Monday, July 30, 2007

Chief Justice Suffers Seizure

Link Hmmm, strange that doctors cannot pinpoint a cause. It's fortunate that he didn't injure himself significantly while falling. I mean sure, a liberal might not mind this 'activist' judge being removed from office for health reasons. But to be really practical, it needs to happen after W. leaves office.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Goodbye Matt Damon fandom

There was a troublingly homophobic snippet of Matt Damon's interview in GQ where he talks about the cars he and Ben were thinking about buying after getting the money for Good Will Hunting.

Damon says, "Because we knew it would be so gay to get the same car [Jeep Grand Cherokee]. And our friends where making fun of us. Like, 'You fags, what are you doing, you're gonna drive around in the same car? Are they gonna say His and His on them?' We both wanted hunter green. So eventually we decided that one had to get black and one had to get green."

Some straight guys and even some gays might say that this is completely normal thing for him to say. But there are clearly negative implications to being viewed as gay here being put out by a mainstream actor. And I think his acquiescing to generalized homophobia is bad as well as highlighting it in a major interview. He even sneaks in the gay slur!! What an asshole!

What would have been much better? Something like: Well, so what if people thought we were gay? We bought the same car anyway. Of course, that would be lying, so, what to do then, would be to not mention this incident at all.

Homophobia is insidious. Something which looks normal and understandable -- oh, I would never want anyone to believe I am gay because it is such a bad thing -- is really degradation, insult, and hate. People are so used to speaking in these terms and automatically thinking it's acceptable. Sure, it's like second nature '80s playground language -- but used by a celebrity in a mainstream magazine.

If I were to restate in racially charged terms, it's like Matt saying: "Ben and I were thinking of buying Cadillacs. My friends were saying: so what are you n*gg*rs now? We *obviously* had to *not* buy Cadillacs because people would think we're a couple of f*cking negros."

Anyway, I'm much less of a Matt fan than I used to be, and now, I think perhaps an end is in order.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Matt Damon, the gay vote, primaries and the election

Well, I happened to read the interview with Matt Damon in GQ where he makes an off-hand homophobic comment (more on that in a later post). I wouldn't say that Damon is a profoundly intellectual guy, despite having gone to Harvard (but not graduated). He has said he doesn't really like Hillary Clinton especially for not admitting voting 'incorrectly' for the war in Iraq. He then draws similarities to George Bush. I.e. haven't we had enough of politicians not admitting their mistakes. I'd say he's got a point there. I suppose you could explain it away as politics as usual, but I'm pretty sick of that.

Then there is the recent rescheduling of Clinton's visits to LBGT run bed and breakfasts in West Virginia. Why was that? She claims it wasn't because they were run by gays. But still it brings into question her sincerity.

Even as Clinton seems to focus on the end game of the election, I'm thinking she isn't far enough left for the primary. Gays should find someone better. Matt's favorite, Barack, isn't that person. We'll see in the gay debates, but only Dennis Kucinick and Mike Gravel support same-sex marriage. At least some sort of message should be sent to the Dems that this lackluster support for gay issues will not win our vote. Bloomberg might be a good alternative if an acceptably strong Dem doesn't show up. The Dems need to pander to the base if they want to win.

Fatah associated factions disarm for immunity

Link It's an interesting development. Wonder why no one ever thought of it before, but perhaps there was never a moderate Palestinian leadership before.

Cycling in the Tour de France: 400 Watts

Link It's hard work -- far beyond even a marathon it seems, but I found the energy equivalent amazing. 400 Watts is quite a lot.

Sport has its uses

Link A better way to keep violence to a minimum. Soccer, jobs and prosperity?

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

NIE released: War in Iraq has created Al Qaeda in Iraq

Link We all know now that Saddam didn't ally with anyone including Al Qaeda. After attacking Iraq we've created a two pronged war against Al Qaeda. Isn't that lovely? I've got to say we've got the stupidest President and had an idiot Congress to just go along with the ride.

Monday, July 09, 2007

Dems should stop with the objective reasoning and go for the kill

Link A couple of the examples in the article seem to make sense. Perhaps one of the hallmarks of the Dems approach is to try to use logic to persuade -- even though it's supposed to be the mommy party (Ok, I won't say that again). I like the idea of adopting the sneaky tricks of the Republicans to go after emotions. We need a campaign that goes after the non-intellectual masses of Americans in a simple basic way. No more high road, just go after the knee jerk low road reaction.

For example, not gun control, it's stopping terrorism. Not abortion, but reducing recent-immigrant population growth. Not hate crimes legislations, but equal nightclub accessibility. And haven't you realized that Bush and the Republicans are f*cking idiots. Don't be an idiot.

Drought in the West continues (updated)

Link One alarming fact is that the Colorado supply will be exceeded by demand in five years.

-- Updated 7/9/07

NewsHour guest talks about how one degree difference matters greatly to Sierra snow and snowmelt. In current drought, water supplies become more scarce and fires more prevalent and difficult to stop.

Sunday, July 08, 2007

Moderate Sunnis helping the Americans in Iraq

Link If there is some hope in Iraq it is somewhat expressed by this winning over of the moderate Sunnis to help the Americans. It's obvious these Iraqis are worried about what will happen once the Americans leave and the Shia are left alone to manage the country. Surely, the Americans will stay in some capacity, but it all depends on the political support for the war back home. It's interesting, but sensible, that the moderate Sunnis were only willing to help after they saw that the extremists were obviously losing.

Case against genetic engineering

Link I agree.

An Israeli agrees with Carter

Link He says the occupation was a mistake. The reasoning parallels the old maxim: even though the battle was won, the war was lost.

Saturday, July 07, 2007

Democrat talks about Carbon Use Tax

Link Of course, the use tax is another tax. But Economists believe a use tax is more beneficial and effective than cap and trade. Cap and trade is like an incremental tax based on government managed and estimated usage levels and potential efficiencies. If the whole of carbon-dioxide generation was taxed then solar, wind, and nuclear would become much more competitive.

On a related note, Economist talks about wind and solar as if people didn't realize the fuel is free. I would think that much was obvious, no?

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Is Libby a special case? If not, others should go free, too

Link Interesting the double standard created by Bush's comments justifying the commutation. Pardons and commutations are clearly exceptions, but I wonder that any explanation is ever given for them since they are usually given at the end of a President's term. Everyone understands those pardons to be helping out friends and political allies. Yes, even then, issuing too many of these to 'true' criminals can give a black mark to Presidents, including Bill Clinton, who handed a bunch of them out in his last days. But Bush spoke about how Libby's sentence was too harsh in trying to justify his immediate commutation before Libby could serve even a day in jail. Why even bother justifying it? There isn't any reasoning to justify it. It's a complete conflict of interest. There isn't one rational law for friends of Bush and another for everyone else.

Lies, lies, lies and hypocrisy.

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NewsHour discussion

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Another Times article talks about how sparing Bush had been on pardons and commutations before Libby's commutation.

Monday, July 02, 2007

Want to win your case at the Supreme Court? Woo Kennedy

Link Much as been made of the single remaining swing vote now that O'Connor has left the bench: Anthony Kennedy. It appears that perhaps some small hope of liberal victories still remain despite the two new white guys.

-- Updated 7/6

Economist says that liberals will now rightly focus on winning in the legislature rather than the Supreme Court. I think that there certainly is great power there.

Iran the cause of some mayhem against US in Iraq

Link The US asserts they have been training and arming Shiites in Iraq to attack Americans.