Loblogomy

By a vote of 180 in favour to 1 against (United States) and no abstentions, the Committee also approved a resolution on the right to food, by which the Assembly would “consider it intolerable” that more than 6 million children still died every year from hunger-related illness before their fifth birthday, and that the number of undernourished people had grown to about 923 million worldwide, at the same time that the planet could produce enough food to feed 12 billion people, or twice the world’s present population.
(Source)

Our trip to the Galapagos Islands was truly amazing and photographically quite rewarding. Indeed, the Galapagos are probably the most amazing place I’ve ever been, and I highly recommend that others go — though out of interest for preserving this world treasure, I hope the Ecuadorian government will continue to strictly regulate the impact of the tourism industry on the islands.

Enter the Galapagos gallery

Photographically, much of our trip to Peru was somewhat a loss due to densely overcast skies and the resulting flat lighting. Nevertheless, it did clear up a little bit here and there. Most importantly, while we were at Machu Picchu (definitely the highlight of the week) we were treated with a smidgeon of blue skies, so overall I’m happy with what I have to show for it.

Enter the Peru gallery

Understanding why the economy is so messed up is definitely worth 45 minutes of your life.

The amazing thing is that there are people who have never left this country, who talk about the fact that we are the greatest country on Earth.
How fuckin’ dumb is that?
‘Cause you don’t know. If you haven’t left here you don’t know.
There are countries that may be giving shit away everyday!
Canada’s one of those countries.
You know what they give away?
HEALTH INSURANCE!

(Source)

#6 is presumably (hopefully!) due to #1. If I had a vulva, it wouldn’t like those odds.

Reuters, May 16, 2004:

Sen. Joseph Biden, a senior Democrat, on Sunday urged Republican Sen. John McCain to run for vice president with the Democratic hopeful, Sen. John Kerry, in order to heal the “vicious rift” dividing America.

McCain, of Arizona, “categorically” ruled out standing with Kerry, but Biden, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he had no second choice.

“I’m sticking with McCain,” Biden said.

“I think John McCain would be a great candidate for vice president,” Biden, from Delaware, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” where the two senators appeared together to take questions on Iraq and other subjects.
(Source)

Biden’s candidacy might be endangered by his “manic-obsessive running of the mouth.” This foreshadowed Biden’s January 31 remark on fellow Democratic candidate and Senator Barack Obama, frequently transcribed as, “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy, I mean, that’s a storybook, man.” However, several linguists and political analysts stated that the correct transcription includes a comma after the word “African-American”, which “would significantly change the meaning (and the degree of offensiveness) of Biden’s comment”. Still, his comments took second place on Time magazine’s list of Top 10 Campaign Gaffes for 2007.
(Source: Wikipedia)