I'm studying Environmental Science in order to become a Medical Doctor. I'm studying my ancient ancestors in order to become a psychologist. I'm studying history in order to become a psychic. I'm studying tree structure to learn more about bones. I'm studying mycology to learn more about life. I'm studying nutrition in order to become a farmer. I'm studying geography to learn more about building houses. I'm studying water to learn more about heat. I'm studying activism to learn more about religion. I'm studying groups to learn more about individuals. Homosexuality teaches people about heterosexuality. To understand life one must learn about death. As a doctor I intend on providing relief not cures. Pain is not avoidable. We must all learn how to accept our ailments as part of what makes us stronger. The truth is...people heal people. People are medicine. Laughter is medicine. My eyes are medicine. My gentle touch soothes inner souls. Cures are diseases. You can search for the holy grail somewhere else, or you can find the grail that already exist inside of you. Search and you will find nothing. Stop searching and you will find everything. It's not about tupac vs biggie. It's about east vs. west and the east rap scene died in 1994 when hoes flows and clothes stole the art from rap.

From 365gay.com:

Once people started eschewing marriage as a business proposition and instead partnered up based on something as fleeting as love, all convention was thrown out the window, says Stephanie Coontz, author of "Marriage, a History: From Obedience to Intimacy or How Love Conquered Marriage."

"Staying together 'til death do us part' is a bigger challenge than any generation ever had to face," she said. "The fact remains that you're never going to get back to a situation where you can assume every adult is going to spend the majority of their life in marriage."

The author of five books, including "The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap," teaches history and family studies at The Evergreen State College in Olympia. Coontz, 61, said she has spent years "trying to get past our 'Leave it to Beaver' mythology about what the traditional family was."

The implication is that marriage was fundamentally altered by straight people, not by gay folks who want to be married.

There is a nice write-up on "Fair Trade" shops in Tacoma and Olympia in the Tacoma News Tribune:

So what exactly is Fair Trade?

Ewing: It’s saying that people who make the products should be paid a living wage for it, have livable working conditions and not use child labor or children working in factories.

Meyer: Fair trade includes specific value, such as being paid a fair wage or price in the context of the (producers’) culture or society. It’s coming up with a fair price that is sustainable for people. There’s an intent to make sure things are environmentally conscious in terms of how the materials are sourced and products made … and for there to be a transparency (in all aspects of the business) and to be accountable and responsible.

Why don't oil companies run like that?

The Washington Post has an article today on the Democratic Party united in going on the offensive regarding President Bush but more than split on how to actually deal with Iraq.

As I said before, no viable alternative is emerging. The one person who is staunchly in favor of a "rapid withdrawl?" Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Carter's national security advisor. This is almost as if I were setting up a joke about the French military during the Second World War.

I think it's interesting how Brzezinski stated he would be "more willing to support current policy if there were more signs of success."

For you sportsfans out there this is what we would call a "bandwagon fan."

Of course, success can only be met with "double or triple" the amount of troops in Iraq, which raises another question: For victory in Iraq, would you support a draft? I would suggest looking into the history of the draft in the United States before giving an opinion. The draft only has a negative connotation because of the most recent experience, Vietnam. Prior to it was a commonly used practice.

How do former members of the Clinton administration feel?

Article: But three top strategists from the Clinton administration -- [former U.N. ambassador Richard C.] Holbrooke, former secretary of state Madeleine K. Albright and former NATO commander Gen. Wesley K. Clark -- argue vehemently against imposing a deadline, timetable or politically driven drawdown on Iraq.

Article: The United States needs to make Iraq's neighbors, including Syria and Iran, "part of the solution, not part of the problem."

The Fire: The last thing the Iranians want is for Iraq to be successful. They know that if Iraq is a success their grip on power could be very, very limited.

Where's the insurgency coming from? It's not all because of the U.S. being in Iraq.

Article: Much of the insurgency is also related to the local shift in the balance of power rather than the U.S. presence, [former Clinton deputy national security advisor James] Steinberg said.

From CNN:

"FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (AP) -- Lionel Tate became the youngest person sentenced to life in prison in modern U.S. history when he was convicted at the age of 13 of murdering a young girl, but he got out on probation after his first conviction was thrown out."

Article continued.

Ah, where to start with this case?

Article: To many juvenile justice experts, Tate, now 18, is a symbol of the difficulty that the justice system has dealing with children who commit serious crimes. Rather than seeking to rehabilitate them, Florida and dozens of other states have laws permitting them to be tried and punished as adults.

The Fire: Had the individual been "punished as adults" are punished he would have met the death penalty, especially in Florida. So no, Lionel Tate was not "tried and punished" as an adult. He was instead punished in some half-way manner, to please both those who are too weak to give out the death penalty and those who wanted to see justice, no matter what the age of the defendent.

The crime in this entire incident is that he was allowed to leave prison in the first place.