lawyers and rocks and mel and bush and cheney, oh my

Good mood today.

My house is clean - the woman my mom contacted for me came and cleaned for 5 hours yesterday, and yea verily, it was Good.

Got a letter from our lawyers. The other side wants to settle. It's for a hell of a lot less than we're ready to accept, but it's nice that they don't seem to want to drag it out any more than we do.

Have learned to laugh without damaging myself. It has to do with bracing and laughing differently than normal (can't explain it any better than that) so if I'm taken by surprise I still hurt like hell, but at least I can follow humorous links without (much) fear.

Which is good, because my friend Sarah posted a bunch of hilarious links on her blog.

OK, first of all? heathers, it's not just food: Who knew rocks could be so sexy.

Next, anybody heading out to the movies this weekend, here's Thirteen Evil Things to do at a showing of The Passion, from Stone Mirror.

And after you watch it, check out Christ Demands Creative Control over Next Movie. My favourite quote:

Continued Christ: "Even with the top-notch screenplay Ron and I are writing, I'll still need a great director to make the script shine. Unfortunately, Gore Verbinski is already committed to Pirates Of The Caribbean 2.


And finally, from Tbogg, Perky Happy Fuzzy Baby Bunnies for Bush.

( Highlights of above: a contest to instill some pep into the Bush/Cheney campaign )

Dubya Strikes Again

I was once waiting for a bus when a strange man walked up to me and said, "Beautiful day, isn't it? Days like this make me so glad I'm not from this planet."

Ditto, buddy.

• Federal AIDS funding cuts 'devastating': S.F. hit hardest at 12%, Oakland 5.9%, San Jose cut 5.1%.
  
  Selected highlights:
  
  The Bush administration slashed San Francisco's federal AIDS budget by more than $4 million, a 12 percent cut and one of the biggest in the nation, which local health officials fear could land more people in the emergency room.
  
  ...
  
  The money [part of the Ryan White CARE program], aimed at low-income patients who lack medical insurance or whose coverage is not enough, is used for everything from doctor's visits and medication to substance abuse treatment and food.
  
  ...
  
  Nationwide, the total Ryan White CARE budget for the year is $595 million, a $5 million decrease from last year.
  
  
• Bush may double funding to abstinence programs.
  
  Selected highlights:
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Bush administration is proposing to double spending on sexual abstinence programs that bar any discussion of birth control or condoms to prevent pregnancy or AIDS despite a lack of evidence that such programs work.
  
  ...
  
  Bush would spend $270 million on abstinence-only education, compared with $100 million annually when he took office.
  

Dubya makes me want to secede from the human race some days.