"Pack of party-poppers. That pop in the night"

Vatican Re-Examines Ban on Contraception

Brian Murphy, AP Religion Writer

A Vatican study on whether it could permit condoms to battle AIDS has a very narrow scope: married Roman Catholic couples in which one partner has the virus. But its theological underpinnings are centuries old, and could lay the groundwork for an end to the church's blanket ban on contraception.

The principle of "double effect" entered mainstream Catholic debate more than 300 years ago and draws on questions about the "lesser of two evils" raised by theologians such as St. Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century. The concepts broadly ask: Can a questionable act be morally justified when the good effect outweighs a bad consequence?

More at the link. I like the idea of 'laying' the groundwork too.

Meanwhile over on Amazon, Adrian Thacker of Calgary, Alberta, Canada has put those long northern lights to use with a list of 25 songs about SEX!!!

So now we're using Austin Powers strategy?

Bolten: White House Must Regain Its 'Mojo'

WASHINGTON - It's time for the White House to go on offense and "get our mojo back." Josh Bolten said Sunday in his first interview since taking over as the president's chief of staff.

Bolten made no promises of pulling up President Bush's all-time low approval ratings, but he said he and Bush have decided they want to be more open with the media and the public.

"We've taken advice from a lot of folks that we ought to put the president out more in ways that the American people can see what he's really like," Bolten said on "Fox News Sunday."

But he said that does not mean the president's policies are going to get an overhaul. "I don't think we need to change, but we do need to refresh and re-energize," Bolten said.

For example, he said the White House is "thinking actively" about immigration and putting the president out front on an issue that has split him off from some in his own party. Bolten added that it is vital that the White House communicate effectively about the importance of the fight against terrorism so Americans will support the mission.

More at the link, but that last sentence could stand as an all-purpose statement if there was a period after 'effectively.'

But it is the concept of 'mojo' I wish to address.

Not to belabor the point, but if I were part of an administration that sold the Mississippi Delta down the river, I would not...by no means NOT...be trafficking in a power word like 'mojo.'

LOUISIANA BLUES
by Muddy Waters

I'm going down in Louisiana, baby, behind the sun
I'm going down in Louisiana, honey, behind the sun
Well, you know I just found out my troubles just begun

I'm going down in New Orleans, hmmmh,
Get me a mojo hand
I'm going down in New Orleans, get me a mojo hand
(spoken aside by Little Walter) "Aw, take me wit' ya
when you go."
I'm gonna show all you good looking women,
Just how to treat your man

(spoken) Let's go back to N'Orleans, boys

One of many fine blues songs found on the Lucky Mojo Blues Lyrics and Hoodoo page.

"Doctor please, some more of these..."

Limbaugh Arrested in Fla. on Drug Charges

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Rush Limbaugh was arrested Friday on prescription drug charges, law enforcement officials said.

Limbaugh turned himself in to authorities on a warrant issued by the state attorney's office, said agency spokeswoman Teri Barbera.

Can there really be a God after all?

"Oh, hello Mr. Soul, I dropped by to pick up a reason"

Sent to me via email at work:

Neil Young's Living With War on True Majority

Apparently, it will be completely free to download tomorrow.

"Down on the river the boat was a sinkin' She watched that Queen go Under"

From the Chicago Sun Times:

Senate panel recommends abolishing FEMA

WASHINGTON-- The nation's disaster response agency should be abolished and rebuilt from scratch to avoid a repeat of government failures exposed by Hurricane Katrina, a Senate inquiry has concluded.

Crippled by years of poor leadership and inadequate funding, the Federal Emergency Management Agency cannot be fixed, a bipartisan investigation says in recommendations to be released Thursday.

Though short on specifics, such as funding levels, the 86 proposed reforms suggest the United States is still woefully unprepared for a disaster of Katrina's magnitude.

The recommendations, obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, are the product of a seven-month investigation to be detailed in a Senate report to released next week. It follows similar inquiries by the House and White House and comes in an election year in which Democrats have seized on Katrina to attack the Bush administration.

President Bush will visit Louisiana and Mississippi-- which bore the brunt of Katrina's wrath-- on Thursday.

As I have said many times since last September: there's nothing in this world that would make me trade places with a man who harmed a City under Marie Laveau's protection. In truth, I've felt a strange kind of pity for George Bush ever since last September because when retribution hits...

From the "It Saves Us Time" Department

Fox Host to Be Named White House Spokesman

WASHINGTON Apr 26, 2006 (AP)— Conservative pundit Tony Snow will be named White House press secretary, Republican officials said Tuesday night, in the latest move in President Bush's effort to remake his troubled White House.

Snow is expected to be named on Wednesday.

He will replace Scott McClellan, who is stepping down in a White House personnel shuffle intended to re-energize Bush's presidency, bring in new faces and lift the president's record-low approval ratings. McClellan had served as Bush's chief spokesman the most prominent public figure in the White House after Bush for nearly three years.

Whew...Fox News! For moment I thought the White House might hire a journalist!

"He got friendly, holdin' my hand.""She got friendly, down in the sand."

Mo. Drama Teacher Resigns in Play Flap

COLUMBIA, Mo. - A central Missouri high school drama teacher whose spring play was canceled after complaints about tawdry content in one of her previous productions will resign rather than face a possible firing.

"It became too much to not be able to speak my mind or defend my students without fear or retribution," said Fulton High School teacher Wendy DeVore.

Ooohhh...tawdry content! One immediately salivates, expecting a late Tennessee Williams or a raunchy David Mamet. Whatever did this depraved pedagogue foist on our innocent American youth?

DeVore's students were to perform Arthur Miller's "The Crucible," a drama set during the 17th Century Salem witch trials.

But after a handful of Callaway Christian Church members complained about scenes in the fall musical "Grease" that showed teens smoking, drinking and kissing, Superintendent Mark Enderle told DeVore to find a more family-friendly substitute.

Let's review that one. DeVore's current production involving one of America's least sexy immigrant communities in the throes of a religion-fueled hysteria of intolerence and bloodshed is yanked because of a previous production of a musical so universally popular that wedding dee-jays around the world keep the "Grease megamix" in their satchel of party-enliving tricks.

I think my high-school took us to see the Olivia Newton John/John Travolta release in the theatres as a field trip.

Not to be overlooked is that this thing came about after "a handful of Callaway Christian Church members" complained. Deputy Governor Danforth himself would be proud:

This is a sharp time, now, a precise time-we live no longer in the dusky afternoon when evil mixed itself with good and befuddled the world. Now, by God's grace, the shining sun is up, and them that fear not light will surely praise it.

Or as Marge Simpson pointed out (and was apparently not talking about the current administration):

Let's come to our senses, everyone! This witch hunt is turning into a circus!"

"War, war, war; this war talk's spoiling all the fun at every party this spring.

If either of you boys says 'war' just once again, I'll go in the house and slam the door."
.............................Scarlett O'Hara, U.S. Senator (D-Georgia)

Iraq Edges Closer to Open Civil Warfare

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi authorities discovered at least 87 corpses — men shot to death execution-style — as Iraq edged closer to open civil warfare. Twenty-nine of the bodies, dressed only in underwear, were dug out of a single grave Tuesday in a Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad.

Some of the bloodshed appeared to be retaliation for a bomb and mortar attack in the Sadr City slum that killed at least 58 people and wounded more than 200 two days earlier.

I have already fallen behind on this latest web venture. I haven't even left Dublin, Valentines Weekend 2003 and San Francisco Saint Patrick's Week 2003 is right upon us!



And the Almanac of Iraqi History reminds me that I've nearly missed one of the third anniversary milestones:

US may go it alone as Blair is caught in diplomatic deadlock

Washington was forced to admit for the first time last night that it might have to start the war against Iraq without British forces because of the internal political problems heaping up for Tony Blair.

The US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, said that Mr Blair's difficulties had caused the White House to contemplate going to war without its closest ally.

After talks with his British counterpart, Geoff Hoon, Mr Rumsfeld said that the British role in an assault was now "unclear" and that Washington was well aware that the Blair government's freedom of action might be restrained by a rebellious parliament.

More at the link.

Stuart Tarleton: Oh, isn't it exciting, Scarlett? You know those fool Yanks may actually *want* a war?