The end of May is traditionally the time when we Sidewise Judges have to go through and release our nominations cut of short stories and novels for the award - which means that dreadful dozen stories that you haven't gotten to that look like prime stinkers are mandatory reads - along with the other stuff that 'life its ownself' have caused to be ( Read more... )

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• Polls are showing a resurgance in Dubya's negative numbers. The best shows approval of 41%, the worst 34%, and the trends are all downwards. In other polls, well over half of Americans say that the NSA spy scandal involves impeachable offenses, and 58% say that Dubya's second term has been a failure. Not good, dood!
• In regard to New Orleans, new ( Read more... )

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...and how unsympathetic courts can gay-bash you. Short version: two gay cowboys settle down on ranch together, raise three kids and are happy. Then one of them dies, and the will (leaving everything to the surviving partner) is broken by a Oklahoma court on a minor technicality. (Oklahoma has gone out of its way by statute to NOT recognize any ( Read more... )

( NYT: )

Again, I simply don't know whether to laugh or cry.

New news is coming in from the NYT that the NSA efforts to dig up stuff on terrorists via the Echelon-like systems in place to wiretap everyone in existance without a court order really isn't turning up much worthwhile. "We'd chase a number, find it's a school teacher with no indication they've ( Read more... )