• NY Times: Let them be P.O.W.'s - by Nicholas D. Kristof
  

• Yahoo News: WTC subway station reopens
  

• NY Times: China, on eve of Bush's visit, goes easy on Bible smuggler
  

  Yes, it is certainly good that this man was not given the death penalty for the "crime" of carrying God's word into China, but it is still a travesty that he is getting 2 years in prison. (and that members of the church he was taking the Bibles have been charged with violations of the anti-cult laws which carry the death penalty.)
  

• NY Times: Marijuana's effects --- More than the munchies

Links:

I highly recommend
• Nickel Creek's self-titled debut blue grass-fusion album that is produced by Alison Krause. (BTW, one of the guys in the band, Chris Thile has an excellent solo mandolin album out.) While it is very blue grass, there are many other elements that give it an almost classical/medieval feel at times.
  

• Here is a bulletin that I received from the Green Party of Oklahoma:
  
  
  RALLY Tuesday, Jan 29
  FOR A MORATORIUM ON EXECUTIONS IN OKLAHOMA
  South Steps of State Capitol - Oklahoma City
  

  4:30 p.m. Gathering Music and Drumming
  James Collins & Jahruba and Friends
  5 to 6 - - RALLY
  

  Sign the Roster of Attendees.
  Register to Vote
  Pick up Directory of Reps & Senators.
  

  Tuesday, Jan. 29 is the date of the first execution of the year in Oklahoma. This RALLY supersedes the 5 to 6 p.m. protest which usually takes place at the Governor's Mansion.
  

  
  

• NY Times: Bush reconsiders stand on how to treat captives of war
  
  Here's another fun example of Bush's creative (mis)use of the English language... Mr. Bush attempted to dismiss the issue today as a small legal distinction. "I will listen to all the legalisms and announce my decision when I make it," he said.
  
  

• NY Times: Shares of Oklahoma-based Williams Cos. plunge as company delays earnings report.
  

• MSNBC: Bush prepares for balancing act - I have high expectations for this state of the union address (yeah right). I figure Bush is preparing a PhD level talk if you know what I mean.
  

Just got a link from AJY about the VX2 program. This is an extremely serious issue, much more so than most of the email viruses. If you have downloaded Audio Galaxy, then you need to read this: http://www.poenews.com/inhouse/vx2.htm. This disgusts me. Audio Galaxy is a decent music file search tool. Why did they have to exploit their users?!
posted by J.M. Branum at 11:19 AM | link

My job is continuing to keep me from blogging to the quality and quantity level that I would like to achieve. I'm sorry that I'm letting my regular readers down, but hopefully things will get better over the next few weeks.

On another note, from now on I will post the "printer friendly" links to NY Times stories. The advantage for you the reader is that you can just click and print, instead of having to deal with the NY Times' ad=heavy regular pages.

News and Opinion:

Here are some stories I've gathered over the last few days...

• NY Times: Powell Asks Bush to Reverse Stand on War Captives
  

• NY Times: Voters view G.O.P. as closer to Enron fall than Democrats
  

• NY Times: Critic who quit top Enron post is found dead
  

• NY Times: Suicide brings hard reality to Texas town
  

• NY Times: Questions on law school dean's Enron duties
  

• NY Times: Ex-operative writes of decline at C.I.A.
  

• NY Times: Keller - "Enron for Dummies"
  

• NY Times: On the Fringes of Florence, Memorable Eating
  

• Still the sane, if not successful voice, Daria bows out
  

• Blue lights or note, Martha Stewart remains calm
  

• Criticized, U.S. brings visitors to prison camp
  

• The women behind the masks of hate
  

• NY Times: AIDS set to surpass Black Death as worst pandemic
  

• NY Times: Scientists herald a versatie adult cell

Links:

• World New York is an excellent blog that in its own words provides . . .
  
  Our extracts address issues that affect New York City, issues that can be seen reflected in the images of the world's other great cities: New Delhi, Sydney, London, Beijing, Paris, Moscow, Cairo, Buenos Aires, Tokyo, Tel Aviv, Dublin, Mexico City, Vancouver, Lagos, Rome, wherever. In turn, our extracts also reflect typically American issues that appear reflected in the images of the nation's other, lesser cities (and we say "lesser" with all the affection of the elder child for the runt): Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles, Dallas-Fort Worth, Kansas City, Seattle, Phoenix, Santa Fe, Boston, Washington DC, New Orleans, Detroit, Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco, both Portlands and St. Louis.
  

  What makes New York City significant as a crossroads of study is this: Up to 40 percent of New York City's population is made of people born in another country, another 20 percent are people born in another state. So, 60 percent of the city has consciously chosen to be here, for the Great Experiment.
  

  Whether they understood the laboratory before arrival, they get it now, because they've decided to stay, each resident a participant, fulfilling a role so clearly defined that soon enough they'll find that their kind of people are being written about in the style sections of the newspapers, that the magazines are doing features on their types of friends, and when they reach the hum-drum stage of unblinking at famous people on the other side of the bar or at three kinds of human fluids on a subway platform, then they've won. No, fame and money are not that sign of true achievement here in New York City: the sign of real achievement is the ability to burden yourself with the staggering amount of stress, stupidity and the unresolved domestic disputes of your neighbors, and still think about tripping lightly off to spend a good portion of your paycheck on dinner for the third night in a row with an acquaintance you don't really like on the off chance you won't have to pay and can maybe get sex/a record deal/a job/a better agent out of it. [Read the rest of this short piece on the significance of NYC and of the life of NYC residents (disquised as a site FAQ) at: http://www.worldnewyork.org/faq.php

  
  

• Pastemusic.com's free offering of acoustic/americana/roots/folk/misc mp3s. - Highly recommended if you like genuine music from the heart.
  

• www.ezfolk.com
  

• MP3.com's listing of free Americana MP3's
  

• Blogger.com is now releasing a professional edition. The features sound killer, but I do hate the mandated move that all commericial sites must go to the pro version. But, I guess that's life and as long as Blogger doesn't get bought up by some multi-national conglomerate, then I think it is a price worth paying. I'll probably go with the pro edition in February, certainly for the features but mostly to support the weblogger phenonenum.
  

• If you're looking for some music to listen to that will soothe that hungry spot in your country boy soul, then head to RadioNewBraunfels.com. This small local Texas Americana radio station broadcasts their transmissions online (except when they're broadcasting high school football games and the like). I highly recommend it.
  

Quotes:

• In like 100 years time [we] could be remembered for an entire continent getting flushed down the toilet. Or, be remembered for the time when actually the world woke up to its responsibilities to its neighbors. Distance does not decide who your neighbor is. - BONO from U2
  

• Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. -Dwight Eisenhower