Every year, I throw a New Year's party, and it's always the same setup. Good people, good booze, and rollicking good time. We don't mess with the formula because you don't mess with success.
The only change this year is a jar on the bar with a sign asking people to toss in a few bucks for the people who have been devasted by the earthquake in Asia. I figure it's the biggest natural disaster since Atlantis sunk, so intruding on the festivities with a little grim begging isn't so bad.
I tossed in some twenties, so people get the point that we're not looking for pocket change. I have some idea of how much I'd like to raise, but I'm sure I'll be unhappy when I actually count out the cash. Even good people can be stingy at times like this.
My girlfriend wondered if we should worry about somebody making off with the pot. I promised her that anybody stealing from earthquake victims would be in for a rough time, and she forbade me to beat people up in the apartment. She said I have to take the person outside if I want to beat somebody up. I really don't think it will be an issue, but it's nice to have the ground rules covered.
I hope everybody has a good New Year's and remembers what they value and why. I have a friend who was supposed to be in Thailand last week (his work puts him there a few months a year). He hasn't responded to emails. I'm not worried yet-- I'm sure he'll turn up on a beach in California, laughing at me.
A friend of a friend is a diving instructor who lives in Thailand half the year. His house was on the beach. He survived by swimming off the top of his house, clinging to anything that would float:
Our house was 150 feet from the beach, that is THE hardest hit beach in Thailand. As water rushed into our house and then ripped open the second story wall, I leapt off our second story roof and swam and swam and swam, riding the wave deep into the jungle, as it destroyed building after building, ripping up trees and spinning diesel trucks into the air. All this with me in the center of it clinging to anything that floats and swimming to avoid the standing buildings or trees that crushed and impaled many others.
The wave deposited me, a small swedish girl and a 60 foot poilice cruiser (medium sized steel patrol boat - around 20 tons) 1 kilometer from the beach - in the jungle.
He spent the day providing first aid and care to injured people. He says his village had a 60% survival rate. The entirety of help offered by the US government to him was "a phone call, a toothbrush, a paperback book and a temporary passport." In other words, things are ugly over there.
If you're hosting a New Year's celebration, put out a jar. Even small amounts can make a big difference.
Most people I know see the color-coded terror alert system as a tool of political manipulation. Sure there's a real danger out there, but the administration isn't above hyping irrelevancies to punch it's approval numbers. Most people I know, though, aren't clever enough to check the terror alert 6 weeks post-election and notice that there haven't been any terror alerts since election day. I wonder why that would be, hmmm?
Polis | 5 Writebacks | #
The FDA has approved a study to test whether Ecstasy is useful in the treatment of anxiety in terminally-ill cancer patients. This, plus the study about Ecstasy treatment for people suffering from post-traumatic-stress-disorder, is a good sign that some rational medicine and science is sneaking into the drug debate.
Via TalkLeft.
Polis | 3 Writebacks | #
In France, Santa was mugged while giving out sweets. Apparently some teens were upset when he wouldn't cough up more candy. They started beating him, which is horrible, but because it's Christmas, some passersby chased them off. Too bad they didn't score his swag bag.
Of course, Santa's not always the victim. He has a long and hidden history of torturing children. Santas rival clowns for the down low scary sadism, and finally somebody has put together the proof.
Via The Morning News.
My girlfriend is on a holliday diet. The pants she wants to wear to New Year's are a smidge too tight, and she only has a few days to slim down enough to squirm into them. It's funny and a little sad to see her diet because at 105 pounds, she's never been on a diet before in her life. Her big fear this week is that she'll no longer be a size zero.
She keeps asking her mother for advice on how to lose weight. Her mom responded by heaping more macaroni and cheese on her plate. To mom, this woman will always look too thin.
This morning, she woke up, reached over to the nightstand and ate a cookie. "Shit! shit!", she said. She'll never lose that weight if she keeps forgetting she's on a diet.
My diet recommendation, for all you people that gorged on christmas: Grapefruit juice for breakfast. Grapefruit juice and laxatives for lunch. Cigarettes (or heroin) whenever hunger sets in. And a sensible dinner. It's what all the top models do.
I think all this dieting is stupid. Sure I like thin women, and I'm quick with the fat jokes, but when skinny little things with 24-inch waists are eating like North Koreans, it's a real sign that something is a little out of whack.
I just can't get behind this diet nonsense. I'm going to go buy some brie and see how long she can hold out.
Israeli is freeing Palestinian prisoners as a gesture of good will toward Egypt and Abbas. Israeli hopes this makes them look like good guys, but to me it makes them look like a bunch of tin-pot despots.
Either these Palestinians prisoners are a threat or they're not. Either they deserve to be jailed or they don't. If these people belong in jail, Israel shouldn't release them because they want some good press. If they don't belong in prison, then Israel should have released them a long time ago. Releasing prisoner en masse as "a good will gesture" for public relations just underscores how unjust their imprisonment was in the first place.
Imprisoning people for little or no good reason, holding them indefinitely, and then releasing them for political points is the kind of thing Saddam Hussein did. Unforuntately, it's also the kind of thing we've done in Iraq. It's good to see these people freed, but perhaps we could have acted more judiciously and never imprisoned them in the first place.
Polis | 4 Writebacks | #
Briefly noted in the NYTimes:
Saddam Hussein has been denied access to legal counsel since his arrest. It takes a year to get him a lawyer? That's ridiculous. It's obvious that the man isn't going to get anything more than a show trial. Of course, there isn't really any doubt that he's guilty of all kinds of horrific crimes against Iraq and humanity, so affording him a vigorous defense would produce a trial of little more substance.
The Times speaks warmly of guns. Notably, the guns in question are carried by police and are being phased out.
New York is debating the death penalty again. There was a time when the death penalty obstacle was Governor Cuomo. Every year, the Senate and the Assembly would pass death legislation, and Cuomo would veto the bill. Pataki, winning office in part on this issue, changed all that immediately upon taking office. It's nice to see the members of the Assembly force Sheldon Silver to allow debate on the issue.
And, finally, Pedro Martinez pretends it's not all about the money. Apparently his going to the highest bidding team is a coincidence.
Polis | 4 Writebacks | #
Everybody seems to think Pedro Martinez is worth about $13mm a year, but only the Mets were willing to give him a four-year contract. Although I really don't like Martinez (I'm just glad he's not in pintstripes), I hope the Mets haven't fallen prey to the winner's curse. Pedro's numbers have been declining steadily for a few years. He's still a great pitcher, and he'll be worth $13mm this year, but he's no longer a strikeout king and he'll need better defense and run-support than the Mets have provided since 2001. Four years from now he'll be an overpriced third starter and the Mets will be trying to figure out how to unload him.
Meanwhile, Jesus hates Curt Schilling. The pitcher famously attributed his postseason perfection (that first ALCS game aside) to "the Lord". But now, it seems he isn't recovering from surgery too well and is likely to miss the start of the season. It must really suck to have fallen out of favor with the Lord and it looks like Boston's fortunes will be reverting to the mean.
Pandagon puts out the call to support injured troops with phone cards. At this time of year, being able to call your family, especially when you're injured, is a big deal. Pony up.
Polis | 7 Writebacks | #
You know what's icky? It's icky that people have such rare contact with gays that running into a gay couple is blog fodder. I'm all for people loudly proclaiming that gays aren't icky, but in this case the proclamation itself underscores that, even among open-minded lefties, there is a huge cultural divide between straight folks and not-so-straight folks.
Via Say Uncle.
Polis | 8 Writebacks | #
There was a time when every kid harbored romantic dreams of safecracking. It was all those old film noire scenes involving stethoscopes and black leather gloves that did it. But safe cracking is a declining art, and knowledge is disappearing fast. If you've ever tried to pick a lock or resorted to cutting your way past a padlock, read this history of safecracking before it's gone.
Polis | 4 Writebacks | #
The heroes of the Supreme Court, bless their cold black hearts, have declined to review a decision upholding a church's right to indulge in hallucinogenic tea as part of a meditative ritual. The tea is made from ayahuasca and contains DMT. DMT can be some good stuff. You will see the face of god, and you will be mildly surprised to discover that she wears a vageuly snotty and bemused expression.
Via TalkLeft.
Polis | 2 Writebacks | #
If your're like me, you're always scrabbling in your shelves for a book to read-- hoping for something you somehow haven't read or perhaps an old book that deserves another look. Too lazy to walk to the library, too cheap to go to the bookstore, you just want books to magically appear in your apartment every few days, Happily, somebody heard my cry.
The Village Voice is usually a complete waste of time, but I popped in today and discovered a few things worth reading.
First, is there Rockefeller Drug Law round up. It's just a page of links to their coverage from the last few years, but the articles do a good job of outlining the problem with ridiculously harsh sentences. They also make clear that we've only just begun to reform those sentencing laws. One article does a particularly good job of illustrating how our current sentencing laws make no sense.
The Voice also covers an article by Frances Kissling in Conscience that examines abortion from a Catholic, feminist perspective. Kissling argues that pro-choicers need to grapple with the ethics of ending potential life. She believes you can do so and still support choice. I agree and am heartened by the Voice acknowledging some complexity in the abortion debate.
Finally, the Voice does a hit piece on Al Sharpton. Seems the Rev's been doing the unholy with a woman who is not his wife. Hypocrisy, blah, blah, whatever. Does anybody really believe Sharpton has any morals? The article is worth reading for prurient interest alone.
Polis | 7 Writebacks | #
There's something incredibly elegant about improving traffic flow and safety by removing road signs and pushing the cyclists and pedestrians right up against the cars.
Polis | 2 Writebacks | #
Canada is doing everything it can to make one simple point over and over: they're not like their backwards neighbors to the south. I wonder how many times Canada can show us up before we start taking human rights seriously.
Polis | 3 Writebacks | #
In the wake of federal victory and state defeat, groups fighting for gay rights are asking whether they should demand less in hopes of provoking less attack. Even the Human Rights Campaign, so instrumental in winning the battle against the federal hate amendment, is in turmoil because it didn't defeat the state referenda attacking gays. It seems the victims of American oppression blame themselves for their plight.
The fight for equality is not a battle. It's a war. It has been and will be decades and generations of legal and social struggle. There will be setbacks. If each measure of defeat is met with surrender, the war is already lost.
Surrender is based on the faulty notion that bigots and zealots hate gays because they demand equal rights. The hatred and attacks will come, regardless of how hard gays push for equality. Conservatives see which way history is moving, and they know they need to nail down as much anti-gay law as possible while they still can. The attacks will continue, and battles will be lost. But the war is all but won if only people will fight it.
Polis | 3 Writebacks | #
- $10 anonymous Santa suit - check!
- Pine Sol bottle - check!
- Big gift for a little girl - check!
- Formal invitation - check!
Polis | 2 Writebacks | #
Lean Left weighs in on European support of democracy around the world. It's long, but it puts some essential facts on the table. If it weren't Friday, I'd call it required reading.
Polis | 2 Writebacks | #
Unfogged links to Eugene Volokh's NYTimes piece on the journalist-source privilege and notes that the perfection of anonymous communication will obsolete such protections. I don't see reporters in a post-Rather world taking unvetted, unauthenticated, anonymous tips, but it's not a bad article.
I'm all for laws and policies that carve out some journalist-source immunity, but in my view there is nothing so fundamentally sacred about telling secrets for publication that we need to protect that ability as a matter of right.
Polis | 2 Writebacks | #
Methodist Bigots have put one of their own ministers, Irene Stroud, on trial for allegedly living with her lesbian partner. If convicted, Rev. Stroud will lose her preachy powers and, presumably, her job prospects will be quite dim.
This case is a big deal-- the trial involves six expert witnesses and Skinimax is interested in the rights to a movie tentatively titled "Defrocked Lesbians". Stroud is unlikely to win, and the only good news is that the prosecution's repeated motions for preemptive stoning have been denied.
I wonder if this case raises any EEOC concerns. It probably shouldn't (1st Amendment and all that), but I wonder if there's any caselaw on it.
Polis | 3 Writebacks | #
Johnny America, leader of the Greene Dragon, has a weekly bloggy thing going on at his website. There he rails against the illness known as consumption. He's nice, he's cute, he's a patriot. Go read.
Polis | 3 Writebacks | #
Americablog is down on the bigots in Alabama and down on the bigots in Alabama. There's good reasons to shower piss on Alabamian haters:
- they're for marriage discrimination
- they want to ban books that portray gays without condemning them
- they couldn't be bothered to repeal anti-miscegenation laws until 2000 (and even then 40% of the people voted against repealing)
- they love Jim Crow
I feel bad for the people who live in Alabama. Of course, I'm just glad they live there and not here.
Polis | 3 Writebacks | #
Drug War Rant has the round up on Raich v. Ashcroft, the commerce clause / medical marijuana case. My prediction remains the same: Morrison and Lopez are outliers and not signals of major shifts in commerce clause jurisprudence. I would like to see the government lose on this, but I think it's unlikely. Let's hope I'm wrong.
Polis | 3 Writebacks | #
More news comes out about American troops acting like terrorists in Iraq. We all know by now that if we couldn't find somebody we were looking for, our troops routinely kidnapped "female family members to force wanted Iraqi males to turn themselves in," American troops taking hostages is outrageous, but it's not news.
What's news is that higher-ups knew this all along and did nothing about it for months.
Via TalkLeft.
Polis | 3 Writebacks | #