Jonathan's blog

Greg Stevenson blogged a collection of fake church signs generated using churchsigngenerator.com. Here is one of my favorites:

Tonight Elliot was telling Finn how to make the letter E: "Make a body with a hat, a nose, and a penis."

Gary and Pam came up today to celebrate Lisa's birthday a day early. We had lunch at Villa D'Alessandro's.

From an article by Martin Wolk on MSNBC:

...most estimates [of the cost of the Iraq war] put forward by White House officials in 2002 and 2003 were relatively low compared with the nation's gross domestic product, the size of the federal budget or the cost of past wars. White House economic adviser Lawrence Lindsey was the exception to the rule, offering an "upper bound" estimate of $100 billion to $200 billion in a September 2002 interview with The Wall Street Journal. That figure raised eyebrows at the time, although Lindsey argued the cost was small, adding, "The successful prosecution of the war would be good for the economy." U.S. direct spending on the war in Iraq already has surpassed the upper bound of Lindsey's upper bound, and most economists attribute billions more in indirect costs to the war effort. Even if the U.S. exits Iraq within another three years, total direct and indirect costs to U.S. taxpayers will likely by more than $400 billion, and one estimate puts the total economic impact at up to $2 trillion.

From an article by Danna Harman in The Christian Science Monitor about crime and murder in Jamaica:

...on Friday, local papers celebrated the least violent February in three years: "Only" 99 murders, compared to 129 last year, "only" 177 robberies, down from 178, and "only" 53 reported rapes, as opposed to 85. With its staggering rate of violence fueled by political rivalries, the drug trade, unemployment, a breakdown of the family, and a weak police force, Jamaica, says Dan Erikson, a Caribbean expert at the InterAmerican Dialogue in Washington D.C., "is in crisis." New crime-fighting initiatives, including importing detectives from Britain's famed Scotland Yard - along with more holistic, community-based approaches - have recently been rolled out to halt the downward spiral before the Caribbean island nation becomes better known for its high murder rate than its turquoise waters and glitzy mega resorts. In 2005, there were 1,669 recorded homicides in this country of 2.7 million, meaning Jamaica now competes only with South Africa and Colombia for the dubious distinction of having the highest per capita muder rate in the world. According to a poll published Monday in the Jamaica Gleaner, 72 percent of Jamaicans say violence is the country's worst woe today. The wave of violent crime is often traced back to the 1970s when political leaders turned to neighborhood gang leaders, or dons, to rustle up votes. Since then, the resurgence of the cocaine trade through Jamaica has changed the dynamic, with drug lords replacing the politicians as patrons, and turf wars and extortion rings replacing politics. ...the downhill trend in the economy has played a part in feeding that violent proclivity. "Virtually every factory has shut down in the last 15 years," says Mr. Chuck. "We used to make toothpaste here, soap, paper.... Now we import everything. We even ship in fruits and vegetables that are grown here." "Social and political disorder is resulting in criminal behavior," Chuck says. The high level of unemployment among young males in particular, says Meeks, along with the relatively strong position of women in the Jamaican workforce, has, over time, led to terrible frustrations and restlessness. The Jamaican Constabulary Force (JCF), with help from Shields and other US and British law enforcement agents, initiated a murder reduction action plan in January and committed themselves to reducing crime by 5 percent over the year. The plan involves improving intelligence work, changing policing style, adding 2,000 police, and working to stem corruption in the force. It's a program building upon the relatively successful "Operation Kingfish," an intelligence-driven anti-crime task force set up in October 2004 to dismantle transnational networks of drug kingpins and dons.