AdamSmith

Eh. Maybe all those neutrons, on top of all the genetic damage from centuries of inbreeding, would cancel each other out. Being from there, I can say that.

Sure, an element of it is posturing by the car makers. But you can see the arguments that (1) centrally generated electric power from fossil fuels is easier to make cleaner (carbon scrubbing, etc.) than individual combustion engines, and (2) some electric power is already generated from non-fossil-burning means, and more will be in future. Of course, if most of that is from new fission reactors... The new animated TV commercial by nuclear services giant Areva creeps me out. http://energyexperts.areva.com/areva_us.html

Funny -- Nixon recounts that Brezhnev told him exactly the same thing about the Chinese, to wave him off from dealing with Mao. Part of RN's idea, I take it, was that had we been more involved, the Russian asset grab by crookedest oligarchs might have gone somewhat differently. At least some of them would have been our oligarchs! Based on an unscientific sample consisting of a dozen or so Russian emigrants to the U.S. whom I know, there are plenty of honest ones. Of course you're right, in that they are not to be found in that country any more.

Monica Crowley, whatever one thinks of her, gave a riveting description in one or other of her two books on Nixon, Nixon Off the Record and Nixon in Winter, of Nixon being dumbfounded and enraged that Bush I and James Baker did practically nothing to advance U.S. interests as the USSR disintegrated and Yeltsin took the reins of a proto-democratic Russia. According to Crowley, if I remember, Nixon saw opportunity for the U.S. to spearhead a Russian version of the Marshall Plan. To help advance economic developments that would (he argued) foster and reinforce democratic tendencies there. And of course to thread U.S. interests tightly throughout the structures that controlled Russia's natural resources. As well as getting in position to tap its largely latent but potentially vast human capital. Ah well. A pathological human being, Nixon, but arguably the last chief executive truly capable of statesmanship. (With all due respect to both Carter and Reagan for their respective achievements. And to Bush I for at least knowing when to call off the Crusade and come home.)

Come to think of it, I suppose I reviewed him here: http://www.maleescortreview.com/index.php?...rt_id=207010016

Spoiler alert: This post, like the Gilligan's Island one, is woefully unrelated to current events. Corpse flower looks phallic and stinks Even though the phallic shape may stir certain thoughts, you wouldn't give this flower to someone with hopes of setting a romantic mood: The bloom of Amorphophallus titanum gives off a stench along the lines of rotting flesh or an outhouse in sweltering heat. The smell repels all but the bravest humans, but attracts pollinators such as flesh-eating beetles and sweat bees. The bloom lasts for less than 72 hours and then the stench dissipates. Amorphophallus titanum, which translates to "giant shapeless phallus," can be found in tropical forests on the Indonesian island of Sumatra and botanic gardens worldwide. Meanwhile, should you tire of calling that poster you can't stand a "troll," here's a fresh pejorative... Dung beetle: The name says it all For dung beetles, of which there are thousands of species, life is a load of crap. Some of the insects roll up feces into big balls to munch on or make a home for their larvae. Others bury the dung where they find it and do with it as they please. And some just dive right into the steamy piles. Scientists credit the dung processors for everything from keeping farm soils fertile to spreading around seeds packaged in the droppings. Finally, next time those week-old leftovers bring on a bout of projectile diarrhea, consider that it could be worse! Sea cucumbers jettison internal organs Those who piss off some of the more than 1,100 species of sea cucumbers could be in for an unpleasant surprise: They can violently contract and hurl some of their internal organs out of their anus. While the experience could mentally scar the organ-caked victim for a lifetime, the sea cucumber quickly regenerates the jettisoned body parts. As their name suggests, the cucumber-shaped relatives of sea urchins and star fish live on the ocean floor worldwide where they use suction-cup-like feet to crawl around, and use anywhere from eight to 30 tentacles around their mouths to feed. Not all humans are grossed out by the organisms: They're a delicacy in Asia. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26633725/?pg=1...e_MakeYouGoEwww

Loved the last line, delivered by "Hillary": "I invite the media to grow a pair. And if you can't, I will lend you mine."

Stepped onto the porch to pick up this a.m.'s Wall Street Journal and found the most alarming-looking front page since 9/12/01. Running full page width across the top: Crisis on Wall Street as Lehman Totters, Merrill is Sold, AIG Seeks to Raise Cash http://online.wsj.com/public/us

http://www.newsobserver.com/581/image_media/1217975.html

More than one source says this is a Photoshopped fake. Our own RockHard on daddysreviews described enlarging it in Photoshop and detecting the line of blurred pixels just below waist level that revealed the cut-and-paste. I haven't bothered to check his work, but I believe him.

Ah. Relevance and topicality. Are we not gorged to revulsion on these already? Afraid I am in sympathy with the Queen Mother when she shuddered, "Fashion -- anything but that!"

Did you never watch the show?! Taking, at random, just one of many such: ...Some students have wondered whether the failure of the islanders to reproduce suggests that their state was other than what it appeared; others speculate that the ever-resourceful Professor simply manufactured crude contraceptives from bananaskins and coconut shells. These hypotheses overlook the psychotic and homoerotic nature of life on the island. Two men paired up; two women paired up; Howell and his wife hopelessly out of it; the Professor alone in his hut and the monkeys visibly nervous... http://www.apeculture.com/mediamorph/minnowfiles.htm

Time's cruel ravages visit us all. Ginger then... ...and now... Some more here... http://photos.tmz.com/galleries/memba_them_2008#9634

Fascinating about the boycott. Knew nothing of that. Looking again, interesting the apparent age disparity between the 2 gents pictured. Could it be...? (Also the unintended hilarity of whether "three" refers to nights or folks. )

This is probably old news but I only now chanced upon it. Banner ad on 365gay.com. HYATT SPECIAL OFFERS GLBT Fall Three for Free http://www.hyatt.com/hyatt/specials/offers...glbt_mtv_728x90 This made me wonder whether Marriott would do anything similar. Seems it has "partnered with the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce to include NGLCC-certified, LGBT-owned vendors in its supplier diversity program" (http://www.nglcc.org/BIZ/supplierdiversity/marriott). But I find no explicit GLBT guest offers from it. BUT a lot of entries on local sites that list "gay-friendly" lodgings in the area. Discreetly having it both ways?

Old smoking habit hurts McCain, prof says John McCain's smoking history and age indicate Sarah Palin would have as high as a 40 percent chance of becoming U.S. president, a university professor says. McCain, 72, a former smoker poised to become the Republican presidential nominee, has about a 20 percent of dying in office and a higher rate of disability, John Banzhaf, George Washington University professor, said Wednesday in a release. Palin, 44, McCain's running mate, is governor in Alaska. McCain's smoking history boosts his risk of dying from lung cancer by about 700 percent, and his risk of dying of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease also is greater, Banzhaf said. His age increases his odds of becoming disabled from conditions such as a stroke or Alzheimer's disease, which can impair judgment... http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/09/03/Old...98011220468650/ Odds 1-in-3 that McCain may not reach 80 Statistics indicate that men of Republican U.S. presidential candidate John McCain's age have a 1-in-3 chance of dying before age 80, actuaries say... http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/09/03/Odd...43431220456717/

And apolitical. Political threats to our existence have much higher odds than this stuff.

Mais bien sûr! Displacement has ever been the mode. That which even then dared not speak its name. And so Bertrand de Born was the first of the West's great walkers? And the high-born ladies hanging on his every syllable, our proto-fag-hags? (Dreadful term, but still.) Shades of Castle Agghh... http://www.intriguing.com/mp/_sounds/hg/gay.wav P.S. Gratuitous nod to the Republicans among us: http://www.intriguing.com/mp/_sounds/hg/grenade.wav

Well, you know. "Subvert the dominant paradigm," like the graffiti says. Too pooped to get my thoughts together much, so let me cheat and use Wikipedia as a crutch. "Subversion refers to an attempt to overthrow structures of authority, including the state. It is an overturning or uprooting. The word is present in all languages of Latin origin, originally applying to such diverse events as the military defeat of a city. ... "Recent writers, in the post-modern and post-structuralist traditions (including, particularly, feminist writers) have prescribed a very broad form of subversion. It is not, directly, the governing realm which should be subverted in their view, but the predominant cultural forces, such as patriarchy, individualism, and scientific rationalism. This broadening of the target of subversion owes much to the ideas of Antonio Gramsci, who stressed that communist revolution required the erosion of the particular form of ‘cultural hegemony’ in any society." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subversion_(politics) Of course the other side of it that you note is a valid point too -- the likelihood that now gay people & gay culture will be coopted into all the mundane materialist property-based pressures that straight society inherited from the everlovin' Victorians and before. Of course, to what extent has that not already happened, even without benefit of gay marriage? But (taking off on a 3rd vector) that seems a fair risk to take, in order to get the benefits of what looks to me like an epochal advance in civil rights and human rights.

I meant to remark: This point of view always surprises me. Of course one of the fascinating existential aspects of being same-sex-attracted is the opportunity, to say the least, to live on the social frontier. Indeed, to help construct it. In western society, this has been true going back at least to the Provencal troubadours of the 12th and 13th centuries, who to my knowledge were the first subculture marked by same-sex attraction to self-identify as "gaie." But, all that said, I can conceive of few more profoundly subversive developments than for mainstream western societies, most especially this one that emanated from Cotton Mather et al., to begin moving toward overt acceptance of marriage between same-sex couples.

A study by the New York City Comptroller says there will certainly be an uptick, but raises questions whether it will be big enough to change many people's minds. NYC sees money in gay marriage KAI RYSSDAL: Here's an unusual argument in favor of gay marriage that'll be music to the ears of state treasurers everywhere. New York City's Comptroller has released a report that says the Big Apple would net $142 million during the first three years of legalized gay marriage. New York State overall would get $184 million, mainly from the uptick in visitors attending the nuptials. Ashley Milne-Tyte looked into whether cash might carry the political day. ASHLEY MILNE-TYTE: The report says same-sex couples planning to marry and spend the night in New York State would spend about $60 million in the three years after gay marriage became legal. Friends and family would spend millions, too. David Birdsell is dean of public affairs at New York City's Baruch College. He says the report's numbers are pretty conservative. DAVID BIRDSELL: They assume that gay and lesbian marriages will spend less per marriage than the average heterosexual couple marriage. On the flip side, the report also states that some businesses would have to pay more in health care costs if gay marriage was legalized. Matt Foreman of the National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce says gay marriage would bring more tourist dollars to New York. But, he says, gay marriage is about more than just money. MATT FOREMAN: The much larger picture is not about money, and not about tax revenue, and not about income streams to hotels. It's really about protecting families. That is, giving gay couples the same legal rights and responsibilities as heterosexual ones. But could the money angle sway lawmakers? Baruch's David Birdsell says gay marriage would only bring in a fraction of the tourist dollars the state and city already receive. BIRDSELL: So I think that this is unlikely to be the hinge that will change many people's opinion. But it certainly buttresses the notion that this is consistent with sound public management. Birdsell says that the better you treat people, the more money they'll spend. And the more often they'll return. http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display...n_gay_marriage/

Agree about the ranged powers of darkness. But then I was a bit shocked with the Massachusetts supreme court's pronunciamento in 2004. Mass. is iron-clad leftist in its national politics, but neither the SJC nor state-level politics are entirely reliable that way. Suspect it will all hinge on the Supremes, whose balance will in turn hinge on Obama or McCain. One more reason to sacrifice some chickens in hope that all goes right (that is to say, left) in November.

Piddling hijacks like mine are no match for your substantive contribution here to put it back on track.

Civil unions are infinitely better than nothing. But as one of the hard core, I see a couple of things they don't do that marriage does. First, the symbolic. Civil unions reek of segregated drinking fountains. I don't see how any such separate-but-equal formulation can escape the pernicious implication that this is a privilege granted, rather than a right asserted. Second, the pragmatic. Civil unions don't engage the federal constitutional guarantees that state-conferred rights are portable throughout the nation, in the way that recognition of marriage rights incontestably historically does. To be sure, we have DOMA despite this. But as I say over and over, it seems inevitable to me that DOMA must sooner or later fall because it violates the full-faith-and-credit clause. And now challenges on due-process grounds are also starting to be conceived. The more states recognize same-sex marriage, the more likely that courts will have the courage to rule the right way as they hear challenges to DOMA and to individual states' refusal to recognize other states' same-sex marriages.

Aw! Couldn't you look on it as filigree? Or marginalia, such as medieval scribes would add... "Thin ink, bad vellum, difficult text. This vellum is hairy." - Translations of complaints by medieval Irish monks in the margins of manuscripts. http://www.regia.org/quill3.htm