Category: We’re Making Progress

  • The Other “I-Word” – When will “Illegal” go the way of “Illegitimate?”

    The Other “I-Word” – When will “Illegal” go the way of “Illegitimate?”

    The New York Times ran a story about the revelation that the Archbishop of Canterbury’s biological father is not the person listed on his birth certificate. This is not necessarily “news,” except for his high station in the church is unusual for someone who could be described as “illegitimate.” But you won’t see the word…

  • Wow… Obama’s Address to the Muslim World

    At times I can barely believe my eyes — is this really our President? I think it is! Here are a few select quotes, but I highly recommend reading the full transcript of President Obama’s address to a historic crowd at Cairo University. First, some context for the relationship between the U.S. and the Muslim…

  • United States Celebrates Obama Presidency

    We gathered in the little house to watch the celebration.  In case you have trouble remembering Obama’s inaugural address, here it is as word cloud, thanks to Wordle. Here are a couple of my favorite links related to today: Worldwide celebrations for Obama inauguration Avaaz’s page on the inauguration Earthjustice has already come up with…

  • House Refuses to Write a Blank Check for War (Finally!)

    I got an email From my Representative, Earl Bluemenauer, explaining that he voted against the latest war funding bill. “That’s nice,” I thought… “Good old Earl.” And it turns out that enough representatives decided to start representing their constituents that the House rejected the latest war funding bill. There’s a lovely map that can show…

  • Last night, when Earl Blumenauer and I were on the phone…

    Representative Earl Blumenauer had a telephone “town hall” last night, with hundreds of people on the phone at the same time while he answered questions about Iraq, immigration, and impeachment, and asked us questions like, “Has the cost of invading Iraq been too high?” Of the close to 500 people (including me) who voted on…

  • Okay, I’m back: just in time for Portland to sign on to Department of Peace

    Okay, so I stopped blogging for quite a while. But today I went and testified at City Hall in support of the resolution for Portland to become one of the cities calling for a Department of Peace. I was one of 11 people who testified in support of the resolution (which passed), and here’s my…