Michael of Musing’s musings has managed to sneak back into the US from his travels in Europe, even though he didn’t have a deadly, contagious disease, and notes that there is a bill coming before Congress that could help a group that really needs it: homeless kids.

The admissions process is bewildering enough, and the financial aid obstacle course a nightmare if you have a stable home life, so imagine what it’s like for a kid who is homeless. It is cheaper to send a kid to college than to jail, so this makes economic sense.

Go, read the post, and then do something about it.

…well, sort of. They have by-passed a switch to see if that was the problem, but the computers are working for the moment.

The shuttle crew managed to staple the torn thermal blanket back in place, as they decided against the nails, and couldn’t find the duct tape.

The skeptics get their say in the Associate Press article:

The days-long computer problems fueled skepticism toward the Bush administration’s “Vision for Space Exploration,” which calls for finishing the space station in three years, grounding the space shuttles in 2010 and building next-generation vehicles to go to the moon and Mars.

“This growing chorus of opposition to the current vision … is finding expression in the difficulties of the station,” said Howard McCurdy, a space public policy expert at American University. “We’re learning a great deal from the space station, and one of things we may be learning is we shouldn’t have built this particular one.”

McCrudy probably thinks that a missile defense system ought to actually shoot down missiles and the Federal Emergency Management Agency should be able to manage emergencies. There’s one in every crowd, continually carping about waste, fraud, abuse, and incompetence.

On the 11^th I wrote about the response of a senior Iranian security official to US threats, and today Juan Cole talks about the Iranian response to the bombing of the al-Askariya Shrine:

Iran’s Supreme Jurisprudent,Ali Khamenei, managed to blame the Iraqi Baath Party, the Wahhabi sect of Islam, the Salafi Jihadi radicals among Sunnis, and the United States, jointly for the blowing up of the minarets at the al-Askariya Shrine in Samarra.

…it is my impression that in recent months he has tended to leave the wilder talk to his rival Ayatollah Misbah Yazdi and his protege, Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad. I don’t think Khamenei’s remarks on this matter are a good sign.

[Read more →]

John, by the grace of God, king of England, lord of Ireland, duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and count of Anjou in the meadow which is called Runnymede, between Windsor and Staines, on the fifteenth day of June, 1215, signed the Great Charter in the presence of assorted heavily armed peers of the realm, who assured him it was the right thing to do.

The British Library has pictures of the Magna Carta available, and Wikipedia has a nice discussion of the document.

The Magna Carta of 1297 is permanently residing in the US National Archives.

The Avalon Project’s translation of the 1215 version with an index and definitions.

John abided by the charter for several months, before he returned to business as normal, but the principle was established – no one is above the law [no matter what John Yoo says].

Sox In Action

Snf, Snf, Snf…..

[Editor: We all really need a break from the kittens and this is a rare picture of Sox actually doing something. It’s not that Sox doesn’t do anything, but I normally am too busy cleaning up the mess to think of a camera.]

Friday Ark