Jones of the Nile

Hillary's inner Tracy Flick

2008-01-21T19:13:00.000-05:00

This is so awesome.

Polls schmolls

2008-01-08T09:03:00.000-05:00

As much as I love politics, I loathe reading about new polls every fifteen minutes. Rasmussen, Gallop, CNN, Zogby, Real Politics, Politico, Fox News, USA Today, Newsweek, AP....there are more polls than there are skin cells covering my body, and it bums me out.

Which is why I love this piece by Penn & Teller. Not only do they catch Fox News using actors as members of a focus group, but they also lay out how totally ludicrous polling is. My favorite line: "Even if 50% of the world likes hobbit movies, they still suck."

Amen. Enjoy.

I think I have to change my name....

2007-12-02T23:19:00.001-05:00

Just when I think this Mike Jones is going away, he pops back up again.

Turns out that Jones, the gay escort who outed Rev. Ted Haggard, has also had sex with Senator Larry Craig back in 2004, according to the Idaho Statesman.

I'm starting to wish my parents would have named me what they originally intended: Leslie.

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a....male escort?

2007-11-27T23:51:00.000-05:00

So I've seen a couple of posts online about this, and while I'm not sure I believe it yet, I have to admit I'm starting to wonder. As per a post on Towle Road, rumors are surfacing that Trent Lott is resigning from the US Senate because of a scandal involving a male escort. If true, this will be the craziest thing to hit Washington since....well, Larry Craig, which wasn't all that long ago. WTF? Do members of Congress get free male escorts upon reelection?

(No wonder no one supports term limits!)

Big Head DC has more coverage of the possible news, including the name of the escort (Benjamin Nicholas...hmm...someone with a last name that could be his first name. It's always good to be skeptical of these people!). I'm curious to see where this goes. Barring the blogs, I haven't seen any members of the mainstream media (MSM) pick this up.

Meanwhile, I'm prepping for the Republican debate tomorrow on CNN. I might consider live-blogging it from my other persona over at Bring it On!. I hoping Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani get into a catfight!

What more could a dork want for Christmas?

2007-11-26T08:46:00.000-05:00

It's nearing the end of the year, which can only mean one thing: the latest "Almanac of American Politics" is about to be issued! Woohoo!

Mom and dad, if you're reading this, know that this would be the perfect stocking stuffer (even though it's freakin' $75!). But where else can you find information and photographs of every governor, plus every member of Congress?

Here's also an excellent tip for trying to fall asleep at night: See how many Senators you can name. It's easy. Pick a state, try to name their two senators, then pick another state, and repeat. Before you know it, you'll be asleep before you hit North Dakota (Senators Byron Dorgan and Kent Conrad!).

What's the most you've ever lost in a coin toss?

2007-11-11T09:46:00.000-05:00

I spent most of yesterday morning and afternoon on a walking tour of Roxbury, Massachusetts, looking at environmental and community concerns that have plagued this community for years. It was an eye-opening tour, especially when you find out that asthma rates in Roxbury are nearly 50% higher than anywhere else in Boston - largely because the air in Roxbury has suffered at the hands of polluters more than any other area in Boston (arguably). I'll write more about the tour later, but in the meantime, check out Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE) in Roxbury. A great organization.

After standing out in rather cold Fall temperatures yesterday for eight hours, I pretty much crashed when I got home. But last night decided to go with a friend to check out "No Country for Old Men," the movie where the subject line up there comes from. (It's the latest Coen brothers movie.) The movie was sold out at 8:15, causing my hamstrings to deflate (they got their workout all day walking around Boston). So we waited in this bar for an hour until the next show, and I'm so glad we did. Not only is the movie awesome, but I got to have a mojito. Mmmm.

GO SEE THIS MOVIE. Yes, it's violent. But as the LA Times wrote:

The story of stolen drug money and the horrific carnage it precipitates, "No Country for Old Men" doesn't celebrate or smile at violence, it despairs of it, despairs of its randomness, pervasiveness, its inescapable nature, of the way it eats at the soul of society and the individuals in it.

Really, you will leave the theater thinking, and I love that. It's also eerie to see Tommy Lee Jones in a portrayal scarily reminiscent of my father! But that's beside the point. This is a movie that will (if you're a writer) make you want to write movies. And that might be the best line anyone can say about it.

Check out the trailer on You Tube here:

Wonderfully wicked and devastating

2007-11-02T14:35:00.000-04:00

I know I probably shouldn't celebrate this type of politics, but I love it when someone is brought down a peg or two when they think they're all that and a bag of chips. (Baked Lays, perhaps?)

Here's the latest video from John Edwards's campaign, showing how Hillary Clinton changes her opinion depending on how the wind blows.

Eartha Kitt rocks Halloween

2007-10-31T21:32:00.000-04:00

I'd rather be burned as a witch, then never be burned at all!

This is why I love Halloween time. Check out this musical montage showing off some Eartha Kitt. Enjoy!

Five years after Wellstone's death

2007-10-25T14:14:00.000-04:00

It's weird...it seems like every year on October 26, I post some sort of reflection about the life of Sen. Paul Wellstone, who died five years ago today in a plane crash (along with his wife and daughter, three campaign workers and a pilot).

My favorite Wellstone words still stick with me today: Never separate the life you live from the words you speak. It's a challenge I still find difficult to live up to today, as I imagine most people even tangentially involved in politics do.

Though I'm not crazy about politico.com, they have a nice piece today on Wellstone's legacy, five years after his death. For me, I recall a Senator who called me up on my cell phone when my mom had her stroke, and listened to me burst into tears. I recall a Senator who marched with me in Stillwater, MN during one of the ugliest parades I've ever been in (people actually started spraying the Senator with a hose!). And I recall a Senator who told us during the campaign: “The future will not belong to those who sit on the sidelines. The future will not belong to the cynics. The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

So on this day, it seems only appropriate to remember Wellstone's words, that the future belongs to those with passion. As Mark Twain once said, "Really great people make you feel that you, too, can become great." That was Wellstone. And that's what I remember every October 25.

Pro-life politicians and their culture of life

2007-10-24T17:44:00.001-04:00

Cross-posted at Bring it On!

Pro-life Politicians and a Culture of Life

I meant to write about this last week, but Republican Rep. Thaddeus G. McCotter (R-Michigan) went after the group Catholics United in an opinion piece in the National Review, because Catholics United had the audacity to ask the question: Is it pro-life to vote against S-CHIP?

Is it pro-life to vote against health care for children? That’s an easy answer – no. But tell that to Rep. McCotter, who voted against the S-CHIP legislation and by default, voted against health care coverage for millions of children. I wonder if this is another example of a “pro-life” politician failing to recognize that life exists beyond the moment of birth?

McCotter went full throttle on Catholics United, calling them false prophets, characterizi ng them as the devil, and saying that they were committing a sin by suggesting that “pro-life” politicians shouldn’t have voted against S-CHIP. Clearly Catholics United struck a chord with Rep. McCotter.

And for good reason: for far too long, “pro-life” politicians have been able to get away with voting for war, voting against health coverage, voting to scale back social programs for the poor, and voting for education cuts, while failing to recognize that these votes cut against the grain of the “culture of life” they supposedly champion.

McCotter’s mad because someone called him on his hypocrisy – that he may label himself pro-life, but his definition of “life” ends at birth. As a devout Catholic who publicly tosses around his faith, McCotter should know that a definition of life that fails to encompass health care for children is not only incomplete, it’s contrary to the own social teachings of his faith.

One. Disgusting. Commercial.

2007-10-16T21:32:00.000-04:00

Uh, this may be the weirdest commercial I've ever seen for anything. And it's for All-Bran, a cereal I distinctly remember being in my grandmother's cabinet right below the coffee pot.

Enjoy. Or not enjoy. You decide :)

Really...

2007-10-09T00:09:00.000-04:00

So I know I haven't been blogging much lately...at least here. I have been contributing regularly as the new religion moderator over at Bring it On! You can check out a series of my recent posts here.

In the meantime, here's a funny ass clip from Saturday Night Live. I know! A funny ass clip from Saturday Night Live...and it's not from the 1970s! (BTW, I find the phrase funny ass to be pretty funny.)

To Seth and Amy and their take on the Sen. Larry Craig scandal..."Really"....

I'll take a "Маленький" Caramel Macchiato

2007-09-09T19:57:00.000-04:00

Starbucks opens their first location in Russia. It's official: Starbucks is everywhere. But the coffee still tastes like soap.

Of course, a more interesting read is this piece from February 2007, that talks about how former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz thinks Starbucks has lost its soul. And soul is what makes a fine coffee shop, if you ask me. (Props to Simon's Coffee Shop on Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge.)

How to write about Africa

2007-09-05T21:50:00.001-04:00

Ah, nothing goes better with human rights than a little sarcasm. Here's a scathing piece by Binyavanga Wainaina that pokes a finger at those (especially journalists and academics) who write about Africa. It's an awesome piece, though very critical.

I think it's pretty true, though. How many Christian Relief Fund commercials show nothing more of Africa than starving kids, or how many news stories show nothing more than armed soldiers or Africans in colorful garb? Or how many academics write about Africa, but never leave their five-star hotel room in Nairobi?

The article was featured in Granta, which is a very cool literary magazine. They just issued a list of the Best Young American Novelists (here) -- perhaps one day you'll see me on there!

At any rate, here's the Wainaina article. Check it out:

How to Write About Africa
By Binyavanga Wainaina

Some tips: sunsets and starvation are good

Always use the word 'Africa' or 'Darkness' or 'Safari' in your title. Subtitles may include the words 'Zanzibar', 'Masai', 'Zulu', 'Zambezi', 'Congo', 'Nile', 'Big', 'Sky', 'Shadow', 'Drum', 'Sun' or 'Bygone'. Also useful are words such as 'Guerrillas', 'Timeless', 'Primordial' and 'Tribal'. Note that 'People' means Africans who are not black, while 'The People' means black Africans.

Never have a picture of a well-adjusted African on the cover of your book, or in it, unless that African has won the Nobel Prize. An AK-47, prominent ribs, naked breasts: use these. If you must include an African, make sure you get one in Masai or Zulu or Dogon dress.

In your text, treat Africa as if it were one country. It is hot and dusty with rolling grasslands and huge herds of animals and tall, thin people who are starving. Or it is hot and steamy with very short people who eat primates. Don't get bogged down with precise descriptions. Africa is big: fifty-four countries, 900 million people who are too busy starving and dying and warring and emigrating to read your book. The continent is full of deserts, jungles, highlands, savannahs and many other things, but your reader doesn't care about all that, so keep your descriptions romantic and evocative and unparticular.

Make sure you show how Africans have music and rhythm deep in their souls, and eat things no other humans eat. Do not mention rice and beef and wheat; monkey-brain is an African's cuisine of choice, along with goat, snake, worms and grubs and all manner of game meat. Make sure you show that you are able to eat such food without flinching, and describe how you learn to enjoy it—because you care.

Taboo subjects: ordinary domestic scenes, love between Africans (unless a death is involved), references to African writers or intellectuals, mention of school-going children who are not suffering from yaws or Ebola fever or female genital mutilation.

Throughout the book, adopt a sotto voice, in conspiracy with the reader, and a sad I-expected-so-much tone. Establish early on that your liberalism is impeccable, and mention near the beginning how much you love Africa, how you fell in love with the place and can't live without her. Africa is the only continent you can love—take advantage of this. If you are a man, thrust yourself into her warm virgin forests. If you are a woman, treat Africa as a man who wears a bush jacket and disappears off into the sunset. Africa is to be pitied, worshipped or dominated. Whichever angle you take, be sure to leave the strong impression that without your intervention and your important book, Africa is doomed.

Your African characters may include naked warriors, loyal servants, diviners and seers, ancient wise men living in hermitic splendour. Or corrupt politicians, inept polygamous travel-guides, and prostitutes you have slept with. The Loyal Servant always behaves like a seven-year-old and needs a firm hand; he is scared of snakes, good with children, and always involving you in his complex domestic dramas. The Ancient Wise Man always comes from a noble tribe (not the money-grubbing tribes like the Gikuyu, the Igbo or the Shona). He has rheumy eyes and is close to the Earth. The Modern African is a fat man who steals and works in the visa office, refusing to give work permits to qualified Westerners who really care about Africa. He is an enemy of development, always using his government job to make it difficult for pragmatic and good-hearted expats to set up NGOs or Legal Conservation Areas. Or he is an Oxford-educated intellectual turned serial-killing politician in a Savile Row suit. He is a cannibal who likes Cristal champagne, and his mother is a rich witch-doctor who really runs the country.

Among your characters you must always include The Starving African, who wanders the refugee camp nearly naked, and waits for the benevolence of the West. Her children have flies on their eyelids and pot bellies, and her breasts are flat and empty. She must look utterly helpless. She can have no past, no history; such diversions ruin the dramatic moment. Moans are good. She must never say anything about herself in the dialogue except to speak of her (unspeakable) suffering. Also be sure to include a warm and motherly woman who has a rolling laugh and who is concerned for your well-being. Just call her Mama. Her children are all delinquent. These characters should buzz around your main hero, making him look good. Your hero can teach them, bathe them, feed them; he carries lots of babies and has seen Death. Your hero is you (if reportage), or a beautiful, tragic international celebrity/aristocrat who now cares for animals (if fiction).

Bad Western characters may include children of Tory cabinet ministers, Afrikaners, employees of the World Bank. When talking about exploitation by foreigners mention the Chinese and Indian traders. Blame the West for Africa's situation. But do not be too specific.

Broad brushstrokes throughout are good. Avoid having the African characters laugh, or struggle to educate their kids, or just make do in mundane circumstances. Have them illuminate something about Europe or America in Africa. African characters should be colourful, exotic, larger than life—but empty inside, with no dialogue, no conflicts or resolutions in their stories, no depth or quirks to confuse the cause.

Describe, in detail, naked breasts (young, old, conservative, recently raped, big, small) or mutilated genitals, or enhanced genitals. Or any kind of genitals. And dead bodies. Or, better, naked dead bodies. And especially rotting naked dead bodies. Remember, any work you submit in which people look filthy and miserable will be referred to as the 'real Africa', and you want that on your dust jacket. Do not feel queasy about this: you are trying to help them to get aid from the West. The biggest taboo in writing about Africa is to describe or show dead or suffering white people.

Animals, on the other hand, must be treated as well rounded, complex characters. They speak (or grunt while tossing their manes proudly) and have names, ambitions and desires. They also have family values: see how lions teach their children? Elephants are caring, and are good feminists or dignified patriarchs. So are gorillas. Never, ever say anything negative about an elephant or a gorilla. Elephants may attack people's property, destroy their crops, and even kill them. Always take the side of the elephant. Big cats have public-school accents. Hyenas are fair game and have vaguely Middle Eastern accents. Any short Africans who live in the jungle or desert may be portrayed with good humour (unless they are in conflict with an elephant or chimpanzee or gorilla, in which case they are pure evil).

After celebrity activists and aid workers, conservationists are Africa's most important people. Do not offend them. You need them to invite you to their 30,000-acre game ranch or 'conservation area', and this is the only way you will get to interview the celebrity activist. Often a book cover with a heroic-looking conservationist on it works magic for sales. Anybody white, tanned and wearing khaki who once had a pet antelope or a farm is a conservationist, one who is preserving Africa's rich heritage. When interviewing him or her, do not ask how much funding they have; do not ask how much money they make off their game. Never ask how much they pay their employees.

Readers will be put off if you don't mention the light in Africa. And sunsets, the African sunset is a must. It is always big and red. There is always a big sky. Wide empty spaces and game are critical—Africa is the Land of Wide Empty Spaces. When writing about the plight of flora and fauna, make sure you mention that Africa is overpopulated. When your main character is in a desert or jungle living with indigenous peoples (anybody short) it is okay to mention that Africa has been severely depopulated by Aids and War (use caps).

You'll also need a nightclub called Tropicana, where mercenaries, evil nouveau riche Africans and prostitutes and guerrillas and expats hang out.

Always end your book with Nelson Mandela saying something about rainbows or renaissances. Because you care.

The Mark Foley of 2007

2007-08-27T19:04:00.001-04:00

Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho), busted for soliciting oral sex in a men's bathroom in the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. Yikes. Courtesy of TowleRoad....

GOP Idaho Senator Larry Craig in Lewd Conduct Men's Room Arrest

A plainclothes officer in Minnesota arrested Idaho Senator Larry Craig in an airport men's room while he was investigating lewd conduct complaints in June, it has been revealed:

"Craig’s arrest occurred just after noon on June 11 at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. On Aug. 8, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct in the Hennepin County District Court. He paid more than $500 in fines and fees, and a 10-day jail sentence was stayed. He also was given one year of probation with the court that began on Aug. 8."

Wonkette has a few highlights of the arrest report:

"At one point during the interview, Craig handed the plainclothes sergeant who arrested him a business card that identified him as a U.S. Senator and said, ‘What do you think about that?’ the report states...At 1216 hours, Craig tapped his right foot. I recognized this as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct. Craig tapped his toes several times and moves his foot closer to my foot. I moved my foot up and down slowly. While this was occurring, the male in the stall to my right was still present. I could hear several unknown persons in the restroom that appeared to use the restroom for its intended use. The presence of others did not seem to deter Craig as he moved his right foot so that it touched the side of my left foot which was within my stall area,” the report states...Craig then proceeded to swipe his hand under the stall divider several times, and Karsnia noted in his report that ‘I could … see Craig had a gold ring on his ring finger as his hand was on my side of the stall divider.’"

Wow, soliciting oral sex in a men's room is kind of like the hokey pokey. "You put your right foot in, you slide your right hand under the stall...."

My favorite line from the arrest report, though? "While this was occurring, the male in the stall to my right was still present. I could hear several unknown persons in the restroom that appeared to use the restroom for its intended use." You can't tell me the arresting officer wasn't cracking up while writing this report....!

Simpsonized

2007-08-26T20:52:00.000-04:00

Everyone has tried this. Now add me to the list. Here's me as a Simpson.

Bottled Water Conundrum

2007-08-19T10:46:00.001-04:00

To drink bottled water, or not to drink bottled water...that is the question. Having just spent some time in the global South, bottled water was the only option (unless you like amoebas and salmonella lurking around in your intestines). In the States, bottled water is just about ready to pass soda pop as the most consumed (and purchased) beverage in the country. But is that a good thing?

I came across this article, Bottled Water Quandry, by Fr. John Rausch. I've met John several times in my work with Pax Christi. He's nothing short of awesome...the type of prophetic religious leader who gets the intimate connection between the earth and the supernatural, between religion and ecology. He's also a great guy to hang around with if you're ever in Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, or Western North Carolina (I participated on a delegation he helped organize several years ago, which took us throughout Appalachia).

His article is worth reading because of the lines he draws when pointing out that (1) most tap water is just as pure as bottled water in the First World, (2) the ecological damage from bottling water is having huge costs on global warming and other environmental issues, (3) worldwide, one billion people (one-sixth of the world) lack clean water, while the top one-sixth of the world consume en mass such a scarce resource. As a note, if you drink Fiji Water, it may hit too close to home. As Rausch points out:

Fiji Water comes from the islands of Fiji, which lie roughly 8,000 miles from New York. The bottles for the Fiji Water nearly double the trip because first they are brought to Fiji, filled, then shipped to their final destination. Transportation represents fully half the wholesale cost of Fiji Water. In addition, the Fiji Water plant further impacts the environment because it operates 24 hours a day requiring uninterrupted electricity that the factory supplies with three large generators run by diesel fuel.

Interesting stuff. Also, as a follow-up, it's worth checking out Corporate Accountability International's recent success at pressuring Pepsi to change the label for Aquafina water. Previously, Aquafina had a pristine image of a mountain spring on their bottles, suggesting that the water came from some luxurious mountain well. On the contrary, Aquafina comes from tap water from across the world; it's just put through a "purification" process first.

Seagal says FBI probe ruined his career

2007-08-17T22:41:00.001-04:00

Right, it was the FBI probe, and not all of the crappy movies......

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Steven Seagal, whose action movies once were major box-office attractions, believes false allegations by FBI agents ruined his career, the Los Angeles Times reported on Friday.

The comments in the Times are the first Seagal has made publicly about an investigation begun some five years ago by the FBI into accusations he intimidated a reporter and had ties to organized crime.

The Times said Seagal is demanding an apology from the FBI. A spokesman for the actor was not immediately available on Friday.

"False FBI accusations fueled thousands of articles saying that I terrorize journalists and associate with the Mafia," Seagal told the newspaper. "These kinds of inflammatory allegations scare studio heads and independent producers -- and kill careers."

Seagal, 56, was once a major star of action movies such as 1992's "Under Siege," which earned $156 million at worldwide box offices, but now he makes straight-to-DVD releases such as "Flight of Fury and "Attack Force."

Laramie Project Ban

2007-08-05T18:02:00.000-04:00

I met Judy Shepherd, mother of Matthew Shepherd, about eight years ago when I was a junior at Mercyhurst College in Erie, PA. Less than two years had passed since her son was killed in Wyoming in one of the most gory and publicized hate crimes of the last few decades. I remember giving her a hug in the lobby of Mercyhurst's Performing Arts Center, after she had finished speaking to a pretty packed crowd. I was hanging out in the lobby with a few friends, when she came out of the auditorium and saw the three of us standing around. I remember asking her something about how she found the wherewithal to speak to audience after audience after audience about something so painful. She responded (I'm digging through the journal entry on this one to find the exact wording...): "I just want to help others who might be broken or scared or unsure."

It's been nearly nine years since Matthew Shepherd was killed. But the more times change, the more some things stay the same. Case in point, the ignorance of an Ocean Township, New Jersey principal and her superintendent, who are preventing a high school from staging The Laramie Project, an award-winning play chronicling the events surrounding the death of Matthew Shepherd. The play has already been staged in nearly 5,000 high schools over the past nine years.

It was an Ocean Township principal, Julia Davidow, who originally pulled the plug on the play. But the most disgusting part of this whole thing is a letter from Principal Davidow's superintendent, standing by her decision. Here's some text from the letter.

"If I err, I err on the side of caution. The first rule of education is, do no harm. I have to respect the decision made by our high school principal; it's not an easy job to be a high school principal. I regret that this is going to be a distraction to the community. In my 36 years here, it has been a wonderful community."

Spare me. If the first rule of education is do no harm (side note: I thought that was the first rule of medicine?), then what about the harm caused to all those students, faculty, and members of the community who could greatly benefit from this performance. Moreover, the line I regret that this is going to be a distraction to the community, is the type of public relations bullshit that fries me. If the superintendent really regretted this distraction, he'd work with the students and faculty that want to put this show on. Instead, he cowers behind the decision of a misinformed principal who's more concerned about covering her ass than actually giving students something to think about. Perhaps next the principal can make sure that all books referring to homosexual penguins are purged from school libraries.

Both Judy Shepherd and the Moises Kaufman, playwright of The Laramie Project, have written the school district to protest. Garden State Equality has also submitted a letter to the district. I can't find a direct email address for either the superintendent or the principal, but the Ocean Township School District website does have a feedback form that you can fill out here, if you'd like to ask this principal and superintendent to re-examine their rather poor and misinformed decision.

Of course, not wanting to give this principal or super all the glory on this post, I figured I'd also share with y'all a link to lyrics from a song that Randi Driscoll wrote after the death of Matthew Shepherd. Randi performed alongside Judy Shepherd at Mercyhurst, and I remember her song, "What Matters," as being such an elegant tribute to victims of hate crimes, particularly gay victims of hate crimes. Here's a link to the lyrics of her song, where you can also purchase a CD single.

Girlspoke...one of my new favorite blogs

2007-07-28T11:06:00.001-04:00

Time to promote a fun blog to my friends, family, and assorted random people who stop by this blog. I've been reading this for a few weeks now, and Girlspoke is really awesome. It's kind of a mix between Sex and the City and The Golden Girls and Charlie's Angels. Here's their catch line: "Girlspoke is an all female team blog written by some of the funniest smartest ladies on the web..."

Check it out. And my favorite writer over there is Adrie.

Hanging with Mr. Cooper

2007-07-25T22:45:00.000-04:00

Courtesy of Towleroad

Apparently Tom Ford is on the prowl for a new fragrance based on Anderson Cooper. Personally, I've never gotten the obsession with Anderson Cooper. Or maybe I'm just jealous, because he's trying to steal my claim to fame as being a young, hot guy with gray hair :)

Some of the favorite proposed names for said Anderson Cooper fragrance, per Towleroad's comments:

Au de Closet (you knew someone would have to include a closeted comment)

White Hot

FABULOUS! (that's my favorite...)

Katrina #5 (Ok, that's a funny one too, given all the Katrina stories he does)

Armoire

And given that he's Gloria Vanderbilt's son....

Privilege

Scapegoats

2007-07-22T22:43:00.001-04:00

Another fine Keith Olbermann commentary. Not as good as some previous ones, but kudos to Keith for working in a reference to the Austra-Hungary invasion of Serbia, and French fighting against the Prussians in the 19th century!

In tomorrow's Minneapolis Star Tribune

2007-07-19T15:39:00.000-04:00

Having worked against Sen. Norm Coleman in 2002, I'm beaming at the thought of this advertisement in tomorrow's Minneapolis Star Tribune, courtesy of Al Franken's campaign. Enjoy.

Around the world mishmash

2007-07-18T20:08:00.001-04:00

So I've been trying to figure out something to write for about 50 minutes now, staring blankly at my computer screen while the energy slowly leaks out of my body (and out of my laptop's battery). I can't think of any unifying theme here, but three things caught my eye.

The first is a quote from Abraham Heschel, long one of my favorite spiritual thinkers, gurus, and cool happenin' guys. Especially for someone who died 35 years ago. Here's the quote: “When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.”

The second is a quote from Annie Dillard, long one of my favorite writers, eco-friendly thinkers, and all-around nice ladies. (I've never met her.) Here's the quote: "There is no shortage of good days. It is good lives that are hard to come by."

The third is from Alice Walker, who tangentially just performed on my iPod a few moments ago. ('twas a song from The Color Purple on Broadway. Don't judge!) Here's her quote: "Deliver me from writers who say the way they live doesn't matter. I'm not sure a bad person can write a good book. If art doesn't make us better, then what on earth is it for?"

That last line particularly got me...If art doesn't make us better, then what on earth is it for? I need to sleep on that quote, I think. I'm kind of a nerd like that. But Joan Didion once said that when she gets close to finishing a good book, she has to sleep alone in a room with it.

I like Joan Didion, but I hope I'm not that weird. Still, do you ever just read something and know it resonates, even if you can't articulate why?

OK, enough rambling thoughts for the night. All of the coffee I consumed today has seeped from my veins, so it's time to transition into crash mode. Have a great night!

For those wondering...

2007-07-17T21:42:00.001-04:00

Where all the reflective, serious posts have gone, they've been popping up on a new diary I started at Bring it On! You'll recognize the diary name. Here's my page: http://religion.teambio.org/author/jonesofthenile/.

Check out the other areas of BIO too. It's a good site, and it's recently redesigned.

Guilty pleasures

2007-07-15T18:09:00.001-04:00

So in an email conversation the other day between three friends of mine from Grad school (one in the Bay Area, one in Maryland, and one in NYC), the conversation of guilty music pleasures came up. For example, did you know that Mags at You Forgot Poland has Hilary Duff's "Metamorphosis" on her i-pod?

Similarly, JR at JR the Otter has "Picture" by Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow. And Sweet Machine? You wouldn't believe it, but she jams to "Waiting for a Star to Fall" by Boy Meets Girl. There's also Tumerica, who swoons to Anne Murray's "Shadows in the Moonlight." And then don't get me started on what The Mighty Red Pen listens to. Word has it that she has Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl" on constant rotation on her i-tunes.

Kidding. I made all of those up. Or if I got any of them right, it was only by a matter of coincidence.

I'm also hardly one to judge, because I love guilty pleasures. I came across Run for Your Life! The 50-worst Songs of All-Time, from Blender. I'm almost embarrassed (read that as eccentrically proud!) that most of these songs I have on either tape, CD, as an i-tune, or all three. So of all the bad songs Blender lists, here are the ones that I've been known to jam to, dance in the shower to, or plan figure skating routines to (don't judge).

My Heart Will Go On, by Celine Dion

I'm Too Sexy, Right Said Fred

Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da, The Beatles

Hangin' Tough, New Kids on the Block

I'd Do Anything for Love, but I Won't Do That, Meatloaf (Side note: I'm particularly mortified of this one.)

We Didn't Start the Fire, Billy Joel

I Wanna Sex You Up, Color Me Badd

She Bangs, Ricky Martin

Greatest Love of All, Whitney Houston (side note: I was in chorus in 5th and 6th Grade, and I actually had to sing Whitney Houston's "One Moment in Time." Rarely does anything in my life match that high point.)

Your Body is a Wonderland, John Mayer

You're the Inspiration, Chicago

What's Up, 4-Non Blondes

From a Distance, Bette Midler

Invisible, Clay Aiken (Side note: OK, I guess if you have to top Meatloaf, Clay Aiken would be the next logical step. I'm starting to regret this post. Please don't abandon me as friends after reading this.)

Don't Worry Be Happy, Bobby McFerrin

The Heart of Rock n Roll, Huey Lewis and the News (Side Note: Huey Lewis is not bad. Come on. Cut the guy some slack. There's nary an 80s song that can match their "Power of Love.")

Ice Ice Baby, Vanilla Ice

And finally, the #1 worst song according to Blender, and also buried somewhere in a box of mix tapes I have lurking around my apartment....

We Built this City, Starship

I totally feel pretty uncool right now. I'll just keep telling myself to "Embrace the nerdiness,"....

I guess if you have nothing better to do for 11 days

2007-07-14T11:13:00.000-04:00

I'm not a crazy Harry Potter fan. I like it. I also like soup. But I wouldn't wait outside for 11 days for soup. Unless it was really good soup. Squash bisque, maybe. I love that stuff, even though friends say it looks like...well, use your imagination.

But here's a story on two teens waiting 11 days in a bookstore in Fairbanks, Alaska for the last Harry Potter novel. An 11-day vigil, as the article calls it. From the Associated Press:

Chloe and Sydney Bostian started camping out Tuesday in front of Gulliver's Books in Fairbanks to be among the first Alaskans to find out their hero's fate in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

(Editor's Note: Well, at least they're waiting outside of a local, independent bookstore! Gulliver's Books. But take that praise with a grain of salt...I usually frequent Borders.)

They have reserved four copies of the book, but the wait isn't about that. They wanted to beat their friend, Graham Tordoff, 18, to the front of the line.

"He beat me once and I've been in line first ever since," Chloe said. "We're pretty die-hard."

(Editor's Note: Uh-huh, I bet Graham Tordoff is proud as hell with all this free publicity. Earned media, as they call it in our business. Of course, the downside is that now millions of people will probably take it upon themselves to refer to him as Turd-off, which I bet he's lived with for quite some time. Kids can be ruthless. Don't even get me started on the song Stacy Traylor made up about me in 7th grade. Grr.....)

Tordoff, who has known Chloe since they were toddlers, has pre-ordered two copies of the book. He got in line after the girls and plans to be there sporadically — he has a job — until the release.

"Chloe and her sister were first, I suppose. It's depressing," he said, laughing. "She earned it; she's good."

(Editor's Note: I hope this story ends with Graham and Chloe getting married. And then they can have a Harry Potter-themed wedding. But as an aside, how can you be in line sporadically? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of forming a line? Oh, and Graham, it's not really depressing being second in line. Malaria is depressing. Being second in line just means you have to work it a little harder.)

At Gulliver's, it's the festivities that are the main attraction, Chloe said. People show up in costume — Chloe's going as Mrs. Figg, the cat lady — and there are games, crafts, food and the occasional unicorn.

Chloe said she expected some company around the beginning of the week, and by the day before the release, the line should be wrapped around the building, judging from past releases.

"It's just so fun to stay in line 'cause everyone gets so into it," she said. "I'm just enjoying this because it's my last summer before I go to college."

(Editor's Note: Someone should tell this girl that she's probably going to have a lot more fun in college. But true that, there likely won't be any unicorns in college. Although for a Halloween party one time, a friend of mine dressed up as Pan. That might come close.)

Best. Video. Ever.

2007-07-11T13:37:00.001-04:00

My bladder started leaking. Watch now. (the video, not my bladder)

(courtesy of Lost Remote)

Breaking News: All Online Data Lost After Internet Crash

Do you know Dolores O'Riordan?

2007-07-11T12:58:00.000-04:00

(Preparing to date myself...)

I don't know how many of you might remember the 1990s band, "The Cranberries". I hearted the Cranberries. I was sad that they didn't have more staying power. Phil Collins lasts twenty freakin' years, but The Cranberries go the way of The Proclaimers.

Well, I don't know if I'd walk 500 miles to go see the Cranberries, but I did take two trains to go catch Dolores O'Riordan, the lead singer of the Cranberries, perform at Boston's Avalon on Monday night. Nothing says, "Shit, this is going to be one crazy night where I drink lots of alcohol and punk out to 90s pop music and wake up the next morning not remembering who I went to see" like a concert on a Monday night.

But the concert was awesome. In Irish, that would be bloody awesome. Sure, the opening act was like mixing Emmylou Harris with Allison Kraus with Sugarland, and topping it off with a box of All-Bran (in other words, it was boring), but Dolores (to quote Randy Jackson) "blew it out the box." I love concerts where (1) the opening song is something that gets everyone fired up, (2) the songs that nobody knows sound good and fresh and somewhat familiar, even if you haven't heard them before, and (3) the concert ends with something classic that gets everyone riled up again.

Dolores hit all three. She opened up with "Zombie," which is like my favorite Cranberries song. I've always enjoyed the way she grunted "ZAWMBIE," and hundreds of people grunting in sync with her was cool. It was also a good song to get everyone pumped up. The rest of the night I just felt like grunting "ZOMBIE" at random people. I've also been on a zombie kick lately, but I digress.

The rest of her set was mostly stuff from her new album, "Are you Listening?", which I hadn't really heard before, except for a song called Ordinary Day that Dolores wrote for one of her daughters. I like the song, but subtract points for dedicating a song to your children. I find that hokey. But I'm a heartless bastard when it comes to kids. In a previous life I was probably some creature that ate its young.

But there was some good stuff from her new album that I'll be sure to check out. I particularly liked "When We Were Young" and "Loser."

The best was the end, which closed with three of my favorite Cranberries songs, "Just my Imagination" (sounds like an Irish 10,000 Maniacs song), "Linger," and "Dreams," which was especially good. It had the vibe of Joan Jett & the Blackhearts meets Blondie meets 4-Non Blondes. In other words, 90s ecstasy.

Anyway, for a review of the show from boston.com, click here. For Dolores' own Web site, click here. And for a recipe for Fried Bananas, click here.

Mike Gravel will rock you

2007-07-09T13:08:00.000-04:00

This has to be one of the most absurd political ads I've ever seen. Literally, it's former Senator and 2008 Democratic Presidential Candidate Mike Gravel (pronounced Gr-ahh-vell) staring at a camera for 72 seconds, then throwing a rock in a pond, and then walking away.

No words.

Barely any blinking.

Maybe my sense of metaphor has diminished as I near the end of my 20s. Instead it's been replaced by a need to share puns. So I went to a hardware store this weekend and ran into a jellyfish who was trying to buy ten drills.

*rimshot*

Does Mike Gravel remind anyone of the grandfather from the Werther's Original commercial from the 1980s/90s? Maybe only grumpier?

If you needed further proof that Bill O'Reilly is a punk...

2007-07-06T07:51:00.001-04:00

He offers us this nugget...

What, no mention of a loofah, Bill?

Seriously, I can't even say that I'm surprised anymore. But this homophobic rant about "lawless gay people," in particular "violent lesbians...recruiting gang members into their pink-pistol carrying band of sisters" is enough to make my bowels crunch. Oh, and the guy that O'Reilly interviews in this spot, Rod Wheeler, is about as qualified to talk about criminal justice in Washington, DC as I'm qualified to talk about quantum physics. Among the credentials listed on his Web site? Lifelong Christian and Corporate Security Manager for Boston Market Restaurants.

Fox. News. Sucks.

On the brighter side of life, I've got a new ring tone! Rihanna's "Umbrella." So, friends, call me. I won't pick up, but I promise to dance in my chair a bit while the phone rings.

I'm giving up my day job to write about hot dogs

2007-07-05T08:16:00.000-04:00

As a follow-up to this post from last week, I can't help but share the news that Joey Chestnut is the new world hot dog eating champion, clocking in at 66 hot dogs in the course of 12 minutes.

First, the picture:

Joey Chestnut (I covet that name) beat six-time champ Takeru Kobayashi in a dog-eat-dog match, 66 hot dogs to 63 hot dogs. After this embarrassing Iraq war, I think it's safe to say that America has regained her stature in this world.

From the NY Times article:

"Like the 15-round epics between Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed, the outcome was unclear until the end. The rivals matched each other frank for frank. Mr. Chestnut, who has also won championships for eating grilled cheese sandwiches, chicken wings and deep-fried asparagus, jumped out to an early lead, but was never more than three hot dogs ahead."

(Editor's Note: Do you suppose "Eye of the Tiger" was the theme song for yesterday's event? And who knew that there were contests for eating deep fried asparagus. Hey, at least they're working vegetables into the world of competitive eating, even if they're deep fried.)

"Mr. Kobayashi, who wolfed down nearly 18 pounds of pan-seared cow brains to win the Glutton Bowl, made a push in the last several minutes to finish in a tie. The two men were eating so fast, stuffing several hot dogs in their mouth at once, that midway through the contest, several of the 15 other entrants had stopped eating and were watching the main event at center stage."

(Editor's Note: 18 pounds of pan-seared cow brains? I think I just threw up in my mouth a little. But I do love that last sentence. Like pornography or a head-on car collision, the other contestants just couldn't take their eyes off of the main event...)

"Since both leaders appeared to have consumed 63 hot dogs and buns at the finish, the judges spent several minutes in a somewhat bizarre recount. According to the rules, whatever is in contestants’ mouths when the buzzer rings counts toward their total, assuming they can swallow it."

(Editor's Note: "Whatever is in contestants' mouths when the buzzer rings." Given that the components of a hot dog are pretty suspicious to begin with, I'd venture to say that this is a question for the ages.)

"When Mr. Chestnut was announced as the winner with 66 hot dogs and buns eaten, Mr. Kobayashi slumped in his chair, draped in a silver-colored blanket typically used by marathon runners."

(Editor's Note: Because I know you were wondering...the average amount of calories in one hot dog is about 240. That would mean that Joey Chestnut consumed 15,840 calories. In 12 minutes. Or, in other words, 990 grams of fat. In 12 f*cking minutes! If I find out that this dude has a waist size less than 32, I'm going to scream.)

Resign. Now.

2007-07-04T07:17:00.000-04:00

I don't regularly get a chance to watch Keith Olbermann, but I almost had an orgasm after watching this. It's THAT good.

Amen, Keith. And Happy 4th, everyone!

Torture Awareness Month may end, but torture will not

2007-07-03T09:22:00.000-04:00

The month of June comes with many designations. National Gay Pride Month. National Dairy Month. National Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Month. Even National Iced Tea Month.

Perhaps lost in the shuffle of recognizing persimmons, gorgonzola or Tetley is that June is also Torture Awareness Month. It marks the month where torture survivors from around the world renew their commitment to ending torture in the 150 countries where (we know) torture is practiced, including the United States. Sister Dianna Ortiz, the founder of the Torture Abolitionist and Survivor Support Coalition (TASSC), is one of those torture survivors.

Sr. Dianna’s story is captured in her 2002 book “The Blindfold’s Eye,” including her kidnapping and torture at the hands of the Guatemalan government in the 1980s, and the complicity of the U.S. government in her torture. While in captivity, Sr. Dianna was burned with cigarettes on her breasts, forced to dance naked, raped by four men and impregnated.

The reason for rehashing her horrific story in a memoir? In Sr. Dianna’s words: “To fulfill a promise to speak for those who have no voice.”

Last week there was a vigil outside of the White House (the 10th annual vigil), at which Sr. Dianna and 75 other torture survivors participated to cry out against the practice of torture, and speak for those being tortured today who have no voice. This year the vigil had a specific focus: to demand the repeal of the Military Commissions Act that was signed by President Bush in October 2006. The Military Commission Act built procedures for conducting military investigations for suspected terrorists.

Of course, the Act also violates provisions of the Geneva Conventions on prisoner rights, and the 1996 U.S. War Crimes Act. Among those include the potential to authorize beatings severe enough to cause bruising, and the legal cover the Act provides for techniques such as water-boarding, which have long been considered in violation of international law.

Sixteen people were arrested for committing civil disobedience in front of the White House during the vigil – a nonviolent response to a potentially very violent piece of law. They were processed and released, the vigil ended, and sure enough, the next day was here before we knew it.

Now, as we move into the first week of July, Torture Awareness Month comes to an end. Sadly, thanks to the Military Commissions Act and the 149 other countries where torture is practiced (perhaps even reinforced by the United States’ willingness to condone torture), torture does not come to an end. The nightmare that Sr. Dianna went through is still recreating itself in the lives of thousands of “suspected terrorists,” each day creating more victims of torture.

This is no less recognized by thousands of activists, academics, lawyers and religious figures who make up the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT...which is tempting to pronounce as “NarCat,” but that sounds a little Battlestar Gallatica). Among the religious leaders quoted on NRCAT’s Web site include the rather conservative pastor of Saddleback Church in California, Pastor Rick Warren. Though I might not agree with Pastor Warren on many things, he’s spot on here:

“If we condone torture, we yield the moral high ground to our enemies and encourage anyone who hates us to stoop to using that subhuman level against us. We reap whatever we sow.”

That’s a lesson worth remembering 12 months a year.

Yippee-Ki-Yay, mother******

2007-07-02T08:28:00.000-04:00

So Slate.com (which was way better back in like 2004, in my opinion) has an article assessing some of the best one-liners in movie history. While they don't rank them, the article focuses pretty heavily on Bruce Willis' big line from the first Die Hard movie: Yippee-Ki-Yay, motherfucker! Ugh.

Here's the explanation of why this line is so important in film history...

When terrorist-slash-exceptional thief Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) taunts hero John McClane (Bruce Willis), "Who are you? Just another American who saw too many movies as a child?" and asks this "Mr. Cowboy" if he really thinks he stands a chance, McClane's answer—"Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker"—marks the moment that McClane, an everyman, assumes the mantle of America's archetypal heroes: Roy Rogers, John Wayne, Gunsmoke's Marshall Dillon, and others who have been so vital to American boyhood. Unlike the many action-movie one-liners that are rooted in the hero's narcissism, McClane's stems from our collective wish-fulfillment. He is not referring to himself, not suggesting an "I" or a "me" but an us. And considering the European Gruber's appreciation of fashion, finance, and the classics, McClane's comeback acquires an additional subtext: Our pop culture can beat up your high culture.

Wow...does anyone else get the feeling that George W. Bush's entire foreign policy is based on this line?

I digress...I wouldn't rank this up there with the best one-liners ever. Not that I have a "best week ever" list or anything. But off the top of my head I can think of a few that I like a lot more...

Blue Velvet: Heineken? Fuck that shit, Pabst Blue Ribbon! (Editor's Note: That's for Heather.)

A Few Good Men: You can't handle the truth!

They Live: I came here to chew bubble gum and kick ass - and I'm all out of bubble gum.

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert: I've said it before, and I'll say it again, no more fucking ABBA!

Anyway, a light posting to start the week off. Off to work.

Go, mama, go go go!

2007-06-30T14:40:00.000-04:00

To say that I'm looking forward to seeing the new film adaptation of Hairspray is a bit of an understatement. You know those people who camp out to buy Nintendo Wiis or I-Phones? Well, that's my relationship with film adaptations of musicals.

Dreamgirls? Check.

Chicago? Check.

Evita? Check.

Rent? Not yet...the musical was just such a huge part of my growing up and coming out, that I haven't brought myself to check out the movie yet. Or maybe it's Rosario Dawson.

So with Hairspray I'm really looking forward to getting my Tracy on. Check out a review for the movie on Towleroad. Andy Towle was able to catch a sneak preview last week, and gave his two thumbs up. He even quells any concern that John Travolta might be unbearable as Edna Turnblad.

July 20 won't come soon enough :) Oh, and for JR the Otter, who told me a few weeks ago that (I'm paraphrasing), "Your blog is really interesting to read, but it tells me nothing about your life," here's some Mike Jones trivia. The last five songs I've listened to on my I-Pod were from Hairspray. The song before that was Natalie Cole. What can I say...she ended my melancholy phase and allowed me to transition into musicals. Next I'll probably move on to Wicked, much to the chagrin of my friends who convulse at Broadway tunes.

These, of course, do not count the times I go to the gym, when it's all dance, all the time. Jenna Drey is my latest taste of the month within the confines of the Boston Sports Center.

Anyway, this one's for those who are looking for a peak inside my music sensibilities. I imagine my reputation just went down among the lot of you :)

"The dog eat dog world of competitive eating"

2007-06-28T19:38:00.000-04:00

There are sentences I've never expected to read in my life. "New Jersey becomes top honeymoon destination." "Gay men flock to Nascar." "Tom Sizemore sobers up."

Add this one to the mix..."A half-dozen years of inhaling hot dogs at the rate of one every 14 seconds really has hurt Kobayashi's overworked jaw."

Takeru Kobayashi, for those who don't know (I didn't), is the six-time defending champion of the of the Nathan's hot dog eating contest. On his blog (yes, even he has a blog), Kobayashi admitted that his jaw has been hurting him, and he's gone to see a chiropractor and a specialist for relief.

How about a psychiatrist, too?

Y'all have to read this article about Kobayashi's ordeal. Better yet, let me post a few of my favorite lines.

The disclosure by the Japanese eating machine set stomachs rumbling throughout the dog-eat-dog world of competitive eating in the days before the annual Independence Day chowdown.

Some believe it is a ploy to unnerve his bun-swallowing rival, Joey Chestnut, who recently broke Kobayashi's world record by downing 59 1/2 dogs in 12 minutes.

(Editor's Note: His main rival is a guy named Joey Chestnut? And Joey Chestnut ate 59 1/2 hot dogs in 12 minutes? I actually feel a bit of disappointment about that. He couldn't have fit that last half in? There's no room for slackers in the 'dog eat dog world of competitive eating'.)

Or maybe it's true: a half-dozen years of inhaling hot dogs at the rate of one every 14 seconds really has hurt Kobayashi's overworked jaw.

(Editor's Note: You don't say.)

A weak jaw won't cut the mustard in a competition where the winner will likely need to down more than 50 hot dogs and buns. During his six years as champion, the 165-pound Kobayashi has consumed 301 1/4 hot dogs — a string of performances that made him the Michael Jordan of mass consumption.

(Editor's Note: So the guy eats a hot dog every fourteen seconds for six years, and he weighs only 165 pounds? Bitch, I did the raw diet for two weeks and I still have this tire swing around my waste.)

(Editor's Note: The Michael Jordan of mass consumption? I think there's got to be a limit to where Michael Jordan can be used as an analogy. Appropriate: Tiger Woods is the Michael Jordan of golf. Inappropriate: David Berkowitz is the Michael Jordan of killing.)

Chestnut, despite his skepticism, acknowledged Kobayashi might have strained his jaw while training for the event. "Your jaw and the muscles in your esophagus are the first to get sore," he explained.

(Editor's Note: Funny...I'd have thought that eating a hot dog every 14 seconds for six years would mean the colon would be the first to go.)

"I think, like all great champions, Kobayashi doesn't want to shy away from competition," said Shea. "But I don't want to put words in his mouth. And if I did, they'd have to be monosyllabic — not too much for him to swallow."

(Editor's Note: You know, I bet Kobayashi is just relishing this attention. There, I did it. You all knew I was going to, anyway.)

Improv Redeux

2007-06-27T08:51:00.000-04:00

Most of my friends know that I once took an improv acting class at Second City, the landmark improv stomping ground of folks like Mike Myers, Chris Farley, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, John Candy. At the time Second City had a theater in Cleveland, which unfortunately has since closed.

It's been like seven years (My God...the 20s go by so flippin' fast!), but this morning I just signed up for an improv comedy sketch writing class at Improv Boston. I start next month, which gives me a few weeks to work out the nerves and anxieties of having to write weekly AND be funny.

Eight random facts for dating my teenage daughter

2007-06-26T12:53:00.000-04:00

So Mags at You Forgot Poland! tagged me with a damn meme, "Eight Random Facts About Me." Given that I'm eating lunch at a noisy, busy restaurant in Harvard Square, with lots of nosy people lurking around, I can't think of a better time to divulge eight secrets from the Mike Jones lockbox.

Here goes:

1. The state of Massachusetts still refuses to issue me a driver's license. Apparently there's another Mike Jones from Pennsylvania with a catastrophic driving record. He's not me. But he shares the same birth date and middle initial, which for Massachusetts bureaucratic purposes, is as good as actually being me.

2. Speaking of birth dates, I share a birthday with the critical date in V for Vendetta.

3. Each day I find myself looking more and more like my father, and acting more and more like my mother.

4. I love puns. (e.g. I had a nightmare the other night about a snowstorm in Panama. Yeah, I guess you could say I was dreaming of a white isthmus.)

5. I was thrown out of an amusement park in 4th grade for spitting on an old lady while riding the "sky ride."

6. My penis is eleven inches.

7. OK, it's not. But memes like this are just asking for statements like that.

8. Embarrassingly, I'm actually really good at bowling. I even own shoes.

Oh, the horror of memes. Hope y'all are doing well!

Five reasons I hate this article

2007-06-23T18:43:00.001-04:00

Sen. Barack Obama spoke today (or is speaking this weekend) at a convention of the United Church of Christ. Here's the article from the AP covering his speech.

Obama says some have "hijacked" faith

Stephen Singer, AP writer

Hartford, CONN. - Sen. Barack Obama told a church convention Saturday that some right-wing evangelical leaders have exploited and politicized religious beliefs in an effort to sow division.

"Somehow, somewhere along the way, faith stopped being used to bring us together and faith started being used to drive us apart," the Democratic presidential candidate said in a 30-minute speech before the national meeting of the United Church of Christ.

"Faith got hijacked, partly because of the so-called leaders of the Christian Right, all too eager to exploit what divides us," the Illinois senator said.

"At every opportunity, they've told evangelical Christians that Democrats disrespect their values and dislike their church, while suggesting to the rest of the country that religious Americans care only about issues like abortion and gay marriage, school prayer and intelligent design," according to an advance copy of his speech.

"There was even a time when the Christian Coalition determined that its number one legislative priority was tax cuts for the rich," Obama said. "I don't know what Bible they're reading, but it doesn't jibe with my version."

A call to the Washington, D.C.-based Christian Coalition of America seeking comment was not immediately returned Saturday.

Obama is a member of the United Church of Christ, a church of about 1.2 million members that is considered one the most liberal of the mainline Protestant groups.

In 1972, the church was the first to ordain an openly gay man. Two years ago, the church endorsed same-sex marriage, the largest Christian denomination to do so. Obama believes that states should decide whether to allow gay marriage, and he opposes a constitutional amendment against it.

Conservative Christian bloggers have linked Obama to what they call the "unbiblical" teachings of his church. Theological conservatives believe gay relationships violate Scripture, while more liberal Christians emphasize the Bible's social justice teachings.

Obama trails Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York by 33 percent to 21 percent in the most recent Associated Press-Ipsos poll among Democrats and those leaning toward the party.

I hate this article, which is such a sloppy, piece of trash style of reporting that I'm not even sure I'd line a bird cage with it. Where to begin with why this article is just a mess.

1. Let's start with the sentence "Conservative Christian bloggers have linked Obama to what they call the 'unbiblical' teachings of his Church." The next sentence then goes on to talk about gay marriage, but cites ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in regards to 'unbiblical' teachings of the United Church of Christ, but instead talks about how liberal Christians emphasize the Bible's social justice teachings. Is Stephen Singer saying that the social justice teachings of the Church are 'unbiblical'? If so, shouldn't he give examples, possibly even quoting some of these Conservative Christian bloggers?

2. Singer's characterization of the United Church of Christ (UCC) makes them sound like they're the Ted Kennedy's of the Christian world. Pariahs, even. But the UCC has been around for 50 years. A Catholic bishop even opened up Saturday's UCC conference, applauding the work of UCC members in areas of social justice. But Singer makes it sound like all the UCC does is ordain and marry gays and lesbians.

3. Why does Singer bother to mention the poll numbers at the end of this article? They have nothing to do with Obama's appearance at the UCC convention. Did his editors make him put that paragraph in just to bloat the AP's ego, since it's their poll numbers that are cited? Who knows. But the value added by including irrelevant poll numbers is pretty much nothing, other than to show that Singer's just rehashing dogma that Obama trails Hillary.

4. I just don't personally like the way Singer opens with a line about Obama addressing a church convention, but then later cites "an advanced copy" of Obama's remarks. His opening paragraph makes it sound like he was there in the audience, rather than in his Marriott hotel room writing the story based on a few emails.

5. Why not cite reaction to this talk by members in the audience? Oh yeah, right...because Singer probably wrote this from his hotel room, or the nearby Starbucks.

Anyway, I'm ranting a bit. But in googling a couple articles that Singer has written, it seems he really relies on the press releases sent out by others to do his work for him. See here. Or here. And here. I guess he's no different than other reporters, but at some point I'd hope that our society would demand a little more substance from our journalists, and a little less rehash of company talking points.

So says the guy who works in public relations :) Oh well...we're all hypocrites!

Have a good weekend.

Now this is a real nightmare on elm street

2007-06-21T22:37:00.000-04:00

Freddy Kreuger? Forget that.

Imagine if Pauly Shore lived on your street?!

Now here's the ironic thing...he lives next door to Wes Craven, the director of all those Nightmare on Elm Street movies. Wes Craven is suing Pauly Shore, "alleging that water from the comedian's home seeped down a slope and damaged the director's property." (I added the italics...I'm floored that a major news story actually referred to Pauly Shore as a comedian!)

Craven's lawsuit alleges negligence and nuisance. No word on whether Craven will seek compensation from Shore on making us all sit through "Encino Man."

Bloomberging

2007-06-20T17:53:00.000-04:00

Bloomberging - Verb. The act of saying one thing, but meaning its complete opposite. i.e. "I am not a candidate for President."

So Michael Bloomberg has quit the Republican party, causing a firestorm of speculation that he's going to run for President. Bloomberg keeps denying such rumors. Thus, Michael Bloomberg is bloomberging.

There's this man who has been living under a rock for thirty years, and even he gets that Michael Bloomberg is positioning himself for President. So I don't see the reason why Bloomberg continues to Bloomberg. Thou dost protest too much, Mayor Mike. Just say you're considering running.

Zombie (D-Punjab)

2007-06-20T00:05:00.001-04:00

I can't say I'm disappointed in Obama over his D-Punjab tactic, despite his promise to rise above the nastiness of campaigning. Sadly, though, this reinforces what I think may be my new life motto, courtesy of the picture below...

Yes, even this is more interesting than yesterday's French Open

2007-06-11T18:08:00.000-04:00

Given that 11 American men were eliminated in the first week of the French Open, there's gotta be something to liven up the sport of tennis for us Yankees. Could this be the answer?

Bjorn Borg bitten during dogfight

LIVERPOOL, England (AP) -- A severe dog bite has forced Bjorn Borg to pull out of his first grass-court match in 26 years.

The five-time Wimbledon champion was bitten on his right leg by a German shepherd called Wolf when he tried to pull the dog away from his golden retriever, Lipton, at his home in Sweden over the weekend.

Borg, who received medical treatment at a Stockholm hospital, was told not to put any weight on the leg for at least six weeks.

He had been scheduled to play 1987 Wimbledon champion Pat Cash at the Liverpool International tournament this week.

It would have been his first grass-court match since losing to John McEnroe in the 1981 Wimbledon final.

"I'm so disappointed that I cannot play at Liverpool," Borg said on the tournament's Web site. "I've been really looking forward to this event and have been practicing hard for four months to get ready."

So he was bitten by a dog named Wolf, trying to save his dog named Lipton. If only there was a third dog named Salada lurking in the mix...

J'Lem Curses

2007-06-11T13:38:00.000-04:00

Check out this headline from the Jerusalem Post: Rabbis curse J'Lem gay parade

J'Lem? I find this curious. Earlier this year a few coworkers of mine started to refer to Johannesburg, South Africa as Jo-Burg. And now J'Lem. Has it become trendy to shorten the names of international cities that begin with the letter J? Let's see...there's Jakarta (J-Kar?). Juba (J-Ba??). Jacareacanga (J-Anga?). OK, I googled that one...but come on, how could I pass up the opportunity to say J-Anga! It would be the only international city synonymous with a board game!

I digress. So conservative Rabbis have placed a pox upon the house of gay. From the curse...

"To all those involved, sinners in spirit, and whoever helps and protects them, may they feel a curse on their souls, may it plague them and may evil pursue them; they will not be requitted of their transgressions from heavenly judgment."

This seriously harshes my mellow. Nothing like a little evil pursuing your soul to make you a bit agoraphobic. Anyone know what kind of car evil drives?

Luckily I belong to the religion of Cher (see Moonstruck) and the Boston Red Sox, so curses don't particularly frighten me.

In other wonderful news, Stones, Tear Gas Mark Gay Pride Rally in Bucharest, Romania, Gay Rights Rally Held in Latvia Amidst Massive Police Presence, and Boy Killed Himself on Train Track After Gay Bullying. Shit, and you want to place an evil curse on our people? Just turn on the damn television.

So long Studs

2007-06-10T10:44:00.000-04:00

A dream I don't often share with people is that I'd like to become the next Studs Terkel. Studs, for me, is one of the best of the bunch when it comes to combining writing and activism. But there's an element to Studs' work that's even more important.

Listening.

Studs is an oral historian of sorts, and his books tell the stories of the "non-celebrities" who inspire and challenge us in this world. He listens to everyday people, and in turn, everyday people reward us with life lessons.

Want to hear about remaining graceful and confident as we age? Read Coming of Age: The Story of Our Century by Those Who Lived It.

Curious about whether there was an anti-war sentiment in this country during the time of World War II? Read the Pulitzer-Prize winning The Good War.

Want to find out what keeps activists hopeful during times of deep cynicism? Read Hope Dies Last.

Want a recipe for Fried Bananas? Click here!

At 95, Studs is about to publish his last book, an autobiographical account of his career of sorts. The book will come out this September, and it's called Touch and Go. But for a really sweet interview, check out Laura Washington's piece in In These Times, Curiosity and a Cat Named Studs.

Telling stories that matter is what made Studs famous. Making ordinary people feel like they mattered is what will make Studs remembered.

2007 Corporate Hall of Shame

2007-06-09T11:02:00.001-04:00

Couldn't resist posting this...take your pick in Corporate Accountability International's (www.stopcorporateabuses.org) 2007 Hall of Shame.

You can vote for Coke, Wal-Mart, Halliburton, Exxon Mobil, Merck, Nestle...a who's who of corporate evil-doers. Go vote!

Send me picture postcards from Kentucky: The Web site of Steve Beshear, Democratic Candidate for Governor of Kentucky

2007-06-09T09:20:00.000-04:00

I’ve been slacking off on my “political website” reviews. Truth is, I had started with the idea of doing just the presidential candidates’ websites, but then I got bored. However, earlier this week I came across this link on the Albuquerque Tribune…Jones of the Nile hits the mainstream press!

One way to liven up the website reviews is to focus on more than just the Prez candidates. So here goes our first entry for an office beyond the beltway. And given that he just won the Democratic primary with more than the required 40% to avoid a run-off, it only seems appropriate to start with the website of Steve Beshear, candidate for Governor of Kentucky.

I’m not a website expert, nor do I have the best grasp on how social marketing can be incorporated into a candidate’s website to build a netroots base. What I can do is tell it like it is, letting folks know whether the information architecture is organized, whether the site is easy to navigate, and whether the site looks pretty. At times I might even read the content, and let folks know what catchy things I find. With that in mind, on to Beshear’s website!

Look at that homepage banner. I’m trying to think what this banner reminds me of more: (1) Blue Mountain Arts circa 1996, (2) a powerpoint presentation gone awry, (3) an advertisement for a gay retirement community in the wilderness. Right now I’m leaning toward number 3, only because I think Steve Beshear and his lieutenant governor, Daniel Mongiardo, look like realtors with their photoshopped bodies. Plus, the site also uses the same colors as mega-realtor Howard Hanna.

A web equivalent of a billboard takes up a chunk of the homepage (see above), inviting the user to “read more of Steve’s welcome message.” The first line: “Thanks for visiting our campaign website—our cyber headquarters.” I find the phrase “cyber headquarters” to sound sexual. I’m probably the only one.

The welcome message is about as welcoming as the cashier who says “Hi, how are you?” to every customer who comes through her line. It’s pleasant, but something no one will really pay attention to, let alone remembers.

Hmm…I change my mind. The colors on this site are less Howard Hanna, and more Green Bay Packers.

There are six menu links on the left-side navigation bar, and four incognito menu links at the top of the page (they blend in with the rotating pictures of waterfalls, and a fenced in yard that might be Churchill Downs). The six on the side start with a photo gallery.

Here is my favorite photo (see below). The caption says “Western Kentucky Campaign Swing.” A barren Church. Now that spells campaign excitement. Shoot, I think I’ve seen happier images depicted in “The Grapes of Wrath.” Overall, I’m not crazy about this photo section. It might just be my browser, but there’s all sorts of text crawling behind the thumbnails, and the page menu at the bottom is squished in with lots of other text. And no rally shots. Not one. Where’s the movement?

The second area is “Meet the Team.” You can click on links to get to know Steve, as well as his Lt. Gov running mate (Dr.) Daniel Mongiardo. Click on Steve’s name, and you’re greeted with the headline “STEVE BESHEAR IS A LEADER!” This, I believe, is one of those instances where an editor thinks it sounds more leader-like if you put an exclamation point at the end. (e.g. BUSH MEETS WITH POLAND ABOUT MISSILE DEFENSE! We all know that Bush probably knows more about tumbleweed than he does about missile defense, but darn it if that exclamation point doesn’t send a leadership signal.)

Steve Beshear has another problem. When I google “Steve Beshear for Governor,” his website shows up fourth on the list. Beshear’s wikipedia entry and a Kentucky blogger come up first. Is this a sign that, really, no one is interested in the Kentucky governor’s race? Save for some yokel blogger who likes to write petty comments about website design – a subject he knows even less about than tumbleweed (see earlier paragraph)? As the Magic 8-ball would say, “All signs point to yes.”

(Tumbleweed, for those curious, was the name of a pony I rode at Horse Camp back when I was in 5th grade.)

The rest of Beshear’s website has some issues for me. If you click on the campaign calender, you’re taken to a blank page. There are links for “day,” “week,” and “month,” but I can’t help but think it would be better to list some events, even if they are the most immediate. I also like the link “Email this page,” because there’s nothing more fun than emailing a blank webpage to all of your friends. While you’re at it, go ahead and sign them up for random email newsletters, too.

(Side note: the homepage also has no scheduled events listed on it. Beshear, come out of hiding!)

As far as actual issues go, Beshear hits on them all: reforming pardon power (a nasty slap at Beshear’s opponent, Pardon Powerful Ernie Fletcher), the minimum wage, veterans, expanded gaming (I assume that means hunting, and not universal wiis for everyone), energy, economic development, and health care (Beshear’s lt gov running mate is Daniel Mongiardo, a doctor, who nearly beat Sen. Jim Bunning in 2004 during a race for the Senate, after Bunning joked that Mongiardo was so plump and dark-skinned, he looked like Saddam Hussein. Jim Bunning was the Pete Domenici of 2004.) My favorite issue, however, is “Putting Kentucky First.” This is the type of thing candidates say because it sounds really good, even though presumably a state’s governor would always place their state first. It’s like me saying, “I’m going to breathe today,” or “everybody poops.” It’s like, duh.

But the part I like the best is the Beshear Gear. It’s basically his campaign store, where you can buy t-shirts, coffee cups, more t-shirts, keychains, more t-shirts, campaign buttons, and t-shirts. BUT, what I like the best is that you can request a free bumper sticker. For those of us with scrapbooks of campaigns past, this is something that’s hard to pass up. Sadly, you must live in Kentucky. Or lie.

The only thing that drives me nuts about the Beshear Gear store is that once you’re there, there’s no way to get back to the candidate’s actual webpage. Ordered a t-shirt, but now want to find out what Beshear thinks about the minimum wage? Tough luck. Priced a campaign button but now want to view pictures from the rally in Hazard? Better luck next time. Bought t-shirts for all of your friends, but now want a recipe for Fried Bananas. Click here!

In all, on a scale of one to five Secretariats, I give this site a 2. That said, Beshear could have this website, and he’d still likely win the election. His opponent, Ernie Fletcher, is about as popular as Phil Specter right now. Ah, the joys of running against a corrupt and weak opponent.

How does Representative Drescher sound?

2007-06-02T15:22:00.000-04:00

Answer: Like a nasally herd of cats.

But low and behold, the gossip rags are saying that Fran Drescher - yes, that Fran Drescher - may run for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. She's progressive, a strong (not to mention LOUD and BOISTEROUS) advocate for cancer patients, and she'd be running against incumbent Rep. Peter King, an open advocate of racial profiling at airports, and someone who thinks 85% of mosques are run by terrorists.

So, what the hell, I'd vote for Fran Drescher. The U.S. Congress could use some more eye shadow as it is.

Other annoying voices I'd like to see run for Congress someday:

- Kathy Griffin

- Neil Young

- Fred Schneider

(Speaking of annoying voices, click here for a great rendition of "Bohemian Rhapsody" by comedian Rick Miller, where he sings to the tune of 25 of the most annoying musical voices around. My favorites are when he does Jon Bon Jovi and Meatloaf)

Pray for rain and common sense

2007-05-29T09:52:00.000-04:00

It's hard to imagine a world leader who might be a bigger boob that President George W. Bush. But Australia's John Howard is certainly giving #43 a run for his money. In addition to picking a fight with Sen. Barack Obama earlier this year, and continually offering justification for Australia's participation in the Iraq War, Howard is now saying that the way to deal with global warming, and Australia's miserable drought, is to "pray for rain."

This is good news. Now that Howard has enlightened me to the power of prayer, I'm going to pray for an end to my student loan debt. I'd also like bigger muscles, so I'll pray for that too. I'd also like to see the return of "Growing Pains" to the airwaves, so count that among my prayers.

Of course I believe in the power of prayer, but it's kind of like that great quote, "Pray with Scripture in one hand and a newspaper in the other." Meaning that the power of prayer is useless unless you're in tune with your surroundings and realities, and have a sense of the action needed to be taken to create positive change. So it goes with John Howard. World leaders who use prayer as a policy solution ought to turn on the television and see those ice caps breaking away from the poles.

This article by Kelpie Wilson, which talks about the impending wrath of global warming on Australia, is fascinating. It shows how a massive drought, brought on by global warming (which has pushed the temperature in the Southern hemisphere to all-time highs) and the destruction of the ozone layer over the South Pole, is radically changing life in Australia for farmers, birds, yuppie residents in Sydney, and miners.

But the most interesting element of this article is the last bit about Rupert Murdoch jumping on the climate change bandwagon. That's kind of like the vultures jumping to the aid of Prometheus. But Murdoch has made a commitment to go green, having vowed to make his media companies carbon neutral.

You might think this is good news. But as Kelpie Wilson points out, Murdoch "is a master at subverting social movements to his own purposes." If you've always thought Murdoch was Machiavellian, I guess you could say the proof is in the loofah.

More Wilson:

"One view of Rupert Murdoch is that he simply hates to back losers. In that case, it's somewhat comforting to know that he sees global warming as a winning issue. But it's also important to ask how he will skew public awareness toward solutions that bring him and others of his class personal advantage, but aren't necessarily the best for the planet. Our best hope is that people will continue to be way out ahead of both government and News Corporation, and be actively involved in leading the way."

So the moral of this story is to pray for rain and engaged citizens and business leaders to lead the way on climate change. Otherwise, the right may lay their claim to the climate change issue, and before you know it, the biggest solution to global warming and terrorism will be to go shopping.

Did they ever call him Chaz Nelson Reilly?

2007-05-28T13:11:00.000-04:00

"The thing that's funny is that everyone thinks I'm dead." - Charles Nelson Reilly

Sadly, now everyone who thinks that Charles Nelson Reilly is dead will be right. Charles Nelson Reilly died on Friday, May 25. For those of us who sometimes turn on GSN to kill time and find themselves watching three hours straight of "The Match Game," this is sad news. And eerie news, too, since Kitty Carlisle, another fixture of The Match game, died just a few weeks ago. Shoot, if Betty White or Vicki Lawrence kicks the bucket soon, I'll start to think there's a curse afoot.

Reilly was one of the few openly gay individuals to be on television in the 1960s and 1970s, and though he once said that being on game shows ruined his career, he was also a Tony-award winning actor. He was also in the campy film "Gaydar," and a voice on Spongebob Squarepants. Who knew!

Anyway, a light posting for Memorial Day. Have a good holiday, folks!

Getting rid of Phil English

2007-05-27T19:09:00.000-04:00

Rep. Phil English (at right) has been the scourge of my former hometown, Erie, PA, for twelve years now. There's obnoxious, and then there's Rep. Phil English. I once saw him pounce down the throat of a senior citizen at a town hall meeting on social security. I've also had to see first-hand his ruthless campaign tactics and mudslinging over the last few elections...specifically in 2000, when I volunteered for his opponent, Dr. Marc Flitter. The tactics Rep. English's campaign used in that campaign make Lynne Cheney look like Teddy Ruxpin.

So I nearly jumped out of my chair with glee when I saw that Kyle Foust might challenge him for Pennsylvania's 3rd District. Kyle Foust is a great Democrat, and currently chair of Erie's County Council. While he would enter the race a huge underdog in money, he's got name recognition in Pennsylvania's 3rd District, and there are more registered Democrats in the 3rd than Republicans.

Kyle is also pretty charismatic, at least compared to Phil English, who is 320lbs of nasty man. I can't wait to see how this race unfolds. I hope Kyle can withstand Rep. English and his minions. They're going to be ruthless.

For a great website to keep updated on Congressional races throughout the country, check out Swing State Project. I've been meaning to hype this site for a while. It's not updated daily, but three times a week or so they post on the latest updates around the country. There's also a good diary section. Check it out.

Taking the old bag shopping

2007-05-26T08:26:00.000-04:00

That sounds like something my father would say, jokingly, if he were taking my mother shopping. They have that kind of relationship.

But I'm talking about plastic bags. The kind that whip in the breeze, get stuck in fences or hedges, and are used to pick up dog feces. (Unless it's late at night, and the house whose yard your dog is defecating in has all the lights turned off. In which case the plastic bag stays firmly in your pocket, and you run like hell back home after your dog has done his/her business.)

Earlier this year San Francisco's Board of Supervisors approved a city-wide ban on plastic bags, the first such city in the U.S. to do so. The country of Ireland did it even before San Francisco.

On April 2, Leaf Rapids, Manitoba became the first Canadian city to go plastic bag free. Leaf Rapids...isn't that the name of a famous viking?

Non-plastic bag resolutions are now likely to become as popular as Starter apparel circa 1988. So I think the logical next question is....how will these resolutions affect the price of tortillas in Mexico?

Whoa, that's a non sequitur, you might say. But it's not, and globalization is to blame. And maybe Thomas Friedman, who I just never really liked. Thanks to journalist Melanie Tromp for providing the information below. Read her article on this.

Here's the six degrees between non-plastic bag resolutions and rising tortilla prices in Mexico:

Step 1: A city passes a resolution eliminating non-recyclable plastic bags.

Step 2: Grocery stores start supplying "biodegradable" plastic bags in massive quantities. (To give you perspective on how many bags are put out into the world, more than one million plastic bags are discarded worldwide every minute.)

Step 3: "Biodegradable" plastic bags actually require more energy and resources to produce. Corn and soybean oil are often used as components.

Step 4: The demand for corn (in part to produce more "biodegradable" bags) skyrockets. As per supply and demand rules, the price of corn therefore skyrockets.

Step 5: In Mexico, tortillas are the chief starch staple for millions of Mexican people. Corn is essentially the primary ingredient in tortillas.

Step 6: The price of corn, and therefore tortillas, rises at a level of ten times the minimum wage in Mexico. People can't afford to make tortillas. People go hungry. People riot.

So that's how plastic bags and tortillas are connected. More ironic, and the reason I put "biodegradable" in quotation marks, is that "biodegradable" bags only decompose in certain soil conditions.

What's that? That's the sound of a very nice sounding city council resolution - like the kind of resolution that bans non-recyclable plastic bags - bumping up against the reality that, in the end, it's not all that helpful in addressing the myriad environmental problems caused by plastic, whether you throw the word "biodegradable" in front of it or not.

The real solution, as Tromp (and those she interviews) points out, is to couple these plastic bag resolutions with a call to address consumption, and specifically to look at REDUCING the amount of bags we use.

"By taking the old bag shopping just 11 times, the consumer delivers a lower environmental impact than one single-use plastic bag." -- Tracey Saxby, co-founder of Greener Footprints in British Columbia

So here's to taking the old bag shopping, as opposed to picking up new "biodegradable" bags each time we visit the store. Now I just need to figure out a way to scoop up my dog's business sans plastic.

Viva Jody Williams, and down with cluster bombs

2007-05-23T20:06:00.001-04:00

This is Jody Williams. She's won a Nobel Peace Prize for her work against landmines. She is good news.

She's in Lima, Peru this week for an international conference on cluster munitions. Cluster munitions (often referred to as cluster bombs) are a hellish weapon, and what they lack in precision they make up for in ruthless destruction. The U.S. dropped them in Afghanistan and Iraq. Lebanon dropped them on Israel. Israel dropped them (pummeled might be the better analogy) on Lebanon.

Why are they so deadly? Because they don't work. Literally, that's the answer. When cluster bombs are dropped, they spread smaller submunitions over an indiscriminate area. Some of these submunitions blow up on contact with the ground (often killing civilians, because it's very hard to pinpoint their trajectory). However, more often than not, submunitions don't detonate on contact with the ground, and instead get lodged in trees, on the side of hills, in grassy fields, inside gardens, stuck on power lines, and more. They sit, and they sit, and they sit.

Until a farmer runs one over with his tractor.

Or until a child thinks it's a toy and picks it up.

Until a car runs over one on the side of the road.

You get the picture. Which, speaking of pictures, here's just one shot of a cluster bomb victim. This is why these weapons should be banned.

This is where Jody Williams comes into play. At the international conference in Lima, Peru, Jody joined four other Nobel Peace Prize Laureates (all women, by the way), calling for a complete and total ban on cluster munitions. Joining Jody Williams were Mairead Corrigan Maguire (she won the prize in 1976 for her work in Northern Ireland...on a personal note, she's also entirely cool and one of the sweetest people I've ever met); Wangari Maathai (who won in 2004 for her work planting trees in Kenya); Shirin Ebadi (who won in 2003 for her work in Iran); and Rigoberta Manchu (who won in 1992 for her work in Guatemala). All five women told it like it is: "Cluster bombs have become synonymous with civilian casualties."

Cluster bombs are like landmines, in that they leave indiscriminate destruction in their wake. Landmines have been banned (thank you, Jody Willams). It's time to ban cluster bombs, too.

For more information, visit the Stop Cluster Munitions site.

Robbing from the rich to give to the rich

2007-05-22T21:03:00.000-04:00

I don't like beating up on people like Barbra Streisand, because there's already an entire television network devised to do so (hello, Fox News). But I nearly laid an egg when I saw how much Babs was charging for concert tickets over in Europe.

Ticket prices range from just under 50 euros (about $73) to more than 900 euros (about $1,315). However, the cheapest tickets have already sold out.

Several Italian groups are calling for her shows to be canceled, or at least booted from the public venue they're scheduled to be held at. They call the ticket prices "absurd and shameful." That's what I'd say about those split ends!

But it does crank my chain to see progressive celebrities charge more than college tuition to attend their shows. You don't see Joan Baez charging $1,300 a pop for her shows! Perhaps that's because she has integrity, rather than hollow convictions! Even if they won't let her play in Walter Reed Medical Hospital.

Babs, u2, Madonna...I applaud their social activism, but I hope they see the disconnect between what they practice, and what they preach.

Toward(s) Wiser Business

2007-05-20T12:25:00.000-04:00

Flipping through the pages of Utne Reader, I came across a quick blurb for what could be a very cool new site. WiserBusiness.org is launching later this year, with a mission to "guide society towards a restorative economy, the cornerstone of which is community-based business."

In another lifetime, their use of the word "towards" would have sent me to the doctor for Lotrel. "Towards" isn't a word. It's just toward. But as long as they're consistent, I no longer really care.

The site looks to use the same technology that makes Wikipedia run to allow consumers and users to "hone and standardize the criteria determining responsible business behavior, link customers' social and environmental priorities directly to companies, and supply companies with the latest solutions" for implementing a set of 'best practices' to achieve socially responsible corporate behavior.

The site is months away from being launched, but you can take a preliminary tour and offer feedback, so that when the site officially launches, it can be all that it can be (to paraphrase the U.S. Army slogan). Click here to take the free tour. And click here for another recipe for fried bananas.

Smiling faces, sometimes, they don't tell the truth

2007-05-19T11:20:00.000-04:00

When I think of corporate branding and the smiley face, I think of two companies. The first is Eat-n-Park, which may be unfamiliar to folks outside the mid-atlantic or midwest. Eat-n-Park is a restaurant ala Perkins, IHOP or Denny's, and they make these smiley face sugar cookies with various colors of icing. They are a cavity's best friend, and probably contain as much sugar as a 2-liter bottle of Mountain Dew. Good stuff.

The other company that comes to mind is Wal-Mart. Decidedly less sweet.

Today's NY Times has an interesting piece on Sen. Hillary Clinton's six-year tenure as a director of Wal-Mart's board. I knew she had close connections with Wal-Mart, but I didn't know she was on the board. Check out the photo. Mama mia, that's a lotta old white dudes.

Here's the article in the NY Times. Here's the article in the LA Times. Here's a recipe for fried bananas. In case you're hungry.

The mysterious relationship between the Clintons and Wal-Mart should be getting more attention this election cycle. The CEO of Wal-Mart even camped out at the Clintons' house in July 2006. Sure, the article cites Hillary's efforts to work for incremental change within the company, but it also curiously notes her silence on Wal-Mart's relationships (or lack thereof) with unions.

Glad to see this get some play. It certainly warrants more discussion than John Edwards' haircuts.

Favorite quote of the month: "Burger King, watch the f*** out!"

2007-05-18T10:35:00.001-04:00

Out of context, that quote sounds a little funny. Especially given that it was said by Queen Elizabeth on her recent trip to the States.

Kidding. It was actually said by guitarist Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine. I meant to post about this a few weeks ago, but for those who don't know, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and McDonald's reached a landmark agreement with one another, ending two years of work to get McDonald's to agree to demands that the restaurant take responsibility for the wages and working conditions of migrant laborers who pick its tomatoes. For a great article on this from the New Standard, go here.

First Taco Bell caved into the demands of human rights activists. Then McDonald's. Next? Burger King. Religious leaders have already started to come together to call for the King to work with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, and a local group in Miami has formed to promote fair food in Burger King's hometown (side note: I'd like Miami as a hometown!). According to the CIW, "the Miami Fair Food Committee will reach out to high schools, universities, faith communities, unions, and community organizations in the Miami area to take the campaign to the people of Miami and build a base for action as the Campaign continues to turn the heat up on BK."

Another great website to keep up to date on the Burger King protest is www.sfalliance.org/, the website of the Student Farmworker Alliance. If it took Taco Bell five years to comply with demands to take care of their farmworkers, and McDonald's two years, let's see if we can't get Burger King to do it in a few days.

And then Wendy's, (to quote Tom Morello) watch the f*** out!

Tommy Hilfiger: Janitor wages are bad for business

2007-05-17T08:36:00.000-04:00

Proving that treating your employees like Alec Baldwin treats his daughter is considered high fashion, Tommy Hilfiger has slashed the wages of its janitors from nearly $19 an hour to $8 an hour, and has fired its unionized cleaning contractor and replaced it with a non-union one.

I used to wear Tommy cologne. Now I'd rather wear Joy Behar's sweat.

This was originally covered in the NY Times, but you can only access the link through a subscription. This is the type of story that aggravates me. One, Hilfiger pulled in a whopping $14.5 million last year (in addition to the $66 million he snagged when the company was bought out by a private equity firm), while his janitors now make $8.00 an hour. Try paying for rent in NYC working a job at $8.00 an hour. Hell, try paying for rent in Buffalo working a job at $8.00 an hour. I made nearly $8.00 an hour cutting watermelons when I was 16, and that was 12 years ago! And I didn't have to wipe excess poop off of company toilets, either.

This is also posted at TNR. I might be feeling particularly outraged this morning, but I'm writing the Hilfiger company a letter. You can write them an email here if you'd like.

Hilfiger, if you read this blog (which I'm sure you do), you suck.

You say tomato, I say bloody, ill-conceived, immoral crusade

2007-04-29T10:05:00.000-04:00

I'm posting a few excerpts from Frida Berrigan's recent article on the language of war, which was posted on Tom Paine and Common Dreams. Frida does an excellent job here of showing the restlessness of the U.S. administration in describing exactly what the Iraq war is. Props to Frida. And I'm not just holding her up because she shares a name with my dog, or because I've met her (outside of the United Nations. It was a sunny August morning...I think we marched to the Israeli Embassy). It's a good piece!

Here's the original: A War By Any Other Name.

Congress and the President are at odds over war policies in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. The House and Senate attached timelines to the military supplemental bills, which President George W. Bush will veto. At the same time, more than half the American people believe that victory is not possible in Iraq. These battles are nothing compared to the thrown-down brewing over what to call the war that everyone is talking about and no one really likes.

The cringe-inducing word “crusade”-conjuring up images of the noble Christian riding out to smite the Muslim hordes-was dispensed with long ago. In Europe, just a week after September 11, 2001, President Bush warned that “this crusade, this war on terrorism, is going to take awhile.” After many jumbled words of reassurance to Muslims throughout the world, he has largely succeeded in keeping that word from creeping into his speeches.

Then we had the Global War on Terrorism, shortened in typical military style to G-WOT, which also brings to mind the rap outfit G-Unit (where 50 Cent got his start) whose first album was titled “Beg for Mercy.”

And then, perhaps in recognition of the difficulties in actually waging war against something as decentralized, amorphous and ill-defined as the collection of tactics often called terrorism, the formulation of “the long war” made its debut. As in: “Our own generation is in a long war against a determined enemy.” President George W. Bush, State of the Union, January 31, 2006.

But, on Tuesday the New York Times reported that U.S. Central Command has retired the phrase “the long war” as a way of describing the war on terrorism. As a spokesman for Central Command explained, “the idea that we are going to be involved in ‘Long War’ at the current level of operations is not likely and unhelpful.”

The change, he continued, is “a product of our ongoing effort to use language that describes the conflict for our Western audience while understanding the cultural implications of how the language is construed in the Middle East.” ....

President Bush forges blithely past these semantic subtleties. Standing before teachers, students, members of the Tipp City, Ohio Chamber of Commerce on April 19, he described ongoing military operations in Iraq and elsewhere as “a unique war” and later an “interesting war.”

He also seemed to pooh-pooh CENTCOM’s sensitivities about language with his own adaptation of Louis Armstrong’s “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off," saying: “I call it a global war against terror. You can call it a global war against extremists, a global war against radicals, a global war against people who want to hurt America; you can call it whatever you want, but it is a global effort.”

I’m with Armstrong: Let’s call the whole thing off.

--Frida Berrigan

The root of all war

2007-04-21T11:14:00.000-04:00

It's fear.

Or so says Thomas Merton. In particular, the projection of our fears onto others to brew hatred.

Much of the past three weeks for me have been spent thinking about violence, partly because of a personal situation, but also because of the enormity of violence that our world is steeped in. Over the past three weeks, one only has to hear the words "Baghdad," "Virginia Tech," "Imus," "Darfur," "Climate Change," or "Iran" to conjure up images of death, hatred, anger or fear.

Merton says the root of all this fear (and anger, hatred, etc.) is trust, or our lack of trust. It's not merely that people don't trust others, Merton says, but people don't even trust themselves. Merton says, "It is not only our hatred of others that is dangerous but also and above all our hatred of ourselves: particularly that hatred of ourselves which is too deep and too powerful to be consciously faced. For it is this which makes us see our own evil in others and unable to see it in ourselves."

Is it our fear of not being accepted or popular, and the hatred of ourselves that this might unearth, that causes us to say the most outrageous things (Imus)? Is it our fear of isolation and hopelessness, and our own hatred of how this makes us behave toward others, that causes us to want to tear people down (Virginia Tech)? Is it our fear of unearthing our own self-interest, and the hatred of the guilt that this might bring, that makes us deflect our selfishness onto others (Baghdad, Darfur, Iran)?

Those are interesting questions to ponder, at least for me. As Merton concludes:

"When we see crime in others, we try to correct it by destroying them or at least putting them out of sight. It is easy to identify the sin with the sinner when s/he is someone other than our own self. In ourselves, it is the other way around; we see the sin, but we have great difficulty in shouldering responsibility for it. We find it very hard to identify our sin with our own will and our own malice. On the contrary, we naturally tend to interpret our immoral act as an involuntary mistake, or as the malice of a spirit in us that is other than ourself. Yet at the same time we are fully aware that others do not make this convenient distinction for us. The acts that have been done by us are, in their eyes, 'our' acts, and they hold us fully responsible."

River water

2007-04-16T07:17:00.000-04:00

Thanks to those who have been sending emails or leaving comments offering condolences. It's been truly appreciative. Not many of my friends ever got to meet Jeff, but he was a great man and a very good husband to my sister. For a few more weeks, you can view his obituary and guestbook online here (then click on "View & Sign guestbooks," and look for Jeffrey Ronald Finch). I always thought online funeral guestbooks were tacky. I was wrong. Over nine pages of people have signed this book, and it's meant a great deal to Jeff's friends and family. And my sister.

It's raining so hard in Boston, I thought I saw an old man with an ark on the Charles River this morning. I cannot wait to see the video highlights of the Boston Marathon today. It's going to be like running in soup.

Speaking of the Charles, I heard another disparaging slang term for Harvard. "The Kremlin on the Charles." I kind of like that one.

And for my last non-sequitor, I've been reading Joan Chittister's "New Designs: An Anthology of Spiritual Vision," which I stole from the Pax Christi USA office while I was staying there last week (former coworkers: I will return this once I am done!). Chapter 3, which is on prophecy, is largely about one of my favorite individuals, Thomas Merton. Joan uses a Sufi story to emphasize Thomas Merton's call for us to repair the world. (I will excerpt, and make it gender inclusive.)

The Sufi tell a story of a holy woman who was walking along the flooding banks of a raging river when suddenly she saw a scorpion clinging to a tree branch only inches above the swollen stream. "Poor thing," she said. "Scorpions can't swim. If the water reaches that hanging branch, the scorpion will surely drown."

And then the woman dropped to the ground and began to crawl along the branch toward the scorpion. But everytime the woman touched the scorpion, it stung the hand that reached to rescue it. A passerby said firmly, "Don't you realize that if you try to handle that scorpion, it will sting you?"

"Of course," the woman said, "but simply because it is the scorpion's nature to sting, does not mean that I should abandon my human nature to save."

I think it might be automatic to think about healing or saving the broken (at least for me), in the wake of tragedy. I prefer not to think of this story as supporting the saving or healing that comes with a Billy Graham (or Billy Graham Jr.) telecast. Rather, I like to think of this as the type of healing that comes from accompaniment in times of fear or struggle.

And perhaps also the type of healing that occurs when we expose a bit of our brokenness, in hopes that others expose a bit of theirs, too.

Quote

2007-04-08T09:38:00.000-04:00

These have been very sad days of late. A suicide has rocked the family. There's something very powerful (not necessarily in a good way, but in a way that you simply can't ignore) about grieving during the week of Passover and Easter. Suffering first, then a time to grieve, and then finally (or at least hopefully) redemption and rebirth. And forgiveness.

Our family has all traveled back to Pennsylvania, where Mother Nature has blasted us with 8 inches of snow. I've never seen this much snow in April, or maybe I have, and I just don't remember it. There's something peaceful about it, perhaps giving comfort to a lot of broken people right now.

I read a quote from Henri Nouwen, long one of my favorites, that seems to resonate with me this week. I'll share:

When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand.

I'm almost more convinced than ever about this.

Of Judges and Pop Stars

2007-04-01T17:39:00.000-04:00

Australian High Court Judge Praises Anthony Callea.

There's two reasons to click on this link. The first is to read this quote in context: "I'd trade 10 judges for one pop star."

The second is because I met the High Court Justice in reference, Justice Michael Kirby, and he's quite a nice man. I saw him address an audience full of lawyers and judges at the Bombay High Court, in a speech that urged India's High Court to strike down the country's anti-sodomy law.

Cool to see an openly gay judge, too, sitting on Australia's High Court. I hear he deals with all sorts of political bullshit on the Court, but kudos to him for still speaking out. Imagine a SCOTUS justice being fully out! My God, if Sam Brownback will withhold someone's nomination just for attending a same-sex commitment ceremony, imagine how apeshit he'd go if a gay person was nominated to the bench.

Add that to the list of things I want to see in my lifetime.

Long time, no blog

2007-03-31T00:20:00.000-04:00

Hi all! As you can probably tell, I haven't been blogging recently. The reason? I refuse to blog, or eat for that matter, until Sanjaya Malakar gets kicked off of American Idol.

Kidding. But WTF? You fast to end a genocide or because you were wrongly imprisoned; you don't fast for a tv show starring Paula Abdul.

No, the truth is that I'm actually kind of discerning where I want to take this blog from this point. I'll still post as I can over these coming weeks, but I'm really looking to focus more on something instead of being so all over the place. It's just I don't know what that something will be.

I've also joined a writing group, so perhaps this will also become a vehicle for me to showcase my work (or attempted work).

Or who knows; I might just see some fascinating news story about Jennifer Hudson, and just post. So be patient, and I'll be back to regular posts soon.

The web of politics: Duncan Hunter

2007-03-04T20:35:00.000-05:00

This week I was supposed to offer a review of Kansas Senator Sam Brownback’s website. Unfortunately his website has been down for part of this weekend, and I don't want to link to a broken website.

Sam Brownback’s website is down, you say? That sounds like a shady trick by a rival campaign. But I won’t speculate. (*cough* *cough* Mitt Romney *cough* *cough*)

So instead of following the yellow brick road to Brownback.com, I’ll follow the Duke Cunningham money trail to Duncan Hunter’s website, gohunter08.com.

Most folks might not know of Duncan Hunter. For instance, you might think he’s the man behind the cake mix. Or you might think he’s the 1980s TV police detective. Surprisingly enough, Duncan Hunter is a member of the House of Representatives from California, and the former chair of the House’s Armed Services Committee (2002-2006).

Is he a credible candidate? I’ll let the punditry decide that. But here’s an interesting piece of news: in a straw poll held this week in South Carolina, Duncan Hunter came in a statistical tie for first with John McCain and Rudy Giuliani. Is the sky falling, or have conservative Republican voters finally found one of their own? (After all is said and done, Hunter technically finished third despite his spin. But finishing third by only a few votes is pretty much the same as victory for someone as unknown as Hunter.)

To the website!

GoHunter08.com is a take-off on the American Flag, like practically every political website ever created (save for maybe Tom Vilsack’s, and he’s no longer running). Some standard good things are there: an email newsletter sign-up in the upper right-hand corner; links to donate, volunteer, “tell a friend,” and “become an e-leader” on the homepage; links for a media center and an “in the news” section; and of course, myspace. If you would have told me two years ago that Duncan Hunter would have a myspace page, I would have assumed you were drinking.

Extra kitsch exclusive to goHunter08.com: Duncan Hunter offers “60 second weekly updates from the campaign trail,” which are short videos from the field. You can also send an “e-yard sign” to your friends. There are also a list of reasons to vote for Duncan Hunter, and a salute to Duncan Hunter from a military general.

As for the look of the homepage, it’s visually OK. I like the square motif of highlighted items, and I think the slide show on the left side of the homepage is nice (though some diversity in pictures would be nice. The first eight look like they were taken during the same speech at some VFW hall, and then picture nine (right) looks like a sample wedding photo taken by the Sears Portrait Studio in 1987). Design-wise, I’d say this site passes the bar, but by no means lands in the stratosphere of legendary website design.

As for content, I have to chuckle about a couple of things. One, on the “Reasons to vote for Duncan Hunter” link, the site only lists four reasons. Seems like you’d want to give more reasons for being the leader of the free world. And there’s no hogwash like “I’d like to unify the country,” or “I’d like to end the partisan politics of the past seven years.” Hunter is fast and hardcore:

Hunter is the “national security” candidate and knows defense;

Hunter originated the fence along the U.S.-Mexico border;

Hunter is pro-life;

Hunter is a strong proponent of fair trade.

In other words, Hunter is one bad ass motherfucker, ready to take on the brown people, the feminists, and the unions. Which, sadly, may be why he finished IN A TIE FOR FIRST in the recent South Carolina GOP straw poll.

(To be fair, on this page Hunter offers 24 reasons, in six-point type, describing where he stands on certain issues. But this page is not featured prominently on the homepage.)

Another item on the site, the “send an e-yard sign” is totally a ludicrous idea. The purpose of an actual yard sign is to visibly show your support for a candidate. The purpose of an e-yard sign is to spam your friends. For fun, I created a Hunter for President yard sign, and had a blast. I was able to type in a title, “Duncan Hunter is scary,” and also a message, “I think Duncan Hunter is a nutjob.” To top it off I was able to choose background music, and so I chose Brazilian salsa music just to stick it to the Representative who loathes foreigners. Then I sent it to my friends.

The “In the news” section is a laundry list, which I hate. But thankfully, unlike the Bill Richardson website, Hunter’s site has the common sense to break the laundry list up into seven small pages, so you’re not scrolling through the inferno.

The media center page offers five videos, which are a mix of “official announcement” coverage, and interviews with the likes of MSNBC and Wolf Blitzer. Not bad for a media room, at least for this early in a campaign. But it pails in comparison to the online media war rooms run by McCain’s and Obama’s camp.

The biography page. is informative and unoriginal. There’s a creepy photoshopped side profile of Hunter (see right...and the image name is "Bust.Duncan"!), and lengthy paragraphs in six-point font (is Hunter tailoring this website for owls? Seriously, make the fonts bigger!) about his Vietnam service, his law school education, his triumphant first run for Congress, and his leadership on the House Armed Services Committee. At the end is a paragraph about his wife and family, and it mentions that his house was lost in the October 2003 wildfires. The paragraph reads like an obituary:

Hunter resides in East San Diego County with his wife Lynne where they, like many of their neighbors, just completed re-building their Alpine home after it was lost in the October 2003 wildfires. In 2006, Duncan and Lynne celebrated their 33rd wedding anniversary; they have two sons, Duncan Duane, who served two tours in Iraq in the U.S. Marine Corps, and Sam Hunter, a business student at San Diego State University. Duncan D. and his wife, Margaret, have three children, Duncan Lee, Elizabeth Grace and Sarah Louise, and reside in Boise, Idaho. Sam was married on Valentine’s Day 2004 to the former Theresa Heger of Jamul and they had their first child, Marin, in October of 2006.

Theresa Heger of Jamul? I don’t know what that means, but it sounds like royalty from the last Star Wars movie. Was this the Jimmy Smits character?

The contact page and the donate page are nice, and I like how Hunter includes the maximum $2300 donation is his list of donation options. That’s good sense. It’s something the other websites are doing, too, and I should have praised that earlier.

The blogger page is at least current, though it’s clear that only one person (nathan@nathantabor.com or nathan@tcymedia.com) is updating the blog. Perhaps that’s OK, but at least don’t headline your page “bloggers for Hunter,” if it’s just one guy in his studio apartment, staying up too late and munching on Doritos.

Hunter also has 133 friends on his myspace page. By contrast, Barack Obama has nearly 3,800 wall posts on Facebook. Get busy, Hunter.

But my favorite of Hunter’s myspace friends are by far “pro-life Matthew” (see below right...his myspace page is NSFW...go figure, his name is "pro-life Matthew" but there's a naked woman with saran wrap around her body on his myspace.com page) and “Amanda” (see above). “Darin” ain’t so bad either.

On a scale of one to five alpine homes, I give this site a 3. Is the site perfect? Hell no. But is the site average enough to appeal to Hunter’s base, and make him seem at least somewhat tech-savvy? Yes.

Like the South Carolina straw poll shows, Hunter might prove competitive, even if he’s seen as kind of a fringe candidate. It will be interesting to see where The Fix, Hotline, and others place him in their GOP presidential candidate rankings from this point forward.

Stay tuned next week for a look at the website of Democrat John Edwards.

Holy pizza!

2007-02-26T23:12:00.000-05:00

Fresh off her appearance on a piece of toast, the Virgin Mary has showed up in Houston as an image formed on the surface of a pizza pan.

Vincent Santiago, one of the worshipers who has traveled to the pizza pan to view the image, said: "This is a sign that something in the world is going to happen. We don't know, but we have to keep our faith very, very strong on her."

Well, judging from the fact that the piece of toast sold for $2,800, I'd say the sign that Mr. Santiago foretells is that of a pizza pan owner watching his or her bank account increase.

If the Virgin Mary happens to read this blog, perhaps you might consider appearing on something in my house? Cause, you know, I'd love to pay off the Discover bill...

Sunday Morning Merton

2007-02-25T08:45:00.000-05:00

Just sharing a passage from Thomas Merton on this Sunday. It's about silence. I find it particularly appropriate on a Sunday morning, as blowhards like Condi Rice, Arnold Schwarzenegger, George Will, Sam Donaldson, Joe Biden, and many others prepare their talking points for the AM television shows.

Those who love their own noise are impatient of everything else. They constantly defile the silence of the forests and the mountains and the sea. They bore through silent nature in every direction with their machines, for fear that the calm world might accuse them of their own emptiness. The urgency of their swift movement seems to ignore the tranquility of nature by pretending to have a purpose. The loud plane seems for a moment to deny the reality of the clouds and of the sky, by its direction, its noise, and its pretended strength. The silence of the sky remains when the plane has gone. The tranquility of the clouds will remain when the plane has fallen apart. It is the silence of the world that is real. Our noise, our business, our purposes, and all our fatuous statements about our purposes, our business, and our noise: these are the illusion." - Thomas Merton, No Man is an Island

The web of politics: Bill Richardson

2007-02-24T09:01:00.000-05:00

(Another in a series of presidential candidate website reviews. See here for the first review, JohnMcCain.com)

For some reason, as I bring up New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson’s Presidential Exploratory Committee website, I have the sudden urge to take on the Detroit Lions this Thanksgiving. Has Jerry Jones endorsed him? If not, he ought to, because this website is Dallas Cowboys motif all the way. I’m surprised there aren’t cheerleaders.

Former presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy once said, “Being in politics is like being a football coach. You have to be smart enough to understand the game, and dumb enough to think it's important.” Damn, I wish the current crop of candidates would offer quips like this. Instead we’re mired in Geffengate.

Bill Richardson doesn’t seem to mention football anywhere on his site, http://www.richardsonforpresident.com/. But there’s no search engine, so I can’t be entirely sure. That’s OK, though…looking at the sites of every Democratic presidential candidate shows that none of them have search engines.

As for the meat and potatoes of Richardson’s site (or should I say the meat and bizcochito, New Mexico’s official state cookie!), here’s what we’ve got:

Familiar flag colors – check.

Email sign-up in the upper right-hand corner – check.

The five fun icons for myspace, facebook, youtube, partybuilder, and flickr - check

The phrase “saber-rattling” prominently displayed on the homepage – check.

Rotating pictures of Bill Richardson – check.

(Though Richardson should lose points here, because one of the photos in heavy rotation is a red-haired man with freckles named Lachlan McIntosh, who is Richardson’s South Carolina Statewide Director. A happy looking man, but people don’t know you Bill Richardson. Show pictures of you. You’re running for President, not Lachlan McIntosh. Which is good, because I haven’t heard a name as peculiar as Lachlan McIntosh since Lauch Faircloth. Must be a Carolinas thing.)

In short, the homepage has most everything you’d need or want. It’s all on there in a sea of blue and red. But to some extent, that’s the problem with this site: it’s a stereotypical sea of blue and red, with not much visual uniqueness to offer. And holy stars! There’s clichés, and then there are stars.

There’s one video currently offered on Richardson’s site, “The New Mexico Comeback,” a biographical short film that touts all of Richardson’s accomplishments in New Mexico. This video is great for seeing beautiful shots of New Mexico’s terrains, including its windmills and rustic mesas. I also think the voiceover does movies, or at least other commercials. Sadly, I don’t remember a lickin’ thing of substance from the video, other than lots of numbers were thrown out that made Richardson sound like a good governor and a FOB (friend of business).

As for the organization of the site, the headers are adequate. Here are the menus: About Bill, On the Issues, Newsroom, Blog, and Support Bill. Some have rollovers, and naturally the rollovers are blue. They work, but they suffer from the same symptom that the rollovers on McCain’s website suffer from: they are too dark to read. Or maybe my eyesight is going.

The bio information is probably OK, but I wanted more. The wife, Barbara, gets her own page, but dammit if her bio doesn’t end with this sentence: “Mrs. Richardson’s interests include gardening, reading and antiques.”

No word yet on whether she’s an avid bowler.

The newsroom and blog sections of this site are too much of a laundry list. The newsroom is just one press release or news clip listed after another, with no real organization thrown behind them. The presentation here is sad, and if the communications staff (who are listed on the side of the page) have any wits about them, they should revamp this area so that it can compete with the sites of other candidates. And why the hell did this news clip get posted?

“Here's a 2008 New Hampshire primary pop quiz question: Which Democratic presidential hopeful has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and is leading the charge to ban cockfighting in his home state? Answer: Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico.” -Portsmouth Herald

I would have said Kucinich, since he’s the vegan.

But come on! That makes the newsroom section? Oy veh. One, is it really wise to play up the fact that New Mexico currently allows cockfighting (thus allowing me to legitimately post this picture to the right? Go chickens!)? Two, can anyone say non-sequitur?

“Here’s a 2008 primary pop quiz question: Which Democratic presidential hopeful has received two purple hearts, and ate a ham sandwich last night?”

See what I’m saying?

The blog is not much better. There’s no way to search by month, or to search by post. And who let this blog entry headline slide: “Surprise! Bill Richardson has charisma”?

Folks, if it’s a surprise that your candidate has charisma, you might want to keep that to yourself.

The one affirming thing about this site is that there’s a donate button that appears on every page, so that folks can give money for the Richardson campaign to create a better site for when he officially becomes a candidate.

On a scale of 1 to 5 bizcochitos (again, New Mexico’s state cookie!), I give this site a 2. That may be harsh, as the site has a skeleton with all the right stuff. But other candidates have sites that are just in a different league, and Richardson should follow their lead. Compare this site to johnmccain.com or barackobama.com, and they just blow Richardson out of the water.

Richardson generated great buzz after his speech at the DNC meeting a few weeks ago, and he’s consistently doing well in polls on dailykos, and in the early caucus state of Nevada. But you wouldn’t know it from this website.

Stay tuned next week for another crack at the ’08 Republicans running for President, and a look at Kansas Senator Sam Brownback’s site.

"You eat lunch with a liberal and you are ashamed to order dessert."

2007-02-20T21:44:00.000-05:00

There are several things that amuse me about this article from Garrison Keillor, posted at salon.com. One is the picture (at right), which I guess is what Keillor would look like if he were to ever guest star on Dora the Explorer.

But I also find Keillor's love of telling stories to be romantic, and a great escape. As Keillor says, one of the ways to beat the doldrums of February, "...when everyone feels middle-aged even if you are 16," is to go have lunch with friends, and just tell stories.

As a light-hearted jab, he pokes fun at why liberals, poets and Republicans are not good lunch dates.

Anyway, it's a cute read, and should make you laugh. And maybe remind us of how important friends are to get us through the gallows of winter.

Political website review: JohnMcCain.com

2007-02-19T12:10:00.000-05:00

Last week I wrote a post comparing the logos of Democrats running for President. A good idea, but it hit me that maybe it would be better if I'd wax on about the websites of potential '08 candidates. Since, you know, I'm an expert.

Just kidding. I'm not. But since I've helped design three websites, and have loaded Dreamweaver onto my computer, I figure I can at least make some observations. Next week, who knows, I might write some drivel on quantum physics!

So for this week's website, I'm going to start with a candidate who has been running for President since he lost the South Carolina primary in 2000: John McCain. Full disclosure first: I'm a liberal. But when it comes to websites, I'm a non-partisan juggernaut. My one word description of John McCain's site: classy.

The site bills itself as "a departure from the traditional campaign website." I guess that really depends on what your definition of the traditional campaign website is; if your version of a traditional political website is what Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) used for his 2006 re-election camapaign (http://smith4nj.com/), then by all means, McCain.com is a revolution of splash. For the record, http://smith4nj.com/ may be the worst website ever.

But this post is about McCain.com. And immediately when you go to the site, the first thing that strikes you is the contrast in color. Classic black and white along the perimeter, with a full-color video menu dominating the middle of the index page. It's quite elegant, though two immediate thoughts come to mind:

1.) If McCain wants to look like he's not the oldest candidate running for president, the black & white motif might not be the best idea. Nothing says "I reached my prime during the days when the TV show Dobie Gillis originally ran" than a black and white website.

2.) McCain's logo reminds me of the McCain French fries logo. (See right.) Maybe it's the star.

Still, this being said, there's something nice about the uniqueness of the site, given the color-rich, splashiness of most political (and commercial) websites. I also like very much how you can just roll the cursor over a bottom menu of flash clips, to hear McCain wax on about how to get involved in the campaign, how to listen to video clips and read news releases of importance to "common sense conservatism," and how to become a part of McCainSpace, McCain's online networking concept. McCainSpace? Somewhere a punmaster is smirking.

The information architecture of the site is adequate, with menus on the top and bottom of the screen. A good use of rollovers is also incorporated, though I'm not crazy about the look of the rollovers, black text on a gray background.

As for the breakdown of the main pages, McCain.com's "For the Media" section is quite nice, and well organized. There are links for high resolution photos of John McCain (McCain seems to have excess skin on his face or his neck...I can't tell which), an "in the news" section (though this hasn't been updated since February 5, which seems like too long of a time delay for me), and a link for journalists to "join the media list."

McCainSpace is also somewhat impressive, allowing users to create their own website.

This page, however, has a photo that makes John McCain look like he has grim reaper hands. Or maybe that guy from "Tales from the Crypt." Bad choice. Nothing says "my body parts are deteriorating" like grim reaper hands.

On the "informing you" section of the site, there are some quite classy videos with titles like "Faith," "Government Reform," "Spending," and "Iraq," no doubt produced by someone who knows what they are doing. They really humanize McCain, and I think his position on increasing troops in Iraq is quite nuts. They also combat his reputation as a temper-driven politician, given how gentle he speaks.

The "Involving You" section and the "Action Center" do a fine job of using cool icons to access downloads, find people in your community interested in McCain, make a donation, etc. The blog section is just OK...it's organized nicely, and it has good links to YouTube, tips on how to engage the blogger community and post your own thoughts, and submit questions to the Senator. But for the life of me, I can't find the campaign's own blog, so I'm not sure they even have one. Secondly, they use the same photo of McCain twice on the same page, which creeps me out. Use two different photos, people. It shows initiative, and makes it so that it doesn't look like McCain's identical twin is doing a cameo.

This page has info on McCain's wife Cindy. It's a bit hidden within the site, and doesn't give much information on what (if any) role she'll play in the campaign. It's mostly biographical, and for some reason, there's a picture of a woman (presumably Cindy, but it doesn't really look like her), holding an infant, a floating child's head behind her. Weird.

McCain's bio page is much more detailed, but mostly about his military and Congressional service (no interesting details about who is favorite philosopher is, or perhaps what book he is currently reading, or his favorite musician, wedding song, etc.). There are half a dozen pictures, including this well-used photo (right), that makes McCain look hot. Mmm, sexy eyes. Undo that shirt a little more, Senator.

Overall, on a scale of 1 to 5 McCain French Fries, I give this site a 4. It should be well received by most folks, and it's fairly user-friendly. They make it easy for you to donate, too.

So while I think the man would be bad for this country, I think his campaign's website is good for the Internet.

Stay tuned next week for a look at neighboring New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson's site. Bye for now!

Obama, Race, and John Howard...and logos!

2007-02-13T21:59:00.000-05:00

Here's a fascinating post from The Nation's John Nichols, Is Obama's Race a Factor in Howard's Attack? The article looks at the skirmish this past weekend between Australian Prime Minister John Howard and U.S. Senator (and now Presidential candidate) Barack Obama. Was their racial undertones behind Howard's assertion that Al-Qaeda would be dancing for joy if Obama became President?

Read Nichols' piece and see what you think.

Speaking of Obama, as someone who does communications and public relations, I have to say that I really dig his new logo. Sure, the"O" is a bit cliche, from Oprah to Overstock.com to Cheerios. But I still like it. Below are my thoughts on the other candidates for the Democrats, and their logos appear at the bottom. (Republicans will come later!) Here's my rundown:

Hillary: as boring as sitting through 10 focus groups, which I have no doubt this logo has already done

Edwards: boring with a green swoosh

Richardson: undertones of the TV show "Dallas"

Vilsack: props for a different color scheme, but a little too "V for Vendetta" for a Presidential Candidate. Perhaps if Vilsack was wearing a white mask and blowing up parliament...

Biden: this logo reminds me of the BUSH/CHENEY logo from 2004 (I think it's the colors more than the font). It's not altogether bad, but Biden's website is creepy. Go there. And tell me if the two pictures of Joe Biden smiling don't freak you out a bit. (and to top it off, there's a frozen shot of Biden's wife, who looks like she's pooping.)

Kucinich: too square for such a fun guy

Gravel: I'm not even sure Gravel has a logo or just a watermark

(Not available: Chris Dodd)

"mike looks like..."

2007-02-12T19:37:00.000-05:00

How could one resist not doing this, which comes from my friend JR’s live journal.

Instructions: Do a Google search for the following: "(your name here) looks like" inserting your name where indicated and including the quotes. Post the top five (or just laugh at them).

If I type my full name, Mike Jones, I get what the rapper Mike Jones looks like, and the consensus on him seems to be one of the ninja turtles. So I just left it “mike” and here are my top five:

5.) “Mike looks like a freak with no hair.”

4.) “Mike looks like three shades of turd.”

3.) “Mike looks like a pimp in that get up with the sheep staff.”

2.) “Mike looks like he may be kicking ass again!”

1.) “Mike looks like a normal person, until he takes his shirt off.”

Ah, the things that people will do to kill time...

I love this fact

2007-02-12T14:14:00.000-05:00

Lest voters wonder about the "family values" of potential 2008 Presidential contenders, look no further than this post on Hotline blog.

Seems Mitt Romney's wife has said that "The biggest difference between Mitt Romney and the other [Republican] candidates," is that Mitt has "only had one wife."

McCain has had 2. Guliani has had 3 (and number two did not end pretty). Gingrich is now on his third marriage, as well.

Meanwhile, John Edwards, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton (for better or worse) are still married to their original spouses.

Not that there's anything wrong with getting a divorce, mind you, but let's just remember which party always bitches and moans about family values, gay people threatening the sanctity of marriage, the breakdown of the American family, etc., etc.

Snickers and Ted Haggard

2007-02-10T05:55:00.000-05:00

Ha. Courtesy of Pretty on the Outside. Too bad this wasn't shown during the Super Bowl.

Couch-potatoitis

2007-02-07T13:59:00.000-05:00

I just came across the term "couch-potatoitis." I'm not sure I know exactly what it means, though I guess it's one of those terms like "pornography" - you know it when you see it.

The term is used by Matthew Fox, a former Catholic priest (ex-communicated for his liberal views), in a recent issue of Yes Magazine. In the interview, Fox talks about the difference between eros — the love of life, and sloth or couch-potatoitis. Here's his words:

...the word sloth is a narrow translation of acedia, and what acedia meant in medieval understanding according to Thomas Aquinas was a lack of energy to begin new things. It would include cynicism, despair, depression, couch-
potatoitis, and so forth.

Zeal, he said, is the opposite of that. Zeal comes from an intense experience of the beauty of things. Rediscovering the beauty of existence, and of our planet, and of our own species—I think this is where we get the energy back.

Check out the rest of the interview for more curious insights from this curious man.

Whoa, dolly

2007-02-04T20:51:00.000-05:00

So it's Super Bowl Sunday, and I'm watching the Indianapolis Colts lead the Chicago Bears. I hope Chicago pulls this thing out, but I truthfully don't care. I'm more content feeding my dog Doritos.

After watching Prince do a mediocre halftime show, I got curious about who else has done halftime shows. Check these performers out. Most of the early Super Bowls (and really, most Super Bowls up until the late 1980s) had marching bands or Air Force Bands. But how about Super Bowl IV and Super Bowl VI?

Oh yeah. Carol Channing.

What's really funny is that sandwiched in between Carol Channing's outings is homosexual-hating Anita Bryant. Haha.

Other highlights include a 1991 performance with New Kids on the Block (which I sadly don't remember), a 1988 performance by Chubby Checker (who knew he was even still performing in 1988!), four separate performances of Up With People, and many others that you'll relish remembering, from Michael Jackson to Boyz II Men.

Letters from India

2007-02-03T09:38:00.000-05:00

Hi folks! I'm back from Mumbai, India, but still adjusting to the 10.5 hours of time difference, and trying to get back into the routine. Below you'll see two letters that I sent from India, that I figured I would post here, since I'm not really articulate enough yet to post about anything else.

In the coming days I'll start back up blogging, so until then!

One more note from India

2007-02-03T09:30:00.000-05:00

Hi family & friends,

Thanks so much for reading these updates over the course of the past three weeks - more than anything, these were helpful for me to process so much of what has happened on this trip, though they still are just scratching the surface.

I'll get into the work for this week in a minute, but for those immediately curious, yes our team was able to get inside some prisons. It's dire, to say the least, but I'll write more on that in a minute.

We wrapped up our last day in India. To tell you all the truth, I'm actually writing this from Schipol Airport in Amsterdam, on a behemoth layover for my flight back to Boston. I left India this morning at 1:20am Mumbai time, and will arrive back in Boston 26 hours later. The trip was by many accounts a huge success, both on a personal and a professional level (though to be honest, some students were better than others!).

Incidentally, my last day in India was also a national holiday - Republic Day - which is similar to our 4th of July. I picked up a copy of the local paper, and they had some pull quotes from young professionals (all under 35) about what they dream for the future of India. Some samplings:

"I hope to see India become a First World nation in my lifetime."

"I hope the next decade is a decade marked by a dramatic increase in wealth."

"I hope India continues to grow in the technology and financial markets, and becomes a true competitor in this world."

That's certainly one perspective (anyone reminded of Arundahti Roy right now? She's a well versed author and essayist who asserts...in my mind correctly...that the war on terrorism is as much about exporting U.S. capitalism and marketplace values as it is about fighting jihadists...if indeed it was ever about fighting jihadists).

Here's another perspective on desires for India. On my cab ride into downtown Mumbai, this sign was placed atop a delapidated building:

"The day everyone of us has access to our own toilet is the day that our country will truly know it has reached the pinacle of success."

Somehow that sentiment was left off the front page of the paper. With 70% of Mumbai's citizens alone living in slums, you can see that the pinacle of success by this standard is still quite a way's down the road.

India is paradox. Another example...last Sunday I met a barrister from England at a country house near the village of Revdanda. The house was in the mountains, surrounded by rice fields, mango trees, vegetable gardens, and brush - a kind of tropical oasis two hours away from the intensity of Mumbai. I was standing on a marble balcony overlooking this all, and said "Wow, this is the first time I think I've felt anything close to solitude in India."

To which the barrister replied: "Oh, you're never alone in India." At which point, three wild cows and a half dozen residents from the neighboring village emerged from the forest.

"You're never alone in India." As foreigners go, I think these five words could probably sum up anyone's first visit (or first 20 visits) to India, at least on the surface. The crowds, car horns (I can't stress enough how relentless the car horns are), beggers, shopkeepers, mosquitos, cows, taxis, slums, Bollywood billboards, children playing cricket, rickshaws, glam restaurants, dive restaurants...there's not a square inch of Mumbai that doesn't seem taken up by all of these. I kid not; on my final day here, I went to the financial district area, where a cow was resting in the middle of the busiest street, with some chickens and goats nearby. Imagine seeing
livestock in the middle of Wall Street, or Constitution Avenue, or Park Street!

"You're never alone in India." I thought about that statement a lot this week. If you define alone as sheer numbers of people, animals, and things, I think the statement holds true. But if loneliness is something deeper, and I think many of us would agree that it is, then it wouldn't matter if India had two billion, or four billion people. There'd always be a certain someone, or group of someones, alone.

Here's where the work comes in. We spent more of this week interviewing former prisoners, in particular more drug addicts, and more sex workers. I focused mostly on the drug addicts. There is nothing in my recent memory that has hit me so raw as the stories of these folks. I could write a book on their words, but for space I won't. Here's one story that sticks with me.

Bailey, so desperate for brown sugar (heroin), is starting to go through withdrawal. All he can think about is his next hit. He gets some, it's early morning, and he's so strung out that he doesn't stop to think about finding a quiet place to inject himself. He shoots up in the open, and is soon tracked down by a police officer. He is beaten. He is arrested. He is taken to prison, where he is put in a barrack with 100 other people (in a space meant for 40), many of whom are drug users. Soon after he arrives, he starts going through withdrawal symptoms. Moaning, diarrhea, throwing up, convulsions. And it's not just him. There are dozens in the barrack facing the same situation. Imagine the sounds and smells of 30+ people going through withdrawal at the same time, in a space as big as a one-car garage. Meanwhile, they are beat by the other prisoners for creating such a maddening scene. Some are raped, others forced to sleep in the toilet, others denied food or water. Bailey himself never even sees the inside of a courtroom. Two months pass, and finally the system says he can go free if he agrees to plead guilty. He does so.

When our team got access into one of the prisons, we saw many of these things. Overcrowding. Poor water. Rats. Cockroaches. A barrack for the mentally ill where they are literally chained up for hours on end. The sounds of inmates going through withdrawal. Scabbies. A sick barrack where HIV+ inmates are kept with TB patients. I could go on.

But what sticks with you more than any of these conditions...more than any of these conditions combined...are the vacant, downright empty eyes that look back at you, as you walk in with your khaki pants and nice shoes, with your pen & notebook in hand. One of our students said she thought it looked like they had all just stopped crying, as the area around their eyes was sunken and dry. Sometimes it's hard to make out their faces, but you can see them by the size of the abscesses on their skin. And there are foreigners, too...not just Indians.

"You're never alone in India." At the end of the week, as I repeated that phrase to myself, all I could think of was "bullshit." (I admit, however, to being angry and worn-thin by week's end.)

There's so much more to say, both about the prisons, but also about our everday experiences. How do I tell you all about the chortel of our driver, which when he laughs makes the entire car laugh, too? How do you talk about playing cricket with kids who live on the footpath, running on used drug needles as they try to catch balls? Or the group home for children and the 10 girls, all of whom have lost their parents (either to death or to prison), trying to teach us Hindi and laughing at our bad pronounciation? Or the "underground" dance club we went to where hundreds of gay & lesbian people (mostly 20-30 year olds) could feel a reasonable amount of safety in
each other's company, while in the "real world" they can be arrested under Indian Penal Code 377 for being themselves?

How too do I tell you all honestly of the things I'm not so proud of...my initial fear of taking a cab by myself, or being unable to hide my disgust as a rat crawled across my shoe at a drop-in center for drug addicts? Or reaching to feel for my wallet every nanosecond when walking through a crowd or in the slums, as if the damn thing really mattered anyway? Or finding myself longing for a hot shower, when so many of the drug users, inmates and sex workers we spoke to haven't showered in weeks or months, let alone with clean or hot water?

In the end, the importance of this work goes well beyond writing a report on prison conditions. At least I hope it does, or I'll lose faith in why Harvard sends students and employees to do this work anyway. On the grander level, how could this work not be about absorbing all of the brokenness that you can, and somehow using their wounds to fix a part of yourself (and vice versa). This work just cannot be about extrapolating information, writing a report, and then washing your hands (or more aptly, putting on the hand sanitizer). Perhaps the challenge is about giving back more than what you take away.

Anyway, I hope the students wrestle with these questions as much as I am. And I thank you all for your patience with my emotional rambling. Looking forward to seeing many of you soon, or at least talking with many of you soon!

Take care for now,
Mike
PS- forgive the spelling and grammar in this beast......

Week Two from India

2007-02-03T08:45:00.000-05:00

So another week has gone by here in Mumbai, India. This week for us has been quite exhausting. We're working too much. I feel like I have five Marie Dennises on this trip (note: That joke's only for my Pax Christi friends), with the schedule that my fellow team members keep pushing. But all is going well.

Not much down time, though I am shopping and sight-seeing in spurts. The Colaba area of Bombay is like a tourist's haven, and you can't walk four inches w/out running into a place that sells engraved keychains, stolls, scarves, leather jackets, drums, seven-foot tall balloons in the shape of bowling pins, tacky t-shirts, hundreds of flavors of incense...you name it, and this area has it. Even kitchen sinks, so the cliche rings true!

The poverty of this place still overwhelms me. They say during monsoon season (summer) that people on the streets get flooded away, thus losing their homes (shacks), or if they don't have homes, losing the piece of the foot path that they sleep on. I can't imagine what that must be like, given that 70% of the city lives on the streets. Add that to the booming mosquito population in monsoon season, and this place would seem to be toxic.

But against the poverty backdrop is also the overwhelming presence of tourists from all over the world, and non-resident Indians who travel back to the motherland around this time b/c the weather is so hospitable. It's a sociologist's dream to watch the "World Traveler" population mesh with the locals. I find it difficult myself. I gave money to a woman w/ child begging the other day, and the next thing I knew I had a dozen women w/ children around me. Overwhelming.

As for the work, like I said it's keeping us busy. On Monday I met w/ the Cancer Patients Aid Association, which is the chief petitioner in an ongoing case against drug giant Novartis. The drug company wants to obtain exclusive marketing rights for a life-saving drug over here, which would mean that no generic reproduction would take place...and Novartis would charge approx. $1,200 USD for a one month supply. There aren't too many people over here who could afford $1,200 USD a month for cancer medication, so the thought of not having a generic for these patients to access is
staggering. The case is historic, in that it also could mean that pharmaceutical giants could prevent generic reproduction of other life-saving drugs, which would literally deny millions of patients of cancer, AIDS, TB, and more the needed medication they have to have to live (since paying full price for medication is not an option for millions in the developnig world). It makes me so angry. For those who have seen "The Constant Gardener," many of the same issues covered in that movie (sans the Hollywood-ness of the film) are in full light over here in India.

This week we also dug further into our investigation of prisons, meeting with a dozen different organizations and individuals. There was the criminal justice professor who led a study on public health in prisons (coming to the conclusion that for every 250 inmates, there is one doctor, who works approximately 10 minutes a week). There was the theater group that puts on plays for inmates. The sex worker organization that works with women who are currently selling sex (many of whom have been arrested
multiple times for soliciting). The education group that goes into prisons teaching literacy. And more.

The work this week brought me back to my social work days, as we talked to several groups that work exclusively within the criminal justice system, and were hesitant (if not unwilling) to criticize any of the conditions faced by prisoners, as it might jeopardize the very good rehab work they are trying to do. In class back in my undergrad days, there would always be discussions about working w/in the system vs. working outside of the system. That debate was alive and well this week, as organizations were willing to overlook horrendous conditions (i.e. no doctors, bad water, drugs, sexual violence, etc.), in lieu of having access to prisons where they could work one-on-one with rehabilitating inmates within India's criminal justice
system. It's inappropriate to question the motivations of organizations and
individuals, but I certainly found it frustrating that an organization running great social programs in prisons (literacy, HIV/AIDS education, ministry, yoga, etc.) could overlook the fact that prisoners have no room to sleep, suffer violence from guards and inmates, drink contaminated water, etc. Such a hard issue to navigate...if they raise a stink about these issues, and they lose their access to prisons, then the prisoners lose out on the literacy training, the HIV/AIDS education, the yoga classes and more that these groups bring...

Anyway, I'm blabbering. That's all just to say that systems are complex, and it's hard for me to figure out for myself when it's necessary to close your eyes to injustice in order to provide much needed services.

Lastly, our team took a two-hour trip to Pune, another city here in India. We met with a lawyer who works for an organization called Human Rights Lawyers and Defenders. A great guy, with an office that feels more like a family than a workplace. He dropped everything to meet with us, and then facilitated a meeting between us and a researcher with the inspector general of prisons. Later that night, he took us to a restaurant to meet with some Bollywood star that was trained as a psychiatrist. The man was boring as hell, but hey, at least I got to have a drink with a Bollywood star!

That's it for now...I'm off to go find the rest of the members of our team. It's 7pm here in mumbai, a good 10.5 hours ahead of Boston. We're just ending our day, and you all are just beginning. Have a great weekend! I will try to send one more update next week, as we may get access to one or two prisons, and I'll be eager to share the details of what we saw.

All the best, and much love!
-Mike

Bon voyage

2007-01-13T00:57:00.000-05:00

Hi all...in case you were wondering when in the world I was going to post again, rest assured that the day will come soon! But for the next two weeks, I will be in Mumbai, India, on a work-related trip.

The trip is being chronicled on a blog, that you can access by clicking here.

Have a great few weeks!

Is the marriage fight setting us back?

2006-12-29T10:33:00.000-05:00

I have another horrible confession to make. Not only did I clap during the movie "Dreamgirls," but I'm also a flip-flopper. I'm one of the seemingly increasing queer folk who can't manage to enthusiastically get behind gay marriage. I know it's important, and it seems like the right thing, but it still leaves an acid reflux feeling in my chest. Is it the right battle to be fighting?

The latest issue of the Gay & Lesbian Review features an article from John D'Emilio, The Marriage Fight is Setting us Back, which hits at some of the reasons many GLBT activists hesitate to get behind gay marriage, much to the ire of some of their peers. I can't say I agree with everything in D'Emilio's piece, and it's way too long for my interest (halfway through I felt my eyes wander to the people sitting next to me in the coffee shop, and my ears soon followed). But D'Emilio does make some great points, one being that if history is to teach us anything, it's that pushing for gay marriage rights now may not be the most prudent fight. As he writes, the increasing cry over gay marriage now has in turn spawned a number of anti-gay laws, initiatives, and amendments -- concentrated now so that every year it seems that a half dozen new states are passing something anti-gay.

Anyway, it's an interesting read, especially if you're one of those (like me) who sometimes wonder whether the quest for gay marriage is really harming or helping the GLBT movement in this country.

Another interesting piece to check out....a group of GLBT activists have just released a sign-on letter to national GLBT organizations, Beyond Same-Sex Marriage: A New Strategic Vision for All Our Families & Relationships, which urges the GLBT community to move beyond a singular push for gay marriage. Again, I don't agree with it all, but it's definitely worth the read to get a sense of the debate on this issue. Ciao!

I admit it...I clapped, too

2006-12-26T12:08:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine gets all hot and bothered when people clap in a movie theater. "It's not like they can hear you," she says, "It's a freakin' movie!"

Usually I'd agree with her. But yesterday, on Christmas, I was among the first in line to go see "Dreamgirls," the new movie with Beyonce Knowles, Jamie Foxx, Eddie Murphy, and of course, Jennifer Hudson, of American Idol fame. And dammit, if the entire movie theater (myself included) didn't burst into applause after Jennifer Hudson sings "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going," halfway through the movie. (it's the song she's singing in the picture at the right.)

That girl can sing. And this may just be the best song in movie history. Better than "Cellblock Tango," from Chicago. Better than "Singin' in the Rain," from, uh, Singin' in the Rain. Better than "Summer Lovin'" from Grease. Even better than "Suddenly Seymour," from Little Shop of Horrors, which I have to admit retains a very sweet space of property in my heart :)

So go see Ms. Hudson sing. Then in a few months, watch her pick up the Oscar. 'Cause this girl can blow a tune.

For a good review of "Dreamgirls," go here.

Reclamation

2006-12-17T10:16:00.000-05:00

Came across this quote, which seems apt for the season. May these last few weeks of 2006 be a season of reclamation...

Ultimately, we have just one moral duty: to reclaim large areas of peace in ourselves, more and more peace, and to reflect it towards others. And the more peace there is in us, the more peace there will also be in our troubled world." - Etty Hillesum

Etty Hillesum aided Jewish victims who were interned at the Westerbork concentration camp. She was later interned herself at Auschwitz, where she died in November 1943.

Principles of Environmental Justice

2006-12-11T23:06:00.000-05:00

This is old news, but sometimes old news can be refreshingly good news. This is from a 1991 conference that has henceforth become known as "The First People of Color Environmental Leadership Summitt." The summitt established 17 principles of environmental justice, connecting the dots between environmental degradation and racism. I'll paste the preamble below, but if you'd like to look at the 17 principles, click here.

WE, THE PEOPLE OF COLOR, gathered together at this multinational People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit to begin to build a national and international movement of all peoples of color to fight the destruction and taking of our lands and communities, do hereby re-establish our spiritual interdependence to the sacredness of our Mother Earth; to respect and celebrate each of our cultures, languages and beliefs about the natural world and our roles in healing ourselves; to insure environmental justice; to promote economic alternatives which would contribute to the development of environmentally sage livelihoods; and, to secure our political, economic and cultural liberation that has been denied for over 500 years of colonization and oppression, resulting in the poisoning of our communities and land and the genocide of our peoples, do affirm and adopt these Principles of Environmental Justice.

Christmas cliches

2006-12-03T09:48:00.000-05:00

To start off this season of Advent, here's a yuletide joke...

"What do you call Santa's little helpers?"

A: "Subordinate Clauses."

Ah, how that pleases both the Christmas lovers and the grammarians.

But since it 'tis the season, here's an article from John Rausch, a Glenmary priest from Kentucky (a Glenmarine, as he once told me). John is one of the funniest and most socially conscious people of faith I know, and I love the way this article skewers both the moron pundit urging us to put "Christ back into Christmas," but also the hyperconsumer, who will shoot someone to get a damn video game console, but will pay little attention to the crux of this season.

Take it away, John... (bold parts are my emphasis)

Christmas Giving Can Save the World
By Fr. John Rausch

Cliche #1: "Christmas is becoming too commercial."

Cliche #2: "Put Christ back in ‘Christmas’."

Non-cliche: "Christians through our hyper-consumption are destroying the world Christ came to save."

Consumer expectations about Christmas bate the trap that catches many of us. The credit card industry estimates that Americans will use plastic to charge around $100 billion for gifts at Christmastime. The average middle class family already owes about $8,000 in credit card debt, but an estimated 115 million consumers survive by paying at least the minimum monthly balance and carrying the rest with crippling-high interest rates. With more than two credit cards in circulation for each person living in America, the plastic card represents the opiate of the consumer, separating the psychological high of the purchase from the depressing low of financial consequences.

Christmas expectations have woven themselves into our social fabric and become ingrained in many of us. For example, we don’t feel guilt if we neglect to buy a gift for someone who gifts us. We feel embarrassment. Guilt means by justice we owed something and did not give it. Embarrassment means by social conventions, the other bested us. So the cashier swipes our credit card and we buy the person something to tie the score. Consumption becomes defensive, compulsive and mindless.

The goods we consume provide information, while they communicate our social status and values. A $40 shirt with "Tommy Hilfiger" printed up one arm trumpets that the wearer participates in the global economy–the one-third economy, since two-thirds of the world’s population cannot afford a $40 shirt. We consume pricy things less because we need them to survive and more because we need them to participate in our social class.

Consumerism also shifts the economic emphasis away from the common good to individuals and their freedom. The market promotes happiness, good health and education through the exercise of individual choice–providing a person has the dollar power to choose. As a result, CEOs and Members of Congress have gold-plated healthcare plans, while the blue-collar diabetic down the road has free clinics and emergency rooms.

Frivolous consumption is destroying the planet. Scientists estimate it would take more than five earths to sustain the world’s current population at American consumption levels. With only 4 percent of the world’s population, America consumes 25 percent of all resources, uses 43 percent of all gasoline and produces 25 percent of all greenhouse gases. Without a change in lifestyle, global warming will significantly alter life on this planet.

"Modern society will find no solution to the ecological problem unless it takes a serious look at its life style," wrote John Paul II in his World Day of Peace Address, January 1, 1990. In concluding his message he says, "I wish to repeat that the ecological crisis is a moral issue."

Because consumerism has an orientation of "having" rather than "being," the challenge remains to create a lifestyle valuing consumer choices that deepen the human experience and highlight healthy relationships. A non-profit group in Abingdon, VA, Appalachian Sustainable Development, suggests a few creative ideas along those lines for Christmas. For example, help a child become curious about the natural world by giving a tree the family plants together, cook or bake a gift, make a photo album filled with memories, or give some socially conscious gift from the Heifer Project or UNICEF.

The cliche about "Put Christ back in Christmas" must mean something about his gift giving, because if we gave the same way, we would probably be helping to saving the world.

Hamburgled

2006-11-26T17:43:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I think the most creative people in the world are social justice activists.

Take these cats at the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), who staged a Thanksgiving protest/demonstration during Chicago's annual Thanksgiving parade. McDonald's happened to be the lead co-sponsor of the parade, and also target number one of the CIW.

The CIW has been trying to dialogue with McDonald's for the past two years over the labor conditions and wages of the farmers who pick the produce that's used in McDonald's supply chain. These farmers are not employed by McDonald's. Nonetheless, the campaign is an effort to get companies like McDonald's to use their considerable influence to ensure that their food providers are treated fairly, equitably, and humanely.

McDonald's has refused to dialogue with the CIW, though. As a result, CIW activists, including "Ronaldo the Clown" - Ronald's "ethical half-brother" according to the CIW - descended on this McDonald's sponsored parade with a message: dialogue with us, bitches.

There are some great photos here. The CIW passed out flyers during the parade, educating parade spectators on the efforts made by McDonald's to silence farmworker organizers, and push them away from the negotiating table.

If you're interested in writing your local McDonald's a letter (and we all have a local McDonald's, unless we live on the last space of pristine earth around!), you can download a template here. The CIW is encouraging folks to speak out about the rights of farmworkers. One letter to a local manager might not mean much, but the action reverberates up the corporate ladder. These tactics worked successfully against Taco Bell, and though it took more than four years, CIW activists were able to get Taco Bell to come out and support efforts to make work more humane, just and fair for the workers who supply the restaurant with its food.

Let's make McDonald's do the same.

Love 'em or hate 'em?

2006-11-16T19:40:00.000-05:00

Nothing like a hot photo of Carol Channing in pink to liven up a blog!

Channing is currently in the midst of a war of words with the press over her reported comments to the Gay Peoples' Chronicle. Rumor has it that Channing, long beloved by the gay community, might have some issues with the gays. Here's what she supposedly said:

"I don’t think about them. I’m grateful that they seem to like me. They’re terribly loyal to me. But I’m knee-deep in the Bible and you know what it says about that."

Channing's publicist blew a gasket...most likely because 95% of Carol Channing's fans probably swing to one side of the Kinsey scale. He cries misquote.

Me? I cry "Cut back on the eyeshadow, Dolly!"

I guess we'll see where this goes.

Oh, in other news, Nancy Pelosi was approved by her colleagues to be the next Speaker of the House. So stop reading my blog and go check out nytimes.com or something!

Personally, I'll still hum along to her rendition of "Hello, Dolly."

Damn

2006-11-12T10:08:00.000-05:00

I always knew Sen. Russ Feingold was a long-shot for the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination, but I was at least hoping he'd run for the selfish fact that it would give me someone to feel good about voting for.

Alas, Sen. Feingold has decided against running, which will probably be in the best interests of his health, sanity, and overall demeanor.

Meanwhile this week, Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack announced he would seek the nomination. I don't know Tom Vilsack from a hole in the wall, though he was born in Pittsburgh, which scores automatic points with me.

Wow, not even one week after the midterm elections, it's already time for 2008. I think we're living in a political industry complex.

Keeping up with the Joneses

2006-11-08T18:57:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I know I should be blogging about how wonderful it is that the Democrats now control the House, and possibly soon the Senate (Viva Webb!).

But, hey, there are other things happening in the world, too, like this world-record-setting convergence of Joneses in Wales. Wales is my home country, so to speak, and people tell me that this fact should guarantee that I'd have a nice singing voice. What a crock! I'm somewhere between a cricket and...a dead cricket.

But let's hear it for the Joneses. They even got Grace Jones to show up and sing Slave to the Rhythm!

Good Grief

2006-11-05T10:13:00.000-05:00

Later this morning, I'll be attending a church service to mark "All Souls Day," a day in which people remember those who have died and gone before. This year the day feels especially relevant to me, as earlier this Fall I lost a dear friend, Jeff Mendez, to cancer. It only took about three and a half weeks from the time his cancer reoccured to the day his kidneys stopped working and shut down. Another friend of mine is currently with her mother, who is in hospice, another victim of cancer.

Death and loss are such a heavy burden to bear. Whether it's the physical loss of a loved one, the loss of time, or the end of a life's chapter, the grief can certainly leave us broken and beaten down. I know there are moments where I ache to go back five years, ten years, twenty years, and be back in a moment that felt particularly special. Like the last time my entire family sat down at a table and ate, before brothers and sisters went to college, got married, took jobs out of town. Or back to a time when my dad or mom could carry me up to bed when I fell asleep on the couch, before my mom had her stroke, before I got older.

I think the fact that life is just too god damn fast can really leave us broken.

But as Ernest Hemingway said, "The world breaks everyone, and afterward many are strong at the broken places." Doesn't that account for a healthy chunk of life: tending to our broken places.

For those that weave down the path of remembrance every once in a while, here is a poem by Washington Allston that usually makes me teary, especially as I watch my own parents grow old.

Especially as I watch myself grow older.

It all goes by so fast. It's good to remind ourselves that time can't take everything with it.

Boyhood
AH, then how sweetly closed those crowded days!
The minutes parting one by one like rays,
That fade upon a summer's eve.
But O, what charm or magic numbers
Can give me back the gentle slumbers
Those weary, happy days did leave?
When by my bed I saw my mother kneel,
And with her blessing took her nightly kiss;
Whatever Time destroys, he cannot this;--
E'en now that nameless kiss I feel.

- Washington Allston
Have a great day, everyone.

Shout Out

2006-11-04T18:33:00.000-05:00

Congratulations are in order for my former boss, Dave Robinson, for landing top billing on www.commondreams.org for his article, This Election, Values Voters Should Choose the Common Good Over Fascism.

My favorite line:

Today, the polarization that infects our nation and its political discourse works as a ready tool for current day fascists to deflect and divide. There is no room for common ground when a cynical manipulation of “faith” demonizes all “others.’ There is no room for common ground when every challenge is framed as “us’ against “them.” This elimination of common ground leaves little place to make the case for the common good. But it is that very case that we must make.

The "Celebrity Trifecta" is complete

2006-11-04T15:12:00.000-05:00

Doogie Howser M.D., aka Neil Patrick Harris, is gay. My first reaction?

Duh.

But I do find it interesting that in less than three months, three male celebrities have come out (or been outed, depending on who you talk to and how you look at it). Lance Bass, T.R. Knight (George from Grey's Anatomy), and now Harris. Do these things always come in three?

Creativity is not the work of a few

2006-11-04T09:12:00.000-05:00

As more and more Mike Jones' continue to make national news (2001 - we saved the superbowl for the St. Louis Rams; 2004 - we became superstar rappers; two days ago, we came out as a male escort and knocked a megachurch pastor down a peg), I'm feeling this weird need to prove myself in this world. I know, it's stupid. But no one wants to be invisible.

But perhaps invisibility is the point sometimes, so long as we're living lives rooted in some sense of connection to the other. Here's a great quote from writer Elizabeth O'Connor, taken from the Pax Christi USA website.

“We are to cast out demons, be healers, artists, musicians, the builders of caring institutions. Creativity is not the work of a few. … We each have the task of making the earth into a fairer, kinder place. The first step is imaging a better world, and that is most apt to happen when we suffer or look upon suffering.”

Haggard fallout

2006-11-03T21:23:00.000-05:00

Great post from Amy Sullivan on the Ted Haggard gay sex scandal. She hits a homerun...it's not about finger-wagging on the left, even though it's tempting, given how vitriolic Haggard has been in his anger toward the gay community. Take it away, Amy:

This, however, is a scandal involving a shephard of the flock itself. If it turns out there is truth to the allegations, the story will reverberate further and longer than any of the scandals of the 1980s (Swaggart, Bakker, etc.) because it involves not just personal behavior, but an issue that conservative evangelicals have made extremely clear is one of their two top priorities. And I wonder how or if this will affect the condemnation of homosexuality in general within conservative evangelical circles. After all, we know that people's attitudes change once they learn that someone they know is gay. A lot of evangelicals know (or at least know of) Haggard. If indeed he has been involved with a gay man, that could blow a lot of evangelical minds.

Leave it to Mike Jones

2006-11-03T13:22:00.000-05:00

For those who don't know, my real name is Mike Jones. There was a point in time where I thought, "Hey, I don't want people to know my real name online."

Then it hit me...my name is Mike Jones. If you google "Mike Jones," it would take you an entire weekend just to muddy through the search results. In other words, it doesn't matter who knows who I am, as there are so many of me I could form a small army.

As many of you have probably heard by now, megachurch preacher Ted Haggard (who once made it known that President Bush returns his phone calls within 24 hours) has admitted to some gay indiscretions. I have no idea if by indiscretion, he means full on anus to penis shenanigans, or if he just got some action in a gym shower room, or whatever. I don't care.

What I heart about this story is the dude who leaked this to the press. Read on...

Local news in Colorado is now reporting that Pastor Haggard admits to at least some of the charges levied against him by former male escort Mike Jones -- presumably the ones that can be verified by voicemail messages Jones claims to have saved for posterity.

First, I am not that Mike Jones. He's 49, and I'm 27 (for two more days). And yes, a former male escort probably isn't the pillar of moral sanctity in our society (but then again, former drug addicts get elected president nowadays, so what do I know?). But I have to admit...even I get a chuckle out of this one.

I could philosophize now on how this is just one more example of how repressing your sexuality just really f*cks you up. But why bother? Whether it's Mark Foley, Ted Haggard, or Jim McGreevy, their stories are riveting lessons themselves of the damage caused by not being who you are.

The sad thing in all of this are the broken families that get left behind. McGreevy had a wife and kids, Haggard has a wife and a bushel of children, and Foley...well, I don't really know about him. Chiding folks for not "coming out" of course isn't the way to go...I mean, I have to respect that everyone is in different circumstances, and we all come with our attache cases full of emotional baggage. But herein lies the argument for creating a society that welcomes all sexual orientations, so that fewer and fewer people are forced into living lies to conform to who they are not.

It will be interesting to see how forgiving the evangelical community is over the course of the next few days and weeks. I think the answer to that question will show which folks actually take the message of Jesus to heart, and which folks use their religion as a form of demonizing the other.

Communications directors learning from other communications directors

2006-10-30T18:16:00.000-05:00

I'm a PR person, and my way of doing PR is to steal ideas from everyone else, and use them for my own agenda. *evil laughter*

Kidding. But I do value learning from my colleagues, and found this article by the Communications Director of The Genocide Intervention Network to be a great read for those looking to change the world. Having worked in PR for human rights and social justice causes for years now, one challenge always remains "how do I get my message out there?" There's never any money, never enough staff people, sometimes the fax machine breaks, the wireless goes down, things catch on fire (my favorite obstacle over the course of the last few years...be careful when making Rice-a-Roni!).

As this article explains, any grassroots (or non-grassroots) organization looking to build a "netroots" following, needs to be amenable to online social networking - the concept of promoting connections and collaborations between people who share similar interests, backgrounds and geographical locations, among other details.

The Genocide Intervention Network has grown over the past two years into a movement of more than 300 colleges and 200 high schools - connecting people through sites like You Tube, MySpace, Friendster, Facebook and more.

This article is probably not news to anyone reading my blog, let alone the millions of others who blog daily, read blogs daily, or know what blogs are. But it's helpful to be reminded of the effect that social networking can have, particularly for organizations looking to mobilize people. Sure, this technology can also be used to schlep Coca-Cola, or the Gap, or Betty Lou's banana bread recipe. But it's most dramatic impact may just be in its capacity to support direct action - whether that direct action is attending a rally, writing a letter to a Congressperson, or getting out the vote.

Jesus: Gay activist?

2006-10-29T15:04:00.000-05:00

During my adolescence, as I was battling the triple whammy of acne, discovering my sexuality, and learning about body hair in new places, I remember coming across an op-ed that, while I wouldn't go so far as to say changed my life, certainly stuck in my craw over the years. It was about political movements that use Jesus, more or less, as a weapon to outcast others. The image that the author painted was Jesus, having a blast riding on a roller coaster with all sorts of individuals that "religious" people all too often label as sinners: GLBT folks, sex workers, drug dealers, prisoners, single mothers, welfare recipients, etc., etc.

The point? That Jesus, in his truest sense, won't necessarily be found in the stuffy churches, in the fancy suburbs, in the giant SUVs, in the million-dollar megachurches. Rather, Jesus is with society's "sinners," those that are marginalized either for who they are, or mistakes they may have made.

There's nothing particularly revolutionary about that image, but it always stuck with me. Maybe it's because I always assumed Jesus would prefer Merry-go-Rounds to roller coasters, or maybe it's because it was the first time I read anywhere that God is most present with the people and things you'd most likely not expect.

I was reminded of that article (now more than a decade ago in my memories) by another article, this one on South African Anglicans saying that Jesus would support gay rights. Reading that headline, I could almost picture James Dobson of Focus on the Family losing control of his bowels. Such a paradox! Such a heresy!

I'm deeply moved by this article coming out of South Africa, a country so steeped in violence and oppression toward the other over the course of the last century. Hard to imagine that less than 15 years ago, South Africa still existed under apartheid laws. But there's something about that history, that legacy of division, that lends an extra weight to what these folks are saying.

"Jesus is challenging churches," says Anglican priest Jo Mdhlela. "Jesus is saying if you said apartheid was unjust then you must say laws discriminating against homosexual people are unjust."

What a potent argument, especially as the debate over gay rights and gay marriage becomes a hot button in South Africa. A bill in the legislature right now could make South Africa the first African nation to recognize same-sex marriage.

So while the U.S. media feeds into the frenzy over New Jersey, and whether the NJ Supreme Court's decision last week on gay marriage mobilizes evangelicals to vote, I'm more moved than ever by what Anglican leaders are saying in South Africa. It's not that South Africa is some sort of utopia post-apartheid...it certainly isn't. But to think of where South Africa was just two decades ago, and where it is today, I can't help but think how, sometimes, the capacity of people to open their minds sometimes just can't be stopped - no matter how cocky the Karl Roves and the Family Research Councils of this world get.

Biting off more than we can chew

2006-10-16T20:16:00.000-04:00

The following was sent to me today...I can't vouch for its authenticity, since I've never heard of this index before. But if it's true, which I wouldn't be surprised, I think we're all up a creek. Unless, of course, global warming dehydrates the creek, in which case, I guess we're up a cracked dirt path that once used to hold water.

But that's just not as catchy. One more reason to pay attention to the climate crisis: it ruins treasured cliches!

Anyway, this is from the Global Footprint Network.

Beginning on October 9th and continuing through the end of the year, the world will be living beyond its ecological means. Ecological Footprint accounting shows that, as of October 9th, humanity will have already consumed the total amount of new resources nature will produce this year.

Each year Global Footprint Network calculates humanity’s Ecological Footprint (its demand on cropland, pasture, forests and fisheries) and compares it with global biocapacity (the ability of these ecosystems to generate resources and absorb wastes). Ecological Footprint accounting can be used to determine the exact date we, as a global community, begin running our annual ecological deficit. Designated “World Overshoot Day,” this year demand begins outstripping supply on October 9.

Could this be the reason so many people get depressed around the holidays?