Thursday

It’s only been two days but SO much has happened.

1. Tuesday’s Florida vote went well by my standards. If I were forced to pick a Republican candidate, McCain would be it, if only it weren’t for his call to maintain the surge. Reason Magazine ran an article back in April warning of the dangers of a McCain presidency, and whenever I start to warm up to the old man, which is often because he’s a likable character, I refer back to this article, which emphasized his militaristic allegiances and affinity for Teddy Roosevelt style governing. He’ll really win my heart (though not my vote) if he punches Romney in the mouth at one of these debates. The one from the Reagan library last night got pretty heated and McCain’s snarkiness verged on uncomfortable. Also, the better McCain does nationally, the more I’m prodded over to Obama’s camp. I think lots of people would pick him over Hillary. If only Republicans in 2000 weren’t so blind, he’d have gotten he nomination then and maybe we wouldn’t be where we are today. Then again, maybe we would.

2. Farewell to John Edwards. I suppose it was a long time coming, but John Edwards kept the focus on the little guy throughout this process, and more importantly, pointed out that both Hillary and Obama have succumbed to corporate interests and money in snagging the top two positions. No matter how excited we get for either candidate, John Edwards has been a jiminy cricket with a drawl.

3. I slipped it in above – I like Obama these days. He’s got a lot going for him lately, whereas Hillary’s been waning. First there was Bill Clinton’s race-baiting in South Carolina and Hillary’s pettiness, twisting Obama’s words in saying he likes the Republicans’ “ideas” and then playing into the media circus in agreeing that Obama snubbed her at the State of the Union. On top of that, I didn’t foresee it but the Ted Kennedy nod effected me. Moreover, that NY NOW group’s scathing indictment of Kennedy for “abandoning” women left a horrible taste in my mouth, showing that a main thrust behind Hillary is womanly or even Clintonian loyalty. Not so convincing. NY NOW is independent and has no affiliation to the more powerful national group. But still, it’s embarrassing, and does more for Obama than they know.

Add to that Obama’s popularity, won by his sheer force of personality, and it makes me think that Obama has a real chance to win people over in November, whereas I don’t see Hillary winning many over. I know I’ve panned Obama on these pages in the past, but this is a fluid process. Not only does the situation change daily, but Obama’s matured as a candidate. Also, as the Republicans pick up steam, which WILL happen, we need to look at who can disarm and defeat the Republicans, not who will galvanize them. It’s not over between me and Hillary, but she needs to tread carefully. Tonight’s mano-a-mano CNN debate should be revealing.

4. RUDY’S GONE! The Witch is dead. Which old Witch? The Wicked Witch! Ding Dong! The Wicked Witch is dead!

In other news, I’m still sick and just trying to get better by Sunday so I can drink beers and eat sausage and peppers sandwiches at Alisha and Jeff’s.

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State of the Union

Best liveblogging commentary ever.

lantz: hey man. state of the union much?
sweeney: i know. i could only stand about a half hour of it. “WE WILL HUNT THE ENEMY DOWN….THE STATE OF THE UNION IS STRONG”
sweeney: um, not.
lantz: how about this democratic response
sweeney: oh shit — i’m missing it.
who is it?
lantz: fucking kathleen sebelius
she is sooo boring
sweeney: who the hell is that
lantz: governor of kansas
sweeney: BORING. it should be hillary or obama or kennedy.
lantz: she was like, “this is a call to action”
in the most monotone voice i’ve ever heard
sweeney: haha
nancy pelosi and dick cheney totally looked like muppets behind bush
sweeney: who kind of also looked like a muppet i guess
sweeney: and hillary could potentially be a muppet too
lantz: so could obama
lantz: he looks like a bobblehead
sweeney: hahaha. he does. he’s too skinny
lantz: i love the state of the union
its my favorite

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Bleh

Happy Saturday.

The South Carolina Democratic primary is today. Hopefully the recent ugliness will subside shortly thereafter.

In other news, I’m sick. I think I have a chest cold–a hacking cough, slight sore throat, and my chest hurts. Yesterday I thought it was just that I’d smoked a bad batch of … tobacco, maybe laced with some kind of bioterrorism shit. Or maybe the government wanted to infect smokers with TB, like with the small pox blankets and the Indians.

But now I think it’s just a cold. I took some TheraFlu last night and that knocked me out, and otherwise seemed to help. But then I had to wake up at an ungodly hour and come to part-time job. Stupid financial solvency. So instead of being home, sleeping and taking more TheraFlu, I’m here, sipping a grande Refresh tea from Starbucks with tons of honey. I keep scowling and hacking at all the bright shiny patrons coming in here. Four more hours of this, then I can sleep.

Oh and I’m going to see “Sweeney Todd” tonight. He’s practically my namesake, after all. When I was younger people would always be like, “Oh, Sweeney–like Sweeney Todd.” And I would think, “What?”

 I’ll let you know how it is.

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Thursday Styles

Except by “styles” I mean updates in politics. I’m trying to mix it up lately with content but I just can’t.

1. Another day, another debate. Republicans tonight live from Boca Raton, 9pm eastern, MSNBC. Ready for more candidates’ blood on the dias? The NYT writes that McCain said of Romney, “Never get into a wrestling match with a pig…You both get dirty, and the pig likes it.” And Huckabee’s campaign manager said, “What I have to do is make sure that my anger with a guy like Romney, whose teeth I want to knock out, doesn’t get in the way of my thought process.” Nice.

2. Bill Clinton’s gone really far now in accusing Obama of making SC all about race. Obama’s doing no such thing. If Obama wins the nomination, Bill says he’d lend his support because he’s “very impressed with the nonracial appeal” of Obama. WTF? I’d thought the press was enjoying some Clinton-bashing lately but Bill’s going way too far. Honestly, doesn’t he have advisers?

3. Philly Mayor Michael Nutter revokes SugarHouse casino deal. SugarHouse, builders of “casinos and other urban mixed-use properties” proposes to build a gargantuan casino (3.3-million square feet structure, with 5000 slot machines, a million square feet of parking, two massive hotels, and at least 4 restaurants) on the North Delaware River between Fishtown and Kensington. Pro-casino folks say the plan will pump billions of dollars into the Philadelphia economy. Because that worked so well for Atlantic City. Former Mayor Street issued the license but Nutter said it was issued in haste. This at least buys time and lets the SugarHouse corporation know that municipal weight is behind the Philadelphia residents’ opposition to the casino. Good job Nutter.

4. Huck’s got Chuck, but McCain’s got …

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Tuesday Night/Wednesday Morning

Just got back from Quiz(z)o and then A-Z’s place and now I’m all juiced up and ready to go. I’ve been meaning to comment on last night’s debate all day, but busy-ness and then anger over not getting a job I would have so clearly rocked kept me down all afternoon. Their loss. I mean that.

I’m disappointed to say that for the most-watched televised debate in presidential history, I only saw a small part of it. I had to work until 9:30 so I set the recorder to record. But a half hour into the debate, right when Obama was tearing into Hillary, the tape got all snowy and cut to Steve Sanders hangin at the Peach Pit. The only recordable video tapes I had around were old 90210 episodes. Fucking BH9er.

But the first half hour was a sight to behold. Hillary on Obama, Obama on Hillary, Edwards fighting around the edges but mostly taking the high road. The night was okay for shock value; along with the crowd I was all “OOOHHHH!”, especially when Obama brought up Hillary’s Walmart days and she said he defended a slumlord in Chicago. Hillary kept laying out these bombs to bait Obama into outbursts and then leaning back all like “what you got now?” And Obama kept hitting back below the belt, mostly on Bill.

Aside from the theatrics, what will we take away from the debate?

1. Clinton and Obama are both willing to go for the jugular and don’t mind getting bloodied in the process. I think this will hurt Obama more than it does Clinton. With Hillary, we expect this. The Clinton political machine has been accused of this type of politicking for decades. But Obama’s got a wholly more positive, more hopeful reputation to uphold. In our imagination, Obama floats above the personal attack and doesn’t look so good down in the mud.

2. During the few moments of substantive discussion Hillary sounded well versed in the economy and healthcare, as usual. Of course, any of that clearly got muddled by the din of infighting.

3. Obama made his best points in saying we have to redraw the political map. The divides forged in the 60s, as well as in 1996, don’t apply, because we have a chance to welcome a harried and frustrated Republican bloc, rather than merely fight them tooth and nail. I heard echoes of his 2004 “there’s not a liberal America and a conservative America; there’s the United States of America.” This sentiment, paired with Obama’s campaign advertisement trumpeting his support among Republicans, seems dangerously conciliatory for my tastes, and only backs up Hillary’s whole “Reagan lover” admonition.

4. Edwards, while seemingly angry, isn’t drawn to attack Clinton or Obama out of personal animosity, but over issues. As the issues go, so goes Edwards, which could have ominous implications for his future. What was said when he met secretly with Hillary afterwards?

5. South Carolina loves Obama. Hillary got booed. Fervently, and repeatedly. How much of the vote she gets anyway will be interesting. Perhaps more so for Edwards, who still has a lot riding on SC.

In other news, Thompson’s out, and Joe Biden’s back in the news! Helen Andrews of Politico says Biden will be courted for Secretary of State no matter who the next president is, and might even be Obama’s pick for VP. (Biden’s hinted that he wouldn’t be Hillary’s VP because Clinton will clearly have that job. Sounds right up Obama’s alley.)

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Halcyon Days

A pre-debate shot before all hell broke lose in a few hours. I like this pic. Makes me think a triumvirate would be nice. Thanks to my man at The Stencil for pointing it out. And good luck packing, dude. (Seems like you just did that.)

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Oil, or Lack Thereof

This morning’s New York Times has an interesting article about the international shortage of oil. Cooking oil, that is. Food issues like this are really the other T’s turf, but since she and E-Rock are en route to Philly today for some QT with the Stromers, I’ll give it a go. She’ll probably weigh in with her opinion, or maybe even a solution to this quandary, later.

A cooking oil shortage is important because people the worldwide, especially in the third world, get a good amount of their daily calories from oils. Less oil means hungrier people. The Times says that the shortage in oil for cooking has a few sources. A minor one is the trend in the US to shy away from trans fats, meaning that bakeries and restaurants in the US are importing more oils from around the world, and demand has outstripped supply. The bigger cause for the shortage, however, is the demand placed on the international vegetable oil market by the rise of biofuels, which are increasingly being seen as a greener and more sustainable alternative to oil of the Texas T variety.

I heard an interview on NPR yesterday with Joshue Tickell, director of “Fields of Fuel,” a new documentary about biodiesel primiering at Sundance. Tickell described the benefits of biodiesel, which utilizes cooking oils, like soybean oil or the discarded oil from fast food restaurants, instead of gasoline. Apparently, cars don’t need any upgrades or converters to run on biodiesel; you can just pump it right into the gas tank as if it were crude oil. Several cities, like Portland, Austin, and even Las Vegas, are running municipal vehicles on biodiesel and have even installed some biodiesel pumps. Tickell said that domestically, it makes the most sense to use soybean oil for biodiesel, since we grow lots of soybeans, and because apparently you can extract the oil from soybeans but then still eat the beans, so there’d be no concommitant food loss in using soybeans for fuel. Sounded great. I really want to see the movie, which will be making its way across the country after Sundance.

The Times article today, however, points out the (inevitable) ugly side of the biofuel movement. Apparently, palm oil is the most used oil for biofuel, and 1 acre of oil palms yields as much oil as 8 acres soybeans would. No part of the oil palm, however, is edible. Segments of the US and some countries in Europe have already made the switch to biofuels, and as a result, farmers all over the world–from Borneo to Malaysia to Mumbai–are growing oil palms at the expense of food-producing crops. Oil plantations have popped up and tropical forests are being cleared to make way for oil palms, to the detriment of rhino and orangutan populations (this makes me especially sad because “Orangutan Island” is my FAVORITE new show). Of the vegetable oil that is produced, less and less of it is making its way to the kitchens of the world because it will bring a greater profit as fuel for cars and industry.

So despite all this I’d think that biofuels are still superior to crude oil. It seems that domestically, it makes much more sense to pursue energy from soybean oil rather than ethanol. First, you can eat the beans, so there’s no food waste, whereas ethanol uses the starch of the corn for energy, meaning there’s nothing left to eat. Ethanol also requires converters in fuel tanks, so the transition to ethanol seems more difficult. Yet, soybeans were down 18% in the US last year. Hmm.

I’d still be interested in knowing more about these biofuels. Like, what’s the comparison of acrage needed to produce the same amounts of energy from corn and soybeans? And what are the emissions from biofuels like? Dangerous? And what about these places that produce large amounts of palm oil–are we looking at the possibility of tyrannical and unstable regimes arising around their production?

Anyway, good article. And I really wanna see that movie.

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Politixxx

Tomorrow’s a big day for the presidential hopefuls, probably the biggest until Feb. 5, which is actually only a few weeks away. This fraught excitement will be maintained, at least around these parts, for the next 11 months.

Tomorrow both the Democratic and Republican mantles will be left in the hands of Nevadans. Gamblers, thieves and Mormons, no doubt. Just kidding, Nevada.  Except Vegas is for real pretty trashy.

We’ll see tomorrow just how far the Nevada Culinary Workers’ endorsement will get Obama, and whether Edwards, who’s been polling well, is really in play. Tomorrow’s result will also determine, accurately or not, whether it was Iowa or New Hampshire that was the fluke. I have to work for most of the day tomorrow but I’ll be covertly yet steadily checking the intrawebs.

South Carolina will also hold its Republican primary tomorrow, where the Romney-Huckabee-McCain-Giuliani-Thompson scramble just might find some minor resolution. How funny would it be if Duncan Hunter came out on top? I’m seeing McCain and Huckabee as the winners, but if Romney does well, that will be quite telling about his national possibilities. So far we know that his home turf of Michigan likes him, but it’s yet to be determined everywhere else (clearly, no one counts Wyoming). I’d go check what Zogby et. al have to say about his chances, but what’s the point?

Meanwhile, Bush’s proposed economic stimulus package reminded me today that we already have a president in office. It’s easy, and oh so consoling, to forget. But for the first time in nearly eight years, I LOVE Bush’s reasoning. His idea for fixing the oncoming recession is to send out tax rebate checks of $600-$800 to all Americans making less than $85,000 annually. Fuck, I’m stimulated already. I don’t know much more about it than what the headlines and CNN teasers imply, but so far, I likey. I likey a lot. Ginormous deficit be damned. Debt to China, suck a fat one. I can use me some cash money.

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Going Down to Loosiana

WHOA. Care of Andrew Sullivan:

April 11 and 12 will find the Louisiana Superdome interior turned into a pink and red vagina—“with a big vagina entrance,” [Eve] Ensler said—as a setting for performance events, parties, parades, workshops, wellness and education programs, speakers, even spa treatments, which will be free to residents of New Orleans and the Gulf South. (Men are excluded only from the spa.)

For those two days, New Orleans will be “the Vagina Capital of America,” Ensler said. “We’re coming here to say that we should celebrate New Orleans, cherish it, protect it, just as we do our vaginas, and make sure it goes on and on.”

Wow. I love me some…you know, but I think being inside a huge superdome-cum-va-jay-jay would make me nervous.

Still, Emily Beaucoup Crasseux will be siked.

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Still Got BENergy

Happy Birthday Ben Franklin!

The venerable Benjamin Franklin would have turned 303 today. Living in Philadelphia you’re hit over the head from a young age with Ben Franklin’s preeminence as the foremost founding father. There’s his house—Franklin Court on Market Street, the Ben Franklin Parkway, the Ben Franklin Bridge, Franklin Square, the Franklin Institute, Ben Franklin’s Philadelphia Gazette, then there’s the Philadelphia Zoo, which he founded, the Philadelphia Free Library, which he founded, the University of Pennsylvania, which he founded, the American Philosophical Society, which he founded, etc., etc. And then a few years back the whole friggin city went hog wild for his tercentenary. There were signs from all the lampposts proclaiming that “Philly’s Got BENergy!” My level of BENergy was higher than most because my old roommate Kim worshipped and, some would say, even resembled Ben Franklin. And the Yards’ Ben Franklin Ale was pretty good too.

So Kim, and Ben, this one’s for you. Happy b-day, and I leave you with the inscription Ben originally wrote for his epitaph:

The Body of B. Franklin Printer; Like the Cover of an old Book, Its Contents torn out, And stript of its Lettering and Gilding, Lies here, Food for Worms. But the Work shall not be wholly lost: For it will, as he believ’d, appear once more, In a new & more perfect Edition, Corrected and Amended By the Author. He was born on January 17, 1706. Died __.

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Year of the Rat

I arrived at work today to find that our building has been hit by the union rat. For you non-NYers, the union rat is a 20 ft. tall inflatable rat that unions erect outside of businesses that they want to embarrass. Usually this is because the businesses use non-union labor, pay low wages, etc… I’m not sure who they are targeting in our building. I tried to ask the doorman but he’s not the friendliest guy and he tends to mumble. I got the words “subcontracting,” “asbestos,” and “killed a woman” out of his explanation. Yikes. I hope this rat doesn’t stick around.

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Steve Jobs Rocks Tech World Again

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Wednesday Mid-morning

1. Nancy Pelosi leads a green, gourmet revolution in the House cafeteria. Reforms include forcing diners to recylce and replacing balogna sandwiches with pan-roasted Chesapeake rockfish, fish sticks with turkey escabeche. I don’t even want to think about what the Republicans are saying, though, I’m sure they like a good piece of brie every now and then.

2. Nick Baeudrot on Cogitamus is spot-on about how the press is incosistent in reporting on primary victories, calling Obama’s 7 point win over Hillary in Iowa a “big win,” but saying Romney’s 9 point lead over McCain in Michigan was just “edging past.” And Matt Yglesias is just wrong in calling this observation “naive.” I think a lot of people are thinking it.

3. Thomas Edsall calls Hillary’s win over “uncommitted” in Michigan “bad news” while Marc Ambinder sees it as a “big win.” Who to believe?

4. Romney’s son is named is Tagg? He would be.

5. Check out this video of Hillary’s inner Tracy Flick.

6. Oh, to be Nicolas Sarkozy…

7. Finally, a bull-sized rodent–can you even imagine?

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Vegas D’Bate

The Democratic debate from Vegas tonight was markedly different from past debates in both tone and substance. The three of them sitting around that table, all hunkered down and laying off both the attacks and the platitudinous grandstanding, showed that they’re coming round the stretch and really getting serious about winning the nomination and taking the White House. They were reassuring and presidential, all of them.

I tried to cut the tv off before the commentators got going so as not to sully my virgin opinions. Here’s my take:

Clinton
I did linger on MSNBC long enough to hear Chris Matthews barking that Hillary was the decisive winner. I don’t know about that, but she did very well, especially in terms of coming off exceedingly knowledgeable about the foreclosure crisis, her perception of Bush’s misstep today in asking OPEC to produce more oil, and national security. And even though everyone was playing nice, Hillary, even more than Edwards tonight, laid into both a few times. When Obama named his greatest weakness, he said he’s not an operating officer and the president’s job isn’t to make the trains run on time. Instead, Obama will make sure that he has good people in place. Hillary struck back more than once, emphasizing that we’ve seen the results of a president who can’t effectively manage a bureaucracy, citing Katrina. Hillary stressed that the president is the CEO, charged with the dual missions of inspiring hope AND managing a bureaucracy. While that rebuttal probably won’t win over the youngens, nor the conservatives who think she’ll bloat the bureaucracy to Soviet proportions, it marks a good contrast that I think could hurt Obama, who’s already struggling on the experience/pragmatic front. Two points to Hillary.

What I didn’t like was when she had an opportunity to ask a question of either candidate, and she asked Obama if he’d join her in legislation to stop Bush from tying Congress’s hands on Iraq. Tim Russert called that question “shrewd” because it forced Obama to jump into her camp, but I would have preferred a question that elicited an explanation about something important, like Iraq, healthcare, whether he’s quit smoking, etc. I also didn’t like how she kept dropping how this was supposed to be a “black/brown” debate. I felt awkward every time she said it (I counted thrice). Finally, at the end, when Tim Russert asked her when she decided to run for president, she dropped the ball. No one in her right mind would believe that Hillary decided one year ago to run for president. She could have told the truth (i.e., a long-ass time ago, maybe at Wellesley) or at least said something inspirational about her decision. Her answer was kinda blah. But still, a great night for Hillary I think. Though I’m not sure her performance will actually matter much in the Nevada outcome.

Obama
Obama also had an excellent night. First, he seemed to jibe with the crowd, getting two or three of the only laughs all night long. I think tonight Obama was looking past the primary and talking to the national audience. Not only did he leave the platitudes in New Hampshire and get down to the nitty gritty details, but he sounded more moderate, and, dare I say, more the way he’s been characterizing Hillary over the last few weeks. On Iraq, he implied that he’d leave some residual forces in place to protect the embassy, to protect civilians (which I took to mean the oil companies operating in Iraq), and to combat the al Qaeda insurgence. Hillary agreed, and only Edwards said that he’d get em all out, in the first year. Then on a national gun registry, Obama said, “I don’t think we can get that done.” Smart move, probably, but I would have expected him to be all for it nonetheless. Though sticking up for the Second Amendment backs up his unity theme, so it makes sense. He didn’t go on the attack at all, except to say that Hillary’s mention of the British terror plot upon Gordon Brown’s inauguration was Bush-like fear-mongering.Maybe, though it wouldn’t hurt the Dems to concede on occasion that the threat is there and it is real. Finally, Obama seized the moment in answering the question about when he decided to run for president. He had the final words of the debate, and he was hopeful, uplifting, and poignant.

Edwards
Edwards was also strong tonight, hitting his points–middle class, personal fight, releasing America from the stranglehold of moneyed interests. I think the greatest thing that Edwards accomplished tonight was distinguishing himself from Obama, and maybe even pushing Obama closer to Hillary in certain areas. This is significant because at the last debate, he was clearly siding with Obama, but apparently, no more. He pointed out that Hillary had benefited more than any other candidate from pharmaceutical donations, that is, until recently Obama surpassed her in that arena. Obama tried to defend himself, saying that fact was misleading, but the damage was done. Then when Edwards came out so definitively against nuclear energy, Obama, who’s a proponent of going nuclear, seemed to be the target. Edwards should have won over the hardcore pro-withdrawal Democrats tonight, as he’s the only of the three who doesn’t want residual forces, and would even keep the necessary QRT troops in Kuwait rather than have them on Iraqi soil. Since Edwards went into tonight only a few points behind Hillary, who was a few points behind Obama, his performance should serve him well.

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Michigan

It’s 9:00 and Romney takes Michigan. Only 10% of the precincts are reporting so far, but Romney’s the projected winner, McCain comes in second, Huckabee third. I guess Romney won’t die that easily. Typical evil droid.

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This and That

All the headlines are kind of boring lately—all played out Hillary-Obama race remarks and Bush’s too-little, too-late trip to Israel and the rest of the Mid-East. Although, I like picturing Bush visiting King Abdullah’s Saudi Arabian ranch
(I wonder if they’re driving around in a pickup, clearing brush). Anyway, here’s a few fun things I’ve found this morning:

1. Virginia Postrel’s article in The Atlantic Monthly about fonts is really interesting. I mean, if you’re into serifs and such. (If you’re not an Atlantic subscriber, find much of the article here, along with a video clip from a documentary about the font Helvetica. Me, I prefer Trebuchet.)

2. On her blog, Postrel also links to a cool website devoted to rating the designs of flags from around the world. The rater gives letter grades to the flags and makes comments, like, “Machete on flag nicely depicted but not wise idea” about Angola’s flag and, about the Falkland Islands flag, “Worst UK colonial flag. Has a sheep on it. Actually, if you look closely, you can see that the sheep is riding on top of an island, which is riding on top of a ship. Also the stupid slogan is in English, and is a platitude.”

3. With all the outcry for universities to abolish affirmative action in admissions practices (a subject about which I’m all too familiar), I was thankful that Times legal columnist Adam Liptak devoted his “Sidebar” column today to the unfairness of legacy preferences in admissions. It’s funny how all the people who whine and rant over how affirmative action is so debilitatingly disenfranchising for the poor white man seem to have no problem at all with colleges giving preferences to the children of alumni. What’s more, Liptak implies that there might be nothing unconstitutional about legacy preferences. In what seems to me to be a blatant double standard, old Justice Pube-on-the-Coke Thomas wrote in a 2003 Supreme Court case challenging the University of Michigan Law School’s affirmative action policies, “while legacy preferences can stand under the Constitution…racial discrimination cannot.” Say what? If you’re into legal stuff and the university, check out Liptak’s column.

4. Kucinich has challenged the NH primary final vote, and a NH judge granted a recount, to happen tomorrow.

5. The Atlantic cover story about the possible future of a post-occupation Iraq contains a lot of “we don’t know what might happen,” but the possible map that former army Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Peters Peters suggested, on a whim, is fun to look at. Peters challenges the current borders of the modern Middle-East and suggests dividing Iraq into Shia and Sunni states, carving out states for the Kurds, the Palestinians, and the Alawites, among others, and getting rid of Saudi Arabia. His redrawn map admittedly has the ring of imperial impositions and leaders across the region got bent out of shape about it, especially Turkey, which in his depiction is cut down to about half its current size. Still, interesting.

See the map up close here.

Otherwise, I’m trying to finish up some work and then gearing up for tonight’s Democratic debate from Vegas. Some may be getting tired of all these debates but I’m finding them more and more important. Clinton and Obama are both picking it up a notch–Clinton did a great job on MTP this Sunday with Tim Russert, and Obama’s Saturday speech to some pentacostal church in Vegas was moving. He spun a great comparison between himself and Joshua, Moses’s successor who considered himself unworthy but then led the Israelites to retake the land of Canaan. It was powerful shit. And while I haven’t seen much of Edwards lately, he’s up there nearing a three-way tie with Hill and Obama. I assume Edwars, if he does well, will siphen off votes from Obama, but that’s just my humble opinion. We’ll see what happens tonight, and what nuggets the vultures will seize upon for tomorrow.

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Beef

 

I awoke this morning to some disturbing news on the cloned food front. The Washington Post is reporting that the FDA has decided that cloned meat and dairy products are as safe as those from normal animals. The 968-page report detailing the FDA’s decision was of course based on very scientific data. Although there are all sorts of questions regarding the changes in gene activity, aka epigenetics, that result from having just one parent, according to the article,

“In the end, facing the reality that epigenetics have never been a factor in assessing the wholesomeness of food, agency scientists decided to use the same simple but effective standard used by farmers since the dawn of agriculture: If a farm animal appears in all respects to be healthy, then presume that food from that animal is safe to eat.”

Hmmm, what about the same simple but effective standard of naturally breeding animals using two parents? You know, that which has been used since the dawn of agriculture? It disturbs me that there is no mention of the rationale for cloned meat. Aren’t we already producing more than enough meat and dairy products? Isn’t it cheap enough? And nutritious enough? Seriously, what is the point of cloning food?

Even more disturbing:

“FDA officials have said they do not expect to require food from clones to be labeled as such, but they may allow foods from ordinary animals to be labeled as not from clones.”

This will not only make it more difficult to be an informed consumer, but it will also most likely make naturally raised foods more expensive ala the organic movement. This in turn puts most of the potential risk from eating cloned meat on the people who cannot afford healthier options. This is nothing new of course. According to the Rudd Center for Food Policy at Yale, calories from vegetables like zucchini and lettuce are 100 times more expensive than calories from oil, butter and sugar. The poor are already more likely to be unhealthy and obese than their wealthier counterparts as a result.

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No Time for Moral Dilemmas

I’ve spent much of this week working at part-time job. I’ve been scheduled for the early shift, starting at 7:30 am, which is actually the only moderately early shift, since the place opens at 5:30 am. Ungodly.

During my half hour lunch breaks, in which I barely have time to eat my peanut butter sandwich on the way to Starbucks, buy a paper, and go to the ATM or buy a stamp, I keep getting assaulted by these Human Rights Campaign kids who stalk the corners in Center City seeking eye contact with potentially sympathetic passers-by. They apparently want us to sign something and most likely want money from us. Whenever I spot that ubiquitous yellow equals sign sticker on their earnest little binders, I put my head down and walk even faster. Yes, even their binders are earnest. One day I pretended I was talking on my phone, and even had a mock conversation about actual events of the day, as if the freaking HRC volunteer was gonna fact-check my convo.

Nonetheless, they approach me day after day and say, “do you have a minute for gay rights?” Do I have just a minute for gay rights? My reply has been, “no, sorry” because I really can’t spare even one of my thirty minutes, for any cause. They scowl at my unwillingness to humor them and act like I must not know from gay rights.

Today, a dude with a soul patch said, “do you have a second for gay rights?” A second? This kid’s obviously the brains of the operation. His philosophy is clearly “start with a question they can’t disagree with.” I mean, of course I have a second, so when I decline, the implication is that I just don’t have a second for gay rights. Crafty bastard. I was so pissed at his rhetorical entrapment that I forewent the “sorry” and replied with a curt “no.” I saw the self-righteousness in his eyes. I wanted to push him and yell “YOU DON’T KNOW ME!” But that would have taken too much time.

So this post is for the HRC people, and likewise for the whatever children’s fund people that are always milling about. Just keep away from me, guys. I’m not gonna give you money or even talk to you, so I’d like to be spared the awkwardness and the moral dilemma of ostensibly not supporting your causes.

I guess I’ll just keep having to walk with added determination and make up pretenses for ignoring them.

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Mixmaster Mike

Philly’s newly minted Mayor Michael Nutter delivered an inaugural rap yesterday. Please please check out the Youtube.

Why do politicians do this? Remember the Carl Rove rapping freakshow?

Shuuuuuuuudder.

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For the Woman Who Has Everything

Ew.

NORRISTOWN, Pa. – A western Pennsylvania man who mailed a bloody cow’s head to his wife’s lover has been sentenced to probation and community service.

…

The victim received a package containing a cow’s head with a puncture wound in its skull on June 1, 2006.

Police said Fife obtained the cow’s head from a butcher shop, claiming he wanted the dried skull for decoration. Instead, he mailed the head frozen, so as not to alert parcel carriers to the contents, police said. The box became bloody after sitting on the victim’s doorstep on a warm day.

…

Jason Michael Fife “understands that in a civilized society a person cannot send a severed cow’s head to anybody,” said his defense lawyer, Henry Hilles.

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