Lo Lee Ta.

Lolita turning 50 this year is all around these days. I’ve seen both movies but have not read the book. I have a desire to read it, but feel it wouldn’t really be all that scandalous by today’s standards. Is it the young girl/older man that is scandalous? Is it the obsession that is scandalous? Is it that she is the real manipulator? We, after all, can perceive only Herbert’s point of view because the book is in the 1st person. For me, having reflected on ‘Lolita’s but never having dated one, the scandal is that I see a young girl dating and taking advantage of an older man, and doing it all seemingly unconsciously. Lolita, flirts, cajoles, cries, pouts, seduces, and sexualizes herself to get what she wants. At least that is what we see from Herbert’s POV.

I cast no judgment on men (or women) who date someone younger then themselves. As long as the relationship is entered into consensually and both participants know what their relationship is and how they define it. What is more dangerous then the potential outcome of the relationship are the people who do cast judgment on them. People do make judgments, and they are usually not based on their on their own experiences, but on what society tells them about these relationships, which is that they are bad. Teacher/Student, Coach/Athlete, Therapist/Patient, Employer/Employee, Mother/Son, Father/Daughter. All examples in which the senior could take advantage of the junior. While we should be watchful, we should not be judgmental.

A friend recently pointed out that there are always power dynamics in relationships. One has more power over the other. One loves more than the other. Even in sex there are power dynamics. One fucks the other. And when that power is given up it makes the person giving up the power more powerful than the one taking it.

Is there a point at which one has too much power over the other? Is that why people condemn older man younger woman relationships? People think that ‘he’ has too much power over ‘her’? They fear an abuse of power? Are people (especially women) who feel this way reflecting their own experience of being ‘taken advantage of’ when they were young(er)? Let’s not judge her age. Lolitas have been around and will be around a long time, and hopefully they will continue to challenge our notions of the true nature of relationships.

Best of Blog Thursday---Step Down Addition

Brownie on offense.

DeLay of defense.

White Man now! White Man for life!

Me? Back on a plane to Philly? Yes! But not for good.

Let’s make it personal.

It has been a while since I put some smut on this blog. So peep this. I must say that porn star blogs are awful. I mean it is one boring post after another. I guess most people don’t really wanna read what porn stars blog about. I guess I was kina hopping for more.

More hate. But don’t hate the Playa hate the Game!

Some of you may know about my fascination with Moxie. I gonna bring some back to Philly and start a movement with 4 cans. It could be the tipping point. Well someone is helping. Peep Sex and Moxie.

Flicker Blog from Al on the recent protests in DC.

Ed Mierzwinski’s from USPIRG has a blog. Also boring, also has important stuff about consumer issues.

In case you care about the ongoing battle between mega search engines Yahoo and Google. You can see Google’s explanation of why they are superior here. I don’t need convincing myself. I like that Google has less crap on their home page. BTW…have you downloaded Google Earth yet? I just went here.

I just saw Lord of War. Awesome movie! Here is an African related blog here!

Tom! Go to your room.

Former (I like the way that sounds) House Majority Leader Tom Delay was forced to step down today. OMG! The Hammer was brought down after being indicted for conspiracy charges in campaign fundraising activities. Delay, in typical form, called the DA prosecuting the case in Texas a ‘rouge District Attorney.’ The charges stem from GOPAC and are loosely related to the prosecution of lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Another leader of the( R )s is also being ‘looked at’ for his recent stock sale of shares he owns right before it tanked. The stocks also happen to shares of a company he owns. No one should raise an eye brow at that right? Well tough break for them!

Justice/Just Desserts

After World War II, the International Court of Justice, then representing the US, UK, USSR, and France, prosecuted and convicted Nazi leaders in the Nuremburg trails. The trials later became guiding principles for how a world court would conduct itself when faced with war criminals and crimes against humanity. Today the US rejects many of the world court guidelines and principles and even goes as far as admonishing US judges who reference them. The US, joining Iran and Sudan, also rejects many of the Geneva Conventions on torture and abuse. While we helped to prosecute war criminals post WWII, the US now finds it difficult to prosecute its own.

Yesterday Private Lynndie England was found guilty of six counts of abuse and conspiracy for the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. The abuse/torture/mistreatment at the Iraqi prison is well known throughout the Arab world, and in many ways symbolizes what the Arab world fears most about American imperialism. Few of the American and British military personnel who have tortured Iraqis have been prosecuted, and even fewer have been found guilty. Private England’s case is notable because she is a woman, and she is also the mother of a child with Private Graner, who was also convicted of the same abuses. While soldiers following immoral/unethical orders of their superiors are well known, they are mostly male. Women soldiers following immoral/unethical orders are rare. I don’t think this represents some breakthrough for women in being ‘like men,’ but the media likes this sort of scandal given the characters and pictures of abuse involved.

At this point officers and the civilian leadership who knew about abuses and did nothing have not been indicted, nor convicted of any wrongdoing or crimes. Nor will they be. DS Donald Rumsfeld has tried to resign, and the Army Chief of Staff shows no sign/willingness to prosecute anyone higher-ranking then non-enlisted personnel. While this chapter is closing, the lingering effects are far from over. The images of Abu Graib will not be forgotten by Muslims or the Arab world. The inaction by our leaders for dragging us into this war is, perhaps, just desserts. The poor/awful polling numbers of the President, continuing erosion of support for the war, revelations that the reason for the war are bunk, and the failure of domestic policy will shows that Bush is not only ‘Lame’ but also means we are leaderless right now. The NYTimes Magazine mused 2 weeks ago this question. “Is he winning?” Looks like it.

Now we are cooking…

In my capacity as Office Manager, I get to do a number of different things. By different things I mean stocking toilet paper, getting asked to fix a computer that has no problem other than the user didn’t plug in the power cord, having to send out all staff emails that range between: ‘I’m having a BBQ’ to ‘We need letters to go into the media…never mind the bill passed,’ installing air freshener in bathrooms, and nearly getting my face burned off. Yes you heard that last part right.

The OM has no real political role in the passage of bills, nor does the OM organize volunteers or students. The OM does not generate any media or build any coalitions. So when I went to the MASSPIRG retreat this weekend, I knew I’d be getting groceries, prepping the lunch and dinner menus, and reminding staff to be careful when playing Frisbee in the field. I should have included a safety warning for myself as well.

Camp Grossman is an awful campground in Westwood, MA. It is barely in the country, is mostly a ghetto day camp where Jewish kids go to have fun outside of Boston and Brookline. Oddly, there are 5 basketball courts; if you didn’t know it was a Jewish camp you might mistake it for Basketball camp. Anyway, we had to bring our own cooking gear, include knives, pans and pots. Fine. We also had to segregate the dairy, meat and kosher parts of the kitchen area. Easy enough. I did get some strange looks when announcing the restrictions. They were they kind of looks Anglo Saxons who are sensitive to other cultures/beliefs/races/creeds, give when they want to follow rules but aren’t sure how to follow them. I usually give an equally sensitive answer: “That is mighty white of you to ask! Let me tell you again.”

On to the ‘nearly burning the flesh off my face part.” It started with an easy enough question by Tonya Sabo, the MASSPIRG Program AA. She is a wisp of a woman, who is actually tougher than she looks, but not when the fireballs erupt. The question was “Do you think this flat top grill works?” I said, “Sure, let me light it.” Because it is a day camp and because the lodge is not used that much, whomever is using the kitchen has to relight the pilot light. So instead of just lighting the pilot light I decided to turn on the gas and light the flat top grill with some matches. So I leaned over, and as gas circled around me I lit a match and put it toward the gas grill. Well…according to Tonya, the gas lit as well as the gas around my head and for a moment, I was pretty much in engulfed in flames. Fortunately, gas burns quickly and so fast that I avoided a pretty serious 1st degree burn. What I did not avoid was a hair cut. Yes a hair cut. The eyebrow hair on the left side of my face (closest to the fireball), some of the hair on my head, my finger hair, and the hair on my back didn’t do so well. They were pretty much singed off. I do have some minor, minor burns. Kinda like a sunburn-type burn and I smelled like gas for the rest of the retreat.

After the explosion, cause that is how Frank described what he heard from where he was sitting, I felt ok, and felt like I had lucked out. I washed the burnt hair off my face and head, sat in the walk-in cooler for a bit, and took stock of what a dumb move that was. I caught a ride home that night with Surf where we talked of youth, why there are so many girls who are bi-sexual these days, and why Unions are fucking useless. I thought my luck had almost run out that night because the guy I was supposed to meet with key to the place I am staying didn’t show up till 1:15AM when we were supposed to meet at 12AM. Now I walk around singing “How Lucky Can One Guy Get?”

Best of Blog Thursday-- Part Earth Addition.

Not Whole Earth or Whole Foods. Sorry I'm linking them!

I am re-posting this one. Go to the ‘discussion’ for more on this important topic! We have priorities in the nation for Pete’s sake. Did anyone get the “Punks Jump Up to Get Beat Down”?

Here is/are some enviro blogs.

While not a lifestyle environmentalist (I eat meat, I have to be told to recycle, and I club seals in my spare time) this blog has some ideas on how to live like an environmentalist. Not the living in the tree hugging kind, you frickin’ hippie.

My favorite ‘in your face’ enviro group Greenpeace, has a blog. Be sure to peep the video.

What is the difference between apathy and ignorance? Find out here!

Find a/the secret here.

You can hate the playa here. I admit that I had a Members Only jacket, I had a Rabbits tale, and so did my brother.

I just downloaded Google Earth and it if fucking amazing. I did the sight seeing tour or the earth, and did my old house, the office, and your mom’s window. Download it here already!

An African photo blog. There are some great pics here and check out some of the other postings for some good commentary about Katrina from an African’s P.O.V.

"But no. I'm not racist!"

"Punks jump up to get beat down." Brand Nubiuan's. I could not resist this little piece from the South.

"What's up with your shirt?" Those are the words a former senior at Fleming Island High School remembers hearing as he walked from his fifth-period algebra class toward the gym. The 18-year-old, who is not being identified due to his family's concerns of safety, had just taken off his Dixie Outfitter T-shirt, exposing a highly offensive shirt.

Thanks to Majikthise for the posting.

You’ve Come Along way Baby?

This NYTimes article promted some emails with a friend and Philly anthropologist. Here is a piece of the article:

Cynthia Liu is precisely the kind of high achiever Yale wants: smart (1510 SAT), disciplined (4.0 grade point average), competitive (finalist in Texas oratory competition), musical (pianist), athletic (runner) and altruistic (hospital volunteer). And at the start of her sophomore year at Yale, Ms. Liu is full of ambition, planning to go to law school. So will she join the long tradition of famous Ivy League graduates? Not likely. By the time she is 30, this accomplished 19-year-old expects to be a stay-at-home mom. "My mother's always told me you can't be the best career woman and the best mother at the same time," Ms. Liu said matter-of-factly. "You always have to choose one over the other."

A lot of things (sexuality, gender roles, family, race, and religion) today are ‘social constructs’ that vary society to society. Is there any nature left?

This is where emails started:

From: "Ajayi Harris" <alinsky@hotmail.com>
To: EllenSubject: Many Women at Elite Colleges Set Career Path to Motherhood Date: Tue, 20 Sep 2005 14:43:49 +0000

Appro media for my recent posting. The question: Is this nature or nurture at work? Most likely titling toward nature I think. This issue has been simmering on the edges a lot lately. The nurture element seems to be at play too. Why work your ass off, go to work, compete in the 'rat race' sit in traffic, work at a job you will likely hate (given the # of times ppl change careers) when you can be happy at home raising a kid and going to PTA mtgs, and kitting clubs?

The interesting/different thing is that they have a choice to do that now rather than 20/30/40 years ago.

What did you think of the article?

-------------------------

From: "Ellen Foley"
To: alinsky@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: Many Women at Elite Colleges Set Career Path to Motherhood Date: Tue, 20 Sep 2005 16:07:59 +0000

Hey, haven’t really thought this all the way through yet--but I was struck by the degree to which I have noticed this in my own students. Last spring about 2/3 of the class articulated that they were very concerned about being mothers and figuring out how to stay at home with kids, either with or without a career. The minority were the women who were like "I can't believe at age 20 or so you are all so willing to embrace such traditional gender norms". This minority would have been the majority or at least 50% of the crowd when I was in college.

I don't think it is nature, I think that the pendulum is swinging back in our culture to women being able to make real choices about what they want to do. In the second wave of feminism, there was a really strongly felt need to reject traditional gender norms to prove that women could do anything and to try to create a space in society for women to have as much freedom in their choices about career and family as men. This generation of women doesn't think there is any more need for feminism, in fact they are shocked when by the end of my class they come to an understanding of how many ways women are still getting screwed in the US, and around the world.

So today's college women come at this thinking they have it pretty good, there are no more feminist battles to be fought, they can do whatever they want, so why not choose to stay at home and raise great kids, because there is still pretty widespread agreement in our culture that kids will do best when they are raised by their parents. Today's college women don't feel like they are getting screwed if they are the ones who are expected/or who are choosing to do that work. My generation of women still has the 1970's and 80's chip are their shoulder about "why are women expected to do the grunt work when men are out getting the power, money, and glory in their careers?"

My two cents...

-------------------

From: "Ajayi Harris" <alinsky@hotmail.com>
To: Ellen
Subject: You've come along way baby? Date: Tue, 20 Sep 2005 20:12:15 +0000

But how much of that is 'women have choices' vs. real 'maternal clock' could you assign a percentage...say 40% nature 60% nurture?

I agree that there is complacency about women's rights, or at least a 'women have come far...but are still not equal.' It also seems that the gay rights stuff has overshadowed the other rights movements.

But what about the notion that life is better as a mom than as a manager? I think that is what is driving this career path movement. More so than complacency. There is a lot of power in having the 'choice' rather than fighting for the 'choice.'

-----------------------------

From: Ellen Foley
To Ajayi Harris

Well, as a social scientist I am almost always going to fall on the side of nurture. What we value as a society and how we construct gender roles is so powerful, and that is what I think has been changing since the 60's and 70's, while the maternal clock has to be taken as a constant, don't you think? If you really want to force my hand, I would say 70% nurture and 30% nature.

I do think that the "new choices" we have is what allows us to even have the conversation about the quality of life as a stay-at-home-mom being better than that as a manager. In the 60's, 70's, and 80's women were fighting so hard for the right to get to be managers that they didn't have time to stop and question whether that would make them the happiest.

One of the key points was that in the future the conversation is going to be about "who gets to stay at home with the kids", which is so much different than "who has to stay at home with the kids". That's the real social change that I see since the 2nd wave of feminism peaked.

E

Duality

This article recently appeared on Common Dreams, of all places. I say ‘of all places because Common Creams err… Dreams is a web site for the “breaking news and views of the progressive community” and not the breaking news and views of human sexuality. Anyway…Here is a piece from it:

Sexually active teenage girls, and sexually promiscuous women of any age, carry the greatest social burden of judgments, punishments, restrictions and risks because we haven't got the child-care equation right. These women are just doing their job. They are real, while the rest of the equation is artificial. Society is the collective weight of traditions, conventions, laws, habits, fears, tribes, taboos and technologies, permeated by a Judeo-Christian ethic dominated by men and designed to curb female sexual power. Our norms are also dominated by the ideology of materialism that is moving women further and further towards unnatural behavior, pressuring them to have babies later rather than sooner.

I can say, without much substation, that American culture has schizophrenia when it comes to sexuality. On one hand we see billboards, ads, TV commercials, products, internet banner ads, all using sex as a selling tactic. Humor, sit-coms, movies, and media all have elements, and symbols, of sex in all its forms. On the other hand, we (we being those who advocate the Puritan values that are threaded through our history and society) praise virtue, virginity, and value in chastity and all it embodies. We praise two parent families, abstinence and treating the body as ‘temple.’ Anthropologists would say these messages are part of ‘structural anthropology.’ As a result, we are communicating two very starkly different messages at the same time. A sort of ‘virgin/slut’ morality system wrapped into one.

Messengers of the slut symbols include Jenna Jameson, (a New York Times best seller), Britney Spears, Paris Hilton (my favorite), Brad Pitt, Will Smith, and Keanu Reeves.

Messengers of the virgin symbol include Laura Bush, Ray Romano, Amber Tamblyn, Bill O’Reiley, and Joel Osteen. I know some of you are rolling your eyes at Bill O’Reiley, but hey, I didn’t pick they guy…he wrote a children’s book that really sold well.

Jessica Simpson is probably the best embodiment of our dual messages. Praised for her virginity when she married, she was also voted one the Sexist Females by Maxium. A virgin/slut indeed!

But what does this sort of dual-message say to young people? It’s a poor one. Dual messages are difficult to ‘de-code’ when one is young and absorbing messages, info, examples, cues, and behaviors like a sponge. Do these messages result in boxer shorts being seen on the street, short skirts that are probably too short, bare mid-riffs, bikini tops, followed by teenage pregnancies, single parents, abortions, and kids confused about what sex is. Yes! But keep in mind that several things happen between then and there. The solution here is not teaching kids that how they are behaving is bad/wrong/immoral/unnatural. We do need to teach young adults to be empowered and to empower them to make their own decisions. I don’t think that young people should hide their youth or sexuality, and quite frankly that would be nearly impossible. I do think that an honest and frank discussion of what sexual power youth have and what the consequences of it are is critical. Both positively and negatively. This seems to be a much easier discussion to have then whether to have an abortion, having a child raise a child, or turning off the TV. A quick side note on power. While female sexual power is well known it is not, often times, real power.

We as society must confront this duality, by confronting the Puritanism that permeates our society. This Puritanism, which enables societies to have guiding morals and ethics, is poorly out of date and in some many ways, is a repressive moral guideline. It must be replaced with less repressive, hypocritical principles. We must have a moral system that fosters empowerment, teaches what media messages are, how to comprehend them, and allow them to make mistakes with judgment or labels. Sex is powerful, beautiful, wholesome, natural, and those who have it, should enjoy it, but enjoy it responsibly.

Best of Blog Thursday---Confirmation Edition

Starting with Wonkette this week who has a list of things to do while listening to the Roberts hearings. My fav…Assfuck –While you still can.

Not really talked about during the confirmation is the role of labor and worker rights. You know these guys right (mostly guys)? They are the ones that have been basically losing ground for workers since President Johnson, while they fight amongst each other, the minimum wage has not matched inflation, jobs have been outsourced, Wal-Mart employees still have no health care plan and the biggest news they can generate is how they are splitting apart. Go here for what won’t be talked about.

Maybe someone could tell me why we are even talking about this? I mean, I know that conservatives like this movie, and the NYTimes did a story about it, but really people. Let’s get off this topic…please!

I plan on listening to Air America Radio again. This is the Majority Report blog featuring the super-cute Janeane Garofalo and the super liberal nerd Sam Seder.

I like to feature a local blogger and this one seemed appropriate. He asks the question “why are there so many liberal blogs in Philly.” I wish I were one of them right now!

Hehe funny.

While not a Harry Potter fan, former employee, pain in the ass, and fellow Trek fan has started a blog where she laments what her Hogwarts House is. Getting of topic here, but Harry Potter! WTF people. At least you are not like Ani DiFranco or Grateful Dead fans that love them SO much. Please continue to not browbeat me about how much you like Harry Potter.

Ideas on how to 'Win with Women' and ‘Chat up Lines’ here. Be sure to send those mice, might be for HK help.

Finally at the risk of making 'Best of…' too long what do you say girls/ladies/women? How long would you go?

Updates---Crap!

Some of you have asked “How is training?” Well if it were happening I’d probably be saying it is ‘hard but good,’ ‘fun and challenging.’ Plenty of adjectives of opposites. That is what I would be saying, but it has been postponed. Only some of the reasons I can ‘spill’ here: not enough trainers, poorly planned, should we run it?… Suffice it to say I will be starting the program a) late, b) much later, or c) not at all.

Some, surprised by my nonchalance to this situation, should not worry. As with most things in life I am ‘go with the flow.’ Sometimes I am too ‘go with the flow’ for my own good. Either way I am optimistic about the future and that has always carried me through more challenging times. As to my return date to Philly? At this point it looks like 2 weeks. As to what I will be doing there? Here is the foreseeable options a) start my job with no training b) watching Battlestar Galatica re-runs on Comcast c) go visit the relatives in Ohio d) go to New Orleans to build houses e) be the PennEnvironment/PennPIRG office manager.

In the meantime I have found the job (if I can find that damn extension) and the Boston swing dance scene (there is a dance almost every night) to be quite enjoyable.

Turn the lights on!

A major power outage just hit Los Angles. No reports of terrorism, just bad energy policy. Peep the news here and the solutions here.

From the LABJ:
A large power outage swept through the city of Los Angeles on Monday, trapping people in elevators during the lunch hour, snarling traffic and prompting the Los Angeles Police Department to go into tactical alert.

It also blew the lights out the Microsoft conference too.

Al Gore on HK, GW @ SC

Al Gore gave this speech at the Sierra Club’s National Convention. While the focus (media, recovery, politics) is naturally on the human element of that Hurricane Katrina has effected. The real focus should be the causes and consequences of our inaction on global warming, and the U.S. energy policy. Environmentalists are often in the position ‘we told you so…” We don’t want to be, because one day it will be too late.

Excerpt from the speech:

Ladies and gentlemen, the warnings about global warming have been extremely clear for a long time. We are facing a global climate crisis. It is deepening. We are entering a period of consequences. Churchill also said this, and he directed it at the people of his country who were looking for any way to avoid having to really confront the threat that he was warning of and asking them to prepare for. He said that he understood why there was a natural desire to deny the reality of the situation and to search for vain hope that it wasn't really as serious as some claimed it was. He said they should know the truth. And after the appeasement by Neville Chamberlain, he sad, "This is only the beginning of the reckoning. This only the first sip, the first foretaste, of a bitter cup which will be proffered to us year by year - unless by a supreme recovery of moral health and martial vigor, we rise again and take our stand for freedom."

The earth will stay around, but how long it can sustain the current users will become more and more obvious as times goes on. Will we reap what we sow? Are we reaping it now?

Freedom marches on…Hopefully

Is freedom marching on? If freedom is more participatory elections then the answer is yes. The rise in democratic election in nation/states, some not known for wanting or having them, seems to be either a fad or a genuine attempt at moving toward a liberal democratic system. Ideally it is the latter. Perhaps President Bush's whose love of the word freedom, maybe taking effect. Here are some examples.

The recent ‘reelection’ of Hossni Mubaruk in Egypt is perhaps a telling example of this march. Egypt, long ruled by Mubaruk, tried and succeeded in having a democratic election not marred by violence, crackdowns of opposition candidates, or voter intimidation. While the result of the election was never in doubt, it represents a first step toward Egypt as a more democratic Middle East state.

The elections in Iraq, while brought to Iraqi’s by an invading democratic state whose citizens were deceived into why we were there, was also successful. I say successful because the election resembled something close to what we call a free and fair election, because, like other emerging democracy’s, it had elements of small violence, the appearance of different of candidates and no brutal regime harassing voters.

Some would doubt this as democratic movement, but the withdrawal of Israel from the Gaze Strip, could possibly clear the way for Prime Minister Abbas to hold elections. Extremist are already positioning themselves to put an oppressive religion in power could mean a step back in this region.

In the Sudan, after years of bloody civil war, rebel lead John Garung and President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, buried the hatch and end it. It brought Sudan a step closer to liberalism. Unfortunately, the death of Garung puts a dim on this countries prospect.

Moving toward the east, the ‘Orange Revolution’ ended with President Viktor A. Yushchenko firing most of his cabinet in effort to keep Ukraine on democratic track. President Yushchenko was elected into office, after an attempt on his life, and the country’s eager embrace of democracy. The ruling régime did not go quietly into that goodnight.

In another part of the world the already recognizable democratic country of Japan will also be electing (reelecting, actually) Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. While the voting, coming after a hasty call for election, focusing on, of all things, postal service privatization, means that the Liberal Democratic Party, who has held power for nearly 50 years. During the 12 day election cycle the ruling party ran more woman candidates.

On a bright note, Liberia will also be participating in democratic elections. While over 18 parties have registered the election is focusing on international soccer star George Weah who is front runner. Genuine, well liked, and down to earth Weah seems poised to be a good leader in the country’s October elections.

Best of Blog- Recovery Addition

This week the administration has been getting hammered by Katrina fallout. Just about every political blog is weighing in on this tragedy with some looking for fault, some looking to help, some look for excuses.

I got run over by this blog. She started using ‘Bitchin’ before me. Be sure to check the Unfortunate Incarceration postings.

Jenny has posted some of the political cartoons covering Katrina.

Former canvass director, Texas activist, and old crush, has a posting on her summer travels at her blog. Tara move to blogspot already! Anyway, looks like she had some fun.

Welcome new additions at Megan’s house. They are cute. Another friend called me about some dogs he has. Holla at me if you want them. I don’t think they are from the hurricane.

Watch out for dildo terrorism here. Speaking of which, check out this dynamic duo. People opposed to sexual content should not go there (that probably prompted a bunch of you go there anyway). That’s right Alberto Hernandez…I’m talkin’ to you! Listen to this podcast from Blue, and get your Democratic Reform on with TheRestofUs. Cool stuff!

He is a bit of a wind-bag, and this is a long one, but Carl Pope, ED of Sierra Club, has the enviro prosepective on Hurricane Katrina.

Since it is back to school time, here are some relevant entries.
-Doc wannabes.
-Philly local Barb is reflecting on her first class, sound like it will be a fun semester.
-These kids are from 'Down Under.'

Know any other student blogs? I need some learning.

Gay and Lesbian in China

Saw this article in the Times (of course) and wanted to pass it along. A new class has starting at China's Fudan University, called Introduction to Gay and Lesbian Studies.

A class like this would be unremarkable on most American university campuses, where many students are quite open about their homosexuality and the curriculum has long included offerings reflecting their interests. But among China's gay and lesbian population, which may be as large as 48 million by some estimates though it remains largely invisible, the new course is being portrayed as a major advance.

The class is very unique in China, already known for its human rights violations. It is good to see a class like this, and good that it is popular. Best of Blog Thursday will be posted soon.

Updates

Couple of updates that are non-Katrina related. I am headed to Philly for the weekend. Call me if there is something going on. I am back to re-charge the batteries, prep for training for my new job, eat a Chesse Steak, play Frisbee, and hang/catch-up with folks. Then back to Boston for training.

I went out to Western Mass, Greenfield specifically, to visit with friends and happily married couple Jay and Iris. I made them dinner (I didn’t get them a wedding present), and we went on a short hike, got to go canoeing on the Connecticut River. Jay told me the CT River was the most beautifully manicured sewer on the east coast. After a short swim I was told that we were near a relish factory and that Iris could smell pickles. Other than catching up with some old friends, the thing I liked most about going this weekend was the silence. During the weekend I heard no sirens, no city noise, and I slept like a baby. On to news.

Kanye West went was off script and said something that was down right offensive to people. Not me, but some people found it offensive. I ordered a shirt from here to support the offensive. Speaking of offensive, see this movie. I loved it.

An old white guy died this weekend. Shocker I know. He will likely (I say likely cause that is the optimist in me thinking the Dems will actually muster enough opposition to the guy that he will be stopped) be replaced with a younger white guy. Why are we holding these hearing anyway? If the guy is a shoe-in, why don’t we just confirm him, and get on to more pressing issues.

Best and worst of Katrina fall-out here. Here is how long it took the government to respond the last time. Finally peep one of my mom’s favorite guy’s Keith Olbermann.

It's not looting if...

A young man walks through chest deep flood water after looting a grocery store in New Orleans on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005. Flood waters continue to rise in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina did extensive damage when it made landfall on Monday. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

Two residents wade through chest-deep water after finding bread and soda from a local grocery store after Hurricane Katrina came through the area in New Orleans, Louisiana.(AFP/Getty Images/Chris Graythen)

Not Our Finest

This whole event has done a good job of bringing out the worst in people. The media's portrayal of black people, as both victims and looters, the Bush administration cutting the funding for the Army Corps of Engineers to fix levies, charities tripping over one another to get there and help, the government's response, gas prices gouging by oil companies, the fact the poor people 'choose' to live below sea-level, and why the it takes 4 days for the US to help the US?

9/11 was a unifying event for the country and we all rallied very quickly to help, even though most of us knew there was little hope of saving people. Let’s stop blaming and start saving. We can make our second hour better!

Best of Blog Thursday…Disaster Addition.

The images and news from the South are pretty astonishing. While some are calling for post-prayer, my mom, a Catholic, points out that these people should have prayed b/f. Anyway. These are some of the photos blogs. Note that these will feature no looting black people that the media has been show. Nothing strikes me as more important then shooting someone who is stealing some Nikes.

Here is the international response and our response to the international response. Yeah Dept of Homeland!

In other blogs of note the Chicken hawks came out in force. PIRG folk who read this one will get a good giggle out of this posting.

In the sprit of moderation you can go here and find out how much caffeine you will need to push up daisies. I found out that it will take 243 cans of diet coke (my poison) to croak. Send it to friends.

While not a blog this reminds of why I still read the Times Editorial Section.

Worth a read.

Also funny! What is the world coming too? Be sure to peep the photos as well. She has a great eye.

More images from NOAA here.

Help here and here.