Baghdad then and now. Full article at the link.

Baghdad was an ancient and modern Arabic metropolis of electricity, and vibrancy, and vitality, and questioning, and answering, and dinner parties, and bright-red nail polish, and Armani-clad gentlemen, and Marks and Spencers-clad tumbling tots, and young, bright-eyed, short-skirted Kurdish women working in government offices, and well-educated, high-powered Iraqi women holding the reins in sprawling schools and sky-scraping offices, and gallant mustached old men shrouded in elegant gowns and headscarves helping even older men in more elegant attire across the bustling roundabouts and past hordes of honking, newly imported cars hurtling over newly constructed highways past heavily laden donkey carts and state-of-the-art water treatment plants and modern hospitals and schools and electrical substations and stadiums with roaring, cheering crowds. And above all these signs of “we are no longer a third-world country,” fleets of planes arriving and departing on time from every corner of the earth.

 

...

 

Back then there was one criminal, one persecutor, and everyone knew who. Everyone knew he was a monster, an undisguised devil, the evil spirit capable of crippling a strong and hearty people. But the man driving the bus, the woman cleaning the floor, the shopkeepers and secretaries and clerks and travel agents—the everyday-go-to-work-and-come-home people, carried on eating their freshly grilled, succulent samak masgouf fish spiced with salt, pepper and tamarind by the lights of the bonfires dotted along the banks of the ancient Tigris river. The school children toted their homework-laden knapsacks back and forth, day after day, and the librarians stamped books in and stamped books out, and young lovers held hands in the dark movie halls, and the wives and mothers and spinsters—some of them unveiled, some of them kitted out in brightly colored hot pants and tight sleeveless tops hidden by black-sheeted abayas—exchanged gossip on the street corners and over back walls. And the men—those who were not in the army—walked the streets in their three-piece suits, sporting watch chains and carrying their black shiny briefcases specially imported from Kuwait.

 

 

Important nationally because Texas is a very large consumer of textbooks, and thus it sets many of the standards for the rest of the country.

 

Things that are in the new Texas board of education standards:

 

"Describe the causes and key organizations and individuals of the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s, including Phyllis Schafly, the Contract with America, the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority, and the National Rifle Association"

 

"analyze the decline of the U.S. dollar including abandonment of the gold standard."

 

 

""laws of nature and nature's God"

(Direct quotes)

 

Also in there, an analysis of the book "The road to Serfdom", a major libertarian text.

 

 

Things stripped out of this version:

 

Thomas Jefferson.

The entire word "Democratic".

 

 

There's at least 1 more hearing on these. The sad thing is...this version is probably an improvement on the last one.

I'll blame it all on Tex.

 

Sadly, my daughter lives in Texas with her mom and her mind has already been poisoned by ultraconservative minds.

Can we kick them out of the union?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/education/13texas.html

 

There were no historians, sociologists or economists consulted at the meetings, though some members of the conservative bloc held themselves out as experts on certain topics.

 

Dunning-Kruger in full effect.

Edited March 13, 201016 yr by StrangeSox

Can we kick them out of the union?

 

For real. I would bet a majority of Texans would be fine with that.

 

Poor Austinites. So out of place.

Justice Thomas's wife starts new "Tea Party" style lobbying group, to be funded by corporate donors as recently allowed by the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision.

Alan Grayson's response to Palin's visit to his district in Central Florida.

Alan Grayson's response to Palin's visit to his district in Central Florida.

 

Alan Grayson is one of the biggest douche bags to ever get into any sort of office...ever. He's not worth listening too. Hell, he's not even worth this comment...

 

Same for Palin.

Alan Grayson is one of the biggest douche bags to ever get into any sort of office...ever. He's not worth listening too. Hell, he's not even worth this comment...

 

Same for Palin.

 

 

I think he is awesome.

Alan Grayson is one of the biggest douche bags to ever get into any sort of office...ever. He's not worth listening too. Hell, he's not even worth this comment...

 

Same for Palin.

This is the Dem thread but thanks for trolling.

This is the Dem thread but thanks for trolling.

 

Yes, I understand that saying Grayson and Palin are equally douchy is trolling.

 

Looks like someone needs to go look up what trolling actually is.

 

Fail.

Edited March 15, 201016 yr by Y2HH

Yes, I understand that saying Grayson and Palin are equally douchy is trolling.

 

Looks like someone needs to go look up what trolling actually is.

 

Fail.

 

 

How are they both equally "douchy" than?

Yes, I understand that saying Grayson and Palin are equally douchy is trolling.

 

Looks like someone needs to go look up what trolling actually is.

 

Fail.

 

 

I posted, in a Dem thread, some info on what a popular Dem congressman said and you replied:

 

Alan Grayson is one of the biggest douche bags to ever get into any sort of office...ever. He's not worth listening too. Hell, he's not even worth this comment...

 

If that's not trolling than I don't know what is regardless if you threw in a mini dig at Palin or not.

I posted, in a Dem thread, some info on what a popular Dem congressman said and you replied:

 

 

 

If that's not trolling than I don't know what is regardless if you threw in a mini dig at Palin or not.

 

I threw in the SAME dig at Palin, not a mini dig.

 

And it wasn't trolling.

 

Trolling is if you do what you just did, copy and paste only the part that is anti dem and saying that's all I said...it wasn't.

Excerpts From the New Texas History Textbooks

I'm sure I will be seeing you guys there!!

 

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/03...ent-in-may.html

I'm sure I will be seeing you guys there!!

 

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/03...ent-in-may.html

I interned at WIND a few years back. There's some really great people over there.

Not that it has anything to do with the event. Just sayin.

I interned at WIND a few years back. There's some really great people over there.

Not that it has anything to do with the event. Just sayin.

I'll admit, I only read the link title, and I was confused as to why any renewable energy company would bring her in.

Hey guys nancy pelosi is a big stupid idiot.

 

But so is George Bush.

 

(I'm good right?)

Hey guys nancy pelosi is a big stupid idiot.

 

But so is George Bush.

 

(I'm good right?)

you'd be accurate on both accounts. I havent liked her since the day she was named speaker.

you'd be accurate on both accounts. I havent liked her since the day she was named speaker.

You might want to check that thing that just whizzed over your head.

Erick Erickson, editor of the popular conservative megablog RedState, conceded that progressives currently enjoy an advantage over conservatives online—though he attributed it to an asymmetry in free time, since conservatives "have families because we don't abort our kids, and we have jobs because we believe in capitalism."

 

Former Supreme Court Justice David Souter is a "Goat F***ing Child Molester".

 

That's the kind of brilliant thinking that, if you put it out in public, gets you a job a CNN.

Damn liberal media.

As the resident vegan I thought I'd post this.

 

Gene Baur will be speaking at DePaul on April 5th.

 

As the president and co-founder of Farm Sanctuary, the nation's leading farm animal protection organization, Gene Baur campaigns to raise awareness about the negative consequences of industrialized factory farming and our cheap food system.

 

Join us April 5th, as the Irwin W. Steans Center for Community-based Service Learning presents a talk by Mr. Baur about his book "Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food". The presentation will be followed by a book signing and sales. All proceeds benefit Farm Sanctuary.

 

Date: Monday, April 5, 2010

Time: 7:00pm - 9:00pm

Location: McGowan South #108, Lincoln Park Campus

Street: 1110 W. Belden Ave.

City/Town: Chicago, IL

I'm not a big fan of Pelosi (for reasons other than conservatives hate her - a liberal wants to do liberal things in government OMG!) but she is one of a handful of Democrats with any balls.