Sadly, this little girl's story is one of tens of thousands in Haiti right now, each one heartbreaking and grossly unfair:

An 11-year-old girl rescued from the rubble of her home Thursday in an hours-long effort has died, her family said Friday.

The girl -- one of scores trapped beneath buildings that collapsed in Tuesday's 7.0-magnitude quake -- was rushed to a first aid station Thursday evening where doctors told her family they were not equipped to deal with her injuries. Her right leg had been pinned by a large piece of metal for two days.

She died before her relatives could drive her to a more sophisticated hospital outside Port-au-Prince.

Her last words, her uncle said, were, "Mother, don't let me die." She was buried Friday in her mother's hometown, her uncle said.

If only more talking heads in this country could move past their own limited binary thought of politics to recognize that there is no Left/Right, no Democratic/Rebublican paradigm to this story. There is only humanity and more importantly, human suffering, to which we, as fellow humans, are obligated to respond. You can donate to Haitian Relief via Red Cross or Doctors Without Borders.

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And the dumb keeps coming. CNBC's Maria, I just met a girl named Maria Bartiromo is so intent on sticking up for her Wall Street fat cat pals that she makes an idiot out of herself when she asks Rep. Weiner how come he doesn't use Medicare if it's all that!

Well, Weiner is half way to fifty so he's not eligible, but as we know facts are useless things when conservatives want to destroy something. Actually I wonder of she got confused with the other conservative talking point that says if the public option is so great, why doesn't the Democratic Congress sign up for it. Can you tell? I know it's hard to pin down the crazy.

Nico Pitney:

Earlier today, MSNBC's Carlos Watson hosted Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) and CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo for a discussion on health care.

At one point, Bartiromo was critical of the government-managed health care system in the United Kingdom. "How do I know the quality [of health care in the United States] is not going to suffer" with a public option? she asked.

Rep. Weiner reminded her that there already is government-managed health care in the United States -- namely, Medicare, the system created for Americans 65 years and older -- and that patients with Medicare report very high satisfaction rates.

Bartiromo's response to this argument was a true head-scratcher. In a mocking tone, she pressed the congressman: "How come you don't use it [Medicare]? You don't have it. How come you don't have it?"

Rep. Weiner, who turns 45 this week, tried to walk Bartiromo through it. "Because I'm not 65." But she was insistent. "Yeah... c'mon!" she exclaimed, laughing incredulously.

Hello, all. It's Michael Stickings from The Reaction here, and I'll be subbing for Mike through next Saturday. It's a great pleasure to have this opportunity.

Come on over and visit us at my place -- me and a fantastic group of co-bloggers: diverse, eclectic, stridently and unapologetically liberal, in an unabashedly progressive way -- but, without further ado, here are some links well worth exploring. Click away.

-- Reaction co-blogger J. Kingston Pierce at Limbo offers one of the very best commentaries on Al Gore's Nobel victory I've seen.

-- Sir Oolius of She Flies With Her Own Wings rounds up the frothing-mouth, Gore-hating lunacy of the right. Prairie Weather says "we don't deserve Gore," so immature is America, and he may be right. Tom Watson says "these are the early days of The Liberal Century," and I hope that's true.

-- Shaun Mullen of Kiko's House examines Giuliani's "really big skeleton," Bernie Kerik. Lance Mannion points out that Giuliani seems to be going after "the racist jerk vote," not just Philly cheese steaks. (See Attytood, too.)

-- Mark Gisleson of Norwegianity addresses Sanchez, Gore, and much else besides. For more on General Sanchez, wingnuttery, and the horrors of Abu Ghraib, see Taylor Marsh.

For tips, recommendations, and comments, or to discuss the political philosophy of Leo Strauss and/or the meaning of human existence, if there is one, contact me at mjwstickings [at] yahoo [dot] ca.

Mukhtaran Bibi Update Tom Watson

While this is pretty much the story of one courageous woman and a movement of people to support her, I can't help but to be fascinated by the power of the blogosphere in this saga. Since Tuesday afternoon, we've lined up something on the order of 50 blogs supporting , who is being held in Pakistan so as not to embarass the corrupt, failed Musharraf government.

And now, I'm getting email updates from inside Pakistan - where, unfortunately, the news is not good. Despite a soothing statement from the U.S. State Department and one from the Pakistani government, Mukhtaran Mai is not free to travel as of this morning. The liberal Pakistani Daily Times reports that although this hero for our times has has been taken off the government's do not travel list, her passport has been confiscated. Here are the details, and it's clear thatwe must continue to press this case. So please. continue to use the email addresses of the Pakistani U.S. embassy staff, please write members of Congress and the President (politely, Fitz and Alva), and by all means, get as many blogs as possible involved in this. Other than Nick Kristoff, this case has been largely ignored by the pontificating piehole class, and that needs to change.   Read on...

Buldge Redux       Discourse.net

Remember all the stuff about whether Bush was wired for the debates?

My brother’s column yesterday, The Second Memo, closes with this little jem:

The folks over at isbushwired.com would like you to take a look at we must continue to press this case. So please. continue to use the email addresses of the Pakistani U.S. embassy staff, please write members of Congress and the President (politely, Fitz and Alva), and by all means, get as many blogs as possible involved in this. Other than Nick Kristoff, this case has been largely ignored by the pontificating piehole class, and that needs to change. Read on...