[In case it needs to be said: I don't agree with every word of everything I link to. --L.]
- Moving In
- For those of you who have an interest in internecine Democratic politics this article by Ryan Grim and Arthur Delaney about the power struggle within the party between the progressives and the Blue Dogs is fascinating stuff. It discusses at length the fight for the public option in the House and the influence of the progressives inside and outside the process throughout. Many lessons to be learned.
- Feel the Rush
- Rush says that people like the man who threatened Nancy Pelosi are justified because they are "mad" and "worked up" at "being raped" by their government.
The man lived in subsidized housing in San Francisco <s>-</s> which has universal health care that covers people like him. I wouldn't call that "rape." In fact, I'd call it kindness, but I suppose to someone like Rush kindness is a sort of rape.
I do wonder, though, why Rush is always so concerned about being raped, and being told to "bend over and grab his ankles" and the like. (Of course, he also characterized the Abu Ghraib abuses as "blowing off steam" so he has some rather eccentric views about rape and sexual abuse in any case.)
- Mushroom Tea
- Here's a funny video of the Teabag Express at the US Space and Rocket Center in Alabama. They're all whining about how the government can't do anything right <s>-</s> as they stand underneath a huge rocket ship.
- The Walled City Where Sunlight Couldn't Reach [Arcologies]
- A dystopian megacity, in which buildings merge together to become a single solid block, is the stuff of science fiction — but it already happened, in Hong Kong. The Kowloon Walled City was packed so tightly, it became an arcology.
- Behind the scenes of Eureka's Geek Casting Spree [Exclusive]
- Click here to read Behind the scenes of Eureka's Geek Casting Spree
Eureka co-executive producer Amy Berg reveals some details on how James Callis and Wil Wheaton came to join the cast, what she looks for in a guest star, and which Firefly alum is her "white whale."
- Date Night
- The reason why this film is different is because Tina Fey and Steve Carrell are equals. She makes half the jokes, she does half the funny things and he does half of the sappy romantic things. Equal. They both cracked me up. For the first time in a long time when I laughed it wasn’t followed by a cringe. What a relief.
This is a movie that an adult couple can go to together and enjoy because the woman is not demeaned. Now we just need to get Tina Fey some starring vehicles that are as worthy of her talents. Pretty please.
- Schaeffer on Tim LaHutari
- Frank Schaeffer has a long item at the Huffington Post — reworked from an excerpt from his new book — on "The Evangelical 'Mainstream' Insanity Behind the Michigan 'End Times' Mania."
Or, in other words, how the World's Worst Books helped to shape the crazy/stupid of the anti-American Hutari militia.
[...] Frank Schaeffer believes evangelicalism took a wrong turn in the late 20th century. He's worth listening to on this point, because when it took that turn his dad was in the driver's seat and he was riding shotgun, reading the directions. If Schaeffer's critique has gotten more urgently shrill, that simply reflects the earnestness of someone now trying desperately to unring the bell or to unsoil the bedsheets.
- YNATKC, part 3,798
- You're not allowed to kill civilians.
That's not just a rule or a guideline or a rule of thumb, for God's sake, it's the law. It's U.S. law and it's international law and also, just for good measure, it's international law that has been signed and ratified and appended again onto U.S. law. You're not allowed to kill civilians.
But this is also more than a law. It gets at the matter of definition. The distinction between a soldier and a murderer comes down to just exactly this and only this. Rank and uniform and the giving and receiving of orders ultimately are of no consequence apart from this. You're not allowed to kill civilians.
This is how we distinguish, say, Sen. Daniel Inouye from Ted Bundy. This is why the former is rightly revered and the latter rightly reviled. Inouye was awarded the medal of honor and that word, "honor," is yet another term whose meaning hinges on this one thing. You're not allowed to kill civilians.
The Link(s): Fri, Apr 9th, 9am by Lee Salazar, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Terms and conditions beyond the scope of this license may be available at leesalazar.com.