Today's Mixed Bag of Goodness

So, here's what happening: is the President dumb, or is he just playing a dumb guy on TV? Aaron McGruder, the creator of the comic strip Boondocks, said out loud what no media pundit has dared to say. And check out Michael Moore's Letters From Iraq.

In other news, courts in Brazil ruled unanimously that same-sex couples had to be treated as married in matters of state: Brazillian law blocks the spouse and relatives of an elected official from succeeding them in office. There's gonna come a point when treating people as married *some* of the time and not *all* of the time is going to get pretty stale. Wake up, America. Also via Alas, A Blog - check out this discussion about the decriminalization of women involved in prostitution. What happens if you decriminalize the women and start agressively going over pimps and johns? If nobody *buys* something, there's no use selling it, right?

For those interested in the bubbling around Mt. St. Helens (I grew up in an area where you could see St. Helens from the surrounding hills), Jay Lake has been doing a Mountain watch. Want it live? Check out the Volcano Cam here, or get up-to-date info here.