The Christian Science Monitor has a piece about a guy who decided to check for himself how difficult it would be as a homeless person starting with only $25 and a good mental attitude.

Homeless: Can you build a life from $25

Some details of the results are over the jump.

Take 30 seconds and think about that.

Take another thirty.

It's pretty long but well worth a read, some quotes below the fold.

The MPs (plenty of them from Blairs own party) questioned what need there was for 650 Brits when the US has 145,000 troops there already.  They indicated they believed that this entire operation was just to make Bush look good before the election.

The Guardian has something.

As does The Times

And you thought his first term was a nightmare

This is a must read if you are interested in Medicare, Social Security and Tax.  He explains how the Bush plan for Medicare will enrich corporations and benefit the healthier, more wealthy seniors by stripping money from the sick and/or poor.  In his opinion this is designed (apart from the usual pork for corps) to split the senior vote along financial lines.  The tax plan is structured in such as way as to almost specifically target Democratic states.

There is about 10 minutes coverage of the convention followed by a 5 minute interview with Stephen Hess of the Brookings Institute.  

I was over on Salon and found a quote from Hunters great diary of a couple of weeks ago.
Hunter Goes Postal

Salon article is here

It seems to me that it is only when incontrovertible proof is on everyone TVs that action is taken, but maybe I'm cynical.

Here are some photos of placards from the anti-Bush protests in Shannon.

Some scans here and hereof newspaper coverage of the thing.  This includes the disturbing, on more than one level, picture of Bush in a vest.

Here's an item about the Coleman/Bush interview, it turns out a link to this was posted on freerepublic which explains a lot of the comments.  The freepers got bored quickly so near the end the comments are much more pro-Coleman.  This also includes an audio only copy of the interview if you can't see the realaudio version.

The freepers handed out contact info as well so in the interests of Fair and Balanced journalism here are the details for you lot too:

Carole Coleman
2000 M Street NW
Suite 315
Washington DC 20036
Tel: (202) 467-5933
Fax: (202) 467-5937

For those who can't wait to contact her, a more direct number is 202-288-6138.

Here are some other contacts as an added bonus:
Irish Times email
RTEs Primetime programme email
Irish embassy in Washington contact details
Ireland dept of Foreign Affairs email address

From the front page:

The two [Mary McAleese, President of Ireland (a largely figurehead role) & GWB] discussed events in Europe, including the Al-Qaeda attack on Madrid.  Bush noted that the terrorists had been able to change the way Spanish people voted in its subsequent election, but McAleese responded that even before the attack there had been "signs of a disconnect" between leaders in Spain, and other countries, and their peoples over Iraq.

The Whitehouse has lodged an official complaint with the Irish embassy in Washington over the tone of an interview conducted by Carole Coleman, RTE's American correspondent, on the eve of the visit.  Bush's handlers were annoyed by the fact that Coleman repeatedly interrupted the president and expressed their dissatisfaction in a subsequent call to the journalist.
The Irish government appeared to support the American complaints yesterday.  An Irish official said it had been "conveyed to the US that the Irish government would be sympathetic to that view".
Bush appeared to be taking it in his stride, however, and joked about his unexpectedly prickly encounter with Coleman during a lunch with the taoiseach yesterday.  While Bush did not raise any serious objections to Thursday night's interview, he did express surprise at the intensity of the reporter's questioning
Bush and his media handlers had been expecting a gentle probing from Coleman in the first White House interview given to an Irish journalist for 20 years.  But the 15-minute slot, filmed in the Map Room of the White House for Prime Time, turned into a grilling which left Bush aides furious at a perceived "lack of respect".

I'd love to see John Kerry turn around and give a forthright interview to Carole Coleman.  For one thing this would be amazing (and free) publicity for him since the US media was all over the previous interview and for another thing I (and I'm sure others) would like to see how he reacts to a "testy" (according to MSNBC) or "combative" (according to CNN) interview.  Anyone able to put a word for this idea in to the right ear?

I can make up a colour printed t-shirt very easily so what I want is some suggestions for what to put on it.

1. One possibility is the simple red circle logo from www.dontcountusin.com.


2. Next would be a more pointed slogan such as the always popular 'No blood for Oil' or such


3. The best for me would be something funny.  A cartoon or image of Bush looking stupid or greedy with a good caption.

I liked the jigsaw joke but something that wordy would be hard to read from a distance when it's on a shirt.  Pithy is the way to go.

I'll let you know what I settle on, but if you know any good anti-Bush images or slogans that you think would suit let me know.  I've seen the bumper stickers but most of them are more US election oriented and I want something that is directly anti-Bush and anti-War.