You may have seen a mention on other sites, but I strongly suggest checking out EvolveTV, a new streaming talk show starring some of the biggest names in the progressive blogosphere interviewing blogging experts on their respective fields of study. The first episode will have Kos interviewing Juan Cole and the second will have Duncan Black interviewing PZ Meyers. PZ’s got more on this. They were my first blogad and my site was their first as well, so it’s pretty cool to see the viral marketing finally come to fruition.

Needless to say, I’ll keep you guys updated on any future developments.

Ahoy mateys, as ye be well aware, today be International Talk Like A Pirate Day! Take ye a fine time to affix yer thoughts on the majesty o’ being a Buccaneer! You Bilge Rats, ‘ll cast ye curs down to Davey Jones’ Locker if ye don’t be complyin’.

Dar!

While we be talkin’ about the burotherhood of the sea, I be thinkin about certain matters closer t’ home. Fer instance, allow me to d’rect yer attention t’ Salon Magazine, an’ their story about how the Guvvamint be usin’ lies an half truths to discourage young lads and lassies from smokin’ pot.

Ahem

(Full disclosure: I don’t smoke pot, and I find pot culture to be annoying and filled with lame music. I do however think it should be legal.)

But seriously. Salon has an article up about the government’s latest hilarious anti-pot campaign. Read it here. You might think they’d realize that by resorting to ridiculous falsehoods, the only thing they’ll accomplish is to amuse people. No matter what they’re saying, it’s obvious to anyone who’s ever been around pot that the mental illness the Bush Administration is trying to associate with it is nothing but an outright lie. Pot’s not exactly good for your brain, and it might make you kind of slow and willing to listen to Jam Bands, but it certainly won’t cause you to go insane (though most definitely may cause you to become inane).

Plus, we have a vastly popular legal means of brain-destruction that we seem to have to official trouble with. I wonder then, just what the hell is it about pot that makes conservatives flip out like this? Did conservotar, the ancient God of conservatavism have a fight with Marijuanos, the god of pot, and get his ass kicked?

It should be no secret that the drug scene is in many ways a reflection of class differences in America. Cocaine is hugely widespread right now, and yet mysteriously we see no sweeping anti-cocaine ad campaign. Of course we all know who the stereotypical cocaine consumer is, however, and they generally don’t vote green party.

Now it should be noted that Anti-drug commericals aren’t aimed at people who actually use drugs (Except maybe those retarded “If you smoke pot, you’re in Al Queda” ads from a few years ago.) People who use drugs have already made an informed (or uninformed, depending on your point of view) decision about their chemical intake, and aren’t likely to be turned because johnny law told them they’ll catch the schizophrennia. Addiction and recovery do the trick, genrally, but even then most people are smart enough to bear in mind that their experience isn’t neccesarily a universal experience.

(For now, we’ll leave behind a discussion of the drugs that are, in fact, highly addictive and life threatening. Especially since one of them is legal and available in convenient stores. As long as you’re 18. You can assume from here and past writings that I have unfavorable opinions on a good lot of them. I also don’t think people should rot in jail for them either.)

The anti drug campaign as it’s been handled under Bush serves one purpose only: To make conservatives flip out, and thus make them more likely to vote republican as a means of protecting the country from those damn kids and their evil, evil drugs! It doesn’t take a military genius to figure out that for the most part, these guys don’t really give a damn about drugs. They’ve merely found drugs and drug panic to be useful for getting elected. Certainly, they don’t mind locking up thousands of people for nonviolent drug offenses and crowing about their tough stance on crime, but that would happen even if they didn’t have drugs.

Unfortunately for them, they have to pick and choose how they go about it. Unlike Clinton for instance, Bush and his ilk never, ever admit to having done anything illegal, but also have some rasther juicy rumors surrounding them, expecially Bush himself. This limits how effectively they can discuss drugs – They have to be aware that if they flip out about, say, cocaine, they risk too many uncomfortable questions being asked about their own lives.

As an added bonus, pot is associated with those evil commies, dirty hippes and black, ha ha, I mean crazy Jazz musicians. Conservatives opponents of Pot get to benefit from irrational drug panic, while at the same time using their beloved code words for liberals and minorites. It’s win win, except for Americans who seem to consider personal liberty important.

Anyway, the latest ad campaign is profiled over at Salon magazine, and I recommend having a look. If you don’t feel like waiting through the ‘brief ad’, why not simply click here and see the latest ad for yourself. It’s rare that the government’s anti drug advertisements both offend my intelligence, and my sense of history, but this one manages to do both. Enjoy.

Since I’m still playing catch-up, forgive me for being the absolute last person to blog about Kanye West’s impromptu comments about George Bush. Having heard it built up for a couple of weeks, the delivery was much more nervous and awkward than I expected, but the things he said shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who pays attention to politics. West didn’t call Bush a racist or claim that Republicans hate African-Americans, he said “George Bush doesn’t care about black people”. That’s not controversial, as Jacob Weisberg explained in Slate, it’s a truism in American politics that Republicans don’t give a damn about poor black people.

Yet the underlying racial dynamic of party politics hasn’t changed at all under Mehlman’s boss. Though he appointed the first and the second African-American secretaries of state, Bush seldom appears before black audiences. Beyond his interest in education, he has little to say about issues of social and urban policy. Bush has never articulated an approach, other than faith-based platitudes and tax cuts, to bettering the lives of African-Americans. And indeed, has not bettered them. The percentage of blacks living in poverty, which diminished from 33 percent to less than 23 percent during the Clinton years, has been rising again under Bush. In 2000, Bush got 8 percent of the black vote. In 2004, he got 11 percent. Because African-Americans constitute only 12 percent of the population, it’s possible for Republicans to neglect them and still win elections. Indeed, as Mehlman indicated, neglecting them has often helped Republicans win.

Because they don’t see blacks as a current or potential constituency, Bush and his fellow Republicans do not respond out of the instinct of self-interest when dealing with their concerns. Helping low-income blacks is a matter of charity to them, not necessity. The condescension in their attitude intensifies when it comes to New Orleans, which is 67 percent black and largely irrelevant to GOP political ambitions. Cities with large African-American population that happen to be in important swing states may command some of Karl Rove’s respect as election time approaches. But Louisiana is small (9 electoral votes) and not much of a swinger these days. In 2004, Bush carried it by a 57-42 margin. If Bush and Rove didn’t experience the spontaneous political reflex to help New Orleans, it may be because they don’t think of New Orleans as a place that helps them.
. . .
Had the residents of New Orleans been white Republicans in a state that mattered politically, instead of poor blacks in city that didn’t, Bush’s response surely would have been different. Compare what happened when hurricanes Charley and Frances hit Florida in 2004. Though the damage from those storms was negligible in relation to Katrina’s, the reaction from the White House was instinctive, rapid, and generous to the point of profligacy. Bush visited hurricane victims four times in six weeks and delivered relief checks personally. Michael Brown of FEMA, now widely regarded as an incompetent political hack, was so responsive that local officials praised the agency’s performance.

To repeat, George Bush doesn’t care about black people. It’s not neccessarily a judgement, it’s a simple fact. His constituency is big business and evangelical Christians. If either of those groups cared about saving poor black people in New Orleans to the point of making it a litmus test for future support, Bush and company would have sprung into action they way they did during the Terri Shiavo affair. The fact that they didn’t get their shit together (that is, assuming that they actually have it together now) until after the vast majority of Americans, including the pro-administration zealots at Fox News, started demanding action tells you all you need to know.

Sure, the President is a dumbass, but at least he surrounds himself with smart people.

Grover Norquist, a leading advocate of substantially reducing the federal government, argued that the disaster only underlined the need for more tax cuts to spur the economy. “Step one is you deal with the problem – rebuild New Orleans,” he said, “and step two, you enact economic policies so you can afford to rebuild New Orleans.”

You can apply the GOP two-step approach to your personal finances as well. Step one is to spend a ton of money on everything you’ve ever wanted. Step two is to get a ton of money so you can afford all the things you’ve already bought. It’s easy and there’s no way it could possibly backfire.

The Nintendo Revolution will kick ass. I know the remote control-inspired controller is a little weird, but watching this trailer and reading this Q&A has rekindled my faith in the system. I just hope they go retro with the look. Then again, no matter how kickass the system is, it doesn’t matter if there aren’t any games available. I’m looking in your direction, Nintendo DS…

And on a completely different note, when the hell are we gonna get a version of Pac-Man on home systems that 100% recreates the arcade experience? I’ve picked up thos Namco Museum compilations and played with the TV Games plug-ins, but even the arcade ROMs running through emulators lacks the one thing that made playing the game in the arcade so great : speed. Back in the 80′s, in an effort to make customers lose their quarters quicker, most arcades used to pump up the difficulty of the game. Since that’s the version I’m used to playing, steering around Pac-Man (or his superior wife) on any of the home versions just feels too damn slow.

This Wikipedia entry about the Great Seattle Fire of 1889 is encouraging in light of the enormous reconstruction effort about to begin in New Orleans :

The fire burned 29 city blocks (almost entirely wooden buildings; about 10 brick buildings also burned). It destroyed nearly the entire business district, all of the railroad terminals, and all but four of the wharves. Despite the massive destruction of property, nobody died in the fire, although there were a few fatalities during the cleanup process.

Seattle rebuilt from the ashes with astounding rapidity. The fire had done a fine job of cleansing the town of rats and other vermin; a new zoning code resulted in a downtown of brick and stone buildings, rather than wood. In the single year after the fire, the city grew from 25,000 to 40,000 inhabitants, largely because of the enormous number of construction jobs suddenly created.

Of course, the reason I bring up this particular disaster isn’t so much the economic outcome, but the method used to rebuild the city :

It was decided to rebuild the city one to two stories higher than the original street grade, as Pioneer Square had been built mostly on filled-in tidelands and often flooded; in fact, a nine-year-old boy once drowned in a pothole in Commercial Street, now First Avenue South. The new street level also assisted in ensuring that gravity-assisted flush toilets didn’t back up during high tide in Elliott Bay.

Several city blocks in the downtown region were enclosed with brick and timber barricades and the pavements between were raised. This left sidewalks and some storefronts as much as 36 feet below street level.

For a time, pedestrians climbed ladders to go between street level and building entrances, but eventually the building entrances were raised, and the old sidewalks covered over, creating the area now called the Seattle Underground. Merchants carried on business in the lowest floors of buildings that survived the fire, and pedestrians continued to use the underground sidewalks lit by glass cubes (still seen on some streets) embedded in the grade level sidewalk above. In 1907 the city condemned the Underground for fear of bubonic plague. The basements were simply left to deteriorate, or served as storage.

There seems to be a lot of arguments going on between those who say it’s foolish to rebuild a city next to water that’s below sea level and others who offer stirring visions of the city rising from the ashes like a flag-draped phoenix^{[1]Granted, there’s also a strong economic interest in rebuilding the city, but that’s usually secondary to the cries that…We. Must. Rebuild.}, but Seattle’s reconstruction reminds us that there’s a third way here. Hell, there’s probably a fourth, fifth, and sixth way as well, but we’d need to put this effort into more competent hands for something like that to happen. Essentially rebuilding a city from scratch is a rare opportunity to fix fundamental mistakes, so here’s hoping the naysayers and romantics will calm down enough to have a constructive discussion about the best long term solution to this problem.

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^{1 : Granted, there’s also a strong economic interest in rebuilding the city, but that’s usually secondary to the cries that…We. Must. Rebuild.}

Fast on the heels of this week’s remarkably good news that Massachusetts has defended equal marriage rights, they’ve continued this odd trend of doing the right thing, by overriding their governor to defend the rights of women, and the health of rape victims. Go Mass:

BOSTON — The state Legislature voted Thursday to override Gov. Mitt Romney´s veto of a measure that will expand access to emergency contraception.

The measure, which the Republican governor vetoed in July, will require hospital emergency room doctors to offer the medication to rape victims. It also will make the medication available without a prescription.

The Senate voted unanimously 37-0 to override the veto. In the House, the vote was 139-16 to override.

What makes me feel especially good about this is that, similar to their earlier rejection of legally enshrined anti-gay bias, the Mass. lawmakers have risen to the occasion with a vast majority in support of the right thing to do. While Republicans may disagree, the fact is that these lawmakers were elected to do just what they’re doing, and clearly represent the wishes of their constituents. I only wish that California’s legislators were similarly courageous.

Making matters equally hilarious is Governor Mitt, stepping up to recycle the sort of nonsense moderate Republicans always spew out in their pathetic (and sadly successful) attempts to have it both ways:

The governor said the medication, known as the “morning after pill,” is already widely available without a mandate from the state. Romney said he was concerned that the hormone regimen could abort a fertilized egg.

Someone needs to explain the birds and the bees to Mitt stat. The morning after pill prevents implantation of an egg in the uterus. Pregnancy begins only after implantation.^[1] If a lack of implantation is abortion, then millions of women all over the world ought to be sanctioned for practicing medicine without a license, because it’s extremely common for fertilized eggs never to implant. It’s one of the things that defines “difficulty”, as in “difficulty conceiving”.

What’s really chaffing me is that he’s playing the moderate republican “Existing laws” card. No matter what a situation calls for, no matter how serious, urgent, or necessary something may be, according to the “Existing Laws” crowd, there’s always some law, somewhere, that already magically covers the matter, even if it doesn’t. Therefore it’s just not proper to go around changing the laws. Federalism, or soemthing, I don’t know what the hell they mean by this nonsense.

Of course no one points out that this belief in the pre-existence of applicable law only applies to the limitation of things that Republicans consider wonderful, even if they’re not allowed to admit it in public (yet). However, when it comes to limitating on free speech, banning equal marriage rights, and muddling the definition of “scientific”, the sky’s the limit as far as “neccesary” legislation is concerned.

Anyway, back to Moderate Republican Cowards trying to have it both ways:

The bill also could also alienate crucial anti-abortion activists as Romney weighs a run for president in 2008.

During his 2002 gubernatorial campaign, Romney said he supported wider access to emergency contraception. As the bill began to make its way through the Legislature, he said he needed to consult with experts.

(Emphasis mine)

Of course he did, the cute little guy. The fact that anyone believed him during the election is astounding. How, please someone tell me, how a state like Massachusetts, clearly a bastion of freedom and liberty if ever there was one, elected this guy. Did the Democrats run a member of SPECTRE against him?

This reminds me of something I discussed briefly in a previous post.

There was a widespread argument among the blogs some months back, because Kos made some rather elitist and dismissive comments about feminist concerns, and later got downright testy for being called out on them…

(edited for surperfluousness)

One of the issues that led to this argument was Kos’ reaction to NARAL‘s decision to endorse republican Lincoln Chaffe, instead of the democratic challenger who also happens to be pro-life. Kos’ (poorly expressed) point was that, while endorsing Chaffe was technically in line with NARAL’s philosophy, it makes poor tactical sense, as a Republican majority, despite the position of an individual politican, will only help the larger republican cause, which is the elimination of abortion and reproductive freedom.

Now, on a purely emotional level I actually agree with Kos’ position. The fact is that a Democratic majority will make America’s reproductive freedoms safe. However, Kos’ position obscures, as I see it, the larger point: Just what the fuck are Democrats thinking by running Pro-life Dem against a Pro-Choice Republican, in a widely Pro-Choice state? New England isn’t Dixie and Democrats have no goddamned excuse, whatsoever, for nominating anyone who isn’t representative of the Democratic party’s publicly stated position.

Furthermore, doing something so blindingly stupid only cedes the debate to republican fence sitters who, like Mitt, have it both ways electorally while reliably selling out the naive voters who are sucked in my their ‘moderate’ rhetoric. Seen from this point of view, NARAL’s decision makes perfect sense. If the Democrats want to be endorsed by their constituents, they need to start treating their constituents as their base, because frankly, that’s who they are!

Which brings me back to Mitt. All over the country, so-called moderate Republicans keep getting elected in overtly liberal states, and in every case, they reliably back the position of the right wing which has no connection whatsoever to the wishes of their constituents. I keep asking myself, how many more times are people going to have to be burned by these guys, before they realize that “Moderate” republicans are only moderate because they’re not as consumed by paranoid hatred as their insane religious right compatriots?

And yet, the fault lies with the Democrats. They choose poor candidates, market-tested, passionless sellouts who seem to think that actually, proudly evoking their own principles will somehow backfire. People from the left who vote for so-called moderates aren’t attracted to them because they’re republicans. They’re attracted to them because the candidate in question pretends to share their views on the issues that matter to them, and because the other option is supporting a complete wanker. (See Gray Davis for more details).

But I’m rambling. To wrap this up, I’d like to say congratulations to the state of Massachusetts for doing the right thing. And also, welcome back Greg!

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^{1 : Though that still doesn’t make abortion wrong, by the way.}

Since I couldn’t find a photo of the President destroying an actual wall that seperates church and state, I suppose this image of him on the pulpit repeating highlight’s from last night’s political address will have to do :

I know it’s not just Bush, but this whole “National Day of Prayer” thing has always made me uneasy. It doesn’t seem to be that big a deal to most, but it’s odd to me that in a country founded on the ideal that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion”, the President can propose an official day for everyone to be religious. It really, really makes me uncomfortable.

My own issues aside, what’s amusing about this particular prayer day is that fact that a lot of religious leaders aren’t interested in playing along :

Nearly three weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, President Bush has asked religious leaders around the country to join him in a National Day of Prayer and Remembrance on Friday for the storm’s victims.

But once again, several pastors said, the government was a step behind.

While many houses of worship planned to participate, several others around the country said they had already held such services and would not join the president. Some said they were so angry over the government’s sluggish response to blacks and poor people in New Orleans, who waited days for rescue, that they would not heed Bush’s request.

“Not to be critical, but the president is a little late,” said the Rev. Reginald Jackson, president of the Black Ministers Council of New Jersey.

The Rochester Islamic Center, a mosque in the southeastern Minnesota city, held three days of prayers and fundraising for Katrina victims last weekend, said Zaid Khalid, the center’s president.

Rabbi David Kaufman of Temple B’nai Jeshurun in Des Moines, said he has also been mentioning the evacuees at every Friday night service — the start of the Jewish Sabbath.

The Rev. Enoch Fuzz, president of the Interdenominational Ministers Fellowship, which represents about 100 Tennessee pastors, said his group planned nothing different for Friday, but was focusing on organizing more aid for victims.

“We need a prayer that’s walking and not just talking,” Fuzz said. “We need a prayer with legs right now.”

Shorter religious community : “We don’t need you to tell us when to pray Mr. President, we’ve been doing that all along. Don’t you have more important things to be doing?”

After all, for those who are inclined to pray in times of crisis, they started while the President was doing this :

Why do I get the feeling that the President’s prayers have a lot more to do with poll numbers than actual concern?

I’m back from my extended vacation from blogging. Having avoided the blogosphere entirely during my honeymoon, I have thankfully only caught bits and pieces of the last two weeks worth of news. Playing catch-up on the plane, I read the incredible cover story in the newest issue of Newsweek. It’s a sobering look at povery in America, yet it ends with this unintentionally hilarious proposal :

Beyond the thousands of individual efforts necessary to save New Orleans and ease poverty lie some big political choices. Until Katrina intervened, the top priority for the GOP when Congress reconvened was permanent repeal of the estate tax, which applies to far less than 1 percent of taxpayers. (IRS figures show that only 1,607 wealthy people in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi even pay the tax, out of more than 4 million taxpayers—one twenty-fifth of 1 percent.) Repeal would cost the government $24 billion a year. Meanwhile, House GOP leaders are set to slash food stamps by billions in order to protect subsidies to wealthy farmers. But Katrina could change the climate. The aftermath was not a good omen for the Grover Norquists of the world, who want to slash taxes more and shrink government to the size where it can be “strangled in the bathtub.”

What kind of president does George W. Bush want to be? He can limit his legacy to Iraq, the war on terror and tax cuts for the rich—or, if he seizes the moment, he could undertake a midcourse correction that might materially change the lives of millions. Katrina gives Bush an only-Nixon-could-go-to-China opportunity, if he wants it.

George W. Bush caring about the poor? That’s like saying Hamas has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reach out to the Jewish community. It ain’t gonna happen, buddy.

George W. Bush isn’t going to do anything to stem the tide of poverty because he doesn’t understand poverty. He doesn’t know what it’s like to have to decide which bill to pay this month. He’s never had to memorize a bus schedule. He’s never had to live on ramen noodles and whatever food he can get for free at his shitty restaurant job. If he really knew what it was like to be poor, he’d understand that a few hundred bucks isn’t going to be enough to undo the damage of a dead-end job and crushing debt.

Tonight Bush gave a speech which many observers were saying would make or break his presidency. It was the standard laundry list of things he’d be throwing money at mixed with rhetoric that would sound impressive coming out of the mouth of someone who understood what it meant, but here’s how the President squandered his opportunity to actually do something to help the poor :

Within the Gulf region are some of the most beautiful and historic places in America. As all of us saw on television, there is also some deep, persistent poverty in this region as well.

That poverty has roots in a history of racial discrimination, which cut off generations from the opportunity of America. We have a duty to confront this poverty with bold action.

So let us restore all that we have cherished from yesterday, and let us rise above the legacy of inequality.

When the streets are rebuilt, there should be many new businesses, including minority-owned businesses, along those streets.

When the houses are rebuilt, more families should own, not rent, those houses.
. . .
It is entrepreneurship that creates jobs and opportunity. It is entrepreneurship that helps break the cycle of poverty. And we will take the side of entrepreneurs as they lead the economic revival of the Gulf region.

Yeah, it’s just a bunch of recycled “ownership society” garbage from last year, polished up a bit so it doesn’t smell as much like shit.

I agree with the President’s stated goals, but let’s get real here. Poverty has gone up over the last four years, yet the President’s only plan to deal with a problem he’s been forced to address is to do the same thing he’s been trying to do all along? The problem here isn’t that there aren’t enough government incentives to help minority-owned small businesses, it’s that tens of thousands of people are living in makeshift homeless shelters. They don’t need chatter about home ownership, they need to know where the hell they’re going to get food, clean water, and a bed to sleep on. Telling a poor family with minimum wage earners that they should run their own business and own their own house sounds great on paper, but these patronizing ideas are about as constructive as telling someone with a broken leg that they should try to run a marathon.

A little brain-wasabi before we begin the day’s ranting. Oh my God, this is so hilarious it ought to be illegal.

WARNING: This will require intimate knowledge of He-Man and The Masters Of The Universe.

E. J. Dionne scores multi-ball about 40 times playing Bush Pinball:

The Bush Era is over. The sooner politicians in both parties realize that, the better for them — and the country.

Recent months, and especially the past two weeks, have brought home to a steadily growing majority of Americans the truth that President Bush’s government doesn’t work. His policies are failing, his approach to leadership is detached and self-indulgent, his way of politics has produced a divided, angry and dysfunctional public square. We dare not go on like this.

The Bush Era did not begin when he took office, or even with the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. It began on Sept. 14, 2001, when Bush declared at the World Trade Center site: “I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you…”

…

If Bush had understood that his central task was to forge national unity, as he seemed to shortly after Sept. 11, the country would never have become so polarized. Instead, Bush put patriotism to the service of narrowly ideological policies and an extreme partisanship. He pushed for more tax cuts for his wealthiest supporters and shamelessly used relatively modest details in the bill creating a Department of Homeland Security as partisan cudgels in the 2002 elections.

It gets much better. By the end Dionne tilts the machine. Let’s hope his optimistic assessment of the situation isn’t yet another “Bu bu bu but I thought this time we’d see it!” moment.

Found this over at Rook’s Rant.

If you want to know why those masculine feminists seem so pissed off^[1] all the time, why not take a gander at this bizarre and total dick move on the part of Armando^[2] from Daily Kos:

…Finally, I noticed more than a few bloggers who enjoyed raking Markos over the coals for his saying he was not going to sweat the “pie ad” and would concentrate on the important stuff had no blogging on Roberts today. Love that commitment to women’s issues from those bloggers.

Well, guess what. This IS the important stuff. And guess again — Markos gave me carte blanche to blog Roberts throughout the day.

I hope folks remember that when they are again tempted to attack daily kos as lacking commitment to women and their rights.

Because that is bullshit.

Emphasis mine

I’ll come back to Armando’s petulant temper tantrum in a moment. First, some background for those of you who may not understand what he’s talking about.

There was a widespread argument among the blogs some months back, because Kos made some rather elitist and dismissive comments about feminist concerns, and later got downright testy for being called out on them. I think Kos and co. often do good work, and I read them a lot. And the sad truth is that they have a shameful tendency to treat women’s issues as moral goods, but as peripheral at best, and they tend to act a little too surprised that Feminist blogs have a problem with that.

Of course, Kos and Co. see themselves as a clearing house of left points of view, and as such they don’t tend to officially take to one particular cause, as much as they try to get issues of import out there. That said, they do, in fact, have particular issues they care about more than others. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s a bit schizophrenic (not to mention annoying) to do just that and then claim that you’re doing quite the opposite. Combine that with this odd lingering resentment of the women who put them in their place, and it’s just embarassing to watch. Normally, you could chalk it up to personality conflicts, or tactical arguments, but this silly little missive by Armando is just plain stupid. (Read his rant against Kevin Drum and see what I mean^[3]).

Pardon my french but perhaps if Armando bothered actually fucking reading^[4] the work of Feminist bloggers when they’re not Man Hatingly and Lesbionically^[5] attacking Kos for some stuff he might have considered not saying, he’d have noted that in fact, these crazed, man hating lesbians have actually written quite a goddamned lot of material over a man whose career will affect them a hell of a lot more than it will affect Armando. Or me for matter.

For more information, please note that lazy feminsist hypocrites^[6] like Amanda, Roxanne, Pinko Feminist Hellcat and Feministe have more to say on this, and from a perspective that actually, you know, means something.

In summation, reading Armando’s little rant it seems more like he’s pissed that the feminazis were “disloyal,” rather than at any actual attack, and it’s just silly. It illustrates one of the major problems on the left. No, not that we “can’t get along”. We can, and do just fine. It’s that there’s a tendency once people reach a certain level of success to try to shut the plebs up, lest we be seen as uncouth. (Thankfully, Atrios and Eric Alterman, to name a few, have been utterly immune to this tendency.) Feminists don’t, as far as I can see, actually demand any sort of lock step rigidity, they just feel rightly so that their cocnerns are not inconveniences. Ask yourselves how you’d feel if Kos or other well meaning libs suggested that civil rights for minorities were up for debate, or negotiable?

Anyway, my question here is, why the hell couldn’t Armando just save the vitriol for the people who actually suck, like Roberts, and try putting a little effort into figuring out why some of these crazy dames might not like being treated like petulant children over genuine intellectual disagreement, or worse, treated like their concerns are only valid when a man addresses them?

Look, I know, I know, those broads got a lot of nerve playing a man’s game, but they also fuck us^[7], and for that we must be grateful.

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^{1 : And Man-hatingly lesbionic}

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^{2 : I actually enjoy a lot of his writing, but honestly dude, this is a lazy, pointless dick move if ever I’ve seen one.}

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^{3 : Past readers know I have mixed feelings about Kevin Drum, and I’m taking his side here.}

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^{4 : seriously, this post should have embarassed him to write.}

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^{5 : Did I mention also that Feminists hate your balls? RUN!}

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^{6 : Obviously, I am kidding about all that.}

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^{7 : Not Applicable in Ponceachussetts.}

The Talent Show hereby commands every heterosexual in TaxPonceachussetts to divorce immediately! An attempt to outlaw the marriages between Cathars and Soddomites has failed, God help us all!

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force hailed today’s defeat of a proposed Massachusetts constitutional amendment seeking to ban same-sex marriage and create civil unions. The measure was defeated today by a vote of 157 to 39 by the state Legislature meeting in a joint constitutional convention, having passed the body in March, 2004 by a vote of 105-92. Had it passed today, it would have been on the statewide ballot in November, 2006.

My God, each and every marriage between god fearing married couples of straightness are in deadly danger. Can the Apocalypse be far behind? Repent Ponceachussetts, repent while there’s still time!

But seriously, this is excellent news, especially coming on the heels of Arnolds last minute sellout of Gay Californians. Good job Massachussetts, good job indeed.

Ladies and gentlemen, President Burgandy.

The text from Reuters reads: U.S. President George W. Bush writes a note to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a Security Council meeting at the 2005 World Summit and 60th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York September 14, 2005. World leaders are exploring ways to revitalize the United Nations at a summit on Wednesday but their blueprint falls short of Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s vision of freedom from want, persecution and war.

Damn it people, you know he reads whatever is put on the teleprompter!

Now, in case you can’t read what the President has written, during this important exploration of ways to revitalize the UN:

My favorite part is that he frames it as a question:

Bush: “I think I may need a bathroom break? Is this possible?”

Condie: “Well Mr president, I admit that the idea of you actually “thinking” defies conventional wisdom. Hell, I’ve never seen it. But I think, in this case, that you might in fact really be mulling something over in your cute little head. Good Job!”

You know, this really does illustrate succinctly that the UN is in desperate need of “revitalization”. Step one would be putting bedpans under the Speakers’ chairs. Step 2, explain to the president the difference between a request and a question. Step 3, Profit.

In other news, this clever AP photographer, Rick Wilking, is probably going to need a new job fairly soon, since I assume he just lost his white house press pass. Way to go out with a bang though. Good show sir.

Leci N’est Pas une President.

(Second photo found over at Oliver Willis’ place.)

Arun from the Talking Lion has solved the energy crisis. Go and read about his Crazy… but so crazy it just might work scheme. It’s quite amusing.