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From the Philadelphia Inquirer Online:
Bush told his senior aides Tuesday that he "didn't want to see any stories" quoting unnamed administration officials in the media anymore, and that if he did, there would be consequences, said a senior administration official who asked that his name not be used
I actually had this conversation once:
Me [on the phone]: The trash men didn't come to pick up my garbage today.
Trash person: Did you have it at the curb by 7:00 AM?
Me: They weren't here before 7:00 AM. I had it at the curb before they were here.
Trash person: Did you have your trash at the curb this morning before 7:00 AM?
Me: It doesn't matter whether I had it there before 7:00 AM because the truck wasn't there before 7:00 AM. I had it at the curb before the truck came.
Trash Person: OK. Did you have it at the curb before 7:00 AM, though?
Me: I'm trying to tell you that I can hear the garbage trucks in the morning. I'm in the front of the house, the house is right on the street, the garbage trucks are loud. I always hear the garbage trucks when they come down my street. I would hear the truck if I was home and the truck was on my street. I didn't hear the garbage truck. It wasn't on my street before I put my trash at the curb.
Trash person: All right, then. Let me see if I understand, was the trash at the curb before 7:00 AM?
Me: Yes. It was at the curb by 7:00 AM.
Trash person: We'll send someone to pick it up in the morning.
We had our annual all-staff conference this week at work. I got to script a skit. We were going to go with an 'Office Space' theme, but opted for the much classier 'Doug and Bob Mckenzie':
Take off, eh!You take off! You're a hoser!
I'm not a hoser, you're a hoser, eh!
...well, ahem, anyway, in honor of the skit that never was, here's an Office Space game.
Also (although totally unrelated to the topic at hand) check out Monkey Moon Lander and Beat the Quilters.
...via Friday Web Zen at BoingBoing
Seen on a car at a middle school teacher's conference:
Don't make me get my flying monkeys
If the people who's great plan was to conquer and occupy Iraq could have less understanding of how to proceed than they do currently, it would be astouding. Riverbend has a great set of posts on a recent article in the New York Times by John Tierney called Iraqi Family Ties Complicate American Efforts for Change.
At the conclusion of one of her posts, she says:
I'm an example of a modern-day, Iraqi female who is a part of a tribe- I've never met our sheikh- I've never needed to--I have a university degree, I had a job and I have a family who would sacrifice a lot to protect me--and none of this hinders me from having ambition or a sense of obligation towards law and order. I also want democracy, security, and a civil, healthy society-- right along with the strong family bonds I'm accustomed to as an Iraqi.
We can talk all we want about how Iraqi culture is different than ours, about how the Middle East is all about veils or religion or sheiks or tribes, but we won't get anywhere until those in power recognize that whatever else people in Iraq are or know or think, they are, and should treated as, people.