Paul G. writes:
You've got to love this story in Slate.
why? because of the quote at the end describing the "scooby world view" (which itself comes from the Wash Post, but not where I got it)
The Washington Post's Hank Stuever concisely elucidated the "Scooby worldview" when the first live-action movie came out: "Kids should meddle, dogs are sweet, life is groovy, and if something scares you, you should confront it." What needs to be explained about that?
I humbly submit this for consideration for Ishbadiddle.
Ben makes his blogging debut here, with a series of questions and answers about The Justice League. Questions are mine, answers are his.
---------------------
Q: What does Batman like to eat for dinner?
A: Batman likes to eat water in broccoli
Q: What is Superman's favorite game?
A: Superman's favorite game is jokes. He just tells jokes. He doesn't really like playing games.
Q: What is Wonder Woman's favorite animal?
A: None. Because she'll fight one if she sees one. Her favorite animal is Spider-Man. She wishes she could shoot webs like Spider-Man.
Questions from Ben for Phil
What is Green Lantern's favorite superhero?
Do you want to come over and visit?
Q: Do Hawk and Dove
A: Sometimes, but not a lot. Not every time.
Q: What is Hawkgirl's favorite place to visit?
A: Her favorite place to visit is Supergirl's house and Wonder Woman's house. Every time they switch and go to different houses.
Q: What is the Flash's favorite book?
A: His favorite book is the Justice League of America!
-------------------
How did I miss this? Thanks, Pandagon:
After 23 years of service as an investigator in the Ocean County, N.J., prosecutor's office, Lt. Laurel Hester is dying of lung cancer. She would like her partner, Stacie Andree, to get her pension benefits.
The Ocean County Board of Freeholders would like Hester to get lost. The freeholders, the all-Republican governing body that sounds, and acts, like something out of the "Scarlet Letter," have denied her request for domestic partner benefits. Something about how it would "cost too much." Oh, and something about the "sanctity of marriage."
There's apparently a bit of a loophole in New Jersey's Domestic Partners Act of 2004. According to NJ.com, while that law covers state employees, it "also changed state law to permit -- but not require -- counties, cities and other local government entities to provide pension and health care benefits for domestic partners of their employees. More than 100 agencies have since adopted such resolutions, including Bergen and Hudson counties, NJ Transit, the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and a dozen towns, from Stone Harbor to Jersey City. Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen) said not requiring local governments to adopt domestic partner benefits was 'the only way to get the bill through. We were well aware of the difficulties; that it was only a small step forward,' she said. 'It is something that we will have to come back and address in future legislative sessions.' For now, it has created a patchwork of law applied inequitably to public employees depending on local politics, according to Steven Goldstein of Garden State Equality, a gay rights organization."
Posted today at the Big Gay Picture: the first in a series of three interviews with Hester, who has otherwise shunned most press. The Republic of T. also has lots more info.
Without the benefits, by the way, Andree stands to lose the couple's house.
Hester has about six months to live.
Merry Christmas!
The Inscrutable 8-Ball Revealed
Slightly disturbing, yet still fascinating in that morbid kind of way.
At 7PM on Monday, December 19, I'll be telling a story at Night and
Day, located at 230 Fifth Avenue (at the corner of President Street) in
Brooklyn. Take the R Train to the Union Street station, and you'll
only be a couple of blocks away.
I came across this while looking at Chris Owens' website (he's Major Owens' son, who'll be running for his seat next time). I thought the ishbadiddlers might be interested.
Jessie
fyi, Chris Owens' website is interesting too... (I'm not sure if you're in his district)
Alex Joseph writes:
I've always loved masks, and when I found this one at a party store during the convention, I thought it might be put to a satirical use. I scared a few friends with it, and put it away. One night, I experienced a very powerful dream in which Dick Cheney was walking through the forest, reaching out for something. I became obsessed with re-creating this image, and I began to see how Dick Cheney belonged to what Freud called the 'manifest content' of the dream--the surface layer, which only masks the true, latent content. As for what the latent content is here, I couldn't say, but it feels deeply, weirdly personal.
Click on pictures for full-sized versions. All pictures were taken by Kurt Conklin, except for cheney.alt.route which was taken by Darleen Lev, and fall under this site's Creative Commons License.
"Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare."
I saw this on Atrios's blog, which linked to talkingpointsmemo.com. But take a look at these articles in the Albuquerque Journal:
Obtaining Cheney Rally Ticket Requires Signing Bush EndorsementBy Jeff Jones
Journal Staff WriterSome would-be spectators hoping to attend Vice President Dick Cheney's rally in Rio Rancho this weekend walked out of a Republican campaign office miffed and ticketless Thursday after getting this news:
Unless you sign an endorsement for President George W. Bush, you're not getting any passes.
The Albuquerque Bush-Cheney Victory office in charge of doling out the tickets to Saturday's event was requiring the endorsement forms from people it could not verify as supporters....
Lawyer Loses Bid for Open Cheney RallyBy Leslie Linthicum and Jeff Jones
Journal Staff WritersUpset by a requirement to sign an I-support-George-Bush pledge in order to see Vice President Dick Cheney in Rio Rancho today, an Albuquerque attorney went to court late Friday to ask that the event be open to people of all political stripes or shut down.
A judge quickly turned her down— because Republicans were never informed that they were being taken to court.
"It's hard for me to conclude you could not at least make a phone call to the Republican Party," state District Judge Ted Baca told the lawyer seeking an order against the GOP rally.
"They're very easy to get a hold of," said Baca, who happens to be a Democrat.
As a result, today's much-bickered-about Bush-Cheney campaign rally in the gymnasium at the Rio Rancho Mid-High School is scheduled to go on as planned.
All available tickets were reserved as of Friday night and there was a waiting list, organizers said.
Earlier, Republicans doling out tickets to the free event were limiting them to people with a record of supporting the GOP— or to others willing to sign a statement saying they support President Bush's re-election....
Feel free to make any comments you want on this. I'm just floored. How stupid can they get?
David
In case you've ever want to know what Joan Crawford's apartment looked
like, when she was married to Al Steele, prez. of Pepsi:
http://www.joancrawfordbest.com/geo5thave.htm
It's from the extremely useful site:
http://www.joancrawfordbest.com/
And here's her best movie, in my umble opinion:
http://www.joancrawfordbest.com/filmsfemale.htm
Don't ask me how I know these things. Please.
-- Alex J
It is my good fortune that the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association of Tax Professionals are both holding their annual conferences this week in San Francisco. If it's Tueday, I must be at the Hilton. Wednesday is the Hyatt Regency. :-)
Last week, Liz and I were in the Berkshires, taking one last vacation before the baby arrives. We got home on Monday night, and Tuesday morning I was on my way to San Francisco. I arrived in time for the opening of the ACLU conference Tuesday night. Playwright Eve Ensler ("The Vagina Monologues") introduced ACLU President Nadine Strossen, and then ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero walked us through the history of the organization. He pointed out that "We not only have the right to criticize the government, but we also have the responsibility."
In talking about the recent Supreme Court cases involving the detainees, he reminded us that the ACLU had taken the case of the Japanese confined to internment camps in WWII. They lost the case, something Congress finally remedied in 1981, but the man who brought the suit was sitting among us!
Romero talked about politicians who govern by polling. He quoted Churchill, who was advised to run England "with his ear to the ground." He replied disdainfully that "In that position it would be hard for the people to look up to us."
Later, we had a workshop on how to talk to Congress about mitigating the Patriot Act. We were told before it started that "This is for Activists. Voyeurs, leave the room!"
Wednesday morning, over breakfast, Steven Shapiro, the ACLU's Legal Director, walked us through the recent Supreme Court decisions. Regarding the trilogy of 9/11 cases, he said tha tthe Administration cynically kept detainees in Guantanamo Bay because it is part of sovereign Cuba, and therefore the US courts have no jurisdiction. They exist in a lawless area, subject, perhaps, only to the jurisdiction of Cuba. They argued that the Supreme Court, therefore, did not have standing to hear the case. The Supreme Court rejected this argument. Shapiro wondered out loud about what would have happened if the detainees actually brought a case in the Cuban court system! :-)
Then the administration had the audacity to claim that the Geneva Convention did not apply to us because it only applied to incidents that occur on foreign soil and Guantanamo is part of the US!
In the first case, Justice Stevens wrote that the foreign nationals incarcerated in Guantanamo have the right to their day in court, though he didn't specify how or when or even which court. In the case of Hamdi, the US citizen captured in Afghanistan, the Administration argued that he was an "Enemy Combatant" because the President said so. Justice O'Connor acknowledged that this was a possibility, in that he was captured on foreign soil, but that he, too, had the right to a hearing of some sort. In the case of Padilla, though, they passed the buck by telling him that he filed his claim in the wrong court. Based on O'Connor's Hamdi decision, however, when it finally comes back to the Supreme Court, they will have to revert his case back to the criminal court system and out of the military court system.
Shapiro also talked about the 1789 law that allows non-citizens to come to US court to sue torturers for compensation, and a couple of other cases.
Then I got a cab and came to the NATP Conference, where I heard the new IRS Commissioner Iverson, and did some income tax learning. :-) At 5, I got another cab back to the ACLU conference, where we had dinner with speakers Sandra Tsing Loh, filmmaker John Sayles, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, and comedian Greg Proops.
Sayles said he got a lot of flack from his friends when he won his MacArthur "genius" grant twenty years ago. His friends told him that if Kissinger could win a peace prize, then they supposed that Sayles could win a "genius" award. :-) He also showed us some clips of his new movie, "Silver City," that will open on Sept. 17th, and is a parable about Bush.
Sy Hersh was very pessimistic. He said that the Arabs have little alternative now but to see us as immoral. He told us that he talked to an Israeli, one "who has blood on his hands," who said that "We hate the Arabs, and the Arabs hate us. But we know that one day we must live as neighbors. If we did what you did," talking about the American humiliation and torture, "we would never, ever be able to live as neighbors with the Arabs. You can't do what you did."
He also saw the election as "Bush against Bush." He said that one of the most courageous things he saw was John Kerry's testimony to Congress in 1971, and he wished that Kerry would recapture who he was then instead of pandering to the right.
Then we all went downstairs to watch "Farenheit 9/11." After which I took another cab back to the Hyatt Regency, where I will stay for the remainder of the Tax Conference. Speakers I missed or will miss include Richard Clarke, Daniel Ellsberg, a discussion with FBI whistle blower Coleen Rowley and former Republican Congressman Bob Barr, and a debate between Colorado Governor Bill Owens and former VT Governor Howard Dean. But you can see them by going to www.aclu.org.
Years ago, I was at a dinner party and was talking to the daughter of some friends of my parents, who had just finished law school. While we were talking, I could see wheels turning in her head as whatever I was saying reminded her of something she learned in law school. "You're a, uh, 'civil libertarian,' aren't you?" she asked.
"Sometimes," I replied. "Sometimes I'm not civil."
- David Block
Alex J. writes:
I want to contribute a review of a miraculous book I read. It's called My Dog Tulip, by J.R. Ackerley. Ack was this homo who lived the tortured semi-closeted queebo life in London and died in '67. In My Father and Myself, a subsequent book (published after his death), he writes about his inability to achieve any real connection with other gay guys... Tulip provides a kind of objective correlative to his personal struggles... That's my read on it anyway. It's very arch, very pointed, meticulous, and thorny prose. Not for everyone, but great stuff if you have the stomach for it.
My literary friend from Radnor -- Jill, not Emily -- recently sent along a long list of recent reads. Herewith:
Continue reading "Books!" »
| Lists
O proud left foot, that ventures quick within
Then soon upon a backward journey lithe.
Anon, once more the gesture, then begin:
Command sinistral pedestal to writhe.
Commence thou then the fervid Hokey-Poke,
A mad gyration, hips in wanton swirl.
To spin! A wilde release from Heavens yoke.
Blessed dervish! Surely canst go, girl.
The Hoke, the poke -- banish now thy doubt
Verily, I say, 'tis what it's all about.
Thanks to Jill W for sending this in!
| Poetry | Shakespeare
M_____ writes:
At least two ways to view France's war opposition: Get piqued and rename menu items, or check out the chess match. France played out a high wire gambit with the aim to thwart U.S. global influence and the potential regional influence of former Soviet satellites seeking E.U. membership. There are, of course, specific economic motives underlying France's gambit, but ultimately the French sought to protect and expand their future global influence.
A perfectly rational example of national best-interests pursuit, and it's loaded with risks. If France could stop the U.S. from going to war, France gains influence. If the U.S. goes to war and gets bogged down, France gains influence. If Saddam unleashes outlawed weapons, France loses influence. If the war goes "well", France stands to lose so much clout it may never recover.
Many already question its seat on the Security Council as representing an antiquated "snapshot of 1945."
Wednesday, with the U.S., two allies and 27 supporting nations on the cusp of war, Foreign Minister de Villepin, in a chapter from the notoriously capricious annals of French diplomacy, said France stood ready to assist U.S.-led forces should Iraq use outlawed weapons.
Facing possible check mate, are the French signaling an imminent endorsement of George W. Bush? Do they merely seek a face-saving middle ground, if such a middle ground exists? Are they positioning themselves for a financial stake in postwar Iraq? Can the French ever again have a day in the sun like the one they've just enjoyed? Will they ever lose those yellow headlights?
No hard feelings in board games. Pass me a croissant and the room temp camembert.
| Guest: M_____
David Block writes:
The IDF calls it an "accident." The way southern lynchings were "suicide."
| Israel | Rachel Corrie
M_____ writes:
As part of a global protest against war in Iraq on 2/16, a massive crowd of 200,000 gathered in San Francisco, according to organizers. But on 2/21 the S.F. Chronicle published a state-of-the-art aerial crowd count. They tallied a mere 65,000. Protesters protested the count. An organizer said, "Come on, that's ridiculous!"
This week's New York Times/CBS News poll shows how ridiculous it's not. "Growing Number in U.S. Back War, Survey Finds" makes it clear that no matter what we hear at dinner parties in New York or L.A., a full 66% of Americans favor war, including 51% of Democrats. Moreover, 55% of Americans support war against Iraq "even if it was in defiance of a vote of the Security Council." That's a big "whoa," historically speaking.
And this after Martin Sheen and so many (over-counted?) protests. Clearly it's not working to keep saying "Bush hasn't made his case", "he wants to bomb children", "he wasn't elected", or perpetuate simplistic "no blood for oil" sloganeering. Fact is, the more protesters protest, the more they are getting smoked in the war for public opinion. The only issue is, why?
Per Wednesday's NYT op piece by John McCain and a must-read 2/22 Bill Keller column (archive$), I think war opponents' are losing because they have locked themselves into an apples-oranges debate with the Administration. Stuck hard to principled -- if selective -- moral opposition to war and a disdain for Bush, opponents have had little to say when confronted with what's driving the Administration: A long-wave strategic vision for a re-balanced Middle East. The strategy is risky and the vision awesomely bold or foolhardy, but the Administration's arguments are far more sophisticated - and pertinent - than protesters'. It doesn't matter if you disagree with that statement - 66% and growing disagree with you.
If that's going to change, war opponents need to rise to the level of debate: How they would end stateless terrorism? Foster progressive political-economies in the Middle East? Protect the U.S. from anther 9/11 without further abridging civil liberties? Keep the U.N. from becoming toothless in the face of sustained rogue state defiance? Why is the status quo preferable to Bush's vision? Why were protesters so wrong about Afghanistan and the Gulf War, what they have learned and why is Iraq different?
Right here on the Ish, it would be helpful to shed cliches and deal in the complex facts of terrorism, imminent war, and a possibly redrawn world order. Or, continuing down the present primrose path, protesters may be left as they were after the liberation of Kuwait - caked in history's dust.
| Guest: M_____ | Iraq | War | War on Terror
M_____ writes:
I'm sure many of you saw this article in the New York Times about "Sami Al-Arian, the Florida professor indicted this week on charges of supporting terrorism." He's linked with a group called Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and among PIJ's activities was a Nov. 11, 1994 "suicide bombing in the Gaza Strip in which three people were killed and 11 were wounded." "That day, the indictment says, Mr. Al-Arian 'wrote a note to be sent via facsimile' that 'announced his pride' in the attack."
Additionally, the PIJ is "linked to more than 100 killings in Israel and the occupied territories, including the deaths of two young American women."
John Ashcroft "hailed the indictment as a triumph for the newly expanded powers granted his department under the 2001 Patriot Act to mingle intelligence and criminal operations in ways that were previously off limits." For the record, the piece notes that besides prior law, bureaucratic infighting and politics (fear of "profiling" charges?) also played a role in delaying the arrest.
Those who reflexively oppose new proposals for flushing out US-based terrorists and their supporters might be asking themselves the same question a terrorism expert asks in the article: "How many lives could have been saved if (the U.S.) had stopped watching and acted?" And of course, what if we weren't even watching?
| Israel | Terrorism | War on Terror
M_____ writes:
On the heels of MLK Day, an L.A. Times series examines the phenomenal rate of black-on-black murder in that city. Per 100K of the population, 177 blacks are murdered annually, compared to 40 Latinos, and 10 whites. In each of the last 5 years, 40% of victims are black, while blacks are just 11% of the city's population - and shrinking.
The series notes:
Authorities say most [virtually all] black homicide victims die at the hands of other blacks. Witnesses often are afraid to step forward. Few killers are caught. They live alongside law-abiding neighbors, bragging, bullying, daring justice. Or they have been killed themselves.And this as Latinos have surpassed blacks as the nation's largest "minority" - a decade-old milestone in California. The silence from black leaders is deafening. What's up?The homicide problem is baffling to many African Americans, a demoralizing coda to the black struggle against oppression. 'We are committing suicide,' said Carlton Mitchell, an Inglewood carpenter whose brother, Paul, was gunned down outside a South-Central hamburger stand. 'We don't have to worry about other races doing it to us. We are self-destructing.'
| Guest: M_____ | Los Angeles | Race & Ethnicity
Natalie (my mom) sent this in:
I finally found this really nice parable that you might want to post on Ish. (been looking for it for over six months)
There is a childhood parable I remember about a weary traveler who comes to a crossroads and encounters a wise old man. The traveler is looking for a place to rest and inquires of a large town sighted off in the distance: "What kind of people live there?" The old man answers his question with the question, "What kind from whence you came?" When the traveler confides that the last town he visited was full of filthy streets and vicious people, knaves and thieves, the old man tells him, "Avoid that town; it's exactly the same. You will find no peace there." The weary man thanks him profusely for saving him a needless journey and trudges off in the opposite direction.
The next day another dusty and tired traveler comes to that same crossroads, meets the same old man, and asks the same question: "What kind of people live there?" But this traveler tells the old man that the town from whence he came was a place of flower-strewn streets, good and giving people who always greeted each other with a smile. And the wise old man says, "The town waiting over the horizon is exactly the same. Go down there and rest in peace."
| Parables
