There has been some level of adverse reaction to the fashion choices of the President’s eldest daughter. While I am as reticent as anyone else who spends their life in jeans and t-shirts to make style pronouncements, I would like to point out a bit of an error in symbolism.

That is the original form of the symbol involved. Somewhere in a box with other detritus of my life I have a pin of the earliest form that arrived here from the UK in the early 1960s and a later version that I was given in Britain by a very earnest young woman who was attempting to convince me of the righteousness of her cause while I was looking for an entrance to the Underground. The cause was nuclear disarmament, and the symbol has been associated with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in Britain since it, the symbol, was created in 1958.

Those are the semaphore flag codes that the designer used as the basis for his graphic, and they are literally an N and a D in the code, as in Nuclear Disarmament.

Given that the young lady’s father had recently completed an agreement in Russia to reduce the number of nuclear weapons in the world, it is hardly inappropriate. There has been a great deal of ranting and raving about nuclear weapons in North Korea, and the possibility of nuclear weapons in Iran, so it is somewhat curious that the rightwing lint have their shorts in a wad over two t-shirts with the symbol for nuclear disarmament on them. I was under the impression that they felt the proliferation of nuclear weapons, at least for non-NRA members, was inappropriate.

In closing let me just send the ranters a short message:

The Miami Herald reports on the real problem:

Zelaya is facing four charges: abuse of power, treason, usurping his duties and attempts against the form of government. Only treason and attempts against the form of government might be considered “political” charges, legal experts said.

Any legal woes for Zelaya stem from a single issue: his aggressive pursuit of a national referendum that he hoped would allow him to rewrite the constitution.

As congress and the courts legally blocked him each step of the way, Zelaya switched tactics, ignored rulings and fired those who got in the way. It came to a crisis point on June 25 when he rallied his supporters to break into a government building and seize the impounded referendum material, which was under guard. That was the last straw.

On June 26, the Supreme Court ordered his arrest, according to documents provided by the attorney general’s office. On the morning of June 28 — the day the referendum was to take place — masked soldiers escorted Zelaya at gunpoint onto an airplane in his pajamas and flew him to Costa Rica.

[Read more →]

Luis Leon Sanchez Gil of Spain won stage 8 and moved up to 11^th from 24^th; Sandy Casar of France was awarded the red numbers for his moves in the stage; Christophe Kern of France is the new “king of the hills” winning the polka dot jersey; and Thor Hushovd of Norway took the green jersey from Mark Cavendish with a 9 point lead among the sprinters.

In addition AG2R moved ahead of Astana by 3 seconds in the team competition.

1. Rinaldo Nocentini (I/AG2R) 25:44:32 [yellow jersey]
2. Alberto Contador (E/Astana) +:06
3. Lance Armstrong (US/Astana) +:08
4. Levi Leipheimer (US/Astana) +:39
5. Bradley Wiggins (GB/Garmin) +:46
6. Andréas Klöden (D/Astana) +:54
7. Tony Martin (D/Team Columbia) +01:00 [white jersey]
8. Christian Vande Velde (US/Garmin) +01:24
9. Andy Schleck (LUX/Saxo Bank) +01:49
10. Vincenzo Nibali (I/Liquigas) +01:54

Selected others:

11. Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (E/Caisse) +02:16
18. Cadel Evans (AUS/Silence) +03:07
22. Sandy Casar (F/Francaise) +03:58 [red numbers]
58. Nicolas Roche (IRE/AG2R) +16:45
77. David Millar (GB/Garmin) +27:18
92. Christophe Kern (F/Confidis) +33:15 [polka dot jersey]
110. Thor Hushovd (NOR/Cervelo) +40:09 [green jersey]
131. Mark Cavendish (GB/Team Columbia) +49:31

From the BBC Cycling results and the official results sites.