Category: Thoughts

Meat and Anti-Meat

So the right is concerned about queer and/or vegetarian subtexts in film, but it looks like the very manly, carnivorous sport of cockfighting is in a steep decline. If they’re so opposed to the gentleness of Hollywood cartoons, why don’t they get out there and support them some cockfighting? Or is cockfighting also kind of gay, like maybe it’s something that can be relegated to the cock-fighting cock-pits of Penisland.

From Lessig, Gates on Patent Law

Lessig, quoting Gates: “If people had understood how patents would be granted when most of today’s ideas were invented and had taken out patents, the industry would be at a complete standstill today. The solution . . . is patent exchanges . . . and patenting as much as we can. . . . A future start-up with no patents of its own will be forced to pay whatever price the giants choose to impose. That price might be high: Established companies have an interest in excluding future competitors.”

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that someone’s reaction to a travesty of justice is “take advantage of it” rather than “make it right” but it’s not the way I was raised.

Pro-torture judge and new attorney general Alberto Gonzales apparently counts as a moderate in our world today. “Why is President Bush betraying the babies? ” ask our Culture-of-Life theocons (tip to Andrew Sullivan for the phrase and for the courage to scratch his butt in public). Well, perhaps for the same reasons he’s betraying the adults whose torture and execution Gonzales condones and expedites. Oh yeah.

As Tarantino says, Dick dick dick dick dick dick dick. For a man who quit smoking only after his fourth heart attack, Cheney seems to be packing some meat. Or perhaps just a funny camera angle and some baggy pants.

Not to be confused with the Evolution Groupware Suite Blog, the Evolution Blog is about the ongoing process of change over time, and whether it and other basic science CAN BE TAUGHT IN OUR SCIENCE CLASSES. I can’t believe we’re reliving the Scopes trial. How many years has William Jennings Bryan been in the cold cold ground? Are we going to revive the gold standard for monetary policy now? (Note that William Jennings Bryan was on the correct side of the monetary, but not the scientific, debate).

Notes from Inside the Beltway

My brother, known on this blog mostly for funny pictures, is also a political science expert working in international development, and one of the most articulate and well-thought-out voices I’ve heard about politics recently:

His comment on the divisions within parties: “The piece from The American Conservative mentioned a civil war within the Republican party during the next four years. A similar struggle is going to take place within the democratic party as it tries to connect with middle America. I worry that the dems will turn to protectionism to find a more populist message.”

On the religious left: “I think there is something to be said for (and hopefully some way to reinvigorate) the Kennedy Catholics- those who look to their faith to press social issues, a faith-based concern for the poor, in the grand tradition of liberation theology and of course Jesus. Unfortunately I think we have a brand of Christianity that has forgotten the proverb “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven” Instead many think their is no better indication of divine blessing and righteousness than being obscenely rich. Interesting that this strain of American Christianity had its origins in New England, but has migrated south.”

Big Fish, Little Fish

I am still getting used to working at a Large Company: at my Small Company, it was a GOOD sign that content was just starting to come together more than a week in advance. At the Big Company, that counts as running perilously close to late.

Liberal is a Dirty Word

My grandfather, Adm. Parks, thought the NYT was too liberal and too influential. The only person brave or foolish enough to disagree with him was my father, who said, “The New York Times is the most influential paper in the country because it’s the best paper in the country, and you should read it.” I think about that whenever I read a well-reasoned editorial on religion and politics and wish it were published somewhere it’d do some good, like maybe the Washington Times. On the radio in Orlando I heard a talk show go on at length about the credentials of a guest author, which included his long-running gig at the Washington Times– not exactly a respected paper, given that it’s run by the Moonies, loses millions every year, and exists solely to push a dramatically slanted view of the world.

But really it’s all about the hypocrisy of moralists like Bill O’Reilly and its absurd mandates for a world which no longer comes close to fitting its rules. I’ve hoped for some time that the Republican party would have some sort of nervous breakdown, and Frank Rich seems to predict a similar outcome:

Mrs. Cheney and her surrogates are in effect doing exactly what Elizabeth Edwards had the guts to say they were doing: they are sending the message to Mr. Rove’s four million that they are ashamed of Mary Cheney. They are disowning her under the guise of “defending” her. They are exploiting her for the sake of political expediency even as they level that charge at Democrats.
…
Sooner or later this untenable level of hypocrisy is going to lead to a civil war within the Republican party. But this hypocrisy is not just about homosexuality – it’s about all sexuality, as befits a party that calls for the elimination of Roe v. Wade and the suppression of candid sex education that might prevent teenage pregnancy and AIDS alike.