WHAT, ME WORRY?
"From deteriorating security in Afghanistan and Somalia to mayhem in the Middle East, confrontation with Iran and eroding relations with Russia, the White House suddenly sees crisis in every direction."
(WASHINGTON POST, GRAPHIC COURTESY OF THOSE LOVABLE RED BASTARDS AT THE NATION)

DISSIN' THE DEAD
"At the Veterans Memorial Cemetery in the small town of Fernley, Nevada, there is a wall of brass plaques for local heroes. But one space is blank. There is no memorial for Sgt. Patrick D. Stewart. That's because Stewart was a Wiccan, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has refused to allow a symbol of the Wicca religion -- a five-pointed star within a circle, called a pentacle -- to be inscribed on U.S. military memorials or grave markers."
(WASHINGTON POST)

SO, WHAT'S IN A NAME?
These are the three little tiny pieces of paper that are each contained in tiny ornamental Chinese brocade boxes, proofs of the ink stones that I brought back for Zack, Carlos and me. The notations on them were written by Chris. (I'm "ba".) It seems that those little red seals that you see on all things Chinese are actually signatures of the author or artist and that each is, like our signatures, unique to its owner.

We stopped at a bookstore and had them made right there. We could have gotten them in English but I opted for a really Chinese motif. We then got involved in what it would say. This was a bookstore and the lady that was assisting us was very concerned that we should have our ink stones correctly made as they were our very first ink stones and they were for the whole family.

It is a common practice for Westerners to adopt Chinese names and you'll hear "That's my Chinese name" quite frequently. (How they got there is quite often a mystery to me.) Instead, I chose the Chinese character for "forest" because that is what Soto means. (I don't know who makes that stuff up. It doesn't mean that in Spanish any more than "Hart" means "deer" in English. It's one of the few things that stuck with me from college poetry classes.) She was pleased with that (probably thinking to herself, "Damn, I'm glad I don't have to interpret Zachary AND Carlos into Mandarin.")

"No, that's all I want," I told her when she asked about the first names. Our conversation was catapulted out of the mundane. She and Chris and the stone cutter, the security guard and the other owner of the store were now all involved in an animated and -to me - mysterious conversation about something that was obviously very wrong.

"They can't all be the same," Chris explained rather sheepishly. "They're your signatures. How about we give them some Chinese names?" I could tell it had become a matter of grave delicacy but, really, folks, it's just a souvernir. We were at an impasse because, well, my kids don't NEED Chinese names! CLICK HERE She reluctantly accepted that that was all that I wanted. Did I want them, she asked, all to be identical or would I, at least, like them different as they had them in all of the archaic styles. I told here that, yes, that would be lovely. Could she make them in three styles: the oldest would be mine, the next oldest Zack's, and the youngest Carlos'. She seemed, if not pleased, at least a bit appeased by that.

NO EXCUSE TO STEAMROLL PRESS
"The Bush administration's booming rhetoric leaves the impression that all this nation needs is a strongman at its head. That is dangerous talk for a country at war, the temptation to bend rules intense. The administration needs to stop its tired attack on the press for reporting on secret programs used in the war on terror. The debate should not be about the role of the press, but about the alarming lack of oversight of the executive.
(SEATTLE TIMES)