Now this is mildly entertaining, for those of us who travel a lot and encounter all sorts of strange bathrooms.

Traveler's Bathroom Guide

STOP THE PRESSES!!!!! Do the people at one of the world's leading news agencies have anything better to do?
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- When first lady Laura Bush counseled her twin daughters on how to behave while campaigning with their father, she may have skipped the part about not sticking your tongue out at the media.

That's what Jenna Bush did Tuesday after President Bush arrived at St. Louis' Lambert International Airport.

Jenna Bush Sticks Out her Tongue

Even though she's done nothing (really) wrong, Britney Spears is the subject of constant criticism. Her face is greasy, hair is dirty, she's marrying a sleazy dude with a pregnant girlfriend, she dresses like a slob, drinks in public, (although she's threatening to sue over that)...all the things that me and you do on our days off from work. So what's the big deal? Leave the poor girl alone.
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From CBS news:

A Canadian radio station is giving a forum to fans worried about Spears. The station in Ottawa is holding a "Britney Intervention," on Wednesday. A station press release says it's concerned about the bad choices Spears' has been making, including her alleged drinking, partying and her taste in men. Fans will record a message for Spears and send it to her.

Britney, we don't want to judge you

Here's something that really makes me sick from Salon.com:

PETA video shows KFC supplier abusing chickens

July 20, 2004 | LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- An investigator for an animal rights group captured video showing chickens being kicked, stomped and thrown against a wall by workers at a supplier for Kentucky Fried Chicken, which has been under pressure since last year over the treatment of animals.

The footage, released online Tuesday, was secretly taken at the Pilgrim's Pride plant in Moorefield, W.Va., by an investigator for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals who worked there from October to May.

Pilgrim's Pride received an anonymous report about mistreatment April 29 and immediately stopped production, he said. Managers then "communicated the severity of these allegations to our employees, making it clear to them that any such behavior would result in immediate termination," he said.

Officials of Louisville-based Yum! Brands Inc., which owns the fast-food chain, saw the video Monday. Kentucky Fried Chicken "will require that the employee or employees responsible will be terminated," KFC spokeswoman Bonnie Warschauer told The New York Times.

Further violations at the plant will "result in termination of our relationship," Warschauer said.

There was no immediate response Tuesday to calls from The Associated Press seeking additional comment from KFC.

In a July 22 letter to the plant, copied to Yum! Brands and forwarded to The Associated Press, PETA says its investigator also obtained eyewitness testimony about employees "ripping birds' beaks off, spray painting their faces, twisting their heads off, spitting tobacco into their mouths and eyes, and breaking them in half -- all while the birds are still alive."

Put down that drumstick!

Letter to the editor, from The Journal News:

"President Bush and John Kerry have indicated that the effect on jobs of several "free trade" agreements will be an important issue in this election year. But there is no fundamental difference on this issue between these two politicians.

George Bush champions the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas, and Sen. John Kerry's voting record is 3-for-3 in favor of the North American Free Trade Agreement, the World Trade Organization and related "free trade" matters.

The flow of jobs overseas isn't the only consequence of so-called free trade agreements. NAFTA has opened our nation's borders to illegal immigration, and the proposed FTAA will worsen this already huge problem.

The issue that should be of greatest concern is the continuing loss of our nation's independence because of these agreements. Recently, we have seen how a NAFTA tribunal was given superiority over our nation's state and federal courts in a dispute involving a Canadian real estate company.

The FTAA will compromise America's sovereignty just as surely as the European Union entrapped its member nations.

Our leaders shouldn't be proposing more of these pacts. They should be withdrawing us from pacts that already unfavorably impact our jobs, borders and national independence."

Stop the FTAA?

Being as how I have worked in the real estate field since I've graduated from college, the fight over Ground Zero has been especially intriguing. However, as most New Yorkers are, I'm tired of it. Please, Governor Pataki, stop the bickering and build something already! ENOUGH with the memorials and the bullshit architectural beauty contests. Ship Daniel Liebskind out and bring in a real architect who will give us something besides constant pandering to the media.
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From the Financial Times:

Clashes over ground zero
By Paul Sullivan

"The Incredibly Shrinking Daniel Libeskind, as the architect behind the redesign of the World Trade Center site was recently dubbed, has had a rough year. But drawing himself up to his full 5ft 3ins, he is showing that he is not going down without a fight.

"I am still intensively and fully engaged as the master planner for ground zero," he wrote to the New York Times to rebutt its assessment of him last month. "By any standard, I don't appear to be shrinking, physically or metaphorically".

And last week he sued Larry Silverstein, the World Trade Center leaseholder, for $843,750. The suit was over design fees, but it is hard not to read broader meaning into it.....

Libeskind, with his spritely face and quirky glasses, had been the epitome of compact cool when his design won. Now he was girding to descend into the murk and mire of a court battle. His suit claims that Silverstein merely paid lip-service to the master plan because his "actions, then and up to the present time, bespeak a clear intent to derail the project wherever he perceives a conflict with his personal financial interests". All the high-minded rhetoric and outward symbolism (1776, the tower's height in feet, is the year the Declaration of Independence was signed) had apparently been erased by the dirty business of litigation.

Befitting the clashes around the design, the Freedom Tower itself is now in doubt: it might not reach its symbolic height and, if it does, it will probably do so with the help of antennae. Likewise the centrepiece memorial is being designed by Michael Arad, who won the commission in a contest, and it will not be sunk into the ground, part of Libeskind's plan that had been praised by Pataki.

In the end, Libeskind might be happiest if he can take Silverstein's money and run. But even that will be determined by a committee, in a New York courtroom."

New York's Ground Zero: Please, build something already

Freecycle is an email list of people posting unwanted items available for pickup, usually stuff they would have thrown away otherwise. Originally designed to keep stuff out of the landfill, the idea has really taken off. I have already freecycled some stools, grill tools and a plastic table. Everyone needs something, so if you have a lot of crap in your house that you no longer need,chances are, someone else does. Check it out at freecycle.org.

This is my first blog. I'm a writer by trade, although not about anything interesting, but I guess it depends on who you ask. I see a lot of people venting on the site, in their blogs, but politics isn't my strong point, so I'm sure you'll see a lot of news about Israeli issues, pop culture and the goings on of my days. Some of these things are geniunely painful, like when my boss saw me eating a doughnut one day, came over to me, pinched my arm, and asked if I ate donuts every day. Er, no, but I had a similar incident with a bagel as well. Can anyone keep their thoughts to themselves, or has all sense of decency gone out the window?