MS Walk

Today "Team Folley" took to the streets of Charlotte for the MS Walk. Mary and I really want to thank all of our friends who were able to come out and walk with us, as well as everyone who was able to contribute to the cause. If you're still looking to participate in the latter way, never fear: just click here.

I managed to walk the full 5 mile route, which was a bit of a triumph for me. Given my foot problems of the last few years, being able to go that far without pain was a huge personal victory, and evidence that the root cause of the problem has finally been identified and is being brought under control.

But more importantly, this event is a victory for everyone who has MS or knows someone with MS. In a more perfect world. research for a cure for diseases like MS would be part of the normal public health budget, but it's not. The research has to be paid for, which is why charity events like the MS Walk take place. So again, if you can, please consider making a donation.

Friday Cat Blogging

It's actually quite comfortable.

So That's Where It Came From

The release two weeks ago of a Pentagon report confirming, yet again, that there were no direct links between Iraq and Al Qaeda (before our invasion, that is) reminded me that I was never really clear about where this alleged link came from. Now I know: we had the Egyptians torture it out of some guy.. And now we know: torture makes people make shit up, and that made-up shit helped materially lead to one of the biggest foreign policy blunders in our history.

Maybe this is why, after all this time, the Administration continues to push for the ability to torture prisoners. After all, sometimes the lies can be so much more politically useful to your agenda than the truth.

Gotta Love PetSmart

On Sunday, Mary and I were down at the PetSmart to get Caledonia some cat food. If you've ever been in a store like PetSmart, you know there's a lot of really weird stuff for sale.

For example, yesterday we found the Ferret Octo-Play, a toy where the point is for critters to burrow through the body of a rather freaked-out looking octopus. How creepy is that? I'm really beginning to think Giuliani might have had a point.

From a previous trip, I still remember cracking up when seeing a display for the rather straight-forwardly named Better Than Ears. That's a pretty bold claim, though — I wonder how they know?

Five Years

Five years ago we invaded Iraq. So, how'd that turn out?

More than 4000 Americans have been killed, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians are dead. We found no WMD, and al Qaeda only showed up after the fact. We've made a $600 billion down payment on what will end up being a couple of trillion. Millions of Iraqis are now refugees. Baghdad has been ethnically cleansed. We've abandoned our allies, and turned world opinion against us. We've become torturers. The number of terrorists has gone up while our national security has gone down.

And today Bush lectures us to have more patience, what with things going so well an all. Sorry, but I'm all out.

Friday Cat Blogging

I just love napping in the bed on the bed.

Why I Love Flickr

It's not just the pictures, it's the community. Take a look at this photo, and read the first comment.

"Reform" on the Cheap

A couple of weeks ago I saw a story on the evening news about a poor rural school district in, I think, South Carolina, that was going to switch to single-sex classrooms in the hope of improving student achievement. My first reaction was, "That won't work, but they're trying it because the school is failing and they have no money to actually fix the problem." And indeed, a virtue of experimenting with single-sex classrooms is that it's basically free.

Now, I promise I will actually read Sunday's NYT Magazine cover story on "gender-based education" soon, but the commentary I've seen online does give some credence to my snap judgment. Bottom line — there simply isn't any solid evidence to suggest it will improve student performance. Now, absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence, as they say, so by all means let's study the issue further. At this point, though, what we have appears to be some snake oil being hyped by a self-promoting huckster. Let's not overreact.