Wander blog

Public Works or Public Art?

2010-07-27T16:56:00.001-07:00

Seen last week on a sidewalk near Civic Center in San Francisco:

It's strangely captivating, the short pieces of blue tape on the boarder of the plywood playing against the long strips of red tape around the chairs. The union of these two discreet chairs mirroring the union of the two pieces of wood below. Indeed one of the most intriguing things about this plywood/chair/tape piece is that it effectively distracts passer-bys from the expensive and ornate display in the store window behind. Is this a comment on the power of context in our consumer society? The assemblage of junk on the sidewalk, a strange and unusual occurrence that is free to appreciate, upstages the traditional consumer display of expensive nick-knacks.

The only clue as to the true intentions of this "piece" is the tag on one of the folding chairs:

Pardon the blurriness, it was a low-light situation. The sticker says, "Keep Upright. Do not topple." The rest is illegible from the picture, I don't recall the sticker mentioning either the origin or the purpose of this piece of public works and/or art installation.

Tasers are the new Twinkies.

2010-07-08T19:08:00.000-07:00

When it comes to West Coast criminal defense tazers are the new twinkies.

(image from the brochure of the X26 Taser advertising "fewer lethal force escalations" for police departments using the product, click for clearer image or read the whole thing here.)

"[Dr.] Blinder testified that a junk food diet of Twinkies and Coca-Cola contributed to White’s erratic behavior, and White was convicted of manslaughter rather than murder, partly on the basis of Blinder’s testimony."

--ABC News report on Dr. Blinder who infamously testified as a witness for Dan White, Harvey Milk And George Moscones' assassin, claiming that White was not responsbile for his actions as demonstrated for his appetite for ding-dongs, twinkies, and other gay sounding junk food.

"Lehman's testimony deepened the central debate in the case, with defense attorney Michael Rains trying to use him to show that Mehserle had been afflicted by the "Taser confusion" discussed during his training."

--SF Gate on Mehserle's defense that he meant to shoot Oscar grant (an unarmed African American 22 year old rider on the BART) with a taser, but instead pulled out and fired his gun which killed Grant.

Meyer said it would have been appropriate for officers to punch, kick, use pepper spray, or wield a baton to subdue Grant, though he said using a Taser would be preferred over any of those alternatives because it would be less likely to “inflame the passions” of bystanders.

-- LAPD Captain, and defense witness Greg Meyer's testimony during the Mehserle trial as reported by Uwire

You know our criminal justice system has a problem when the expert way for the police to subdue a citizen who is wriggling on the ground during arrest is to hit him with 50,000 volts of electricity in order to cuff him. Also this is the least "inflaming" of methods available.

Just to back up on this for a second, the Taser in question, the Taser officer Mehserle says he was trying to use, the TASER® X26c delivers 50,000 volts of electricty via two "small probes" that can penetrate up to "2 inches of clothing". Just how much is 50,000 volts? Watch this clip below:

Also here is a picture of the BARBED METAL "small probes" that the X26 shoots out

This is how bad the Defendant's case is, he's arguing instead of shooting a man to death he only meant to shoot two barbed metal bullets into him in order to administer the kind of shock one might expect from LIVE POWER LINES.

And just to be clear, this is not some tragically designed Taser that looks like a gun.

Here's a picture of the taser officer Mehserle claims he meant to use:

And the gun that was used:

In 1979 Dan White was convicted of voluntary manslaughter, the twinkie defense, the argument that he was not in control of his actions as a result of depression and junk food sparing him a murder conviction. Mehserle managed to use his Taser defense to accomplish one better, involuntary manslaughter. Even for a state that has a history of ludicrous verdicts, this one takes the snack cake.

How anyone can watch the youtube video below and come away with anything other than murder is a testament to how far gone we are as a society when it comes to applying the law to those that enforce it.

The latest victim of the Flotilla is...Helen Thomas

2010-06-09T15:41:00.000-07:00

"I’m a liberal, I was born a liberal, and I will be a liberal till the day I die. "
Helen Thomas on her personal politics in 2004.

"Hearst should’ve retired her a couple of years ago, honestly, but she occupies some weird place between history and “the liberal bloggers love her for saying what every liberal blog commenters loves to type.”
--Wonkette.com

This week the seemingly indestructible Helen Thomas met her match. She survived an all-male press corps, she survived the McCarthy period, she survived several international trips with Nixon, a power grab by the Moonies, and a notoriously combative relationship with both Bush administrations. Anyone who shrugs off her de-facto forced retirement should marvel that she's still standing today after several shockingly frank interactions with the second Bush administration, like this one, in which she basically tells Ari Fleisher point blank that Dubya is an illegitimate President:

THOMAS: Would the President attack innocent Iraqi lives?

FLEISCHER: The President wants to make certain that he can defend our country, defend our interests, defend the region, and make certain that American lives are not lost.

THOMAS: And he thinks they are a threat to us?

FLEISCHER: There is no question that the President thinks that Iraq is a threat to the United States.

THOMAS: The Iraqi people?

FLEISCHER: The Iraqi people are represented by their government. If there was regime change, the Iraqi --

THOMAS: So they will be vulnerable?

FLEISCHER: Actually, the President has made it very clear that he has not dispute with the people of Iraq. That's why the American policy remains a policy of regime change. There is no question the people of Iraq --

THOMAS: That's a decision for them to make, isn't it? It's their country.

FLEISCHER: Helen, if you think that the people of Iraq are in a position to dictate who their dictator is, I don't think that has been what history has shown.

MS. THOMAS: I think many countries don't have -- people don't have the decision -- including us."

Then, on May 27th while attending a Jewish Heritage Festival at the White House, she reiterated her widely known feelings about Israel (no doubt with increased fervor following Israel's most recent aggression). Here's the exchange:

Suggesting ALL Jews in Israel go back to their country of origin goes far beyond even my Anti-Zionist sentiments, it's a provocative opinion too be sure. And "opinion writer" is the official position Thomas has occupied since she left UPI as a reporter back in 2000 following the Moonie invasion.

Opinion writers say many things, many of them objectionable, and only rarely it seems to they actually loose their jobs. Charles Krauthammer remarked last week that, "What exactly was the humanitarian crisis the flotilla was addressing? There is none. There's no one starving in Gaza." Other than a well-deserved roasting from the Daily Show he seems to have made that beautifully insane and offensive remark with little to no fall out. But then again, his position was well aligned with hard-line Zionism.

Thomas issued an apology on June 4th, the same day as the footage of her comments was put on youtube, stressing her comments, "do not reflect my heart-felt belief that peace will come to the Middle East only when all parties recognize the need for mutual respect and tolerance. May that day come soon."

It's true, her comments do not reflect a mindset of mutual respect and tolerance. But it seems incredibly clear that her opinion is more in line with a historical disagreement over territorial rights to land in the Middle East than to any distaste with the Jewish people. After all Thomas didn't say Jews should be kicked out of Israel and shipped back to the lands they immigrated from (as many commentators claim). Rather Thomas said Jews should leave because "They can go home." Not just to Poland and Germany but, "America and everywhere else." Her concern seems less anti-Semitic and more Pro-Palestinian as she concludes "Why push people out who have lived there for centuries? See?"

As her career is eulogized and appraised many have said it was about time, that Thomas' glory days are behind her. Anyone who would call Thomas a dottering fossil well served by this unfortunate "gaffe" into a much needed retirement should recall her comments a year ago when she decried the Obama Administration as being the most controlling Presidency when it came to handling the Press. In fact she said the Obama administration was worse than the Nixon administration in this regard. Many commentators rolled their eyes and emitted the same boilerplate cynisim they're espousing now: an old reporter, out of touch, etc. etc. Today the New York Times' revealed that "in 17 months in office, President Obama has already outdone every previous president in pursuing leak prosecutions. His administration has taken actions that might have provoked sharp political criticism for his predecessor, George W. Bush, who was often in public fights with the press."

In the end, it was not Obama or Bush that vanquished Helen Thomas, it was a knee-jerk reaction by Left and Right alike that conflated a heated anti-Zionist comment into an anti-Semitic incident. Or at least, that's as much as I can figure. It's too painful to imagine that a difference of geo-political opinion alone could oust one of the most respected journalists of several generations. Because if that's the case, the Press is in a lot more trouble than even Helen Thomas could ever have predicted

Also, check out this great post on Talking Points Memo about how many Israelis are all ready taking Helen Thomas' advice.

Performance Art or Science?

2010-05-28T02:49:00.000-07:00

Somewhere Sartre is watching smugly...

A rumor I heard...

2010-05-26T00:06:00.000-07:00

So I heard this rumor, that BMW or some dealership thereof, normally has a bunch of cars in the SF Pride Parade but this year they will not. I heard from a BMW employee that this year the event's organizers had the gall to demand $10,000 (or some five number figure) for their cars' registration in the parade. Well, I was told by the BMW employee, that's absurd so there will be no BMW gay pride cars in the pride parade this year!

This BMW employee is a very nice guy, he's not a company stooge, he's totally genuine. But honestly I say Good, make BMW pay through their fucking nose to be in the parade! It would be insane not to.

Here's why.
BMW is rolling in dough, they make ROLLS ROYCES. If a company like that wants to pledge their support for gay causes by way of some primo target marketing I see no reason why they shouldn't pay for the privilege. Someone's got to pay for all the leather daddy, AIDS Awareness, and Unitarian church groups who can't afford to contribute high registration fees. Hell times are tough all over. I'd understand if this was Ford, but BMW?!? The fact that this is a deal breaker for BMW borders on the offensive! An implicit component of their refusal is the gay's aren't worth their money. Hell if I had a major company I'd pay $20,000 to have my product featured at the event that is bound to be the highest concentration of single white men with discriminating tastes in the Unite States at any one time.

Also I'm glad, hell I'm elated that there will be no BMW car section of the parade, I'll be even more pleased if there's no BMW section at all with employees marching on foot. Money and pride are a toxic combination (ever been on a date with a Harvard graduate?) BMW is not pride, Starbucks is not pride, Target is not Pride. Pride is about total self acceptance and comfort to the point of fearless self-expression. It's about a throng of social outcasts coming together to claim one day in 364 as their own. Ours. Money, of course is neccessary to fund Pride, fabulousness alone cannot rent a major sound system, event organizer, or temporary stage. But the ethos of the day should be unfettered from blatant capitalism. The focus should be more copulation and less corporation, because while Pride is about love with sex coming in a close second.

Is the current Cannabis boom a replay of the 30's?

2010-04-30T16:35:00.000-07:00

It was the best of rhymes it was the worst of rhymes....

Remember Jessica Rabbitts entrance in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" where she's sing that sultry song? The song in question is "Why Don't you Do Right?" by Kansas Joe McCoy.

The lyrics are plaintive but banal:

I fell for your jivin' and I took you in
Now all you got to offer me's a drink of gin
Why don't you do right, like some other men do?
Get out of here and get me some money too
Why don't you do right, like some other men do?
Like some other men do.

However the song was originally written in 1936 at the height of the depression and was titled "Weed Smoker's Dream." The refrain of the song's original narrator was smart, simple, and far from ordinary:

Sittin’ on a million
Sittin’ on it every day
Can’t make no money givin’ your stuff away
Why don’t you do now
Like the millionaires do
Put your stuff on the market
And make a million too

The message is clear: if Wall Street can plunge the nation into chaos as a result of its vicious and unstable business practices, shouldn't we be able to make some cash selling grass too? It's a question that's been getting a lot of media coverage these days and not without good reason. Everything old is new again including economic meltdowns.

Stoners have been around forever and the most creative of modern American taste-makers often paid homage to their green muse. In the 20's and 30's weed heavily influenced the creation of Jazz and popular music. Smokers were known as "vipers" and countless songs were written about pot's effect, commerce, and attendant culture. Most famously Fats Waller wrote and sang "If You're a Viper" otherwise known as "The Reefer Song" in which he pines:

Say I dreamed about a reefer five feet long,
A Mighty Mezz but not too strong
You'll be high but not for long
If you're a viper.

These songs from the 30's lovingly payed tribute not just to the high cannabis elicits, but also to Marijuana's power to act as an escape from personal hardships and the economic devastation that was sweeping the country at the time.

In perhaps the sweetest ode to marijuana of it's age, "Smoking Reefers," Buck Washington croons what could almost be a torch song to Cannabis:

Old weed cigarette that we must all depend on
Marijuana
Old weed once begin it and you're sure to end on
Marijuana
It's the kind of stuff that dreams are made of
It's the stuff that White folks are afraid of

Up in Harlem we go on
A Marijuana jag
Smoking reefers to get beyond the misery
Go away you misery
Go away go away
Smoking reefers to get beyond the worrying
Go away you worrying
go away go away

Must wake up to work in the morning
I must get by the broodin' at night
Aw, You can't change this world you were born in
But I declare
You can be walking on air
By smoking a reefer
You'll have the angels sing away
Helping you to fling away
You worries, your troubles, your cares

The same sentiment flows through Chick Webb's "When I Get Low I Get High"

My fur got stole
but, lord ain't it cold
But I'm not gonna holler
cause I still got a dollar
And when I get low
Oooo I get high

Buck Washington's catchy "Save the Last Roach for Me" begs

Folks say that I'm lonesome
Say I'm as blue as I can be
Well if you're smoking that Jive
When I pass by
Then save the roach for me.

In our current economic crisis that approaches the Depression in its scale and social upheaval weed once again has become a favorite of those hoping to avoid feeling the squeeze. These days there's no shortage of low people trying to get high. Perhaps no one explains the appeal of weed in these situations better than Kat Williams:

If you ain't got no job and you not smoking weed I don't know what fuck you are doing with your life, I really don't...I'm just saying is if your life is fucked up you need weed... There's a chemical in weed that's called "fuck it," and if you can just get that in your system it could change your life...some of y''all be crying about bills you can't pay...just hit the blunt one time and see if it don't change your perception of what's important in your life.

Unlike the Great Depression though, our Great Recession has bolstered the legitimacy of cannabis. The 1930 saw the creation of "The Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN)" and the passage of the Marijuana Tax Act in 1937. Another classic marijuana song from 40's laments "The G-man Got the T-Man." This Fall a "legalize and tax" cannabis initiative will appear on the ballot of the most populated state in the nation, California. So far polling is looking good, and even if the measure doesn't pass the cannabis industry opreating under Medical Cannabis laws is flourishing. In Northern California it's known as "the Industry."

Which brings me back to "Weed Smoker's Dream" the last verse goes

May's a good-lookin’ frail
She lives down by the jail
On her back though she got
hot stuff for sale
Why don’t you do now
like the millionaires do
Put your stuff on the market
And make a million too

May's starving and feet from jail anyway, but she's ok, because she's found a way to make money. As California edges closer to economic collapse this seems to be one of the predominant talking points in favor of cannabis legalization. Whatever voter's have to say at the ballot box, they've spoken with their wallets. California has put its stuff on the market and everyone wants a share.

Crawling Back

2010-04-30T16:26:00.000-07:00

I've had the blogging itch lately, which is not a good sign.
I get the blogging itch whenever I become hopelessly bored with my real life. Some people supplement their existential boredom over cyber-space by posting anonymous encounter ads on Craig's List. By contrast my cyber supplement entails reveling in the unearned smug satisfaction of putting my half assed opinions onto a global medium.

I should say that currently I am working (and working and working and working some more) at a medical cannabis dispensary which is NEVER boring. But the routine of work has become old hat and my free time to explore has shriveled. So expect more frequent updates on Wander Blog.

A List of Things I Saw Yesterday at the Folsom Street Fair (NSFW)

2009-09-28T15:50:00.000-07:00

Last week it seemed everyone in the bars and clubs I went to was talking up Folsom Street Fair as if it were Sodom and Gomorrah itself.

"It's the biggest event in San Fran," one stranger assured me, "bigger than Halloween, bigger than Pride!"

I was told to expect Mardis Gras with less drink and more kink. Over and over again I heard, "You can't imagine the stuff that goes on there!" "The most outrageous thing you'll ever see" "You'll be totally shocked." I kind of shrugged these comments off, but upon entering the fair yesterday I was chastened.

Apparently you're never so worldly you can't find displays of perversity to flip your wig. Below are a list of things I saw yesterday as I walked around Folsom Street Fair with some pictures (be forewarned NOT SAFE FOR WORK):

A furry Piglet riding a furry Winnie the Pooh

One leather Daddy whipping three guys at once

A completely naked hermaphrodite, bound in rope, being flogged*

A game of Twister played by jock-strap wearing twinks to raise money for "Healthcare for Whores."

A late thirty-something woman who looked like she just stepped out of the suburbs in her white Keds, modest denim jeans and baby blue tank top, giggling unstoppably as she posed with an incredibly ripped guy wearing only a cock ring around one of the largest flaccid penises I've ever seen.

The San Francisco Department of Public Health booth that featured a game in which contestants tried to hurl mini-foam penises through a cartoon's asshole (this would not have flown at the Boston Public Health Commission).

A masked man with a super hot body and a massive schlong masturbating out of a third story window as the crowd below cheered him on until he came, showering ejaculate onto the crowd below (luckily I was out of splatter range).

"Fetish Tot" dolls (pics here, NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART)

Guys in dog bondage gear with leather "paws" over their hands and feet and butt-plug tail accessories (that I swore I saw wag).

A booth that was dedicated to helping circumcised men "restore" their foreskin through a process of weights, stretchers, and straps. Also on display at the same table, an artifical foreskin that promises "Natural dekeratinization of the glans (thinning of the existing calloused skin)" and " A feeling of warmth, security and self-esteem" (Sounds like Prozac to me).

A guy on a leash laying on his back on the sidewalk as his master offered to let passers-by spit in his mouth.

What appeared to be three sorrority girls being whipped within an inch of their Prada by some random dude with a riding crop.

A plump woman with pig-tails wearing a pink sun-dress and pink vinyl boots sitting on the sidewalk licking a phallic lolly...

and then...looking to either side...
grinning mischeviously...spreading her legs...
and then...

Ah, San Francisco is there anything you WON'T do?

*This is the second naked hermaphrodite I have seen this summer.

The Unbearable Confusion of Meghan McCain

2009-09-24T15:08:00.000-07:00

I just don't know what to make of blond, bubbly, valley-girl by way of Sedona Meghan McCain. If she ever looses her blogging gig at The Daily Beast she should become the spokesperson for cognitive dissonance. Ms. McCain fancies herself a social liberal, supporting for full marriage equality and repealing DADT. She is NOT however pro-choice and her justification for her pro-life position is just one of the many confusing and contradictory statements she issues on a semi-regular basis:

During my father’s 2000 presidential campaign, a reporter asked how he would feel if I became pregnant and wanted an abortion. He answered that it would be my choice, sending shockwaves throughout the party...But seriously, here was a father, delicately navigating a question about his teenage daughter and being true to the kind of father he had always been, and the Republican Party was outraged. It didn’t matter that my parents raised me to know that, regardless of the mistakes I might make, they would allow me the dignity and courage to make my own choices...yet the GOP still needed to get involved and have a say in what I did with my body. Here’s what I’ve never understood about the party: its resistance to discussing better access to birth control. As a Republican, I am pro-life...

No that is NOT a typo.

Another example of this dissonance came to my attention today whit this video posted on wonkette.

The video is of an interview Meghan McCain gave to members of American University's newspaper prior to a talk she gave at the university. Throughout the interview Meghan wraps herself in the Rainbow flag, talking up her commitment to gay rights, marriage equality and a more progressive Republican Party:

I consider myself a Republican because of all the issues that its based on, the conventional ideology, and I just, you know, believe that my gay friends should be able to get married just like I can. And I think the Republican party has a long way to go when it comes to social issues. But if you go back to the ideals it was based on social issues have nothing to do with it.

Later on she adds:

The gay community has really been very accepting of me and embracing. And I have a lot gay followers, which has been really amazing to be embraced as a straight woman and a Republican. I just want to show that not all Republicans are against gay marriage. I say ‘gay marriage,’ I agree with gay marriage and not civil unions; I think they should be allowed to get married. And I just hope to inspire and show that it’s possible and there’s new blood in the Republican party.

But in this same interview she is asked if there are currently "Republican politicians or elected officials who embody the idea of the Republican party you're trying to create?"

The answer?

Not exactly No—I would never—on any politician at any time no politician is going to represent 100% what I believe. But I have a lot of hope for a lot of Republicans right now. I mean Lindsey Gram, Sen Leiberman, Eric Cantor, Congressman Aaron Schock I love. I mean I think there are a lot of up and coming people who I think can take the reins. This More progressive ideal.

Let's unpack this person by person shall we? Exactly how up and coming, and progressive, are these Republican officials?

Lindsey Graham
Age: 54
Years in Congress: 15 (8 in House 7 in Senate)
Progressive?: NOT AT ALL. Befitting a man who took Strom Thurmond's Senate seat (and is rumored to be gay) Graham supported a constitutional ammendment to ban gay marriage, supported a bill to ban gay adoptions in Washington D.C., has worked tirelessly to overturn roe v. wade, voted against a bill that would have provided, "100M to reduce teen pregnancy by education & contraceptives," and voted to strike down money set aside for family planning in US aids money abroad.

Joe Lieberman
Age: 67
Years in Congress: 21
Progressive: Joe Lieberman would be quite progressive for a Republican if he wasn't an Independent (and a "reform Democrat" before that). So not a Republican, not young, not up and coming. Next.

Eric Cantor
Age: 46
Years in Congress: 9
Progressive?: No. Known as an obstructionist against Democratic legislation. Voted for a anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment, voted against a bill to prohibit employment discrimination against gays and lesbians, also doing everything he can to overturn Roe V Wade, and also "Voted YES on allowing school prayer during the War on Terror."

Aaron Schock:
Age: 28
Years in Congress: 1
Progressive?: He is young (and quite handsome) and new, but is he part of this "more progressive ideal?" No, not at all. "On April 29, 2009, Schock voted against amending federal hate crimes laws to include crimes where the victims were targeted on the basis of sexual orientation , gender identity, gender , and disability" And a news story profiling Schock posted on his website notes that the freshman Congressman has, "a solidly conservative philosophy and voting record on abortion, gun rights, gay marriage and other bread-and-butter conservative issues."

No one is expecting Meghan McCain to be the next great political commentator. At best she seems to resemble a spoiled Carrie Bradshaw, at worst a lobotomized Maureen Dowd. It's just rather irksome that Meghan McCain is essentially building a name for herself by standing out in favor of marriage equality but doesn't pause to voice support for politicians of her own party who legislate discrimination against gays and lesbians. Maybe she can bridge the gap between these two extremes by finally coaxing Senator Graham (and Congressman Schock) to come out of the closet?

The Wander/Wonder Blog is back!

2009-09-16T23:26:00.001-07:00

My dead computer is RESURRECTED!

IT'S ALIVE!!!!!

So funny story...
Oh about three months ago, shortly after announcing I would be blogging my West Coast sojourn, my computer died. I was in Seattle at the time and went to the only Mac store I could find in Microsoftland which was a small mom and pop place that was in no way was affiliated with Apple as either a corporate entity or a purveyor of store franchises. This place had no white walls, no glass staircases, just a dingy carpet and suspended ceiling. The pubescent boy attending the tech support counter informed me that the reason my computer wouldn't turn on was that the mother board had crashed, a replacement would cost around $600 and take two weeks to install with their current backlog of repairs.

I was also told that on the positive end of things everything on the hard drive should be fine. In short I had the Jean-Dominique Bauby of computers, my Mac had locked-in syndrome. After phoning another computer repair shop in Seattle and receiving the same diagnosis I decided to deal with my computer at the end of the summer when my traveling was done. I schlepped my comatose computer from Seattle to Portland, from Portland to San Francisco where it stayed with sympathetic relatives while I went up north to Eureka California, and then south to LA , and then to Burning Man.

Finally yesterday I bit the bullet and brought my non-responsive Mac to a computer repair shop in Berkeley. "Here take it , fix it!" I cried, dramatically shoving the laptop case across the counter to the clerk. "I'm told it needs a new mother board. I know it'll be expensive, hundreds of dollars to be sure, it may take weeks to repair, but I NEED my computer! I can't keep working off my Palm Pre and begging friends and acquaintances to use their computers like some sort of LEPER!!!!!"

The clerk who was young but old enough to have facial hair took in my histrionics calmly before asking, "so what exactly is wrong with your computer?"

"It won't turn on!" I cried.

"Have you tried using a different power cord?" He asked.

Did this guy think I was an idiot? "It can't be the power cord, when I plug the power cord into the computer the light at the end of the wire goes on."

"Let's just see what happens if we use another cord." The clerk said undeterred and made his way to a bin sitting on a shelf across the room. He dug through it until he had found the right cord, returned and plugged it into the computer. He hit the power button and the computer emitted that Zen-like "Ommm" start-up noise that Macs make, the screen flickered on, and I stood there in utter silence.

"The power cord'll be $50." The clerk said.

"But- but- they said in Seattle that I needed a new mother board!"

"Apparently not" replied the clerk.

"But I don't understand, the light at the end of the cord went on when I plugged it in."

"Yeah but if you look at the end of the cord you can see the metal casing around the prong is cracked, see right there."

"You mean I've been without a computer this ENTIRE summer because I just needed a new cord????"

"Guess so, but hey it's cheaper than getting a new motherboard! And you'd be surprised at the number of people who have this same problem and just throw out their computers!"

The moral of this story, never ask for Mac tech support in Seattle.

I keep trying to tell myself this whole thing has been a blessing in disguise. That I've been more present this summer in my travels because I haven't had my computer to distract me. Or that being without my own computer for three months has made me appreciate having one even more now. I suppose all this is true, but still...just a freakin power cord?!

Stay tuned for more posts now that Wonder/Wanderblog central is operational again.

Various Seattle Arts stuff

2009-06-27T13:41:00.000-07:00

Ok, so here's a giant flurry of cool art stuff I saw in Seattle.

I all ready wrote briefly about the installation Moore Inside Out which was phenomenal(flickr stream of the event here). Tuesday night I also saw a great show at the Moore: Goran Bregovic and His Wedding and Funeral Orchestra.

Bregovic is an outstanding performer and composer from Serbia who has scored such brilliant Kusterica films as In the Time of the Gypsies and Black Cat White Cat. The concert audience was mostly Serbs so a good time was assured (Serbs know how to party, trust me I lived with one).

The concert started out slow with Bregovic's orchestra coming out piecemeal. First doleful strains from a string quartet and two female vocalists (in traditional gear) entering stage right. They were answered by the five piece brass section's burbling refrain as they made their way to the stage from the rear of the auditorium. Soon a six member male chorus joined the fray followed by the drummer/lead male vocalist, and lastly after the first song, by Goran himself. The slow stuff quickly gave way to riotous Gypsy rhythms and gloriously huge sounds. There's a reason Bregovic scored Kusterica's maximalist masterpieces, be they of the epic narrative scope variety or the gross-out comedy brand, like Kusterica Bregovic works on a large scale.

I've heard some complaints about Bregovic's performance; this review of the show and even one of the managers of the Seattle gig whom I talked to felt Bregovic doesn't actually DO anything during his shows. There's SOME validity to this: Bregovic doesn't sing during most songs, he plays guitar for only a handful (more often he's playing with his Macbook) and he is seated the whole time. But these criticisms miss a very important point: Bregovic is always conducting his orchestra through his music (or at the least his orchestrations of traditionally Serbian music). The sound is big but it's also incredibly precise, the resulting effect wouldn't be nearly as powerful if Goran's hands weren't guiding the orchestra along. And it IS incredibly powerful music, halfway through the concert the entire audience was standing up and dancing in the aisles, clapping wildly and totally in sway with band. Even Iggy Pop didn't get a reaction like that when I saw him.

The day before I checked out the film Godless Girl which was part of a Trader Joe's sponsored screening of silent films with live organ accompaniment. The event was at the Paramount, which like the Moore, is a glorious old theater. There were a couple protesters outside claiming the regular organist had been unfairly fired. One of the picketers told me that she had heard one of the programmers wanted to hire a rock musician instead ("A ROCK MUSICIAN!!"). Then again, I'm getting the feeling that an event isn't really worth its salt on the West Coast if there's not a protest involved. The replacement (possible scab) organist was serviceable, at the end of the screening he announced he had just received a DVD copy of the film that morning so he had barely any time to prepare. But silent films weren't made to succeed or fail based on the extempore music playing over them, they were made to be purely visual in their storytelling and this film didn't disappoint.

Godless Girl, one of the last silent films directed by the great Cecil B Demille, tells the lurid tale of a high school atheist temptress and an overzealous religious classmate who fall in love at a Dickensian juvie detention center after a rumble they incite leads to the (spectacularly filmed) death of an innocent girl. It's wonderfully over the top --members of the Atheist Club have to renounce God with one hand on top of a Capuchin monkey-- with Demille's usual ingenuity for spectacle. During the aforementioned mele the camera tracks vertically over four flights of stairs filled with kids fighting tooth and nail, and the end of the film features fire scenes that give Gone With The Wind a run for its money.

Did I mention how gorgeous the theater was?

Outside

Lobby

Lower lobby (the foyer to the restrooms)

Recessed lighting in the theater

Screen (with sponsorship) and Wurlitzer

I also checked out the Seattle Art Museum which I loved.
When you walk in to buy tickets you're greeted overhead by Cai Guo-Qaing's Inopportune: Stage One which is made up of nine identical white cars suspended from the ceiling with blinking lighting fixtures protruding from the vehicles. The overall effect suggests an explosion emanating from each car, a beautiful and elegant celebration of the combustion that both fuels these modern beasts and threatens our planet.

SAM had some great stuff in their permanent collection, this Warhol for example:

Don't mess with HIS blue suede shoes!

Two other pieces I loved were Mann Und Maus by Katharina Fritsch, in which a sleeping man covered in a white comforter on a white bed up to his serene face has a MASSIVE black mouse resting on his chest.

The impact of the piece lies in its sheer size. The man's head is life-size so imagine how massive the mouse is by comparison. The sculpture conjures up so many images: the incubus or succubus of Medieval lore crouching on the stomach of it's victim, disease (black plague or HIV), self-destructive nature. No matter how antiseptic, no matter how clean we want to make our lives, there's always some great creepy thing looming over us we can't escape. How many times have we seen mice in our apartments and immediately thought they could climb into our bed while we slumber away defenseless?

Another stunner was this piece Some/One by Do-Ho Suh

It appears to be a beautiful large metalic gown, until you get closer and see what it's made of:

I literally gasped when I saw the dogtags.

The piece is perhaps one of the best metaphors I've seen for our current American Empire, part luxury item, part armor, all sacrifice.

The big exhibit now at SAM is "Target Practice: Painting Under Fire 1949-78" a huge exhibit of pieces by artists who took aim at established conventions of paintings. Everything from Yoko Ono's A Painting To Be Stepped On i.e. a piece of cloth on the ground, to Jasper John's Target and beyond. The exhibit is highly engaging in a cerebral way and the free audio tour voiced by Laurie Anderson is informative and breezy. Though I have to say I went in for another much smaller exhibit, the Andrew Wyeth remembrance which is really a celebration of paint as a traditional medium.

Also I was totally impressed by the African Art collection at SAM which contains excellent examples of traditional cloth, masks, and statues as well as contemporary African Art. My only complaint is that their extensive collection of Dahomian religious statues and offerings were housed in a series of anti-septic glass cubes rather than all together in some semblance of a traditional shrine.

Anywho arts in Seattle, lots to love.

Day 5 in Seattle

2009-06-26T11:59:00.001-07:00

How good is the food in this city? Soooo good it hurts.

I could be at the Nitelite Lounge--a pleasant quintessential dive bar adjascent to my hotel, manned by sweet but sad-eyed bar maids, sprinkled liberally with displays of the Budweiser Clydesdales, and attended by a small dedicated clientele of regular lushes--and

enjoy a shockingly good tamale: rich with savory cornmeal and chicken in the center with a tangy kick.

I also had one of their happy hour burgers with fries

($4) and was stunned by how good it was. A super thin patty to be sure, but flavorful as hell (read nice and greasy), dressed up with thinly sliced fresh baby tomato slices,

delicious pickles, and some amazing swiss cheese. The fries weren't bad either.

There's also Falafel Kin g right next to Pike's Place Market which is the best Middle Eastern food I've had outside Istanbul (sorry Moody's Falafel Palace) I had their Chicken Shwarma plate: grilled chicken, cabbage, rice pilaf, and a garlic tahini sauce, with a side salad in a perfectly mixed vinagrette, with a side of houmus and pita ($8.50). I could go on describing how good it was but a picture is worth a thousand words:

Also nearby to Falafel King is Pan African Market which has some amazing freaking Ethiopian food. I had their meat as well as veggie sampler on Indira bread. Both were outstanding.

In an earlier post I mentioned that Seattlites were pretty serious but their street food. How not unserious about it are they? Just check out their pulled-pork sandwich truck:

As in everything it's all

about the details: behold the tail-light.

Also highly enjoyed Cyclops in Belltown where I had a smashing Sunday brunch (a bar you can sit down at and read the paper while you eat is a beautiful thing no matter where you are) at 1pm. To my shock many Seattle restaurants apparently stopping serving Brunch before the PM, at least near my hotel, at least according to the knowledgeable lady at the front desk. Cyclops is roomy and funky with good music and decor that focuses on both eyes (unsurprisingly) and panthers. They even have two large glass displays of cheap panther pottery on one of the walls. I had a good caramelized onion and sundried tomato chicken sausage omelet with home-fries and toast (extra points for having the butter grilled in). Their bloody mary's aren't astounding but the three olives that garnish the drink are. I went back Tuesday night to grab a light supper (chicken quesadillas excellent and $4) and ended up having a lengthy discussion with a coast guard sitting next to me who was wearing a Wonder Woman T-shirt. I was reading "Into the Wild" at the bar and the Coast Guard, who was reading "Portnoy's Complaint," was having none of it, "the kid was an idiot, look I tramped around for a while before settling down, I've camped up there in Alaska, I've camped all over, and you have to be an idiot to do what he did. Maybe he could have survived an experience like that if he stayed in the southern US where it's warm. But to go up there with only a .22 and no tent, not even a decent pair of boots, that's just stupid."

When I countered that the kid (Chris McCandless) must have had some intelligence to a) survive as long as he did on the road and b) make such a strong impression on the people he met I was shot down quickly. "The kid had short term charisma, he never stayed around long enough in one place for people to get to know him well enough. My brother is like that, he can get anyone to like him for a short period of time."

The pattern continued.

Me: But he survived over 100 days out in the Alaskan wild!

Wonder Woman Coast Guard Guy: Because he found a bus that had been outfitted for hunters with a stove and fuel!

Me: But he shot a moose! A MOOSE!

Wonder Woman Coast Guard Guy: And then let the meat go to waste because he talked to people in South Dakota about how to prepare Alaskan game! They told him to smoke it, he built a smoker after shooting the moose and the smoker didn't work. I mean if you're going to try and preserve meat by smoking it build a smoker first, test it out, so if you do find big game you don't waste time if after you shoot it.

Bottom line: It's hard to make a persuasive argument for the kind of passion that would compel someone to forsake all that's familiar and common for a recklessly traveled life on the road and in the wilderness when the person you're talking to has a job that requires them to fish these people out of the life-threatening situations this same passion has landed them in.

The Wonder Wander Blog!

2009-06-22T10:33:00.000-07:00

Due to several requests the focus of this blog will be shifting from current events, politics, and rants to my current nomadic existence. In April I decided I was miserable with the current state of my life in Boston and so I quit my job (program coordinator for the Boston needle exchange) and bought a ticket to Seattle. This summer I'm checking out Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Humboldt County (where I'm doing a month long theater program) points in between, and eventually Burning Man.

Currently I am in my fourth day in Seattle which I must say I like a lot. I could totally see myself living here. People in this city care about food to the point where even the street vendors are gourmet, there are lines around the block for art installations, and crowds that rival Boston pride converge on a neighborhood for the "Solstice Parade" which features naked bicylcists covered in body paint and a float honoring the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Also lots of independent book stores, great coffee, serious drinkers, and decent music playing in almost every establishment I've gone into.

Below are some pics:

The Solstice Parade in Fremont which I'm told is a [rapidly gentrifying] hippie neighborhood (come on they have a SOLSTICE PARADE). How hippie is this neighborhood? there's a de-commisioned cold-era missile now decorated with Xmas lights literally a block away from a massive bronze statue of Vladimir Lenin.

Ok Ok Ok here are the naked people on bikes. Being short (5'6) I couldn't really see them over the crowd during the parade, plus I got there late when most had peddled off. I managed to get this shot before the naked part of the parade ended.

Luckily many nude cyclists opted to do a victory lap

post-procession where I got an unobstructed view.

It's all about the matching shoes...

Yes, that brave soul with the polka dots holding onto his junk for dear life is riding a unicycle!
Also worthy of note the brand of portable toilets are called "Honey Buckets" which is just about the most revolting euphemism for a port-a-john I can imagine.

I also checked out "The Moore Inside Out" which was a massive 50-artist installation that took over the entirety of the Moore Theater for one night. The Moore, which is attached to my hotel, is just over 100 years old and GORGEOUS.

(Pics of the theater exterior and interior not mine)

A massive stage, mezz, and balcony, marble lobby, and an amazing line-up of musical acts. The installation was free and was ABSOLUTELY PACKED WITH PEOPLE. There were some amazing performances and visual projects but my favorite was this simple one: a makeshift structure in the lobby that mimicked the facade elements of the theater held together by red string. When you walked through an archway at the bottom and looked up you saw a beautiful chandelier that the facade had been hiding. Such a subversive piece for an event that was supposed to celebrate the theater as an enduring building.

The building erected to the arts is made clumsy by

and obstructive to the art itself inside.

The Boys In The Bond

2009-05-28T10:55:00.000-07:00

Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig will be performing in a Broadway show together. IT IS NOT I REPEAT NOT A MUSICAL!
From UK's "The Mirror"

Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman are set to co-star in a Broadway play this autumn.
The New York Post reports that the Hollywood heart throbs will appear in "A Steady Rain," a two character play about Chicago policemen "whose lifelong friendship is put to the test when they become involved in a domestic dispute in a poor neighbourhood".
Hugh, who is currently starring in X-Men film Wolverine, is no stranger to Broadway, having won a prestigious Tony award for his role in the musical The Boy From Oz. But Daniel will be making his Broadway debut.
The play will be produced by Barbara Broccoli, who is also a producer on the James Bond films.

I find it very very interesting that these two are appearing in a "straight play" where they will play cops. Presumably lots of Mametesque dialogue, macho posturing, etc etc. and not in a musical. It seems that these two beefcakes are more "metro" than recent action stars (Jackman as Peter Allen and Tony host, Craig as the first 007 to be as thoroughly objectified as his female costars as well as the first Bond to really show emotions like grief) and yet they don't seem to want to wade into a musical, an artform that seems to have taken its place alongside drag as irrecoverably gay. Maybe there's a simpler reason, maybe Craig can't sing or dance, but I wish these two could appear next season on the Great White Way and not have to hedge their appearance in American theater behind the macho character of cops.

Then again how macho can a show called "A Steady Rain" be? It sounds like a Tova Feldshuh vehicle about a dissolving marriage between a Jew and Gentile during Hitler's rise to power.

Log Cabin Obstructionist

2009-05-20T15:56:00.000-07:00

Gay marriage could have been legal TODAY in New Hampshire if it wasn't, in part, for a gay Republican in the New Hampshire Congress.

A week ago Governor Lynch of NH made it very clear that he would sign a marriage equality bill as long as religious groups were exempted from performing same-sex marriages. In Lynch's own words:

This morning, I met with House and Senate leaders, and the sponsors of this legislation, and gave them language that will provide additional protections to religious institutions.
This new language will provide the strongest and clearest protections for religious institutions and associations, and for the individuals working with such institutions.
It will make clear that they cannot be forced to act in ways that violate their deeply held religious principles.

If the legislature passes this language, I will sign the same-sex marriage bill into law. If the legislature doesn’t pass these provisions, I will veto it.

Simple enough right?

Today the state Senate agreed and added the proposed language into the bill voting on party lines. The House however said "no." By two votes no less. Why did the Democrat-controlled House vote against the bill? Reuters has some answers:

State Representative Steve Vaillancourt, a gay Republican from Manchester, was a leading voice against the amendment securing religious liberties, saying that the House should not be "bullied" by the governor.

Vaillancourt said an earlier bill that did not provide protections to clerics or religious groups was the one that should have been passed, adding that the amended bill would allow discrimination to be written into state law.

Ok let's unpack this shall we?

1) It's not bullying for the Governor to ask for a change in a proposed bill that could otherwise cause him huge amounts of political grief. When he ran for office Lynch said he opposed gay marriage. Now he's finally doing what's right but asking for a little political coverage at the same time. Why begrudge him that?

2) The proposed gay marriage bill, even without the wording proposed by the Governor, would not compel religious institutions to perform same-sex unions, so really why fight this?

3) It's called separation of church and state! The Establishment Clause was designed not only to ensure secularity in public life, but to also ensure the government wouldn't encroach on religious liberty.

Hopefully the NH Senate and House will be able to hammer out a workable compromise in committee.

The incredible shrinking party...

2009-05-20T10:51:00.000-07:00

A new Gallup poll shows that the only demographic that has not jumped ship from the Republican party to some degree are (drumroll please) regular churchgoers (and unsurprisingly self-described conservatives)! This helps explain why a) the GOP isn't trying to moderate its stable of culture war issues and b) why the GOP is so intent on running moderates on social issues, like Arlen Specter, out of the party. Of course a block vote of churchgoers isn't going to win elections by itself in the near future, and this disadvantage may only get worse as one recent study showed that self-identified atheists and agnostics are a growing demographic in all 50 states. From the NYtimes:

Polls show that the ranks of atheists are growing. The American Religious Identification Survey, a major study released last month, found that those who claimed “no religion” were the only demographic group that grew in all 50 states in the last 18 years.

Nationally, the “nones” in the population nearly doubled, to 15 percent in 2008 from 8 percent in 1990. In South Carolina, they more than tripled, to 10 percent from 3 percent. Not all the “nones” are necessarily committed atheists or agnostics, but they make up a pool of potential supporters.

What's worse, this slide of Republican support started under Dubya's reign, "Gallup pollsters said the GOP slide began long before President Obama's election last November; Gallup first detected a loss of Republican support in 2005 following Hurricane Katrina, the failed Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers and the ongoing war in Iraq."

NPR: Narcotic Public Radio

2009-05-19T10:02:00.000-07:00

If you've ever wondered what it would be like to hear a chipper middle-aged NPR correspondent reporting from an 11 hour marathon Peyote ceremony high atop a mountain on the Navajo Reservation here's your chance.

The report is the first in a five-part series exploring mystical experiences and neurology. This first installment was really fantastic, apparently research on psychedlic drugs is getting a major comeback!

Thanks but no thanks...

2009-05-18T20:49:00.000-07:00

Next time Mormons knock on your door just be glad you're not in Myanmar:

Nobel Winner Suu Kyi charded in Myanmar after American Mormon's Visit.

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was charged Wednesday with breaching the conditions of her house arrest order, quashing hopes she may be released when her current period of detention expires in two weeks. The 63-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner, who has been detained for 13 of the past 20 years, may face as many as five more years in prison if found guilty...
The charge relates to a U.S. citizen who allegedly swam across a lake to visit Suu Kyi last week, violating a ban on her meeting anyone without permission. The man, 53-year-old John Yettaw, was charged Wednesday with breaching a security law, Nyan Win said...
According to guardian.co.uk, Yettaw was "described by one member of Aung San Suu Kyi's staff as 'a nutty fellow' [and] a Mormon who reportedly told Burmese exiles in Thailand he was writing a 'faith-based' book on heroism."

Mormons, they truly are everywhere.

In other unsolicited Mormon news, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints confirmed Tuesday [May 5th] afternoon that someone improperly, posthumously baptized the late mother of President Obama into the Mormon faith."

Posthumous baptism of non-Mormons into the LDS Church is not an uncommon practice.

Um...about that economic case against gay marriage...

2009-05-18T19:46:00.000-07:00

A day after Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele suggested that Republicans appeal to voters' pocket books when it comes to opposing gay marriage two new studies have shown that gay marriage has been a robust boon to the Massachusetts economy in the five years since its legalization. The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law found that gay marriage has generated $111 million in revenues for the Bay State and, in a separate study, that "young, highly educated people in same-sex relationships were 2.5 times more likely to move to Massachusetts after 2004 than before gay marriage became legal."

So ~~hateful prick~~ chairman Steele, I agree, let's gage the merits of civil rights based on their economic value, and based on empirical evidence it would appear that gay marriage makes the cut. Hell don't take my word for it, just listen to study co-author M.V. Lee Badgett who believes, "allowing gay couples to marry has helped businesses in tough economic times."

Then again anyone with half a brain cell could figure out that states granting formerly oppressed couples the right to partake in a ritual that is as much consumer spending orgy as it is a life-long vow of commitment would increase revenues. But again don't take my word for it, take Tina Fey's (from 2004 no less, sorry no video available):

Tina Fey: The Massachusetts court decision to allow gay marriages this week may prove to be a divisive issue in the upcoming presidential election. President Bush is likely torn because he has to protect what he sees is a sacred institution, and yet he knows gay marriage would boost the economy. ‘Cause you know those gay guys would go all out. We’re talking about designer wedding cakes, twenty-thousand-dollar sleeveless tuxedos, giant naked-man ice sculptures that pee Mojitos, they’d hire Patti LaBelle as the band, give out African parrots as party favors, it would be redonkulous. So remember, whatever your political beliefs, a vote to allow gay marriage is a vote for a fabulous economy!

Michael Steele, from hilarious diversion to hateful prick

2009-05-16T22:53:00.000-07:00

It's all fun and games until somebody loses their civil rights.

Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele has done it again, and his most recent statement puts to shame his past often hilarious pronouncements that he would bring the Republican brand to “urban-suburban hip-hop settings,” that Rush Limbaugh is more than a mere "entertainer," and (to listeners of his radio show) that he would "empathize right on your behind." Yesterday Steele told Republicans they should OPPOSE GAY MARRIAGE ON ECONOMIC GROUNDS, from the AP:

Republicans can reach a broader base by recasting gay marriage as an issue that could dent pocketbooks as small businesses spend more on health care and other benefits, GOP Chairman Michael Steele said Saturday.

Steele said that was just an example of how the party can retool its message to appeal to young voters and minorities without sacrificing core conservative principles...'

'Now all of a sudden I've got someone who wasn't a spouse before, that I had no responsibility for, who is now getting claimed as a spouse that I now have financial responsibility for,' Steele told Republicans at the state convention in traditionally conservative Georgia. 'So how do I pay for that? Who pays for that? You just cost me money.'

This is just sickening, it's far more offensive than this week's earlier fracas when Arkansas state rep and 2010 GOP senate candidate Kim Henderson referred to Senator Chuck Schumer as "that Jew." Steele is arguing that civil equality and social justice should be halted because, you know, they cost money. What's worse he's suggesting that this shallowest of all possible reasons for opposing gay marriage now be how republicans define the issue.

Not to draw too obvious (or perhaps overly broad) parallels but imagine Dixiecrats campaigning in the Jim Crow South arguing that we can't financially afford a racially integrated society; imagine states in the 19th century, arguing women shouldn't have the right to own property because the economic ramifications would be too great; hell the South argued that the union would go bankrupt if slave labor was abolished. This is the esteemed company Steele's logic for banning same-sex marriage is keeping.

That I, a Gay American, am not worthy of the financial protection that marriage confers is even more hateful than the standard "the bible says it's a sin" argument against same-sex marriage. The sin argument comes down to a difference in religious beliefs, Michael Steele by contrast just came out and said queers aren't worth a dime. What a prick!

Jew Can't Be Serious

2009-05-15T08:40:00.000-07:00

Now let's examine the strange behaviour of Arlen Specter (D-Pennsylvania), Joe Lieberman (I-Connecticut), Ted Kaufman (D-Delaware), and Michael Bennet (D-Colorado). All of them Jewish, like me, but who voted today against the interests of American consumers and helped enshrine some of the worst anti-Semitic stereotypes in the process.

Let me explain:

Ever since the 4th Century AD when the Christian church said that clergy could not partake in transactions that charged interest (and the century after when the Church banned all Christians from charging interest), Jews have been tied to the idea of loaning money at high premiums. Jews were not constrained by the New Testament's perceived admonition against money lending for profit, and as a result were utilized by Christian (and similarly interest-prohibited Islamic) kingdoms to raise the capital for their empires that they themselves couldn't. In the Middle Ages in Europe, Jews were prohibited from engaging in manual labor, this was intended to press Jews into the finance industry so that Gentiles could take out loans (charging interest was prohibited, paying it allowed). And even then the Jews didn't exactly get a fair shake (from the online Jewish Encyclopedia):

Christian rulers gradually saw the advantage of having a class of men like the Jews who could supply capital for their use without being liable to excommunication, and the money trade of western Europe by this means fell into the hands of the Jews. They were freed from all competition,and could therefore charge very high interest, and, indeed, were obliged to do so owing to the insecure tenure of their property. In almost every instance where large amounts were acquired by Jews through usurious transactions the property thus acquired fell either during their life or upon their death into the hands of the king.

Gentiles' views of Jews have as a result of this history often in the past fallen pray to stereotypes of the money-obsessed Jew, charging unfair rates, and controlling the banking industry. This has been a bedrock of classical anti-Semitism in everything from "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," to Nazi propaganda, to KKK hatred, to drunken Mel Gibson rants. Charging exorbitant interest rates on loans was given the term "usury" in the 14th century, and Jews were routinely referred to as "usurers" such as in Ogden's well-known poem/parable The Hangman: "The third he took — we had all heard tell — was a usurer and infidel, And: "What," said the Hangman, "have you to do with the gallows-bound, and he a Jew?"" Even now, several dictionaries list Shylock, the Merchant of Venice himself, as a synonym for a usurer.

Today the word "usury" persists most commonly in "usury laws," state regulations which prevent the charging of exorbitant interest rates by businesses based in their state. The word usury's current usage is typically devoid of any direct association with Jews, but the association between Jews and interest rates, and more broadly between Jews and money, remains stubbornly intact.

Which brings me back to the four Jewish senators at the top of the post: Specter, Lieberman, Kaufman, and Bennet. Yesterday the Senate voted on H.R.627 "Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights Act of 2009" a bill that would have specifically established a "national consumer credit usury rate." Currently there is no national consumer credit usury rate, instead each state has the aforementioned power to determine a maximum rate of interest that companies operating within state lines may charge consumers. Credit card companies are now freely operating in states like Delaware with NO usury laws, which has resulted in everyone I know being up to their eyeballs in credit card debt.

Specter, Lieberman, Kaufman and Bennet all voted AGAINST the bill that would have helped put an end to usury in the consumer credit market. The other ten Jewish Senators voted for the measure.

So way to knock down those Jews-are-usurer stereotypes guys, and way to look out for the proverbial little guy during our great recession. The bill failed in the Senate 33-60, but the Shylock stereotype lives on.

Gaugin is big in Japan

2009-05-07T11:08:00.000-07:00

(Click the image for the full painting)

There's a GREAT article in the Boston Globe today about the Gauguin masterwork "Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?" which is visiting the MFA's sister museum in Japan and causing all sorts of awe-struck wonder:

One woman in the throng of admirers stood in front of the painting and cried. Another had just driven 2 1/2 hours from Osaka to be among the first to get close to it. "I felt goose bumps in my skin," she said after she did. A third, in halting English, struggled to explain the significance of the work, a dark and ambitious meditation on the meaning of human existence. "The picture purifies us," she said exuberantly. "It gives us power and energy."

The Globe story delves deeper into this quasi-religious fervor over the painting noting:

Though the enormous painting is set in Tahiti and has never been seen before in Asia, the Japanese embraced it with a kind of fanaticism usually reserved for their baseball players. Gauguin's work is much loved in Japan, where it has a special resonance, with its subtle references to Buddhism, its embrace of the natural world, and the deep Zen-like riddle of its title...To enhance the visual experience, the Nagoya museum created an unusual viewing setup: Visitors ascend a few steps to stand on a raised platform, as though approaching a venerated shrine

Two thoughts:

1) When was the last time a painting visiting the MFA in Boston caused this kind of jubilation? Even Hopper's "Nighthawks" which took a trip to the MFA two years ago wasn't set up over a raised platform!

2) It's stories like this one that make me glad the Globe is still around: revealing, thoughtful, international but with a Boston focus.

It's the National Day of Prayer, do you know where the Religious Right is?

2009-05-07T10:57:00.001-07:00

Answer: Unlike the last eight years, not in the White House.

The holiday which has roiled those of us who believe in a little thing called the Establishment Clause has been celebrated since it was signed into law by Truman at the outset of the Cold War in 1952.

It's one thing to have a non-denominational day of prayer, it's quite another to host an official gathering of far right Christian leaders every year at the White House as Bush did for all his eight years in office. The National Day of Prayer Task Force, the group whose members were the guests of honor during the Bush administration, is an arm of the bat-shit crazy Focus on the Family and is unnervingly militant in its stated goals:

The National Day of Prayer Task Force's mission is to communicate with every individual the need for personal repentance and prayer, mobilizing the Christian community to intercede for America and its leadership in the seven centers of power: Government, Military, Media, Business, Education, Church and Family.

Can't imagine why Obama might not want to be associated with that! The Obama administration has sought a middle ground, signing a proclamation noting the National Day of Prayer, arguing against a lawsuit that challenges the day's legality, but not holding an official White House function. Even the Presidential proclamation has been toned down from the Bush era. As the conservative Dan Gilgoff observes in the US News and World Report's God and Country blog:

Whereas Bush's last proclamation focused on the one being prayed to, Obama's focuses on the people doing the praying...Whereas Bush employed overtly Judeo-Christian language when invoking God in last year's proclamation, Obama's goes out of his way to emphasize religious pluralism, even acknowledging nonbelievers...

Needless to say, the Focus on the Family people are none to pleased about this (then again are these people ever happy?), but are keeping their rage in check. Yesterday they released a statement that was politely chiding in tone, "We are disappointed in the lack of participation by the Obama Administration. At this time in our country's history, we would hope our President would recognize more fully the importance of prayer."

This is the second perceived snub this week for the Religious Right. On Tuesday the Family Research Council released a statement excoriating the Jeb Bush, Ginchrich, and Romney lead National Council for a New America (the latest re-branding effort of the Republican party) as not religious enough:

The group's priorities, which were unveiled at a pizza parlor press conference, include the economy, health care, education, energy, and national security. Notice anything conspicuously absent? Former Gov. Jeb Bush explained the values void by saying it was time for the GOP to give up its "nostalgia" for Reagan-era ideas and look forward to new "relevant" ideas.

I wonder if the FRC knows that their beloved Sarah Palin is also part of this Pizza-eating heathen cabal.

In any event I know what the Religious Right will be praying for on this National Day of Prayer, relevance.

Quote of the Day

2009-05-05T10:38:00.000-07:00

"Nationwide, Joe Sullivan is one of only two thirteen-year-old children who received life-without-parole sentences for crimes in which the victims did not die...Both of these sentences were imposed in Florida, making Florida the only state to have sentenced a thirteen-year-old to die in prison for a non-homicide."

--Bryan A. Stevenson in a legal brief challenging the sentence of Joe Sullivan, a case now before the US Supreme Court. Stevenson's quote also reminds us that Florida may soon overtake Texas and California as the state with the most ass-backwards criminal justice system.

Nowhere to run to baby, nowhere to hide....

2009-05-04T13:40:00.000-07:00

It is just getting harder and harder for members of Bush's "Torture Team" to hide from the tough questions:

Days after telling students at Stanford University that waterboarding was legal "by definition if it was authorized by the president," former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice was pressed again on the subject yesterday by a fourth-grader at a Washington [Jewish Primary Day] School...Misha Lerner, a student from Bethesda, asked: What did Rice think about the things President Obama's administration was saying about the methods the Bush administration had used to get information from detainees?

Even more impressive, apparently the question was TONED DOWN!

Misha's mother, Inna Lerner, said the question her son had initially come up with was even tougher: "If you would work for Obama's administration, would you push for torture?...They wanted him to soften it and take out the word 'torture.' But the essence of it was the same."

The Boston Globe should hire this Misha Lerner, I'd get a subscription if I knew he was on staff!

RELIGION V. HYPOCHONDRIA

2009-05-04T11:55:00.000-07:00

Apparently religious groups are altering their worship practices to avoid inadvertently spreading swine flu.

Among the steps being taken by some churches:

Bishop Gregory Aymond of Austin, Texas, where 26 cases of swine flu infection have been confirmed, has asked priests not to offer Communion wine at Mass "until more is known about the virus.""It seems that having the public drink from the chalice is an unnecessary risk," Aymond wrote in a public letter on Wednesday (April 29).

Now, I'm not a medical doctor, and I'm not a theologian (heck I'm not even a Christian) but shouldn't swine flu be no match for the blood of Christ?

At least that's what the movies would have me believe.

More evidence Giuliani is a jerk (as if more were needed)...

2009-05-04T10:49:00.000-07:00

THIS WEEKEND, FORMER NYC MAYOR AND NOTED DRAG ENTHUSIAST RUDI GIULIANI (below with the Trump) SKIPPED THE WEDDING OF THE GAY COUPLE WHO LET HIM STAY IN THEIR APARTMENT FOR MONTHS AFTER HIS WIFE KICKED HIM OUT OF GRACY MANSION FOR HAVING AN AFFAIR!

From the NY POST :

The couple [Koeppel and Hsiao] famously let the ex-mayor crash at their luxury $2.37 million three-bedroom Manhattan apartment while he was going through a nasty divorce with Donna Hanover in 2001. Later, Giuliani married the "other woman," Judith Nathan. " Rudy and Judith were both invited with a beautiful written invitation by mail," said Koeppel. "His secretary called Thursday and said he was not able to come to the wedding and wished us all the best."

Seriously? Gulliani declined through HIS SECRETARY?

You know what? It gets WORSE...

According to Queerty the wedding wasn't some grand fete where one could easily ignore the absence of an important friend of the family, THE NUPTIALS WERE A 10 GUEST AFFAIR.

A follow-up in the POST reveals that Koeppel and Hsiao anticipated Giuliani acting like a douche:

"We're still friends,"...Koeppel said, "I danced at his wedding with [his wife] Judith [Nathan], and it would have been nice if he'd danced at mine." Hsiao said the ex-mayor's snub "did not spoil the day -- we actually didn't expect him to come." Koeppel said, "I understand why he's doing what he's doing. If he decides to run for governor . . . he's a Republican, and he's taking a Republican stand" on same-sex marriage.

WHAT A JERK!

Quote of the Day

2009-05-01T11:45:00.001-07:00

"The idea of living a multifarious identity is something that has always occurred to me to be absolutely the norm...You could say that everyone, at any one time, is a mother, a lover, a daughter, a sister, a neighbor, a colleague, an antagonist…I’m no more exotic than anybody else.”

Um, I beg to differ...

The exquisite Tilda Swinton interviewed by Amanda Fortini of The Daily Beast.

Weekly Queer Index: 4/19/09-4/25/09

2009-04-30T09:42:00.000-07:00

This week saw some important advances for us queers including two big leaps forward for the transgender community.

A COLORADO MAN BEING SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON IN THE FIRST PROSECUTION OF A HATE CRIMES LAW AGAINST A TRANS PERSON IN THE COUNTRY IS: GOOD FOR THE GAYS*.

Angie Zapata was a 18 year old trans woman who had been living as a woman for at least two years. She had a loving and supportive family, often bringing home boyfriends to meet her mother and siblings. In the summer of 2008 Angie Zapata started corresponding with Allen Andrade, 32, over a social networking site. They met on July15th, spent several days together and then Andrade beat Angie to do with a fire extinguisher. He was arrested and claimed a classic "gay panic" defense, in this case a trans panic defense. But the evidence showed that his actions were not the result of some temporary insanity but came out of a deep hatred. Andrade told police that he had "killed it." In a phone call from jail to a girlfriend Andrade said, "all gay things must die...It’s not like I went up to a school teacher and shot her in the head… or like I killed a law-abiding straight citizen."
It was statements like these that lead Andrade to be charged for first degree murder and hate crimes. On Wednesday April 22nd, Andrade was found guilty on all counts, it took the jury less than two hours to deliberate and the judge sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. This the first successful conviction of defendant under a transgender hate crime statute. This is really a historic event, prosecuting murderers of transgender persons has been a notoriously difficult task. In 2002, two men were convicted of second degree murder for the death of another transgendered teen, Gwen Araujo, but were not found guilty of the "hate crime enhancements" that would have added years to their sentences. And in 1994, William Palmer was acquitted of murdering a transgender woman in Boston in what has to be one of the greatest miscarriages of justice this town has ever seen. Justice was done last week in Denver, and for that we should be hopeful. *Gay used here (as always) as an umbrella term encompassing everyone in the GLBT alphabet soup.

WASHINGTON STATE PASSING A TRANS-INCLUSIVE HATE CRIME BILL INTO LAW IS: GOOD FOR THE GAYS.
Speaking of transgender hate crime protections, the state of Washington just amended it's hate crimes statute by, "modifying the definition of "sexual orientation" for malicious harassment prosecution purposes" to include "gender expression or identity."

Washington is only the 12th state to enact trans-inclusive hate crime protections (even pinko Massachusetts hasn't secured that yet) and as the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force noted Washington is only the 7th state to enact "a clearly trans-inclusive safe schools law."As if the tragic case of Angie Zapata wasn't strong enough evidence to show how important transgender protection laws are, Joe McDermott writing on the Washington State Democrats Blog observed:

According to a recent study by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, reported acts of violence against LGBT people rose by 24 percent in 2007. Of the reported incidents, 16 percent were motivated by anti-transgender bias. Hate crimes against transgender men alone increased by 65 percent

And now moving onto the gay marriage front....

A MAJORITY OF NEW YORKERS SUPPORTING GAY MARRIAGE IS: GOOD FOR THE GAYS (in theory).

Last week's WQI celebrated Gov Paterson's decision to introduce a bill into the state legislature that would approve gay marriage in the state. Two recent polls of NY state residents show robust support for gay marriage. A Siena College Research Institute Poll shows a 53% to 39% approval, and a few weeks ago a Quinnipiac University poll found 41% approve of gay marriages, 33% of civil unions, and 19% for no recognition. However, the gay marriage bill is stalled in the Senate, where majority leader (and gay marriage supporter) Malcolm Smith has promised to table the bill until there are enough votes to ensure its passage (when that will be is unclear). Paterson for his part has agreed to follow the state senate's lead (or lack thereof).

So there you have it, unambiguous public support for an incredibly important civil rights issue which does not translate into effective legislative action. Queer New York activists better get a move on if they don't want to be upstaged by Iowa.

A MAJORITY OF NEW JERSIANS SUPPORTING GAY MARRIAGE IS: GOOD FOR THE GAYS (in theory).

Another Quinnipiac poll out last week shows that New Jersey residents approve of gay marriage 49% to 43%. When civil unions are thrown in as a poll option gay marriage still polls best with 42% for marriage, 30% for unions, and 20% for no recognition respectively. Only 30% of those polled believed that gay marriage was a threat to "traditional marriage." The New Jersey legislature will vote on a gay marriage bill later this year.

Did I mention this poll was taken a week AFTER N.O.M. started airing their "Gathering Storm" ad in the state.

The tides are turning.

MISS CALIFORNIA SUPPORTING "OPPOSITE MARRIAGE" AND LOOSING THE MISS USA CROWN IS: A MIXED BAG FOR THE GAYS.

It all started Sunday April 19th, when Miss California, Carrie Prejean, was asked a question by "celebrity blogger" Perez Hilton during the Miss USA pageant.

“Vermont recently became the fourth state to legalize same-sex marriage. Do you think every state should follow suit? Why or why not?”

Let's go to the tape:

Miss California lost the MISS USA Pageant but finished as a runner-up and blamed the results of the pageant on Perez.

THEN Perez Hilton made a video blog about the whole situation.

With that "dumb bitch" and the threat that he would have "smacked that tiara off her head" had she won, Perez perhaps undid all the goodwill his question had created. It's one thing to ask a contestant a contentious question, but when you pick on someone with a persecution complex or very low self-esteem (the general make-up of beauty pageant contestants and gay opposition) they fight back because they feel it validates their irrational feelings of persecution. Miss California basically said in her answer what Perez said he wanted to hear from her, she talked about personal rather than state choice, but the idea was the same. Of course Ms. Prejean sounded dumber than a barbie doll, but this is a beauty contest not Jeopardy. And it would have been totally fine for Perez Hilton to talk, post show, about how sickening it is to think of civil rights being put up to a vote. But just as it's rather sickening to turn civil rights into an electoral question, it's EQUALLY SICKENING TO TURN THE BATTLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS INTO A CAT FIGHT.

Let's elevate the discourse PLEASE, there's nothing saying we can't call haters dumb or bitches, but strategically speaking, picking on beauty pageant contestants is about as useful as the pageants themselves.

WQI Total

Good: 4
Mixed: 1
Bad: 0

Thoughts on The First 100 Days...

2009-04-29T10:04:00.000-07:00

The first 100 days of any presidency is a comparatively arbitrary measurement of progress. You can try and compare one administration's first 100 days against another, and there is certainly criteria for basic success, but Presidential history is not a good constant against which to measure itself. Would Obama's first 100 days have been more successful if Mr. Specter had switched parties three months ago? Maybe. Would Obama have the political capital he has now if the economy wasn't in the shitter? Maybe. It's not what Obama has accomplished so much as the way Obama has tried to accomplish things that give us insight into what the next four years hold.

Three things can be said about Obama and his first 100 days.

1) He's not embarrassing the country at home or abroad. Even though the G20 isn't going along with his plans for worldwide stimulus, it's clear they like him and perhaps even respect him.

2) There's a firm belief that our President isn't prone to doing colossally stupid things. In other words, unlike his predecessor, we don't have to worry about our President getting a signal from God to bomb random countries. Or say, completely ignore a drowning city.

3) Obama is trying to build a broad coalition. While the GOP is quite literally shrinking to the point of temporary irrelevance, Obama has made a number of good faith efforts to reach out to his "loyal opposition." This may infuriate those on the left, like myself, who want the president to make few concessions and plow ahead with a progressive agenda, but in the end the Democratic party will be strengthened the more people it represents. The real trick will be making sure the Democratic party effectively serves all its constituencies.

A good public image, not making reckless choices, and trying to be bi-partisan, these have lead to historically high public opinion ratings. One could see these three accomplishments as baseline for a competent presidency. And one could make the argument that Obama is suffering from the "bigotry of lowered expectations." But this has nothing to do with Obama, and everything to do with Bush. The first 100 days has shown us we can breathe easier again (not easy, easier), and after eight years of holding my breath that's change I can believe in.

Now if only he would nationalize the banks....

Arlen Specter, no longer bi-partisan, now a flamming Dem!

2009-04-28T09:26:00.001-07:00

The Washington Post is breaking the story. Arlen Specter the moderate Republican whom the Republicans love to hate (and try and unseat) is SWITCHING PARTY AFFILIATION, from now on he'll be a Democrat, with Al Franken expected to eventually get seated over Coleman in the still legally unresolved Minnesota Senate race the Democrats will have a FILIBUSTER PROOF 60-SEAT MAJORITY. Well a fillibuster proof majority on SOME issues, in a statement released today Specter made clear he wasn't giving Dems a carte blanche on their entire legislative agenda:

My change in party affiliation does not mean that I will be a party-line voter any more for the Democrats that I have been for the Republicans. Unlike Senator Jeffords’ switch which changed party control, I will not be an automatic 60th vote for cloture. For example, my position on Employees Free Choice (Card Check) will not change.

Specter announced he will run to keep his Senate seat in 2010 by taking part in the Democratic primaries.

Why the change? Specter, faces a Liebermanesque dilemma for 2010, with a candidate more palatable to the base of his affiliated party planning on challenging the long-seated incumbent. The main challenger right now, Pat Tommey, lost by just one point in the 2004 GOP primary against Specter, and the lastest polling data shows Specter trailing Tom mey by 21 points. If Tommey wins Specter would have to run as an Independant or Democrat anyway. This way Specter has a fighting chance at keeping his seat.

Of course underlying this pragmatic decision is the ideological tumult that is threatening to hobble the GOP for years to come. Last week I described two moderate republicans as part of the "centrist fringe" of their party. Specter's statement on his decision to change parties shows my hyperbole may not be as exagerrated as I though:

I have decided to run for re-election in 2010 in the Democratic primary...Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right. Last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to become Democrats. I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans...When I supported the stimulus package, I knew that it would not be popular with the Republican Party. But, I saw the stimulus as necessary to lessen the risk of a far more serious recession than we are now experiencing...I am unwilling to have my twenty-nine year Senate record judged by the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate. I have not represented the Republican Party. I have represented the people of Pennsylvania.

Speaking of Lieberman, I bet the Dems are glad now that they didn't strip him of his committee appointments as recompense for his McCain support. It wouldn't be a stretch of the imagination to see a powerless Lieberman abandoning the party that abandoned him to join the GOP in the name of a "loyal opposition."

Specter (first on the left) with Schumer (D-NY) and Leahy (D-VT), his new party colleagues.

RIP Bea Aurthur

2009-04-27T08:48:00.000-07:00

There are now as many surviving Beatles as Golden Girls.

Coincidence???

Three of the best Youtube clips floating around there to remember that Golden Girl of stage and screen.

BEA READING FROM PAMELA ANDERSON'S OPUS

BEA AND ROCK HUDSON SINGING ABOUT POPPERS, SPEED, AND MARY JANE

Golden Girls Bloopers - Watch more funny videos here
GOLDEN GIRL BLOOPERS

Obama backtracking on promises for greater civil liberties?

2009-04-24T09:53:00.000-07:00

Hours ago the AP announced some unsettling news: the Obama administration will be asking the Supreme Court to overturn a 1986 ruling that forbids police to question suspects in custody unless an attorney is present.

As the AP noted:

The administration's position assumes a level playing field, with equally savvy police and criminal suspects, lawyers on the other side of the case said. But the protection offered by the court in Stevens' 1986 opinion is especially important for vulnerable defendants, including the mentally and developmentally disabled, addicts, juveniles and the poor, the lawyers said.

This seems at EXTREME ODDS with several proposed reforms posted on the White House's webpage which acknowledges, "America is facing an incarceration and post-incarceration crisis in urban communities." Two solutions to this crisis are suggested on the Administration's Civil Right's Agenda webpage:

Reduce Crime Recidivism by Providing Ex-Offender Support: President Obama and Vice President Biden will provide job training, substance abuse and mental health counseling to ex-offenders, so that they are successfully re-integrated into society. Obama and Biden will also create a prison-to-work incentive program to improve ex-offender employment and job retention rates.

Eliminate Sentencing Disparities: President Obama and Vice President Biden believe the disparity between sentencing crack and powder-based cocaine is wrong and should be completely eliminated.

It seems more than a little disingenuous to call for an end to sentence disparities and then remove one of the greatest protections against coercion and false evidence currently in our legal arsenal. It's also extremely disconcerting to see the Obama administration putting more effort into post-incarceration interventions than into steps designed to avoid unnecessary incarceration in the first place. Does the prison industrial complex have the administration over a barrel or something?

Beyond the practical problems this reversal could present to Obama's stated goals of reduced incarceration rates, this move just seems patently unconstitutional, violating the right against self-incrimination and the right to legal representation .

Here's hoping the Supreme Court refuses to hear the case, or that the Administration decides to reconsider its position.

Quote of the Day

2009-04-24T08:32:00.000-07:00

"In my experience when I was 8 or 10 or 12 years old, you know, we did take our clothes off once a day, we changed for gym, okay? And in my experience, too, people did sometimes stick things in my underwear -
(Laughter in courtroom)
Or not my underwear. Whatever. Whatever. "

--Justice Stephen Breyer revealing his tortured past yesterday during oral arguments concerning a case where a 13 year old girl was strip searched after another student told school authorities the girl had ibuprofen in her underwear.

Weekly Queer Index: 4/12/09-4/18/09

2009-04-22T16:49:00.000-07:00

If the two weeks before last were seismic events for us gays, than last week was marked less by a continued shaking than by minor aftershocks.

THE OBAMAS INVITING CHILDREN OF SAME-SEX COUPLES TO THE TRADITIONAL WHITE HOUSE EASTER EGG ROLL IS: GOOD FOR THE GAYS

The White House Easter Egg Roll is one of those supremely hokey and highly ritualized public performances that the White House has to pull out the stops for every year. As if electing someone President isn't enough, we demand to see footage of our Commander In Chief interacting with children in a competent way (the armchair shrink in me says it has something to do with us projecting onto our President a paternal role that casts the voters as the de facto children).

Anywho, traditionally tickets to the event are given out on a first-come-first-serve basis but this year special efforts were made to give blocks of tickets to GLBT organizations including: Human Rights Campaign, Family Equality Council and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. This is actually a big step beause it means the White House is going out of its way to be inclusive towards the GLBT community (inclusive though not down right progressive).

Compare this year's event to the Roll in 2006, when 100 gay families obtained a block of tickets (by camping out all night in front of the White House) to show Bush that gays and lesbians exist in real life and don't have horns and the sign of the beast tattooed onto their foreheads. At the time the Weekly Standard lamented that gays planned to, "crash the event with a 'family visibility action' to spotlight their non-traditional families. " Bear in mind this was only three years ago.

This distinction between the acts of past and current administration is important in measuring the pace of progress. As Alisa Surkis, a gay mother who took part in the 2006 "crashing" and also attended this year's Roll wrote in the HuffPo:

I've heard people complain that the invitation extended to the gay and lesbian families by the Obama administration is just a symbolic gesture, but symbols are powerful. This one sends the message that at the very highest levels, our families are acknowledged and appreciated as part of the diversity of families that make this country great...Sure, I wish that the administration was spearheading the repeal of DOMA and DADT. I wish that President Obama was speaking out in favor of marriage equality. But I think it's a bit of a chicken and egg issue. Does society change in response to the signals sent by legislative changes, or do changes in people's attitudes push forward legislation? I think it's a little bit of chicken and a little bit of egg, and this Monday is a day to celebrate the egg (roll).

Amen sister.

AMAZON.COM CAUSING A CYBERSTORM AFTER "ACCIDENTALLY" DELETING THE RANKING OF GLBT BOOKS ON THEIR SITE IS: A MIXED BAG FOR THE GAYS.

This story isn't just notable for the potentially intentional actions of Amazon, but also for the massive shit storm of cyber outrage that the so-called "glitch" incited. To sum up the events: last weekend gay author Mark Probst posted a blog entry about the mysterious disappearance of sales-rankings for gay-themed books on Amazon.com. Amazon was still selling the books in question, but because they weren't ranked they didn't show up prominently in search results. More damning was an email from Amazon to Probst explaining that the de-ranking was part of Amazon's policy of excluding "'adult' material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists."

As the outrage spread on twitter and the blogosphere it became clear that Amazon’s stated rationale didn’t hold water. The de-ranking covered a HUGE range of GLBT books from self-help: Outing Yourself: How to Come Out as Lesbian or Gay to Your Family, Friends, and Coworkers and Hello Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks and Other Outlaws to classics like Giovanni's Room, Heather Has Two Mommies, and Brokeback Mountain. Entertainment Weekly also noted that heterosexual erotica such as, "a raunchy memoir by porn star Ron Jeremy and Playboy: The Complete Centerfolds, which includes pictures of more than 600 naked women, are still being ranked."

By last Monday Amazon had re-established rankings for the excluded books and upgraded its excuse for the debacle from a "glitch" to a "ham-fisted cataloging error ." The exact nature of what caused the rankings to be stripped is still being debated, but the most salient feature of this whole episode is the fact that within days, perhaps even hours after the glitch occurred, us queers and our allies were mobilized and putting Amazon on the defensive. This is exactly the kind of rapid response that the queer community needs if it’s going to successfully fight for its civil rights in a number of future uphill battles. This may only have been a test, but we passed with flying colors.

MCCAIN'S DAUGHTER, AND CAMPAIGN STRATEGIST COMING OUT TO SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE IS: A MIXED BAG FOR THE GAYS.

Gays last week got a purely symbolic boost from what can only be described as the "centrist fringe" of the Republican party as both Steve Schmidt, McCain's former campaign strategist, and Meghan McCain, his daughter (and "blogger") both came out in support of gay marriage. Sure, it's always good to have more people on our side, but within the GOP these are the last people anyone is going to listen to. The McCain campaign isn't thought of very highly (think how the left feels about Kerry and his campaign), and when it comes to campaign strategy, Mr. Schidt's domain, the consensus has been negative across the aisle. Weeks before the presidential race was even decided in November, the NYTimes magazine ran a scathing article entitled "The Making (and Remaking and Remaking) of the Candidate"showing just how inept the McCain campaign (and especially Steve Schmidt) was at selling a long serving senator, decorated war-hero, and the loving father of several children (including one adopted from Mother Teresa's orphanage no less) as a winning presidential candidate. The failure (and anger) towards McCain, Schmidt, and Co. in the eyes of the right is even greater when one considers that from their perspective McCain's opponent was a largely unknown, bi-racial, first-term senator whom a tenth of the electorate stupidly believe is a Muslim.

Schmidt, who has a gay sister, gave his endorsement for gay marriage at a Log Cabin Republican Convention last Friday. Even his verbal support for gay marriage came in the form of a backhanded compliment:

I know mine is a minority view among Republicans, and I don’t honestly expect our party will reverse in the very near term its opposition to same sex marriage. Nor do I yet see support for it from a strong majority of the general public. And, I do believe that such a highly charged political question such as this should be settled by the freely expressed will of the people, and not by the courts.

Apparently one can be for gay marriage and feed the right talking points at the same time. Glad to see Mr. Schmidt has overcome his messaging problems.

As for Meghan McCain, she's fast morphing into a savvy blogger more than any sort of political figure. Sensing a vacancy of young GOP contrarians, Ms. McCain has lambasted Ann Coulter as well as Karl Rove, and in a blog post on the Daily Beast last week confusingly declared herself a "pro-life, pro-gay-marriage Republican." Might I suggest the slogan: Government, out of our bedroom, into our exam rooms? She also gave a speech at the Log Cabin Republican's Convention that was curiously almost completely devoid of any mention of sexual orientation.

The biggest problem for queers with these endorsements is that the Republicans could siphon even more gay votes away from the Democrats. Last election more queers voted for McCain than voted for Bush in 2004, we were the only demographic to move more to the right. The Democrats talk a good game but outside of invites to the White House Easter Egg Roll, actual action on a federal level by the Dems for gay rights has been consistantly nill. If the GOP splits the gay vote it will be because they'll be able to talk the talk like the Dems, but neither party will be walking the walk, and that will benefit no one. Still nice to see the sane among the GOP are raising their voices.

WASHINGTON STATE'S LEGISLATURE EXPANDING RIGHTS COVERED UNDER CIVIL UNIONS IS: A MIXED BAG FOR THE GAYS
Last week the Washington State Legislature approved a bill that would extend the benefits from an earlier civil unions law passed two years ago, to include all the rights currently enjoyed by heterosexual married couples in the state. All rights and benefits save marriage itself. Governor Chris Gregoire has promised to sign the bill into law. The bill was hotly debated but passed with a two-thirds majority. Despite being home to Seattle, the second gayest city in the country, Washington state has a Defense of Marriage Act that was passed in 1998. The state Supreme Court refused to overturn the DOMA three years ago citing the legislature's right to, "further the State's legitimate interests in procreation and the well-being of children." Pardon me while I gag.

On the one hand, civil unions seem like a great compromise, except that if you recall last week's WQI, Nate Silver made the astonishing prediction that support for anti-gay marriage amendments would become a minority opinion in all states by 2024. Washington State was among the states that Silver predicts already has an anti-gay marriage minority. So it's disheartening to see progress in the state manifest itself through what is essentially the final piece of a a civil rights installment plan that grants same-sex couples "everything but marriage." Will passing a civil unions law today kick the fight for full marriage down the road? Only time will tell.

NY GOV PATERSON PLANNING TO INTRODUCE A BILL TO THE LEGISLATURE TO APPROVE GAY MARRIAGE IS: GOOD FOR THE GAYS.

New York, which has no civil unions or domestic partnership laws, could become the fifth state in the union to allow gay marriage.

Two years ago, then Gov Elliot Spitzer promised to introduce a bill to allow gay marriage in the state. Then Spitzer decided to spend more time with his family (ahem). His successor, Paterson, had a grand introduction onto the queer stage months after taking office by marching in the NYC gay pride parade, the first Governor in the state to do so.

The legislation is far from a sure thing though. According to Gothamist:

The State Assembly has previously passed a gay marriage bill in 2007, but it stalled in the Republican-controlled Senate. Though the Senate is now controlled by Democrats, the majority is fractured and Senate Majority leader Smith's spokesperson said last week, "Currently, there are not sufficient votes in the Senate to pass the marriage equality bill.

NEVADA'S GOV PROMISING TO VETO A DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIP LAW IS: BAD FOR THE GAYS AND ABSOLUTELY INSANE.
So, suppose you're the Governor of a state that invented the drive-thru wedding, the quickie divorce (once referred to as a "Reno Divorce"), has legalized prostitution, and who's primary tourist attraction is advertised as a haven for bad behavior. Now suppose your legislature sends you a bill that would set-up domestic partnerships in your state, a law you don't want to sign for some stupid reason. You can't argue that signing the bill would detract from the institution of marriage because eroding the sanctity of marriage is big business for your state. You can't argue that the bill would encourage deviant behavior because that too turns a profit in your state. But you have to give SOME reason for vetoing the bill so you merely say, "I just don't believe in it."

Way to go Governor! Las Vegas is feeling the financial crunch and you're turning down domestic partnerships when you should be pushing for gay marriages to prop up your economy. Don't let the door hit you on your way out of office.

This Week's Totals
GOOD: 2
MIXED: 3
BAD (and insane): 1

I for one welcome our new lesbian ant overlords!

2009-04-17T13:05:00.000-07:00

To quote David Bowie, "Homo sapiens have outgrown their use."

An all female ant-species has been discovered that breeds asexually and contains no males. They don't scavenge for food as a colony, but rather eat in large groups with each ant bringing a different food item to each meal. While needless aggression over finding male mates is not a problem for these colonies, scientists have noted that when they feel slighted many of the ants hold a grudge for a long time and try and turn their friends against their antagonist. Colonies of the species seem to be concentrated in Northampton Mass, Portland Oregon, and Grand Rapids Michigan.

Tea bagging round-up

2009-04-16T12:06:00.000-07:00

THOUGHTS ON TEABAGGING AND THE RIGHT WING

So yesterday a bunch of conservative nutbags, inspired by the Boston Tea Party, decided it would be a great idea to sack the streets of America for some aggressive teabagging to protest unfair taxation. How a more progressive tax code which shrinks the burden on the middle class could be considered unfair was not explained. But these conservatives (and leftover Ron Paul rejects) were ready to blow; their right to teabag would not be licked. They descended on the streets, and it certainly looked like they were having a ball. Not even the presence of the snickering media could taint their united front.

Below is some coverage of the days' events. I'll just add that since I mailed my taxes early I enjoyed no tea-bagging yesterday.

FOX"News", one of the rightwing corporate entities who organized these "grassroot events" unsurprisingly went with the liberal-media-makes-sex-jokes-out-of-serious-protests angle (you know a protest is serious when the organizers use the term "teabagging" and are assisted by that bastion of sincerity and formality Glen Beck)

However it seems more than a little disingenuous for the right to be calling the left out on the blue-meaning of "teabagging" when the tea party organizers weren't doing anything to stop it's use. As Joe Garofoli at the SFGate reports:

I asked Michael Meckler, the national protest coordinator why they used the phrase and he just kind of shrugged. Said it was still a loose operation and that people could call it whatever they wanted as long as they participated. Maybe it was loud around us, but I don't think he understood the question.

And then there's the video footage. Let's start with Rachel Maddow and Ana Marie Cox barely holding it together

Now let's turn to this little gem from Anderson Cooper

Of course these demonstrations aren't all fun and games, the people they bring out are FREAKIN SCARY. The protesters are making no sense at all! It's as if the right-wing went into ZOMBIE ATTACK MODE after Obama won. I mean we weren't exactly lucid on the left after Bush won, but we had legitimate issues we were fighting against (the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, torture, Gitmo, cronyism, etc etc etc). Just watch these two CNN clips below (courtesy of Americablog) and appreciate how non-sensical and circular the current opposition's arguments actually are.

And then there are the pictures, a number of them using children as props:

Boston:

Houston:

Charelston, WVA:

I'm sorry but I have to say it, it's just WRONG to expose young children to teabagging.

And please, libertarian/conservative/freeper/dittoheads, if you're going to be the loyal opposition for at least the next four years PLEASE actually oppose some REAL POLICY, not generalized populist outrage mixed with sour grapes.

LEAVE FAIREY ALONE!

2009-04-15T08:08:00.000-07:00

Sad news coming out of Boston as the forces of art and the forces of Boston's jack-ass PD/conservative Sox-obsessed culture do battle; their focal point? Shepard Fairey. Fairey, the artist behind the Andre the Giant Obey images, the Obey clothing line, and the Obama Hope poster is enjoying his first retrospective at Boston's Institute for Contemporary Art. I saw it, it rocked, check it out.

Fairey is also very hot.

Fairey was arrested feet from the Institute of Contemproary Art on years-old vandalism charges as he made his way to his exhibit's opening night party in February. He was taken away and booked. This caused major annoyance among the ICA attendees who were waiting for Fairey to DJ an opening night party, tickets to which cost mucho dinero. At first Fairey's arrest seemed to have some silver linings: Fairey got his high-art cred and street cred affirmed on the same day! And as the Boston Phoenix suggested back in February, the orginal arrest might have been nothing more than political gamesmanship; payback for the mayor's recent strong-arm tactics with the police union during budget cuts, coupled with the Mayor posing for a photo-op with Boston's most infamous tagger.

Unfortunately things took a darker turn yesterday as 7 criminal complaints were dropped and the remaining 10 were upgraded from misdemeanors to felonies. This means that Fairey is now potentially facing a maximum penalty of 30 YEARS IN PRISON! Had the charges remained misdemeanors at most he would have paid $1000 in fines plus restitution.

In addition to the Boston charges, Fairey faces 12 seperate criminal complaints in Roxbury

Are we sensing a certain degree of double-standards here? Is Fairey getting the felony counts because he's so well known? What message does this send to Boston area artists?

I stand by my orginal solution: Obama should pardon Fairey. That Hope poster wasn't just iconic in its aesthetics, it perfectly packaged the candidate as patriotic, bold, new, and (yes) hip. Obama owes Fairey. And this is rapidly turning into a ridiculous cluster-fuck that's an embarrassment for Boston. And seriously, do we really need to add to our clogged prison systems' woes by sentencing a street artist to prison for 30 years?????

Weekly Queer Index: You guys just don't understand, you've all ready loast addition.

2009-04-11T11:14:00.000-07:00

The cavalcade of homosexual progress continues unabated after another week of stellar news. Not only have the last week's events in Vermont and Iowa indeed proved good for the gays, but new events are rekindling an excitement and momentum in the community that seemed lost following the passage of Prop 8. Let's review this week's news items:

IOWA LAWMAKERS REFUSING TO ACT ON A MOTION TO INTRODUCE LEGISLATION TO BAN GAY MARRIAGE IS: GOOD FOR THE GAYS.

As was noted in last week's WQI, Iowa's Supreme Court ruled the state could not forbid same-sex couples to marry; a move that when coupled with Iowa's arguous system for approving constitutional ammendments, all but gaurenteed a permanent win for gays in the state. All but gaurenteed as long as the Iowa Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal stayed true to his word and blocked attempts to introduce legislation that would ammend the state constitution. Well Gronstall did more than just deliver on his promise, in rejecting a colleague's attempts to introduce a bill to ammend the constitution, Gronstal made a quietly impassioned speech for gay marriage (you MUST watch the video of it). Among the choice quotes from his speech:

One of my daughters was in the workplace...and there were a whole bunch of conservative older men, and those guys were talking about gay marriage. They were talking about discussions going on across the country. And my daughter Kate, after listening to it for about 20 minutes, said to them, "you guys don't understand, you've already lost. My generation doesn't care." I think I learned something from my daughter the other day.

With that observation Gronstal ensured gay marriage's safety in Iowa until at least 2014, by which time it's doubtful Iowans will vote to overturn the court ruling.

The generational divide on the issue of gay marriage became something more than a talking point (or blog leitmotif) this week following news of our next item.

NATE SILVER ANALYZING DEMOGRAPHIC TRENDS TO PREDICT GAY MARRIAGE WILL BE UNOPPOSED IN THE US WITHIN 25 YEARS IS: GOOD FOR THE GAYS.

Nate Silver and his blog fivethirtyeight.com is the closest thing we in America have to Nostrodamus. While many pollsters make grand claims on scant evidence, Silver's methodology is based on a careful readings of statistics and is startlingly accurate. His statistical models sucessfully predicted the outcome of every settled senate race in the 08 elections, the breakdown of the 08 presidential popular vote (within tenths of a precentage point), and the unlikely resurgance of the Tampa Devilrays last season.
He' also really cute.

In a post this week examining the likelihood of Iowa banning gay marriage, Silver made an astonishing claim: a marked downward trend of support to ban gay marriage of roughly two points a year.

Silver created a suprisingly accurate model of state-by-state rejection of marriage protectionism through regression analysis of three variables:

1. The year in which the amendment [to ban gay marriage] was voted upon [by a state];
2. The percentage of adults in 2008 Gallup tracking surveys who said that religion was an important part of their daily lives;
3. The percentage of white evangelicals in the state.

According to his predictions the last state to have enough of an electoral opposition to gay marriage would be Mississippi, which would itself be demographically pro-gay marriage by 2024.

If this seems oddly rosy even Silver himself acknowledges the many problems his model faces (public backlash around increasing gay rights for one). Also not having enough votes to block gay marriage doesn't necessarily mean there are enough votes to pass it.

In a follow-up post from last Thursday, Silver reiterated that the crux of his arguement is about generational differences:

Support for gay marriage, however, is strongly generational. In a CBS news poll conducted last month, 64 percent of voters aged 18-45 supported either gay marriage or civil unions, but only 45 percent of voters aged 65 and up did. Civil unions have already achieved the support of an outright majority of Americans, and as those older voters are replaced by younger ones, the smart money is that gay marriage will reach majority status too at some point in the 2010's.

After a week like this though it does seem possible that gay marriage could be legal everywhere in the next twenty years. The next item perfectly captures the bredth of the momentum.

THE VERMONT LEGISLATURE VOTING FOR GAY MARRIAGE AND OVERRIDING A GUBERNATORIAL VETO AGAINST IT IS: GOOD FOR THE GAYS.

The fact that the Vermont legislature passed this law, and that it passed it with a super-majority (two-thirds) of its elected officials truly makes this a watershed event: the first state to legalize same-sex marriage through legislation. The override vote was a squeaker, passing by a single vote, but again this was a super-majority of the legislature. In the past, conservatives arguing against gay marriage (in CA, MA, and CT) used court actions as a large part of their argument. They contended that this reversal of past norms was being ordered by court fiat, and that only voters and legislators should have the right to make this kind of policy decision. Vermont did just what the conservatives demanded; any petition in the future to ban gay marriage will have to be opposed to gay marriage on it's own terms and not use "activist judges" as an excuse.

Also, this is only the 7th overide of a Govenor's veto in the state's history.

DC CITY COUNCIL VOTING UNANIMOUSLY TO RECOGNIZE SAME-SE WEDDINGS PERFORMED IN OTHER STATES IS: GOOD FOR THE GAYS

This bit of news is a bit of a sticky wicket. First off it's worth noting that the DC Council did not vote to start performing gay marriages, but only to start recognizing gay marriages performed in other states. Also this was a preliminary vote, a final vote is needed next month before this can become law. Perhaps one of the reasons the council chose not to vote on performing gay marriage directly is that the US Congress has to approve all decisions made by the DC Council. If the council had voted to approve gay marriage, the nation's legislative branch would essentially have to weigh in on the issue. And no one wants this congress weighing in on gay marriage just yet. Approving recognition of gay marriages performed in other states is an easier pill for the congress to swallow. It's also a usefull canary in the coalmine of this issue. But even if the congress decides to turn the DC Council vote into political red meat it might not play well, as Nate Silver also pointed out this week:

Considering that (i) there is some opportunity cost involved to the Republicans in attempting to attack on the gay marriage issue (ii) the issue is the almost literal embodiment of the Rovian politics that the public appeared to have rejected in 2006 and 2008, and that (iii) liberals, following the passage of Proposition 8, may for the first time be at least as energized on the issue as are conservatives, it is less than obvious that a debate over gay marriage is the way back to the promised land for the GOP.

ADAM LAMBERT GETTING A STANDING OVATION FROM SIMON ON AMERICAN IDOL IS: GOOD FOR THE GAYS

I'm not a big Idol watcher, it's just too much advertising for me (the whole show is essentially a giant focus group for a new product owned by Simon Cowell) but it is a cultural phenomena, and so respect must be paid. This season's favorite Adam Lambert has (apparently) cultivated an ambiguously gay persona (or perhaps is merely in the closet and everyone can tell.) Photos were leaked a couple week ago on line of Lambert making out with other guys, while he was in drag no less:

See, what happens at Burning Man doesn't necessarily stay at Burning Man.

This prompted Bill O'Reilly to devote a whole segment to his show on how this wil harm his chances on the show (his two guests totally disagreed).

Of course O'Reilly is part of the generation that doesn't understand its all ready lost, my generation doesn't care.

And as if to prove the young don't give a hoot about sexuality, Lambert performed a viruoso cover of Tears For Fear's "Mad World" to a standing ovation from Mr. Cowel. Of course sexually ambiguous singers are nothing new, and the first winner of "Pop Idol" the original British version of American Id0l was an openly gay man. What's important here is the distinct generational reaction to the cultural event: O'Reilly raised eye brows and the younger generation merely plucked their eyebrows to look more like Lambert.

INEPT OPPOSITION IS: GOOD FOR THE GAYS.

Last week was not a good week to be a gay marriage opponent. Not only were they delivered judicial AND legislative defeats, but two of their big initiatives intended to revamp their campaigns backfired. First the National Organization for Marriage released an incredibly hokey and melodramatic anti-gay marriage ad only to have the audition tape for the commercial (filled with awkward stumbling "actors" trying to read the lines believably) leaked by the Human Rights Campaign. It's hard to convince people that real people are being hurt by gay marriage when audtioners for the commercial could barely buy it. The indominable Rachel Maddow tackled the fracas on her show with the usual wit and wisdom (she starts talking about the commercial at 2:28)

Then THE SAME anti-gay marriage organization released a new campaign named "2 Million for Traditional Marriage" or "2M4M" in an attempt to be all 21st Century and text saavy. Had the National Organization for Marriage actually been savvy at all (or had anyone from my generation in their organization) they would have realized their abbreviation is also the abreviation men use when they're cruising online for sex with other men.
This should quiet any fears that those in the gay right's movement had about a formidable, well-organized opposition, a fear that was talked about ad naseum after Prop 8. To be fair, all liberals believe the opposition is unbeatable when they loose. Remember when everyone thought Karl Rove was an invicible evil genius after he somehow managed to defeat the UNSTOPPABLE JOHN KERRY?
Let's just admit it, conservatives and their cultural warriors are just as inept as progressives. It's an even playing field and after the past two weeks we're still winning.

A POLISH POLITICIAN DENOUNCING A GAY ELEPHANT IS: BAD FOR THE POLES.

A city councilman in the polish city of Ponznan raged against the elephant his city had bough for the zoo because he refuses to mate with other female elephants. According to the Reuters story the councilman, Michal Grzes said, "We didn't pay 37 million zlotys ($11 million) for the largest elephant house in Europe to have a gay elephant live there." The same article gets a reaction from the city zoo-keeper who assures the reporter than because the elephant is four years shy of reaching sexual maturity it's impossible to say the elephant has a preference for one sex over another.

I'm part Polish so let me be the first to say that we don't need the country of Copernicus and Chopin being sullied by idiots who keep adding fodder to (admittedly hilarious) Polish jokes.

WQI TOTALS

GOOD FOR THE GAYS: 6

MIXED NUTS FOR THE GAYS: 0

BAD FOR THE GAYS: 0

BAD FOR THE POLES: 1

Reasons why Barack Obama is a better Jew than I...

2009-04-09T09:20:00.000-07:00

It's the second day of passover, do you know where your Matzos is?

Certainly not me. I've always described myself as Jew-ish: I may not pray to Yaweh, but I do worship Mel Brooks.

Passover in particular has always been a stretch for me to celebrate as a holiday. Of course I'm glad the Jews got out of bondage several millennia ago, but as a secular humanist and armchair critic it's hard for me to connect with a story that involves so many miracles and deux ex machina moments.

However Obama knows it's passover, and he's trying to make the high holy days hip again.
This is only one reason why Obama is a better Jew than I.

One of the things that makes tonight different than all other nights, is the fact that the president will hold a "first Seder." But Don't be expecting some goyim blunder by Obama to end up in the news tomorrow, this is not Obama's first Seder. Apparently last year in Pennsylvania during the primaries, Obama campaign staffers were unable to get home for Passover and held an impromptu Seder using room service from the Harrisburg Sheraton (who knew the H-burg Sheraton had manischewitz in their wine cellar?). Obama took part in the Sheraton Seder which ended with the traditional refrain of the meal, "Next Year In Jerusalem," punctuated by an impromptu "Next Year in the White House." Things have come full circle.

Leading this historic occasion will be a 24 year old campaign baggage handler named Eric Lesser. No pressure, kid. According to the AP the "The White House says the Seder meal will be traditional, including matzo, bitter herbs, a roasted egg and greens in the family dining room in the executive mansion." I noticed gefilte fish and horseradish are not on the menu.

This the first time a sitting President has attended a Seder in the White House. Seders were held in the White House during the Clinton administration but Bill never attended. And as for Bush, well, does everyone remember the White House Hanukkah card from last year:

Obama has attended Seders on two consecutive Passovers. I have not attended one in at least seven this is one of the reasons Barack Obama is a better Jew than I.

Of course Obama celebrating Passover isn't the only reason Barack Obama is a better Jew than I am.

Barack Obama is a better Jew than I because Obama's visited Israel, (and I haven't). Until I find a gay kibbutz I don't anticipate this state of affairs changing in the near future.

Barack Obama is a better Jew than I because he's related to a Rabbi (I'm not).
What's that, you say? Obama's related to a Rabbi? Indeed he is (by marriage). The New York Times Magazine last week profiled Capers Funnye, "the chief rabbi of the Beth Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation in Chicago, one of the largest black synagogues in America. " Funnye (pictured below) and Michelle Obama are first cousins once removed, "his mother, Verdelle, was the sister of Fraser Robinson Jr. — Michelle Obama’s grandfather."

Now you may be wondering--as I was-- where the hell was this Rabbi Funnye when all those "Obama's an anti-semite" talking points were circulating during the campaign. Well behold the answer :

At the start of the 2008 presidential primary season, Funnye contributed a few hundred dollars to the Obama campaign but didn’t publicly endorse Obama, and he avoided mentioning the family connection. “I was afraid it might do him harm in the Orthodox community,” he told me. “I believe they were the ones putting out stories about Barack being a secret Muslim and so on. They could have made me out to be a friend of Farrakhan’s or a cult leader or who knows what.

Oh and Funnye, "is considerably to the left of Obama on Middle East policy," though I'm sure that had nothing to do with his reticence to campaign openly for his first cousin once removed by marriage.

Finally Barack Obama is a better Jew than I because he has a Talmudic disposition: passionate about arguing the law, taking on immersive studies of a subject, eliciting an atmosphere of debate with colleagues, exercising incredible discipline, venerating the lives and culture of his parents. I, by contrast, have a far different disposition, a neurotic one. Hmmm maybe I'm not such a bad Jew after all....

More eloquence from Iowa

2009-04-08T10:02:00.000-07:00

via savage at slog

What is it about Iowa that its leaders are able to so succinctly, calmly, and eloquently address the issue of gay marriage? Above is a clip of Iowa Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal blocking a bill that would have gotten the ball rolling on an amendment to ban gay marriage. This means that gay marriage is safe in Iowa until 2014. But most impressive of all is the substance of Gronstal's impassioned response (it's so earnest and so devoid a bombast one can hardly call it a speech).

Quote of the Day

2009-04-08T08:49:00.000-07:00

"What underlines so many of Obama's decisions is an attachment to the institutions that hold up American society, a desire to make them function better rather than to remake them altogether."

--George Packer in this week's New Yorker

Anyone who has wondered why Obama is bailing out the big banks rather than nationalizing them, or why Obama is creating a government run health care option rather than pursuing free universal health care, has noticed the President's seemingly unshakable faith in large institutions. The big question is what are the consequences to such a philosophy when major institutions of American society need to be remade rather than reorganized? It's one thing for Obama to temper and compromise audacious plans to meet pragmatic needs, it's another thing altogether for Obama to aim for pragmatic success in the short-term in order to avoid messy but much needed major renovations down the road.

GAY MARRIAGE SCORES A DOUBLE

2009-04-07T10:24:00.001-07:00

VERMONT OVERRIDES GOV'S VETO, APPROVES GAY MARRIAGE

First civil unions
Now gay marriage.
Next comes Gov Douglas in a baby carriage.

It passed by one vote.

Vermont is now the first state in the country to pass gay marriage legislation, all other states that allow (or allowed) gay marriage do so as a result of court rulings.

This is only the 7th legislative override of a gubernatorial veto in all of Vermont's history and the first in 20 years!

AND as if that wasn't enough of a lavender laurel for one day:
THE WASHINGTON DC COUNCIL VOTED TODAY TO RECOGNIZE SAME-SEX MARRIAGES APPROVED IN OTHER STATES.

So what happens in Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Iowa doesn't necessarily stay there.

Now if you'll excuse me, time for a little reveling:

Quote of the day

2009-04-06T19:57:00.000-07:00

"We are firmly convinced the exclusion of gay and lesbian people from the institution of civil marriage does not substantially further any important governmental objective. The legislature excluded a historically disfavored class of persons from a supremely important civil institution without a constitutionally sufficient justification."

--Iowa Supreme Court, ruling a state law which defines marriage between one man and one woman is unconstitutional.

Has the legal case for gay marriage ever been phrased so eloquently?

Weekly Queer Index

2009-04-03T13:15:00.000-07:00

Last week's news was rife with homosexuality. Even if you believes that the mainstream media is a bunch of commie homo-coddling abortionists, last week's parade of big gay news stories made it feel like Pride Week arrived early! But are all these events positive? Let's measure shall we...

Vermont's legislature battling the Governor to update civil unions to civil marriage is: GOOD FOR THE GAYS

The state that gave us our first New York-born Jewish Democratic-Socialist Senator is looking to also grab the title of the first state to pass gay marriage into law without a court's say so. Massachusetts and Connecticut have gay marriage (and California did until prop 8) but all had court rulings as their impetus for change. Of course Vermont was the first state to even consider anything close to marriage for gay couples when it passed its civil unions legislation in 2000. It's a sign of how fast gay marriage is gaining traction in our national discourse, that only nine years later, what was once considered landmark legislation is looking more like a stop-gap measure toward full equality rather than a great leap for real social justice

As for the chances of gay marriage passing in Vermont, it looks like a legislative override of a Gubernatorial veto will be a squeaker of a vote (though here's a solid argument that the override is within one vote of passing), Gov. Douglas's assertion that the gay marriage debate is "diverting attention from our most pressing issues" and that his veto was "an easy decision to make from the get-go" will surely help galvanize those who want full marriage equality. In fact it already has, according this AP report:

Douglas spokeswoman Dennise Casey said before Douglas' announcement [that he would veto a bill legalizing gay marriage], the letters and e-mails on gay marriage were running about 70 percent against the bill to legalize it... Since the announcement, supporters of same-sex marriage have been outnumbering opponents, with 60 percent of the letters and e-mails received speaking in favor it and 40 percent against.

The Iowa State Supreme Court joining Supreme Courts in Massachusetts, California, and Connecticut in ruling gays cannot be denied the right to marry is: SOOOO GOOD FOR THE GAYS

Iowa is about to get a whole lot hipper. Pushing aside it's hick heartland neighbors, Iowa will be hanging out with the cool kids from the Northeastern elite states. Within a month same sex couples will be able to marry and it'll be a long time before anyone can do anything about it. To reverse the court's decision, opponent of gay marriage will need to get a constitutional amendment approved that would redefine marriage as between a man and a woman. However Iowa's law requires any amendment to the constitution to pass in two consecutive general assemblies of the legislature (of two years duration each) PLUS a simple majority vote on a statewide ballot. The AP reported yesterday that:

Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, a Democrat, said state lawmakers were unlikely to consider gay marriage legislation in this legislative session, which is expected to end within weeks. Gronstal also said he's "not inclined" to propose a constitutional amendment during next year's session. Without a vote by the Legislature this year or next, the soonest gay marriage could be repealed would be 2014.

In five years time it's extremely doubtful that a state with a history of being on the vanguard of social change will vote for an amendment banning gay marriage. Moreover the populations of self-considered liberal states such as New York and California may feel that if a heartland mid-western state can offer gay marriage why can't they, and push for action on the issue.

Don't ask Don't Tell "being kicked down the road" by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and President Obama is: BAD FOR THE GAYS

The Sunday before last, Defense Secretary Robert Gates revealed that plans to overturn Don't Ask Don't Tell are pretty much off the table. "...The president and I feel like we've got a lot on our plates right now and let's push that one down the road a little bit." Adding, "that dialogue, though, has really not progressed very far at this point in the administration."

This news is all the more shocking coming on the heels of several very promising developments that seemed to indicate real momentum in overturning DADT. Several months ago Obama spokesperson Robert Gibbs expressed unambiguous support on the president's behalf for overturning the ban. Then in March, the White House released a statement saying the president had begun to meet with advisers to determine how to lift DADT, a statement that while vague was a direct response to Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-California) introducing a bill into congress that would lift the ban. Also adding to the feeling that DADT's demise was imminent was the formation three weeks ago of Knights Out, a GLBT alumni association for West Point grads. Adding insult to injury, Gates made his comments on Fox News Sunday. Apparently our Defense Secretary doesn't have the cojones to make such an announcement on say Rachel Maddow's show.

The release of the trailer for Sasha Baron Cohen's new movie following gay Euro fashionista Bruno through a Borat-esque trip across America is: BAD FOR THE GAYS.

First of all, let's recognize that the "real" people Bruno interacts with in this movie get their worst fears and prejudices of homosexuality confirmed. And then let's recognize that not everyone seeing this movie is going to be in on the joke, and that this audience segment will not be disposed to look favorably on the gays after watching this prancing, shallow, dildo waving creature that Cohen is enacting. Also, I fail to see how Bruno's character shows the homophobia inherent in our society. A gay character who acts like an asshole to unsuspecting people until these get pissed off and react really just shows how people in a society react to an asshole. In many ways this is just another version of "Jackass," except "Jackass" is gayer (and hotter) then "Bruno" could ever hope to be.

That said I can't wait to see "Bruno".

WQI Score
GOOD: 2
MIXED:0
BAD: 2

Is Barack Obama a show tune queen?

2009-04-02T10:04:00.000-07:00

During the campaign I was impressed by Obama's top 10 song list that he gave to Blender; included were "Give Me Shelter" "Sinnerman" and "Think". McCain by contrast listed TWO Abba songs in his top 10. So it's extremely interesting to me that Obama gifted her royal highness with the treasure of so many other queens, an ipod full of show tunes!

This news raises several very important questions: Did Obama create this playlist himself? If so, how long has he been a fan of the great American musical songbook? If not, who was making these important decisions for him behind closed doors (hopefully not Geitner)? Does Obama include "Seasons of Love" because he genuinely finds "Rent" still relevant or is he merely including it as part of a representative sample of the genre? Finally I must ask the question that is on everyones' mind: Is Obama a closet homosexual the same way he's a closet Muslim, closet non-citizen, and closet socialist?

Songs on Queen Elizabeth's iPod include:
"Oklahoma!"
"If I Loved You," Jan Clayton, "Carousel"
"You'll Never Walk Alone," Jan Clayton, "Carousel"
"There's No Business Like Show Business," Ethel Merman, "Annie Get Your Gun"
"Once in Love with Amy (Where's Charley?)," Ray Bolger
"Some Enchanted Evening," "South Pacific"
"Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend," Carol Channing, "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes"
"Getting to Know You," Gertrude Lawrence, "The King and I"
"Shall We Dance?" Gertrude Lawrence, "The King and I"
"I Could Have Danced All Night," Julie Andrews, "My Fair Lady"
"I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face," Rex Harrison, "My Fair Lady"
"The Party's Over (Bells Are Ringing)," Judy Holliday
"Maria," "West Side Story"
"Tonight," "West Side Story"
"Seventy Six Trombones," "The Music Man"
"Everything's Coming up Roses," Ethel Merman, "Gypsy"
"The Sound of Music"
"Try to Remember," Jerry Orbach, "The Fantasticks"
"Camelot," Richard Burton
"If Ever I Would Leave You," Robert Goulet, "Camelot"
"Hello, Dolly!" Carol Channing
"If I Were a Rich Man," Zero Mostel, "Fiddler on the Roof"
"People," Barbra Streisand, "Funny Girl"
"On a Clear Day (You Can See Forever)," John Cullum
"The Impossible Dream," Richard Kiley, "Man of La Mancha"
"Mame," Charles Braswell
"Cabaret," Liza Minnelli
"Aquarius, Ronald Dyson, "Hair'
"Send in the Clowns," Judy Collins, "A Little Night Music"
"All That Jazz," Chita Rivera, "Chicago"
"One," "A Chorus Line"
"Tomorrow," Andrea McArdle, "Annie"
"Don't Cry for Me Argentina," Patti LuPone, "Evita"
"And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going," Jennifer Holliday, "Dreamgirls"
"Memory," Elaine Paige, "Cats"
"The Best of Times," George Hearn, "La Cage Aux Folles"
"I Dreamed a Dream," Aretha Franklin, "Les Mis Derables"
"The Music of the Night," Michael Crawford, "The Phantom of the Opera"
"As If We Never Said Goodbye," Elaine Paige, "Sunset Blvd."
"Seasons of Love," "Rent"

(List via NY Daily News)

UPDATE

Barack Obama is NOT a show tune queen. No actual homosexuals were used or harmed during the creation of the Queen's present. Apparently the Ipod's library is comprised of a double disk set known as "Ultimate Broadway."

Before we begin...

2009-03-31T20:50:00.000-07:00

I am writing this first post for Wonder Blog on the same day that the Chicago-Sun times has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection (though I am posting it a day later).

I've learned this information by reading another newspaper's website, this did not cost me a dime. I have linked to the article above, if people click on my blog to read my post about the newspaper story I'll make money.

This perfectly illustrates the crazy dynamic that now exists (and is dissected ad nauseum) in the media world. The means of distribution and payment that fueled the newspaper industry have been dispersed, but the actual product--the written, edited pieces of information--remains largely the same. This isn't necessarily a problem; many people still want to read the morning paper, just not necessarily on paper. However until the clueless publishers can find a way to turn their moribund carcasses into cyber successes we owe it to our own curiosity to keep their newspapers going. Buy a newspaper, go out and buy one, do it daily or do it weekly. Throw some money into the hats of these sinking businesses. Increased readership alone won't save newspapers (no one is ever going to pay a newspaper to advertise a room for rent again) so it won't incentivize dumb CEOs to avoid change. What an increase in readership might do is add a small increase in revenue to the companys' quarterly reports and give Newspapers a reprieve as they try and find their footing.

Wonder Blog's motto is not sarcastic, I sincerely believe an ability to write cogently about current events and the world at large hinges on the survival of "old media." So please, save a blog, buy a newspaper.