Tsarnaev will get a fairer trial than he deserves. I'll just leave it at that.

What does the right wing think now of their darling fascist Putin?

@1 So you don't believe in the founding premise of our government. Check.

The Ukraine is Weak!

It is not accurate for Kshama Sawant to say that the custodians are being held back because English is not their second language. It seem very reasonable that writing is as important as speaking it, especially in hospitals where the public health is very vulnerable. If Sawant was truly concerned, she should start a volunteer program of English teachers and majors to help these workers pass the test next time.

Your native language does not hinder your ability to learn and write a new language.

Who cares if Tsarnaev is treated fairly? There's next to no doubt in the case.

"The country's poor aren't protesting its socialist government ..., in fact, they're hardly aware of the protests at all."

From the article:

"But many in the capital’s slums have sincere doubts about the government, or flatly oppose it. Some have joined the protests in other parts of the city."

That rather completely contradicts your statement, doesn't it? Aside from that, the article is focused solely on Caracas. The situation is different in the rest of the country, where the protests do have popular support.

@6: That is about as much of an anti-American statement as I have ever heard here on Slog.

Bertha is the new WOOPS

Stuck at 11 200 feet down

Seven Seals For Seven Tax Subsidies

"65-foot crack discovered in Wanapum Dam"

—Yakima Herald Republic

@6,
Who cares if he's treated fairly?

He is currently innocent. As far as you know, he's done nothing illegal. No one has proven he's guilty of anything at all.

I hope he's treated fairly. I would want to be treated fairly if I were charged with murder.

@9: No. There were multiple setbacks for Boston's big dig, and it finally got completed. We have every reason to expect that this too will be fixed, eventually.

#9

Except Bertha isn't providing a lot of $14/hr paralegal jobs to Evergreen dropouts.

@10: Thank you. I came here to see what the Slogerati thought of that. Not much, apparently.

For the month of March
A democrat in the raindrop

In an effort to de-trollize my reputation on Slog, I will be make an excruciating deference to a democrat by putting him or her in the my raindrop avatar for the month of March. In addition I will donate $100.00 to a loathsome, lefty, organization. Here are the choices:
Avatar:
- Nancy Pelosi (ugh!)
- Hillary Clinton (ugh!)
- Let sloggers decide (ugh!)

Loathsome, lefty, organization:
- Democrat National Committee (ugh!)
- Sierra Club (ugh!)

To prove that I did make a contribution, I will forward my receipt to The Stranger, then perhaps a staffer doing the morning news can verify it in a news item, with a link to the organization.

After midnight Sunday I will ascertain who to put in my avatar by the responses you all have, as well as who to donate to (either the dems or the Sierra Club, no Slog choice on that).

Have fun!

Clarification in last sentence: want responses for the dems or the Sierra Club. Don't suggest other organizations, those two are bad enough!

If we're advocating accuracy and context in jounralism, Ansel...

It might behoove us to mention the fact that the economic situation inherited by Chavez was overwhelmingly caused by the collapse of oil prices in 1980s, and that the economic achievements that the Socialist government claims (and you uncritically transcribe) are quite a bit less impressive if you compare the results to the nation's economy in the 1970s rather than 1990s.

And as a responsible journalist, you would of course mention the interesting contextual fact that world crude oil prices soared during Chavez's reign.

@16/17,

"We want nothing from you that you do without grace, or that you do without understanding."

—Mrs. Whatsit, A Wrinkle in Time

The age or sex was impossible to tell, for it was completely bundled up in clothes. Several scarves of assorted colors were tied about the head, and a man's felt hat perched atop. A shocking pink stole was knotted about a rough overcoat, and black rubber boots covered the feet. [...] Under all this a sparse quantity of grayish hair was tied in a small but tidy knot on top of her head. Her eyes were bright, her nose a round, soft blob, her mouth puckered like an autumn apple.

@19: I beg to differ. I understand exactly what I'm doing and I am sincere. As for lack of graciousness, that's just me being curmudgeonly (e.g. the "ugh" and other adjectives).

yep; do the right

@16: Alan Grayson / Sierra Club

This just in re: Boston Bombing

Rachel Maddow Tries Her Best Not To Call FBI killing Of Ibrahim Todashev a conspiracy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxb1iOEn…

Raindrop, put this guy's pic in your avatar

file:///EdmundBurke1771.jpg">File:EdmundBurke1771.jpg">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/file:///Edmund…">File:Edmund…

Then take your $100 and go buy a few of his books and a biography of him. It is long past time for you delve into actual Conservative political philosophy and stop just puking out what Fox news and the Republican party feeds you.

@24: Rachel Maddow is so unnecessarily verbose for her suppositions.

@15, probably because it's outside of Pugetopolis. Past interest has been shown in the Howard Hanson dam and the Elwha dam.

@28: To be fair, news of the arrest may not have reached the wires until after Ansel compiled the news this morning.

"Corporate profits are climbing higher while wages decrease."

Say what you will about Ron Reagan, at least he delivered on his promises.

@26 - You're one to talk Phoebe.

@5 "It seem very reasonable that writing is as important as speaking it, especially in hospitals where the public health is very vulnerable. "

I beg to differ. Yes, someone writing, say, a patient's chart would probably need high-level English writing skills. But how much of a custodian's work requires writing? As a teacher of English as a a second language, I find that of the four skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing), writing is often the most difficult to acquire. Many of my students can read and understand very technical documents, and can converse fluently, but when faced with putting ideas on paper in the absence of the visual and tonal cues that accompany conversation their grammatical mistakes become more prominent and the result is much less coherent than it would have been had they been making the same explanation aloud.

Well, @31, I kinda thought that was the point. If even Phoebe finds Ms. Maddow verbose, than holy cat is she verbose. (And she is -- I have the feeling she's trying to fill time by saying the same thing over and over and over and over and...)