Religion and Hispanic Immigrants

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As a child in Guatemala, Mr. Chilín attended Mass every Sunday. But after immigrating to the United States 25 years ago, he and his family lost the churchgoing habit. “We pray to God when we feel the need to,” he said, “but when we come here to America we don’t feel the need.”

-- Laurie Goodstein for The New York Times

Ms. Gooodstein is reporting on a trend for immigrant Hispanics to become more secular, which seems a healthful thing to me.

xXx

Religion and Hispanic Immigrants

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As a child in Guatemala, Mr. Chilín attended Mass every Sunday. But after immigrating to the United States 25 years ago, he and his family lost the churchgoing habit. “We pray to God when we feel the need to,” he said, “but when we come here to America we don’t feel the need.”

-- Laurie Goodstein for The New York Times

Ms. Gooodstein is reporting on a trend for immigrant Hispanics to become more secular, which seems a healthful thing to me.

xXx

Alberto Gonzales: A Study in Scumbaggery

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I know that I did not -- and would not -- ask for the resignation of any U.S. attorney for an improper reason. Furthermore, I have no basis to believe that anyone involved in this process sought the removal of a U.S. attorney for an improper reason.

-- Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales at The Washington Post

The man has not the least compunction. He can just keep spewing and spewing his nonsense. Like we're complete idiots. Such players make a farce of democracy and make cynicism look like wisdom. He disgusts me.

xXx

Alberto Gonzales: A Study in Scumbaggery

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I know that I did not -- and would not -- ask for the resignation of any U.S. attorney for an improper reason. Furthermore, I have no basis to believe that anyone involved in this process sought the removal of a U.S. attorney for an improper reason.

-- Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales at The Washington Post

The man has not the least compunction. He can just keep spewing and spewing his nonsense. Like we're complete idiots. Such players make a farce of democracy and make cynicism look like wisdom. He disgusts me.

xXx

Taxing Questions

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For all the high-earners out there, this is sort of the opposite-of-Christmas season: tax time. You can hear all the moaning and groaning in the media and the blogosphere.

I came across an interesting piece titled "You Paid Your Taxes? Sucker." and it seems to be encouraging people to use foreign tax havens to hide their money. What I don't get, though, is the accompanying graphic which I read as saying that there has been substantial increases in the use of this evasion from the year 2003 to 2006.

We know that the Bush years have been almost unprecedented in slashing taxes and keeping them down, and I would think that there would be less pressure for Americans to evade taxes. One could understand it better in a higher-tax era. Doesn't this suggest something questionable? Whatever one might think of social programs, including general social security programs, we have wars to pay for.

xXx

Taxing Questions

♠
For all the high-earners out there, this is sort of the opposite-of-Christmas season: tax time. You can hear all the moaning and groaning in the media and the blogosphere.

I came across an interesting piece titled "You Paid Your Taxes? Sucker." and it seems to be encouraging people to use foreign tax havens to hide their money. What I don't get, though, is the accompanying graphic which I read as saying that there has been substantial increases in the use of this evasion from the year 2003 to 2006.

We know that the Bush years have been almost unprecedented in slashing taxes and keeping them down, and I would think that there would be less pressure for Americans to evade taxes. One could understand it better in a higher-tax era. Doesn't this suggest something questionable? Whatever one might think of social programs, including general social security programs, we have wars to pay for.

xXx

Kitty and the Lap Top

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Here is a temporary post for cat lovers. The kitty seems to have a thing for the silvery disk.

Aww, hell, I may as well keep it. It does remind me of my fascination with Internet porn.

xXx

Kitty and the Lap Top

♠
Here is a temporary post for cat lovers. The kitty seems to have a thing for the silvery disk.

Aww, hell, I may as well keep it. It does remind me of my fascination with Internet porn.

xXx

Movies About Books

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Movies about books
I have a thing for them,
a special kind of romance, the love of ideas,
and this was a good weekend for it.

"The Ninth Gate" aired yesterday.
I had been waiting
for that to make the cable rounds again.

And today
"Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai" made it on.
It had been so long since this movie played,
I forgot all about it:
a top prize for the collection -
a movie that I can watch again and again,
like listening to a beautiful song.

xXx

Movies About Books

♠
Movies about books
I have a thing for them,
a special kind of romance, the love of ideas,
and this was a good weekend for it.

"The Ninth Gate" aired yesterday.
I had been waiting
for that to make the cable rounds again.

And today
"Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai" made it on.
It had been so long since this movie played,
I forgot all about it:
a top prize for the collection -
a movie that I can watch again and again,
like listening to a beautiful song.

xXx