I'm not going to lie, kids, it's been a frustrating day for maxomai.
I had intended to post this diary this morning, but I only had my cell phone with me (because I was standing in for my wife at a sale). Much to my unpleasant surprise, however, the "publish" button doesn't work when I try to press it with my cell phone. I ended up posting this in the Open Thread, as a comment, instead. But let's face it -- that's cheap. You all deserve a real diary. So I'm posting this special evening edition of GMDKWE!
Oh yeah, the sale was a bust. But let's forget about that right now, take a deep breath, and enjoy a nice hot cup of tea and cool, minty ITEMS!
ITEM! Nancy Pelosi has killed David Obey's idea for a "war tax" to cover the expenses of the surge. More here. Frankly the only way I'd support such a tax is if if hit anyone earning more than $1M in a year; some of the proposals for a war tax would have gone as low as $30k, thus violating Obama's pledge to cut taxes on the middle class.
Nonetheless, the escalation of the Afghanistan conflict will cost us. The Christian Science Monitor lays it out for us here.
ITEM! Democrats opposed to DADT are calling for a temporary period of immunity for homosexuals in the military, in order to allow service members to testify about their experiences before Congress. More here. Yet another crack in the wall....
ITEM! What is Ottomania, and how is it relevant to the so-called War On Terror? More here.
ITEM! The first anniversary of the worst riots Greece has seen in decades is this weekend -- and the police are preparing for more. The Beeb has the scoop here
ITEM! Any book published in Iraq has to be "officially declared free of content that is immoral, seditious or liable to incite violence and sectarian hatred," according to the Asia Times, and this has led to a growing black market in underground books and publishing. Read about it here.
ITEM! "Political clans" are going to war in the Philippines as the election heats up. More here.
RABBIT!
ITEM! NBC's "The Office" is ending. More here.
ITEM! LisaNova has a makeup tutorial for the holidays!
ITEM! How do well-meaning web design projects -- actually, software projects in general -- go straight to hell, turning into a big stinking pile of rancid dog leavings along the way? This tells all.
ITEM! Need another reason to attend the Copenhagen climate summit? How about free sex?
Copenhagen's city council in conjunction with Lord Mayor Ritt Bjerregaard sent postcards out to 160 Copenhagen hotels urging COP15 guests and delegates to 'Be sustainable - don't buy sex'.
"Dear hotel owner, we would like to urge you not to arrange contacts between hotel guests and prostitutes," the approach to hotels says.
Now, Copenhagen prostitutes are up in arms, saying that the council has no business meddling in their affairs. They have now offered free sex to anyone who can produce one of the offending postcards and their COP15 identity card, according to the Web site avisen.dk.
Note that prostitution is legal, but more heavily regulated in Copenhagen than in Amsterdam. Brothels are illegal and full-time prostitution is technically forbidden.
And now, a word from our sponsor.