Choose Your Bedfellows Wisely

It's certainly not the case that everyone who advocates for one political position or another therefore, by default, share views across the social and political spectrum. That said, when your allies are doing this, it's hard not to question your friends.

Rep. Andre Carson (D-Ind.) claimed Saturday that healthcare protesters at the Capitol directed racial epithets at him and Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) as they walked outside.

Carson, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus along with Lewis, told The Hill that protesters called the lawmakers the N-word. [...]

Lewis was one of the leaders of the civil rights movement alongside Martin Luther King. Jr. Asked if racial epithets were yelled at him, Lewis responded, "Yes, but it's OK. I've heard this before in the '60s. A lot of this is just downright hate."

And this.

Abusive, derogatory and even racist behavior directed at House Democrats by Tea Party protesters on Saturday left several lawmakers in shock. [...]

A staffer for Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) told reporters that Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-M.D.) had been spit on by a protestor.

And this.

...Rep. Barney Frank got an uglier version of the treatment. Just after Frank rounded a corner to leave the building, an older protestor yelled "Barney, you faggot." The surrounding crowd of protestors then erupted in laughter.

And this.

ThinkProgress attended today's rally and spotted a sign threatening violence if health care passes. The sign reads: "Warning: If Brown can't stop it, a Browning can," referring to Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) and a Browning firearm.

Sickening stuff.

The Media

Long have I been an opponent of the way Big Media reports the news. This brilliant two minute clip is a wonderful parody of the inane way in which the media reports.

What We Teach Too Often

My parents visited this last weekend and I heard my mom say "shit" more times in one minute than in my entire life. She was reading an excerpt from the book Muchacho by Louanne Johnson about one kid's experience with school. He points out something that too often is true: We teach crap to tests rather than real things that actually matter. I liked the excerpt so much and it aligned with my view of some of the major problems with our education system, that I'm sharing the passage with you all. Enjoy.

That’s the kind of stuff they should be teaching us in school. It’s okay to learn algebra and biology and grammar and all that stuff, but you could always learn that stuff from a book all by yourself. They should teach us the stuff we really need to learn--like how to make somebody really love you and how to turn of that little voice in your head that tells you what a loser you are and how to teacher your dog to pee where it’s supposed to, and how to get over being sad when your little cousin dies, and how to talk to your father without both of you getting so mad. But they probably couldn’t each us stuff like that in school even if they wanted to, because if they teach something in school they have to give you a test to make sure how much you learned.

They need to stop giving so many tests in school because they’re making everybody hate school, even the kids who used to like it. If they have to give so many tests, at least the could give the kind where you have to make up your own answer and not just guess which one is right. Primo says a monkey could pass a multiple choice test fifty percent of the time and he’s probably right because one time T. J. Ritchie got everybody in our math class to put down all C’s or else all B’s for the test and then take a little nap for the rest of the test period. T. J. got busted for being the mastermind of the whole thing but they didn’t expel him because the kids who put all C’s passed the test, including me. In fact, that was one of the best math grades ever which was probably pretty embarrassing for the math teacher who made up that test.

“They got the whole thing backasswards,” T. J. said when we were sitting outside the principal’s office waiting for his mother. “They keep giving all these test because half the kids in New Mexico flunk out of school because they can’t read or do fractions,” T. J. said. “But they keep teaching the same stupid shit. That’s why they keep getting the same stupid test scores.” He grabbed my notebook and drew a picture of a dog. He drew a giant pile of steamy crap behind the dog’s tail and a big bowl in front its head that was filled with schoolbooks. T. J. draws real good, almost as good as Primo who could probably have been a professional artist but he flunked out of art class because the teacher said he had to draw pictures of a chair and a vase and a bowl of oranges instead of lowriders and couples dancing the tango and sexy girls with tattoos on their nalgas.

“You keep feeding the dog the same crap,” T. J. said, “you get the same shit. You can test that shit and test that shit and test that shit and it’s still going to stink because mierda is mierda.”

Winter Olympics

I love me some winter Olympics. Unfortunately, my televisionless lifestyle is leaving me out in the cold and I can't find a good spot online to watch videos. Any ideas?!?!?

Happy Birthday Niki!!!!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we're back! Blogging will return to my regular schedule which means reading (yes, I'm talking to you Niki) will (can?) return to your regular schedule. Hooray! So, what has happened since I last wrote that Republicans were being demographically relegated to the second tier? In descending order of importance...

1. Michael Jackson died
2. Torby died
3. Teddy Kennedy died
4. *Rough year*
5. Walter Cronkite died
6. Frank McCourt died
7. Enough with the death...
8. Zachary visited Swaziland and got a real job teaching social studies in Corvallis, Oregon
9. Joshua got married
10. Democrats couldn't pass any of their big agenda pieces through congress...
11. ... because Republicans are ridiculous obstructionists...
12. ... and because Democrats aren't willing to play hardball. Yet.

Hmmm, sadly, it looks like all that happened was people and pets died, I started something new, and the political system fell apart. So, as my first post back, I'm implementing something I've learned from teaching: soliciting interaction!

In comments, let's hear from you: What happened since May, 2009?

Republicans

Just one more reason people can't take Republicans seriously:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
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This guy's supposed to be a Congressman?!?!?

The proof is in the party affiliation. With the exception of frequent churchgoers, self-identified conservatives, and voters over the age of 65, the Republican party lost 6-10% in all demographic areas. Yikes.

Time Change

Recently, while on a flight, the captain said the following:

We have a three hour time change during our flight today, so you might want to turn your locks back about three hours.

About!?!?!

In Defense of Food

I read In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan about a year ago and loved it. I briefly mentioned it on the blog almost a year ago and it brings back fond memories of gardening. Interestingly he was on The Colbert Report last night promoting his book. It seems a little late after the publish date to be doing this, but it was fun nonetheless. Enjoy the clip!

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Michael Pollan
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Greening

Some ideas for El Presidente (but really for you and me) for greening our homes. Some of these ideas are awesome. I especially like the Jellyfish Wind Appliance (though it may be a nightmare for utility companies, I'd be interested to hear what they think) and the internet electrical usage monitor. On that second idea, I've always thought a simple wall-mounted device that gives real-time electrical usage information would do wonders for getting people to turn off unneeded appliances and lights. Now it's becoming a reality. Fantastic!

Plug-In Hybrids

Here is a short article about plug-in hybrids. The first paragraph is what caught my eye, mainly the idea that Americans are leery to purchase vehicles that have limited range (i.e. all-electric cars). What I don't understand is why that is the case? Why won't Americans purchase vehicles that fit their needs 90% of the time? Most people use their cars to drive less that 35 miles, round trip. For this, electric cars are perfect: super quiet, great performance, low maintenance costs, extremely cheap fuel. However, Americans (or at least car manufacturers think this) want to buy a car that is only needed 10% of the time: a long trip, hauling a camper, etc.

People should purchase all-electric cars for their day to day needs, but new companies need to spring up that rent larger vehicles for the 10% of the time that people need big cars.

Swine Flu!

Want to avoid the terrifying SWINE FLU?!?!?! Try some of these alternative greeting methods.

White House Correspondents Dinner

The White House Correspondents Dinner is an annual event where Washington, DC reporters come together for a night of fun, joined and spoken to by the President. The event is different because the speeches are fairly humorous and poke fun at politically charged issues. A couple years ago Stephen Colbert brought down the house with a cutting performance that the establishment press disliked for being too harsh.

One of my favorite jokes from the president, one among many, was this in honor of Mother's Day, "I do have to say, though, that this is a tough holiday for Rahm Emanuel because he's not used to saying the word 'day' after 'mother.'" After the audience laughed, Obama chuckled to himself, saying, "That's true."

You can watch the whole thing on Youtube, including Wanda Sykes stand-up routine. It's worth your 16 minutes to see another side of our President.

Car Recycling

I always knew that cars were recycled, but not at these percentages and with such overall efficiency. It's great news, to be sure, and gives me hope that as our vehicle fleet moves toward improved mileage and alternative propulsion, that the old junkers won't continue to ruin ecosystems, rather, they can play a role in the next generation of vehicles.

My Roomie...

... from college makes funny videos. Enjoy!

Torture

A couple weeks ago we had a discussion in my government class about torture. The majority of the class said they support torture, but only in circumstances where lives will be saved. Okay, I thought, that's justifiable in a certain euphemeral way. However, I am against torture for other reasons; reasons I haven't seen spelled out to my liking... until now. If you're interested in why I, and many others, am against torture as a information gathering technique, read this:

I don't have either the vocabulary or the literary sensibility to explain with any eloquence why I oppose torture, so I usually stay out of conversations like this. Besides, they depress the hell out of me. But for the record, it goes something like this.

I don't care about the Geneva Conventions or U.S. law. I don't care about the difference between torture and "harsh treatment." I don't care about the difference between uniformed combatants and terrorists. I don't care whether it "works." I oppose torture regardless of the current state of the law; I oppose even moderate abuse of helpless detainees; I oppose abuse of criminal suspects and religious heretics as much as I oppose it during wartime; and I oppose it even if it produces useful information.

The whole point of civilization is as much moral advancement as it is physical and technological advancement. But that moral progress comes slowly and very, very tenuously. In the United States alone, it took centuries to decide that slavery was evil, that children shouldn't be allowed to work 12-hour days on power looms, and that police shouldn't be allowed to beat confessions out of suspects.

On other things there's no consensus yet. Like it or not, we still make war, and so does the rest of the world. But at least until recently, there was a consensus that torture is wrong. Full stop. It was the practice of tyrants and barbarians. But like all moral progress, the consensus on torture is tenuous, and the only way to hold on to it — the only way to expand it — is by insisting absolutely and without exception that we not allow ourselves to backslide. Human nature being what it is — savage, vengeful, and tribal — the temptations are just too great. Small exceptions will inevitably grow into big ones, big ones into routine ones, and the progress of centuries is undone in an eyeblink.

What do you think?