What's he on about now?

In case the articles, essays and opinions throughtout this site just weren't enough for you, here's my online diary (a.k.a. 'blog'). It's as close as you'll come to the inside of my head, so don't say I didn't warn you
(and remember, you can always e-mail me if you love or loathe anything you're about to read)...


   Tuesday, November 30, 2004

   NEW! IMPROVED!

I am now the proud owner of a home office, specifically a new computer (Pentium 4!). Long-time readers will know what a long time coming this has been.

Tweaking to this site has already begun (the FTP program tells me the last change was in mid-2002!) and the first improvement is right here with a bigger font. I know I've been killing your eyes with that tiny type so I hope this helps.

Culture warrior Pat Buchanan, as helpful as ever:

"To devout Muslims, what Europe offers is godless materialism and hedonism, a life devoid of meaning and purpose, save pleasure and self-indulgence. They prefer to do Allah's bidding in this world to ensure they share his paradise in the next. Undeniably, Islam is rising. And, like all rising faiths, it is intolerant."

James Cramer of TheStreet.com reading my mind on Wal-Mart:

"The stores are dowdy. The aisles are ugly. There's nothing exciting or different or even colorful at Wal-Mart. It feels almost Soviet in its selection and presentation."

Mathew Staver, attorney for a group of state lawmakers and Catholics suing the Massachusetts Supreme Court for allowing gay marriage:

"[The Constitution should] protect the citizens of Massachusetts from their own state supreme court's usurpation of power...[and protect their right] to live in a republican form of government free from tyranny, whether that comes at the barrel of a gun or by the decree of a court."

Merita Hopkins, a city attorney in Boston, in response:

"Deeply felt interest in the outcome of a case does not constitute an actual injury."

Labels: homo-a-go-go, Middle East, Orwell says hi, politics, religion

Gay activists and news junkie are buzzing over Friday's edition of '20/20' featuring an interview with the men who killed Matthew Shepard in 1998. Elizabeth Vargas claimed to set the record straight on a "story that has often been dramatically oversimplified."

So, in a meandering collection of contradictory interviews, we learn that Aaron McKinney was prone to crystal-meth rages, that Matthew was using as well, that the two knew each other beforehand, that McKinney was bisexual and that none of these interviewees' stories add up in any coherent way.

The Advocate's Chad Graham denounced the flimsy reporting, saying that "Vargas is trying to shove the 'not a hate crime' theory down the throats of viewers, and nothing is going to stop her."

Of course, that means Vargas is oversimplifying. Now I'm as confused as the broadcast itself, so look for an essay later in the week.

Labels: homo-a-go-go, media

...for the Yanks, anyway, but we're doing a little luncheon here at work for our many American colleagues who can't make it home. This morning I realized that we're exactly one month away from Christmas and had a slight panic attack so I turned things around by focusing on the holiday at hand, even if it isn't technically mine.

I was watching Woody Allen's "Manhattan" a couple weeks ago (what a beautifully-shot love letter to New York -- I swoon) and I enjoyed his "Why is life worth living?" list near the end. It got me thinking about my own list and US Thanksgiving is as good a day as any to jot some of it down (in no particular order):

-- Aretha Franklin, even the later stuff
-- time in a café with two friends and a good argument
-- watching a film that hits that sweet spot between intelligence and fun (they're rarer than one would think)
-- the Toronto skyline, especially at night
-- 90 minutes in the Niagara Butterfly conservatory
-- Shakespeare veterans (Olivier, Jacobi, Gielgud, Dench, Bloom, McKellen, even Branagh)
-- Dogs, especially terriers (cheers to Bruce McCullough!)
-- Gore Vidal essays and Thai food (both being sweet, savoury and salty all at once)
-- strange comparisons
-- "Memphis Soul Stew" from King Curtis' "Live at the Filmore"
-- those wonderful minutes after my niece first runs to hug me and before she starts barking demands at me (I love that pushy little creature!)
-- a fluffy bacon-and-cheddar omelette
-- finding a pharmacologist who's as dumb as a box of hair (actually, that's from Karen on "Will & Grace" but it's too good a line to pass by)
-- cute geeky guys (rarer than smart popcorn films, twice as great)
-- the emotional sweep of Tchaikovsky, who also gets me through Christmas every year
-- my friends and loved ones (too obvious to say yet not said enough)
-- replies to this blog from friends old and new (hint hint)
-- the "Every Sperm is Sacred" number from Monty Python's "The Meaning of Life"
-- making lists, apparently

See, now I'm just getting ridiculous so it's time to quit. Remember this list next time I'm grousing about something horrible (like the JFK video game!) and go make a list of your own, already!

Labels: family, friends, holidays, introspective, movies, music, Trawna

Everyone loves a funny mistaken-identity story and there's a doozy from Australia today.

The latest winner of "Australian Idol" (oy!) is 16-year-old Casey Donovan, who was honoured by the show's sponsors with a full-page ad in the national papers. "Big Touchdown!" the ad says, listing www.caseydonovan.com, but visitors to the girl's site discovered the works of Casey Donovan, star of the 1970's gay porn classic "Boys in the Sand".

A new ad will appear tomorrow with an apology and a link to the correct site, www.caseydonovan.com.au. Until then, I'll still be laughing over "Big Touchdown!"

Labels: Australia, homo-a-go-go, silliness

After the dismal experience of "The Polar Express" (did I mention that I hated it?), I was able to turn things around with a delightful 'cartoon marathon' yesterday. Darcy and I (still friendly, by the way) went to see his beloved "Spongebob Squarepants" which was more fun than it has any right to be -- neatly bypassing the logic centres of the brain for giddy surrealistic joy. I don't think I've laughed harder than after Spongebob's loyal doofus pal Patrick gets his pants pulled down in front of the girl he's got a crush on. "Did you see my underwear?" he frets. "No," she replies, looking awkward. Patrick pauses and says, "Would you like to?" That's gold, my friends.

Next up, "The Incredibles," a sixth home run from the wizards at Pixar but, as it turns out, a somewhat disturbing one. In Pixar's last movie, "Finding Nemo," we watched a father (okay, a fish but still a father!) struggling with the reality that the world is a scary place for children, torn between wanting to overprotect his son and needing to allow him to grow. As much as I dislike the ubiquitous description "post-9/11", it applies in this case -- "Finding Nemo" felt like a balm for all that burning anxiety.

In addition to being action-packed and very witty, "The Incredibles" carries forward the theme that a family united with confidence, humour and love can weather any storm -- heartwarming in the best sense -- but, unlike "Nemo," makes no attempt to ease "post-9/11" anxieties. At one point, the superhero mom (Holly Hunter, national treasure!) cautions her gifted kids against overconfidence, warning, "Remember the bad guys you used to watch on Saturday mornings? Well, these guys are not like those guys. They won't exercise restraint because you're children. They will kill you if they get the chance."

Whoa.

After being so wildly irked by the lobotomizing sugar-coating in "The Polar Express," this stark warning in "The Incredibles" made my head snap back. Have we truly come to this point where young children need to be educated about human evil so bluntly? They're not stupid, they see the news, they no doubt feel it already. But it seems so sad to me, like an end of an era or a regrettable return to that 1950's "duck and cover" lunacy. Is there a middle ground?

"Nemo" suggested that parents have to risk a looser hold on their children; "The Incredibles" goes one further by educating kids about danger. There's a brilliant bit when the young son gleefully discovers that he can punch the bigger guards but his smirk becomes shock when the guard hits him back and hard. The warning is clear: you can fight bad guys who are stronger than you but you'll lose if you don't have your family to back you up.

What's even more impressive about "The Incredibles" is that my argument stems from a mere couple of scenes, when there are many other ideas in the movie inspiring debates on their own. Scroll down to "More Mail" on David Edelstein's movie blog on Slate and you'll find that the movie has inspired a rowdy debate on educational approaches -- not bad for a cartoon!

Also, the tiny fashion-designer Edna Mode is clearly modelled after legendary Hollywood outfitter Edith Head and is easily the year's most brilliant comic creation -- she's a complete delight. After grousing about "The Polar Express," it feels good to enthusiastically, unreservedly recommend "The Incredibles" (and maybe even "Spongebob" too)!

Labels: family, friends, movies

Working for a computer animation studio these last couple months has been a great experience (though I'm unable to discuss any of it -- curse that confidentiality agreement!) and it's certainly given me an appreciation for the efforts of the animators and the art of CGI in general.

With that in mind, my friend Jeff and I went to see "The Polar Express" last night and not just the regular version in theatres now but the Imax 3-D edition down at the Paramount. We were enthralled right from the start and the entrance of the train itself is both spectacular and haunting. Much has been written about the film's new "performance capture" technology that creates a sort-of middle-ground between computer animation and real footage of actors. The human characters in the film are the most life-like to date, the rest of the animation is at times breathtakingly beautiful and the Imax 3-D creates a near-unbelievable level of depth for a thrilling experience.

So why did I hate this film with the fury of a thousand white-hot suns?

I loathed this movie. I couldn't wait for it to end. I felt claustrophobic in the giant Imax theatre and all but fled at the first end credit. Once safely outside, Jeff and I laughed out loud at how incredibly appalled I was at this movie. It's bizarre how I just can't stress enough how much I hated "The Polar Express."

I don't think I've ever seen a film so utterly lacking in soul. It's not just that the almost-but-not-quite human characters look stiff and a bit creepy (especially in the eyes) but that the movie takes what is apparently a charming little storybook (I'll have to check it out now) and pads, pads, pads it to 90 minutes with one formulaic "thrill-ride" sequence after another. The first 'train-as-rollercoaster' sequence is a genuine thrill but the fourth is just tedious.

Then, amazingly, they finally reach the North Pole and the movie gets worse -- every Christmas cliché grimly trotted out with no warmth or joy. Then there's the overbearing soundtrack that rips off Danny Elfman's "Edward Scissorhands" score (he should sue!) and cranks it up to 11 to make us 'feel the magic' at all the right moments -- absolutely dreadful. Worst of all was the heavy thump of the film's moral -- that the smart, investigative kid who Doubts is saved from "Losing the Magic" of Santa Claus by being ordered to Believe (and yes, you can hear every capital letter). I like smart kids who doubt and ask questions and I hate seeing that quality squeezed out of them by syrup like this.

As an adult watching movies aimed at kids, one normally has one of two reactions. One film will recapture a bit of your childhood, making you feel like ten years old again (I think of "Pirates of the Caribbean" or "Pee Wee's Big Adventure"); another film will grimly remind you that you're not ten year old and never will be again (sigh -- "Star Wars: Episode I"). Judging from the manipulative treacle on display here, I am very thankful for that.

I hated having to keep asking myself, "Am I just a old grouch?" but no, dammit, I'm not. Last year, I was shocked to find myself getting teary during parts of "Finding Nemo" (tell no one) -- a film with genuine wit and warmth, a story of faith and family, and a theme that resonates without giving us a moral bludgeoning. Even the "Shrek" films have moments of real sweetness.

"The Polar Express" is the kind of movie that makes you want to tell a total stranger to run and see it for its incredible visuals, while you tell another stranger to avoid it at all costs for its dispiriting absence of humanity.

Labels: friends, holidays, introspective, movies, technology

The just-passed gay marriage ban in Utah has had the usual unintended consequences for heterosexual people. A man has been charged with ignoring a restraining order issued by his former girlfriend and his attorney is arguing that the new ban's "prohibition of legal recognition of any domestic union that is substantially equivalent to a marriage" makes enforcing the restraining order unconstitutional.

These sorts of things have happened before -- straight people arrested under vaguely-written sodomy laws and what not. If conservatives keep throwing around the 'war' label, I guess these people could be considered 'collateral damage.' I keep insisting that until we decide on some fair standard of marriage for all people, these sort of legal wrangles will continue, with a lot of pain for those involved.

Meanwhile, Thomas Caramagno, Associate Professor of English at the University of Nebraska, has weighed in with his necessary book, "Irreconcilable Differences? Intellectual Stalemate in the Gay Rights Debate." Caramagno rightly asks:

What happened to the "debate" in "the gay rights debate"? Moral condemnations and demonizing stereotypes do not advance useful dialog. The disputants have become perfect enemies, divided on every issue with such intensity that consensus--or even detente--seems impossible...No single profile for homosexuals exists that can encompass the diverse individuals who comprise the lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered / transsexual (LGBT) population, just as there is no monolithic model for heterosexuals who oppose legal protections for GLBTs. The gay rights debate is stalemated because each side oversimplifies and pathologizes the other's perspective.

And because the other guys are a bunch of redneck bigots, of course!

Labels: America, homo-a-go-go, Orwell says hi, politics, religion

(C'mon -- someone had to go there; it might as well be me!)

The political career of Colin Powell has reached its sad, inevitable end. I'm glad he was finally let go, however -- oh sorry, he "resigned" -- because he's escaping an abusive relationship. He was ignored by Bush, plotted against by Donald Rumsfeld, told about the first strike on Iraq after the Saudi ambassador(!) and now replaced by the dreadful Condoleezza Rice. Oh, and a White House intern gave him the leaky pens.

It's agreed by pretty much everyone that Powell was the only dissenting voice in the White House during the build-up to the Iraq debacle. Nevertheless, like the good soldier he's always been, he went to the UN and delivered this now-infamous speech on a need to invade based on Saddam's (barely-existent) "weapons of mass destruction."

History will have to decide if he knew it was all crap -- making him a liar -- or if he truly believed the evidence he was handed -- making him a stooge. An unpleasant choice unworthy of a previously admirable man.

Labels: America, George W Bush, war - what is it good for?

There's a brief interview with actor Jake Gyllenhaal this morning about his love scenes with Heath Ledger in Ang Lee's cowboy romance "Brokeback Mountain":

Heath almost broke my nose in a kissing scene. He grabs me and he slams me up against the wall and kisses me, and then I grab him and I slam him up against the wall and I kiss him. And we were doing take after take after take. I got the shit beat out of me. We had other scenes where we fought each other and I wasn't hurting as badly as I did after that one.

I need a drink of water -- I'll be right back...

Labels: homo-a-go-go, movies

A friend just sent me this link:

Man Tries to Set Self Ablaze at White House

Okay, I know I've been obsessed over the US presidential election pretty well since the first debate but there is no danger of me going all Vietnamese Buddhist monk on the White House. I'm fine, really -- it's the rest of the world I'm worried about!

Josh Levin at Slate has helped me out today with a handy article on how to manage one's entourage. In the wake of various rapper feuds leading to violence, Levin has some solid advice on dealing with my peeps:

Entourage-on-entourage action often starts because of a perceived "beef" with another rapper. While these feuds don't always escalate into violence (see LL Cool J v. Canibus and Jay-Z v. Nas), sometimes they don't end so well (Kim v. Foxy, Biggie v. Tupac). It's probably safer to pick fights with one of those socially conscious non-violent rappers like Mos Def or Common. If you want to play it really safe, you should insult socially conscious rappers who were popular 15 years ago like Digable Planets. (Cool like dat, my ass.) Another warning: A Tribe Called Quest might seem suitably innocuous, but Q-Tip once broke a guy's jaw.

Hey, remember that 'culture war' I was so afraid of last week? Well, it's certainly up and running. Bob Jones III has both his own university and, evidently, the ear of the president:

In your re-election, God has graciously granted America—-though she doesn't deserve it—-a reprieve from the agenda of paganism. You have been given a mandate...Don't equivocate. Put your agenda on the front burner and let it boil. You owe the liberals nothing. They despise you because they despise your Christ.

Gee, Bob, this liberal despises George Bush for being utterly unlike Christ but I'll spare you another rant from me in favour of Dan Savage and his fellow editors at "The Stranger" in Seattle. Dan has earned his last name with this one, a mean-spirited retaliation to our mean-spirited opponents. Even I have some trouble with the harsh tone of this piece, but it raises the facinating issue that the election was not a battle of 'red states' vs. 'blue states' but ' rural vs. city.' Whether you agree with it or not, the "Stranger" piece is a necessary love letter to urban living stuffed with ideas that we need to start debating before things get uglier than this.

Labels: George W Bush

The beauty of the Internet is that anyone with a wacky idea can parlay it into a line of magnets, mugs and T-shirts (hmmm...I could set up a 'giftshop' page...)

Jay Barnes took photos of Saddam Hussein's trial and created some fine silliness (it was Aziz who broke me).

There's little Java applications all over the Web to randomly generate silliness (the English-to-Ali-G-speak translator is fun) but my favourite has to be the Web Economy Bullshit Generator. It comes in very handy when reading the business pages and for my own site here, as I continue to "cultivate revolutionary interfaces." Minutes of fun await!

It was on for nine years -- didn't people learn anything from "The X-Files"?

The Baja Beach Club in Barcelona is using the VeriChip system for its patrons -- a tiny microchip implanted in the shoulder that allows for instant identification and, with a wave of the hand, credit card purchases (a danger for the bank accounts of Italian customers, I'm guessing). Over a thousand Mexican citizens have been 'chipped' as well.

The microchips only scan from about thirty feet away so there's no need for government-conspiracy-panic just yet but the club's manager says that VeriChip is hoping to create a "global" ID system: "The VeriChip that we implant at Baja will not only be for the Baja, but is also useful for whatever other enterprise that makes use of this technology."

Cree-ee-eepy! Though the debate, I suspect, will be over children. With VeriChip working on a GPS version, the day will come when kids will be implanted with trackable chips to protect them from being abducted. On the other hand, children will be implanted with trackable chips. Decisions, decisions...

Labels: Orwell says hi

Wow -- whether you're a news junkie or a tech geek, there's lots to admire on this site:

10 x 10
100 words and pictures that define the time

...H.L. Mencken, one of the giants in the history of journalism -- a straight-shooting libertarian with a wide mean streak and a solid sense of justice. He was the kind of complicated grouch who'd say horrible things about minorities (and often the majority) in private, but would vigourously defend their rights in public when everyone else was either silent or hostile.

Writing in the Baltimore Sun on July 26, 1920, Mencken looked to the future:

[W]hen a candidate for public office faces the voters he does not face men of sense; he faces a mob of men whose chief distinguishing mark is the fact that they are quite incapable of weighing ideas, or even of comprehending any save the most elemental--men whose whole thinking is done in terms of emotion, and whose dominant emotion is dread of what they cannot understand. So confronted, the candidate must either bark with the pack or be lost... [A]ll the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre--the man who can most adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum. The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.

I went to visit my family in Hamilton this weekend and my dad and I watched HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher" (love that satellite dish!) My dad likes Maher because, well, he's a bit of an asshole but one of the few TV pundits who values common sense over left-wing-right-wing dogma. He's mean, he's funny, he's usually right.

As a long-time critic of Bush's obvious faults, Maher was clearly bewildered by the results of the election, notably the exit polls citing moral values as the chief issue among Bush voters. "The election is over," Maher announced, "and all I can say is, 'Praise Jesus!'...Tuesday, George Bush was elected president of the United States. You know what they say? The first time is always the sweetest."

In conversation with his guests, he was clearly as irritated as I was by the assertion that atheists or non-Christians have no morals or values:

Am I not entitled to the opinion that science should have precedence over faith? That rationality should have precedence over belief in Jesus? That the Constitution is more important than the Bible, at least as far as running a government goes?...When we talk about values, I think of rationality in solving problems. That's something I value. Fairness, kindness, generosity, tolerance. That's different.

Let's be honest - this electorate has switched because that Christian right has taken over the Republican Party. They started it in the '80s with Reagan and Pat Robertson. And like a parasite on a host, they now own it...But when we have an election in the middle of a war and an existential fight about terrorism, and we’re fighting about boys kissing, I’m sorry, there is a big problem in this country.

Yes, Bill Maher became my hero last weekend and wrapped up his show and season with this:

So, Democrats - Democrats and liberals - stop saying you're going to move because Bush won. Real liberals should be pledging to stay because Bush won. Trust me, you can't get away from Bush by moving to France. Because that's where we're invading next.

Labels: family, George W Bush, religion, tributes, TV

In the aftermath of last Tuesday, I've been cheered by the mighty James Wolcott, whose columns in Vanity Fair are always impressive (like the one in the mid-nineties warning that the merging of news and entertainment would lead to an abundance of stupid, toxic 'reality' television -- too good a call, I'd say). Wolcott's blog bemoans Bush's victory for helping out Osama bin Laden:

This was the outcome he wanted, a gift from us to him: an unapologetic Christian Crusader in the White House whose reelection gives lie to the notion that Abu Ghraib was an aberration and that the deaths of thousands of Iraqi civilians weigh upon America's conscience. This morning America could not look more like a grinning aggressor to the Arab world, an aggressor with fresh marching orders.

But there's bitter clarity to knowing the worst. My wife has forbade me from going into the same depressive funk after this election that I did 9/11--"I couldn't take another 9 months of that again"--and I'm not depressed, being filled with far too much healthy loathing for millions of my fellow Americans to let myself droop.

The phrase "healthy loathing" is still making me laugh. Thanks, James.

Labels: religion

This local news story makes me wonder if I'm getting all worked up over nothing. Clearly, the theories of Charles Darwin are at work as well...

More from Andrew Sullivan this morning:

Heading out to dinner last night, in a mainly gay neighborhood, I was struck by how many people looked shell-shocked, frightened, grim. Here's an email I got minutes before I left that helps provide some context:

"I wonder if you noticed that yesterday all eleven states that considered the question of gay marriage voted to ban it. ALL ELEVEN. I think this sends a very clear message -- true Americans do not like your kind of homosexual deviants in our country, and we will not tolerate your radical pro-gay agenda trying to force our children to adopt your homosexual lifestyle...I'm sure someone like yourself would consider me just an "extremist" that you don't need to worry about. Well you are wrong -- I'm not just an extremist, I am a real American, and you should be worried because eleven states yesterday proved that there are millions more just like me who will not let you impose your radical agenda on our country."

Then I got this:

"I'll tell you, being a 16 year-old gay kid in Michigan just got a hell of a lot worse. When I woke up this morning and saw the anti-gay marriage proposal had passed, I was shocked. I realized the situation I'm faced with everyday in school - the American people have just shown my classmates that it's perfectly fine to discriminate. A direct quote from a 'friend' at school today: 'It's so cool that all these states just told all the faggots to eat shit and get the hell out...'"

How do you stay calm and upbeat after two emails like that?

Oh, I hear ya, Andrew. And here's the bit that really gets me: as the voter breakdown trickles in, we see that a terrifying 20% of gay people voted for Bush, citing concerns about terrorism as more important than their own civil rights. Patrick Guerriero, executive director of the gay political group Log Cabin Republicans, says, "They went to the ballot box and voted on broader issues." Now I think they're completely misguided to presume George Bush will make us safer, of course, but I understand their desire to vote for the guy perceived to be tougher on terrorists. Meanwhile, as I quoted from Bill Bennett yesterday, the majority of Republican voters cited "moral issues" as more important to them than the war in Iraq, terrorism OR the economy. These people think about homosexuality more than gay people do!

It's like some gruesome word-association game:
I say 'love', they say 'sodomy'
I say 'freedom', they say 'degeneracy'
I say 'bigotry', they say 'righteousness'

I know, in the long run, that things are getting better, that reason and fairness will prevail, and that these people will grow up and stop lashing out in fear all the time. But how do we deal with the short term? How do we deal with four more years? There's a Pet Shop Boys lyric I keep thinking of because it seems to never stop being apt:

Is it enough
To live in hope
That one day we'll be free
Without this fear?
I'm going out
And carrying on as normal

And there are millions more just like me who will not let them impose their radical agenda on America or anywhere else. Culture war, Bill Bennett? Bring it on.

Labels: George W Bush, Pet Shop Boys

Now here's an interesting portent for the future -- while John Kerry got the most numbers from youth, gay and black voters, it was the massive turn-out from evangelical Christians who pushed George Bush into the White House. Turns out, however, that many did so while holding their nose, judging from this mass e-mail from conservative pastor Bill Keller's LivePrayer.com, sent out on election day:

The choice for President has ultimately boiled down to a matter of restraining God's wrath. Because of the void in spiritual leadership in this nation, God allowed President Bush to come into office in 2000 with the opportunity to exercise bold leadership in several pressing spiritual issues that will one day soon bring God's wrath down on this nation. Instead of seizing the opportunity God presented him to be a Joshua or a Moses, President Bush chose to simply be another politician who happened to be a Christian.

In a recent interview with ABC's "Good Morning America's," Charlie Gibson, President Bush stated he supported civil unions, that the allah of Islam is the same as the God of the Bible, and that Christians, non-Christians, and Muslims will all get to Heaven, we just have different routes of getting there. It was so sad to hear the President support civil unions which is just another name for gay marriage. President Bush also needs to be taught that the Allah of Islam is NOT the God of the Bible. Lastly, while it is politically correct to say all people will go to Heaven, it is a lie from the pits of hell since the Bible CLEARLY teaches there is only ONE WAY, and that is through faith in Jesus Christ.

But does faith in Jesus Christ automatically equal faith in George Bush? Maybe not.

Labels: George W Bush, religion

Enough from me--what are other people saying about today's Republican victory? Here's a few of my favourite (and not-so-favourite) takes -- I think I like Josh the best...


William Saletan, Slate's chief political correspondent:

...if you're dissatisfied with Bush—-or if, like me, you think he's been the worst president in memory—-you have a lot of explaining to do. Why don't a majority of voters agree with us? How has Bush pulled it off?

I think this is the answer: Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity.

Bush is a very simple man. You may think that makes him a bad president, as I do, but lots of people don't—-and there are more of them than there are of us. If you don't believe me, take a look at those numbers on your TV screen.

Think about the simplicity of everything Bush says and does. He gives the same speech every time. His sentences are short and clear. "Government must do a few things and do them well," he says. True to his word, he has spent his political capital on a few big ideas: tax cuts, terrorism, Iraq...

Now look at your candidate, John Kerry. What quality has he most lacked? Not courage-—he proved that in Vietnam. Not will—-he proved that in Iowa. Not brains-—he proved that in the debates. What Kerry lacked was simplicity. Bush had one message; Kerry had dozens. Bush had one issue; Kerry had scores. Bush ended his sentences when you expected him to say more; Kerry went on and on, adding one prepositional phrase after another, until nobody could remember what he was talking about.

Bill Bennett, author of "The Book of Virtues" and heavy gambler [couldn't resist!]:

The national exit polling conducted by the Los Angeles Times confirms..."[M]ore than half of Bush's voters cited moral issues as a principal reason for their support — more than any other issue, including even terrorism." In fact, morals trumped terrorism by seven percentage points in the Los Angeles Times poll.

Having restored decency to the White House, President Bush now has a mandate to affect policy that will promote a more decent society, through both politics and law. His supporters want that, and have given him a mandate in their popular and electoral votes to see to it. Now is the time to begin our long, national cultural renewal ("The Great Relearning," as novelist Tom Wolfe calls it) — no less in legislation than in federal court appointments. It is, after all, the main reason George W. Bush was reelected.

Andrew Sullivan, British ex-pat Catholic gay conservative:

I've been trying to think of what to say about what appears to be the enormous success the Republicans had in using gay couples' rights to gain critical votes in key states. In eight more states now, gay couples have no relationship rights at all. Their legal ability to visit a spouse in hospital, to pass on property, to have legal protections for their children has been gutted. If you are a gay couple living in Alabama, you know one thing: your family has no standing under the law; and it can and will be violated by strangers.

I'm not surprised by this. When you put a tiny and despised minority up for a popular vote, the minority usually loses. But it is deeply, deeply dispiriting nonetheless. A lot of gay people are devastated this morning, and terrified.

We have seen, and not for the first time, how using fear of a minority can be so effective a tool in building a political movement. The single most important issue for Republican voters, according to exit polls, was not the war on terror or Iraq or the economy. It was "moral values." Karl Rove understood the American psyche better than I did. By demonizing gay couples, the Republicans were able to bring in whole swathes of new anti-gay believers into their party. With new senators Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn, two of the most anti-gay politicians in America, we can only brace ourselves for what is now coming.

Adam Yoshida, self-described "ultra-conservative political commentator":

It was closer than we’d like, of course. Far too close. I still can’t believe that anyone voted for John Kerry. John Kerry was a personification of everything that’s wrong with the Democrat Party today. A traitor in his youth, he proposed policies of economic division at home and which would have brought military defeat abroad. The once-proud Democratic Party of people like Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson has been reduced to such a level as to become little better than the party of AIDS, abortion, adultery and appeasement.

But, whatever, we won: to hell with the rest of them. Those who didn’t support Bush can go and perform a certain anatomically impossible act. They lost, now they can sit in the back of the bus. Thank God Almighty.

Josh Marshall, Contributing Writer for the Washington Monthly:

I remain confident that time is not on the side of the kind of values and politics that President Bush represents. It took conservatives two decades to build up the institutional muscle they have today. Though I was always nervous about the result, I thought we could win this election. But it was always naive to believe that that sort of institutional heft could be put together in 24 or 36 months.

President Bush and the Republicans now control the entire national government, even more surely now than they have over the last four years. They do so on the basis of garnering the votes of 51% or 52% of the population. But they will use that power as though there were no opposition at all. That needs to be countered.

Leave today for disappointment. Tomorrow, think over which of these various groups and organizations you think has made the best start toward what I've described above, go to their website, and give money or volunteer. After that, okay sure, take a few more days for disappointment, maybe a few more weeks. But this takes time. And you shouldn't lose heart. The same division in the country remains, the same stalemate. The other side just got the the ball a yard or two into our side of the field rather than the reverse. And we have to deal with the serious consequences of that. Tomorrow's the day to start.

Labels: George W Bush

Obviously, I feel very sad and anxious today -- the news of John Kerry conceding already actually caught my breath when I heard it -- but I'm finding bits of hope in the wreckage.

The Rev. Al Sharpton appeared on "The Daily Show's Indecision 2004" and said that, if Bush wins, at least this would be the first time he's legitimately elected. I loved that.

I cling to the fact that, in those scary 'redneck' states like Kentucky, Georgia and Tennessee, John Kerry took 40% of the vote. There's still good people down in America, it's just that they're outnumbered.

Like in Oklahoma, where Republican Tom Coburn declared that abortion doctors should be sentenced to death and that "lesbianism is so rampant" in some Oklahoma high schools that girls have to go to the bathroom one at a time.

He won.

That poor 48% of thinking Americans have their work cut out for them now, that's for sure, but the bright spot is that Bush's win will most assuredly spur them on.

Meanwhile, there's the gay marriage nightmare -- 11 states voted to explicitly ban same-sex marriage. Most of them passed it with a tight margin of 55 or 60 percent but the ban passed in Mississippi with 86 percent of the vote! 86! "Mississippi Goddamn!!!" I yelled at the TV (sing it, Nina Simone!) The best part is that Mississippi is known as 'the hospitality state'...unless, of course, you're a faggot.

Enough ranting from me -- I think one of my colleagues here at work summed it up nicely in an e-mail today:

Four more years of destroyed environment, useless war, outsourcing of national resources, increased debt, decreased personal freedoms, rabid racism, destruction of international ties, increased militarism and homophobia. Hey, at least Bush "loves liberty!"

So I'm unhappy and nervous but not afraid. We survived the last four years, didn't we? Besides, Bush may actually catch Osama bin Laden after bombing some other unrelated country and maybe then America will take a collective deep breath. Maybe then they'll tone down the fear that drives them to grasp desperately at the easiest of solutions.

Labels: George W Bush

As a final note before tonight's recount...debacle...election (!), I link to this CBC story from here at home, proof that our Canadian government officials can be every bit as stupid as down south. So, my yankee friends, go vote and do something about that!

Labels: Canada

With all this US election distraction, I haven't made an outright plug for something really important, like a new movie or comic book or something, so here goes.

While I'm still avoiding the TV (or, at least, the evil cable company that lords over it), I've become fond of a delightfully-silly soap opera called "Desperate Housewives" (it's sort of "Sex and the Town of Twin Peaks") but I'm what I'm really loving is a sitcom and critic's darling called "Arrested Development."

Jeffrey Tambor from "The Larry Sanders Show" plays a wealthy businessman who's arrested for stock fraud, forcing his grown, lazy and now-bankrupt children to fend for themselves for the first time. Jason Bateman as Michael is the one 'white sheep' who wants desperately to be a good, responsible adult (though not above picking on his siblings for not trying as hard) but whines how difficult it is:

Michael: "I'm a saint, you know, a living saint. And I get absolutely nothing out of it."
Lindsay: "Well, you get a false sense of superiority."
Michael: "I know. That is nice. But this time it's not enough."

The show attacks family platitudes with the vigor of "Married with Children" and a lot more brains. And poor Jason Bateman has been very funny in some very bad sitcoms for a very long time. He's earned this show.

...to this cool little map on the BBC News site today -- a handy primer on American elections past and, as results roll in later tonight, present.

The map is also a welcome reminder of the election in 1960, in which John F. Kennedy beat Richard Nixon by the narrowest of leads (this sort of thing has happened before and often). The interesting part is that 'Tricky Dick' did not contest the results, telling an aide, "it'd tear the country to pieces. You can't do that." In his memoirs, Nixon explained that

A presidential recount would require up to half a year, during which time the legitimacy of Kennedy's election would be in question. The effect could be a devastating situation. And what if I demanded a recount and it turned out that despite the vote fraud Kennedy had still won? Charges of `sore loser' would follow me through history and remove any possibility of a further political career. After considering these and many other factors, I made my decision and sent Kennedy a telegram conceding the election.

So here we are -- living in a political age that makes one long for the class and civility of Richard Nixon.

Elton John is saying that his fast-approaching-legendary public tantrums are the price he pays for "being creative."

Kay Jamison, whose book, "Touched by Fire," examines the links between manic-depression and creativity, agrees but warns that Elton may be ignoring the whole story:

What artists and writers--if you interview them--what they will focus on, by and large, is not the cognitive changes when they're manic. They might characterize that as impulsive and wonderful, and they felt great, and they got a lot done. But they will focus on the range of emotional experiences from despair to elation that they then brought back after having recovered from their illness. But I think there are a lot of things that go into making up the relationship.

After getting in trouble for declaring that Madonna should be shot (though no jury would convict him!), Elton might want to read Jamison's book.

An early exit poll late last night/early this morning detailed the results of 57 votes. 35 went to Bush, 21 to Kerry, 1 to Nader.

I am freaking out up here.

It's silly to panic over this, of course. We've survived four years of this corrupt, incompetent administration and we'll of course survive another four. Besides, we all know that John Kerry isn't exactly a Messiah, though I can't imagine him pitting blacks against gays as obviously as the Republicans are.

Could all this be any uglier? I guess we'll find out during the recount!

Labels: George W Bush