June 23, 2009

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Luck can be a fickle mistress. Last night, as I often do, I went to the prohibition room at the gold dome bank to listen to jazz. When I walked in, I saw a woman sitting facing away from me with dark hair, large earrings and a red dress texting furiously. I was sure it was the lovely Juliet, who I’d seen there before on rare occasion. I walked up behind and tapped her on the shoulder and when she turned around — Oh, my, but it was not lovely and it was not Juliet. I’ve been known to be pretty cheeky when greeting Juliet because I still love her so, but I was sure glad I’d been restrained. I’d expected blue eyes, a great smile, a model’s face, and what I got was … well, none of those things. Brrrr.
Yesterday was the 14th anniversary of my first AA meeting and I went to two meetings and got two chips. I’m lucky to have long term sobriety; few make it as far as I have and I can only tell you it’s a blessing and grace and not something I earned or gained by right.
I was also lucky with the music last night. About every time I would decide it was time to leave, a new player would join the jam and it would be too good to leave just yet. I’m often gone by 10:30 or 11 p.m. (school night, ya know?), but it was crowding midnight last night before I could pry myself away.

June18, 2009

OK, what is it, God? The battery on my laptop ran out. The battery on my phone ran out. I just had to get a jump for the car because the battery was too low to start the engine. Is it just me, God? What have you got against batteries?
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P.S. Making the hot water heater pilot go out before I could shower is cold blooded, God. What have I done to piss you off now?

June 17, 2009

I understand that GOP Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell, R-KY, has expressed relief that Sen. John Ensign, the Senate GOP #4, has proven that he is neither gay nor a pedophile.

June 16, 2009

Solidarity

Solidarity


Both William Kristol’s Weekly Standard on the right and David Corn’s The Nation on the left seem to have similar positions about the events in Iran. A couple of weeks ago, I’d have bet the farm those two mags couldn’t have agreed on Mom and Apple or Cherry Pie. Astounding. I suppose even highly improbable events seem to happen on a quantum level and, thus, chaos in the macro and random events will happen, no matter how unlikely.
Meanwhile, I’m glued to my computer. The internet has been far and away the best source of news out of Tehran compared with television, radio and newspapers — with very few exceptions (I’m thinking NPR, Fareed Zakaria at Newsweek and CNN, the NY Times blog, TheLede) — and those exceptions are vacuumed up instantaneously. It’s a one-way line, it appears. You would think those journalism outlets would try to link up when nobody can be “on the ground” under the present circumstances.
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June 16, 2009

Solidarity

Solidarity

The Republican Guard in Iran got nothing on America’s Republicans when it comes to rigging elections. They should have studied Ohio in ’04 or Florida in 2000 to see how it’s done.

June 15, 2009

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Well, there certainly was a lot of news over the weekend and today to keep one glued to the computer monitor. I mean, there are pictures and videos that are absolutely riviting. So, what about it? What do you think? IS Megan Fox’s thumb all wonky? Does that make her less than a perfect 10?
Meanwhile, in boring real news, a revolution is Twittered in Tehran because that’s the way the government of Iran left them after blocking websites, newspapers, radio broadcasts, etc.
It appears to be the police and militia against the hundreds of thousands who have filled the streets since Friday’s election “results” were announced that Ahmadinejad had received 2/3 of the votes within hours of the polls closing. That’s some mighty fast counting of 40 million paper ballots. I don’t know how many nights I’ve waited up until the wee hours for folks to count paper ballots in Oklahoma. Maybe we should send some observers to see how they can do it so fast.
I’ll just say it plainly. The mainstream and especially television network journalism/press did a horrible job on the events in Iran over the weekend. If it weren’t for Andrew Sullivan at The Atlantic Magazine online gathering news from Farsi speakers, Americans — even the small elite that really TRIED to keep up with events — would be much less informed. On CNN, for example, there were 23 hours of self contratulatory anniversary blabbing and one segment by one non-journalist/academic about Iran. Pathetic. Most of the New York Times seemed paralyzed or in bed for their weekend pot and porn except for the blog The Lede, which did good work keeping the world informed.
Monday, there was live ammunition and at least one protester killed and others wounded as, again, hundreds of thousands flooded the main streets. At night, they are yelling from the rooftops that “God is Great”, but what they mean is “We’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore.”
I wish we had taken to the streets in 2000, but that’s wistful fantasy.
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June 13, 2009

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On the DOJ’s gay-hostile brief filed in a Defense of Marriage Act case, Andrew Sullivan and his readers/cohorts seem baffled. What was Obama Thinking? Is it a Bush-era holdover brief? Is he playing some game with eliminating “don’t ask, don’t tell”?
I want to suggest an alternative to those I’ve read. When I look at the brief and it’s very nearly absurdist anti-gay arguments, I’m thinking this is one big softball for some court to create a new 14th Amendment gay equality right.
I don’t deny that the arguments are offensive to many gay people, especially in their use of vivid language. However, as legal reasonng, they are a hoot and a knee slapper. Nevertheless, they also state the legislative record behind the statute, IIRC the Senate “debates.” Remember the now-gone GOP senators who voted for the beast?
Not even a conservative court would have an easy time accepting these arguments. At the least, these arguments will be judicially rejected in whatever decision comes from the Courts. In the case, I think this one is headed for the 9th Circuit, the most unpredictably left wing of those appeals courts. These arguments are tailor made to a response of “disparate treatment” under the 5th and 14th Amendments. A refusal of a right of marriage sounds also to me like one of the “badges” of slavery, which would be an interesting argument to make. (Cf. Lawrence, Loving)
Obama wouldn’t be the first president to hide behind the courts, oh so reluctantly as it will turn out.
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