Tidbits from the Times...

Too many tidbits from a cursory reading of the NY Times today -- I am tempted to comment on each in depth, but time is limited. So here are just some reactions.... The front page is filled with stories begging for comment -- from the fact that we are about to learn a lot more about how the Bush Administration is financing the Iraq occupation (as the State Department audits the funding), to the description of the current partisan divide in the US as a "chasm".... On more positive notes, there is story of the improvement in health and longevity for current generations (compared to nineteenth and early 20th century folks), and the courage of at least one leading evangelical pastor to call on his congregants "to steer clear of politics".... On to the Magazine section: At a time when every weather report (at least the ones I pay attention to here and in the UK) seems to be further confirmation of global warming, it was interesting to read about the Chicago Climate Exchange in today's NY Times. Touted as a way to use the market to deal with with the unfolding crisis, the logic of the approach will certainly have my Marxist friends saying "told you so..." Problem is, after seeing the Al Gore movie, I think it may be too late.... In another tidbit, Marion McKeone confirms something friendCiarán told me about the Irish -- they just can't say "yes". That is, there is no word in Irish to express the gratitudinous "yes, thank you" phrase. The phrase in Irish that comes closest, it seems, roughly translates as "it is so" -- which in context requires a preceding statement to be confirmed. This difference between Irish and English, it seems, might explain a great deal about historical animosities -- or maybe not.... On a day when the news highlights the many lives lost as a bombed building collapsed on a bomb shelter, killing dozens, one cannot help but note the sad irony of the Times publication of a picture essay on such places under the title "Someplace Where the Bombs Won't Come".... I think it is time to focus.... Tags: New York Times, Irish, Israel, Lebanon, global warming, Chicago Climate Exchange, Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth, evangelical movement, partisanship, Iraq War, US State Department, accountabilitybloke, Mel Dubnick