So yesterday while I'm at work my wife is taking care of my kids. They're at the apartment and they hear this really loud yowling from outside that goes on long enough that she gets concerned and goes to see what's going on. She finds a very young kitten- in the dumpster. Now this kitten can actually climb pretty good but isn't much of a walker. It's possible that he ended up in the garbage by accident, but my anti-faith in humanity isn't leading me to consider that a high likelyhood.

The Kentucky Derby yesterday produced both triumph and tragedy, as favorite Big Brown won going away despite beginning the race in the outside position, and then the second-place filly Eight Belles broke down after the finish and had to be euthanized. In honor of the Derby and the beginning of Triple Crown season, we take a look this week at favorite children's books involving horses.

So Bush has signed an exemption order overriding court ruling that prevented the Navy from conducting exercises involving "medium" frequency sonar near aquatic mammal population.

What does it all mean?

There is a significant amount of evidence that use of certain sonar systems is associated with whales and dolphins losing sense of direction and beaching themselves, often fatally.

I am doing some work as usual but wanted to put out a somewhat light-hearted topic here. I saw AAR's "Go Vegan" Makes Me Want to Eat a Steak on dkos and decided to read it despite the fact that the topic almost always manages to raise my blood pressure.

I am not a vegetarian and eat meat usually twice a day (lunch and dinner). I love all different types of meats without too much regard for where it came from. Bacon, steak, chicken, lamb, veal, whatever as long as it is well prepared and tastes good. That's not to say I don't like vegetables or fruit - I do enjoy a good salad in addition to my meal.

Whether we would choose to be a part of society, the simple truth is that we are. Whether we would choose to progress or not in knowledge and technology, the obvious fact is that we do. As a result, with these progressions life should become easier. As human society has evolved the conscious and physical level of co-operation has also risen. It is this co-operation which has allowed technology and our understanding to brilliantly explode in the way that it has. But everything created today owes its' existance to what was created before, that is to say, the evolution of technology and machinery is akin to the human condition, an unbroken chain of progression through co-operation within society. This was achieved due to the division of labour, specialization in a certian area of work. Where one man hunted another made the spears. As society evolved the spear maker no longer had to gather the raw materials as that area of work was divided into flint miner and woodsman, and so on. The production time (or work) early societies had to do to first survive fell in relation to the advancement of divided labour, ie; co-operation, and living conditions rose. The tools, machines and knowledge in society are exclusivly for the use of that society. They are of a purely social nature, they owe thier existance to humans working in co-operation. Man, alone, is weak. He is unable to produce by himself what you now see in front of you. To accomplish such a feat as the world today requires more than one pair of hands.

pitbulls, Laws/Legality/Legislation

If you want to tell a tale, everyone has known for some time that a simple text blog is kind of like getting the hottest gaming computer and using it to play solitaire card games. Likewise most news organizations post articles on their websites laid out pretty much like they would in the magazine.

If the website is for a television station then they often put up their content pretty much as it would be played in normal programming. Again with not a lot of thought beyond their comfortable "old Media" paradigm.

Apparently Somebody over at LATimes decided that it would be a good thing to have somebody think out how a website could be used to create user interactive information of video, still photos, and active graphs that change as you mouse over them. Still conceptually one directional information, which is very "Old Media" of them but a very flashy (pun intended and not) presentation none the less, and giving it much more impact than a simple text story.

This is a cross post from my blog that discusses the plan (by Nancy Pelosi) to have U.S. Representative Silvestre Reyes, D-TX chair the House Intelligence Committee found here:

Why are Democrats Putting Morons in High Places?

The topic below was originally posted in my blog the
Intrepid Liberal Journal.

Democratic Party strategists must be salivating. An ABC News-Washington Post survey reports 8 out of 10 Americans favor changing the U.S. mission in Iraq from direct combat to training Iraqi troops and significant majorities prefer withdrawing nearly all troops by 2008. The ABC/WAPO Survey also indicates increased support for diplomatic initiatives with Iran and Syria.

The diary below was orginally posted in my blog, the Intrepid Liberal Journal and adapted for Swords Crossed.

The progressive blogosphere resembles an extended family. It's remarkable how we interact and become acquainted with personalities from around the globe. Between blogrolls and soapblox community sites we come across so many and relationships form. Yet even as we bond over shared values it's easy to forget that behind our cocksure Internet personas reside flesh and blood human beings.

One such blogger is Bob Higgins. Bob's Worldwide Sawdust blog was surging as of late August. He had established a niche as a poignant and irreverent voice championing working people, justice and peace. There is a lot of talent in the blogosphere but for me Bob is a cut above. Bob is a rare gem that can make you laugh and think simultaneously.

A former marine, Bob welcomes visitors to his site with this:

Proudly Democratic

The diary below was originally posted in my blog the Intrepid Liberal Journal .



I was raised Jewish but my personal beliefs are agnostic. I'm not so arrogant to reject the concept of a higher power. I don't claim to know what the divine truth is and reserve the right to have a deathbed conversion when I reach old age.

For the time being I'm inclined to believe a higher power is really a more evolved life form that doesn't respond to prayer or monitor my personal morality meter. In my opinion John Lennon put it best: