Did you know there's a Freak Show in his pocket? Via Eva Whitley.
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Impeachable Offenses?
Mustang Bobby has a very good overview of the implications of the Downing Street memo and what we as concerned citizens should be doing about it. Like MB, I've also signed onto the Big Brass Alliance in support of the efforts put forth by After Downing Street, "a coalition of veterans' groups, peace groups, and political activist groups, which launched on May 26, 2005, a campaign to urge the U.S. Congress to begin a formal investigation into whether President Bush has committed impeachable offenses in connection with the Iraq war. The campaign focuses on evidence that recently emerged in a British memo containing minutes of a secret July 2002 meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his top national security officials."
As many of you know, the name of the site is a reference to the Downing Street Memo, a British memo recently made public in the London Times, which contained the minutes (PDF file) of a secret July 2002 meeting between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his top national security officials. They report that, in response to the release of the memo, "John Bonifaz, a Boston attorney specializing in constitutional litigation, sent a memo to Congressman John Conyers of Michigan, the Ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, urging him to introduce a Resolution of Inquiry directing the House Judiciary Committee to launch a formal investigation into whether sufficient grounds exist for the House to impeach President Bush. Bonifaz's memo begins: 'The recent release of the Downing Street Memo provides new and compelling evidence that the President of the United States has been actively engaged in a conspiracy to deceive and mislead the United States Congress and the American people about the basis for going to war against Iraq. If true, such conduct constitutes a High Crime under Article II, Section 4 of the United States Constitution.'" Congressman Conyers is now seeking 100,000 signatures to sign a letter on the Downing Street Inquiry.
Shakespeare's Sister has done an amazing job organizing this blogger alliance and passing on useful information, both on her blog and in e-mail. She brought to my attention a fascinating article in Salon by Professor Juan Cole which lays it all out:
Simbaud adds, "A couple of days ago Corpus Callosum linked to a briefing memo ex-Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill gave to Ron Suskind, who wrote The Price of Loyalty. It's dated Jan. 31, 2001, less than two weeks after the inauguration, and it describes the first meeting of the NSC under Bush. The document is marked 'unclassified with secret attachments'; the attachments in question are described as:
Tab A: Agenda and Policy Questions from NSC -- SECRET
Tab B: Economic Background on Iraq (from Deutsche Bank)
Tab C: Executive Summary: Political-Military Plan for Post-Saddam Iraq Crisis (interagency working paper) -- SECRET
Tab D: Summary of Unied States Sanctions on Iraq
Tab E: 'Iraq Sanctions Regime,' State Department, for use in public statements"
Lastly, Dan O'Donnell reminds us, "The Downing Street Memo is opinion, albeit by a professional whose job it was to provide his take to the British government. The memo contains no proof, no quotes. It is no 'smoking gun'... McCain has already simply said, 'I don’t believe it' and brushed it off as did McClellan. We're supporting the position of Conyers and the Bonifaz Resolution of Inquiry in this swarm. They strike a careful tone in demanding a response from the administration and an inquiry by Congress. I urge discipline in formulating support for After Downing Street – to present the case while refraining from providing ammunition that might be used to discredit the effort." Very sound advice, methinks. And the word "swarm" is a reference to this and other posts today, part of a "blogswarm" to raise awareness of this issue.
As many of you know, the name of the site is a reference to the Downing Street Memo, a British memo recently made public in the London Times, which contained the minutes (PDF file) of a secret July 2002 meeting between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his top national security officials. They report that, in response to the release of the memo, "John Bonifaz, a Boston attorney specializing in constitutional litigation, sent a memo to Congressman John Conyers of Michigan, the Ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, urging him to introduce a Resolution of Inquiry directing the House Judiciary Committee to launch a formal investigation into whether sufficient grounds exist for the House to impeach President Bush. Bonifaz's memo begins: 'The recent release of the Downing Street Memo provides new and compelling evidence that the President of the United States has been actively engaged in a conspiracy to deceive and mislead the United States Congress and the American people about the basis for going to war against Iraq. If true, such conduct constitutes a High Crime under Article II, Section 4 of the United States Constitution.'" Congressman Conyers is now seeking 100,000 signatures to sign a letter on the Downing Street Inquiry.
Shakespeare's Sister has done an amazing job organizing this blogger alliance and passing on useful information, both on her blog and in e-mail. She brought to my attention a fascinating article in Salon by Professor Juan Cole which lays it all out:
Going to war is the most serious decision a president can make. It should never be approached in a cavalier fashion. American lives, the prestige and influence of the country, international relations, the health of its defenses, and the future of the next generation are at stake. Yet every single piece of evidence we now have confirms that George W. Bush, who was obsessed with unseating Saddam Hussein even before 9/11, recklessly used the opportunity presented by the terror attacks to march the country to war, fixing the intelligence to justify his decision, and lying to the American people about the reasons for the war.Cole also says that Sir Christopher Meyer, the former British Ambassador to Washington, "strongly implies that Blair persuaded Bush to make war on al-Qaida in Afghanistan first by promising him British support for a later Iraq campaign," although I can't find any actual quotes to that effect in this Observer article from last month about the "secret pact for Iraq war."
Simbaud adds, "A couple of days ago Corpus Callosum linked to a briefing memo ex-Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill gave to Ron Suskind, who wrote The Price of Loyalty. It's dated Jan. 31, 2001, less than two weeks after the inauguration, and it describes the first meeting of the NSC under Bush. The document is marked 'unclassified with secret attachments'; the attachments in question are described as:
Tab A: Agenda and Policy Questions from NSC -- SECRET
Tab B: Economic Background on Iraq (from Deutsche Bank)
Tab C: Executive Summary: Political-Military Plan for Post-Saddam Iraq Crisis (interagency working paper) -- SECRET
Tab D: Summary of Unied States Sanctions on Iraq
Tab E: 'Iraq Sanctions Regime,' State Department, for use in public statements"
Lastly, Dan O'Donnell reminds us, "The Downing Street Memo is opinion, albeit by a professional whose job it was to provide his take to the British government. The memo contains no proof, no quotes. It is no 'smoking gun'... McCain has already simply said, 'I don’t believe it' and brushed it off as did McClellan. We're supporting the position of Conyers and the Bonifaz Resolution of Inquiry in this swarm. They strike a careful tone in demanding a response from the administration and an inquiry by Congress. I urge discipline in formulating support for After Downing Street – to present the case while refraining from providing ammunition that might be used to discredit the effort." Very sound advice, methinks. And the word "swarm" is a reference to this and other posts today, part of a "blogswarm" to raise awareness of this issue.
Monday, May 30, 2005
Good Girls Guys Don't
All weekend I've been mulling over a couple posts I read on Thursday, one from Pissed Off Patricia at BlondeSense about how "our side" is just "too damn nice," and the other from David Sirota on conventional wisdom about Democrats needing to seem more hawkish. At the same time, I've been trying to catch up on my comic book reading and noticing, as usual, that the less heroic the protagonists act, the less I'm apt to enjoy the story.
Patricia laments, "Everything that makes us liberal also makes us just too damned honest and nice. We don’t aspire to confrontations. We try to play by the rules. We aren’t comfortable telling lies. That, my dears, is why we are getting our liberal asses kicked daily. We are lying and cheating challenged. The game is no longer played by a set of rules, but we continue to obey the rules of the old game." She concludes, "Used to be that honesty and fair play was rewarded. Now honesty and fair play seem to result in getting your butt kicked royally and repeatedly. Meanwhile, the other team makes their own rules and breaks them on a whim. There’s no honesty or fair play involved, but they just keep on scoring. Is it time for us to come up with new rules or shall we just keep playing nice and getting our asses kicked?"
David believes "Democrats should not to try to out-hawk the Republicans – they should be focusing on articulating an entirely alternative foreign/military policy... a policy that says the pursuit of peace is actually a way to better secure our country, one that says being against war unless absolutely necessary is actually a good thing." Especially on days like today, that's pretty much my thinking as well. It's always more difficult and time-consuming to wage peace than to wage war, but the rewards are far greater, starting with the most precious of all, the refusal to take or waste human life. He concludes, "Instead of Democratic presidential candidates and self-proclaimed liberal pundits falling all over themselves to promise America Democrats will (as the GOP does) bomb, kill and maim anyone they please and send American troops to die for bad reasons, the party needs to have the guts to lay out an alternative... and stress the security virtues of actually preventing war."
Me, I think the "game" is bigger than that. I think most people, in their heart of hearts, want to be seen as "the good guys," want to live and let live, want to follow the Golden Rule - but many are easily roused and led to rally against their own best interests by people skilled at using inspirational words as misdirection to mask evil deeds. And I think what those of us who believe in truth and justice as the American way need to do most is keep pointing out the discrepancies between what people say and what they do - and remind our fellow citizens of all the good things "our side" has done for them over the years.
As PZ Myers reminds us on The American Street today, "simple-minded ideas can be easily expressed in soundbites and catchphrases. Jingo is always easier than nuance and depth, and has the advantage that it can appeal to people who actually don’t know anything about the subject being discussed. The real world, though, is complicated. When your goal is to respond appropriately and accurately to reality, sometimes you can’t just reduce it to a slogan—you have to try and educate." Well, yes and no. Remember, one of the 14 defining characteristics of fascism is disdain for intellectuals and therefore intellect itself, and many in this country seem to take pride in their ignorance. So I think education about all the things the Good Guys have accomplished for America during our proud history, all the things the Bad Guys want to take away, does need to be... well, while not dumbed down per se, at least entertaining and yes, easily expressed. And I still think people respond to messages like "Their side cheats. Ours doesn't. We learn from mistakes; they keep making them, and making things worse. They love to tell us how to conduct our private lives when theirs are anything but moral. They kill people, we try to save them. Whose side are you on?" if only we had the courage to keep spreading those messages.
And that's what it takes - not the courage to fight with weapons or insults (particularly ad hominem attacks which belittle the other side by equating them with women or gays, as falling back on homophobia or sexism is part of their game, not ours), but with truth and conviction and deeds. To realize that it's always harder to build than to destroy, to show people hope than to control them through fear - but to trust that people want to gravitate towards the light no matter how much the darkness is pressed upon them, and no matter how long it takes to press back, and act accordingly. To reappropriate and embrace words like "nice" as goals, not failures. To once again make it cooler to be the hero than the villain (which will in turn make my comics far more rewarding reading than many currently are). To remember that bringing laughter and light and peace and hope and joy into other people's lives is what it's all about, but that no calling could be higher, and no reward greater.
Patricia laments, "Everything that makes us liberal also makes us just too damned honest and nice. We don’t aspire to confrontations. We try to play by the rules. We aren’t comfortable telling lies. That, my dears, is why we are getting our liberal asses kicked daily. We are lying and cheating challenged. The game is no longer played by a set of rules, but we continue to obey the rules of the old game." She concludes, "Used to be that honesty and fair play was rewarded. Now honesty and fair play seem to result in getting your butt kicked royally and repeatedly. Meanwhile, the other team makes their own rules and breaks them on a whim. There’s no honesty or fair play involved, but they just keep on scoring. Is it time for us to come up with new rules or shall we just keep playing nice and getting our asses kicked?"
David believes "Democrats should not to try to out-hawk the Republicans – they should be focusing on articulating an entirely alternative foreign/military policy... a policy that says the pursuit of peace is actually a way to better secure our country, one that says being against war unless absolutely necessary is actually a good thing." Especially on days like today, that's pretty much my thinking as well. It's always more difficult and time-consuming to wage peace than to wage war, but the rewards are far greater, starting with the most precious of all, the refusal to take or waste human life. He concludes, "Instead of Democratic presidential candidates and self-proclaimed liberal pundits falling all over themselves to promise America Democrats will (as the GOP does) bomb, kill and maim anyone they please and send American troops to die for bad reasons, the party needs to have the guts to lay out an alternative... and stress the security virtues of actually preventing war."
Me, I think the "game" is bigger than that. I think most people, in their heart of hearts, want to be seen as "the good guys," want to live and let live, want to follow the Golden Rule - but many are easily roused and led to rally against their own best interests by people skilled at using inspirational words as misdirection to mask evil deeds. And I think what those of us who believe in truth and justice as the American way need to do most is keep pointing out the discrepancies between what people say and what they do - and remind our fellow citizens of all the good things "our side" has done for them over the years.
As PZ Myers reminds us on The American Street today, "simple-minded ideas can be easily expressed in soundbites and catchphrases. Jingo is always easier than nuance and depth, and has the advantage that it can appeal to people who actually don’t know anything about the subject being discussed. The real world, though, is complicated. When your goal is to respond appropriately and accurately to reality, sometimes you can’t just reduce it to a slogan—you have to try and educate." Well, yes and no. Remember, one of the 14 defining characteristics of fascism is disdain for intellectuals and therefore intellect itself, and many in this country seem to take pride in their ignorance. So I think education about all the things the Good Guys have accomplished for America during our proud history, all the things the Bad Guys want to take away, does need to be... well, while not dumbed down per se, at least entertaining and yes, easily expressed. And I still think people respond to messages like "Their side cheats. Ours doesn't. We learn from mistakes; they keep making them, and making things worse. They love to tell us how to conduct our private lives when theirs are anything but moral. They kill people, we try to save them. Whose side are you on?" if only we had the courage to keep spreading those messages.
And that's what it takes - not the courage to fight with weapons or insults (particularly ad hominem attacks which belittle the other side by equating them with women or gays, as falling back on homophobia or sexism is part of their game, not ours), but with truth and conviction and deeds. To realize that it's always harder to build than to destroy, to show people hope than to control them through fear - but to trust that people want to gravitate towards the light no matter how much the darkness is pressed upon them, and no matter how long it takes to press back, and act accordingly. To reappropriate and embrace words like "nice" as goals, not failures. To once again make it cooler to be the hero than the villain (which will in turn make my comics far more rewarding reading than many currently are). To remember that bringing laughter and light and peace and hope and joy into other people's lives is what it's all about, but that no calling could be higher, and no reward greater.
Memorial Day 2005
In my more genteel moods, and remembering I was married to a Navy man for 10 years, I echo the sentiments of Amanda Marcotte, who has a nice collection of Memorial Day posts: "Let's take a moment today to honor those who have lost their lives or their loved ones and remind ourselves why we must work towards a world that never asks for this sacrifice again." In my less forgiving moods I admit I lean more towards the sentiments of Bob Goodsell: "if people would remember that they died in vain, it would be the only way to make it so they didn't. But if we continue to support the lie that they died to protect our country or 'freedom,' we guarantee that many, many more will die in vain. Remember THIS on Memorial Day: War sucks, and those who start wars are the worst criminals in the world."
In my more genteel moods, and remembering I was married to a Navy man for 10 years, I echo the sentiments of Amanda Marcotte, who has a nice collection of Memorial Day posts: "Let's take a moment today to honor those who have lost their lives or their loved ones and remind ourselves why we must work towards a world that never asks for this sacrifice again." In my less forgiving moods I admit I lean more towards the sentiments of Bob Goodsell: "if people would remember that they died in vain, it would be the only way to make it so they didn't. But if we continue to support the lie that they died to protect our country or 'freedom,' we guarantee that many, many more will die in vain. Remember THIS on Memorial Day: War sucks, and those who start wars are the worst criminals in the world."
Silly Site o' the Day
Cool, Jen Sorensen has a blog! And she points to a page of Flash amusements by Andy Foulds. I'd already seen "Therapy" and "Leader of the Free World" (using both Bush and Blair), and "Bughunt" is way too creepy for me, but "The Economists" made me laugh out loud and I'm fascinated by "Marble Maze" even though I can't finish it.
Cool, Jen Sorensen has a blog! And she points to a page of Flash amusements by Andy Foulds. I'd already seen "Therapy" and "Leader of the Free World" (using both Bush and Blair), and "Bughunt" is way too creepy for me, but "The Economists" made me laugh out loud and I'm fascinated by "Marble Maze" even though I can't finish it.
Sunday, May 29, 2005
The Legacy of Eddie Albert
I think I'll always remember him best for being one of the first actors to humanize an Arab character in a major motion picture (Oklahoma!), even though he didn't really look the part - but Kevin Hayden has a much more comprehensive list of Albert's real-life accomplishments.
I think I'll always remember him best for being one of the first actors to humanize an Arab character in a major motion picture (Oklahoma!), even though he didn't really look the part - but Kevin Hayden has a much more comprehensive list of Albert's real-life accomplishments.
Begging to Differ
I generally like Frank Rich's columns, which is why I have a link to them on my sidebar, but I need to nitpick his latest one.
He talks about the Cessna plane in Washington, D.C. "prompting panicky evacuation scenes out of the 50's horror classic 'The Day the Earth Stood Still.', apparently he forgets that in this particular movie - one of my all-time favorites, which I pretty much watch every time I notice it's on TV - although people went around talking and acting paranoid much of the time (hey, it was the '50s!), there weren't any "panicky evacuation scenes" at all, particularly when all the electrical devices (not to mention independently-activated internal combustion engines!) stopped working for half an hour, which prompted people to... pretty much stand around doing nothing with worried looks on their faces. Even the scenes which show crowds gathered around the spaceships have them looking rather lethargically curious. It's a slow-paced film, far more intellectual than thrilling. (But damn, I wanted Michael Rennie to invite Pat Neal and her kid to come with him. Instead she married Roald Dahl, which I suppose wasn't a bad trade-off.)
Also, Rich says that "Tom Ridge, now retired as homeland security czar, recently went on 'The Daily Show' and joined in the yuks about the color-coded alerts." Which he most certainly did not; as I blogged a couple weeks ago, he was perfectly serious in his support for the color-coded alerts and insisted repeatedly that they were never politicized, an insistence that he blatantly contradicted the very next day.
Like I said, I know these are nitpicks, but Rich is formerly a culture critic, and should therefore be a bit better informed about things like movies and TV shows.
I generally like Frank Rich's columns, which is why I have a link to them on my sidebar, but I need to nitpick his latest one.
He talks about the Cessna plane in Washington, D.C. "prompting panicky evacuation scenes out of the 50's horror classic 'The Day the Earth Stood Still.', apparently he forgets that in this particular movie - one of my all-time favorites, which I pretty much watch every time I notice it's on TV - although people went around talking and acting paranoid much of the time (hey, it was the '50s!), there weren't any "panicky evacuation scenes" at all, particularly when all the electrical devices (not to mention independently-activated internal combustion engines!) stopped working for half an hour, which prompted people to... pretty much stand around doing nothing with worried looks on their faces. Even the scenes which show crowds gathered around the spaceships have them looking rather lethargically curious. It's a slow-paced film, far more intellectual than thrilling. (But damn, I wanted Michael Rennie to invite Pat Neal and her kid to come with him. Instead she married Roald Dahl, which I suppose wasn't a bad trade-off.)
Also, Rich says that "Tom Ridge, now retired as homeland security czar, recently went on 'The Daily Show' and joined in the yuks about the color-coded alerts." Which he most certainly did not; as I blogged a couple weeks ago, he was perfectly serious in his support for the color-coded alerts and insisted repeatedly that they were never politicized, an insistence that he blatantly contradicted the very next day.
Like I said, I know these are nitpicks, but Rich is formerly a culture critic, and should therefore be a bit better informed about things like movies and TV shows.
Silly Site o' the Day
With so many folks on my blogroll taking off for the long weekend, it gives me time to not only catch up on blog reading (I'm almost there) but on comics reading as well, which I plan on doing for most of the afternoon and evening (the morning being reserved for food shopping). If I plow through enough of my reading pile I might even do a review or two. Meantime, check out the Phallic Logo Awards, via cookie jill at skippy. Frankly, I think the place where we're doing our food shopping...
With so many folks on my blogroll taking off for the long weekend, it gives me time to not only catch up on blog reading (I'm almost there) but on comics reading as well, which I plan on doing for most of the afternoon and evening (the morning being reserved for food shopping). If I plow through enough of my reading pile I might even do a review or two. Meantime, check out the Phallic Logo Awards, via cookie jill at skippy. Frankly, I think the place where we're doing our food shopping...
...ought to have been a contender for this award, but perhaps that's just me.
Saturday, May 28, 2005
The Sibling Picture
Ilana did wonderfully at her bas mitzvah. Like her mother (and to a lesser extent her father) she's very soft-spoken so we had to strain a bit to hear her, but it was well worth it. As this was a Conservative-leaning-toward-Orthodox kind of affair, it was a bit different than Ariel's bas mitzvah last autumn, the only reference point Robin really had, but it was a bit more familiar to me - no candy thrown up on the bima (Ariel's do was the first I'd seen of that), and since the reception was held in the shul itself no musical instruments or the like, just a roving a cappella group performing folk songs and such. (There was no music at all during my bas mitzvah, which occurred during the mourning period for my late grandmother and was therefore forbidden.)
Also no photography, so I had to stroll outside with my mom, her sister and her brother (now matriarch and patriarch of their own growing clans) to take the traditional sibling picture. I've been taking pictures of the siblings for as long as I can remember, and most of them are stored in our attic space with other family photos. But a few are digital, and with the deepest love and admiration for my Aunt Kenie, my Uncle Phil and my mother Goldie I present them to you herewith:
This was taken at Phil's 65th birthday party, which I believe was in 2000. A bit grainy but the smiles shine through. The siblings stand in order of date of birth, with my mom in the middle, although somehow over the years I'm informed that Uncle Phil has gradually gone from youngest to oldest...
This was in 2002, at a party given for a cousin named Judy who was visiting from Israel. I was told how she was related to us but as I'm no longer the keeper of the family tree I'll leave that to Marc to expound upon if he wishes.
This was taken in 2003 at a party for my cousin Mara's daughter, my "little buddy" Faith - currently at home from college (she typed, shaking her head at how fast everyone's grown up and trying to get the "Sunrise Sunset" earworm out of her head). I love this one because they're standing in front of their mother and father's wedding picture.
And here's today's picture. My mom and I were the only family members to wear hats; most married women opted in shul for what I call the "doilies" (I'm not the only one). But hey, I'm the wife of a Brit, and in England the women pretty much don hats at every sort of semi-formal familial occasion.
I don't know how many more sibling pictures I'm likely to get, but I will keep taking them as long as I can. I'm very blessed to have such a wonderful extended family, including lots of kids coming up on their bar and bas mitzvahs in the next decade or so, and I have these three to thank for that.
Also no photography, so I had to stroll outside with my mom, her sister and her brother (now matriarch and patriarch of their own growing clans) to take the traditional sibling picture. I've been taking pictures of the siblings for as long as I can remember, and most of them are stored in our attic space with other family photos. But a few are digital, and with the deepest love and admiration for my Aunt Kenie, my Uncle Phil and my mother Goldie I present them to you herewith:
This was taken at Phil's 65th birthday party, which I believe was in 2000. A bit grainy but the smiles shine through. The siblings stand in order of date of birth, with my mom in the middle, although somehow over the years I'm informed that Uncle Phil has gradually gone from youngest to oldest...
This was in 2002, at a party given for a cousin named Judy who was visiting from Israel. I was told how she was related to us but as I'm no longer the keeper of the family tree I'll leave that to Marc to expound upon if he wishes.
This was taken in 2003 at a party for my cousin Mara's daughter, my "little buddy" Faith - currently at home from college (she typed, shaking her head at how fast everyone's grown up and trying to get the "Sunrise Sunset" earworm out of her head). I love this one because they're standing in front of their mother and father's wedding picture.
And here's today's picture. My mom and I were the only family members to wear hats; most married women opted in shul for what I call the "doilies" (I'm not the only one). But hey, I'm the wife of a Brit, and in England the women pretty much don hats at every sort of semi-formal familial occasion.
I don't know how many more sibling pictures I'm likely to get, but I will keep taking them as long as I can. I'm very blessed to have such a wonderful extended family, including lots of kids coming up on their bar and bas mitzvahs in the next decade or so, and I have these three to thank for that.
Silly Site o' the Day
Off to get ready to go to a cousin's bas mitzvah... goodness, is that the time? Via Wil Wheaton.
Friday, May 27, 2005
Friday Cat Blogging (™ Kevin Drum)
Today, kitties on the verge!
It's a thin line between the computer room and the hallway, and Amy walks it well.
Datsa, on the other hand, is poised on the very edge of the bed, looking at something apparently only cats can see.
Silly Site o' the Day
Not quite caught up with blog reading, but it should be a quiet day at work so I'm hoping to get squared away and write at least one essay before we get to leave at 3 PM (I do like me them Fridays before 3-day holiday weekends). Speaking of caught up, have you been following the Contagious Media Showdown sponsored by Eyebeam? Apparently it's some sort of contest where very good web designers make up outrageous or just plain silly sites and compete for hit counts. You may recognize at least one leading site, "Forget Me Not Panties," from the controversy it's stirred up among many feminist blogs (I mentioned that a couple days ago); it's currently in fourth place. In third at the moment is Blogebrity, a supposed celebrity-style magazine about the blogosphere which has also fooled tons of folks in the blogosphere who think it's for real. One of my favorites, Auto Blogger, is in eighth place at the moment, and I hope it moves up a few notches. I highly recommend that any bloggers who come across a site they find too strange or amazing to believe, at least through the end of the contest on June 9, check out the Showdown scoreboard first before blogging about it, in the same way you'd check Snopes to verify whether questionable-sounding e-mails are hoaxes prior to passing them on.
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Milestone Note
A very happy third blogiversary to the Daily Kos. I'd leave a happy blogiversary comment on Markos' thread but I can't figure out how to comment there!
A very happy third blogiversary to the Daily Kos. I'd leave a happy blogiversary comment on Markos' thread but I can't figure out how to comment there!
Silly Site o' the Day
For those of you still wondering, the possible lifestyle upgrade to which I was alluding over the weekend did not come to pass. I got a strong sense that the situation into which I'd be heading if I gave an affirmative response would be too similar to my current situation, and better the devil you know... So things are status quo for now, but I haven't given up yet and I don't want to get any less cryptic at this point because - as unlikely as it is - I don't want to risk getting dooced. So, onward: Now, mind you, I'm not a cruel person, but I think Poke Alex in the Eye is a spot-on parody of web games. Via Renee.
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Every Breath You Take
Well, our T1 is back, so I actually get to post and read today! Maybe it went because they were installing RFID chips or something. I know I'm getting paranoid again, but after reading this analysis of REAL ID by Bruce Schneier I'm surprised we're not all more concerned. Now corporations are getting into the act. You know, those entities that legally want to be treated like persons, but in practice don't answer to anyone or have any oversight or regulation? Alex Greenwood at Sooner Thought lifts an article from the Kansas City Star detailing how Sprint (along with IBM, Microsoft, and a host of the usual suspects) plans to help businesses track their employees. Dig the happy talk: "In what could become a boon for business and employee productivity and a bust for personal errands and secret trysts, wireless phones are on the cusp of becoming tools that can let our employers keep track of us." Yay! A bust for our personal lives! We're sure to be more productive if we know we're being watched like hawks every second of our lives, even during our off-hours! It's no wonder Trish Wilson and others fell for an apparent hoax involving "a Japanese company [that] has created a set of panties... that have a tracking device in them. The tracking device is in the little flower embedded in the panties. That way, they can monitor their wives or girlfriend's activities" and, you know, stalk them. It's a damn professional-looking website, though, I'd never have had a clue that this wasn't real. Although you can almost see the satire when you look at the testimonials page, and of course the contest confirms it (the site is currently in 9th place).
Silly Site o' the Day
Up at an ungodly hour to take public transit into work, as I have an appointment in the city this afternoon and I don't drive into Manhattan. Don't know how much I'll be able to blog or even read blogs today, as our T1 line went out yesterday afternoon and we have no Internet or phones (or IT person to fix things). At least the toilets still work, although not as well as in this Japanese commercial, I'll bet. Via Cory at BoingBoing.
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Praising The Electrician, Or Someone Like Him
Laurie, Suzy Conn and Allison, whose last name I didn't catch and whom I can't link to 'cause she's not blogging just yet. (Did I mention, another two flights up to our dining area? I'm getting too old for this.)
Scott Freiman (one of the show'/s co-producers and our "host"), Betsy and Esme Vos. Scott regaled us with all sorts of behind-the-scenes tales, but saved the best for at least two books he'sthreatening promising to write.
Esme, Sanford Dickert and Mary.
Seriously, guys. Look at their websites. They're all accomplished adults, and I'm like some kid going "uh, er, well, I'm a secretary, and um, I like to write..."
It was an absolute delight meeting Betsy, whom I've admired for ages and who has written up her thoughts on the afternoon here. She informs me that the Rose Center ceremony where her husband Frank's name will join those of other American Nobel laureates should be sometime next month, so maybe I'll go and get an "after" picture to go with the "before" one I took when Cat was here. It was also way cool meeting Suzy, whom I had the honor of sitting next to and who blogged about the event here, and I have no doubt but that she'll be a big star herself someday with her upcoming musical Plane Crazy. Mary took lots of pictures, as did Betsy, and you might even catch me in one. And here's Sanford's review. Many thanks to Scott and Kaliya for being so gracious and warm! The Little Women show blog stays active through the upcoming national tour, and I wish them nothing but the best of luck.
On Sunday I was honored to be among a dozen or so bloggers invited to attend what turned out to be the final performance of the Broadway musical Little Women, starring Sutton Foster (Jo) and Maureen McGovern (Marmee). The news that the show's cancellation had come as quite a surprise to the cast and many producers earlier in the week, so I found this performance to have something of a double meaning, particularly in the second act as the March family tries to cope with the loss of Beth. (I'm sorry, I'm not going to label Beth's death a spoiler; if you have any interest at all in the book or the myriad movies made from it then you already know, and if you didn't know you probably have little desire to peruse this classic anyway.)
From what I could tell squeezed into my seat (the Virginia Theatre is a wee bit unforgiving to large folk) up in nosebleed territory (mezzanine row J, two long flights up), the audience was probably about 90% female, which didn't surprise me at all. Everyone wept as expected in the right places, and the performances were poignant and enthusiastic, even if the adapted material didn't always live up to the actors' talents. Besides Foster, the real standout for me was Danny Gurwin, who played Laurie, and the times the two of them were on stage together were delightful. Best of all, it retained what the point of Little Women had always been for me - the idea of pursuing your dreams, and keeping memories alive, through writing.
One of my favorite bits came at the end, where the cast took their final bows and then Foster, after thanking all their audiences and the folks behind the scenes at the theatre, brought out head electrician Gregory Cap, whose last show this was after a 46-year career in the industry. You don't often see crew members honored like that, and I thought it was a wonderful touch. What a great note to go out on.
After the show, cast recording CDs in hand, we hiked the eight blocks downtown to dinner at Angus McIndoe (right around where you took the Spamalot picture, Cat) and had a chance to chat. I am not exaggerating when I say I was tremendously outclassed by everyone else at dinner. Here are my pictures:
Liza Sabater (who scored a full 10 on the Sabater Sobometer during Act II) and organizer Kaliya Hamlin get a kick out of all the digital cameras suddenly whipped out. (If you look at the other photo galleries mentioned below, you'll see this tableau from at least two other angles.)
Kaliya, Mary Hodder, Betsy Devine and Laurie Duncan, as we waited to be seated.
From what I could tell squeezed into my seat (the Virginia Theatre is a wee bit unforgiving to large folk) up in nosebleed territory (mezzanine row J, two long flights up), the audience was probably about 90% female, which didn't surprise me at all. Everyone wept as expected in the right places, and the performances were poignant and enthusiastic, even if the adapted material didn't always live up to the actors' talents. Besides Foster, the real standout for me was Danny Gurwin, who played Laurie, and the times the two of them were on stage together were delightful. Best of all, it retained what the point of Little Women had always been for me - the idea of pursuing your dreams, and keeping memories alive, through writing.
One of my favorite bits came at the end, where the cast took their final bows and then Foster, after thanking all their audiences and the folks behind the scenes at the theatre, brought out head electrician Gregory Cap, whose last show this was after a 46-year career in the industry. You don't often see crew members honored like that, and I thought it was a wonderful touch. What a great note to go out on.
After the show, cast recording CDs in hand, we hiked the eight blocks downtown to dinner at Angus McIndoe (right around where you took the Spamalot picture, Cat) and had a chance to chat. I am not exaggerating when I say I was tremendously outclassed by everyone else at dinner. Here are my pictures:
Liza Sabater (who scored a full 10 on the Sabater Sobometer during Act II) and organizer Kaliya Hamlin get a kick out of all the digital cameras suddenly whipped out. (If you look at the other photo galleries mentioned below, you'll see this tableau from at least two other angles.)
Kaliya, Mary Hodder, Betsy Devine and Laurie Duncan, as we waited to be seated.
Laurie, Suzy Conn and Allison, whose last name I didn't catch and whom I can't link to 'cause she's not blogging just yet. (Did I mention, another two flights up to our dining area? I'm getting too old for this.)
Scott Freiman (one of the show'/s co-producers and our "host"), Betsy and Esme Vos. Scott regaled us with all sorts of behind-the-scenes tales, but saved the best for at least two books he's
Esme, Sanford Dickert and Mary.
Seriously, guys. Look at their websites. They're all accomplished adults, and I'm like some kid going "uh, er, well, I'm a secretary, and um, I like to write..."
It was an absolute delight meeting Betsy, whom I've admired for ages and who has written up her thoughts on the afternoon here. She informs me that the Rose Center ceremony where her husband Frank's name will join those of other American Nobel laureates should be sometime next month, so maybe I'll go and get an "after" picture to go with the "before" one I took when Cat was here. It was also way cool meeting Suzy, whom I had the honor of sitting next to and who blogged about the event here, and I have no doubt but that she'll be a big star herself someday with her upcoming musical Plane Crazy. Mary took lots of pictures, as did Betsy, and you might even catch me in one. And here's Sanford's review. Many thanks to Scott and Kaliya for being so gracious and warm! The Little Women show blog stays active through the upcoming national tour, and I wish them nothing but the best of luck.
Silly Sites o' the Day
Yes, the Little Women review and pictures are coming, I haven't forgotten. But I left my notes at home so that post will have to wait until tonight. At least I was able to get a dress yesterday for Saturday's family affair (with matching hat and purse, the first time I can remember actually shopping for accessories in that way) at Sears in the Cross County Shopping Center, as Lane Bryant and the other stores didn't have anything nice and dressy - and one of the large-sized stores is no more, gone as are a number of other shops along that promenade, like the long-standing Dragon's Den comic book store - so I took out a Sears charge card as I promised myself I'd get a card from wherever I succeeded in finding the dress, since I just cut up my Dress Barn card in protest that their store in Eastchester doesn't sell large sizes any more and I'm not about to schlep to any of their other "local" stores which only go from 14-24 anyway so they're really average size, not large size.
But I digress. Speaking of outfits, Hanan Levin directs us to the contest entries for the Stuck at Prom Duck Brand duct tape scholarship. Homeland Security would be proud! And speaking of space-age materials, Zed at MemeMachineGo! tells us of a family that's wrapped their house in sheet metal "to protect against radiation, because microwave radiation is reflected off of aluminium." Okay, isn't this what aluminum siding is supposed to be for?
But I digress. Speaking of outfits, Hanan Levin directs us to the contest entries for the Stuck at Prom Duck Brand duct tape scholarship. Homeland Security would be proud! And speaking of space-age materials, Zed at MemeMachineGo! tells us of a family that's wrapped their house in sheet metal "to protect against radiation, because microwave radiation is reflected off of aluminium." Okay, isn't this what aluminum siding is supposed to be for?
Monday, May 23, 2005
Corollary to "How Can I Miss You When You Won't Go Away"?
How can you leave something you were never a part of in the first place? More from Echidne and Dave Johnson. Update: A colleague responds (via TBogg).
More Kultcha Blogs of Interest
I'm pleased to report that my erstwhile houseguest and long-time friend Cat Simril Ishikawa has started a blog, and has a few pictures up from his trip "back east" as well as a great restaurant review from a local place in Vancouver. Also of possible interest to comic fans, although not yet on my official blogroll, is a new art blog from Chris Weston. Lastly, my friend Leah Adezio (who originated the "Silly Site" concept, calling it "Today's Link o' Silliness") has a LiveJournal but she's not really using it as a blog yet so, while I've put her on my Bloglines subs, I won't give out her URL yet. She even "forced" me to sign up for an LJ, handle elaynetoo, since both penelayne and elayneriggs were previously taken by some mysterious person or people who set up my syndicated feed, which I can't sign onto 'cause it's a syndicated feed and I really don't care for LJ so the new blog is really just a placeholder which allows me to post comments on members-only journals. Does any of that make sense?
Sunday, May 22, 2005
Little Women and Big Thanks
Will write more tomorrow - wanted to thank Kaliya and Scott again for allowing me to be a part of the crowd to see the closing Broadway performance of Little Women this afternoon. I was way outclassed by all my dinner companions, and look forward to sharing pictures and other stuff tomorrow.
Will write more tomorrow - wanted to thank Kaliya and Scott again for allowing me to be a part of the crowd to see the closing Broadway performance of Little Women this afternoon. I was way outclassed by all my dinner companions, and look forward to sharing pictures and other stuff tomorrow.
Silly Site o' the Day (and Weekend Update)
Woke up at 4 AM and stayed awake for two hours; too many things going around in my head. Lillian and sons moved in downstairs yesterday with help from friends, and we gave their convoy of vehicles some room by keeping out of their way, first by getting the car washed (naturally it rained just enough in the afternoon to make that pointless) and then me taking it for a somewhat-overdue oil change and general check-up (where I was told it was in "beautiful shape" so that's a load off). Then I picked up Robin again and drove around lower Westchester County looking in vain for women's clothing stores that carried large sizes, as I'll be attending a family bat mitzvah next Saturday and wanted to get a new dress. I completely forgot there are at least two or three large-sized clothing stores in the Cross County Shopping Center in Yonkers, the one venue we didn't visit, so I suppose I'm headed back there during the week. Can't do it today as I'll be going into Manhattan to see the last performance of Little Women along with a bunch of other bloggers, followed by dinner and maybe the Blog Sheroes meetup but I doubt it because I'll probably be too exhausted.
Mostly I couldn't sleep because something happened on Friday which may result in, as they say, a "major lifestyle change" in the next couple of weeks, and I'm not sure how that's all going to go down with some people involved in my present circumstances. But I've done what I can about that situation, and at this point it's just a waiting game to see how it all plays out.
One thing I shan't be doing any time in the near future is going to see Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. From everything I've read, it sounds a lot like my least favorite of the original trilogy, The Empire Strikes Back. As Peter says mockingly, "I mean, that's how they END it? With so much left dangling?... The bad guys just WIN in the end? What the hell kind of ending is THAT? What a downer." The thing is, that's how I actually feel about Empire, a "movie" most fans think was the best of those three but which I will insist to this day never felt like a real "movie" to me at all due to the lack of positive forward movement and closure (and the fact that we all paid so much at the time and felt ripped off and knew we'd have to wait for years to see an actual SW movie again with a real ending). So when people ask me about Sith, this is very likely how I'll respond. (Via Heidi MacDonald.)
Mostly I couldn't sleep because something happened on Friday which may result in, as they say, a "major lifestyle change" in the next couple of weeks, and I'm not sure how that's all going to go down with some people involved in my present circumstances. But I've done what I can about that situation, and at this point it's just a waiting game to see how it all plays out.
One thing I shan't be doing any time in the near future is going to see Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. From everything I've read, it sounds a lot like my least favorite of the original trilogy, The Empire Strikes Back. As Peter says mockingly, "I mean, that's how they END it? With so much left dangling?... The bad guys just WIN in the end? What the hell kind of ending is THAT? What a downer." The thing is, that's how I actually feel about Empire, a "movie" most fans think was the best of those three but which I will insist to this day never felt like a real "movie" to me at all due to the lack of positive forward movement and closure (and the fact that we all paid so much at the time and felt ripped off and knew we'd have to wait for years to see an actual SW movie again with a real ending). So when people ask me about Sith, this is very likely how I'll respond. (Via Heidi MacDonald.)
Saturday, May 21, 2005
Silly Site o' the Day
Poetry in motion! That's what you'll get with this poem generator, which creates a mishmash of words from any website you plug into it. Here's what it got from mine:
on a lot, of , conservative
fuckheads who held his post made me back some very
psyched because I am Permalink
postCount ; postCountTB ; Behind Closed Doors Finally, someone
without the story [
down
who want to be attending a
panel
arguing against the subway Res. Old
young Datsa had bad as usual. NTodd Pritsky, Peter Rick
Blaine Rivka Scott Baron
luck! too...much more
than 10 PM Permalink
postCount ; postCountTB ; Silly Site
the dying of America. And
the music industry.
on a lot, of , conservative
fuckheads who held his post made me back some very
psyched because I am Permalink
postCount ; postCountTB ; Behind Closed Doors Finally, someone
without the story [
down
who want to be attending a
panel
arguing against the subway Res. Old
young Datsa had bad as usual. NTodd Pritsky, Peter Rick
Blaine Rivka Scott Baron
luck! too...much more
than 10 PM Permalink
postCount ; postCountTB ; Silly Site
the dying of America. And
the music industry.
See, this is why I don't like "poetry." Even actual poems nowadays feel this randomly generated. "Because I am Permalink" indeed! This is my motto:
Poems must have rhyme and meter
Gal's got structure, you can't beat her
Sans the meter, sans the rhyme
A poem's just a waste of time.
Of course, now I feel like I should be holding a large fake flower in my hand and bowing.
Poems must have rhyme and meter
Gal's got structure, you can't beat her
Sans the meter, sans the rhyme
A poem's just a waste of time.
Of course, now I feel like I should be holding a large fake flower in my hand and bowing.
Friday, May 20, 2005
Silly Site o' the Day
Speaking as I was of the Nielsen Haydens, whom it was a joy to see again this evening, I've been meaning to link to the Tolkein Sarcasm Page which Teresa discussed awhile back.
Speaking as I was of the Nielsen Haydens, whom it was a joy to see again this evening, I've been meaning to link to the Tolkein Sarcasm Page which Teresa discussed awhile back.
Friday Cat Blogging (™ Kevin Drum)
It's officially Friday again, and Datsa's eager to go to sleep, even though I'm a bit too keyed up. He's trying his best to lure me back into the bedroom, though...
Also worth a look is this series of cat links from Xeni Jardin at BoingBoing.
Bérubé Fête Sans Bérubé
Well, that was odd, but a lot of fun. Some terrific people attended tonight's dinner in honor of Michael Bérubé but, as it turns out, the guest of honor couldn't make it. He had a good excuse, though - last night he'd had an emergency appendectomy! From what we were told, it actually burst whilst he was on the operating table, so we're all glad he's fine now (and, rumor has it, pouting that he couldn't join us). So I hope he enjoys these pictures:
The kids' section of the table, featuring Her Majesty and the Loquacious Pup.
The Loquacious Pup's parents, Seth and Mrs. Talking Dog.
Scott Lemieux, Lindsay Beyerstein and John, and Steve M.
A better shot of John (foreground) and Steve, next to Uncle Procrustes and Julia's Beleaguered Husband.
Teresa and Patrick Nielsen Hayden, who are seriously considering combining their blogs into one, which would please me greatly.
Not pictured - Robin and me, Julia, Randy Paul, Roy Edroso and his friend (SO?) Mary.
The food was lovely if a bit pricey for our current budget, and the company was absolutely terrific. I'm a bit too tired to blog more than "the usual great conversations happened that you'd expect to happen," so I'll leave the details to the other attendees should they wish to expound upon the evening. Next time for sure, Michael; and thanks again for organizing this, Julia!
The kids' section of the table, featuring Her Majesty and the Loquacious Pup.
The Loquacious Pup's parents, Seth and Mrs. Talking Dog.
Scott Lemieux, Lindsay Beyerstein and John, and Steve M.
A better shot of John (foreground) and Steve, next to Uncle Procrustes and Julia's Beleaguered Husband.
Teresa and Patrick Nielsen Hayden, who are seriously considering combining their blogs into one, which would please me greatly.
Not pictured - Robin and me, Julia, Randy Paul, Roy Edroso and his friend (SO?) Mary.
The food was lovely if a bit pricey for our current budget, and the company was absolutely terrific. I'm a bit too tired to blog more than "the usual great conversations happened that you'd expect to happen," so I'll leave the details to the other attendees should they wish to expound upon the evening. Next time for sure, Michael; and thanks again for organizing this, Julia!
Thursday, May 19, 2005
I Blame My Brother
Via Heidi MacDonald, voice actor Nancy Cartwright (who voices Bart Simpson, Ralph Wiggum and Nelson Muntz, among others) has been elected mayor of Northridge. I sincerely hope my brother Gene, who lives there, voted for her...
Via Heidi MacDonald, voice actor Nancy Cartwright (who voices Bart Simpson, Ralph Wiggum and Nelson Muntz, among others) has been elected mayor of Northridge. I sincerely hope my brother Gene, who lives there, voted for her...
The Passion of the Whine
Argh, too many open windows, need to blog this subject before I can get on with things! Okay, yesterday (which was International Day Against Homophobia by the way) Pam Spaulding wrote about a website which provides a "service to families and business travelers who don't want to stay in hotels that offer in-room pornography." Asks Pam, "Can they just not order the porn?" Her Big Brass Blog-mate Shakespeare's Sister then pens a letter to the Dominionists chastising them at their lack of self-control. Then today, John at AmericaBlog reproes a bit from Dominionist hate organ AgapePress whining about how "American Christians could be facing a new form of inquisition. Gary Bauer of the Campaign for Working Families senses that anti-Christian feelings are on the rise among some segments of America."
And I'm like all, you know what? When you go beyond controlling your own morality (which as we've seen of late few of these purported Christians seem to do) and seek to control other people's private lives, TV watching habits and the like, yeah, it's entirely possible you're going to find that some of those other people won't turn the other cheek, and will come to resent your hypocritical proselytizing. Kinda like, you know, if we kill a bunch of Iraqis and lie to Americans about it claiming we're doing it as some kind of war against terrorism, and then lo and behold Iraq becomes a hotbed of terrorism entirely due to our invasion - well, we've only ourselves to blame. If you bully someone then run crying to Mommy and Daddy that you're the one being picked on because they protest your bullying, you'll quickly learn you can't have it both ways.
So today I read two "Christian Soldiers" bits that I wanted to pass along: first, Tom Tomorrow's "Onward Christian Soldiers" reminding us that, as Marc Maron calls them, "the Christo-Fascist Zombie Brigade" in no way encompasses all Christians, particularly not those who actually act like Christians, but that the CFZB is a very real threat indeed; and Nancy Goldstein's "Hold On, Christian Soldiers" about some very real anti-non-evangelical-Christian actions on the part of these wackos. She also gives my One Creche More or Less post a nice plug (thanks Nancy!), and I still stand by what I said - these people are bullies, nothing more or less; they're not about tending to their own morality so much as trying to control what other people do; they certainly aren't Christian in their actions; and they deserve no compromise, period.
And I'm like all, you know what? When you go beyond controlling your own morality (which as we've seen of late few of these purported Christians seem to do) and seek to control other people's private lives, TV watching habits and the like, yeah, it's entirely possible you're going to find that some of those other people won't turn the other cheek, and will come to resent your hypocritical proselytizing. Kinda like, you know, if we kill a bunch of Iraqis and lie to Americans about it claiming we're doing it as some kind of war against terrorism, and then lo and behold Iraq becomes a hotbed of terrorism entirely due to our invasion - well, we've only ourselves to blame. If you bully someone then run crying to Mommy and Daddy that you're the one being picked on because they protest your bullying, you'll quickly learn you can't have it both ways.
So today I read two "Christian Soldiers" bits that I wanted to pass along: first, Tom Tomorrow's "Onward Christian Soldiers" reminding us that, as Marc Maron calls them, "the Christo-Fascist Zombie Brigade" in no way encompasses all Christians, particularly not those who actually act like Christians, but that the CFZB is a very real threat indeed; and Nancy Goldstein's "Hold On, Christian Soldiers" about some very real anti-non-evangelical-Christian actions on the part of these wackos. She also gives my One Creche More or Less post a nice plug (thanks Nancy!), and I still stand by what I said - these people are bullies, nothing more or less; they're not about tending to their own morality so much as trying to control what other people do; they certainly aren't Christian in their actions; and they deserve no compromise, period.
So, I Hear There's a Star Wars Movie Opening...
Fair warning, Jesse Taylor has some major plot spoilers as he discusses why Revenge of the Sith is anything but the deep political parable some Bush supporters are whining about. Heidi MacDonald has a different take, finding it "the story of noble struggle and valiant death" which " took a piece of CGI and gave it a personality, a dimension of the humane."
Silly Site o' the Day
Where does he get those wonderful toys? Why, Acme Products, of course! Via Halley Suitt.
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Going to Citgo
See, the good thing about this is that the nearest Citgo is only a half dozen blocks away, right next to the place where I get my oil changed. And their prices are pretty reasonable.
Behind Closed Doors
Finally, someone with something sensible to say about the NY Times' decision to make "the work of Op-Ed columnists... available only to TimesSelect subscribers beginning in September." I find myself in agreement with Tom Tomorrow regarding whether this renders the paper irrelevant when he says
they own the ball, the bat, the field and the bleachers, and if they decide to start charging us to enter, then we either pay or find a way to peek in through the fence (Times op-ed columns are usually syndicated out pretty quickly). But they don't become irrelevant because the slim minority of their readership which reaches them via the snarky commentary of bloggers such as your host can no longer do so.I also want to note that op/ed columns, while perhaps a dime a dozen now that there are so many great blogger pundits out there, are still not in the realm of "public service" the way actual news reporting is. If the NYT started charging folks to read its news articles, I'd be pissed even though I could probably find the same news items elsewhere. It's the principle of the thing - news should be a public service. In olden days it was even considered a loss leader, certainly on TV and I would warrant in print as well. The stuff that makes money for the paper, the stuff they do that entices people to buy it, consists of things like comics and crossword puzzles and, yes, op/ed columns. None of those features are necessary to inform the reading public, so I can't get worked up if the paper wants to put them behind a $50 subscription firewall. Besides, I have too many opinionated blogs to read through! Now if you'll excuse me, I've fallen behind again...
Silly Site o' the Day
I've decided that it's not allergies making me so logy and phlegmy and all that - I'm going to blame it on the Peeps instead. They're attacking, you know. Via Susie.
I've decided that it's not allergies making me so logy and phlegmy and all that - I'm going to blame it on the Peeps instead. They're attacking, you know. Via Susie.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Quote of the Day
Whenever I hear Scott McClellan talking about ‘media credibility,’ I strain to remember who it was who admitted Jeff Gannon to the White House press room and called on him all those times.
From Keith Olbermann's The resignation of Scott McClellan, the post everyone in the blogosphere seems to be linking to today.
Social Notes
Ah, spring. When my social life starts taking off again now that I'm over the cough/flu thingy (now if only my allergies abated). Off to a blogger dinner gathering Thursday night in Brooklyn, so I've taken Friday off 'cause I imagine I'll be pretty exhausted and I have lots of vacation days piled up (but I'm still hoping for a job interview or two that afternoon). Then on Sunday, I'm very psyched because I and a few other select local bloggers will be attending a matinee of Little Women and discussing the show afterwards. (That means I'll be attempting to reread the book on Saturday if I can locate it.) Then after that a bunch of us will very likely head down to Blog Sheroes again (Madame X once more, at 94 West Houston St; topic of discussion: "Tag! You're It: Niche Blogs and Marketing Your Passion" so I'll probably talk comics). I was thinking about resting on Saturday but I really need to take the car in for an oil change. Eh, rest is overrated anyway, innit?
Silly Site o' the Day
Generator time again! Here's another spiffy sign generator, via the Scrutiny Hooligans. I'm pretty sure they didn't envision folks getting a hold of it to make their own non-business signs. Here's mine:
To the point and polite, that's me!
To the point and polite, that's me!
Monday, May 16, 2005
Connecting the Dots
And darned if they don't all form a picture of Karl Rove again. As Teresa has said more than once, I deeply resent the way this administration makes me feel like a nutbar conspiracy theorist, but it's not really a conspiracy theory when you can determine a precise and repeatable pattern, is it? So we have John and Chris at AmericaBlog saying "we think President Bush placed a little call to the head of Newsweek, asking him to beg off the story [about religious desecration at Guantanamo] since riots are now spreading across the Middle East," because the story itself is pretty solid ("this is not the first time the story has been reported about US authorities flushing the Koran down the toilet at Gitmo"). Joe then reports that "The White House spent the day attacking Newsweek," leading to Newsweek retracting its story. Avedon notes, "Watch for an attempt to do to Michael Isikoff what they did to Dan Rather." (And also watch for Priscilla Owen, "another Rove work in progress," but I digress.) Sure enough, as Susie observes, "It’s not Rathergate, but the media is spinning it that way. There were numerous recorded instances of Quran desecration – just that Newsweek attributed it to the wrong source document." And Bill Connolly notes, "I think Arthur Silber says what needs to be said about the Newsweek 'Koran-flushing' controversy. His point that the ensuing brouhaha will be used to wash the Downing Street memo story down the drain is particularly cogent, and important." I agree - and again, this is pure Rovian misdirection.
Silly Site o' the Day
Arianna Huffington may have moved on from her solo blog to a group effort, but not before leaving a Silly Site in the form of her sister Agapi Stassinopoulos' Goddess Quiz (part of a website dedicated to selling her book about gods and goddesses).
Arianna Huffington may have moved on from her solo blog to a group effort, but not before leaving a Silly Site in the form of her sister Agapi Stassinopoulos' Goddess Quiz (part of a website dedicated to selling her book about gods and goddesses).
Sunday, May 15, 2005
LC Blogaround
It's a quiet, grey day, I'm starting to get caught up on blogs after yesterday, and my shoulders hurt too much to catch a kip, so I may as well do a Liberal Coalition blogaround. Particularly since edwardpig is closing up shop and going on hiatus (*snif*) and I'm trying to rally the troops to vote in a few new potential members (two of whom are already on my blogroll anyway)...
Alex Greenwood takes a page from Holden at First Draft and has an obsession with the gaggle, the topic of this press secretary b.s. being the evacuation of the Capitol when that Cessna came strolling by. He's apparently suffering from idiot spammers as well; hope Sooner Thought gets better soon, Alex!
Amy's SO Dave asks his latest Friday question Star Wars-intro style. Brilliant! Go watch the video and respond.
Andante remembers Sputnik and bemoans the devolution of science teaching in this country, much the same way I did at the Rose Center a week ago. She also gives Pat Buchanan what fer.
Bryant Gries is going to be in a documentary! I agree with him completely that bloggers aren't journalists (unless they're journalists who blog) but rather commentators. Me, I'm just a loud-mouthed wiseass. Also check out all of Bryant's "Meet Me in St. Louis" posts, as he blogs from the National Conference for Media Reform.
Chris Brown does a nice book review of God's Politics by Jim Wallis.
At Corrente, Lambert's mind boggles at the irony, and Riggsveda alerts us we're due for another planned Blogger outage. 'S okay, that's what comics reading is for.
Echidne's been blogging up a storm subbing for Atrios at Eschaton, but she's also found time to do some primo ranting on her own blog. (Oh dear, the kids don't say things like "primo" any more, do they?)
Over at And Then..., Scout is growing discouraged over political posting and has taken temporary refuge in music. I'm looking forward to more comics reading this afternoon for pretty much the same reasons.
At First Draft, Tena bemoans the dumbing-down of public broadcasting (in much the same way that Andante mourns the downfall of science education in the US. My favorite quote about the religious reich currently in charge: "They are pandering to the stubbornly ignorant in this country and telling them not to want to remedy their ignorance, but to revel in it." It's true, I've felt a number of times that many people seem downright proud to be dumb. Also check out this terrific post by Athenae on the assumption of innocence.
Guy Andrew Hall can't even keep track of his blogiversary. Of course, neither can I, I've missed wishing so many people happy birthdays and blogiversaries lately, I'm getting as bad as I am with family birthdays. So, y'all know who you are, hope your special day is/was a good one.
Jeff at Speedkill reads the letters to the editor page of the local paper.
Jesse does some research on why the Nelson amendment to the recent disastrous bankruptcy bill was likewise shot down.
John at Archy is the latest to cackle at Pete Seeger's revenge on the warmongers. I'm constantly amazed at the disconnect between people's love of songs and their complete non-understanding of what those songs actually say. But then, I'm the one who threw stuff at the TV the first time Mercedes-Benz used the Joplin song about conspicuous consumption to advertise their vehicles.
Jude Camwell notes that Congress' approval rating is about as abysmal as the President's, and bids us stay tuned. And she too quotes Jim Wallis.
Keith Kisser has a mystery cat but not triskaidekaphobia.
Maru Soze also blogs the hell out of her pets, and congratulates skippy, as should we all even though Stewart was actually making fun of his name. Hey, any publicity is good publicity sometimes...
Michael at Musing's Musings brings us the scoop from Cannes.
Mike from Left is Right has a truly disturbing graphic but, hey, his post references a truly disturbing guy.
Moi at bloggg congratulates T.J. Maxx customers' generosity and passes along some snappy comebacks.
Mustang Bobby gives us two good articles for Sunday reading, one on blogging and one on the push for elderly people to be busy and active.
Norbizness did a keep-religion-out-of-my-face post yesterday too, but said things much more succinctly than me, as usual.
NTodd Pritsky, somewhere in Jersey as we speak but does he call? does he write?, reviews the state of the music industry.
Wish Scott Baron luck! While you're at it, wish me luck too...
One of the Scrutiny Hooligans, Uptown Ruler, apologizes for the lack of original content, citing general busy-ness among all the hooligans, and assuring me that if they didn't excerpt articles they wouldn't be blogging at all. As I replied, most bloggers link to articles they think should be read; it's their take on those subjects that I think gives blogging its value. Nonetheless, SH is a must-peruse anyway 'cause every now and then you get original content like plans for the Asheville blogging summit, so there you are.
Steve Bates reports on his gig at Rice University. And please offer him your condolences on the loss of his kitty Sufi.
Steve Gilliard, who held his own quite nicely on Majority Report this week, talks about trigger-happy soldiers in Iraq.
T. Rex loves pop culture the way it should be loved - selectively!
Please also extend condolences to Trish Wilson, who lost her kitty Mulder. Other recent posts from Trish include the latest Ike meme and the news about John Cleese writing an Aardman movie (which reminds me that I never did pick up that True Brit hardcover)...
Upyernoz is preparing to IM to Uzbekistan. I can't wait for his follow-up post.
Lastly, Wanda reminds us of the joy of all the kitties in the world that don't belong to us.
As a reminder: The Liberal Coalition was a group formed during the heyday of the Truth Laid Bear's New Blog Showcase which has since gone by the wayside. (But the LC hasn't; commonality of purpose will do that to ya!) Unlike webrings, along with the requirement of blogrolling one another, doing periodic blogarounds (what some bloggers call "carnivals") is one of the pseudo-requirements of LC membership.
Alex Greenwood takes a page from Holden at First Draft and has an obsession with the gaggle, the topic of this press secretary b.s. being the evacuation of the Capitol when that Cessna came strolling by. He's apparently suffering from idiot spammers as well; hope Sooner Thought gets better soon, Alex!
Amy's SO Dave asks his latest Friday question Star Wars-intro style. Brilliant! Go watch the video and respond.
Andante remembers Sputnik and bemoans the devolution of science teaching in this country, much the same way I did at the Rose Center a week ago. She also gives Pat Buchanan what fer.
Bryant Gries is going to be in a documentary! I agree with him completely that bloggers aren't journalists (unless they're journalists who blog) but rather commentators. Me, I'm just a loud-mouthed wiseass. Also check out all of Bryant's "Meet Me in St. Louis" posts, as he blogs from the National Conference for Media Reform.
Chris Brown does a nice book review of God's Politics by Jim Wallis.
At Corrente, Lambert's mind boggles at the irony, and Riggsveda alerts us we're due for another planned Blogger outage. 'S okay, that's what comics reading is for.
Echidne's been blogging up a storm subbing for Atrios at Eschaton, but she's also found time to do some primo ranting on her own blog. (Oh dear, the kids don't say things like "primo" any more, do they?)
Over at And Then..., Scout is growing discouraged over political posting and has taken temporary refuge in music. I'm looking forward to more comics reading this afternoon for pretty much the same reasons.
At First Draft, Tena bemoans the dumbing-down of public broadcasting (in much the same way that Andante mourns the downfall of science education in the US. My favorite quote about the religious reich currently in charge: "They are pandering to the stubbornly ignorant in this country and telling them not to want to remedy their ignorance, but to revel in it." It's true, I've felt a number of times that many people seem downright proud to be dumb. Also check out this terrific post by Athenae on the assumption of innocence.
Guy Andrew Hall can't even keep track of his blogiversary. Of course, neither can I, I've missed wishing so many people happy birthdays and blogiversaries lately, I'm getting as bad as I am with family birthdays. So, y'all know who you are, hope your special day is/was a good one.
Jeff at Speedkill reads the letters to the editor page of the local paper.
Jesse does some research on why the Nelson amendment to the recent disastrous bankruptcy bill was likewise shot down.
John at Archy is the latest to cackle at Pete Seeger's revenge on the warmongers. I'm constantly amazed at the disconnect between people's love of songs and their complete non-understanding of what those songs actually say. But then, I'm the one who threw stuff at the TV the first time Mercedes-Benz used the Joplin song about conspicuous consumption to advertise their vehicles.
Jude Camwell notes that Congress' approval rating is about as abysmal as the President's, and bids us stay tuned. And she too quotes Jim Wallis.
Keith Kisser has a mystery cat but not triskaidekaphobia.
Maru Soze also blogs the hell out of her pets, and congratulates skippy, as should we all even though Stewart was actually making fun of his name. Hey, any publicity is good publicity sometimes...
Michael at Musing's Musings brings us the scoop from Cannes.
Mike from Left is Right has a truly disturbing graphic but, hey, his post references a truly disturbing guy.
Moi at bloggg congratulates T.J. Maxx customers' generosity and passes along some snappy comebacks.
Mustang Bobby gives us two good articles for Sunday reading, one on blogging and one on the push for elderly people to be busy and active.
Norbizness did a keep-religion-out-of-my-face post yesterday too, but said things much more succinctly than me, as usual.
NTodd Pritsky, somewhere in Jersey as we speak but does he call? does he write?, reviews the state of the music industry.
Wish Scott Baron luck! While you're at it, wish me luck too...
One of the Scrutiny Hooligans, Uptown Ruler, apologizes for the lack of original content, citing general busy-ness among all the hooligans, and assuring me that if they didn't excerpt articles they wouldn't be blogging at all. As I replied, most bloggers link to articles they think should be read; it's their take on those subjects that I think gives blogging its value. Nonetheless, SH is a must-peruse anyway 'cause every now and then you get original content like plans for the Asheville blogging summit, so there you are.
Steve Bates reports on his gig at Rice University. And please offer him your condolences on the loss of his kitty Sufi.
Steve Gilliard, who held his own quite nicely on Majority Report this week, talks about trigger-happy soldiers in Iraq.
T. Rex loves pop culture the way it should be loved - selectively!
Please also extend condolences to Trish Wilson, who lost her kitty Mulder. Other recent posts from Trish include the latest Ike meme and the news about John Cleese writing an Aardman movie (which reminds me that I never did pick up that True Brit hardcover)...
Upyernoz is preparing to IM to Uzbekistan. I can't wait for his follow-up post.
Lastly, Wanda reminds us of the joy of all the kitties in the world that don't belong to us.
As a reminder: The Liberal Coalition was a group formed during the heyday of the Truth Laid Bear's New Blog Showcase which has since gone by the wayside. (But the LC hasn't; commonality of purpose will do that to ya!) Unlike webrings, along with the requirement of blogrolling one another, doing periodic blogarounds (what some bloggers call "carnivals") is one of the pseudo-requirements of LC membership.
Silly Site o' the Day
Dang, item 5579387493 (JESUS CHRIST'S PANTS - ACTUALLY WORN BY THE SON OF GOD) was removed from eBay before I could use it as a Silly Site. No fair! I can't even find a cached version. Oh well, time to fall back on the one currently making the blog rounds, which I've seen so far via Lesley, Dave Johnson and at least one comments section I can't recall at the moment: Grocery Store Wars.
Dang, item 5579387493 (JESUS CHRIST'S PANTS - ACTUALLY WORN BY THE SON OF GOD) was removed from eBay before I could use it as a Silly Site. No fair! I can't even find a cached version. Oh well, time to fall back on the one currently making the blog rounds, which I've seen so far via Lesley, Dave Johnson and at least one comments section I can't recall at the moment: Grocery Store Wars.
Saturday, May 14, 2005
Ninth Avenue Foto Fest
Before I talk about my glorious afternoon in Manhattan (how I wish both the weather and my health had been like this last weekend when Cat was here!), I wanted to comment a bit more on my previous post, because it occurred to me even as I was writing it that it shouldn't be necessary to speculate on how Matt and Kevin and Ezra grew up in order to make my points that I grew up surrounded by the "look how great my Christian religion is, you filthy Jew" mentality, and therefore know from experience that when one religion (or group of religions) sets itself up as the most important or only important one, trouble usually follows in the form of all other religions and any non-religious folks being treated as inconsequential. (You don't have to be a Wiccan in Chesterfield County, VA to know that.) So I'd like to apologize to any of them if they happen to read that post (hey, they're all A-list bloggers, I think I rate an itty bitty blip on their radar once in a blue moon) and take offense.
You can also partially blame the relative looseness of the post on my haste to get out of the house to attend the annual Ninth Avenue Food Fest, which was about the same this year as last. Let's roll the videotape! What? No video? Okay, then, how about some pictures?
Without a doubt, the easiest way to get to the Fest from where we are was to take the "1" down to Columbus Circle and walk across 58th Street, where we saw this cool sculpture-thingy outside the side entrance to the Time Warner Shopping Center and Global Mindthink Emporium.
Before I talk about my glorious afternoon in Manhattan (how I wish both the weather and my health had been like this last weekend when Cat was here!), I wanted to comment a bit more on my previous post, because it occurred to me even as I was writing it that it shouldn't be necessary to speculate on how Matt and Kevin and Ezra grew up in order to make my points that I grew up surrounded by the "look how great my Christian religion is, you filthy Jew" mentality, and therefore know from experience that when one religion (or group of religions) sets itself up as the most important or only important one, trouble usually follows in the form of all other religions and any non-religious folks being treated as inconsequential. (You don't have to be a Wiccan in Chesterfield County, VA to know that.) So I'd like to apologize to any of them if they happen to read that post (hey, they're all A-list bloggers, I think I rate an itty bitty blip on their radar once in a blue moon) and take offense.
You can also partially blame the relative looseness of the post on my haste to get out of the house to attend the annual Ninth Avenue Food Fest, which was about the same this year as last. Let's roll the videotape! What? No video? Okay, then, how about some pictures?
Without a doubt, the easiest way to get to the Fest from where we are was to take the "1" down to Columbus Circle and walk across 58th Street, where we saw this cool sculpture-thingy outside the side entrance to the Time Warner Shopping Center and Global Mindthink Emporium.
No really, I kid - Time Warner, beautiful people, I'd kill seriously maim to work for them and I hope their comics division keeps hiring my husband.
You can't see the crowd as well as I'd hoped in this one, but there are about a million people, give or take a couple dozen, stretching along the 20 blocks behind Robin.
You can't see the crowd as well as I'd hoped in this one, but there are about a million people, give or take a couple dozen, stretching along the 20 blocks behind Robin.
This was, of course, pre-sunburn. Hey, the forecast said cloudy with a high chance of showers, we were unprepared!
Not too many corporate logos this time around, at least in terms of people in hot costumes wandering the streets.
Not too many corporate logos this time around, at least in terms of people in hot costumes wandering the streets.
The Peanut Chew characters were the exceptions. There was a red and a blue one. I have no idea of the significance, and I didn't take a freebie as I'd just eaten a chicken satay with peanut sauce.
Turned out that was one of the only things I did eat, although I downed a lemonade or two and a lovely Thai iced tea. Too hot, that time of the month, allergies, whatever the reason, it's just a bummer not to be that hungry when faced with a food festival.
Turned out that was one of the only things I did eat, although I downed a lemonade or two and a lovely Thai iced tea. Too hot, that time of the month, allergies, whatever the reason, it's just a bummer not to be that hungry when faced with a food festival.
And spits! Did I mention the spits? These newfangled spit contraptions were everywhere, I saw about half a dozen of them throughout the fest.
Also disappointing was that very few of the booths actually advertised their prices. It was almost like "if you have to ask, you either can't afford it or you're just plain being rude." So that tended to curb my appetite as well, I guess. At least I wasn't the only one apparently expecting rain:
Also disappointing was that very few of the booths actually advertised their prices. It was almost like "if you have to ask, you either can't afford it or you're just plain being rude." So that tended to curb my appetite as well, I guess. At least I wasn't the only one apparently expecting rain:
Right off 42nd Street. I dunno, maybe it dropped off a bus out of Port Authority.
I grabbed a couple shark kebobs, looked in vain for the stuffed quail booth where Steve used to get his blood sausage (it's gone now, along with a number of other once-fixtures, in favor of the multiple "franchise" booths selling funnel cakes and mazzarepas and crepes), then we sat down for a bit in the blessed Port Authority air conditioning and planned what to do next. We wound up with a nice bit of semi-planned spontaneity (does that make sense?), walking across 40th Street to pick up our weekly haul at Midtown Comics, as long as we were in the area - oh, by the way, here's a very cool view from behind a bit of scaffolding, looking north towards some of the spiffy new buildings on or about 42nd and 8th:
I grabbed a couple shark kebobs, looked in vain for the stuffed quail booth where Steve used to get his blood sausage (it's gone now, along with a number of other once-fixtures, in favor of the multiple "franchise" booths selling funnel cakes and mazzarepas and crepes), then we sat down for a bit in the blessed Port Authority air conditioning and planned what to do next. We wound up with a nice bit of semi-planned spontaneity (does that make sense?), walking across 40th Street to pick up our weekly haul at Midtown Comics, as long as we were in the area - oh, by the way, here's a very cool view from behind a bit of scaffolding, looking north towards some of the spiffy new buildings on or about 42nd and 8th:
So anyway, we got our comics then took the subway down to Chelsea, where I got to browse the Whole Foods Market and buy absolutely nothing; then to Garden of Eden, where I spent about $40 on the things I wished I'd found at WFM; then to Monster for a late lunch/early dinner (half of which my suddenly-low appetite forced me to doggie-bag) before heading back home.
Then Robin went frantically searching for the Piz Buin (god, I love saying that, "Piz Buin Piz Buin Piz Buin!") in our rather messy hallway closet, and Amy meowed to be let up onto the top level where the linen was; she wound up staying there for a few hours:
Then Robin went frantically searching for the Piz Buin (god, I love saying that, "Piz Buin Piz Buin Piz Buin!") in our rather messy hallway closet, and Amy meowed to be let up onto the top level where the linen was; she wound up staying there for a few hours:
There ya go, a little bonus Saturday cat-blogging for ya. Anyway, nice but exhausting day, and now I'm going to go read comics with the Yankee game in the background.
One Creche More or Less
Well, this is a little disturbing - Matt Yglesias, Kevin Drum and Ezra Klein all seem to think some folks are making too big a deal out of people who want to put up religious displays in public places. Like, you know, we have bigger fish to fry, or something. Digby has a wonderful response to this that's immediately gone into my Koufax 2005 nominations bin (I have less than 10 posts saved in that section and three belong to Digby), but I wanted to put in my two cents, having grown up Jewish in a very Christian neighborhood.
I don't know what religions Matt and Kevin and Ezra practice or grew up with, but I'll bet they're majority ones. Mine wasn't. Oh, it may seem so now, at least as far as lip service goes, "Christian" having become "Judeo-Christian" even though Jews constitute only 2.2 percent of US population according to the U.S. Census Bureau (see tables 67 through 69 in this PDF) and break down worldwide thusly:
I don't know what religions Matt and Kevin and Ezra practice or grew up with, but I'll bet they're majority ones. Mine wasn't. Oh, it may seem so now, at least as far as lip service goes, "Christian" having become "Judeo-Christian" even though Jews constitute only 2.2 percent of US population according to the U.S. Census Bureau (see tables 67 through 69 in this PDF) and break down worldwide thusly:
But my point is, this disproportionate influence is a fairly recent thing, and even with it there are still numerous incidents of intolerance and hatred directed towards Jews. When I was a kid I faced a hell of a lot of anti-Semitism, from having stones and eggs thrown at our house when we dared to put up Chanukah decorations, to being chased home by mobs or surrounded by kids on bikes and pinned to a tree until the tree-bugs started crawling all over me and... Sorry, the memories are still pretty painful, even 40 years later.
Now, maybe some liberals who didn't grow up experiencing this irrational hatred (and Ezra's kinda young) have no idea what seeing symbols of the majority religion all over the place does to your psyche. I'm convinced that the public celebration of others' Christianity was a major contributing factor to the prejudice I experienced as a child. It just seems to me that public displays of Christ-stuff are another version of the tyranny of the majority - if they made me feel that left out, how isolated and excluded must Hindu kids feel now, or Muslim kids, or Buddhist kids? Don't they count? Don't atheists? They sure seem to worldwide (see chart above), but in a country that's specifically prided itself for 200+ years on its acceptance of people from all different nations and creeds and beliefs? Not so much.
So pardon me if I continue to rage against the dying of the light of religious tolerance. But it happens to be important to me that others don't shove their religion in my face. Because if they can get away with that... well, let's just say that images of arms with tattooed numbers still haunt my nightmares.
P.S. Heartfelt thanks to Dave, Kevin and particularly Jeanne ('cause her post made me weep again, but in a good, catharctic way) for linking to this post. That's some heady A-list linkage for this little blogger!
Now, maybe some liberals who didn't grow up experiencing this irrational hatred (and Ezra's kinda young) have no idea what seeing symbols of the majority religion all over the place does to your psyche. I'm convinced that the public celebration of others' Christianity was a major contributing factor to the prejudice I experienced as a child. It just seems to me that public displays of Christ-stuff are another version of the tyranny of the majority - if they made me feel that left out, how isolated and excluded must Hindu kids feel now, or Muslim kids, or Buddhist kids? Don't they count? Don't atheists? They sure seem to worldwide (see chart above), but in a country that's specifically prided itself for 200+ years on its acceptance of people from all different nations and creeds and beliefs? Not so much.
So pardon me if I continue to rage against the dying of the light of religious tolerance. But it happens to be important to me that others don't shove their religion in my face. Because if they can get away with that... well, let's just say that images of arms with tattooed numbers still haunt my nightmares.
P.S. Heartfelt thanks to Dave, Kevin and particularly Jeanne ('cause her post made me weep again, but in a good, catharctic way) for linking to this post. That's some heady A-list linkage for this little blogger!
Silly Site o' the Day
Off to the Food Fest in a little while, hoping we don't get rained on too much. Maybe we'll bring back some meat-scented air fresheners. (Via Xeni Jardin at BoingBoing.)
Off to the Food Fest in a little while, hoping we don't get rained on too much. Maybe we'll bring back some meat-scented air fresheners. (Via Xeni Jardin at BoingBoing.)
Friday, May 13, 2005
Silly Site o' the Day
So what I want to know is, why hasn't anyone in the blogosphere pointed out yet that Tom Ridge's remarks at the Washington forum not only completely contradicted what he was saying last year about how terror alerts weren't politicized, but what he'd just said to Jon Stewart the day beforehand on The Daily Show? (Unfortunately their clip site doesn't seem to have that interview up yet.) In any case, in honor of Mr. Ridge's main "accomplishment" as Homeland Security czar, here's an oldie but goodie - threatmeter t-shirts, which I first read about via Scrutiny Hooligans.
So what I want to know is, why hasn't anyone in the blogosphere pointed out yet that Tom Ridge's remarks at the Washington forum not only completely contradicted what he was saying last year about how terror alerts weren't politicized, but what he'd just said to Jon Stewart the day beforehand on The Daily Show? (Unfortunately their clip site doesn't seem to have that interview up yet.) In any case, in honor of Mr. Ridge's main "accomplishment" as Homeland Security czar, here's an oldie but goodie - threatmeter t-shirts, which I first read about via Scrutiny Hooligans.
Friday Cat Blogging (™ Kevin Drum)
Well, Datsa had another tooth or teeth fall out yesterday. He's had bad teeth his whole life, has had dental work three times, and still has some major periodontal problems, but at his age (either 13 or 14, I've lost count) I'm reluctant to put him under anesthesia again unless he's really in pain. For the last six months at least he's had his tongue sticking out more often than not, which in his case indicates oral discomfort. When Cat was here, he seemed to lose a bit of a tooth leaping onto a windowsill and missing, and by yesterday morning he appeared to be suffering a lot, difficulty eating and cleaning himself and so forth, so we made tentative plans to take him to the vet and somehow swallow the doubtless hefty cost again. Then mid-morning the rest of the stuff came out, and ever since then he's been the liveliest and most pain-free we've seen him in, I'd say, at least three years.
If this picture seems a bit blurry it's because he can hardly keep still for the last day or so. He and Amy have been wildly chasing each other around the house this morning. It's nice to have the old/young Datsa back again! Cats really are remarkable creatures, their bodies do tend to know how to purge pain if they're able to.
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Quote of the Day
From Shakespeare's Sister:
Update: Digby has a great quote too:
While I should be surprised by the blatant and galling hypocrisy of a man who repeatedly rapes his wife sitting on a panel arguing against a drug that may bring peace of mind to rape victims, I am so jaded by the nonstop parade of conservative fuckheads who want to roll back the rights of women and gays as punishment for their "deviant" behavior (such as having the unmitigated temerity to fuck someone without the express purpose of making a baby), but end up being revealed as perverted in ways of which most people wouldn’t ever begin to dream, that I can barely muster shock, no less outrage.Someone with a stronger stomach for hypocrisy and deviance than me ought to make a list of all the right-wing moralists, from Jim Bakker on down, who practice the very opposite of what they preach. I find myself in complete agreement with everyone who's observing that the reason these "family values" cretins seem so overly concerned about regulating other people's personal behavior is that the skeletons in their own closets are far worse than anything they accuse others of engaging in. It's almost a classic misdirection tactic (and we know how well accusing the other side of doing something when you yourself are guilty of far worse - i.e., the Karl Rove strategy - works in politics).
Update: Digby has a great quote too:
To think that we impeached a president over a couple of half baked blowjobs in a hallway --- and listened to years and years of non-stop moralizing from these Republican perverts. I'm a pretty sophisticated person and I don't usually pass judgements on people's fantasy lives or their sexuality. But the Christian Right with their wild shedding of the most shocking of sexual taboos are starting to freak me out. And I'm from California.
Maintenance Notes
As Jill Filipovic announced today, she'll be shutting down Third Wave Agenda to join Lauren as the official Feministe co-blogger, so I've eliminated both those blogs from the News+Views Gals section of my sidebar blogroll and moved Feministe down to Dynamic Duos instead.
Sheelzebub will still be posting at Pinko Feminist Hellcat but she is going to join the gang at Preemptive Karma as well, so I've moved them from Dynamic Duos to Groups.
With the Huffington Post in full swing, I've deleted Arianna Huffington's solo blog from the sidebar but added HP contributor Chris Meserole of Democratic Vista, as we've struck up a nice e-mail conversation and he's been kind enough to blogroll me on his lefty links page. I've also added the group blog Julien's List to the sidebar, as I've been reading it regularly for awhile anyway via Bloglines.
And I'm trying a little harder, time permitting, to do trackbacks when I reference another blog. It's a bit of a tedious process with Haloscan (I have to copy/paste my post's name and URL, then an excerpt from my post, then the target blog post's trackback URL), but I know a lot of people with trackback capabilities enjoy seeing them.
As Jill Filipovic announced today, she'll be shutting down Third Wave Agenda to join Lauren as the official Feministe co-blogger, so I've eliminated both those blogs from the News+Views Gals section of my sidebar blogroll and moved Feministe down to Dynamic Duos instead.
Sheelzebub will still be posting at Pinko Feminist Hellcat but she is going to join the gang at Preemptive Karma as well, so I've moved them from Dynamic Duos to Groups.
With the Huffington Post in full swing, I've deleted Arianna Huffington's solo blog from the sidebar but added HP contributor Chris Meserole of Democratic Vista, as we've struck up a nice e-mail conversation and he's been kind enough to blogroll me on his lefty links page. I've also added the group blog Julien's List to the sidebar, as I've been reading it regularly for awhile anyway via Bloglines.
And I'm trying a little harder, time permitting, to do trackbacks when I reference another blog. It's a bit of a tedious process with Haloscan (I have to copy/paste my post's name and URL, then an excerpt from my post, then the target blog post's trackback URL), but I know a lot of people with trackback capabilities enjoy seeing them.
Silly Site o' the Day
I hadn't meant to post so little the last couple of days - my workload has lightened up, and I should have lots of breathing room today (if I could breathe, but this probably-allergy-induced cold is beside the point) - but it's been one of those weeks where I haven't found myself with anything to say that folks on my blogroll haven't already said better. So another Silly Site it is, and we'll see what today brings. My "neighbor" Keith R.A. DeCandido found another interesting 404 error message; enjoy.
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Silly Site o' the Day
Back at work, fortunately not much to catch up on other than mail and e-mail. So it should be a quiet day, which is good because I got a lousy night's sleep what with the catamenia (my new favorite word). And it's getting warm outside again! Good beach weather for some, I guess. Maybe you'll see some incredible sand sculptures (via BoingBoing) while you're there.
Monday, May 09, 2005
Weekend Wrap-Up
My long weekend ends tonight, with me anything but refreshed and rested. What's euphemistically termed "cellular debris" is the main culprit at the moment, but I suspect all my jaunts into Manhattan (where I hardly find myself with any regularity any more) the past four days, combined with a general lack of sleep, might be to blame as well. As mentioned previously, Cat got a whole bunch of good reading out of Free Comic Book Day and has been turned onto at least four new artists whose work he will now seek out; and yesterday we met Doc and Lili at the Rose Center, where I took lots of photos. I'll repro the thumbnails below but you should check out the whole thing in slideshow mode to see them full size:
To the right is Mia, whom we met on the bus Saturday, actually, going down to FCBD. She was as adorable as she looks here. As I only took one shot on Saturday I thought I'd lump this in with the rest. I mean, look at that face!
On the left, one of a few neighborhood photos I took. This was taking whilst waiting for the bus in front of the College of Mount Saint Vincent, which has some exquisite landscaping.
There's a little parklet surrounding the Rose Center, and on one of the paths lies this monument (on the right) to American Nobel Prize winners. I was hoping to see Betsy's husband's name on it, but they only go up to 2003 and Frank won in 2004.
At left, the tulips planted right outside the Rose Center's entrance were lovely. The tree pollen around is enough to give you quite the headache, but I think it's worth it for all this too-fleeting beauty. The weather could have been a tad warmer, but it was pleasant enough to sit outside waiting for Doc and Lili and not even need my heavy jacket. Of course, I did wear a sweatshirt...
I loved both these signs, particularly devoid of context. The one on the left says "Space Center Restrooms" and on the right it reads "Down to Big Bang." And so it was!
At the lobby entrance. Cat's on the left with his videocamera, Doc is on the right with his digital camera, and of course I'm facing them taking this shot. We're such photo geeks... (Lili, the relatively sensible one among us, is not pictured.)
Check it out, the big space at the bottom of the center had a replica of a Mars rover! Even shinier in person. I wish I could order one from Amazon...
Okay, just two more from the inside of the Center, because I want you to go to the page to see the full-sized shots and I wanted to make a point:
I love how they've now qualified the terminology they use (at left) by calling reality the "observable universe." It speaks to science's willingness to admit that "everything you know is wrong" every once in awhile, and to humans' ability to reconsider previously-held beliefs when challenged.
Lastly, on the right, a single hair-width represents the past 30,000 years of human existence and endeavor on this planet, compared with the history of the observable universe. One thing the Rose Center is definitely into exploring is the idea of a sense of scale, and a sense of humans' relative importance in the scheme of all things. How we're hardly the center of the observable universe, but at the same time we strive to be the creators of our own universes within, that of our minds' potential.
And I couldn't help but feel sorry for all those kids from Dominionist and other fundamentalist households, the ones who believe in all their blind faith that all of creation can't possibly be more than a few thousand years old, not that they have any proof because faith takes the place of proof and reason and thinking. Going to places like this, seeing all these awe-inspiring examples of how important and insignificant humans are all at the same time, well, it just makes me feel like I'm closer to the wonder of God than if I sat in a pew each weekend staring at a book of metaphors and parables. I still don't get why so many of these thoughtless folk insist that religion and science can't coexist. (But then, I never had a problem with the idea that "yom" - the Hebrew word for "day" - can't also mean "eon," meaning that our observable universe was created in the space of six eons, each eon lasting... what's the current estimate? A few billion years? Works for me.
Which reminds me, Christie Keith has some great thoughts on the tyranny of "balance" as well as on false equivalency, of how the Dominionists (and Republicans) like "to use your credibility to enhance theirs, they win even if they lose." Highly recommended.
To the right is Mia, whom we met on the bus Saturday, actually, going down to FCBD. She was as adorable as she looks here. As I only took one shot on Saturday I thought I'd lump this in with the rest. I mean, look at that face!On the left, one of a few neighborhood photos I took. This was taking whilst waiting for the bus in front of the College of Mount Saint Vincent, which has some exquisite landscaping.There's a little parklet surrounding the Rose Center, and on one of the paths lies this monument (on the right) to American Nobel Prize winners. I was hoping to see Betsy's husband's name on it, but they only go up to 2003 and Frank won in 2004.At left, the tulips planted right outside the Rose Center's entrance were lovely. The tree pollen around is enough to give you quite the headache, but I think it's worth it for all this too-fleeting beauty. The weather could have been a tad warmer, but it was pleasant enough to sit outside waiting for Doc and Lili and not even need my heavy jacket. Of course, I did wear a sweatshirt...I loved both these signs, particularly devoid of context. The one on the left says "Space Center Restrooms" and on the right it reads "Down to Big Bang." And so it was!At the lobby entrance. Cat's on the left with his videocamera, Doc is on the right with his digital camera, and of course I'm facing them taking this shot. We're such photo geeks... (Lili, the relatively sensible one among us, is not pictured.)Check it out, the big space at the bottom of the center had a replica of a Mars rover! Even shinier in person. I wish I could order one from Amazon...Okay, just two more from the inside of the Center, because I want you to go to the page to see the full-sized shots and I wanted to make a point:
I love how they've now qualified the terminology they use (at left) by calling reality the "observable universe." It speaks to science's willingness to admit that "everything you know is wrong" every once in awhile, and to humans' ability to reconsider previously-held beliefs when challenged.Lastly, on the right, a single hair-width represents the past 30,000 years of human existence and endeavor on this planet, compared with the history of the observable universe. One thing the Rose Center is definitely into exploring is the idea of a sense of scale, and a sense of humans' relative importance in the scheme of all things. How we're hardly the center of the observable universe, but at the same time we strive to be the creators of our own universes within, that of our minds' potential.And I couldn't help but feel sorry for all those kids from Dominionist and other fundamentalist households, the ones who believe in all their blind faith that all of creation can't possibly be more than a few thousand years old, not that they have any proof because faith takes the place of proof and reason and thinking. Going to places like this, seeing all these awe-inspiring examples of how important and insignificant humans are all at the same time, well, it just makes me feel like I'm closer to the wonder of God than if I sat in a pew each weekend staring at a book of metaphors and parables. I still don't get why so many of these thoughtless folk insist that religion and science can't coexist. (But then, I never had a problem with the idea that "yom" - the Hebrew word for "day" - can't also mean "eon," meaning that our observable universe was created in the space of six eons, each eon lasting... what's the current estimate? A few billion years? Works for me.
Which reminds me, Christie Keith has some great thoughts on the tyranny of "balance" as well as on false equivalency, of how the Dominionists (and Republicans) like "to use your credibility to enhance theirs, they win even if they lose." Highly recommended.
It's Not Fair...
I've been away-from-keyboard for the better part of four days, hosting Cat (who's now on his way back to his friends in Washington DC before heading home to Vancouver tomorrow), I miss people's blogiversaries and birthdays and so forth and the whole blogrolls-are-good-no-they're-hurting-us-no-they're-not "inside baseball" debate - hey, for that matter, I've missed four days' worth of baseball - and I finally get back to reading through my Bloglines subscriptions and, lo and behold, just as I figure out how to add the Kos diaries feed, Arianna Huffington's group celeb-blog The Huffington Post debuts. Obviously sleep is overrated, even for those of us reduced to run-on sentences.
Maintenance Notes
Susie Madrak's Suburban Guerrilla has a new address; so noted in the News+Views section of my sidebar blogroll. Kaja Foglio's Diary of a Cartoon Girl has also moved, prompting me to realize that I had her on my regular Bloglines subs but had neglected to put her on the sidebar; happens sometimes, and is fixed now (she's under Kultcha). Also, I've added Des of GreatScat! to the aforementioned blogroll 'cause I felt like it and I like her a lot, she brings much enthusiasm to our comments sections. If you see any outdated blogs on the sidebar (i.e., blogs that haven't had any new entries in at least two months) please let me know; thanks!
Silly Site o' the Day
Via Norbizness (who has been on fire lately, his posts from the past few days are all great reading), and as a farewell to Cat who has really gotten into comics in a big way the last couple of days, I pass along to you Max Cannon's Red Meat Comic Generator.
Via Norbizness (who has been on fire lately, his posts from the past few days are all great reading), and as a farewell to Cat who has really gotten into comics in a big way the last couple of days, I pass along to you Max Cannon's Red Meat Comic Generator.
Sunday, May 08, 2005
Silly Site o' the Day
Hosting a houseguest, particularly with a neurotic cat about, plays havoc with one's sleep cycle, not to mention one's blog-reading cycle, so apologies for not acknowledging all the lovely posts floating about, but I haven't been through but a small percentage of them. At least I called my mom for Mother's Day, and I can still give y'all a Silly Site before Cat and I head into the city to meet up with Tom and Lili at the Rose Center. In honor of Mother's Day, if you're wondering what name to give your kids, why not try the Trendy Name Generator (via Maru Soze) and then, you know, do the opposite?
Saturday, May 07, 2005
She Draws Comics - A Pictorial
As you know, last night we went out to dinner with Cat, "Dex" and his lovely wife, after which we attended the opening night of the She Drew Comics! exhibit put on by Friends of Lulu's New York chapter (full disclosure: I am a past president of FoL-NY) at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art. Here are some pictures I took. First a couple of photos from the East Village:
Do you believe this monstrosity going up across from Cooper Union? I'm almost as upset by the incongruity of its futuristic glassiness surrounding the quaint neighborhood as I am by the utter disappearance of the famous Alamo cube.
Apparently, there is a universal symbol for "overpriced cell phone store here."
The presiding officers - Marc Wilkofsky, who currently runs FoL/NY, and Lawrence Klein, the head honcho of MoCCA.
Trina Robbins introduces the She Drew Comics! exhibit, which runs through next Saturday, May 14, if anyone wants to catch it during the week.
The incomparable Hilda Terry, still teaching at 86 or so, and with a new book out!
This is one of my favorite shots - Kyle Baker explaining the exhibit to his daughter.
Cat was thrilled to meet Sabrina Jones and find out about her work with the Real Cost of Prisons project, as he does a lot of anti-drug-war work with Pot TV and other organizations. Sabrina's comic is also available in its entirety as a PDF.
A fairly fuzzy picture of Dave Roman, who's looking fairly fuzzy himself.
Charlie Boatner (seated) talking with our "neighbor" Alex Simmons.
Another kinda fuzzy one (I blame the diorama in the background) of Abby Denson, flanked by Adam DeKraker, utterly adorable in his Beatle cut, and Mike Brisbois, another past president of FoL/NY. Not pictured is yet another former FoL-NY president, Heidi MacDonald (that made four of us present!).
Didn't take any pictures today, aside from a total cutie on the bus on the way to Midtown Comics for Free Comic Book Day, but these should tide y'all over for awhile.
Do you believe this monstrosity going up across from Cooper Union? I'm almost as upset by the incongruity of its futuristic glassiness surrounding the quaint neighborhood as I am by the utter disappearance of the famous Alamo cube.
Apparently, there is a universal symbol for "overpriced cell phone store here."
The presiding officers - Marc Wilkofsky, who currently runs FoL/NY, and Lawrence Klein, the head honcho of MoCCA.
Trina Robbins introduces the She Drew Comics! exhibit, which runs through next Saturday, May 14, if anyone wants to catch it during the week.
The incomparable Hilda Terry, still teaching at 86 or so, and with a new book out!
This is one of my favorite shots - Kyle Baker explaining the exhibit to his daughter.
Cat was thrilled to meet Sabrina Jones and find out about her work with the Real Cost of Prisons project, as he does a lot of anti-drug-war work with Pot TV and other organizations. Sabrina's comic is also available in its entirety as a PDF.
A fairly fuzzy picture of Dave Roman, who's looking fairly fuzzy himself.
Charlie Boatner (seated) talking with our "neighbor" Alex Simmons.
Another kinda fuzzy one (I blame the diorama in the background) of Abby Denson, flanked by Adam DeKraker, utterly adorable in his Beatle cut, and Mike Brisbois, another past president of FoL/NY. Not pictured is yet another former FoL-NY president, Heidi MacDonald (that made four of us present!).
Didn't take any pictures today, aside from a total cutie on the bus on the way to Midtown Comics for Free Comic Book Day, but these should tide y'all over for awhile.
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