bartonsblog

Last Man Limping

2012-02-09T10:52:00.003Z

So Rick Santorum is shaking things up in the GOP primaries. I suppose he's the last 'not-Romney' alternative left since enough people appear to have remembered how loathsome Newt Gingrich is for him to have lost much of his traction and the media has clearly decided long ago to pretend Ron Paul doesn't exist.

But Santorum? Really? His shameful history of corruption and bigotry doesn't really make up for Romney's compulsive dishonesty. Ron Paul may be slightly batty, but he's got more personal integrity than the other three candidates combined. And then quadrupled.

Santorum is at least as well known for being devoutly pro-life (or at least pro-life when it comes to zygotes and embryos) as for his complete intolerance of gay people and our frequent tendency to exist. I can respect a sincerely held belief that abortion is immoral, even if I happen to disagree. However. Santorum goes well beyond that.

Here's a fun story. Actually, it's not fun. It's totally gross and more than a little disturbing. So you have been warned:

In 1996, Santorum's wife Karen was pregnant, and doctors told her that the fetus had a fatal defect and would, at best, survive only a short time outside the womb.Many couples would choose to end that pregnancy, to terminate it, to abort it, depending on your perspective. They chose to soldier on, and that's great.

Then Karen developed a life-threatening intrauterine infection and a fever of 105 degrees. The vast majority of couples would have ended the pregnancy to savethe mother's life. But that would have been political suicide in pro-life circles, and the Santorums did everything possible deliver the baby. Finally, they induced labor using pitocin, even though the fetus was 20 weeks old. No baby has ever survived birth at 20 weeks. Ever. So doing so is very close to anabortion using indirect means. Still, 2 or three babies (in history) have survived at 21 weeks and a few days, so why not give it a chance? Again, fair enough.

The baby was delivered and died very quickly. A terrible tragedy. Still fine. It's what the Santorums did next that is strange. They would not let the body go to the morgue. Instead, they slept that night in the hospital with the corpse between them, then took it home and had their children hold and cuddlethe cold, dead, day-old body of their sibling, who they named Gabriel. Next, Karen wrote a best-selling book, "Letters to Gabriel," and the couple has missed no chance since then to brag about this as their commitment to the pro-life cause.

Ick ick ick. I'm sorry, I don't want to be unreasonably critical of how the man reacted in the face of a personal trauma, but that is beyond twisted.

So here's a thought, let's upgrade him from failed corrupt politician and wack job to President of the United States of America. With nuclear weapons at his disposal - maybe he'll fire them at gay people.

Spot The Difference

2012-01-25T15:49:00.003Z

Ok, it's kind of a cheap shot. Kind of. So sue me.

Conventional Wisdom

2012-01-23T14:48:00.002Z

The boundless ego, the bizarre private behaviour, the corruption, the breathtaking personal and professional hypocracy, the endless, batshit-crazy 90's era rants...Newt Gingrich has more baggage than Chicago International Airport. I keep reading pundits online repeating the mantra that Gingrich has no chance of getting the Republican nomination, because he is simply unelectable.

And I keep thinking, that they are all focused on how unpopular Newt became in the 1990's. That was then. Nowadays, batshit crazy seems to be a prerequisite for anyone wanting to lead the ever-more-extreme Republican Party. I'm not predicting that he will win the nomination, I'm just saying that the people voting in the primaries don't necessarily know any better than to vote for him. This is the era of Sarah Palin, Donald Trump and Rush Limbaugh setting the agenda. in 2012, crackpot is the new black.

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Mixed Bag

2012-01-23T11:29:00.001Z

I've been so exasperated with the British Government's approach to the massive spending cuts over the past couple of years. Services and support for poor and working class families are being cut so deeply that many have had to fold. Just in the last week, Homestart, a terrific charity that works very closely and effectively with some of our community's most vulnerable families has announced that they are closing their local branch in Milton Keynes due to government funding cuts.

Now we are in a new era, where all charities have an obligation to explore revenue-generating options and work towards greater self-sustainability, and that's not a bad thing. However, one of the main challenges associated with this new landscape is that when (as it is in Homestart's case) your clientele are the most financially disadvantaged members of society, trying to raise money from them can be like getting blood from a stone. Some important charitable services will always need public funds to survive.

And it drives me absolutely batty when Tory politicians, flying straight in the face of the obvious, flatly deny that their strategy has resulted in poor families suffering:

On the other hand, the Coalition Governement has taken some sensible steps as well. The richest tax bracket have had their income tax rate temporarily raised to 50% to help with this aggressive deficit-reduction period. Contrast that with Obama suggesting that the richest Americans have their tax rate bumped back up to 39.5% from 35% to the apocalyptic howls of the GOP.

David Cameron has also surprised and impressed me with his stance on new regulations for the financial industry. He's pushing forward with legislation to break up the banks so that the riskier and unethical (but legal) practices that plunged us into this mess are sliced off into their own separate businesses. Oversight of the financial industry will be strengthened in 2012, and the government is introducing measures to make bank top executives' salaries and bonuses subject to the votes of shareholders.

All of these are gutsy and surprisingly on-target for a set of Conservative Tory proposals, and while some or all may be gutted and weakened by the time they are passed into law, I've got to give credit where it's due. I'm not aware of any other major western government that has stood up to the financial industry and taken action on these important steps in response to the current crisis.

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I, Brit

2012-01-09T13:26:00.002Z

Well, it's official, my British citizenship application has been approved and I'm awaiting confirmation of the date of my citizenship ceremony. The passport will come later, after I've paid the rather sizable additional fee required for it. Once complete, the citizenship ceremony will give me dual citizenship to both the UK and US, but more than that, it gives me the confidence of knowing I can't be deported on a whim, gives me the right to vote in British elections, gives me the freedom to work and live anywhere in Europe and let's not forget the benefit of having two passports while traveling between the US and UK.

I've written before about how strange it is to be stuck in the middle of these two similar, yet very different cultures - how I seem like something of an outsider no matter which county I'm in (not least because of my weird hybrid accent.) Having citizenship here won't necessarily make me feel more English, but after fifteen years in the UK, it's definitely time for me to become a fully functioning member of British society.

I hope it goes without saying, but my original citizenship in the United States remains intact and a very important part of my identity and history. The other thing that occurs to me, is that while Tony and most of the other people in my life here in the UK are citizens by birthright, my citizenship will be a privilege and I am grateful for the opportunity to show I am worthy of it.

Kira

2012-01-01T12:46:00.000Z

We rescued Kira from a very sad situation when she was a puppy back in 1999. In the twelve years since, a day has not gone by in which that she has not make me smile or laugh. The unconditional love and companionship that you get from a dog is one of the things I value most highly in life, and the love and joy that Kira has brought me will stay with me always. Kira died on Wednesday and has left behind two broken-hearted men and a very sad dog.

Your pack misses you terribly, sweetie.

Blog Spray!

2011-11-25T10:35:00.001Z

We've been scrambling to find Tony a long term job to replace the one he lost earlier this year from redundancy / being laid off, and it's been a pretty stressful time. We're vulnerable, but still surviving for the moment, I guess that's something to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

So, I guess my mind has not really been on this blog, but for the handful of people who haven't completely given up on me and might eventually check back and see this, life has not stopped:

My British citizenship application has been submitted and I expect to have the Home Office's decision by the end of April 2012. Fingers crossed!

Tony made a very kind friend in the bodywork industry who has very generously painted and fitted new bumpers onto his beloved van, as well as touching up a few little spots that were going a bit rusty. And he charged Tony a grand total of nothing for the work. How sweet was that!

We can't really afford to go out to eat at the moment, but when we're feeling reckless, we've been occasionally indulging in some home delivery from Percy's. It's a new, family-owned business in Milton Keynes that has somehow - and I don't know how - managed to reproduce the smoked and slow-roasted techniques of American BBQ. And it is gooood.

And yesterday, I had the pleasure of running into one of the young people I once worked with back in the days when I was doing youth work. He was just a kid at the time, and now he's nearly thirty and clearly a fully grown man. Christ, did that make me feel old!

Goosebumps

2011-09-24T12:07:00.000+01:00

This is beyond eerie - I am thoroughly creeped out. Context: Queen drummer Roger Taylor is holding an online contest to celebrate Queen's 40th anniversary and this young guy, Marc Martel, has just clearly blown the competition out of the water. I can't tell you what a soft spot I have in my heart for Freddie Mercury, he and Graham Chapman were the only two gay role models I had growing up and his death at a time when I was going through the coming out process as a Freshmen at University hit me where it hurt. Mercury was such a rare talent, one of the best pop / rock vocalists in history, and for young Mr Martel to evoke him so closely is deeply impressive as far as I'm concerned! Anyone else sense a film biopic coming?

A Question About Sacrifice

2011-09-23T11:42:00.000+01:00

I'm no economist, and I've struggled to wrap my head around the current economic crisis. I am persuaded that the only path back to a thriving, more stable and less vulnerable economy and a robust middle and working class is a combination of job creation, infrastructure investment and reform of the financial industry.

The people who are in a position to do something about this are politicians and the banks, including the IMF, of course. Those people seem to be fixated on reducing deficits, removing regulatory protections and cutting taxes on the wealthiest - a category that virtually all of them reside within - as the magic bullet that will put us (?) on the right track.

To me, that sounds like a recovery that will put them - the wealthiest - on more profitable ground, but that won't likely in itself result in much job creation, if any, leaving the working and (what's left of the) middle class in a desperate situation. Is that really a recovery?

So from where I'm sitting, the only route back up out of this hole that will restore some semblance of the kind of America and Britain that we all enjoyed living in in the 1990's is a path that will require the wealthy and powerful to bring in changes that will personally cost them money. We need them to be prepared to share in the sacrifice. I fear that my optimism is failing.

25 Years in Milton Keynes

2011-09-20T17:01:00.001+01:00

No, not me, the MK Community Foundation. To celebrate our 25 years in Milton Keynes, we've had a short film made to show the kinds of support we offer in our community. Pay close attention and you'll spot a rather dashing, ever so slightly balding gentleman with a strange accent. Must be from Canada, or something.

Throwing NASA A Bone

2011-09-20T12:12:00.001+01:00

For anyone with a love of space science, the heavy budget cuts NASA is facing are a very bitter pill to swallow. One of the most upsetting consequences of the cuts was the announcement of the cancellation of the exciting James Webb Space Telescope programme.

The James Webb Space Telescope with its six and a half metre primary mirror was designed to be much better than the aging Hubble Telescope for peering into the furthest distances in the known universe and searching for more clues to the beginning of everything. This infrared telescope will also enhance our knowledge of the life cycles of stars and will aid in the ongoing search for life elsewhere in the universe.

The good news is, this project has been pulled back from the brink and looks to be back on track. With luck, it will be rocketing its way to its orbit, a million miles from the surface of the Earth in 2018.

I Despair

2011-08-15T14:33:00.003+01:00

From the NYT on 13th August:

As the economy worsens, President Obama and his senior aides are considering whether to adopt a more combative approach on economic issues, seeking to highlight substantive differences with Republicans in Congress and on the campaign trail rather than continuing to pursue elusive compromises, advisers to the president say.

Ya think? What a brainstorm. Who are these people?

It's not like there's not truckloads of evidence to combat the usual rhetorical nonsense coming from the right. Warren Buffet has written an Op-Ed that makes it look easy. Maybe he should run for President.

Hat tip: Balloon Juice
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The Hopeless

2011-08-10T11:47:00.001+01:00

I think it's safe to say that, aside from anger, the reaction most people in Britain are having to the recent riots is, "why?"

You could argue that riots are a British institution. The 1950's and 1960's were marked by race riots in Notting Hill and Middlesborough, as well as an escalation of violent sectarian uprisings in Northern Ireland, which continued to worsen through the 1970's and 80's. London also saw significant rioting (usually linked to racial tensions) in the 1970's with Notting Hill and Southall as notable examples. The 1980's were a British Riot-A-Rama, with mass violence occuring in Bristol, Brixton, Toxteth, Moss Side (Manchester), Leeds, Birmingham and London, not to mention the continuing violence in Northern Ireland. Of course, the 1990's famously featured the 'Poll Tax' riots in London in which an estimated quarter-million people took to the streets in anger over one of the Thatcher government's most repellent pieces of legislation.

So this is nothing new, but what's perplexing people is that there is no explicit 'cause' or identifiable reason for these riots, which are now spreading all across the country. There have even been some minor incidents here in Milton Keynes over the past day or two. Some point to the first public demonstration in London, which devolved into a mob last weekend. That was reportedly initiated by people angered over the shooting of a young man by police who mistook his BB gun for a real firearm, but to suggest that what has gone on around the country over the past few days is a response to that doesn't add up and no one is seriously suggesting that is the case, anyway.

The main aim of these riots appears to be thrill-seeking and theft by young people (some of them VERY young, even pre-teens). But why now? And why is it apparently so contagious?

Here are some clues:

Unemployment amongst 16-24 year olds hasn't been this high in decades.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show the "inactive" population – which comprises young people who are neither working nor unemployed – stands at nearly 3 million, the highest level since the data was first collected in 1992.

University Tuition fees have ballooned in the past year, placing higher education firmly out of the reach of many young people from poorer backgrounds.

The 'Austerity Measures' brought in by the coalition government have resulted in huge funding cuts to youth-support programmes and charities around the country. On a national scale, the opportunities for help, advice, guidance and personal development are being stripped away from the young people who need them most.

And then there's the usual suspects - broken homes, history of abuse, an apparent disinterest in the lives and hardships of the poor by those in power, etc. None of this is sufficient as a justification of what is happening, but it does go some way to explaining why so many young people are getting involved in the horrific violence and looting of the past week.

There is a consequence to pushing large swathes of your population into poverty, with no support, no positive role models and struggling parents (many of whom are addled by the drug addiction and alcoholism that often accompanies poverty) trying to raising their children in a culture of disposability, paranoia and a class structure that robs them of aspiration and any optimism or hope for their own futures.

Erin Go Blecch

2011-08-09T15:11:00.000+01:00

Irish budget airline, RyanAir, has been at the centre of a number of controversies over the past few years, to the point where you just have to sigh and roll your eyes whenever the news mentions their name, or the name of their outrageously unlikable CEO, Michael O'Leary. RyanAir is one of those airlines that makes you pay on the flight if you want to use the toilet. What? They're the only airline that does that? I suppose the rest of these are a bit unusual, as well...

Capt Fischer was responding to the CEO's latest savings measure: to get rid of the co-pilot from Ryanair cockpits. To quote O’Leary, he said “Let the bloody computer fly it.” Instead of a co-pilot, O’Leary wants to train a member of cabin crew to act as “back-up” should anything happen to the pilot mid-flight.

Whilst many have slammed budget airline Ryanair for numerous reasons, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) have described the airline as "puerile and childish" over its payment policy off adding fees when customers use all but one type of credit card to pay online.

Ryanair's 'Ins & Wchr Levy' is an 'Insurance & Wheelchair Levy'. ...Ryanair then added the Wheelchair levy after passenger Bob Ross took the airline to court after it charged him £18 (25€) for the use of a wheelchair to board a Ryanair flight in 2002.

When Per-Erik Jonsson went into a cardiac arrest on a RyanAir flight from the U.K. to Sweden on Sunday, all the airline staff did was offer him a sandwich....Once Jonsson had recovered slightly, the flight crew came to the family asking for payment for the sandwich and soda.

There's so much more. Just Google 'Ryanair' and 'controversy' or 'complaint' and you'll hit the motherload. How on earth this company gets any return business is beyond me.

Quote Of The Day

2011-08-09T14:19:00.001+01:00

People have questioned [your ability] as a presenter in tough situations. How will you handle the more awkward and intense interviews?

"...I used to work for Ryanair, it will be fine."

The host of the new UK version of Big Brother, Brian Dowling, is a former BB champion.

...But I Know What I Like

2011-08-09T11:39:00.002+01:00

I'm going to break my rule today about talking about my job on this blog, because like a proud poppa, I've got a beautiful baby to show off! We principally offer funding to local charities and non-profits delivering services to the community, but the exception to that is our Arts Bursary. I launched this shortly after I got the job three years ago and it's been a great success. The purpose of this £8,000 award is to help an emerging local artist to develop their professional prospects and move their career as an artist onto the next level.

The panel of judges I assembled includes the Director of the MK Gallery, who was so impressed by the calibre of last year's eight finalists that he invited them to hold a joint exhibition at the Gallery and it has just opened to great reviews and a barn-storming preview event that must have been one of their best attended evenings ever.

On a personal level, I've grown tremendously fond of all eight of these young artists and couldn't be more pleased that they are enjoying the spotlight. The exhibition is going to run all summer long and I'm really hoping it attracts some national attention. If you happen to be in MK, please do make a trip to the Gallery and enjoy it while you can!

The film above is a series of short interviews with all eight artists, and gives you some idea of their work. I wonder if you can guess which artist won the Bursary award....

The Happy Damned

2011-08-02T21:27:00.000+01:00

The ever-reliable Andrew Sullivan has posted the most interesting thing I've read so far this week:

The vast majority of "ex-gays," in my view, are not ex-gay in any internal sense; except if their inability to accept their true nature is so overwhelming that they'd rather live as tortured heteros than marginalized homos. They can do it, of course, and it should emphatically be their choice. But in many cases, it will come at enormous personal and human cost.

Still, good luck to them. My view is that the point of the gay rights movement is not to force everyone to be gay, or even every gay person to be openly gay, it is to expand the possibilities for individuals to be themselves. That must include those gays who cannot bear to be who they are. Unhappiness, like happiness, is an option every free society should respect.

I started coming out to friends at the age of fifteen, in the not-so-gay-friendly South Carolina of 1987, so I clearly wasn't about to spend my life pretending to be something I'm not. I think Andrew makes a really good point about affording the private choices of 'ex gays' their due respect. It's just unfortunate that in their efforts to live someone else's life, these tortured men and women involve so many unwitting spouses and children in the subsequent implosions.

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DC's BFD

2011-08-02T14:00:00.004+01:00

In my world, this is big news:

...nothing has caused a ripple in the comic book world more than the news that DC is relaunching the DC Universe.

Most of DC's comics take place in a shared universe, in which crossovers and big multi-title events are a regular fixture. This leads to a lot of shared continuity to keep track of, and over the years the concern is that the shared universe gets so burdened and complicated by past continuity that it puts off new readers. This is one explanation for the steadily decreasing sales figures of almost all monthly comic publications over the past ten to fifteen years. Most monthly titles from the major publishers are thrilled to sell 70-80k copies. 100k is a big hit in 2011, but when comics were in their heyday of the 1950's the top titles could sell 3-4 million copies per month.

Publishing in general is in trouble. Magazines and newspapers of all stripes are struggling to survive in the current market, and internet publishing is really the only hope for many of them, if they can find a way to generate sufficient revenue from advertisers and subscribers online.

So DC Comics (which is owned by Warners) is killing two birds with one stone. They are rebooting their continuity, starting every single one of their titles over this September with a new number 1 and moving to 'day and date' digital distribution of their whole line, meaning that as soon as a comic appears on the stands of the (few remaining) comic book shops, it can also be purchased online, through iTunes or any of the other comic-reading apps available. Obviously, the hope is that this will attract many new readers, and revitalize the medium.

Supergirl will arrive on earth with an attitude, no idea where she is from, very unsure whether she likes humans at all, and will little inclination to believe Superman when he tries to explain it all to her.

I do hope so, I'm on-board and interested to see what they do with the new continuity. Some characters are getting a complete update, with the aim of becoming more relevant to the world of today. Others, are getting just tweaks. For his part, Superman is now quite a bit younger and unmarried. And they've ditched the red shorts over blue tights look; instead of a leotard, Supes is wearing some sort of segmented armor (see above.) Don't ask my why Superman needs armor.

Grandaddy title, Action Comics, will depict Kal-El's early days as an angry young man, sticking up for the little guy and running (or flying) from the cops while sporting a more grassroots T-shirt and jeans.

And the new range will offer a lot of variety. Thought the initial 52 titles included in the September relaunch are predominantly superhero comics, they've also got books (or plans for books) in pretty much every genre you can think of. My only concern is that their online price point is the same as it is for the print version - $2.99 in most cases. On the newstand, they are competing against magazines, but online, they will be competing with apps and mp3 single downloads which tend to be significantly cheaper. I worry that $2.99 is too much to be an impulse buy for a mildly curious newbie.

And it's a topic for another day, but the process of digitising comics essentially means sticking them in a scanner and posting the images intact. The medium of digital distribution opens up so many possibilities for comics to evolve and offer a different experience than the print version (not that there's anything wrong with the print version!) But it's early days and I'm very much looking forward to seeing this industry grow, continue to mature and hopefully thrive. Because if it doesn't, the comic book's days may be re-numbered.

(Ha! See what I did there?)

Men of War #1, written by Ivan Brandon will follow a group of seasoned military vets who work for a Blackwater-style security firm, making their way through a scarred and dangerous landscape.

Quote Of The Week

2011-08-02T11:48:00.000+01:00

"The deal forced upon the White House and the nation represents a form of economic malpractice," said AFSCME president Gerald McEntee. "At the least, it will slow economic recovery and impose more joblessness, wage cuts and hardship on America’s working families. The tea party held the nation hostage in order to advance an extreme ideology – at the expense of what is good for the nation and our economy."

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Happy Tenth Birthday, Dominic!

2011-08-01T20:29:00.000+01:00

I'm sorry I couldn't be there to celebrate with you, kiddo!

What's With Obama?

2011-08-01T20:05:00.001+01:00

I've been following the federal budget catastrophe pretty closely over the past months, with greater and greater disbelief that it has reached this stage. The Republican party of 2011 is completely unrecognisable to me now. This is a party that suddenly seems eager for the United States to effectively declare bankruptcy, even though we have the ability to keep paying our bills (just). This is the same party that made it much harder for ordinary Americans to declare bankruptcy just a few years ago (as commanded by the banking and credit industries who subsequently showed their gratitude by destroying the economy. You're effin' welcome.)

But I suppose the Republicans in Congress see the stakes now as extremely high,. Nothing could seem more threatening to them, after all, than the prospect of a repeal of the Bush tax cuts on the wealthy. Putting the wealthiest Americans' taxes back to where they were during the booming 90's would be a total catastrophe, clearly, and preventing that from happening is worth heaping any amount of hardship on the rest of Americans. You know, the serfs.

And so we have a 'compromise' (exactly what did the Republican's compromise on again? Their nihilism?) This deal mandates a few trillion dollars worth of federal spending cuts, which will certainly hurt those vulnerable people who are relying on the support of federal programmes for the poor, disabled, elderly, veterans, etc. But don't worry - it's ok, because the plan doesn't stipulate a single penny of increased revenue as part of the strategy. Democrats agreed not to raise the taxes on rich people at all for now.

Because why should the rich have to sacrifice anything during this difficult time of war and recession?

The scales are so far out of balance, they have tipped over and are lying on their side. And throughout all of this debate, President Obama did have a trump card - the 14th Amendment of the Constitution explicitly stipulates that the US cannot default on its debts. Period. But Obama said weeks ago, that he would not invoke the Constitution in this matter and that any 14th Amendment considerations were 'off the table.'

This isn't the first time President Obama has entered negotiations with an inexplicable and totally counter-productive surrender of his most powerful negotiating chip. During the healthcare debate, he surprisingly started off by saying that the public option / single-payer / 'Medicare for All' was 'off the table.' Even though polls showed a majority wanted it and he'd specifically (and successfully, I might add) campaigned for it.

And we've seen this over and over. Steve Benen of the Washington Monthly wrote a great editorial about this last December - highly recommended. I don't pretend to have the answers, but negotiating from a position of weakness in which you've abandoned your strongest arguments and assets at the outset seems completely foolish to me. I don't blame Obama for the fiscal mess we're in, but I wish he were trying harder to lead effectively from a position of strength.

After all, his opponents in the Tea Party caucus of the House are insane and their arguments are ridiculously easy to disprove. I voted for Obama and am rooting for his success, because I believe it will ultimately mean success for all Americans. But when it comes to handling the challenges of working with a hostile Congress, this President gets a 'D' from me.

Blogspray: July 2011

2011-08-01T20:05:00.000+01:00

So where the hell have I been? Well...

Community Foundation Network - Community Philanthropy Conference 2011 from The Media Company on Vimeo.

I attended a very good conference in Newcastle. If you look sharp, you can spot me a couple times in the above video. (At 2:46 you can see me at the right of screen.) A couple of the speakers were particularly outstanding and my colleagues and I have returned to MK full of inspiration and ideas! My favourite speaker of the whole event was a guy from Seattle, named Jim Diers, who has been traveling all over the UK, spreading the gospel of community mobilisation - armed with a treasure trove of outstanding success stories from Washington state. there's been something very special and innovative going on in Seattle over the past couple of decades.

I also went away for a week with Tony and his extended clan to a beautiful farm in the hills of Devon. We had a brilliant time enjoying the views, animals and each others' company. Very relaxing - just what the doctor ordered!

The Farm

The View

The Residents

And a week ago, Tony and I spent a long weekend enjoying Bug Jam 25. I love festivals, but each year they seem to wear me out a little bit more. We were joined by Tony's sister, youngest brother and their respective partners - as well as a niece and two nephews. It used to just be Tony and me going to these things, but over the years they've become a family affair, which is lovely and does make it a bit more special for us.

Tony and the love of his life at Bug Jam 25

Weine-Rama

2011-06-08T19:32:00.001+01:00

Look at this guy. Why is it that every time a sex scandal gets blanket, unavoidable internet and media coverage, it involves somebody you can't imagine anyone wants to touch?

Of course in this case, Congressman Weiner isn't in trouble for actually touching anybody. Everything I've seen about this online suggests I should have an opinion about the story, but it's not easy to get worked up over some prat taking absurdly vain glamour shots of himself in various stages of undress and sending them to his internet girlfriends. Girlfriends whom he has never met.

Republicans in Washington are arguing that to brush this aside with the disinterest it obviously warrants is a double-standard when so much hay was made of their own party's recent scandales des perv.

But is this inexplicable, non-criminal stupidity really on a par with closeted Congressman Mark Foley seducing barely legal congressional page boys and taking them on a variety of taxpayer and lobbyist-funded romantic getaways? With closeted Senator Larry Craig leading a secret double life and getting arrested for soliciting sex from strange men in airports? Hmm.

But saying that, if I were one of Weiner's constituents, I'd have to think very carefully if I could vote to reellect someone so stupid as to think he could act like that and somehow never have it come back to haunt him. What a weiner. (Sorry.) I suppose it's unlikely he'll survive in office that long, anyway.

In other news...

Tony and I are among the million disappointed people in the UK who applied for tickets to the 2012 London Olympics (to four different events in our case) only to find that we didn't get any. So we'll be watching on television like everybody else, I guess, which is pants, considering the fact that it will be taking place about 50 miles from here.

In the news today, there is a lot of discussion about the Conservative government rethinking a new bill on criminal sentencing. As the prisons in the UK are so heinously overcrowded, prisoners are being released earlier and earlier. So what solutions are the government considering? Might they be looking into the research on alternative, non-custodial sentencing for non-violent offenders? Are they talking about whether it really makes sense to send people to prison for being drug addicts? No. They were considering reducing the mandatory sentences for rape.

Sometimes I really hate politics.

It Ain't Easy Bein' A Pimp

2011-05-25T17:01:00.000+01:00

This picture makes me want to hug something.

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Remember Compassionate Conservatism?

2011-05-25T16:56:00.000+01:00

No, me neither. But there was a period about ten years ago when prominent Republican politicians were attempting to insist that they weren't the stereotypical 'crush the poor' capitalists. George W Bush's campaign coined the term 'Compassionate Conservatism' in 2000 and ran for President on it successfully, so it must have been felt to carry some weight with the electorate.

Well, no longer. In the past week, we've seen this:

In a bill released Monday, Republicans proposed cutting $832 million – or 12 percent – from this year's budget for the federal nutrition program that provides food for low-income mothers and children. The 2012 budget proposal for food and farm programs also includes a decrease of almost $457 million, or 31 percent, from an international food assistance program that provides emergency aid and agricultural development dollars to poor countries. The legislation would provide $71 billion for food stamps, $2 billion less than the Obama administration projected would be necessary for next year.

Right. So, food for the poor and hungry < tax cuts for the rich. Simple maths.

And this:

Rep. Rob Woodall, a Georgia Republican, made a vigorous ideological defense of ending Medicare as it currently exists, telling seniors at a local town hall that they ought not look to the government to provide health care for the elderly just because their private employer doesn't offer health benefits for retirees.
...
"The private corporation that I retired from does not give medical benefits to retirees," (a) woman told the congressman...
"Hear yourself, ma'am. Hear yourself," Woodall told the woman. "You want the government to take care of you, because your employer decided not to take care of you. My question is, 'When do I decide I'm going to take care of me?'"

Ok. Even Republicans used to pretend that Mediare was a sacred cow, but now that's all changed and providing health care for seniors is apparently ethically and morally wrong from the New Right's point of view. It's socialism, and everybody knows that socialism is a fetid bottom burp from the rear end of Beelzebub himself.

Can I just try a thought experiment here? Let's say that Representative Woodall's fondest dream became a reality, and every single American citizen yanked on their own bootstraps and became fabulously wealthy and we effectively had an America of 300 million CEO's, investment bankers and property moguls. Can a society function like that?

The short answer is no. Capitalism from the outset always presupposed a class system, and the Daddy of Capitalist philiosophy, Adam Smith, made it quite clear that in order for this system to work, the rich would be required to pay proportionately more taxes so that the poor and low-paid workers wouldn't be left to abject poverty and starvation. Apparently ignorant of this basic tenet of capitalism, these modern-day greed monsters seem to be of the impression that anyone who isn't rich is letting not just themselves, but the whole country down and would be better off leaving. One woman at the town hall meeting with Woodall remarked that she was afraid that without Medicare, and having to rely on a government voucher system that would provide significantly less coverage, her health care costs could become a crippling burden on her children.

Woodall suggested that the woman concerned about vouchers might find the type of health care system she and her children approve of in Canada or another industrialized nation.

Hey Woodall, your defective understanding of our system is completely unworkable, as anyone with a scintilla of critical thinking going on between their ears could tell you. And I couldn't help but notice that you are a total hypocrite, happily receiving without complaint a tax-funded government health care plan benefiting you and your entire family. He just doesn't want YOU to have it, you filthy, disease-ridden, non-wealthy person.

What a prick.

"The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state."

"The rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion"

"Every tax, however, is, to the person who pays it, a badge, not of slavery, but of liberty."

--Adam Smith, the Father of Capitalism.

Photo Adam Smith quotes

Quick, Robin! The Bat Bandages!

2011-05-18T20:50:00.000+01:00

Oh, man. What on earth was this guy thinking? I'm hoping there was a geek convention going on somewhere nearby, and that this unfortunate individual wasn't just out on 'patrol.'

I think if you listen very closely, you can hear him make a rather un-super-heroic suggestion before having the pride slapped out of him. Something about how the other guy should sock his mother-farmer, who is apparently from Cork. Or something. Whatever it was, I can't imagine Batman offering the same advice. Not even to Catwoman.

This Is The Modern World

2011-05-10T11:30:00.001+01:00

Just a quick post to express my sputtering confusion at this news item, spotted at TPM:

A Hasidic newspaper published a doctored version of the now-famous photo of President Obama and top advisors in the situation room as the bin Laden raid unfolded, editing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and another woman out of the image entirely.

The newspaper, Der Tzitung, erased both Clinton and Director of Counterterrorism Audrey Tomason from the iconic image, leaving two conspicuous blank spaces in the photo that ran in their Friday edition last week. According to Jewish Week, the Brooklyn-based paper removed the two women because of an editorial policy stipulating that they "will not intentionally include any images of women in the paper because it could be considered sexually suggestive."

Here's the two photos. Sexually suggestive, huh? To be fair to the paper, Hilary is one saucy minx. Plus, the woman at the back right of the photo is clearly rogering the guy in front of her with a strap-on.

Camped Out

2011-05-10T11:18:00.001+01:00

Well, Tony and I just returned from our second camping trip in two weeks, and we had a lovely time. You can see some photos on Tony's blog here. It was the first of our two annual VW festivals this past weekend, Big Bang, and the weather has been unusually cooperative.

Hands off my effin' nachos, hombre

I was going to make a joke that I've been away with some old Navy SEAL buddies on a jaunt to Pakistan, but I suspect the window for tasteless jokes about the OBL shooting has probably passed now.

Both trips featured other members of the Kelly clan, with Tony's brother Mick joining us at Emberton for some kite flying and Tony's sister, Sharon, and her husband and kids came along for the weekend at Big Bang. The kids, Emjay and Freddie, seem to love camping, and enjoyed the entertainment on offer at the festival (drag racing, jet car, fun fair rides, and Daleks collecting money for charity.) Both children were properly frightened of the Daleks, which pleased me no end. Daleks have been scaring British kids for almost 50 years now, it's nice to see they've still got it!

Next up, the bigger BugJam festival in July...

Photos stolen without permission from Tony's blog, where you can find many more.

How Rude!

2011-04-21T13:41:00.000+01:00

It's not good form to walk out of a party and not tell anyone you're leaving. To be honest, I never had any intention of taking a break from the blog, life just sort of turned out that way.

So, who knows if anybody will still be checking this site, two months on, but I'm going to make a stab at getting back on the horse now. I miss blogging...

We've had some tricky things to deal with of late, Tony's been laid off from his job, my Dad has been really ill and both of those things are understandably playing on my mind a lot in recent weeks. Work just keeps getting busier and more hectic, I've got twice as much work and a significantly smaller team to help me get it all done, so by the time I get home from the office / meeting / event at night, I'm exhausted!

On the bright side, I'm on vacation for the next week and a half! And the sun is shining and birds are singing outside, so it's not all bad.

My Constant

2011-02-11T17:54:00.001Z

I have written, re-written and re-re-written this post so many times that if I published all of the drafts end to end I think it might be novel-length. Unfortunately, the topic is one that I'm really struggling with and nothing I write down seems to convey what it is that I'm thinking.

So I'll just drop the artifice and artistry and simply write that my Grandmother died this week. This is one of those relationships that is slightly ambiguous when it comes to grief, as some people were raised by grandparents where others barely know them. As for me, I spent a lot of time with my grandparents growing up, particularly my maternal grandparents, and I'm one of those people who could never understand when I would hear my friends at school complain about having to spend time with grandparents or to listen to their stories about days gone by. I loved it. So I feel kind of awkward grieving around people this week, as though I have to justify it somehow. "Yes, I know she was a Grandparent, but we were very close."

My maternal grandparents hadn't ever had a grandchild before I was born, and so all throughout my childhood, they were both completely smitten with me, forever telling me how wonderful and handsome and talented and smart I was. (So I guess you can blame them for my ego.) Not to be completely self-centred about this, but there's something about losing someone who was your biggest cheerleader - it makes you feel smaller somehow. Less special.

Both my Grandfather and Grandmother were fantastic storytellers, able to recount events from their childhood in the 1920's and 30's with startling detail. To the day she died at the age of 88, my Grandmother had an amazing long-term memory, full of remarkable people, interesting events and family history. (Short-term memory, not so much. But then I'm starting to lose that and I'm not even forty yet.)

My Grandad had the same flair for telling great stories, but his tended to centre around his school days and his time in the military during the Second World War. He was a keen fisher and a traveling salesman, prone to singing in the car and shouting "Hot Damn!!", and many times I traveled around the Midwest of America with him while he sang old traditionals like 'Dunderbeck's Machine' to me:

...One day a little boy walked into Dunderbecke's store.
A little piece of sausage meat was lying on the floor.
While the boy was waiting, he whistled up a tune.
The sausage meat got up and barked and ran around the room.

Oh, Dunderbeck, oh, Dunderbeck, how could you be so mean?
For ever having invented the sausage meat machine!
Now kitchen cats & long-tailed rats will never more be seen.
They'll all be ground to sausage meat in Dunderbeck's machine.

Grim, but very funny to a young boy, particularly as he usually got the words mixed around and would just force them to fit the rhythm. My grandmother would sometimes come with us, sometimes not, but she and I had our special times, too. I'd follow her around on her errands as she drove a bit too fast, bopping back and forth in my seat the sound of Tony Orlando and Dawn on the radio. I have so many snapshot memories of special moments with her in my childhood: Grandma drying me off after a bath, taking a lock of my hair between her fingers and running them down to the end so that it made a squeaking sound. "Squeaky clean!" she would exclaim, and I would dissolve in giggles. She loved having me around and I loved being around her. And in my early childhood, I thought she was Bea Arthur. Whenever Maude came on television, I would think, 'it's Gramma's show!'

I've never lost touch with her, and she has remained an important part of my life to now. In her final years, after my Grandfather had passed away, she was frail and wistful, but never less than the strong and willful woman I remember from nearly forty years ago. And the fact that her death has happened so far away has made the reality of it hard to absorb. I told Tony yesterday that I keep turning this over and over in my head, as though with a bit more thought, I can rationalise this whole thing away and it won't really be true. She'll still be there in her apartment in Phoenix, watching Nebraska college football and calling her three siblings (all still living) to moan about the President. How I wish it were so.

Goodbye, Grandpa. Goodbye, Gramma. I love you both more than I can say.

Greetings, Mister Bond

2011-01-25T13:50:00.001Z

Tony and I went to a James Bond-themed dinner on Friday and I decided to go as Ernst Stavro Blofeld. I didn't have a Nehru jacket, but I made do by turning in the collar of a sports coat, drawing a scar down the side of my face (too lightly to be seen in this photo) and posing with a fake cat. I already had the hair style down pat. The name badge I'm wearing was made to say "Hi, My Name is Ernst Blofeld" and has the SPECTRE logo at the top. Poifect!

Blofeld has actually been played by six different actors in the film series. My Blofeld was intended to be sort of a cross between the Donald Pleasance Blofeld and the Telly Savalas Blofeld.

It was a fun evening, Tony went as CIA agent and Bond ally, Felix Leiter (played by at least eight different actors in the films!), and we met a bunch of my colleagues from work at a Carribean restaurant. I had a lovely steak with chunky fries made from sweet potatoes. Yum!

Tony had the goat curry. Arguably not so yum.

Ah, Drudge

2011-01-18T16:30:00.001Z

President Obama is hosting the President of China, Hu Jintao, at the White House today. It's the first time in 13 years the President of China has had a state visit in the US. What's the headline on Drudge?

Matt Drudge: Bringing you the 1950's since the 1990's...

CNN, You Are Welcome To Him

2011-01-18T14:14:00.000Z

There's a long tradition of Trans-Atlantic crossover in the entertainment industry, with British actors and productions frequently receiving a warm welcome by audiences in the United States, and vice-versa. Sometimes it works out really well, as in the case of a whole catalogue of British comedians who have found success and fame in America, and is also seen in the large number of American television programmes and films that find huge audiences in Britain.

Sometimes it doesn't work out so well. There is a graveyard full of British television shows that were adapted and remade in America, only to sink like stones in a swamp that nobody cared about. Lots of pop singers attempt the crossover, without success. And then there are the mysteries - performers and acts that shouldn't really have found success in their own countries, much less in anyone else's, and yet manage to make the transition across the pond. In this category, I would include Piers Morgan.

Just a few years ago, Piers was solely known in the UK as the slimeball editor of a slimeball tabloid newspaper, The Daily Mirror. He's show up on the news occasionally, standing next to some freak of the week who sold their sordid life story (or the private story of someone famous they knew) to his awful paper. Other than that, he'd occasionally turn up on Question Time or some topical chat show where he would invariably be hissed and boo'd at by the audience.

Then, Morgan was fired over his publishing of photographs allegedly depicting British soldiers torturing prisoners in Iraq. The photos were fakes, and when Morgan refused to apologise, he was unceremoniously dumped. This elicited cheers from much of the British public, who for the most part apparently couldn't stand the guy.

Inexplicably, however, this was to be the making of Piers Morgan. He somehow managed to parlay his disgrace into a job as a judge on Britain's Got Talent, presumably because producers felt he had the potential to become another Simon Cowell (speaking of inexplicable success....) I don't know the finer points of how he made the leap into the American market, but his gig on Britain's Got Talent got him promoted to the American version of the show and now he's taking over Larry King's old timeslot on CNN! God a'mighty.

So how is Piers comporting himself now? Has he mellowed and matured, grown more respectable and sensible in the past few years? Has he learned any humility since being caught out falsely accusing uniformed young men and women from his own nation of war crimes?

In a word, no. Click here to read the latest less-than-impressive behaviour from this gold-plated prick. He's publicly listing all the people he will never invite onto his new show. Howie Mandel - too irritating. Heather Mills - she's a gold digger and he feels Paul McCartney will appreciate it if he doesn' interview her (?!). Keith Olbermann, Cherie Blair - just 'cuz he doesn't want to, apparently. It's his show, respect his authoritah!!

So I won't be tuning in.

Tanned, Rested and Ready

2011-01-17T09:03:00.000Z

With a new movie coming out later this year, I suspect we'll be seeing more of Mr Herman in the coming months. I know he's the kind of personality that splits people squarely into the 'love him' and 'hate him' camps, but I think he's a great talent and have been fond of his work for about 25 years now (yikes).

Clinging To A Narrative

2011-01-13T11:42:00.003Z

I haven't had a chance to watch it yet, but from the bits of transcript I've read, it seems like the President's speech in Tuscon yesterday regarding the recent tragedy there was an extremely emotive and moving one. He very deliberately avoided any partisan sniping or criticism. It appears to have been a very positive, encouraging and unifying message.

Today, I was stunned to see so many positive and supportive reactions from the conservative blogs and sites. They demonstrated fairness, objectivity and a genuine appreciation that the President is addressing this tragedy with calm and measured leadership, combined with a unifying positive message.

Uh....wait, I appear to have crossed over into a parallel universe for a second there. That's not what I saw at all. Instead, I found conservatives pounding away at their 'Obama is destroying America' narrative, despite not having any actual facts at their command.

Here's a good example. Josh Gerstein specialises in covering the courts for the conservative website Politico. As such, you might think he has a decent grasp of the law. Here, he has criticised the President in an article titled "Obama Speech Undercuts Federal Charge For Judge's Murder." Oh noes! The shooter is going to get off because of our terrible President!

It may have been inadvertent, but a passage in President Barack Obama's speech to a memorial service it Tucson Wednesday night could undercut a criminal charge federal prosecutors have leveled at suspect Jared Loughner for the death of U.S. District Court Judge John Roll in a shooting rampage Saturday.

Gerstein writes that the President described the Judge's presence on the day of the shooting as a casual visit to the Congresswoman's event on his way back from celebrating mass. In order to bring the full weight of federal law against the shooter, the judge must have been there in an official capacity.

But what difference does it make what the President thinks about this? If there is evidence that the judge was there in his official capacity when he was killed, any hearsay remarks from the President yesterday are irrelevant, thus negating the whole point of this article.

Indeed, even Gerstein admits this, although he waits until the latter part of the article to mention it.

As a legal matter, Obama's view...may be irrelevant

Obama appears to have rightly identified this terrible tragedy as an opportunity for us all to stop for a moment and think about how we treat one another - to focus on how we can come together.

The point of this article, on the other hand, is clearly not to make a salient, logical or relevant point. It isn't to educate the reader. The whole point of this article is to slam the President for something - anything; to distract from his message of working together to remind the faithful that nothing this President does is good for America. Nothing.

Formula X

2011-01-11T20:40:00.000Z

If you like the X-Files like I like the X-Files, you love it for Mulder's charm and Scully's progressively insufficient ability to withstand it. The chemistry between the two was so great that you were prepared to forgive the show for running off the rails and being hijacked by an increasingly nonsensical arcing mythology. When compared to other TV shows of the early 1990's, the near feature film quality cinematography and production values were so unexpected and impressive that you didn't mind so much that pretty much every single episode followed the same basic plot (warning - fruity language follows):

Image

E-Bart At The Movies

2011-01-11T15:19:00.001Z

So in the midst of my horrific illness, I managed to watch some veddy good films in the past couple of weeks. At home, on Blu-ray, of course.

First up, Tony and I watched Four Lions, a very dark and very funny recent British comedy which follows a group of young Muslim British men who decide to become terrorist bombers here in England. It doesn't sound like there is much scope for jokes with that kind of premise, but believe me when I tell you it is not afraid to laugh at the ridiculous. It's also a remarkable film in that despite everything that would tell you to feel otherwise, you are left with a genuine sadness for these lost souls, who despite their ignorance and impotent anger, come across as real people who you can even identify with at times. Beautifully judged and surprisingly funny.

Good stuff! We next watched Scott Pilgrim Vs The World and Kick-Ass, both of which are very inventive and lots of fun. The similarity between them is that they both take a wry look at the superhero genre while exploiting the expectations and preconceptions that audiences may have with them. Scott Pilgrim is visually AMAZING, boasting a look and style I've never seen in a film before. The cast is perfect and the script really is a delight. Highly recommended.

Kick-Ass is a much darker affair, with a much darker palette, but even so, it has a very optimistic point of view and showcases the better nature of most of the characters. If the idea of watching an eleven year old assassin swear like a sailor while slicing up lots of bad guys with a sword doesn't put you off, you will likely really enjoy this movie.

I did also manage to take a trip to the cinema to catch the latest Harry Potter film. This is a complete change of tone and pace from the rest of the series and felt much more like it is geared toward the adults that most of the Potter fans have now grown into. Too many Deathly Hallows objects and Horcruxes around for the little ones to be able to follow the story, surely. And can I just ask, is there anyone out there clamoring to see skinny Daniel Radcliffe with his shirt off, because he goes topless in like three scenes. What's up with that?

He's Not Dead, Jim!

2011-01-11T14:53:00.001Z

He just feels like it. My absence from blogging before Christmas was due to wicked super crazy business time workload (can you tell I've been reading Manga?) and my absence since Christmas is largely due to my having a hum-dinger of a cold and a stomach flu simultaneously for the past couple of weeks. This knocked me out and kept me off work until yesterday. Not the way I had hoped to see in the New Year, but whatever. I'm mostly better now, anyway.

So, anything been going on while I was away?

Gays in the military: what a fantastic achievement and a very impressive accomplishment for the President and the lame duck Congress. This is a long time coming and is long past due, but that shouldn't go to suggest that an almost united Republican opposition tried to stop it once again. Particular note should be made of John 'This Is a Very Sad Day' McCain and his closet case friend, Lindsey Graham, for their obstructions and shameless cynicism. I suspect McCain's recent about face, claiming he will do whatever it takes to make this policy change a success, is in response to his dawning realisation that his career might end up being best remembered for the venom he has recently shown Latino and Gay citizens.

The shootings in Tuscon: very shocking and upsetting, this was clearly the action of a very disturbed individual. I'm not amongst those who would hold Sarah Palin responsible, since she drew a gun's cross hairs over the wounded Congresswoman's district during the recent campaign. However. Palin and others who advocated 'Second Amendment remedies' when conservatives lose their elections should rightly be criticised for cheerleading for precisely this kind of violent crime.

And: Happy New Year! (Let's hope it's a good one.)

Is Nothing Sacred?

2010-12-07T16:44:00.001Z

Link

The first rule of Fight Club....

Link

Is It Just Me?

2010-12-06T12:00:00.000Z

I keep seeing comments and quotes online from people who want to assassinate / execute / murder the Wikileaks guy for releasing all of those classified documents. I've not followed the story in great detail, but all of the major headlines I've read suggest that the greatest casualties of this document dump are the egos of people who have been left embarrased by the revelations.

I'm not hearing anything about the outing of undercover operatives (as our previous Vice President and his venal friends quite proudly did a few years back) or the release of military deployments or future strategy. It's all about who thinks some foreign government is corrupt or who thinks some foreign leader is unhinged, etc.

The last big Wikileaks document dump was back in July, centred around the Afghanistan conflict and some documents did name informants. Accoring to a recent article in McClatchy Newspapers, both Wikileaks and the news organisations covering the release were careful this time not to repeat that kind of dangerous disclosure.

Unlike the release earlier this year of intelligence documents about the war in Afghanistan, when WikiLeaks posted on its website unredacted documents that included the names of Afghan informants, WikiLeaks agreed this time not to release more than 250,000 documents because they hadn't been vetted by the U.S. government...

Sunday's release showed a growing willingness on the part of WikiLeaks, whose founder, Julian Assange, is facing rape charges in Sweden, to cooperate with the government on the document trove.

I don't get any satisfaction from the publication of defense or intelligence secrets, but I think having an organisation like Wikileaks around is on balance a good thing. We've had a rare opportunity to see behind the scenes of taxpayer-funded international diplomacy (that may be putting it generously) and some of the inner workings of our government. I know there is a cost to removing the sense of safety diplomats and civil servants feel when writing their honest assessments, but in return we get a message sent to them and their masters on our behalf.

"Behave yourselves. You don't have carte blanche to do whatever you want in the name of our country, and we the people may be watching more closely than you think..."

So, no, I don't support the notion that Assange should be killed, or even necessarily arrested for that matter. We're promised that Wikileaks' next target is the banking industry, whose pervasive corruption is desperately in need of some exposure to the light of day. I, for one, am looking forward to that and hope that some arrest follow - from the banks, not Wikileaks!

Is there some irony in that the people who are baying most angrily for Wikileaks blood and seem most outraged at the notion of their disregard for government secrecy are the same group who want to shrink government until it's small enough to drown in the bathtub?

And frankly, it's colossally stupid to think that by getting Julian Assange out of the way, we don't have to worry about hackers or the internet exposing classified information anymore. Close the barn doors if it makes you feel better, but that horse has well and truly bolted. Brave New World, indeed.

Hero For A Day

2010-11-24T16:35:00.000Z

This makes Seattle sound like a really REALLY nice place to live:

The Make-A-Wish Foundation made 13-year-old Erik Martin's superhero dream a reality with a giant city-wide role playing scenario that incorporated all of Seattle. With the help of the Seattle Sounders, Spider-Man and a DeLorean, Electron Boy saved the day.

...

Martin, who is living with liver cancer, always wanted to be a superhero, and the people of Seattle, along with the Make-A-Wish foundation were more than happy to make that fantasy a reality for one perfect day.

On April 30th, Martin woke up to a desperate phone call from Spider-Man, the only other super that knows his superhero identity as Electron Boy. The Seattle Sounders had been taken hostage by Dr. Dark and Blackout Boy, and they needed his help! Electron Boy suited up and rode out to Qwest Field via DeLorean on a shut down road with a police motorcycle escort. And that's just the start of his day.

After Electron Boy freed the Sounders, much to the joy of his awaiting fans, Dr. Dark and Blackout Boy struck again! This time, they threatened to plummet all of Seattle into darkness. So it was back on the road again for Electron Boy....

WILL Dr Dark achieve his evil aims? WILL our intreped hero save the day? Find out next time - same Electron Time, same Electron channel! (Or just click here and here.)

How sweet is this? My favourite passage from the article:

Erik got into his red-and-blue superhero costume, and called on the powers of Moonshine Maid, who owns a DeLorean sports car. For good measure, more than 20 motorcycle officers from the Bellevue Police Department and King County and Snohomish sheriff's offices escorted Electron Boy to Seattle. "They shut down 405 — they shut down I-90," marveled Moonshine Maid, aka Misty Peterson. "I thought it would just be me, in the car."

Back In The Saddle

2010-11-19T14:10:00.002Z

Look out! Look out!
Pink elephants on parade
Here they come!
Hippety hoppety
They're here and there
Pink elephants ev'rywhere
Look out! Look out!

The Republicans fought a very hard mid-term campaign this year and it's really no surprise to anyone that the pervasive anti-incumbent mood in the country swept them back into control of the House of Representatives.

So we are now in the lame duck session until the new Congress is sworn in in January, and the Republicans will have to wait until then to enjoy the benefits of being the majority party in the House. But just because they are still, for the moment, in the minority doesn't mean that they are going to waste the chance to take a stand on the issues so important to the country in this time of hardship.

After all, the reason people voted their incumbents out was to register their frustration with the lack of progress on the unemployment front and the slow pace of our economic recovery. Right? That's not to even mention the upset related to the bank bail-outs and fraudulent mortgage foreclosure scandal. So it's time for the Republicans to speak up and make a move on these critical issues, show the country that they can wrestle this beast of a Congress around and put it back on the right path towards real progress and addressing the issues that matter most to Americans.

First order of buisness? Top priority?

House Republicans announced today that they will force a floor vote to eliminate taxpayer-funded support for NPR in response to the firing of Juan Williams.

Well. At least it's a spending cut, right?

NPR is not "government-funded" - and since that misconception provides the basis for your argument, your entire post is inaccurate. NPR receives less than 2% of its funding from competitive grants sought by NPR from federally funded organizations (such as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts). - Anna Christopher, Senior Manager, NPR Media Relations

Right. So let me get this straight, Juan Williams gives an internationally televised interview in which he admits that seeing Muslims in their cultural dress on airplanes makes him nervous. As this could be construed as racist or bigoted, one of his employers, NPR, decides to terminate his contract with the rationale that this public admission calls into question whether he can report on Muslim-related stories without bias.

Williams' other employer, Fox News, gives him a big raise and treats him like a hero, and NPR now stands accused. Here's an excerpt from a statement co-authored by Republican Congressmen Eric Cantor of Virginia and Rep. Doug Lamborn of Colorado:

Make no mistake, it is not the role of government to tell news organizations how to operate. What is avoidable, however, is providing taxpayer funds to news organizations that promote a partisan point of view.

It's partisan to want to distance yourself from the appearance of bias? From the appearance of being a bigot? Are they saying that intolerance of prejudice is a distinctly non-Republican point of view now? Wow.

So congratulations to the new Republican party: older, wiser, more in tune with what Americans want. My ass.

The fact that they've made this their first post-election priority, despite the fact that it involves a relatively tiny amount of federal funding and is in no way a serious attempt to reduce government spending, shows just how little they have learned since the days of Whitewater and Terry Schiavo. As Sully wrote, "I have a sinking feeling that this is what the GOP intends to do for two years: ride populist base fads into trivial nicks in spending, while never facing up to fiscal reality." To that, I would just add, "...like a bunch of cynical, no-nothing, pandering assholes."

UPDATE: Congressional Republican fail!

The Republican campaign to take away all federal funding from National Public Radio (NPR) was over before it began, with GOP lawmakers' procedural trick to force a vote on the issue failing on Thursday. It was the first GOP-ordered House vote since the election.

More here.

Lyrics from Dumbo
Photo

Funny On Friday

2010-11-12T16:20:00.000Z

Have a great weekend!

Pic

Recap

2010-11-08T11:22:00.001Z

Sorry, sorry, sorry. I won't offer any more lame excuses for my absence.

So I got back from the States last weekend and had a very hectic first week back at work last week, featuring a trip to London, meeting a bunch of wealthy philanthropists, attending an awards ceremony and sitting on an X-Factor-styled judging panel. A pretty fun week, if very busy.

It really was wonderful to spend time with family again. I particularly hate that my nephew and niece are growing up so fast and I'm missing pretty much all of it. They're a handful, but they're great kids and I miss them already!

The flights were uncomfortable as usual, but this time no trauma in passport control. I even managed to get through Houston airport without suffering more than a few squinty, suspicious glares, and for Houston airport, that's saying something. On the flight to the States, I had a choice of about 300 movies to choose from on the plane and I went for some relatively recent fare that I hadn't yet seen. I watched Prince of Persia, which I didn't like, a Chinese film, 14 Blades, which had its moments but wasn't fantastic, either. On the return flight, I decided to edify myself with something worthwhile and chose to watch Citizen Kane, as I've never seen it.

I know, I know, how can I consider myself any kind of film fan if I've never seen it, yadda, yadda, yadda. I recently listened to one of my regular podcasts in which they were talking about the film and the younger guy was saying that after finally seeing it he felt really let down because while it may have been groundbreaking for its day, Citizen Kane now feels very dated and doesn't offer the modern film goer anything that we haven't seen many times before in subsequent films. This made me a bit wary about watching it, as I'd always intended to see it, but have had it built up so much that my expectations may have been raised too high.

35 year old chameleon Orson Wells plays Kane from 18-80

Nonsense! I fell completely in love with the film. I'm sure there's nothing I could say about it that hasn't already been written many times before, but my reaction in a nutshell was that even after nearly 70 years, the film still feels very contemporary. There's not a shot in that film that wasn't carefully and cleverly planned to utilise some terrific visual trick or arresting metaphor. It's so fresh and innovative, even by today's standards. Welles' performance is also jaw-droppingly fantastic, maybe the strongest and most nuanced film performance I've ever ever seen. Seriously. And even though the 'Rosebud' twist is well-known to just about everyone, I'm sure, I still genuinely got chills at the reveal.

Oh, yeah, I also saw The Hangover and Surrogates. As you might imagine, they didn't compare well. While in America, my folks took me to see Red, which was great fun, very entertaining.

Melting Away...

2010-10-24T18:41:00.000+01:00

What's your problem, paleface?

Damn, it's hot. And everyone here in Louisiana keeps saying how nice and mild it is. My ass. The temperature has been just shy of 90 degrees every day, and it's stickyickyhumid.

Still, the visit has been great, and I'm loving the chance to spend some time with my nephew and neice, Dominic and Makayla. Yesterday, we went to the local science museum to see the Star Wars: From Science to the Imagination exhibit, which was full of props from the films, including Luke Skywalker's landspeeder:

Dominic seemed to really enjoy the exhibit and Kayla really loved exploring the Millenium Falcon.

I shall be doing my best to stay cool this week, I understand the temperatures are supposed to drop next weekend - after I leave, of course.

Blogspray

2010-10-12T11:29:00.005+01:00

Sorry, folks, I've been completely swamped at work and having to cover for a colleague who's been off sick, which also means twice as many evening events to attend. I've had loads of ideas for things to write about here, but no time to do it, so here's a quick rundown of what's been on my brain...

Wow. The current crop of Republican congressional candidates is way, way, way out there on the fringes of sanity this time around. Former witches? Check. Guys who like gathering together and dressing up as Nazis? Check. Outspoken bigots? But of course, monsieur. These folks make the usual assortment of oil / pharma / insurance / military contractor owned-and-operated Republican politicians look positively 'old school.' Have you seen Idiocracy? We're closer than you think.

I couldn't be more pleased that the banks may finally be getting some push-back from our toothless government. They've been bailed out after sinking the whole economy with their greed and stupidity and then just carried on doing exactly the same things while the Congress stood by and patted themselves on the back, pretending like they'd fixed something. Pathetic. Thankfully, the state governments are showing a little backbone.

Over here in the UK, our coalition government is diving head-first into deep cuts and 'austerity' measures to try and scale back government spending and our debts. Considering the last Tory government had a reputation for ruthlessness and lack of interest in the poor that's taken them more than a decade to overcome, this government is taking a real risk by adopting such an aggressive stance at a time when so many people are unemployed and reliant on government programmes. I'm of two minds about the situation - I am of the opinion that government spending was bloated and in need of significant cuts, but the balance of these cuts is hitting the poor a lot harder than the wealthy and I would have like to seen a more equitable distribution of the burden of these measures. On the other hand, I have to admit that I'm impressed that they are taking strong and politically risky measures to wrestle our economy back into a more robust and sustainable disposition.

Why are celebrities held to a different standard in criminal sentencing for drug offenses? I think it has something to do with the fact that if a judge really threw the book at a famous person and sentenced them in the way that you or I would be sentenced, too many people would hear about it and be forced to admit that our legal system's approach to dealing with substance abuse is retrograde and stupid. And I'm speaking about both the US and UK here...

And I'm off to the States next week! My first visit back in quite a while - more than two years. Will I be welcomed back into the country, or will they sense something foreign about me at passport control? Stay tuned to find out!

Tis The Season

2010-09-24T16:23:00.000+01:00

Christ, it's gone gloomy! We've been enjoying unseasonably warm and sunny weather this month, but by the look of things today, that's definitely over now. It's hard not to feel a creeping dread about the impending dark, dank days of Winter in England. Wouldn't be so bad if it didn't last for eight months.

So what's been going on?

I can't talk about it! Seriously, I've had a number of jobs over the years, and each one has had its secrets for me to keep. Working in IT, we had access to all of the system administrator passwords and could access....well, about anything we wanted to access. Not that I was prone to prying, mind you. (I'm not an eaves-droppy kind of guy.) Then, I was in youth work for a number of years, working with and supporting vulnerable young people - plenty of confidential information there to be careful with.

And now I'm a Director for a grant-making charity, I attend meetings of more Boards than I can count, and my head is just chock full of stuff I can't talk about. Nothing scandalous, of course, just plans that are in early stages that aren't ready to be made public yet, some staff info I can't discuss...and some occasional gossip.

The reason I bring this up is that more and more of my day-to-day life is off limits to discussion and most definitely off limits to this blog. So I find it more and more difficult to think of things I can share. Without relying too much on my rather niche hobbies that must be of very limited interest to most of the people who check this blog every week.

The site still gets around 300 unique visitors a month, so for you guys out there, thanks for sticking with me!

So this isn't a preamble to my announcing I'm giving up. I like my blog, and even though it's hard to think of things to write sometimes, I'm keen to keep it going. At the very least, it lets old friends know I'm not dead yet. But I am thinking about maybe changing things up a bit. These thoughts are still in the larval stage, so I don't know what this will mean, but watch this space.

And if there's anything in particular you do or don't like about the site, I'm sincerely interested to know, as it's always my intention to keep my visitors entertained!

Passive-Aggressive Notes

2010-09-17T14:32:00.000+01:00

A friend sent me a link to a site collecting some really funny passive-aggressive notes left anonymously for people, primarily in the workplace. I see crap like this all the time. Here are a couple of my favourites.

Many, many more here: PassiveAggressiveNotes.com

Pot, Kettle, Etc.

2010-09-17T11:24:00.002+01:00

"Zat hat iss fabulus, dahlink, vehr did you get it? Tell me! I haff vays of makink you talk..."

I really try to avoid making Nazi comparisons. It's become such a cliche that I think it's losing all meaning. After all, most of the people who were alive to personally witness the reality of the 3rd Reich are dead now, and if there's one thing most people aren't, it's knowledgeable about history.

[The only exception I can think of on this blog is when I compared the Bush administration's "enhanced interrogation" of prisoners, which I would defend by pointing out that "enhanced interrogation" was a phrase concocted by the Nazis to refer to their own torture of helpless prisoners.]

Now, the Pope was a member of the Nazi Youth, he served in the German military during the Second World War and he was held as a prisoner of war by the Allies towards the very end of the war. So, he kind of really was a Nazi, although to be fair, he was not given an alternative - all three of those things were decisions made for him at the time. Or at least that's what he says now, but I seem to recall hearing that there may have been some men and women of conscience in Germany at the time who weren't so cooperative. But anyway.

So, the Pope is in the UK, and is pushing his narrative of how the UK's widespread secularism is dangerous and amoral, blah, blah, blah. It doesn't surprise me that he's making a lot of fuss about non-believers, as the stats show that our side is steadily gaining ground in the West and could potentially, eventually, pose a real threat to the power and influence of the Vatican.

What does surprise me is that he would go here:

"Even in our own lifetimes we can recall how Britain and her leaders stood against a Nazi tyranny that wished to eradicate God from society and denied our common humanity to many, especially the Jews, who were thought unfit to live. As we reflect on the sobering lessons of atheist extremism of the 20th century..."

Sorry, what now? I keep hearing how the Nazis were socialists and athiests, which is handy for modern people who believe that socialism and atheism are evil, 'cause it just matches up so neatly. But this really doesn't bear up to much scrutiny. Look at Nazi rhetoric from the time they rose to power and it's all about traditional Christian values, demonizing Communists and non-Christians (like, oh, the Russians and the Jews?) and sounding an awful lot like....ok, I'm not going to go there. But you get my point. The Nazi movement was never about promoting atheism.

And here's a phrase I never thought I'd say: consider this excerpt from Adolf Hitler's famous manifesto, Mein Kampf.

For this, to be sure, from the child's primer down to the last newspaper, every theater and every movie house, every advertising pillar and every billboard, must be pressed into the service of this one great mission, until the timorous prayer of our present parlor patriots: 'Lord, make us free!' is transformed in the brain of the smallest boy into the burning plea: 'Almighty God, bless our arms when the time comes; be just as thou hast always been; judge now whether we be deserving of freedom; Lord, bless our battle!"

Doesn't sound much like an atheist to me, Ratzo, and I suspect you know better. So, stop comparing us non-believers to Nazis, you.....you.....ruby-red-Prada-shoe-wearing closet case!

Just What The Doctor Ordered

2010-09-10T14:43:00.000+01:00

Last week was wonderful! The weather was miserable when we left town on our way to the coast, and by the time we got there it was sunny and warm - and it stayed that way all week. Less than 24 hours after we got home, it all turned to pants again, so for once, our timing was perfect!

West Wittering is a lovely seaside village with beautiful beaches, ideal for our purposes last week, which were rest, quiet, relaxation and some ocean-y fun with the dogs. The van and awning were even starting to grow on me a bit, and I actually got a couple of decent nights' sleep towards the end of our stay. Time for a new air mattress, though, ours sucks.

Tony's brother, John, and his girlfriend, Redda, came down unexpectedly to spend the last two nights with us, which was fun. The dogs had one of the best weeks of their life, they absolutely loved it. Kira went for it with gusto and has been paying the price since we got back (it's difficult watching her struggle to even get around now) but I don't regret it, she had a blast. By the time we left, we were both convinced that our dogs were meant to live at the beach. German Shepherds aren't supposed to be water babies, but these two were born for it!

Sort-Of Summer

2010-08-27T12:23:00.000+01:00

This August has been a pretty dreary one, here in Blighty. After a nice start, it quickly turned chilly and wet and has stayed that way for much of the month. Normally, Tony and I wait until the school summer holiday is over before we take our summer break, as the prices tend to drop once you hit September, so from tomorrow, I've got a week off work and we are planning to go away for a week's camping at West Wittering near the beach. The picture above is of 'East Head', which is the beach we'll be going to while we are there. We've been there once before, and it is a lovely place, although I'm hoping against hope that the weather will turn nicer by the time we get there. The forecast looks promising, but it's still too soon to know...

So, just to confirm, I won't be online next week unless the weather is so shocking that we cancel our trip. Or unless the mechanics aren't able to replace the broken alternator on our van. Or it turns out to be something more serious. But probably, I will be away. Most likely.

Let's Not Sleep Walk Into This

2010-08-24T12:46:00.004+01:00

If you should take a short journey over to the website for San Diego's talk radio station, KFMB, you will see a promotion for the' Rick Roberts Show.' Yesterday's show apparently focused on discussing "the very real dangers of the mosque being put within such a close proximity to Ground Zero."

Here's the question of the day from the show:

Rick asks his listeners: "Would you be in favor of creating a national database of practicing Muslims? San Diego calls to weigh in..."

Colour me worried about the trajectory of this debate. I keep reading these outrageous, frightening and inflammatory statements about Islam from people who clearly have no idea what they are talking about. Where is this going to end up?

And where are the prominent public figures speaking up and calling this what it is? Uninformed prejudice. Bigotry. I was impressed with the bluntness of Ron Paul's criticism:

Defending the controversial use of property should be no more difficult than defending the 1st Amendment principle of defending controversial speech. But many conservatives and liberals do not want to diminish the hatred for Islam–the driving emotion that keeps us in the wars in the Middle East and Central Asia.

It is repeatedly said that 64% of the people, after listening to the political demagogues, don’t want the mosque to be built. What would we do if 75% of the people insist that no more Catholic churches be built in New York City? The point being is that majorities can become oppressors of minority rights as well as individual dictators. Statistics of support is irrelevant when it comes to the purpose of government in a free society—protecting liberty.

The outcry over the building of the mosque, near ground zero, implies that Islam alone was responsible for the 9/11 attacks. According to those who are condemning the building of the mosque, the nineteen suicide terrorists on 9/11 spoke for all Muslims.

...

This is all about hate and Islamaphobia.

We now have an epidemic of “sunshine patriots” on both the right and the left who are all for freedom, as long as there’s no controversy and nobody is offended.

Political demagoguery rules when truth and liberty are ignored.

And thankfully, other fair-minded individuals are starting to take a public stand for what's right, too.

UPDATE: Even better remarks from NYC Mayor Bloomberg here, and good old Rachel Maddow gets to the heart of the matter with her usual rhetorical brilliance here.

They Moved My House While I Wasn't Looking

2010-08-19T12:49:00.000+01:00

I was struck by an urge the other evening to see if I could find the houses that I grew up in on Google Earth. The first house was in Omaha, Nebraska. I lived there until the age of 4, so my memories of it are pretty limited, although I remember what it looked like, how it was situated on its plot, the fact that it was on a corner - the intersection of Charles Street and something else, and a few other bits and bobs that I hoped would be enough to identify it.

Sadly, it was not to be the case. I went down to street level and examined every single house on both sides of the street. Twice. And couldn't find my old house anywhere. It occurred to me that as it was a rather small and not so pretty house, that it might have been extended or completely replaced in the past 30 years, but looking up and down the street, the houses all look to be of that same era. Damn.

Are you my house? No.... Are you my house? No....

So I moved on to house number two, which I lived in from the ages of 4 to 8. My memories of this one are more detailed, I know it was on Spring Street, although I can't remember the house number. Again, I went to street level view and examined all of the houses on Spring Street - again, without success. And again, the houses don't look either particularly newer or nicer that our house did, so I'm not convinced it was knocked down and replaced. By this time, I'm starting to doubt whether I'm remembering the street names right.

So I found my old Elemetary School and traced the route that I used to walk from my house to school and back. (For anyone under twenty that might be reading this, kids used to walk to school. Incredible, I know.) From the school playground, over the footbridge, down the side of the shopping centre, right into the neighborhood, then right again onto Spring Street. Just like I remembered. Except my house isn't there anymore.

On to house number three, in Tilden, Nebraska (population 1010 when we moved there). Let's see, I remember the house was on Elm Street....oh. No street view for Tilden. Too small I guess.

So, I've reluctantly come to the conclusion that I'm probably a replicant and that my childhood memories must be implants. I'm nowhere man!!

Increasingly Uncut

2010-08-18T16:34:00.000+01:00

So it's not all bad news on the internet, I guess.

Despite a worldwide campaign for circumcision [Boo!!] to slow the spread of AIDS, the rate of circumcision among American baby boys appears to be declining [Yay!].

...[New research] portrays a precipitous drop in circumcision, to just 32.5 percent in 2009 from 56 percent in 2006.

...“Word has gotten out that it’s not necessary, it’s harmful and it’s painful,” said Georganne Chapin, executive director of Intact America, a nonprofit organization based in Tarrytown, N.Y. Greater awareness about female circumcision may have influenced parents as well, she said, asking, “How can you think it’s O.K. to cut little boys, when you are horrified by the idea of cutting little girls?”

Indeed. 'Intact America' - how funny is that?

AWOL

2010-08-18T14:46:00.000+01:00

PC vs Mac, circa 1996 Ah, the age of denim...

I've been absent from this blog for a bit now, primarily as a result - I think - of wanting to avoid the internet completely. I'm going through one of those phases in which I find the news to be super-depressing. It's all bad, and apparently getting worse.

It's been more than 14 years since I moved away from the States, and in that time, things seem to have changed pretty dramatically. In the summer of 1996, Bill Clinton was in his first term and nobody had heard of Monica Lewinski yet. The Olympics were held in Atlanta and the movie 'Independence Day' was about to be released in theatres. The iPod was still five years away and a 'leased line' (the precursor to ISDN and later broadband internet) was available at a blistering speed of 56kbps for a mere $1,300 per month.

But what I remember most was a magazine cover a few years previous to that, which posed the question 'An End to War?' And it seemed a sensible question to ask at the time. The Soviet Union was no more, and terrorism seemed a very distant issue to most Americans. There were no big enemies left to fight. And the pendulum of history seemed to be headed resolutely left. At least to me.

Now? Mainstream debate in America will, it seems, now accommodate the most explicit bigotry possible. Take the 'Ground Zero mosque' controversy. Listening to ostensibly respectable politicians and pundits, you might be left with the impression that Islam is not a legitimate religion and that 'mosque' is just another name for 'terrorist training camp.'

And I've rambled on before about the shocking new attitudes towards the torture of prisoners and outright rejection of science and progress by large swathes of the population. It really alarms and saddens me to see what from my perspective looks like a crumbling of the American national identity, plunged by angry, small-minded fools into a morass of racism, religious intolerance, disdain for human rights, paranoia and zenophobia.

Please don't misunderstand me, I'm not operating under the ridiculous impression that all of the intelligent, good-hearted Americans who actually understand and value the Bill of Rights have up and vanished, just that at the moment they seem to be getting regularly shouted down and disregarded.

I think it boils down to the sense that when I left, America felt aspirational - we wanted to be the best at everything. Now, it feels like there's a competition (amongst members of one party more than another, to be fair...ahem...) to see who can wallow in the deepest pool of malice and fear. It just makes me sad to hear one account after another in the American press, detailing attitudes and mass public movements that I just can't identify with or even comprehend at all.

So, I'm hoping to come back for a visit soon. Come on, America! Remember optimism? Remember Reagan's 'shining city on a hill?' See if you can get that figured out before I get there. :¬)

I'll Have That With Extra Awesome Sauce, Please

2010-08-04T16:37:00.000+01:00

I think I just wet 'em.

You know, this would make an incredibly fun movie, and Warners has owned the rights to the Justice League for decades. The fact that they've never tried demonstrates a real lack of vision.

As for me, I've never played an online game before. I've always been put off by the idea that to get the full effect of an online game, you have to show up and play more often than I usually do. Can you play these things at your own pace? This trailer may have persuaded me to give it a try!

Toy Story Triumphant

2010-07-29T16:22:00.000+01:00

So, I saw Toy Story 3 the other day and thought it was excellent. As with the previous two installments, the script was rock-solid, the themes were universal and thought-provoking and the voice cast were note perfect. And by the way, it was completely beautiful to look at as well.

I won't spoil the plot, but thematically, the film treads some pretty heavy territory - abandonment, neglect and even death. Even so, this is addressed in a way that is totally palatable to children and the film never lets the serious subject matter negatively impact the pacing of the story.

A changing relationship

One thing that occurred to me while watching the film is that throughout the series, the stories have tackled what happens to toys when the children they belong to lose, destroy or discard them. On one level, this hits really close to home and is instantly identifiable to me. I have very clear memories as a 5-6 year old child of looking at the toy chest in our basement den and feeling pangs of guilt for the toys I hadn't played with recently. They must feel so sad! I distinctly remember loving my toys as though they knew I did.

No room for toys anymore

On another level, though, this trilogy has been a big metaphor for kids' relationships with their parents as well, and the third movie really drove this home for me. What happens to the relationship with a mother and father when the children they love suddenly don't want to play with them any more? What happens when children go from hanging on their parents' every word to not really caring what they think one way or another? What happens when the children grow up and say they don't need them any more? It's really powerful stuff, and probably a big part of why by the end of the film I found myself surrounded by blubbing and sniffling mums and dads in the theatre. I, of course, shed not a tear. And behind my 3D glasses, you wouldn't have been able to see, anyway. So you can prove nothing!

The End?

Mark Kermode (BBC Film Critic and occasional idiot) said something on his podcast the other day that struck me as odd. He mused out loud whether the Toy Story films were the best movie trilogy ever. My first reaction was, 'come on, now, let's not get carried away.' But then he listed a bunch of well-known and well-regarded film trilogies and explained how each one had a weak film, a broken metaphor, a lousy performance, etc. But not Toy Story. And once he'd gone through his rationale, he had me agreeing with him.

Toy Story - the first perfect movie trilogy.

Tits And Tats

2010-07-29T09:41:00.000+01:00

Sorry for the unnanounced absence, folks - I had a brief holiday away and a bout with an extended headache that took me out of action for a while.

Tony and I spent a long weekend at Bug Jam 24 last weekend, and the weather was terrific for it. We went with Tony's Sister and her family, but sadly forgot to charge our cameras before we left and so didn't get much in the way of pictures to share this time around. Suffice it to say that I'm now a beloved uncle to a niece and nephew who hadn't taken much notice of me before now. My shoulders are broad and apparently make for an excellent mode of toddler transportation...

If you know me, you'll know that I'm only mildly interested in the classic VWs, but I like camping and I like festivals, so Bug Jam is really no hardship for me. Particularly this year, with all of the hot, sunny weather, the festival was overrun with predominantly attractive, half-naked young men. And can I just say, tattoos appear to be as commonplace as noses in England at the moment. Just about everybody and their brother appeared to have one at this festival, anyway.

Never really been tempted to get one, myself. My interests change too often, I'd only end up changing my mind about whatever I got inked and regret it, or forget why it was significant to me in the first place.

So, anyway, I have returned and am raring to get back to bloggin'. Anything happening?

Cartoon by Nate Beeler

And The Horse You Rode In On

2010-07-12T11:29:00.000+01:00

If you have been following any of the movies based on Marvel comics over the past few years - i.e. Iron Man 1&2 and the Incredible Hulk, you may have noticed that there is a shared continuity in the films. Samuel L Jackson keeps popping up as the character 'Nick Fury' in each of the films, hinting that he is assembling a government-sanctioned squad of super-powered individuals called The Avengers.

All of this (as well as the upcoming Captain America and Thor movies) are building up to an Avengers movie, due to be released in 2012 and will, Marvel hopes, become a major blockbuster hit. It will feature the casts of each respective individual film, including Robert Downey Jr. Except for one - Marvel has now confirmed that they will not be offering the role of Bruce Banner / the Hulk to previous star Edward Norton.

Marvel's President of Production, Kevin Feige, released the following statement:

"We have made the decision to not bring Ed Norton back to portray the title role of Bruce Banner in the Avengers. Our decision is ... rooted in the need for an actor who embodies the creativity and collaborative spirit of our other talented cast members. The Avengers demands players who thrive working as part of an ensemble..."

Ouch. In other words, 'Ed Norton, you're a Mr Poopy pants and everybody hates you!'

I know Norton has developed a bit of a reputation for being a bit diva-ish on occasion, but this is a pretty harsh, no?

In other comics-related news, you might have heard that Wonder Woman has ditched her nearly-nude look for a new 'urban' costume. Here's a look back at her costume's evolution over the decades since her debut in 1941 (the centre figure is the current design). Nice ass, Diana.

And here's the new look:

Hmmm. It's not awful, but the cut of the jacket and the fact that she's wearing what appear to be leggings only go to prove that just because Jim Lee is a fantastic comic artist, doesn't mean he knows anything about fashion. It's a little too reminiscent of that awful costume redesign for Superboy back in the 90's:

Meh.

In Or Out?

2010-07-02T14:38:00.000+01:00

There's some hubub going on this week related to the outing of a Lutheran minister from Minnessota in a gay state newspaper. The reporter got this scoop by lying his way into a support group at which the minister revealed his struggles with his sexuality.

Obviously, this support group, run by a local Catholic Church and specifically created for men who are struggling with their same-sex attractions, was totally confidential. (And misguided, but that's another topic...)

The reporter's lies and misrepresentations were reprehensible enough, but to infiltrate a group therapy session and then publish the contents of the discussion are really beyond the pale. Someone pretty wise once told me that he didn't believe it served anyone's best interests to drag people out of the closet, kicking and screaming. They are in no position to be a positive role model and the whole process creates the inescapable impression that being gay is something to be ashamed of.

The article itself contains a significant amount of other personal information that was shared in confidence and had absolutely no bearing on the sexuality of the minister. (Although it did reveal him to be a bit of a racist.) So in all, the reporter comes across as a first-rate prick.

On the other hand...

Many of the people defending this minister online are failing to mention that he is (was?) the host of a daily conservative am radio talk show which he has used as a forum to argue against civil right protections for gay folks and to regularly paint us as mentally and morally sick and a corrosive influence on society. He pulled his congregation out of the ECLA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) specifically because he did not feel it was sufficiently hostile towards gay equality. He has gone so far as to blame natural disasters on society's increasing acceptance of gay equality. (Video of the minister making this ridiculous allegation can be seen here if you've got the stomach for it.) So, from my point of view, the minister comes across like he's pretty much as big a prick as the reporter.

I don't know. Generally speaking, I don't support outing people against their will, but the exception I make to this is when a public figure who is secretly gay is going around campaigning to deny gay people their basic human dignity and civil liberties. People like Larry Craig, for example. Or Mark Foley. Or George Rekers. Or Ted Haggard. Or Bob Allen. Or Glenn Murphy, Jr. Or...

Jesus, are all Republican men secretly gay? Reminds me of a funny line from an old British sitcom, "You're all so deep in your closets, you're in f*cking Narnia!!"

To my mind, the real victim of this scenario is anyone who attends group therapy and now has to be afraid that one of the group members is secretly a reporter who wants to publish everything they divulge. Consider the other, messed up and vulnerable men who attended the same session as that reporter. They must be totally freaking out right now!

Hat tip: Sully
Image

Huh. Who Knew?

2010-07-02T10:08:00.001+01:00

Who do you think this is? I was a bit taken aback when I found out. Here's a clue - he was pretty popular with much of America for several years and then extraordinarily unpopular. Even infamous.

Can you guess now? Here's another clue - he was instrumental in getting the US Government involved with modern environmental protection efforts in the early 1970's.

Still unsure? He had a strange fondness for tape recording his conversations...

This photo is an excellent example of how being a cutie in your teens and early twenties is no guarantee you won't be butt-ugly as an adult. Life is cruel sometimes. At least he got to keep most of his hair.

If you haven't figured out who this in in the picture above, I'll post a comment with the answer. For more pictures of some of this guy's successors and predecessors in their youth, click here.

Boo!

2010-06-30T11:30:00.000+01:00

Thank you, Fox News , Denver, for this little gem from a local resident:

The woman claims she spotted a vampire in the middle of a dirt road near Fruita, Colo. Sunday night. She told Colorado State Troopers she was startled by the undead being, threw her SUV into reverse, and crashed into a canal.

She was not injured. State Troopers say the woman's husband arrived at the scene and took her home. The vampire, which was not seen by anyone else, apparently let her get away.

Troopers do not suspect drugs or alcohol to be factors in the crash.

But they do recognise the possibility that the woman may be batshit crazy.

Closing On 40

2010-06-30T11:24:00.000+01:00

I turned 38 on Sunday. Hurrah for me.

The physiological changes to my body that I've noticed occurring over the years are growing more alarming, but the main concern I have at this stage of my life is that time seems to be passing increasingly quickly. There's no way it's been a whole year since my last birthday, right? Can't be true. I worry that I will wake up tomorrow, look in the mirror and realise that I'm 70. And that I have no pension. Ah, well, la-dee-da, might as well fiddle the day away...

The picture above was taken by yours truly at the Brighton Comic Con that I went to a few weeks ago. That was kind of an early birthday outing, I guess. The guy in the Vader costume was HUGE! Really tall, with massively broad shoulders (and the costume came complete with raspy Vader breathing coming out of a speaker.)

And the guy in the Stormtooper outfit moved around the convention in a series of poses, it was quite funny. Pose - shift, step, spin - POSE! Step, step, spin - POSE! He was a walking photo opportunity.

Pundits On Ice!

2010-06-23T13:37:00.000+01:00

This is too funny - a mashup of cable news talking heads talking about legalising cannabis and their theories regarding Elena Kagan's sexual orientation. All set to music. How have I never seen these 'Auto-Tune the News' clips before? The makers of this video have many more on offer here.

Good Company

2010-06-23T13:32:00.001+01:00

If you know me or read this blog with any regularity, you'll know that I feel no embarrassment about my enthusiasm for comic books. This is in spite of (what I perceive to be) reasonably widespread belief that comic books are kids' stuff and not artistically or intellectually serious.

But I know better. There are many, many comics out there, both in the floppy monthly format as well as the more substantial graphic novels and collected trade paperbacks, that are stunning artistic achievements - both in terms of the writing as well as the illustration. And there are a lot of well-known and respected people who dig comics as much as I do.

Every time I discover another person I admire loves comics, it gives me a little thrill. It's a bit like finding out you're related. I already knew that Samuel L Jackson, Guillermo Del Toro, Stephen Colbert and Barack Obama are amongst 'the family,' but today I'm grinning from ear to ear after learning that one of the greatest living playwrights, David Mamet, is not only a comic book aficionado, he's only gone and written/drawn his own graphic novel. Fantabulous comic book writer Brian Michael Bendis has interviewed Mamet about the new book:

Bendis: Very cool. Now, the book we're talking about is "The Trials of Roderick Spode, 'The Human Ant.'" And it's a satire of the superhero genre I'd say, on one level.

Mamet: I think it's more of an homage than a satire, to my mind, the difference being that it's done with a bunch of love. When I was a kid, there was a book I'm sure you've heard of called "The Seduction of the Innocent" that came out in the '50s, so the whole idea was just like Doctor Spock telling parents, "Comic books are bad for you." Of course, we kids knew differently, and as an ex-kid I continue to know differently now. I have nothing but love for comic books.

If you have never tried reading anything in this medium and the enthusiasm of Master Mamet has persuaded you to give it a try, please allow me to suggest a few done-in-one graphic novels that appeal to new readers and people that aren't particularly interested in the super-hero genre.

Pride of Bagdad
Maus: A Survivor's Tale
From Hell
Pedro & Me

Luck Of The Draw

2010-06-15T08:54:00.000+01:00

So Tony and I attended a big local banquet/celebration/event at the MK Dons Stadium Ballroom on Saturday. Part of the evening was dedicated to watching the England / USA World Cup match, but at halftime there was a raffle for £10,000.

I don't gamble. I don't buy lottery tickets, I don't bet on sporting events and I don't play cards. But for £10,000? To be raffled off at an event? I'll buy a ticket for that.

So the magic moment arrived and out of the hundreds of entries, they pulled out...my name! There were quite a few people there I knew and there were lots of excited faces congratulating me and encouraging me towards the stage. I must have been beaming. I get to go to a lot of very posh do's through my job, but it belies the fact that I'm usually completely broke. Tony and I had £40 of borrowed money in our pockets to try and last until the next payday, so winning this raffle was a huge relief. Except...

I arrived on the stage to find a table with 32 envelopes on it. I was informed that in two of the envelopes were special pieces of paper. I was instructed to select two envelopes and if they turned out to be the two with the special papers inside, I would win the money. Guess what. I left the stage with a bottle of champagne, and no money.

And that was it, end of raffle. There was a bit of confusion and commotion in the room, as pretty much everybody assumed when they bought their tickets that someone was going to win the money, but the raffle organisers argued that they had been very clever and sold the tickets as an opportunity to win a chance at £10,000. Whatever.

So you might be able to imagine how crushed I was. For about 60 seconds there, I thought the pressure was off. So it was a somber weekend in the Gamber / Kelly household.

If only I drank champagne.

In Time For Father's Day

2010-06-04T19:21:00.000+01:00

"Although apropos anytime, Shirtless Kirk Cologne for Men is best worn as an evening fragrance, containing clean citrus topnotes and a heavy earth finish."

I'm assuming that we're supposed to be mentally picturing 1963-era William Shatner, rather thank his modern counterpart.
Set phasers to stunning, indeed.

Again, With The Gay Stuff...

2010-06-04T09:36:00.002+01:00

We attended diversity training awareness yesterday at work, which I hoped would be challenging and thought-provoking, and it certainly was. You can only get so in depth if you're exploring that much ground (age, gender, disability, ethnicity, faith, sexual orientation) in one day, but the section on gay and lesbian issues really set my heart pounding in my ears and my face feeling flushed.

The focus was on making the point that anyone who walks up to you might be a gay person, you can't tell by looking, and on familiarizing us with various forms of gay lingo that emphasized sexual terminology like 'cottaging' and 'top.'

And then it was over and we were moving on to the next subject. I put my hand up and felt the need to say that there is a tendency when we use terminology like 'homosexual' and 'sexual orientation' to define gay folks solely by their sexual behaviour. I understand this, but I've never been terribly comfortable with it.

For me, being gay is a lot more than wanting to have sex with other men. The fundamental characteristic is affectional - who do I feel drawn to? Who do I fall in love with? Sexual attraction is paired with that, and of course can be explored and enjoyed outside of long-term relationships, but being gay means a lot more to me than wanting to get into another man's pants.

The trainer (who I've known for at least ten years, and who happens to also be gay) replied that it can be frustrating to have so much focus on the sexual, but that, after all is the only thing that seperates us. Hmmm.

I'm drawn to the memory of an old Phil Donahue episode on racism I remember from my childhood in which an audience of Chicago residents stumbled all over themselves, grabbing for the microphone to tell the nation that they weren't in any way racist. One lady stood up and shouted that everyone's the same colour inside, that apart from skin colour, we are all exactly the same. But clearly, we are not.

Just because we are equal does not necessarily mean that we are the same. There are differences between people of different ethnicities and cultures, and those differences are to be celebrated and valued, not brushed aside because they do not fit our simplistic (if well-meaning) narratives.

Similarly, sex is not the only thing that sets gay people apart from the rest of society. Being gay has impacted my development as a person, and at 37 years old, I am a different adult than I would have been had I been straight. Keeping my identity a secret through most of my teens had an impact, the difficult and frightening coming out process had an impact, my participation in the gay community and the gay civil rights movement, my work as a specialised youth worker, working specifically with often troubled young gay people, my experience trying to find a way to be together with the love of my life - who happened to come from a different country, and the long and difficult immigration process that entailed all had a tremendous impact on making me the person I am today.

As a white guy, I might not have the same empathy with oppressed minorities if I hadn't been gay. I mightn't have lost my faith so young if not wounded so deeply by the anti-gay animosity and rhetoric of Christian evangelicals who lived around us in the American South. (I knew I wasn't evil, or a danger to children...)
And it may play to a sterotype, but I think being gay has helped me empathise a bit more with women and women's stuggle for equality in society.

Of course, this is all conjecture, but to take a couple of extreme examples, you can't tell me that if Elton John or Quentin Crisp were straight the only thing that would be different is that they would be attracted to women instead of men. We have a different sensibility, a different perspective, often a different aesthetic orientation that are all connected to our being gay - I'm not saying better, of course, just different. (Although we do tend to have better taste in shoes. I'm just sayin.')

So the next time we want to cover GLBT awareness, I might just suggest I lead the session myself. :¬)

Image

Iron Baby Rules

2010-05-28T16:29:00.002+01:00

Check back here later this summer for more fan-made deliciousness in the Bartonsblog Summer FilmFest...

Lost Aftermath

2010-05-27T14:06:00.002+01:00

If you haven't seen the finale for Lost and don't want the ending spoiled, you should avoid reading this post. 'Cause I aims ta spoil it!

I've been following the show in minute detail ever since the pilot first aired on television, and I've thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Lost has provided one mystery after another, one bizarre plot twist after another, and the fan websites that I've spent too much of my life reading have poured over every clue and freeze-framed, high-resolution image in the search for answers.

So after six years, I was more than excited to see the finale and the inevitable resolution to the major mysteries of the island and the revelation of the fates of our faithful castaways. And now having seen it, I'm really disappointed.

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't expecting every last little mystery to be explained. I don't think I would have been happy had the finale been comprised of loads of exposition that attempted to tie up every loose thread from the previous six years. What I was hoping for was some direction on the big questions, and on that, the finale was sorely lacking.

Overall, the focus of the two and a half hour final episode, was on the significance of the 'sideways' universe that has been part of the show for just this final season. It depicted what would have happened to the castaways had the plane never crashed and what their fates would have been, including most of those characters who have been killed over the course of the show.

My theory regarding this flash-sideways business was that it was a trick, the flash-sideways was actually a flash-forward. My notion was that some cataclysmic event in the finale (inevitably involving an heroic sacrifice) would cause a reset of reality in which the characters would have the chance to live their lives without the influence of the forces of good and evil from the island, manifested as the immortal brothers, 'Jacob' and 'The Man In Black.' So it would finally be revealed that the flash-sideways was actually the happy ending for all of the characters we had come to know and care about.

The way it actually played out seemed to confirm my theory - one by one, the characters in the flash-sideways experienced an awakening in which the memories of their experience on the island came flooding back as they all headed towards a fateful meeting together. But then, in the final ten minutes of the show, we were told that the flash-sideways was actually the afterlife and that all of the characters depicted in it were dead. And the gathering that all of the now-enlightened characters were heading towards was one final goodbye before passing into the white light.

Bluh. I felt like the whole flash-sideways thing had been a total waste of time and a distraction from the main narrative, which was given incredibly short-shrift in the finale. So few of the big questions about the island and the forces at work on it were given any answers or even in many cases, resolution. It almost felt like the writers had decided that all of those mysteries they posed were of little importance and that the flash-sideways storyline, which was only introduced earlier this year, was the thing to really care about.

What a let-down. The finale to Battlestar Galactica - and I won't spoil any details related to that here - contained ambiguity and some religious themes, and I was fine with that because it felt in keeping with the show. Lost has really relished posing conundrums and has encouraged fans to delve in and theorise about what they might all mean. Now it feels like the producers of the show have handed down the decree that all of that was a waste of time, and that the show's fans should have just been focused on figuring out which of the characters were going to get into heaven.

However. My disappointment in the lazy thinking of the finale doesn't take away the past six years of really enjoying Lost. Knowing how the story ends doesn't make me regret having watched the show, and perhaps someday I'll go back and watch it again, and see if there weren't some clues in there that I missed the first time through.

The Good:

Each flash-sideways 'awakening' was genuinely moving, some intensely so
The clifftop fight to the death between Jack and Locke/Man in Black
Desmond Fail!
Tremendous performances from the whole cast
The return of fondly remembered characters, long-gone
Kate and Sawyer base jump into the sea!
Very tight and effective editing, particularly during the final climactic moments
Hey, the dog's still alive!

The Bad:

Go into the light Carol-Anne - all are welcome, all are welcome...

Realising I've spent about 7 hours this season watching and pondering events that didn't really happen and had no bearing on the show's main storyline
And finally:

Here's another take that I enjoyed reading and would recommend if you are interested.

What's The Collective Term For Geek?

2010-05-19T14:50:00.001+01:00

A flock of geeks? A rank of geeks?

Who knows. Anyhoo, in addition to the two Volkswagon festivals I will be attending with Tony this summer (one of which, Big Bang, we've already been to), I will be spending next weekend in the company of a posse of geeks. No, posse is definitely not quite right.

I'm going to the 2010 Bristol International Comic Expo. Are you jealous? It's the biggest comic con in Britain, although the guest list doesn't often measure up to the big cons in the US, and this year's no exception, unfortunately.

Not that there isn't anything on offer that I'm looking forward to, of course. There will be panels featuring industry experts, artists and writers as well as a dealer room where I can sift through the long boxes, looking for those two rare issues of the Legion that I can't find anywhere on the internet. (Damn intertubes, I'd have an uninterrupted 35 year run of the book if I could only find those two missing issues....)

This will be my first comic con since I was a teenager, so I'm a bit unsure what to expect from a modern con. Even so, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't getting excited. Excited...

A turgid of geeks? Ah! A tumescence of geeks!

If it ain't right, it should be.

My main hope for the weekend is that 21st Century comic book geeks will prove better groomed and deodorised than their counterparts from the 1980's and 90's. Blecch.

2 3D OR NOT 2 3D

2010-05-12T13:09:00.000+01:00

Roger Ebert has recently gone on the record as being a 3D cynic. In his article for Newsweek, he makes a lot of interesting points:

It adds nothing essential to the moviegoing experience. For some, it is an annoying distraction. For others, it creates nausea and headaches. It is driven largely to sell expensive projection equipment and add a $5 to $7.50 surcharge on already expensive movie tickets. Its image is noticeably darker than standard 2-D. It is unsuitable for grown-up films of any seriousness. It limits the freedom of directors to make films as they choose. For moviegoers in the PG-13 and R ranges, it only rarely provides an experience worth paying a premium for.

Similarly, Mark Kermode, high-profile film critic for the BBC, has been relentlessly campaigining against the technology in his radio and tv appearances, even going so far as to boast that he has had a pair of glasses made for him that convert 3D movies back into 2D.

I, on the other hand, think that both Ebert and Kermode are acting like a couple of stubborn, cantankerous old bastards. I would compare the advent of modern 3D technology with the launch of surround sound in cinemas. It was pioneered by Disney back in the 1940's, and then improved somewhat before falling out of fashion and disappearing until it was revived during the early days of 4-channel Dolby stereo in the 1970's.

Surround sound, like 3D, can help to create a more immersive experience, although like 3D, it can also be technically misused and is no guarantee of a quality film. It's also arguably a frivolous extra that the film, in its essence, doesn't need. But we're talking about the cinematic experience, here, and I've been thrilled enough at the aerial sequences in Avatar and How to Train Your Dragon to know that 3D can make me catch my breath and gasp in a moment of vertigo. I know from my own real life experience that the technology can most definitely make me feel closer to the action on the screen than I would without the 3D specs on.

So new 3D is still in its infancy, it's been sloppily and retroactively added to some films (I'm looking at you, Clash of the Titans) that weren't filmed with the special 3D cameras and weren't ever intended to be shown in 3D. They also require a darkening of the picture, since the glasses have to be tinted, that washes out the colours on screen by about a third, apparently. And some people find the experience of wearing the glasses uncomfortable and headache-inducing. And the surcharges for 3D films are too damn expensive. That needs to change, too.

But. It's another tool in the box of filmmakers, and to my mind, it's potentially a very powerful tool. I also reject the notion that what we're seeing now is the technology being utilised to its best potential. The reason people were so blown away by Avatar is that James Cameron had taken the time to really come to grips with the new technology and use it in a way that really enhanced the film, unlike many of the early attempts that we've seen in theatres over the past year or so.

Why can't this technology be effectively used in dramatic, non-action-oriented films? I've heard talk of films being made of stage plays in which the 3D cameras will be virtually static, so that the 3D, HD image on screen lets the audience experience the play as if they were seeing it performed live on stage. Besides, 3D isn't just about things shooting out of the screen at you in action sequences, it's about the depth of the image and the creation of a more engaging environment on the screen. Why not feel like you're trapped in the room with the 12 Angry Men, for example? Would that not add a new layer to the viewing experience? Would critics of 3D argue that surround sound should never be used in 'grown-up films of any seriousness?'

So give it a bit of time, and don't be so boring about it, Ebert and Kermode. I mean, hey, if Scorsese can get on board, it can't be all bad, right? You guys are in danger of sounding like the parents of fifty years ago who couldn't come to grips with rock and roll, and instead chose to fold their arms across their chests and insist that it was pointless and doomed to disappear. Doomed to disappear any day now. Aaaaaany day now....

Drudge Fail

2010-05-11T19:52:00.001+01:00

The headline may be accurate, but the picture isn't of the new British Prime Minister, David Cameron. That's Lib-Dem leader Nick Clegg. But all of these English guys look alike, right?

Election UK

2010-05-06T10:40:00.011+01:00

Sorry about the unannounced absence, folks. I won't bore you with the reasons, but I promise it wasn't intentional! to make up for it, here's a big'un for you.

So it's election day in the UK. I'm a permanent resident, not a citizen, so I don't get to vote - although that doesn't mean I haven't been following it closely. I moved to the UK in August of 1996, just under a year before Tony Blair brought the Labour party back into power after nearly 18 years in opposition to the Conservative governments of Thatcher and Major. So I caught the end of Tory Britain in the 90's, and can tell you in all seriousness that I was impressed with neither their politics nor their policies. While they may not have been quite as toxic as the American Republican party, they were aiming to be.

So, now we've had about 13 years of Labour government, and while I've already expressed my displeasure here with Gordon Brown, I can't say I'm eager to see the Conservatives back in power. They've worked hard to change their image and come across as environmentally conscious and more socially progressive, but just take a look at their party conferences, and there is no shortage of evidence that the party is as full of the same scary, hatchet-faced old bastards as ever.

But this time around, there's a high-profile third option, the Liberal Democrats. Will they win today? No. But there is a chance that they may get the second highest number of votes from a recession-weary public that is pretty fed up with the political status quo.

So here's a few reactions I've had to this, the most interesting election in a dozen years.

The party in power gets to set the date for the election (with the Queen's consent), as long as they schedule it within five years of the previous election. Once the date is set and announced, the parties have four weeks to campaign. This is obviously a very different scenario than our American national elections, which lately have featured campaigns lasting up to two years prior to election day. In some ways, I much prefer the British approach, but it does strike me that when a candidate breaks through and gets a real bump in the polls, like Nick Clegg of the Lib Dems has done this time around, there's not a lot of time for the press to catch up and for public opinion to absorb the closer journalistic inspection of the candidate, his background and his policies. The speed of the process means that a bump based on initial and purely superficial factors at the beginning of the campaign may still be ebbing on election day.

This election has featured the first-ever televised debate between the leaders of the three parties. First ever, except of course for the weekly debates they engage in at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday afternoons in Parliament. This was used as an excuse up until now for there not to be debates at previous elections, but to my mind this change has been for the good. At PMQ's, the politicians are talking to an audience of politicians and politicos. The news may or may not pick up a sound byte or two, but often they pass without any real public awareness. These new debates are unique in that they are a live event at which the three main parties speak directly to the people and attempt to persuade and justify based on their ability to explain their policies and intentions clearly and sincerely. While Clegg's bump after the first debate may have had too much to do with his looks and charm, I think in the final analysis, the public's reaction (as far as the polls show) to the whole series of debates was based on pretty substantive issues. There is a real sense that the debates have engaged the wider public in the political process in a way no one here has seen for some time.

When Gordon Brown became Prime Minister, it was basically an appointment by Members of Parliament in his own party. There was no election when Tony Blair resigned - had Brown called one at that time, Labour likely would have won (remember, this was in 2007) and he would now still have about two years left before he would have had to call the next election. Hindsight, and all that. So it occurred to me that this is the first time that Brown will have had to face a national vote as Prime Minister. But that's not entirely correct. The Prime Minister is chosen by members of their own party, not a national vote. The only election Gordon Brown needs to win today is his local election. He will still be in Parliament no matter whether Labour wins the election or not, it's just that he may be demoted from Prime Minister, to the equivalent of a Congressman representing a single district in the US. In a minority party. Ouch.

This is something that I've always struggled with about the British system. The public don't get to vote for Prime Minister. That said, when I talk to people about their approach to voting, very few people seem interested in the individual qualities of their local candidates. The typical approach is to vote based purely on party affiliation anyway, and people may not even know the name of the person they show up to vote for on election day. They are, in their own minds, casting a vote for who they want to be PM. But those successful local candidates are the ones who will chose one of their own to elevate to the office of Prime Minister, so I would think people would want to feel confident that they are choosing as their local MP, someone with sound judgment. That's not to say that Americans don't vote along party lines, of course many do. It's the direct election of the President that I think is the more democratic approach. (Ask most Brits, however, and I suspect they would tell us to keep our electoral system to ourselves.)

So, what happens tomorrow? Normally, the winning party will assume the reigns of government mere days after the election, usually within a week at most. This time, however, the safe money is on the election of a hung Parliament, with no party holding an overall majority. That means there will have to be negotiations between two parties - whether they will be Labour and the Lib Dems, or more likely, the Conservatives and the Lib Dems - to determine which members of which parties will hold which roles and who gets to do what, etc. That could take weeks, so watch this space as there will probably be no definite outcome known in the next day or two.

Who Would I Vote For?

2010-05-06T10:40:00.010+01:00

I passed the citizenship test ages ago, only to discover that submitting the application for citizenship cost £600. So I haven't applied yet. I will do at some point, though, because after living here so long, I want to be able to participate in the process.

But even though I can't vote, I have taken great interest in the proposals of the three parties in this election, as they are most certainly going to affect me and the people here who are close to me.

You probably won't be able to tell from all of bleeding heart liberalism expressed on this blog, but I'm actually becoming a bit more conservative as I get older, and a lot of conservative policies do appeal strongly to me. While I believe passionately in the social safety net and national health service, I also like the idea of a small, efficient, cost-effective government that doesn't interfere in our lives any more than is absolutely necessary. While I am an immigrant myself and have benefited from a compassionate immigration policy that allowed me to stay here with my same-sex British partner, I also understand that England is the size of the state of Louisiana, but with the population of the states of New York, Florida and Illinois combined. I understand that it is reasonable for the indigenous population to be concerned about the unprecedented flood of (mainly east European) immigrants over the past few years as well as projections that more, to the equivalent of the population of Nevada, will also be joining us over the next ten years. (Changes in the EU have meant that citizens of EU nations can now live and work freely in any EU member nation.) As you may have seen, simply by raising the issue in a conversation with Gordon Brown last week, a voter was referred to as 'bigoted' later by the Prime Minister when he thought he was out of ear shot.

And so on, but for all of my conservative leanings, the Tory party really does not feel like a comfortable fit for me. They have a recent history of outright hostility to gay folks, and despite their new and more inclusive approach to social issues, they are still allying themselves as a party with some virulent homophobes around Europe. I'm certainly not expecting any progress on gay marriage under a Conservative government. Besides, that, they are still the party that reliably favours big business over the little guy and that's where we part ways.

I'm a sucker for the underdog, and the Liberal Democrats have long been that. I'm also very sympathetic to their approach to many social issues, which emphasises individual liberty and social responsibility. The problem with the Lib Dems is that their party platform is determined by a vote of their membership - which sounds great, but has produced some rather wacky policy proposals. I'm concerned about whether they are ready to lead.

And Labour. Gordon Brown reminds me of Nixon a bit - dour, angry, paranoid, too interested in the accumulation of his own political power and lacking in the kind of charm and charisma that one normally associates with successful politicians. And yet, for all of his many faults, I do feel that Brown is a reasonably steady hand on the government. His approach to public spending over the past decade as Chancellor and then PM, has been a bit out of control, but he argues that after 18 years of Tory neglect, our public services needed a large influx of resources. (Oh, and incidentally, to the various American comedians I've heard joking about the election and doing their 'impressions' of Gordon Brown - please take note: Gordon Brown is not English and does not speak with an English accent. He is a Scot. A dour, grey, angry Scot.)

It's also unfortunate that his key role in pulling us all back from the brink when the recession threatened to escalate into a global depression has seemingly been all but forgotten now. Plus, I can't ignore that the cause of gay equality in England has advanced tremendously under Labour. On the down side, Labour feels tapped out and ready for some time out of power to recharge and look to new approaches. They've grown too close to lobbyists and are showing the kind of secretiveness and defensiveness that always sets in when a party is in power for so long.

On balance, and it's not an easy choice, I suspect my vote in this election would go to my local Labour candidate. Hey, if nothing else, she's got a doctorate in biochemistry. That's got to be good for something, right?

An Everyday Obscenity

2010-04-14T22:35:00.001+01:00

The United States Government should not be torturing anybody.

I realise that this is now an outrageous statement, and that I'm likely a radical for even thinking it, but I can't help it. Torture is wrong. In the America I grew up in, that was just accepted fact. Everybody knew it.

No longer. There's not even much debate going on about it at this point, as best I can tell. A few years back, the rationale used by the pro-torture pundits routinely employed the ticking bomb scenario. A terrorist has a nuke and the only way to prevent it going off in the middle of an American city is to torture the terrorist into helping you locate it. It's vitally important to our national security that this completely fictitious, never-happened-scenario be taken as the basis for jettisoning two hundred years of the moral high ground on this issue. And if you don't believe us, just ask that brave American, Jack Bauer.

Andrew Sullivan made the point in his blog some time ago, and it's stuck in my head ever since, that part of the long-term danger of the road we are on, is that once a practice like torture becomes acceptable, it will become routine and those extreme 'ticking bomb' scenarios will be forgotten as we decide torture has become a useful tool. We can use it in questioning people who are only suspected of ties to terrorists (see Padilla, Jose), and then it occurs to us that it might be helpful for the police to be able to use 'enhanced interrogation' to question people we suspect of crimes back at home in the US. How about torturing drug dealers who won't reveal their contacts? Does that trouble us?

If that seems absurd, how about this - let's consider the notion that the US Government could use these fabulous 'enhanced interrogation' techniques on our own soldiers until they agree to sign away their military health care coverage? Now before you have me carted away, I'm not talking about shoving bamboo under their toenails, just a bit of this:

In gruesome detail, [Sergeant Chuck] Luther described what happened to him at Camp Taji's aid station. He thought he would receive medical care. Instead he was confined to an isolation chamber and held there for over a month, under enforced sleep deprivation, until he agreed to sign papers saying that he was ill before coming to Iraq and thus not eligible for disability and medical benefits. "They wanted me to say I had a 'personality disorder,'" Luther told me.

Luther's call did not come out of the blue. For two years I had been investigating this personality disorder scandal: how military doctors were purposely misdiagnosing soldiers, wounded in combat, as having this pre-existing mental illness. As in the civilian world, where people can be locked out of the insurance system if they have a pre-existing condition, soldiers whose wounds can be attributed to a pre-existing illness can be denied disability benefits and long-term medical care.

So. There's more detail here, if you can stomach it. What is becoming clear is that in just a few short years, the US Government's practice of torture has gone from a series of photos from an Iraqi prison that shocked the world to becoming an utterly mundane, everyday occurence. It's practically boring now.

And I guess it should be, because if you are an American citizen like me, the US Government isn't just some alien entity. It's you and it's me. And we are responsible for it.

If you would like to know a bit more about Sergeant Chuck Luther, the US soldier that our own Government tortured in the interests of trying to save money, you can read more about his remarkable story here.

Photo: Sergeant Luther says a tearful farewell to his daughter in 2005.

What I Learned From The Wire

2010-04-14T09:54:00.001+01:00

Having recently finished watching the final season of The Wire, I found myself in the small hours of Friday morning dreaming that I was a reporter working in the same Baltimore neighborhoods featured in the show. As the dream went on, things shifted around as they are prone to do in dreams, and suddenly I wasn't a journalist anymore. I was living in those neighborhoods, trapped and desperate to get out but with no means to start life over anywhere else.

I may be prone to hyperbole in this blog on occasion, but I assure you that I'm completely serious when I say that The Wire is far and away the best television drama I've ever seen. Created by the team of David Simon, a former Baltimore journalist who spent an entire year with corner drug dealers, learning all about them, their circumstances and how the inner-city drug trade works, and Ed Burns, a former Baltimore Homicide Detective who had retired from the police department and had later worked as a teacher in the public school system.

It's hard to imagine two men better suited to create this exploration of modern urban America. The Wire examines the life of a city, introducing you to an absolutely huge cast of characters (I'm not exaggerating, if you haven't seen the show, check out this cast list) from the most destitute junkies living rough to the families living in the middle of an urban war zone, to the schools struggling to make any impact on the lives of their troubled students to the dock workers whose way of life is under threat, to the journalists who miss all of the real drama that unfolds and the politicians who consistently fail to live up to their promises. The show follows police, preachers, politicians and drug dealers alike, and the tremendous quality of the performances and writing has created a collage of utterly real, compellingly human characters.

And lest I'm painting too grim a picture, The Wire celebrates the lives of these people with equal measures of humour and pathos. There's joy and there's tragedy and it all feels very real.

So what did I learn from the Wire? It's difficult to put it succinctly, but on one hand, I learned how things work - the processes involved in all of the various areas described above, how does the inner-city drug trade work, how do the police approach the balance between their workload and city politics, what turns the gears in City Hall, etc? The Wire explodes all of these issues and picks up each piece and shows you where it fits, where other shows will distill it all down so that they can tell a story in 40 minutes and then move on to something else the next week.

The other thing I take away from The Wire is the humanity of the kids who stand on those corners. Even the hardest of young criminals on The Wire is portrayed in a relentlessly honest and human way. On other programmes these kids are shown as troubling cyphers, full of danger and threat. With the Wire, you grow to care for them, perhaps even to the extent that you can put yourself in their shoes and identify with them. Maybe even to the extent that you find yourself dreaming about what you would do if you found yourself in their circumstances.

All of the characters in The Wire have their own game to play, but the lasting impression you take away is that whether they realise it or not, they (we) are all playing it together. It's all connected, baby!

So, if you haven't seen The Wire, do yourself and favour and go beg, borrow or steal to get the complete 5-season box set. It takes a while to build, but once you're in, you won't let go.

Rotten To The Core

2010-04-13T11:33:00.001+01:00

I've been following the latest series of pedophile-priest-related scandals to hit the Vatican over the past few weeks, and it seems to me that critics of the church have been pretty measured (often too measured, in my opinion) in their condemnation of the way the current Pope and other high church officials covered up and on occasion enabled the rape and torture of hundreds, perhaps thousands of innocent children that had been entrusted to their care.

The Vatican, on the other hand, has pulled no punches, claiming that the people investigating the matter and raising the issue for public consideration are being motivated by hatred of the church, Satan, greed, etc, etc. They are in full siege mode, blaming everyone but themselves for the outrage that has followed the release of damning documents which implicate Joseph Ratzinger as a key figure in the scandal. Of particular importance, has been the argument by officials and defenders of the Vatican that this is not a church scandal at all. Instead, they argue, as typified by the Pope's Number Two, Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Bertone:

"Many psychologists and psychiatrists have shown that there is no link between celibacy and pedophilia but many others have shown, I have recently been told, that there is a relationship between homosexuality and pedophilia..."

That this in reality a scandal of secretly gay priests has been echoed by the ever-obtuse Bill Donohue of the Catholic League.

So. Let's sum up, the current Pope, when he was a Cardinal, is documented to have prevented child rapists from being prosecuted due to his fear that it would reflect poorly on the Catholic Church and was instrumental in putting further children in harm's way by refusing to defrock these rapists and instead leaving them in new communities where they were free to rape again.

Now, the church is working full press to avoid taking any responsibility whatsoever, and is instead attacking journalists and gay people with vicious lies and the most hateful bigotry imaginable by making an equivalence between being gay and raping children. No accountability, no remorse, no interest in the victims of their willful indifference.

To face a criminal who had tortured and raped about 200 boys in a school for the deaf, and worry more about the Church's reputation than getting that monster off the streets and making any kind of restitution to the victims says more about Joseph Ratzinger's moral compass than any criticism I can level at him.

This Pope, this Vatican have no moral authority left. They are coasting on tradition and blind devotion, because apart from lots and lots of material riches and treasure, that's all they have now. The Vatican is an opulent palace full of money, malice and the egos of modern day Pharisees.

Ratzinger is planning a visit to the UK this autumn and there is an effort underway to have him placed under arrest for his crimes when he arrives. It may be unlikely, but it has happened before when Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet was arrested while visiting the UK. As for me, my fingers are crossed.

How To Get Arrested

2010-04-08T14:45:00.004+01:00

I love this story. Who thinks you can still get away with smoking on an airplane? A 27 year old member of the Qatari diplomatic staff, Mohammed al-Modadi, on a flight from DC to Denver.

At 27 is this guy old enough to have ever flown when it was still legal to smoke on airplanes? Perhaps you can still smoke on Qatari air.

And when confronted about the smoke trailing him out of the toilet, to joke that it was the result of him trying to light his shoe is just the height of stupidity. What a numpty. I can only imagine the shock on his face when he was taken seriously and thrown to the floor of the plane by the US air marshal on board.

The Qatari Ambassador to the US has cautioned, "The facts will reveal that this was a mistake, and we urge all concerned parties to avoid reckless judgments or speculation."

Speculation like, "I assume not all of your staffers are this stupid?" That kind of speculation?

But while chuckling over this absurdity, I never lost sight of the true moral of the story: this is what happens when you elect a socialist President who doesn't treat the entire Muslim world as our natural and eternal enemy. Obviously. (And if you think that's too absurd for anyone to actually have said it and meant it, I would like to present exhibits A and B.)

He Loves It

2010-03-29T09:11:00.000+01:00

Just for fun, this impossibly cute clip shows a Slow Loris enjoying a bit of high-quality interpersonal time.

Hat tip: Huffpost

Silly John Hancock

2010-03-24T15:56:00.001Z

You may not have noticed this, but when Presidents sign bills, they use a whole bunch of pens. The White House likes to give the pens away afterward as mementos to members of Congress who were instrumental in the bill's passage, as well as to other key supporters.

Nancy's new favourite pen

Sometimes this is easy, when there are several places to sign (like in treaties and diplomatic agreements), but for most legislation, the President needs to get creative and use a different pen for each letter of their signature, resulting in the kind of odd, disjointed signature that you see above from the new health insurance reform bill (or the 'bastard herald of the coming socialist apocalypse,' if you prefer.) Here, it looks like he used about ten different pens just on the 'O.'

More noteworthy to me, however, is the signature style itself. Here's a more fluid example:

I'm no handwriting analyst, but what could it mean that he squeezes almost the entirety of his surname into the 'O?' There's a certain visual symmetry to it when written like that, I suppose, but my overriding reaction is, 'he must have spent a lot of time when he was twelve or thirteen coming up with that.' Strangely, there's no indication he's attempting to distract from the fact that he has the unfortunate initials 'B.O.'

Part of me wants to think that it's a bit pretentious and silly, and part of me suspects that I'm just jealous that I never came up with a stylish way to sign my own name. My signature looks like I sneezed while writing it.

Leadership

2010-03-22T17:26:00.000Z

After my lament that modern-day politicians in America lack the courage to risk their careers for what's right, this weekend they showed us all that even Congress has its good days. I do hope that the Senate sticks to its word and passes the 'fix' legislation that will strengthen the benefit of this health insurance reform for the people.

Prominent Republicans, on the other hand, are loathe to let any opportunity to spew bile pass them by. Here's a few choice quotes from the conservative elite today:

"There will be no cooperation for the rest of the year. They have poisoned the well in what they've done and how they've done it." John McCain

"America has just witnessed an unconscionable abuse of power. President Obama has betrayed his oath to the nation" Mitt Romney

"This will not stand...Sunday was a pressured, bought, intimidated vote worthy of Hugo Chavez but unworthy of the United States of America." Newt Gingrich

And these guys are supposed to be the 'moderates.' If you dare to venture into wingnut land on the internet, you'll find that most of them are talking like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse just took a dump on Ronald Reagan's grave.

The Telly Maven Attacks!

2010-03-17T11:30:00.001Z

The ever-so-pretty cast of 'Caprica'

It's a good time of year for quality television. Since the networks discovered that people hate reruns, they have been banking new episodes for many series until they have enough to run them straight through in one or two extended runs. This means that the 'new fall tv season' as it used to be now doesn't start for a lot of shows until January or February.

If memory serves, the first major show to make this change was 24. It didn't make sense for a show that tells one long extended story to be chopped up so that you got one new episode, then a rerun, then another new episode or two, them more out-of-sequence reruns, etc. For the audience to be able to effectvely follow the narrative, we need to see the whole season in order, preferably with as few mid-season breaks as possible to keep the momentum going.

Legend of the Seeker is great if you are fond of swords, sorcery and heaving bosoms.

Long story arcs are becoming the standard for a lot of TV dramas, and people's familiarity with watching DVD box sets of whole seasons means that the viewing public's expectations are different now. For genre fans like me, that means you get lengthy, almost epic-scale story arcs on series like Lost, Heroes, Battlestar Galactica, Fringe and Flash Forward, just to name a few.

New this year is the SyFy series, Caprica. It's a prequel spin off of BSG, but is a very different show - more like a family drama with science fiction trappings. Sadly, so far the ratings have been poor and the fan boys on the internet hate it, frequently dismissing it as a 'soap opera.' As for myself, I'm really loving it. It's so imaginative and thought-provoking, tackling tough issues and failing to shy away from exploring a complex and challenging narrative. It's probably the show I look forward to most each week.

I'm also enjoying Glee, which is about as good as TV musical series get. Sure, it's got the cheese on tap, and the stories are a little too twee, but there's a healthy dose of camp on top and the musical numbers are, for the most part, lots of fun. However, the main reason to watch this show is Jane Lynch's outstanding and hilarious performance as Uber-bitch Cheerleader Coach Sue Sylvester. It's really gratifying to see Lynch finally get some mainstream recognition, she's been turning in top-notch comedic performances in a string of small movies for a number of years now.

Also on my DVR are Fringe (I'm still enjoying this X-Files knock-off, but wish they'd get a move on with the larger story arc, it's being undermined by its glacial pace), Legend of the Seeker (a bit like one of those old Hercules / Xena shows, but much slicker and with lots of really excellent sword fighting - and arguably the two sexiest leads on television), 24 (still fun, but getting pretty old and feeling a bit repetitive at this stage), the final season of Lost and other old stalwarts like the Daily Show with John Stewart, Real Time with Bill Maher and of course, the Antiques Roadshow. (That last one is for Tony.)

And on DVD, I'm one season away from finishing The Wire. I'll write more about that when I've finished it, but can already say that it may be the best thing created for television I've ever seen. Tremendous.

Writers Vs Authors

2010-03-10T14:51:00.001Z

It just occurs to me that if someone were to ask me who my favourite writer is, I wouldn't know what to tell them. I've been reading Andrew Sullivan's blog on virtually a daily basis for about ten years. He posts about 30 times a day, so if you add it all up, I've probably read the equivalent of a large stack of novels' worth of his writing (without ever having read one of his books...)

The only other writer I could compare that with, quantity-wise, is Stephen King, who I binged on as a teenager. And having read something like 30 of his books (I kid you not) I still think I prefer Sullivan's blog.

I don't read a lot of 'worthy' books, most of my free time spent reading is dedicated to comics, sci-fi and some mainstream fiction, so it's not like I'm comparing blogs to Proust or anything, but in that, I suspect I'm a lot like most people.

Don't get me wrong, I love books, I just don't read them so much anymore. Is that common? Are we reaching the point that casual writers posting stream-of-consciousness garbage like this blog can be thought of alongside skilled, professional writers?

Nah, I didn't think so either. :¬)

(To be fair, Sullivan is a terrific writer with a regular column in the Atlantic magazine and the weekly Sunday edition of The Times [UK], so with those alongside his several published books, he is a pro. Just one who's probably best known for his blog.)

Bits And Bobs

2010-03-09T16:49:00.001Z

Been on holiday for the past week, so I haven't been paying too much attention to world events, particularly those of the political variety. I do have a few random items for your consideration:

Congressman Eric Massa of NY is stupid, strange and quite possibly insane. And he's leaving, so that's one down and about 425 to go.

Why was everyone so frightened of offending Jim Cameron at the Oscars? I am aware that he has a reputation as an arrogant tyrant on set, but so what? He doesn't look so tough to me.

Think there's been a lot of comic-book based films in the cinemas lately? Just you wait. In addition to new installments in the Superman, Batman, Iron Man, X-Men and Spider-Man franchises coming to a theatre near you in the next few years, a whole slew of comic book properties have entered either pre-production or production: The Avengers, Captain America, Cowboys and Aliens, Kick Ass, Daredevil, Walking Dead, Green Lantern, The Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Hornet and on and on and on. If you are intrigued, you can find more details here and here.

And finally, why oh why do I always get sick when I'm on holiday? What is up with that?

The Olympic Ideal?

2010-02-23T08:37:00.000Z

I'm sorry, but does this look like a couple of world-class athletes about to compete in the world's most difficult and prestigious sporting championship?

Nothing against figure skaters, but perhaps this event doesn't really belong at the Olympics. They could create a special championship for figure skaters and those floor gymnasts who dance around with the long streamers.

And while I'm on the subject, what's with the skiing and shooting? Who skis and shoots on the same outing?

Snowboarding, on the other hand, has really come into it's own and for my money, has substantially changed the whole feel of the Winter Olympics for the better. The skiers have even stolen the snowboard cross event for themselves and in the process, created the best skiing event in the whole competition.

Said the outrageously unfit and somewhat pudgy couch potato.

The Future Belongs To All Of Us

2010-02-20T12:06:00.001Z

I know that younger generations are progressively more comfortable with the idea of treating gay folks with dignity, even amongst social conservatives, but still. I was moved by this clip.

If you are not familiar with the CPAC convention that's going on at the moment, it's an annual get-together for conservative political activists and it's a venue for some of the most reprehensible rhetoric in American politics. Even so, this clip is striking evidence that large numbers of young Republicans aren't marching in lock-step with the 'gays are evil' agenda of today's Republican Party. 'GOProud' is a gay conservative political group and their invitation to have a presence at this year's CPAC conference is the subject of this particular speaker's grievance.

It's growing more and more rare for anything in the political sphere to inspire me with hope, so this clip was a bit like rain in the desert...

UPDATE: I can't believe I missed the opportunity to call him Sorba the Geek.

BAM!

2010-02-19T09:08:00.002Z

Oh, man. Am I loving this gal.

In case you missed it, Republicans have taken on a real victim mentality of late. Everyone is out to get them. The President is racist against white people, Christmas is under assault - apparently it's just not safe to be a white Christian in America anymore. And they want their country back!

Soccer Mom, Sarah Palin, has recently been telling anyone who will listen that White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, should be fired for allegedly referring to liberal activists as 'retards.' Palin, of course, has an infant son with Down Syndrome. I say 'of course' because she constantly parades him around at rallys in a somewhat awkward and arguably exploitative manner.

Anyhoo, that's a whole other kettle of fish. More recently, Palin publicly remarked that a new episode of the cartoon 'Family Guy' kicked her 'in the gut' by including a joke in which character Chris goes on a date with a girl who has Down Syndrome and who remarks that her mother is the former Governor of Alaska.

So, as it happens, the actress who voiced the character in the episode has responded.

My name is Andrea Fay Friedman. I was born with Down syndrome. I played the role of Ellen on the "Extra Large Medium" episode of Family Guy that was broadcast on Valentine's day. Although they gave me red hair on the show, I am really a blonde. I also wore a red wig for my role in " Smudge" but I was a blonde in "Life Goes On". I guess former Governor Palin does not have a sense of humor. I thought the line "I am the daughter of the former governor of Alaska" was very funny. I think the word is "sarcasm".

In my family we think laughing is good. My parents raised me to have a sense of humor and to live a normal life. My mother did not carry me around under her arm like a loaf of French bread the way former Governor Palin carries her son Trig around looking for sympathy and votes.

Never underestimate people with special needs. They might just pop up and kick your ass.

Signed, Mr Grumpy Guts Of Milton Keynes

2010-02-18T16:16:00.003Z

Last October, 33 year old Irish pop star Steven Gately died unexpectedly of pulmonary oedema in the company of his same-sex partner. At the time, there were rumours that the death was either drug or alcohol related, but to my knowledge that is still unconfirmed. The day before his funeral, the Daily Mail published a particularly offensive editorial which was absolutely rife with innuendo suggesting that what happened to Gately was part and parcel of his homosexual 'lifestyle.'

This elicited an unprecedented 25,000 complaints to the Press Complaints Commission, which has just today issued their ruling. To clarify, the PCC has no statutory powers of enforcement, it's a professional standards body that issues rulings on whether press agencies have behaved unprofessionally or crossed the lines of propriety. I believe passionately in a free press, but if ever a newspaper deserved a slapping for printing offensively bigoted trash dressed up as political commentary, this was it.

The decision was that the complaint (formally registered by Gately's partner) was not upheld. (You can read it here.) I'm not a prolific complaint writer, but I've just sent the PCC the following rant.

Having read your ruling regarding the Andrew Cowles complaint, I'm left totally confused. You seem to imply that the PCC's only role is to address published material which breaches the law and your ruling is, in effect, protecting free speech.

How does that comply with your own Editor's Code of Practice, which says no such thing? The Code is explicitly stated to be concerned with professional standards and journalistic ethics.

Is it your position that the pejorative descriptions of Gately's same-sex relationship ("...another blow to the happy-ever-after myth of civil partnerships" and "the ooze of a very different and more dangerous lifestyle") were non-prejudicial and relevant?

Would similar comments about mixed race relationships have been found to be journalistically sound and ethical by the PCC?

Your decision also seems to suggest that such remarks only breach the code if they are in reference to the individual complainant and not general statement about a particular class or minority group.

You then go on to state, "it was not possible to identify any direct uses of pejorative or prejudicial language in the article. The columnist had not used pejorative synonyms for the word "homosexual" at any point."

So what? That's not what the code stipulates. Your code specifically states:

i) The press must avoid prejudicial or pejorative reference to an individual's race, colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation or to any physical or mental illness or disability.

ii) Details of an individual's race, colour, religion, sexual orientation, physical or mental illness or disability must be avoided unless genuinely relevant to the story.

Where does it say that pejorative synonyms need to be involved? The language is clearly pejorative; whether synonyms have been employed or not isn't the criteria.

Perhaps you should remove the inclusion of the prohibition of pejorative treatment of sexual orientation in your code if you have neither the will nor intention to uphold it.

Mainstream Snuff

2010-02-16T11:03:00.004Z

NBC has belatedly decided to stop showing the footage of the death of Georgian Olympic luge competitor Nodar Kumaritashvili.

An NBC News spokesperson tells TVNewser, "NBC News handled the video of the luge accident with the utmost sensitivity. As we have done in the past, we felt the story had reached a point where it was no longer necessary to show the video when reporting on this tragic story."

WTF?!? They've been broadcasting the footage? That's completely shocking.

Just to be clear, this did not happen during a live event, this tragic accident occurred during a practice session held prior to the Olympic opening ceremony. Here's a reaction from Yahoo's Olympics blog regarding how the footage was aired during the kickoff broadcast of NBC's Olympic coverage.

So when the video opened with a shot of the 21-year-old waiting in the gate before his training run, it was a bit jarring. It became more so when the video jumped ahead to the horrific crash, which was shown in slow motion. Seconds later, a longer, slower shot was shown. A still photo of Kumaritashvili receiving CPR was also broadcast. During the eight-minute report that opened the show, NBC showed the crash three times, the final two of which lingered on shots of the Georgian's body.

British telly has not shown this footage, and I have certainly not sought it out on the internet because I have absolutely no desire to see it. It's taken me completely by surprise that any mainstream broadcaster would stoop so low. Have we really gotten to the stage where this doesn't feel wrong?

I have to say, for me, this is indefensibly exploitative, inappropriate, insensitive and perverse. It's no better than some slimeball selling snuff films from a dodgy website - they are seeking to profit from explicit footage of someone's death.

Sick.

Comics Get Political

2010-02-16T09:24:00.002Z

What with the rancid state of American politics and the poisonous asshole epidemic on Capital Hill, even an escapist medium like comics had to eventually take notice. After all of the Obama-in-Joker-makeup posters and Obama-with-Hitler-mustache protest signs, you'd think the conservatives would recognise that turnabout is fair play. Not so, apparently, as there's a lot of big tough Republicans crying foul on Boom Studio's new satirical one-shot 'Repuglicans.'

So thin-skinned.

Try, Try Again

2010-02-16T09:20:00.000Z

The damn caravan didn't sell. There were about 45 people 'watching' it, and we ended up with about 13 bids, the highest of which was £512, but we had set the reserve a bit higher than that (not a lot) so we've had to relist. I've added a few more pictures this time in the hopes of making it a more attractive proposition. Despite it's age, it's a really well-equipped caravan, so whomever buys it will be getting a pretty good deal.

As my first experience selling on ebay, I'd have to say it was easier than I feared it would be, even though we were unsuccessful, and we were contacted by a number of time-wasters. Bastards get your hopes up and then vanish. I've got lots of stuff I've been meaning to put up there to get rid of, but haven't done because I didn't know how and I don't keep a lot of packing materials around the house for shipping things. Now that I've figured out how to list stuff, perhaps I'll have a bit more confidence. I've got to sell one of our cars, for one thing, now that we've bought Tony his prized VW van...

Love For Sale

2010-02-09T08:47:00.000Z

So we put the old caravan on ebay last weekend. Some neighbour complained (we reckon it was our next door neighbours who are trying to sell their house, so I don't really blame them) and apparently it's in our agreement that we wouldn't park one in front of the house - who knew? We've got 28 days to get rid of it or the housing association will come out and tow it away. (In theory. Our housing association is so inept, I'll believe that when I see it. They're more likely to accidentally tow away the neighbour's cat.)

So this is our first attempt to sell something on ebay. It's been kind of interesting. There are currently 41 people 'watching' our auction and the page has had over 500 views, so it much be at least tempting somebody, although there haven't been any significant bids yet.

There have been a number of emails from people who ask a question or ask if they can have our phone number to speak with us, but then disappear, so who knows? The auction ends on Friday night, so wish us luck!

Anger Is Wasted On The Young

2010-02-04T19:48:00.000Z

I stumbled across an old favourite track while iPod shuffling yesterday and it really made me smile, thinking about ye olde days of the 1990's. Ah...I was a real pain in the ass....

There's a place in the world for the angry young man
With his working class ties and his radical plans
He refuses to bend, he refuses to crawl,
He's always at home with his back to the wall.
And he's proud of his scars and the battles he's lost,
He struggles and bleeds as he hangs on his cross,
And he likes to be known as the angry young man.

Give a moment or two to the angry young man,
With his foot in his mouth and his heart in his hand.
He's been stabbed in the back, he's been misunderstood,
It's a comfort to know his intentions are good.
He sits in a room with a lock on the door,
With his maps and his medals laid out on the floor
And he likes to be known as the angry young man.

I believe I've passed the age of consciousness & righteous rage
I found that just surviving was a noble fight.
I once believed in causes too, I had my pointless point of view,
But life went on no matter who was wrong or right.

And there's always a place for the angry young man,
With his fist in the air and his head in the sand.
And he's never been able to learn from mistakes,
He can't understand why his heart always breaks.
His honor is pure and his courage as well,
He's fair and he's true and he's boring as hell!
And he'll go to the grave as an angry old man.

'Angry Young Man' - Billy Joel

Shifting Goal Posts

2010-02-02T15:46:00.000Z

My two favourite political bloggers on these here interwebs are Andrew Sullivan and Glen Greenwald. I'd recommend both of their sites without hesitation. Andrew is an old-school conservative who is slack-jawed with horror at what the conservative movement in America has become. I often disagree with his politics, but I appreciate his willingness to present points of view other than his own, even to the point of occasionally admitting he was wrong and changing his position. In the blogosphere, this almost never happens.

Glen Greenwald, on the other hand, is about as bleeding heart a liberal as I am. Where Andrew's site is full of mostly brief posts covering a wide range of topics, Glen's features longer, more detailed examinations of political issues and debates. He's a terrific writer, incisively intelligent and really passionate, which I appreciate.

The reason I mention these two guys is that Andrew posted a link to Glenn's site in which they both touch on an issue that I've been thinking about a lot lately:

Greenwald bemoans "how extremist our political consensus has become" against the rule of law:
The express policies of the right-wing Ronald Reagan — “applying the rule of law to terrorists”; delegitimizing Terrorists by treating them as “criminals”; and compelling the criminal prosecution of those who authorize torture — are now considered on the Leftist fringe. Merely advocating what Reagan explicitly adopted as his policy — “to use democracy’s most potent tool, the rule of law against” Terrorists — is now the exclusive province of civil liberties extremists. In those rare cases when Obama does what Reagan’s policy demanded in all instances and what even Bush did at times — namely, trials and due process for accused Terrorists — he is attacked as being “Soft on Terror” by Democrats and Republicans alike. And the mere notion that we should prosecute torturers (as Reagan bound the U.S. to do) — or even hold them accountable in ways short of criminal proceedings — is now the hallmark of a Far Leftist Purist.
And a Reagan-Thatcher pragmatic Christian Tory like me is now a conservative heretic. And a centrist like Obama is a communist. God help us.

I always kind of assumed that as time passed, there would be some modest swings left and right in the political leanings of the mainstream, but I've really been taken aback at how succesful the right wing has been at dragging the whole spectrum so far to the right so that what was the traditional conservative approach just twenty years ago is now perceived by most as 'left wing'.

Bill Clinton owes a lot of his political success to his championing of 'the third way' in the 90's. This was his strategy to claim a lot of political territory from the Republicans - wellfare reform, balanced budgets, business-friendly deregulation, and the like. His plan was to break out of the stereotypical notion of what Democrats were all about that was still left over from the Carter administration. The long-term result, however, was to alter where we all perceived the 'centrist' political terrain lay. Suddenly, if you wanted to stand out as a conservative, you had to make a much bigger issue of your hostility to the remaining 'lefty' issues, like access to abortion and equal rights for gay folks, since the middle ground was suddenly full of Democrats.

Over time, the whole thing has shifted further and further to the right so that now it seems like you have to be a pro-torture nihilist to show your face in Republican circles anymore. And Democrats in DC sound just like Reagan-era Republicans a lot of the time (which is a bad thing, if you ask me.)

Have Republicans gone further and further out into the fringe as a way to distinguish themselves from the increasingly conservative stances of congressional Democrats or have they had a strategy to paint centrist positions as liberal in order to drag the whole polity out on to the wingnut limb with them? Who knows? What I do know is that even as I get inevitably less liberal with age, the mainstream is clearly far outpacing me with every step.

Jesus Wept

2010-01-19T10:34:00.002Z

Hold on to your hats, folks.

Coded references to New Testament Bible passages about Jesus Christ are inscribed on high-powered rifle sights provided to the United States military by a Michigan company, an ABC News investigation has found.

The sights are used by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the training of Iraqi and Afghan soldiers. The maker of the sights, Trijicon, has a $660 million multi-year contract to provide up to 800,000 sights to the Marine Corps, and additional contracts to provide sights to the U.S. Army.

...references include citations from the books of Revelation, Matthew and John dealing with Jesus as "the light of the world." John 8:12, referred to on the gun sights as JN8:12, reads, "Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

Aw, that's nice. Now killing people can be a spiritual act - 'Pray and Slay.' I'm sure Jesus would approve.

[Michael] Weinstein, an attorney and former Air Force officer, said many members of his group who currently serve in the military have complained about the markings on the sights. He also claims they've told him that commanders have referred to weapons with the sights as "spiritually transformed firearm[s] of Jesus Christ."

Who knew Jesus carried firearms? I'm encouraged that our armed forces are marching into battle with God on their side. (As if there was ever any doubt!) I think we should just drop the pretense and start equipping our military with large crosses on long poles that can be mounted on our tanks and Humvees.

I don't know about you, but it's about time that evangelicals Christians really took control of the US military in a direct and public way. We could rename the Armed Forces the 'Soldiers of Christian Salvation' and Iraq and Afghanistan could be 'Crusade A' and 'Crusade B' respectively.

I know that people will say that the Arab world will only interpret this as further evidence that this is a war on Islam, but hey, with God on our side it's not like they're going to be around to complain much longer, right?

Where's that apocalypse, anyway?

Phew!

2010-01-19T09:42:00.005Z

My impression of Sarah Palin is that she is a craven, crass, calculating no-nothing with a bubble around her head so opaque that the only ideas she is ever exposed to are her own, ricocheting around and becoming more and more bizarre and exaggerated over time. The fact that John McCain selected her as his running mate was the most fatal indictment of his candidacy for me.

She is populist mediocrity in designer glasses, a christianist nightmare that could only have been taken seriously by the media after eight years of President George 'I don't read newspapers and am in bed every night by 9 o'clock' Bush.

The fact that she's still being touted as one of the major contenders for 2012 is deeply worrying so this poll reassures me that her particular brand of crazy hasn't really taken off with the mainstream in a big way...

Poll: CBS

Recipe For Success?

2010-01-15T13:01:00.003Z

Wow. I saw a rundown of NBC's new primetime weekly schedule for the period starting in March after Jay Leno moves back to the Tonight Show.

They are going to be showing 5 hours of Law and Order in primetime every week.

5 hours. Maybe I'm out of the loop and this is normal for NBC, but it seems a bit like overkill to me.

Here's the run down.

Monday
8pm-9pm: Chuck
9pm-10pm: Trauma (beginning March 8)
10pm-11pm: Law & Order

Tuesday
8pm-10pm: The Biggest Loser
10pm-11pm: Parenthood

Wednesday
8pm-9pm: Mercy
9pm-10pm: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (encores beginning March 3)
10pm-11pm: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (originals beginning March 3)

Thursday
8pm-8.30pm: Community
8.30pm-9pm: Parks and Recreation
9pm-9.30pm: The Office
9.30pm-10pm: 30 Rock
10pm-11pm: The Marriage Ref

Friday
8pm-9pm: Who Do You Think You Are?
9pm-11pm: Dateline NBC

Saturday
8pm-9pm: The Biggest Loser (encore episode)
9pm-10pm: Law & Order (encore episode)
10pm-11pm: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (encore episode)

Sunday
7pm-8pm: Dateline NBC
8pm-9pm: Minute To Win It
9pm-11pm: The Celebrity Apprentice (season premiere March 14)

What exactly is Jeff Zucker's area of expertise, because it doesn't appear that he's particularly good at running a network.

And they wonder why TV audiences are dwindling...

Iris Robinson - Disgraceful Pervert

2010-01-13T11:01:00.006Z

The other day I overheard someone referring to Iris Robinson MP, wife Northern Ireland's First Minister, as admirable for having an affair with a younger man. That seems to be the angle of some in the mainstream media regarding the current scandal plaguing the DUP, she's a 'cougar.'

For anyone that isn't familiar with the details, the nutshell version is that Iris Robinson - an evangelical Christian who has built a career on condemning others from her lofty and pious position - has been discovered to have had an affair with a teenager whom she had known since he was nine years old.

To make things worse, this teenager was in a very vulnerable position at the time, having just lost his father to cancer.

To make things worse, she had also been having sex with his father.

To make things worse, she also arranged for the teenager to get a £50,000 loan from a property developer to set himself up in business (and kept £5,000 of it for herself) without disclosing any of this as required by her role as a Member of Parliament.

And let's not forget that in June of 2008 she took the occasion of a brutal attempt on the life of a gay man in a homophobic attack to call gay people 'abominations.' She later followed this up by stating that homosexuality was morally worse than raping children. Recent events may offer some indication of why she made this particular comparison.

Before all of this came to light, she announced that she was resigning from Parliament due to mental health issues, and since the horrific details of her private behaviour have been made public she's claiming to be suicidal. I guess it's upsetting to lose the moral high ground, even when you're a reprehensible pervert.

Tony pointed out to me last night that if this scandal had been revealed about any other politician, Iris Robinson would have been the first to gleefully and publicly crucify them. So. Let's all try not to lionize the heinous bitch too much.

Holiday Destination To Avoid #82

2010-01-11T12:45:00.002Z

Dubai.

Dubai has been in the news recently for two main reasons, first because it needed to be bailed out by the UAE due to its sluggish economy, and second because of the completion of the Burj Dubai - the world's tallest building. It's a popular destination for vacationers and businesses looking to take advantage of it's tax system (no personal income tax).

Dubai has sprung up out of the desert very quickly and is very shiny and new, festooned with glittering skyscrapers and full of outrageous indulgences for the rich.

But there is a darker side.

Dubai regularly imports poor migrant workers from India, Pakistan, Kuwait, and other countries where workers are desperate for income. Human Rights Watch found that many of these workers toil 12 hours a day, six days a week. They endure extreme desert temperatures that have led to illness and in some cases, death. Their substandard housing usually involves sleeping up to eight men to a room. And for all this work, researchers say migrant workers in Dubai average only $175 a month — less than $0.60 an hour. Since Dubai has no minimum wage laws, workers have little course of action against abusive and exploitative employers.
In addition to exploitative conditions, a number of indicators of full-fledged slavery have been found among migrant construction workers. Some workers have come to Dubai by means of debt bondage and indentured servitude. Others have had wages withheld and passports taken away “for security reasons.” Slavery and exploitation in Dubai are the old and dirty parts of an otherwise shining city.

And apart from being built by 21st Century slave labour, it's a dictatorship with a draconian legal system. Here's a couple of impressive examples just from this week.

A father-of-three who was found with a microscopic speck of cannabis stuck to the bottom of one of his shoes has been sentenced to four years in a Dubai prison.

Keith Brown, a council youth development officer, was travelling through the United Arab Emirates on his way back to England when he was stopped as he walked through Dubai's main airport.

A search by customs officials uncovered a speck of cannabis weighing just 0.003g - so small it would be invisible to the naked eye and weighing less than a grain of sugar - on the tread of one of his shoes.
...One man has even been jailed for possession of three poppy seeds left over from a bread roll he ate at Heathrow Airport.

Impressed? Try this one:

A BRITISH woman who made a rape complaint in Dubai has been arrested for having illegal sex with her fiance, according to reports.

The 23-year-old from London said she had been raped by a waiter in a luxury hotel after celebrating her engagement to her 44-year-old boyfriend, also from London.

But when she reported the alleged rape to police in the Middle Eastern state, she and her boyfriend were arrested for having sex outside marriage and illegally drinking outside a licensed premises... It is understood that the couple are still in Dubai. They could face up to six years in jail if found guilty of having sex outside marriage.

Friendly place, eh? They clearly want to be the city of the future...with the medieval mentality.