and in many areas the threats to the oceanic ecosystems overlaps and the impact is compound. "The big picture looks much worse than I imagine most people expected," said lead scientist Ben Halpern at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
- A military judge has overruled objections by the Government and will allow defense attorneys in the Hamdan case question Khalid Sheik Mohammed and six other alleged senior al Qaeda captives being held in seclusion at the Guantánamo Bay prison camp. Navy Capt. Keith Allred gave the U.S. government until Tuesday (Monday is a federal holiday) to establish an independent security arrangement to help lawyers representing Salim Hamdan gather evidence they say could exonerate their client. At issue is just how deeply involved the $200 per month driver with the third grade education was involved in the planning and execution of terror attacks. The prosecution maintains that Hamdan need not have belonged to the cells that plotted the attacks to have been part of the conspiracy to kill Americans, he is guilty by association. The defense argues that if Hamdan wasn't part of the plot, he should be found innocent of overarching conspiracy charges.
Here is the deal - even with health coverage, you can’t get sick. Last summer, he had a failing kidney removed, and in spite of having benefits, they were exhausted before he was released to return to work. Now he is back at work, but in the time between exhausting his bennies and returning to the work force, he lost a lot of ground economically and is quite frankly barely treading water.
He has a “donate” button up over at the Out of Iraq Bloggers Caucus central blog, and at his own place (which he has neglected lately because OOIBC has grown so much and so rapidly that it takes most of his blogging time now that he is back in the workforce).
Blogtopia™ (y! sctp!) has one truly great strength - our ability to shape and develop and redefine “community.” Edger is a part of our community. As such, we are happy to acknowledge his contributions to the greater left blogosphere community by helping out a bit when he is in need, and spreading the word so people who are in a position to help out know that the help is needed and where to send it.
And hey - if you happen to need a website designed, let him - or Blue Girl - know - they do that sort of thing together, heck, they have actually done paying projects and have references! He would much rather earn it than accept it…but the bottom line is, he needs it right now. Thanks.
