The DOD authorization is HR 1585. If you wish to read it, it’s there in all of it’s congressional glory, all bloated and striving to allow the military to be used here in the US.
November 11, 2007 archive
Nov 11 2007
The Risk of Science and Race
The New York Times has an article that lays out the risk very clearly, it is the EXPECTATION that more research in genetics will indeed prove innate differences in the races in physical and mental attributes. And if there is one thing we can know about the history of science, scientists will find what they look for. Consider this:
“Regardless of any such genetic variation, it is our moral duty to treat all as equal before God and before the law,” Perry Clark, 44, wrote on a New York Times blog. It is not necessary, argued Dr. Clark, a retired neonatologist in Leawood, Kan., who is white, to maintain the pretense that inborn racial differences do not exist.“When was the last time a nonblack sprinter won the Olympic 100 meters?” he asked.
“To say that such differences aren’t real,” Dr. Clark later said in an interview, “is to stick your head in the sand and go blah blah blah blah blah until the band marches by.”
First, to answer the good doctor's question, Alan Welles of Scotland won the Olympic gold medal in 1980. Prior to that, Valery Borzov of the then-Soviet Union won the 100 meters in the 1972 Olympics. Prior to that, Armin Hary of Germany won the 100 meter dash in 1960. 1956? White American Bobby Joe Morrow. To wit, from 1956 to 1980, white men won 4 of 7 100 meter dash Olympic gold medals. Presumably, for the good doctor, all these genetic changes occurred since 1980. MORE.
Nov 11 2007
“Jonathan” Does The Florida Recount 2000
Avedon has a great find, “Jonathan” of Buffy fame, Danny Strong, wrote a movie on the Florida recount that is in production, appraently with some big names:
Recount, the film written by Danny Strong about the 2000 presidential election, is currently filming in my state — at the scene of the crime. . . . What was more fun was meeting Danny Strong. Since I’m not a convention-goer, I figured I’d never actually meet any of the Buffy actors. But he was on the site, and I saw him here and there between takes. Then, there was one fairly long wait between takes, and he was taking photographs of the set. I was talking to another extra, and then I turned, and there he was a mere inches in front of me, with his back to me. Well, I couldn’t let the moment pass, so I said, “Thank you for writing this movie.” He turned, and I told him I was a fan, and we ended up talking about 15 minutes about the film, the election, etc. A couple of other extras also entered into the conversation, talking about their memories of the protests in Tallahassee back in 2000. Anyway, I think he was genuinely surprised to have someone single him out, as I don’t think anybody else among the extras knew who he was . . .
For Buffy fans like me, that is quite cool.
Nov 11 2007
A disease of the soul.
One of my favorite concise summations of what’s wrong with this country came from film director Philip Kaufman, in a 1990 article in Time Magazine. Kaufman’s film Henry and June had been slapped with an X rating for excessive eroticism, despite the fact that said eroticism was a fundamental part of the story, about the writers Henry Miller and Anais Nin, and Miller’s wife, June. Ironically, of course, Miller’s books had also been censored by the officious false morality of Puritanical America. But Kaufman understood that something larger, and more insidious, was at play:
“You can cut off a breast,” says Kaufman, “but you can’t caress it. The violent majority is dictating to a tender minority.”
Nov 11 2007
Pony Party : Third Edition
My mother has always had a flair for arts and crafts. When I was a a kid she sewed, she knitted and did crochet work. She had a loom and belonged to a weaving group. She is a veteran of craft fairs. When I wanted to earn extra money she would front me the cash to bake tons of fudge and I would sell it along side her stuff.
Her carpel tunnel nixed the sewing and crochet work. Now she makes homemade soap in wonderful scents and flavors. Whenever I visit home, I come back with a stash. She also make gorgeous quilts and she has branched into managing bees and producing small amounts of honey.