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Roger Wilko

Jonny's back!

From The Guardian, "Wilkinson to start for England."

Jonny Wilkinson has been handed a surprise recall for England's Six Nations opener against Scotland, despite having played barely 50 minutes' rugby in the last 12 weeks.

It has been more than three years since Wilkinson last pulled on the England No10 shirt, as a demoralising catalogue of injuries and illness - most recently a lacerated kidney - stalled the 27-year-old fly-half's international career on 52 caps. Wilkinson's last game for England was the 2003 World Cup final, where his extra-time drop-goal secured a 20-17 win over Australia, but he returns now to a radically-changed team for Brian Ashton's first game as England head coach.

Save the Date: Nicholas Kristof on "First Genocide of the 21st Century"

Nicholas Kristof will be presenting, "First Genocide of the 21st Century - Report from Darfur" in conjunction with the Benjamin N. Cardozo Law School, Program in Holocaust and Human Rights studies on February 7, 2007 - from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm. (Location: 55 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York).

RSVP to kristof.rsvp@gmail.com

Hillary in Iowa

Hillary's in Iowa and making a splash. Good for her. Listen, I'm a long way off from deciding who I'm going to support for President in 2008, but this particular mother, attorney, advocate, First Lady, and U.S. Senator (one of mine, in fact)--who is also intelligent and well-traveled--is far, far, far from the worst choice among all Presidential candidates, certainly far, far, far, far better than any current Republican candidate.

Time may reveal that she's the best choice...for the Democrats, for America. We'll see. It's still early, but she's got the money and connections, and right now she's got the mo'.

Help Des Moines drink more liberally

From Drinking Liberally:

The Des Moines chapter of Drinking Liberally is compiling a bartender's guide of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages to sell as a fundraiser for the 2007 Drinking Liberally National Conference (DLNC), scheduled for September 14-16 in Des Moines, Iowa.

"Liberal Mixology" will feature new drinks created by Drinking Liberally members from around the country, as well as public domain recipes with a progressive flair.

To make "Liberal Mixology" a reality, we need your help. Round up your favorite drink recipes and submit them to mixology@drinkingliberally.org. We'd also like any progressive twists on standard recipes: Turn an "Alabama Slammer" into an "Abramoff Pokey" or a "Boilermaker" into a "Global Warmer." Include your first name and chapter affiliation by February 9th.

(Disclaimer: Multiple submissions for the same drinkbwill be reviewed and voted upon by the DLNC committee. The top vote-earner will be published.)

You can subscribe to Drinking Liberally's list here.

"QUACK!" (The new sound of the same old myopia, arrogance, vapidity & cynicism)

Bush's most recent State of the Union address to Congress and the nation was pathetic. From pleading to chiding to vacuous, the tone of his rhetoric wavered erratically. He cried out to Congress to give his new Iraq strategy (sic) a chance. Never has a duck quacked so loud and been so lame at the same time.

All his State of the Union speeches have contained horrible ideas, half-measures, or lies. All of them. Remember the AIDS funding to Africa he promised? That ended up being tied to religion-grounded abstinence-only propaganda now wrecking havoc in Africa and driving up HIV/AIDS rates. Remember that baloney about sending a man to Mars? That was Bush trying to--imagine this!--sound like JFK, while at the same time, attempting to destroy NASA if he can't control it. The rank intellectual dishonesty! Remember the lie Bush stated in his State of the Union about Saddam Hussein trying to get purchase "yellow cake" from Niger?

So, this State of the Union's horrid ideas (such as the tax on the middle class to pay for health care), almost certain lies, and half-measures (such as the call for a 20% reduction in our nation's gasoline consumption...in 10 years...an embarrassingly pathetic target far from what's required and devoid of any ideas about how to achieve the aim!) reveal that the same unfortunate realities controlling the Bush administration's thinking (sic) remain as firmly in place now as in 2000: myopia, arrogance, vapidity, and cynicism.

(Graphic: Lame Duck Anti-Bush button available at DemocraticStuff.com)

Darwin Day's almost here

So, whaddya doin' for Darwin Day?  It's getting close, so:

1. download these cool stickers, and

2. wear one on February 12, Darwin's Birthday! Also,

3. join the National Center for Science Education. Of course,

4. register as a Darwin Day supporter at www.darwinday.org. Or go a step farther and

5. organize a party or event! Register it here.

Give to your Madre

A great organization. Consider making a contribution today. MADRE

is an international women's human rights organization that works in partnership with community-based women's organizations worldwide to address issues of health and reproductive rights, economic development, education, and other human rights. MADRE provides resources, training, and support to enable our sister organizations to meet concrete needs in their communities while working to shift the balance of power to promote long-term development and social justice.

Warning: Provincialism displayed here is graphic in nature

From WorldChanging:

A couple of years ago, a 25-year-old Brazilian man working at a magazine called Grande Reportagem in Lisbon, Portugal, incited a global social justice campaign using email chain letters. The campaign, known as "Meet the World", was conceived by a group of four 20-somethings who'd been researching facts and stats about the state of the world.

Using real data taken from Amnesty International and the UN, they developed a series of national flag images based on the actual flags for those places, with the colors and graphics representing current, geographically-relevant issues. Targeted topics include Malaria and HIV/AIDS in Angola, drug trafficking in Columbia, and opinions about the Iraq war in the US.

EYEBEAM - calling artists

Eyebeam Art & Technology Center in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood "is an art and technology center that provides a fertile context and state-of-the-art tools for digital research and experimentation."

Their blog, Eyebeam reBlog, is interesting.

"[Eyebeam] is a lively incubator of creativity and thought, where artists and technologists actively engage with culture, addressing the issues and concerns of our time. Eyebeam challenges convention, celebrates the hack, educates the next generation, encourages collaboration, freely offers its contributions to the community, and invites the public to share in a spirit of openness: open source, open content and open distribution."

Nestorians, Jacobites, and Kurds, oh my

Map of "The Christian populations of northern Iraq," from The Handbook of Iraq and the Persian Gulf, issued by the British Admiralty in 1944. (Map reproduced in The New York Review of Books, Nov. 30, 2006.)

Click the map for an enlarged version.