100% Commitment to Peace

It really looks like neither Bush nor Abu Mazen is giving their all to the Annapolis conference. Reuters pic by way of Angryarab.

Easter Cat

The guys at the supermarket didn't seem to think this was all that noteworthy, although they did think it was funny that I took the photo.

"School not a madrassa"

So it's an old story but whatever. The part I find amusing is the Lewis Carrol-style subhead "School Not a Madrassa."

I went to a madrasa (that's one s, folks). So did you. So did Barack Obama and CNN's writers and correspondents. I walk past a madrasa every day on the way to work. I have worked in at least 3 madrasas. The Arabic word for 'school' doesn't mean 'radical violent islamic training ground.' What it means is 'school.' Bas.

Halloween < Dia de los Muertos

Meh. What is this supposed to stand for? I guess the standard Jack O' Lantern is supposed to be like a death's head or something, only it's still a damn pumpkin. Not scary. What does it say about the human condition? Nothing, that's what. All it says is we're so weirded out by mortality that we have to dress it up in cartoony nonsense to deal with it as a culture.

We need a holiday to remember the dead and to consider our own common fate. That's why we have Dia de los Muertos.

Death recognized as death proper, yet approached with a joy of irony and vitality.