Photo-joy!

Via the inimitable ResearchBuzz comes the news that Yahoo image search will now include Flickr images. I heart the Internet; I really do. I love the way it levels authority in some very positive senses. On the Internet we all get our fifteen minutes and then some. And yes, I understand the anxiety about that--the fact that school kids are going to look up "facts" and get some sort of wrong-headed information from bizarre tinfoil-hat wearing conspiracy mongers or something. But hell, maybe folks are just going to have to figure out how to be more judicious and discerning. Is that such a bad thing? As it stands, kids watch CNN and FOX and believe that to be the truth because they are "authoritative," and so in a world where anyone can "broadcast" people have to figure out how to judge what is accurate information.

God I sound like such an air bag. I really just wanted to pass along the news about Flickr/Yahoo and to say it's Friday and I'm quitting this taco stand. I'll finish revising that piece about consensus-based decision making sometime this weekend. I cannot possibly stay here another minute.

P.S. Windbag. That's what I meant to say. I sound like a windbag. Not an airbag. I don't even know what airbags sounds like. (Though I do know they smell like gunpowder.)

Proofreading--the horror, the horror

Colin is my hero for sending me the link to this clip today. True it made me kind of want to vomit given my anxieties about this current project, but it's funny as shit. All of you English teachers and students and conscientious bloggers must watch it right now. That's an order.

Buried

I have wanted nothing more than to blog all day, but I am up to my eyeballs in work. I am in the final stages of what has been a many-year project (anywhere between 3 and 6 depending on how you count it). We are scheduled to publish the final draft of this book in 33 days, and I need to hand it off to our board for input and approval today...

For those of you who are not drowning in report-writing, document formatting, and the like, I pass along Bunnyocalypse, which should help you waste at least 5 or 10 minutes.

More soon...

The greatest phone on earth

Look I'm not saying it won't be a great phone. I'm sure it will be a fine phone. But people, c'mon--get a grip. It's a phone, for crying out loud. It's not going to have a world peace widget or a speed dial to the Vatican. Though, apparently the Vatican webmistress is eagerly awaiting her own iphone, according to Almost Holy, a fact that shouldn't be too surprising because, as the article goes on to explain:

There's an analogy of faith in this. People want to belong to something that makes greatness manifest in our own time, a movement that can show beauty and achievement as more than just traits of the past. If that weren't true, today's masses wouldn't go to the ends of the earth--or, alternatively, blow thousands of bucks after keeping vigil all night on a strip-mall pavement--to it seek out, bring it home and plug it in.

Call me a sceptic. Regardless of its greatness, iphone won't really help you get closer to god. It won't even help you lose weight or develop a better sense of humor. I tried to point these things out to K last night and his response was, "You should just be glad it can't give blow jobs." Indeed I am.


(Cartoon from Joy of Tech, which has plenty more iphone funnies.)

Some of my best friends are Spartans

Thanks to Pinko Feminist Hellcat for the chuckle.)

How to argue for nationalized health care

The NYTimes has a short piece today on the affects of cutting employees' drug benefits. Integrated Benefits Institute is releasing a study tomorrow that claims reducing employees' medication benefits actually loses money for companies. And while IBI, a nonprofit I'd not heard of before, has a board of directors that includes Kaiser, Pfizer, and a host of other parties whom I'm sure are pushing for that "objective research" the "about" page says they do, I can believe the results nonetheless. Apparently it takes less than a $30 a month cost burden on an employee before someone with, say, chronic arthritis will just stop getting medication. That unmedicated arthritis-sufferer has a much higher chance of missing work, being less productive, or filing a disability claim.

My first thought on reading the article was "Duh," but then my second thought was--this is the way to push for nationalized health care--make the case that it saves corporations money.

That may constitute the sum of my brilliance for the day. I have to go get a depo shot now and then go to PT--because birth control and bending knees are both pretty high on my priority list.

Pic of the day

I know the event is over, but this just makes me want to go to Basel on principle. (Actually I admit I've been to Basel, and it's not bad for Switzerland.)

Some things aren't worth fighting for

Maybe it's blaming the victim but I'm really pissed at the Bong Hits 4 Jesus guy. (Who by the way, cares so much about free speech, he's now living in China, thank you very much.) Thanks to his dogged pursuit of the right to be an idiot, First Amendment rights of students have been rolled back decades. I mean, dude, if you're going to fight for your right to free speech, try having something less moronic to say. Even I have a hard time getting enthused over your right to hang a "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner, and now, as a result of your campaign, we now have "a special First Amendment rule permitting the censorship of any student speech that mentions drugs, at least so long as someone could perceive that speech to contain a latent pro-drug message" (from Stevens' dissent).

Particularly repulsive is the fact that, as Stevens points out, on the same day, the court found in favor of Wisconsin Right to Life, in a decision that weakens campaign finance reforms. Roberts writes, "Where the First Amendment is implicated, the tie goes to the speaker, not the censor." Perhaps a "Bong Hits 4 the Unborn" banner would have had more play with the court.

Something I hate and something I've learned

You know what I hate? I hate when you go weeks with no really enticing show and then there are four in a week (two on the same day). I know, as someone who lived eleven years in a midwestern college town, I should not whine about the embarrassment of riches issue, but shit--Snow Patrol, Psychedelic Furs, Sonic Youth, and Polyphonic Spree are all playing the third week of July. It's so wrong. I couldn't have even managed that schedule when I was 21, and I certainly couldn't have managed the ticket costs, but now I'm 41, which means I can afford it money-wise, but I would end up in intensive care or something if I tried to see four shows in the same week. There must be a moment in a person's life span when the time/money ratio is optimum. (I'm going to say it was 36 for me but I was a late bloomer due to those lost dissertating years which put a person in the red temporally and financially.)

As an aside, my blogging buddy Patrick is drumming for the Furs, so I really need to go to that one if I can because that's pretty damn cool. I've been friends with P for several years now I think but we've never actually met. Why not in Costa Mesa?

And the "something I've learned" which is completely unrelated, but I'm too lazy to start another blog entry for it--is that the only smart people employed at Time Warner/Road Runnerwork at the online chat helpdesk. I still don't have my old RoadRunner email address up and running (deep and heavy sigh) but at least the guy I "talked" to last night understood what the problem is, which puts him way ahead of the average RR bear. If these people were surgeons they would constantly be lopping off the wrong leg or leaving their scalpels in someone's spleen.

New digs

Well, I guess this is just the season for me to shed my solo-flying ways in all contexts. Coming hot on the heels of my move into a shared apartment, after five and half years of living alone, comes news that I am joining the team at Metroblogging LA. I am super-excited. More as it develops...

Up with eclecticism

I just got one of those emails from Amazon titled "Amazon recommends," and the first two books are Rough Weather Ahead for Walter the Farting Dog and Attitudes Toward Sex in Antebellum America: A Brief History with Documents . I don't think I'll buy either one, but I appreciate the mail nonetheless.

The longest day

Happy Solstice all my pagan friends!!

Have fun dancing naked. I'll be in a conference room until Saturday night.

Putting Tulsa on the map

Last week, Oklahoma celebrated its fiftieth state-birthday and to celebrate they dug up a 1957 Plymouth Belvedere that some enterprising Oakie buried on the courthouse lawn lo those fifty years ago. AP reports:

Whether the car will start was unknown. The suspense drew Pittsburgh car enthusiast Dave Stragand.

"It's our King Tut's tomb," Stragand said. "It's like a fairy tale."

. . .

Buried with the car were 10 gallons of gasoline--in case internal combustion engines became obsolete by 2007--a case of beer, and the contents of a typical woman's handbag placed in the glove compartment.

Our King Tut's tomb indeed. Hmm...Tut...



Tulsa...



I'm just sayin'...

And then there's this:

Back on the day the Belvedere was buried, all Bixby resident Marlene Parker wanted to do was find a photographer for her wedding. Catching a glimpse of the car being lowered into the ground was the last thing on her priority list.

Unfortunately, not for the photographer: He was shooting the burial.

This weekend, the 70-year-old will celebrate 50 years of marriage and may come downtown to see what all the fuss was about back then.

"Probably across the pond people know about it," Parker said. "If nobody knew where Tulsa, Oklahoma was before, they do now."

Yeah.

Regardless, Belvedere and Bud aside, what really earned this story a blog entry was the aforementioned typical purse contents placed in the glove box:

14 bobby pins, a bottle of tranquilizers, a lipstick, a pack of gum, tissues, a pack of cigarettes, matches and $2.43

Love it! Downs, Luckys and Doublemint. What more does a girl need?

A tip from Colin

Colin turned me on to LAPD online. I was able to reassure myself that occasional street parking at my new place wouldn't be so bad by checking out their crime maps. (No assaults or rapes reported in the past two months within a mile of my new digs.)

But even more special is the e-police newsletter that you can sign up for from the same page--the site explains that e-policing will "keep you informed via email on issues that concern your community." But really what it does is send you dates and times for LA protests ("First Amendment Events" in Peace Officer nomenclature). Pretty cool. Gotta love a city that sends you email to remind you of the Immigrants Rights protest in H-wood this weekend

QOTD

"If God wants us to do a thing, he should make his wishes sufficiently clear. Sensible people will wait till he has done this before paying much attention to him."

Samuel Butler via the ever-irreverent Conor:

Mars, Venus, and motorcycles

Yesterday driving on Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks:

K, looking in the rearview mirror: That's a Confederate.
Me: Huh?
K: A Confederate Hellcat. They're really rare motorcycles handmade with all carbon fiber. (Further rearview scrutiny) Hey, that's um...what's his name...Ian McEwan...er...Ewan Mc...
Me, looking in the sideview mirror: Ewan McGregor??
K: Yeah, Ewan McGregor. Outstanding.

Both of us are quiet for a minute, preoccupied looking in the mirrors.

K: The gas tank is made from two pieces of carbon fiber. Even the seat is carbon fiber.
Me: Babe, I don't care what the hell he's sitting on--that's Ewan McGregor.

And today when he sends me the picture and I admit that's a sick bike, he says: "That is exactly what I was trying to tell you, that the Hellcat is an order of magnitude greater feat of engineering than Ewan McWhatchamacallhim."

Personal update

So, I've moved (two weekends ago), gone on that work trip to San Antonio (one weekend ago), started PT for my knee (last week), and am driving again. It's been a confluence of bad timing--the move, the knee injury, and the last eight weeks of this four-year project--but I'm feisty and I have fantastic friends, so it's all turning out okay.

Nic the cat is settling in to the new digs just fine. He's thinking inside the box, for which we are extremely grateful, and he's stopped growling at Shane (which was pretty absurd to begin with). I only have about a half dozen more boxes to unpack--of course, I am at that point of the unpacking where I really need a room of requirement to fit the rest of the stuff, but I'll figure it out.

This weekend (Thursday, Friday, Saturday) is the last workgroup meeting for this project, a bittersweet kind of thing. On the one hand, as with any book project, I am happy to be finishing this one. There's only so many times you can revisit the same text before you start to crave something new no matter how enthusiastic you were to begin with (it's like working at an ice cream shop). But of course, I will miss the people very much. We are a crew that comes from six countries (four continents) so there's little chance of a real reuninion. But hey, now I have friends in Puerto Rico and Norway and ...

We're all getting together for dinner Friday night after we're done working at Paradise Cove. I'm hoping we'll be able to see the sunset.

Three weeks from that meeting is the board meeting where we should have the whole completed book save proofing and indexing.

So all of that amounts to a sort of elaborated excuse of sorts in a way, but also a genuine update for those of you who are wondering about such things. More anon.

Giving Banksy some competition

London's National Gallery is breaking the fourth wall this season. In a brilliant marketing scheme, over the course of the next few months, the gallery is hanging reproductions of its paintings throughout the West End. Methinks it's tres cool and even smarter that Hewlett Packard is sponsoring it.

There's a photo set on flickr that's worth a visit.

I particularly like this one.


Nice Juxtaposition between the sex shop and Caravaggio's Salome.

A riddle

Q: What do Alabama and Turkey have in common?

A:

(Thanks to Andrea for this scene from the Senate floor in Alabama Thursday.)

Pic of the day

A debate among MPs in Turkish parliament via Activate

All of that which was privatised, let it be nationalised

The title of this blog comes from Chavez back in January. And you know, while I am more than sympathetic to the idea that resources like oil refineries should become public resources so that the rising tide can lift all of the boats, I am genuinely saddened to read about Chavez' battle with the media. Is it possible to have a socialist state that's not totalitarian? I was an English major in school and I confess I haven't read enough political theory (outside of Habermas, god help me) to be able to understand why movements driven by a desire for economic parity seem to inevitably end up denying people personal liberties. I find it exceedingly depressing.

Line of the day

"Dr. Kenny said he thought that Spanky 'found a nest of ground squirrels' that carried the plague."

I mean, is it just me or does that sound to anyone else like the South Park guys are writing NYT articles?

It's all Goodling

Subtitle: I used to be disgusted; now I try to be amused

What with my impending move, my bloated dysfunctional kneecap, and my usual level of business/stress at work, I haven't had time to weigh in on the latest criminal activity in our administration--that is to say, Monica Goodling's testimony. Rest assured, my bloggish silence this week in no way indicates a lack of interest.

Though I need to share that the more I read blog coverage of the Justice Department investigation, the more uncomfortable I get. Responses seem to range from vitriolic to smugly pleased. The schadenfreude just feels over the top to me. For my part, I find myself developing some sympathy for the devil. It's not as if, Goodling meant to break the law, and it's not as if this whole regime administration should be tarred by the brush of one little scandal. C'mon--have some compassion folks.



(YouTube clip courtesy of Firedoglake)

Site of the day

Nietzsche Family Circus
(Thanks to Colin for the link)



They call you heartless; but you have a heart, and I love you for being ashamed to show it.




Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man.

Kneester

I am finally back in the saddle more or less. Back at work, in any case. My leg is still in that crazy splint and I'm still on crutches (no driving!). I go back to the orthopedic surgeon tomorrow armed with my MRI films and that's when I'll find out just what exactly I tore and whether it needs surgery or just patience. It still is uncomfortable for me to sit in a chair for an extended period of time, but I'm managing. If the blogging is even more peevish than usual this week, you will know why.

D-day (moving) is still scheduled for the first. Thanks to my amazingly great friends I am not overly worried about how that's all going to be possible given the fact that I cannot carry a cup of coffee from the kitchen into the living room safely. Six or eight of said amazing circle are coming over Saturday for a packing party. I have sold my refrigerator (it leaves home Friday night) and found a home for my desk. If I can just find a buyer for the fabulous mid-century gold sectional sofa at least some of my movers' bill will be taken care of. [As an aside, those of you who live in more normal places might be thinking "sold your refrigerator"? Don't you live in an apartment?? Yes, I do. This is one of the most retarded things about LA apartment life. Rental units here tend to come fridge-free. I'm not sure what the logic is in that, but it's a fact. So I bought my first real appliance when I moved in and now I have no desire to shlep it across town and have sold it to the nice Persian grandmother who lives downstairs and happily didn't spy the Hannukah candles lurking in the back when she checked it out.]

Aside number two: K tells me I am not a "hipster" anymore, that I now have to think of myself as a kneester. (Good cooking and bad puns, it's no wonder I adore that boy.)

The view from here

This is not what you want to be looking at two weeks before you move. It's also why I haven't posted all week.

I could use some help coming up with a better explanatory story. If anyone has any ideas about something sexy sounding but still possible let me know (I don't think anyone will buy a surfing accident, for instance).

What really happened is that i was trying to put the seats backs up in my car after unloading some boxes out of the back and my knee just bent in a way that knees don't bend. It's either a torn meniscus or a torn ligament they think (we are hoping for the former, as the latter means surgery for sure according to the doctor). So they're ordering an MRI, and I'm mastering the art of carrying things in my teeth.

You know, I joke that there was obviously a 40-year warranty on this model, but it's really just supposed to be a joke! Now I'm kicking myself for not buying the extended warranty.

Lede of the day

"A man who threw a puppy at a police car is accused of grabbing a police officer by the genitals and squeezing."

Courtesy of our correspondent in ABQ

Buy me some peanuts and CPK

Went to Dodger Stadium for the first time this weekend, and oh my god was it fun. It was a bit of a nail biter up until the seventh inning, at which point the Dodgers kicked the Reds' asses. So we had both kinds of fun games in one--a nail biter followed by a drubbing. Great seats, great company (bbiw*), beautiful day. And while it's true that they sell CPK pizza alongside DodgerDogs and they were giving away Smashbox lipgloss, there were almost no other "LA moments." In fact, I don't know if I've ever been somewhere that I saw so few bluetools and texters.

So that's my endorsement. Go Dodgers!

*the best boyfriend in the world

Axiom

The day can't really be that bad when you're wearing gold shoes.

Fuck that "turn the other cheek" shit

Via Mikipedia comes the link to [adult swim]'s awesome Bible Fight video game. Sadly, Lot's wife is not among the character choices.

36 minutes of my life I'm not getting back

My conversation with Time Warner today:

Me: I'm moving the first weekend in June and I'd like to transfer my Internet service from my old address to my new address.

TW Lady: Sure. What is your current address?

We spend 10 minutes or so going through all of the information I'd already keyed into the phone tree (address, account number, new address...yada yada).

Me: Ideally I'd like to keep the Internet hook-up at my old address through June 3rd, and start a connection at my new address on the 1st because I'll be back and forth through the weekend. Is that possible?

TW: Well, no. We actually can't disconnect your old service from here. You'd just have to call on the day you want it disconnected.

Me: You can't schedule a disconnect date?

TW: No, because the technician doesn't need to come out for that, and it won't let me do that from here.

Me: Wow. Well, okay.

TW Lady: Oh, dear. It's not letting me actually transfer the account because you're moving from a bulk account, where your building pays for your cable, to a regular individual account.

Me: Well, I know I have two different account numbers--one for the bulk cable TV and the other for individual Internet access. Does that help?

TW: Well, not really. I'm going to have to treat this as a new account. I'm sorry--can you give me your address again?

We spend 5 or 10 more minutes going through all of the information I'd just told her. Again.

TW: Do you have a current RoadRunner email address that you use?

Me: Um. Yeah.

TW: I'm not sure if you'll be able to transfer that.

Me: You're telling me I might not be able to use the address I've had with you all for years even though I'll be an ongoing customer?

TW: I'm not sure. I'm not able to transfer it here because you're switching account types. I need to call the help desk and ask. I'm going to put you on a conference call with them.

Ring Ring.

TW2: Hello this is Sally at Time Warner. How can I help you?

TW1: Hi. This is Naisha at Ontario Time Warner. I have a customer here who is transferring from a bulk account...

TW2: Hello this is Sally at Time Warner. How can I help you?

TW1: Hello Sally this is Naisha at Ontario. Can you hear me?

TW2: Hello this is Sally. I can barely hear you.

TW1: Is this better Sally?

TW2: I can barely hear you.

TW1: This is Naisha at Ontario. I have a customer here who is transferring from a bulk account to a regular...

TW2: A what? A bulk account?

TW1: Yes, she's transferring from a bulk account to a regular...

TW2: What is a bulk account?

TW1: A bulk account where her building pays for her cable to a regular account. She'd like to transfer the same email address. Can you help with that?

TW2: No. I can't do that here. Only tier three can do that.

TW1: Well can you transfer me to tier three?

TW2: No. I can't. I would need authorization and I can't get that.

TW1: Is there a number I can call?

TW2: No. You can only reach them through a transfer. But you need authorization.

Me (unable to contain myself): Unbelievable!

TW1: Who needs to authorize it?

Silence

TW1: Hello?

TW1: She hung up on me. She just hung up on me. It's no wonder people hate calling here.

TW1: Okay, I'm going to call the technician here and see if she can help...Oh. I don't know what's wrong with my phone. It's telling me I'm going to lose the connection. Quick--what number can I call you back at?

Me: The cell number you have for me.

TW1: Okay, I'm going to try to...

Silence

Cell phone rings.

TW: Hello, this is Naisha at Time Warner. I'm sorry about that. I had to restart my telephone program. Anyway, the tech support person here said you are able to access live chat support?

Me: Yes, I've used that before.

TW: Well, I'm going to give you your new account number. You just need to log onto live chat and tell them your old account number and your new account number and that you want to keep your same email address. You can tell them that you called but they were unable to do it for you over the phone because you're switching from a bulk account to a regular one.

Me: Um. Okay.

TW: Is there anything else I can help you with?

Me: No. Thank you for trying.

TW: You're welcome. Thank you for your patience. And I'm really sorry you had to witness that call. That girl was absolutely retarded. I don't know what was wrong with her.

And I thought our cops were bad

Six minutes really is a while and the poor dog.

The war

This is from a Sunday WaPo article on wounded Iraqi soldiers who fought alongside Americans, but have no medical care once their leg gets blown off:

Decent military hospitals existed under Saddam Hussein, but they were looted during the war and their doctors fled. So while some seriously injured Iraqi soldiers now receive initial treatment at sophisticated U.S. military facilities in Iraq, they must recover in public hospitals where medicines and highly trained staff are scarce. There is one military prosthetics clinic in the country, little in the way of mental health services and no burn center.

And this is from an AP article today about the deterioration of the Green Zone:

Because of the "recent increase of indirect fire attacks" — the military term for mortar and artillery barrages — the order told embassy employees that until further notice, "outdoor movement" must be "restricted to a minimum."

"Remain within a hardened structure to the maximum extent possible and strictly avoid congregating outdoors," the order said.

Government employees who work outside of a "hardened structure" such as the current embassy building or travel "a substantial distance outdoors" must wear "personal protective equipment," meaning flak jackets and helmets, the order said.

This is from Salam Pax's BBC blog:

...our esteemed Iraqi politicians were too busy squabbling for spoils or following narrow minded sectarian agendas instead of stopping the Americans from using us as lab rats for their failed experiment in democracy.

An old Iraqi song says “If you’ve lost a lover, maybe in a year you’ll forget. If you’ve lost gold, from gold markets you can replace it. But if you’ve lost a country where do you go to find a new one?”

And this is from a recent White House FAQ:

We Are Seeing Positive Indicators Under The New Strategy That We Hope Will Translate Into Positive Trends. General Petraeus has been carrying out this new strategy for just over two months. He reports that it will be later this year before we can judge its potential for success. Yet the first indicators show that the operation is meeting our expectations. While there are still horrific attacks in Iraq, the direction of the fight is beginning to shift.

How many years do you think it would take before Bush and his henchmen would cut bait? It's been more than four years, and it still leaves me outraged and dumbfounded.

The only two newsworthy events in this town

There are, it seems, only two newsworthy events in LA this week. First, the city is on fire. Though here's hoping that status changes soon. LA Times breaking news has regular updates, and Metroblogging Los Angeles has some pretty amazing photos. I got nothing. Here in the Valley, it's just hot and smoggy. Business as usual.



And then there's the only other news story in LA today... I realize I have shirked my bloggerly duty by not yet mentioning Paris Hilton. Perhaps ever, actually. So, lest I get booted from the blogosphere, here is my obligatory Paris Post with a couple of links.

First, Metroblogging LA responds to the "Pardon Paris" petition that is circulating.

Second, there's this







"Paris Hilton" from Citizens for a Better America. Citizens on Vimeo

More from WaPo

Check out the gallery of tornado pictures. Pretty amazing.

Wonk-tastic

I don't know how long they've been offering the page, but I just noticed--WaPo has a Congressional votes database going back to 1991. It's more user-friendly than Thomas and it has an RSS feed for the most recent Congressional votes in general or a Congressperson-specific feed. Tres cool.

Fun with algorithms

If looking in the bedrooms of future porn sets isn't entertaining enough for you, here's another Monday afternoon distraction: playing with Google's search algorithms. Apparently, when you type in "she invented," Google helpfully asks you, "Did you mean 'he invented'?" Similarly, when you type in "he cooked" it asks "Did you mean 'he looked'?"

Here's an interesting one: "She stalked" is fine, but "he stalked" comes up "did you mean 'he talked'?"

Anyway, if you're a tweaker like me that should amuse you for a bit.

There's no place like home

I grew up in suburbia and swore I would never go back. And yet, for the last five years, here I am. But if you have to live in the burbs, you might as well chose the porn capital of the world, that's what I think.

Via Metroblogging LA comes this fun diversion: the company that scouts Valley locations for porn movies.

Great news!

Bush just promised to veto any further war funding! This is from a letter delivered to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid today:

"I will veto any legislation that weakens current federal policies and laws on abortion, or that encourages the destruction of human life at any stage," he wrote.

That sounds like a commitment to stay out of Iran and to discontinue our current war to me. Halleluyah.

My head is exploding

WOW.

Worth thousands of words

I love myself too much to read the transcripts of the Republican debate. It was hard enough to slog through the Dems. So you will be spared a host of posts today grousing about right-wing idealogues.

That said, these tag clouds over on Pollster.com are pretty damn interesting--especially when you compare them to the tag clouds from the Democratic debate. (Hat tip to Shakesville.)

More May Day footage

BradBlog has more coverage of May Day in LA. I find the protesters who were interviewed mostly unsympathetic actually. They sound like they're acting out a scripted parody of SDS or something, but try to get past that to see the last few minutes of the tape when people are running down the streets of LA followed by a mass of riot police shooting at them.

I know it may seem like I'm giving the LAPD's May Day target practice more blog coverage than it's worth, but when the cops start firing on a peaceful protest including the media people covering the event it just reminds me way too much of Naomi Wolf's article on fascism in the Guardian that I blogged about last week. If you haven't read Wolf's article, take the time to do that today. Then watch that video clip at BradBlog and tell me it can't happen here.

Moving right along

From today's White House press briefing:

Q Any results of the meeting today between Mr. Bolten and Senator Reid?

MR. SNOW: Not that we're going to announce. It was a good meeting. So Josh met with Harry Reid and Senator McConnell, and they will continue to meet.

Q So no movement at this point.

MR. SNOW: I'm not going to characterize. Both sides had an opportunity to express their views, and exchange views, and all that sort of thing, but I don't think -- what we've all agreed to do is to conduct these in a way that is going to allow those involved to go ahead and do their business and not to try to litigate through the press, but allow them to go ahead and move toward a bill that is going to meet the requirements the President laid out, and at the same time is going to give the forces what they need.

Q Does "good" mean that it's leaning your way at the meeting?

MR. SNOW: The "good" means I'm not going to characterize, period.

Q Is there another meeting today, or is the next one tomorrow?

MR. SNOW: I don't know what the schedule is, in terms -- again, we're sort of meeting at -- we're responding to members of the House and when they want to talk, we're making our people available.

Q Are there other meetings, like Portman and Hadley, off in separate sessions with other people?

MR. SNOW: Not that I'm aware of today. Now, again, as I said, there are going to be times -- and certainly there are going to be phone conversations. I know Rob has been in contact with some people. There will be some meetings where we have one, two, or all three of the negotiators on Capitol Hill, but there are certainly going to be opportunities to talk by phone, and so on.

That certainly fills me with confidence that we're moving toward a solution.

Some people call me the space cowboy

Some call me the gangster of love.

The woman, who had been trying to end the relationship over the last several weeks, was questioned and released.

I don't wonder.

Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown

Today's LA Times has an article on my fine city's efforts to "instill a more pedestrian culture" through fancy porta potties. Cara Mia DiMassa (Addam's Family anyone?) reports: "Though the luxury public toilet has become a status symbol in cities around the world, in L.A. it's a slightly complicated tale--one of the city's efforts to create a more pedestrian-oriented life, but also a story about its bureaucratic struggles to achieve that goal."

I myself was completely unaware that the public toilet had become an "urban status symbol," but apparently the company with LA's fancy-pissoir contract, JP Decaux, has a long list of distinguished cities among its clients. San Francisco has 22 coin-operated APCs (automated public conveniences) and they give free tokens to the homeless who account for a third of the customers. London, Singapore, and Athens have 500. New York has been shy about giving any one company a monopoly on such a lucrative recession-proof business. But that's not the only thing stopping them from jumping on the baño bandwagon. The parks commissioner, Henry Stern, explains that there is a trifecta of toilet "misuse": people commit crimes, do drugs, and have sex in public toilets. New York won't be party to encouraging that sort of behavior.

In the role of dad on a family road trip ("you should have thought of that before we left") Stern admonishes, "People have to exercise restraint, and people have to know when to go. This is not something that was discovered in the year 2000. It was a basic part of the human condition, and people out on the streets should make arrangements to take care of the physical needs."

If the answer in New York is "just hold it," Los Angeles' extravagent outhouse situation is just as telling a reflection of our city. Six months ago, the first five luxury APCs were installed downtown. The plan is to install up to 150 throughout the city. How's that working for us? Well, only one of the five installed six months ago is operational. It seems that the different city departments that have to communicate to get the units working (sewer, power, water, phone) aren't cooperating, and of course, everyone is blaming everyone else. You can, however, track progress through blogdowntown's Toilet Watch.

Un-fucking-believable

I'm just grateful that I was able to get a PhD with these meager A-cups. I'm smarter than I look really.

More rubber bullet footage

Via BlondeSense comes a link to CNN's footage hosted at Think Progress.

Who is Bruce Bartlett?

Well, he worked for the Heritage Foundation at one time. He was a policy analyst in Reagan's administration, and he worked for Jack Kemp as well. He wrote the article that inspired Bob Dole's flat tax plan. In short, he's a conservative's conservative. AT present he's a writer with a column on Townhall.com.

And who is he encouraging his readers to vote for in the next presidential election? Clinton that's who. Because Clinton is the most conservative of the democrats running, says Bruce. First of all, it's a "real act of courage" for Hillary to not apologize or admit wrong-doing in voting for the war in Iraq. And then there's her domestic policy:

On economics, it is reasonable to assume that Sen. Clinton’s policies would not be altogether different from Bill Clinton’s. This is not a bad thing. On trade, his record was outstanding and on the budget was far better than George W. Bush’s. While Clinton raised taxes in 1993, it should be remembered that he cut them in 1997, including a cut in the capital gains tax. On regulatory policy, Clinton was no worse than the current administration and probably better on net.

When I try to explain to people why I didn't support Mr. Clinton in his second presidential run, I always mention capital gains tax cuts and NAFTA (and welfare "reform" and broad wire tapping provisions). It's nice to know that at least one conservative has noticed as well.

The comments thread is at least as entertaining as the editorial itself. I particularly like the claim, "As for domestic policy, she runs as a centrist and will govern like a Marxist." Would that it were so. I'd vote for her.

Why people call them pigs

Yesterday was May Day, and also time for the annual immigration marches. Here in LA police took advantage of the light turn out to assault demonstrators. Much as I hate to do it, I include links here from FOX, which seems to have the best coverage if only because one of their camera people ended up getting knocked over, shoved and yelled at. I'm not ashamed to say the video clips made me cry. Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying that the demonstrators were all easy going and that the police didn't feel provoked, but the video clips make clear that the police were firing rubber bullets on people who were running away and clubbing people who were not using violence of any kind. Next year we all have to go to the May Day demonstrations folks.

And while we're on the subject of gender politics

This is mildly interesting. Type in your URL and it gives you a ratio for usage of the words "he" and "she." I'm a respectable 34/66.

Disturbing story of the week

This just blows my mind on so many levels. It's like what if Baudrillard became a surgeon or something.

Mission accomplished

The State Department is reporting that terrorism rose 25% in 2006. There were 3000 more attacks and 5800 more deaths than in 2005.

And the really insane thing is that you just know that the Republicans are going to try to use these figures to claim we need another Republican in office (or really I should say the "hawks" will use the report in this fashion since some of the Dems seem just as invested in the notion of a global war on terror.

Really it's madness.

Things I will not eat

Via Boing Boing comes a video of perhaps the most disgusting meal I've ever been exposed to. I would probably starve to death if sustanance depended on eating that.

Sartoral genius

Okay, I do have to give the devil her due and say that Hillary Clinton has some brilliant folks dressing her these days. Yesterday she managed to make the entire field of candidates look like her back-up band. Genius.

More reasons not to like Clinton

This just plain scares me:

SEN. CLINTON: Well, Brian, I think that, as a senator from New York, it is something that I've worked on very hard ever since 9/11 to try to convince the administration to do those things that would actually work to make us safer. And I think there's a big disconnect between the rhetoric and the reality.

You know, we haven't secured our borders, our ports, our mass transit systems. You can go across this country and see so much that has not been done. The resources haven't gotten to the front lines where decisions are made in local government the way that they need to, and I think that this administration has consistently tried to hype the fear without delivering on the promise of making America safer. And its foreign policy around the world, as you've heard from all of my colleagues here, has also made the world less stable, which, of course, has a ripple effect with respect to what we're going to face in the future.

This is where she wants to put her efforts? Does she really think that border controls and metal detectors can make America safe? Oh dear.

My favorite unelectable candidate

I've always liked Kucinich but I like him even more after this:

MR. WILLIAMS: A second show of hands question: do you believe there is such a thing as a global war on terror?

Let's try Congressman Kucinich. Why is your hand not up?

REP. KUCINICH: Because the fact of the matter is that the global war on terror has been a pretext for aggressive war.

As president of the United States, I intend to take America in a different direction, rejecting war as an instrument of policy, reconnecting with the nations of the world, so that we can address the real issues that affect security all over the globe and affect our security at home -- getting rid of all nuclear weapons; the United States participating in the Chemical Weapons Convention, the Biological Weapons Convention, the small arms treaty, the land mine treaty; joining the International Criminal Court; signing the Kyoto climate change treaty.

But here's the really scary thing: Clinton, Edwards, and Obama all raised their hands. I want to like Obama. I even want to like Edwards (I admit I do not want to like Clinton) but why do they make it so hard?

Why I'm not a "liberal"

The first in a series of posts on yesterday's Democratic debate. From the transcript posted at the NYT:

MR. WILLIAMS: Senator Clinton, overall, is Wal-Mart a good thing or a bad thing for the United States of America? (Laughter.)

SEN. CLINTON: Well, it's a mixed blessing.

MR. WILLIAMS: How so?

SEN. CLINTON: Well, because when Wal-Mart started, it brought goods into rural areas, like rural Arkansas, where I was happy to live for 18 years, and gave people a chance to stretch their dollar further.

As they grew much bigger, though, they have raised serious questions about the responsibility of corporations and how they need to be a leader when it comes to providing health care and having, you know, safe working conditions and not discriminating on the basis of sex or race or any other category.

And here I am reminded of a business class I took a bazillion years ago. It was an introductory course and it was taught by a complete and total tool--a guy who quoted The Greaseman and who wore flip-flops to class. Anyway, in addition to being a tasteless and classless racist, he was just a moron. Sadly, he was also my instructor. One day he was raving about the virtues of capitalism and what a great system it is because we make so much stuff. We've got stuff. Lots of stuff. Way more stuff than communists and socialists could ever dream of. Well, I raised my hand and said something about homeless people or something like that--the poor--something. And he said, "I'm talking about production. You're talking about distribution. That's a totally different matter." Thus endeth the debate.

I am reminded of this because the shortsightedness of, let me say, many liberals (I was going to just say "liberals" but that might not be entirely fair) bears a striking resemblance to flip-flop man's economic autism. First of all, it's a system; you can't disconnect distribution and production. Why was Walmart able to supply those goods so cheaply? Why do food coops often charge so much? Give it some thought Hillary. Are you saying that on a small scale underpaid workers with no insurance selling sweat-shop produced goods is okay?

And second of all, we just don't need so much stuff. Why do we need 8000 kinds of soap for chrissakes? With shea butter. Without shea butter. Pomegranite scented. With moisturizing beads. Why is this an unqualified good?

Don't get me wrong. I like stuff. But enough already.

Why you should support Obama over Clinton (and Edwards)

Okay, this is the last of the debate posts. Here is one of the most telling moments in my opinion:

MR. WILLIAMS: Senator Obama, if, God forbid a thousand times, while we were gathered here tonight, we learned that two American cities had been hit simultaneously by terrorists, and we further learned beyond the shadow of a doubt it had been the work of al Qaeda, how would you change the U.S. military stance overseas as a result?

SEN. OBAMA: Well, the first thing we'd have to do is make sure that we've got an effective emergency response, something that this administration failed to do when we had a hurricane in New Orleans. And I think that we have to review how we operate in the event of not only a natural disaster, but also a terrorist attack.

The second thing is to make sure that we've got good intelligence, A, to find out that we don't have other threats and attacks potentially out there; and B, to find out do we have any intelligence on who might have carried it out so that we can take potentially some action to dismantle that network.

But what we can't do is then alienate the world community based on faulty intelligence, based on bluster and bombast. Instead, the next thing we would have to do, in addition to talking to the American people, is making sure that we are talking to the international community.

Because as has already been stated, we're not going to defeat terrorists on our own. We've got to strengthen our intelligence relationships with them, and they've got to feel a stake in our security by recognizing that we have mutual security interests at stake.

MR. WILLIAMS: Senator, thank you.

Senator Edwards, same question: God forbid, two simultaneous attacks tonight, we knew it was al Qaeda. What would you change about U.S. military stance overseas.

MR. EDWARDS: Well, the first thing I would do is be certain I knew who was responsible, and I would act swiftly and strongly to hold them responsible for that. The second thing I would do, and some of these have been mentioned already, is find out how that this happened without our intelligence operations finding out that it was in a planning stage.

How did they get through what we all recognize is a fairly porous homeland security system that we have in this country that has not been built the way it needed to be built? You know, did the weapons that created this -- these two simultaneous strikes come through our ports? Were they in one of the containers that have not been checked? How did these weapons get here? And how do we stop this from happening again? I believe -- and this goes to the question you asked earlier, just a few minutes ago -- global war on terror. I think there are dangerous people and dangerous leaders in the world that America must deal with and deal with strongly, but we have more tools available to us than bombs. And America needs to use the tools that are available to them so that these people who are sitting on the fence, who terrorists are trying to recruit, the next generation, get pushed to our side, not to the other side. We've had no long-term strategy, and we need one, and I will provide one.

MR. WILLIAMS: We're out of time. Thank you.

Senator Clinton, same question.

SEN. CLINTON: Well, again, having been a senator during 9/11, I understand very well the extraordinary horror of that kind of an attack and the impact that it has far beyond those who are directly affected. I think a president must move as swiftly as is prudent to retaliate. If we are attacked and we can determine who was behind that attack, and if there were nations that supported or gave material aid to those who attacked us, I believe we should quickly respond. Now, that doesn't mean we go looking for other fights. You know,

I supported President Bush when he went after al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. And then when he decided to divert attention to Iraq, it was not a decisions that I would have made had I been president, because we still haven't found bin Laden. So let's focus on those who have attacked us and do everything we can to destroy them.

So let's recap: Obama would first make sure we could properly attend to the victims and the emergency in the United States. Then he would investigate to make sure the country isn't in further danger and to "potentially" take action. Then he would work on diplomatic relations to coordinate an international response.

Edwards would somehow magically "be certain" he knew who is responsible and then he would "act swiftly and strongly" to hold them responsible. He would also work to strengthen intelligence (read: spy more) and fix our "fairly pourous" Homeland Security. (National identity cards anyone?)

Clinton would also "swiftly. . . retaliate." In particular I love the point where she says she understands the horror such an attack can produce and so...she would "retaliate."

Hmmm...disaster relief and diplomacy...versus war...versus war.

First up against the wall

Okay, maybe evil does exist. I've been wrong before. (Thanks to the Snack Pack for the link.)

Dictionary shmictionary

In the latest episode of "don't let the language get you down," the administration is claiming "sectarian violence" has declined dramatically since troop levels have been increased in Iraq. If this seems counter-intuitive to those of you who log onto your news source every day to read of more carnage...well, trust your instincts. Bush and company are not counting bombs as violence:

President Bush explained why in a television interview on Tuesday. "If the standard of success is no car bombings or suicide bombings, we have just handed those who commit suicide bombings a huge victory," he told TV interviewer Charlie Rose.

Well, shit, let's go all the way and call suicide bombs and exploding cars a raging success why don't we? That will take the wind out of those extremist sails.

"Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows."

A man's man

In one of my many almost-spam emails today there was an ad for Anita Shreve's latest book, and that got me wondering about Shreve. I've never read any of her stuff, and I wasn't sure whether she was more of a romance-y writer (and thus someone I probably wouldn't like) or more like an Anne Tyler/Barbara Kingsolver type of writer. (My cursory research seems to indicate the former.) In the course of trying to figure that out I came across this review in Amazon:

Another Shreve Masterpiece

I may be a man, and not just a man, but a businessman, and the only times that I am not going over a spreadsheet or quarterly report are when I am on a plane, but that is when I like to prop a cheap airline pillow behind my neck, wrap myself in a thin airline blanket, and dive into the latest Anita Shreve novel.

I usually wrap another dust jacket over the book, something with "Success" or "Winning" in the title, but underneath the fake jacket I am unwrapping the lives, histories, and fates of complicated and compelling characters, and I often finish a Shreve novel in tears at the sheer power of her vivid and powerful descriptions of the turmoil within the human heart, at which point a flight attendant or a fellow passenger will ask if anything's wrong, and I usually reply, "These success/winning/business strategies are just so powerful (sniff)... I can bench 200 pounds." . . .

Good stuff.

It all started with Dr Spock

It's so clear to me now. We have school shootings because we are giving out condoms and allowing reproductive freedom. Why didn't I think of that before.

Bat-shit crazy Christians.

Now that's adaptation

The New Scientist reports that urban robins are singing at night. Either it's too loud for female birds to hear them during the day (and girl robins apparently pick boy robins on the basis of their singing repetoire) or the guys are having trouble meeting girl birds because that's life in the big city:

If this is the case, says Fuller, the night-time singers could be sacrificing other activities such as feeding and preening in order to maximise their singing time.

"There's a possibility these are unmated males that are really struggling. It could be in their best interest to sing as much as they can," he says.

. . .

Several studies have already shown that urban noise is causing city birds to change the characteristics of their song. A study in December 2006 showed that birds across Europe sing at a higher pitch to avoid being drowned out by the low-frequency din of traffic.

Other birds just sing louder. In Germany, some nightingales sing so loud they break European sound pollution regulations.

Somehow I have this vision of a cluster of German boy robins hoisting tiny beer steins in their wings as they belt out their tunes.

(This link and the following come courtesy of this week's Activate.)

Site of the day

JewTube. It's mostly music videos and clips from Israeli Idol, but even so it makes me wish I could speak/read Hebrew. The site is part of a Jewish book site which includes a grab bag of other goodies like a blog, Ofrah's Book Club, and a collection of procrastination-worthy links such as Jdaters Anonymous, whose blogroll is one of the funniest I've seen in a good long while (including Chai Expectations and Jewbiquitous). Anyway, I'm not much of a Jew (don't believe in God, think gefilte fish and tongue are disgusting, and find the concept of a bris barbaric), but something resonates inside me when I see a blog whose tag line is "my life--what were you expecting?"

The F word

Last week when I was listening to the Gonzales hearings it occured to me, yet again, how much further down the slippery slope toward fascism we have slid. An amendment to the Patriot Act made it possible for the executive to fire the attorneys without oversight by Congress. With the checks and balances removed, the executive branch quickly took action to eliminate dissenters from the judiciary. And now when we're trying to shut the barn door after the horse has run away, they are lying about it. Brazenly.

The Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC does a fine job illustrating how a fascist regime develops. The top floor of the museum is devoted to Germany before the Final Solution--the erosion of legal protections, the rise of xenophobia--and it's hard not to think about it when listening to Gonzo say "I don't remember" for the ten thousanth time and realizing that most fellow citizens still care far more about American Idol than the US Constitution.

So the thrust of Naomi Wolf's article from The Guardian this morning, "Fascist America in Ten Easy Steps," is not shocking. Though I admit I learned some things from it. (I did not know, for instance, that so many embedded journalists have been fired on by US troups.) Anyway, thanks to C for the article. It may not be shocking but it certainly is distressing.

This paragraph in particular gave me pause:

History shows that any leader, of any party, will be tempted to maintain emergency powers after the crisis has passed. With the gutting of traditional checks and balances, we are no less endangered by a President Hillary than by a President Giuliani--because any executive will be tempted to enforce his or her will through edict rather than the arduous, uncertain process of democratic negotiation and compromise.

What to do now?

Must-sees

First, Hot Fuzz. So, so good.




Second, Poison Friends, a movie about a grad student friendship gone way wrong, featuring a charismatic intellectual who gets off on manipulating his friends. Directed by no less than Pierre Bourdieu's son!

I know I am a terrific geek, but I confess to an intellectual crush on Pierre Bourdieu.

Pic of the day

From the NYTimes:

Checks and balances, foxes and hen houses

Truthout is blogging the Gonzales hearings as they progress with tidbits like this at 12:45:

According to C-SPAN, Gonzales has said "I don't recall" some 55 times so far ... and there's still a long way left to go today.

I have been listening here at work but I don't know how much more of this I can take, frankly.

"To be sure, I should have been more precise when discussing this matter. I understand why some of my statements generated confusion, and I have subsequently tried to clarify my words."

What you're trying to say, AG, is you're a liar. You lied and then you got caught lying.

I have a hard time imagining how a person could demonstrate more disdain for the Constitution. Though I'm sure Gonzales will show us if we give him the chance.

The 80s revival

I have been doing my best to stomach the resurgence of these


and these


but this is just a bridge too far.

If we are going to enter complete Groundhog Day hell, can we at least get some good dance tunes out of it?

(The original for those of you too young to remember.)

QOTD

George W on SCOTUS' "all your embryo are belong to us" decision:

Today's decision affirms that the Constitution does not stand in the way of the people's representatives enacting laws reflecting the compassion and humanity of America.

Bitch PhD, as you might expect, has a cogent post on the issues. The quote of the day, in fact, comes from the comments thread.

Unbelievable

Even I, cynic that I am, am mind-boggled by this.

Longevity

The Norwegians have recently discovered what the Jews have known for centuries--that there is a link between survival and humor. Andrea sent me this article on a study by a Norwegian researcher that concluded that people with a good sense of humor live longer. Apparently the more central a role humor plays in your life, the more years you'll spend on the planet. I, who have often said that I can survive anything as long as I have my sense of humor and my Mastercard, feel that I am bound to live a good long time. Perhaps the fact that I surround myself with punsters will make up for a lack of exercise.

Third war's the charm

Our government is founded upon the intelligence of the people. I for one do not despair of the republic. I have great confidence in the virtue of the great majority of the people, and I cannot fear the result. Andrew Jackson


I belong to an organization that has a truism: "Insanity is doing the same thing twice and expecting different results." And this is the line that came to mind when I read this morning that the Dems have decided it's not a good idea to limit Bush's ability to go to war with Iran. To be more specific, the House is contemplating an appropriations bill that would hemorage another 100 billion dollars into the war effort. The bill would require troops to be out of Iraq in 18 months, which of course, the executive branch finds appalling.

I tell you the whole thing makes me sick and angry. And to think I was actually contemplating a blog entry this week on Hillary being wrongly maligned for her stance on the war. [The NYT has a side-by-side comparison of the candidates vis-a-vis the war, and their Hilary quote:
VOTED YES IN 2002, NOW OPPOSED

If I had been President in October of 2002, I would have never asked for authority to divert our attention from Afghanistan to Iraq, and I certainly would never have started this war.

got me curious what exactly she did have to say in 2002 when she voted yes on HJ Res 114.

Salon had an article last month lambasting her for her refusal to admit she was wrong on her initial support of the war, and rather than finding it convincing it actually made me concede that Clinton has been more consistent on her war position than I initially granted her. In her speech on the resolution she says:

...I will take the president at his word that he will try hard to pass a U.N. resolution and will seek to avoid war, if at all possible....I urge the president to spare no effort to secure a clear, unambiguous demand by the United Nations for unlimited inspections ... A vote for [the resolution] is not a vote to rush to war; it is a vote that puts awesome responsibility in the hands of our president and we say to him: Use these powers wisely and as a last resort.

Which brings us to the issue of Iran and the Democrats decision to give Bush a blank check to go to war. Hell-oooh??? It revolts me that we're not even talking anymore about the US's dogged refusal to learn from history. Now we're talking about some sort of mass amnesia regarding five years ago. Maybe the Senators could take the memento approach and start tattooing important facts on their forearms ("Don't give president authority to go to war!")

This is from the AP article:

Public opinion has swung the way of Democrats on the issue of the war. More than six in 10 Americans think the conflict was a mistake--the largest number yet found in AP-Ipsos polling.

But Democrats have struggled to find a compromise that can satisfy both liberals who oppose any funding for the military effort and conservatives who do not want to unduly restrict the commander in chief.

Why is it that Republicans are the only ones who seem to have figured out that public opinion will follow them if they lead? Why are the Democrats so retarded???

I really want to believe in democracy. I really do.

Sigh.

It was a dark and stormy title

While I've always gotten a chuckle out of the Bulwer-Lytton contest, the fact that all of the entries are made up takes some of the fun out of it for me (though see this page on the Bulwer-Lytton site which contains actual published gems such as ""She stuck to his prime-grade A tush like shrink-wrap to a rump roast.").

The Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year on the other hand, has only bonafide publication titles competing. This year's entries (see the lower right-hand corner of the page) include a range of future classics such as How Green Were the Nazis? and The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: A Guide to Field Identification. And the lists from previous years were enough to make me laugh out loud even today, a Monday made worse by the need to "spring forward" this weekend.

My personal favorite is probably The Art and Craft of Pounding Flowers: No Paint, No Ink, Just a Hammer! but that may just be a reflection of my mood today. (A thanks to Nick for forwarding the URL.)

QOTD

Newt Gingrich to James Dobson, explaining why it wasn't hypocritical of him to be gunning for Clinton even as he was shtupping some chick who was not his wife:

The president of the United States got in trouble for committing a felony in front of a sitting federal judge.... as a leader of the government trying to uphold the rule of law, I have no choice except to move forward and say that you cannot accept ... perjury in your highest officials

It makes me think of the times they arrest people for resisting arrest.

Misappropriation of funds--now that's a different story.

I know you are but what am I?

While I tend to think of YouTube as that great site that brings us classics like this, it is, apparently, ground zero for a virtual "war" between Turkey and Greece with people in both countries volleying nationalistic insults back and forth via online video clips. But Greece has gone a bridge too far in the latest pixelated grenade by calling Ataturk, and Turks in general, gay, and Turkey is banning YouTube entirely. Truly the whole thing is pretty remarkable. It's like what if PeeWee Herman were in charge of diplomatic affairs. Not only are there hundreds of edifying videos like Ataturk is not Gay! and Gay Greece, they each have long threads of "whoever smelt it dealt it" sorts of comments:

I am a gay Turk and am sick and tired of village idiot Turks comming on here and pretending that you cannot be Turkish and openly like bum sex. It is so macho to be a Turk accept when they are busy bumming each other and then pretending that our founder was not a bum bandit.

Makes you glad to be an American; we only have to worry about our Founders being slave owners.

Droppin' of the Carp

One of my coworkers here also lived in Wisconsin for many years. She just visited there over the holidays and brought back this clipping from the Wisconsin State Journal:

They'll Lower A Fish To Celebrate New Year

Some state residents will be celebrating the New Year in a unique way -- by watching a 20-pound female carp lowered by a 110-foot crane. The annual Droppin' of the Carp was begun by Tom Nelson and his wife, Cathie, who got the idea from a New Year's celebration in Savannah, Ga., where they lowered a giant Styrofoam peach.
"We decided we could have some sort of New Year's celebration here in the Midwest," Nelson said. "Being on the river, it had to be a fish."

The couple organizes the event each year on St. Feriole Island. They expect to draw as many people as last year -- about 1,500.

The first year the Nelsons used a 3-foot carp and named it Lucky after they learned the Chinese believe eating carp on New Year's brings good luck. Each subsequent fish has had the same name. This year, Lucky is a nearly 20-pound female carp caught in the Mississippi River in late November by Mike Valley, who has the fish in a freezer at his store, Valley Fish and Cheese.

Valley plans to shellac Lucky and give her a few touchups, including a crown.
It takes about 2 1/2minutes to lower the carp, Nelson said. Those gathered will then sing "Auld Lang Syne," recite the Pledge of Allegiance and sing "God Bless America." Lucky will then return to the freezer until May, when she will be buried and a maple tree planted over her.

I can't think what to say that could improve upon the greatness of the story as it stands, so I'll just leave it at that. And once again I marvel at the fact that I lived in Wisconsin for 11 years.

Unbelievable

This is kind of interesting. Slate paired up with a market research group to graphically display the believability of Bush's Wednesday night "damn the torpedos" speech. Vidlit produced a video of clips from the speech and a focus group, broken down by political affiliation (Dem, Rep, and Ind) was asked to rate the video as it was ongoing using a mouse and a sliding scale. I mean, personally I don't really care about market research personal opinion stuff since 1.I think most people kind of stupid, and 2.I think most market research is poorly designed, but it's sort of interesting in a meaningless way.

Baby blog

A big congratulations to my friends Marc and Christy who just had a baby yesterday. Ollie is already blogging, precotious cuss.

Timeless

Today marks the 230th anniversary of the publication of Thomas Paine's Common Sense, Wonkette reminds us. Of course, we love Tom Paine. And while we favor The Crisis, Common Sense does have its particularly salient passages:

Men of passive tempers look somewhat lightly over the offences of Britain, and, still hoping for the best, are apt to call out, "Come, come, we shall be friends again, for all this." But examine the passions and feelings of mankind, Bring the doctrine of reconciliation to the touchstone of nature, and then tell me, whether you can hereafter love, honour, and faithfully serve the power that hath carried fire and sword into your land? If you cannot do all these, then are you only deceiving yourselves, and by your delay bringing ruin upon posterity. Your future connection with Britain, whom you can neither love nor honour, will be forced and unnatural, and being formed only on the plan of present convenience, will in a little time fall into a relapse more wretched than the first. But if you say, you can still pass the violations over, then I ask, Hath your house been burnt? Hath your property been destroyed before your face? Are your wife and children destitute of a bed to lie on, or bread to live on? Have you lost a parent or a child by their hands, and yourself the ruined and wretched survivor? If you have not, then are you not a judge of those who have. But if you have, and still can shake hands with the murderers, then you are unworthy of the name of husband, father, friend, or lover, and whatever may be your rank or title in life, you have the heart of a coward, and the spirit of a sycophant.

In other news, Bush wants to add 21,500 more soldiers in Iraq. AP reports on the announcement which will be made later tonight: "In a now-familiar refrain, Bush was to portray the war in Iraq as "the decisive ideological struggle of our time."

Indeed.

Even my cat is cutting edge

Those who know me, know that my cat is a cat only a mother can love, really. He's obese, asthmatic, and suffers from clinical depression. When we moved to LA he responded to the stress of a nine day road trip and a radical relocation by determining that he was a cat who thinks outside the box, as it were. So he's been on meds for years now. Yes, I am clean and my cat is drugged. So today I see this article in the LA Times, complete with this photo of the day:

As I have often said, it's a good thing I didn't have children.

Yahrzeit

Today is my dad's yarzheit. He's been gone twenty years--rather incredible. I was missing him tonight. I lit my memorial candle and said Kaddish, and I thought maybe I would blog something of his to close out the night. So here are some long excerpts from an even longer letter he wrote my sister when she was in college. It's dated November 1967 and is responding in large part to her increasing political activism.

He writes:

Some people feel one is not worth his salt unless he is a radical at 20 and a conservative at 40. This is a vile canard propagated by the pusillanimous. One need not become a fat cat at forty. See, e.g., Norman Thomas whose big many voice, turning again to childish treble, pipes and whistles in his sounds, to quote the Bard, but who preaches the same revolt against oppression that he sounded with stentorian speeches at the turn of the century. See also Bertrand Russell, William Douglas, and Jake Podofsky. (Jake runs the delicatessen at 14th and Irving Sts.)

I do not hold with those who attack all our institutions. I am not blind to the virtues of other ways of life but I personally feel that what we have in this country is the best way of life thus far evolved by man as a functioning society. I am 100% American. But I am not like those Southerners who loved the Confederacy so much they would not even wear a Union suit. I want my country to present a favorable image, to maintain a posture that I find admirable, and will not yield my right to criticize it when I think it is wrong. I want America always to be the land of the three "P's" -- Peace, Prosperity, and Pfreedom, for myself and my pfosterity. I want America to stay healthy because I know that when the United States sneezes much of the rest of the world catches pneumonia.

Finally, let me only remind you that you ought not get yourself so involved that you jeopardize yourself in your studies. It is essential that you get decent grades, continue your education, and work assiduously toward your career. Sorenson in the Saturday Review last week did not say anything much different from what many other pacifists have said in the past few weeks bu this article was read by millions because he achieved such eminence in his field that his voice was effective. At the big peace march we listened intently to what Dr. Spock said largely because more than half the people there had taken castor oil when Spock told their mothers to administer it. On the other hand, I'll bet you didn't hear one word Tillie Gockenheimer said, did you? And Tillie has been marching in protest demonstrations since Kemal Pasha besieged the poor Armenians in 1916 or whenever the hell it was. But that is because Tillie Gockenheimer dropped out of high school in Pottstown, Pa. when she was 16 and has been working in a brassiere factory in High Point, N. Car. ever since.

There's more, but those are the best parts. Except there is one place where there's a line something like this "7 883347xc (Travis' interjections)" because I must have been sitting in his lap while he was typing the letter. I was two at the time.

That my dad, who was blacklisted during the McCarthy era, could write such a letter, is real patriotism. I'm not much of a nationalist really, but I was, once upon a time a Constitutional scholar and I too love America from Ben Franklin to X. And at the same time, I'm proud as hell to have a dad who was a blacklisted labor lawyer.

It's all so complicated isn't it--our feelings for family and country.

Anyway, it's past my bedtime, maybe I will try to resurrect my blogging spirit for the new year. I can't promise anything though. I've made enough of those that didn't come to fruition in terms of my poor neglected blog.