Media Girl has an important post up on the needs of the earthquake relief efforts in Pakistan. And in a comment to her post she asks an important question, "Why are the corporate-owned media silent on this tragedy?"

She's crossposted this at boomantribune and also at DailyKos. At the time I'm posting this, it's the number one diary on the recommended list at DailyKos. Hopefully her efforts today will help raise some donations to help out these unfortunate people in Pakistan.

by Diana Philip

No one wants to see a teenager be trapped by poverty, abuse, or neglect. Yet, laws concerning the rights of pregnant minors to access certain medical care do just that.

Since the late 1970s, state legislatures have been passing state "parental involvement" laws, which mandate that a parent or legal guardian be notified of or give consent for a pregnant minor's decision to seek an abortion. Texas has one of the most recent laws, now five years old, and as of June 5, 2005, its law changed from requiring notification to mandating consent. Congress is now in the process of creating a nationwide parental notification law through the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act (CIANA). CIANA also would make it illegal for anyone to help a teen obtain an abortion in another state without satisfying her home state's law. Supporters of this bill generally think such a law will protect children. However, before the Senate votes on CIANA or similar legislation, lawmakers should carefully consider the damage parental involvement laws have done to pregnant youth in Texas.

The title should link here: http://ilyka.mu.nu/archives/119915.html.

Ok, I am not familiar with her writing, but as far as I can tell she exists on a young-conservative sort of sphere of blogging. The linked post is a lament about the anti-feminism and sexism of conservative male bloggers, and also the promise that she is going to close her blog and start again in a male guise.

It's funny to see this argument on the right, and sad to see our argument among ourselves on the left is no further evolved, really. Anyway... I found it a little interesting to read and research this pie fight of the right... but I wouldn't suggest spending too much time figuring out what's going on or reading all the supporting nonsense that is part of the dispute.

By ANNE RICE

WHAT do people really know about New Orleans?

Do they take away with them an awareness that it has always been not only a great white metropolis but also a great black city, a city where African-Americans have come together again and again to form the strongest African-American culture in the land?

I don't want to ruin this for you with a blockquote. Be sure to read Mr Scalzi's post all the way to the bottom.

"Make no mistake about it," President Bush said Friday, "This will be a long war, a difficult war, but it is a war we will win. Not today. Not tomorrow. But we will come out ahead by making America a safer place for our children and grandchildren."

Without another country to blame for the chaos in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, President Bush dedicated the full capacity of the U.S. military to defeating dangerous atmospheric pressure changes.

"Look, you're either with us or against us," President Bush said. "The weather has the potential to affect every American, and it is only through a direct, targeted effort that we can contain this enemy and overwhelm it.