Remember that Nano costs nothing to join and participate. Not one thin dime. You can donate to the cause, if you like. I have in the past, but I don't know about this year. I have a $600 dental bill to pay tomorrow - getting three teeth pulled! Oy! - and will find it hard to make the rent this coming month. But I will donate if I can. One of the neat things in the Nano universe is the Young Writers Program. And that's one way a donation helps. And Nano is about helping writers, especially young writers."What: To meet your word-count goal and write a novel from scratch in one month's time. You will be able to enter your chosen word-count goal in your profile starting October 1, 2009.
Who: You!
You should sign up on the Young Writers Program site if you are:
17 years old or younger participating on your own.
In a K-12 teacher-lead class that is participating in NaNoWriMo.
An educator facilitating NaNoWriMo in your classroom.
If you are 13 or older you can sign up on the main site at www.nanowrimo.org. Just know that you will have to write 50,000 words since the adult site doesn't allow you to set your own word-count goal.
Why: The reasons are endless! To write freely without having to stress over spelling and grammar. To be able to talk about how cool your novel is any chance you get. To be able to make fun of real novelists who take far longer than 30 days to write their books . . .
When: You can sign up whenever you'd like to add your name to the roster of budding young authors and participate in the forums. Writing begins November 1. To be added to the official list of winners, you must reach your word-count goal by November 30 at midnight. Once your novel has been verified by our web-based team of robotic word counters, the celebration begins.
Still confused? Just visit the How NaNoWriMo Works for Young Writers page! If you are an educator, visit the How NaNoWriMo Works for Educators page."
"In 2008, 119,000 adults participated through our main site, and 22,000 young writers participated through our Young Writers Program."
I know, some of you are prolly thinking, "What's the big deal? Anybody can write some words." True, anybody can. But they don't. And for writers, and aspiring writers (I say, if you write, you are a writer! No aspiring involved!), this is like a kick in the pants. Here you have a self-imposed deadline, a set goal, and only yourself as a judge. If you fail, so what? So do may others. No disgrace. But writers know how hard it can be when faced with the 'blank page'. It can make you freeze. That's the first hurdle for the writer.
October 03, 2009
Ethel C. Fenig
Too, too funny! Too, too true--and so many people believe the number one reason killed it.
Add your own. And thanks to Rich Lowry of NRO for sharing.
10. Dead people can't vote at IOC meetings.
9. Obama distracted by 25 min meeting with Gen. McChrystal.
8. Who cares if Obama couldn't talk the IOC into Chicago? He'll be able to talk Iran out of nukes.
7. The impediment is Israel still building settlements.
6. Obviously no president would have been able to accomplish it.
5. We've been quite clear and said all along that we didn't want the Olympics.
4. This isn't about the number of Olympics "lost", it's about the number of Olympics "saved" or "created".
3. Clearly not enough wise Latina judges on the committee.
2. Because the IOC is racist.
1. It's George Bush's fault.
Here's a list that's been making its way across the blogosphere recently. It's been added to, derided, quoted, and so on. Perhaps it is a bit mislabeled. For Liberal substitute 'Leftist', and you will rest easier. I think. This is from SodaHead.com. I first read this at Bookworm Room. I recommend making her blog a daily stop.By Warner Todd Huston
People often wonder what is the difference between a conservative and a liberal. The simple fact of the matter is that the major difference is that conservatives wonder first what it is they are re... People often wonder what is the difference between a conservative and a liberal. The simple fact of the matter is that the major difference is that conservatives wonder first what it is they are responsible for while liberals wonder first what everyone else should be doing for them.
Here are some brief rules of thumb:•If a conservative sees a U.S. flag, his heart swells with pride.
•If a liberal sees a U.S. flag, he feels shame.
•If a conservative doesn't like guns, they don't buy them.
•If a liberal doesn't like guns, then no one else should have one either.
•If a conservative is a vegetarian, he won't eat meat.
•If a liberal is, they want to ban all meat products for everyone.
•If a conservative sees a foreign threat, he thinks about how to defeat it.
•If a liberal see an enemy he wonders what he can do to appease him.
•If a conservative is homosexual, he'll quietly enjoy his life.
•If a liberal is homosexual, he'll demand everyone get involved in his bedroom activities.
•If a successful conservative is black or Hispanic, he'll see himself as having succeeded on his own merits.
•Successful liberal minorities still claim "racism" and want government to give them even more.
•If a conservative is down-and-out, he thinks about how to work to better his situation.
•A liberal wants someone else to take care of him.
•If a conservative doesn't like a talk show host, he switches channels.
•If a liberal doesn't like a radio show, he demands that the station be shut down or censored.
•If a conservative is a non-believer, he just doesn't go to church.
•Non-believing liberals demand that everyone cease believing and demands churches be censored.
•If a conservative needs health care, he shops for it, or chooses a job that provides it.
•Liberals demand that everyone else provide him with healthcare for free.
•If a conservative sees a law, he thinks long and hard before suggesting a change.
•If a liberal sees a law he assumes it is just a suggestion and does what he wants anyway.
•Conservatives feel there is a right and wrong.
•Liberals feel that nothing is really wrong... unless it is believed by a conservative.
•Conservatives believe in freedom, responsibility, tradition, and self-reliance.
•Liberals believe in license, government restrictions, upending tradition, and collectives.
"What matters is not that Mr. Polanski is 76 or that he has a talent for filmmaking or that his own life has been filled with unspeakable horrors or that the case is decades old. It doesn't even matter that his underage victim, now grown up, forgives him. What matters is that this man admitted to having sex with a 13-year-old whose undisputed testimony details how he gave her champagne and Quaaludes, got her naked in a hot tub and wouldn't listen as she — terrified — said no. He was originally charged with sodomy and rape but agreed to plead to a lesser offense. He jumped bail and fled the country out of fear the judge would give him more prison time than the paltry 42 days supposedly promised by prosecutors. He has been living with impunity and in luxury ever since."
Full list: (it might have been quicker to name who didn’t sign the petition)
A
Fatih Akin,
Stephane Allagnon,
Woody Allen,
Pedro Almodovar,
Wes Anderson,
Jean-Jacques Annaud,
Alexandre Arcady,
Fanny Ardant,
Asia Argento,
Darren Aronofsky,
Olivier Assayas,
Alexander Astruc,
Gabriel Auer,
Isabelle Adjani
Antoine Aronin
Paul Auster
B
Luc Barnier, Christophe Barratier,
Xavier Beauvois,
Liria Begeja,
Gilles Behat, Jean-Jacques Beineix,
Marco Bellochio,
Monica Bellucci,
Djamel Bennecib, Giuseppe Bertolucci,
Patrick Bouchitey,
Paul Boujenah,
Jacques Bral,
Patrick Braoudé,
André Buytaers,
Morgane Beauverger,
Candice Belaisch-Goldchmit,
Yamina Benguigui,
Pascal Bruckner
C
Christian Carion,
Henning Carlsen,
Jean-michel Carre,
Mathieu Celary,
Patrice Chéreau,
Elie Chouraqui,
Souleymane Cissé,
Alain Corneau,
Jérôme Cornuau,
Miguel Courtois,
Dominique Crevecoeur,
Alfonso Cuaron,
Jessika Cohen,
Philippe Corbé
D
Luc et Jean-Pierre Dardenne,
Jonathan Demme,
Alexandre Desplat,
Rosalinde et Michel Deville,
Georges Dybman,
Jean-Paul Dayan,
Katarina De Meulder,
Arielle Dombasle
F
Jacques Fansten,
Joël Farges,
Gianluca Farinelli (Cinémathèque de de Bologne),
Etienne Faure,
Michel Ferry,
Scott Foundas,
Stephen Frears,
Thierry Frémaux,
Nathalie Faucheux,
Corinne Figuet,
Pierre Forciniti
G
Sam Gabarski,
René Gainville,
Tony Gatlif,
Costa Gavras,
Jean-Marc Ghanassia,
Terry Gilliam,
Christian Gion,
Marc Guidoni,
Louis Garrel,
Albert Gauvin,
Johanna Gozlan
H
Buck Henry,
David Heyman,
Laurent Heynemann,
Robert Hossein,
Jean-Loup Hubert,
Davide Homitsu Riboli,
Taylor Hackford,
Isabelle Huppert
I
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
J
Gilles Jacob,
Just Jaeckin,
Alain Jessua,
Pierre Jolivet,
Kent Jones (World Cinema Foundation),
Neil Jordan
K
Roger Kahane,
Nelly Kaplan,
Wong Kar Waï,
Ladislas Kijno,
Harmony Korinne,
Jan Kounen,
Diane Kurys,
Emir Kusturica
Thierry Kamami
Milan Kundera
L
John Landis,
Claude Lanzmann, André Larquié,
Vinciane Lecocq,
Patrice Leconte,
Claude Lelouch,
Gérard Lenne, David Lynch,
Gaelle Lancien,
Claude Lanzmann,
Bernard-Henri Lévy
M
Michael Mann,
François Margolin,
Jean-PierreMarois,
Tonie Marshall, Mario Martone,
Nicolas Mauvernay,
Radu Mihaileanu,
Claude Miller,
Mario Monicelli,
Jeanne Moreau,
Sam Mendes
Camille Meyer
Patrick Mimouni
Yann Moix
N
Sandra Nicolier
Mike Nichols
Sandra Nicolier
Marie Nieves Perez Neël
O
Michel Ocelot
P
Alexander Payne, Richard Pena (Directeur Festival de NY),
Michele Placido
R
Philippe Radault, Jean-Paul Rappeneau,
Raphael Rebibo,
Yasmina Reza,
Jacques Richard,
Laurence Roulet,
Salman Rushdie
S
Walter Salles,
Jean-Paul Salomé,
Marc Sandberg,
Jerry Schatzberg,
Julian Schnabel,
Barbet Schroeder,
Ettore Scola,
Martin Scorsese,
Charlotte Silvera, Abderrahmane Sissako,
Paolo Sorrentino,
Guillaume Stirn,
Tilda Swinton
Carine Sarna
Ysabelle Saura Del Pan
William Shawcross
Olivier Soares Barbosa
Steven Soderbergh
Nil Symchowicz
T
Jean-Charles Tacchella,
Radovan Tadic,
Danis Tanovic,
Bertrand Tavernier,
Cécile Telerman,
Alain Terzian,
Pascal Thomas,
Giuseppe Tornatore,
Serge Toubiana, Nadine Trintignant,
Tom Tykwer,
Alexandre Tylski,
Danièle Thompson
V
Betrand Van Effenterre,
Eugenia Varela Navarro
Diane von Furstenberg
Scott Foundas
W
Margaret Walker,
Wim Wenders
Z
Elsa Zylberstein
"The quintessential Valley girl, Geimer artlessly tells of how Polanski approached her and her divorced mom about taking photos of Samantha for a fashion magazine. Impressed and reassured by his celebrity, the mom agreed. After a couple of outdoor shoots, Polanski and the girl ended up alone at Jack Nicholson's house. Says Polanski, 'I could sense a certain erotic tension between the two of us.' At the time, Polanski was a worldly 43. Geimer was a 13 year-old seventh grader."
.jpg)
The idea of establishing 9/11 as a National Day of Service was first conceived in 2001 by the founders of MyGoodDeed, a nonprofit started by friends and relatives of 9/11 victims. They are working with ServiceNation, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, the Corporation for National and Community Service and New York Cares.Yeah, let's memorialize Teddy by diminishing the impact and meaning of the 9/11 memory.
In April, Obama authorized the establishment of 9/11 as a National Day of Service when he signed into law the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act.
Thursday's news conference was held just hours before the late senator's body left his Hyannisport, Mass., home for a series of memorial rites followed by his funeral Saturday. Kennedy, who died Tuesday of a brain tumor, had co-sponsored the bill.
What day? Our US Senators return to DC the Tues after Labor Day. That next FRIDAY, Sep 11, is Patriot Day, designated in memory of the nearly three thousand who died in the 9/11 attacks.Nothing political in that, is there?
All 50 States are coordinating in this – as we fight back against our own Right-Wing Domestic Terrorists who are subverting the American Democratic Process, whipped to a frenzy by their Fox Propaganda Network ceaselessly re-seizing power for their treacherous leaders.
You can read the articles, do some searching yourself, for more about this. But if you can spare the time - please make the time! - signup with Project 2,996. It's worthy. And there is nothing political in this project. Pay tribute to the victims of 9/11 only. 
I expect you've seen the commercials for Jay Leno's upcoming new television show. In one part he asks a 'contestant', "Who wrote Handel's 'Messiah'?" The answer, though funny, is also rather sad, not just because the young man doesn't have a clue who Handel was - a Classical Music Composer - but for what it says about education and reading in this country.One of the leading competitions in the electronic world for young authors, New Voices encourages reading and writing among middle and high school students while introducing them to the exciting world of ebooks and e-publishing, the wave of the literary future.
This introduction into the exciting world of e-books and e-publishing is often a launching pad into the world of publishing for many young writers, allowing them their first taste of professional feedback and pushing them to achieve their dream of seeing their words in print.
Established by EPIC in 2006, the contest accepts entries from students attending public, private, or home schools, and each entrant is permitted to submit one entry in each category.
This contest is open to students worldwide, attending public, private, or home schools. Students must be in junior high/middle school or high school in the U.S., or the equivalent grade level in their specific international school system.
“Oooh. Van Jones, alright! So, Van Jones. We were so delighted to be able to recruit him into the White House. We were watching him, uh, really, he’s not that old, for as long as he’s been active out in Oakland. And all the creative ideas he has. And so now, we have captured that. And we have all that energy in the White House.”
~ Valerie B. Jarrett ~ Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President
for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement
Special Advisor for Green Jobs, and noted Leftist oddball, Van Jones is out. The Watermelon - Green on the outside, Red on the inside - dogged by the recent revelations of his rude, racist, impolitic remarks, has been eased out of the Obama Administration. The wheels on the Obama bus are getting redder and wetter."On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me. They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide"
WASHINGTON, DC - Van Jones, Special Advisor for Green Jobs at the Council on Environmental Quality resigned today. Below is the text of his resignation letter, sent to Chair Nancy Sutley:"I am resigning my post at the Council on Environmental Quality, effective today.
On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me. They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide.
I have been inundated with calls - from across the political spectrum - urging me to "stay and fight."
But I came here to fight for others, not for myself. I cannot in good conscience ask my colleagues to expend precious time and energy defending or explaining my past. We need all hands on deck, fighting for the future.
It has been a great honor to serve my country and my President in this capacity. I thank everyone who has offered support and encouragement. I am proud to have been able to make a contribution to the clean energy future. I will continue to do so, in the months and years ahead."
NBC noted, in its article regarding Jones' resignation:Jones, Obama's green jobs "czar," was caught on tape in an expletive-packed rant, directly attacking Republicans in the Senate who he said abused their majority position in the past to push legislation through. He told Politico after the statements were released that the comments were "inappropriate" and "offensive."Ahh, but he made them. And they weren't from 20 years past, either.
World Net Daily's reporter Aaron Klein broke the story and relentlessly pursued it, revealing Jones who was identified as a self-described radical communist and "rowdy black nationalist" who said his environmental activism was actually a means to fight for racial and class "justice":
Jones previously served on the board of an environmental activist group at which a founder of the Weather Underground terrorist organization is a top director.
Jones was co-founder of a black activist organization that has led a campaign prompting major advertisers to withdraw from Glenn Beck's top-rated Fox News Channel program. The revelation followed Beck's reports on WND's story about Jones' communist background.
That Jones and other White House appointees may have been screened by an ACORN associate.
One day after the 9/11 attacks, Jones led a vigil that expressed solidarity with Arab and Muslim Americans as well as what he called the victims of "U.S. imperialism" around the world.
Just days before his White House appointment, Jones used a forum at a major youth convention to push for a radical agenda that included spreading the wealth and "changing the whole system."
Jones' Maoist manifesto while leading the group Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement, or STORM, was scrubbed from the Internet after being revealed by WND.
Jones was the main speaker at an anti-war rally that urged "resistance" against the U.S. government – a demonstration sponsored by an organization associated with the Revolutionary Communist Party.
In a 2005 conference, Jones characterized the U.S. as an "apartheid regime" that civil rights workers helped turn into a "struggling, fledgling democracy."
Jones signed a petition calling for nationwide "resistance" against police, accusing them of using the 9/11 attacks to carry out policies of torture.
"Who's the real terrorists? Uncle Sam." That according to a record put out by Freedom Fighter Music, a label created by the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, which Van Jones founded. There are a number of different voices on the record, including that of convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu Jamal and Van Jones himself. One of the voices accuses the United States government of "Fighting terror with terror, bombing babies in the night." And then Van Jones appears for his cameo (at the 3:50 mark). Jones rants against the "Israeli occupation," calls for the right of return of the Palestinian people and then puts himself squarely on the side of America's enemies: "This is now a global struggle against a U.S.-led security apparatus and military agenda that impacts people here, it impacts people around the world, and I think that we need to see our problems as linked."Read the article and watch the video.
