I like this response, I think it’s the only one for the situation. But at this time in history, does Mr. Obama, who wants to be President, think the GOP giver a good goddam what he finds unacceptable? Does he think they’re going to lay off just because he told them to? Does he think he can govern the madhouse the US and the world have become this way? Well, okay. I certainly don’t have any better ideas. But in future, Senator, don’t bring a knife to a shoot-out.

Full disclosure: I’ll vote for whoever gets the Dem nomination, but this is exactly why I’ve been leaning towards Senator Clinton. At least she knows what she’s up against in today’s GOP. And if/when/whatever Hillary doesn’t get the nomination, I hope she and Bill righteously kick some GOP ass before they fade into oblivion (if either of those things are even possible).

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“Under the strict scrutiny standard, unlike the rational basis standard, in order to demonstrate the constitutional validity of a challenged statutory classification the state must establish (1) that the state interest intended to be served by the differential treatment not only is a constitutionally legitimate interest, but is a compelling state interest, and (2) that the differential treatment not only is reasonably related to but is necessary to serve that compelling state interest. Applying this standard to the statutory classification here at issue, we conclude that the purpose underlying differential treatment of opposite-sex and same-sex couples embodied in California’s current marriage statutes - the interest in retaining the traditional and well-established definition of marriage - cannot properly be viewed as a compelling state interest for purposes of the equal protection clause, or as necessary to serve such an interest.

“A number of factors lead us to this conclusion. First, the exclusion of same-sex couples from the designation of marriage clearly is not necessary in order to afford full protection to all of the rights and benefits that currently are enjoyed by married opposite-sex couples; permitting same-sex couples access to the designation of marriage will not deprive opposite-sex couples of any rights and will not alter the legal framework of the institution of marriage, because same-sex couples who choose to marry will be subject to the same obligations and duties that currently are imposed on married opposite-sex couples. Second, retaining the traditional definition of marriage and affording same-sex couples only a separate and differently named family relationship will, as a realistic matter, impose appreciable harm on same-sex couples and their children, because denying such couples access to the familiar and highly favored designation of marriage is likely to cast doubt on whether the official family relationship of same-sex couples enjoys dignity equal to that of opposite-sex couples. Third, because of the widespread disparagement that gay individuals historically have faced, it is all the more probable that excluding same-sex couples from the legal institution of marriage is likely to be viewed as reflecting an official view that their committed relationships are of lesser stature than the comparable relationships of opposite-sex couples. Finally, retaining the designation of marriage exclusively for opposite-sex couples and providing only a separate and distinct designation for same-sex couples may well have the effect of perpetuating a more general premise - now emphatically rejected by this state - that gay individuals and same-sex couples are in some respects “second-class citizens” who may, under the law, be treated differently from, and less favorably than, heterosexual individuals or opposite-sex couples. Under these circumstances, we cannot find that retention of the traditional definition of marriage constitutes a compelling state interest. Accordingly, we conclude that to the extent the current California statutory provisions limit marriage to opposite-sex couples, these statutes are unconstitutional.”
Summary of Supreme Court same-sex marriage opinion, Mercury News, May 15, 2008

Or whatever. But the California Supreme Court just made me very proud to be a Californian today. See, people? We can all just get along sometimes.

Update: Wow, George Takei is getting married. Marriage Equality Comes to California, May 16, 2008.

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And I’m already working on Issue 2, so if you like what you see here, and you or someone you know would like to have a blog essay in Issue 2, please refer to these guidelines and send the essay on in. Feel free to get in touch with me at editor AT j-bloglandia.info if you have any questions the guidelines don’t address. The deadline is when I have enough pages to publish. Thanks!

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Totally lovin’ Clark’s Picks

Related: Couldn’t find Stones in my Passway, but this will do, maybe moreso. You can still hear what Clapton was talking about.

You may bury my body down by the highway side
So my old evil spirit may catch a Greyhound bus and ride.

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~~~

“Ginger Mayerson: What are the most important aspects and experiences in your practice of art now?

“Leo Limon: I’m Mr. Old G.

“GM: What?

“LL: Oldie but Goodie. But young people call me Mr. A Old G, which is Ancient Oldie but Goodie. It seems like the youth find there’s no future, you know, so the things they do now, they say ‘Yeah, I smoked for three years, man, I almost killed myself, but you know, I got out of it.’ And I’m looking at this 18 year old kid, and I’m going ‘Yeah, wow, my uncle smoked for 80 years.’

“GM: Do they really think there’s no future?

“LL: Yeah, the kids I find out there — I’m looking for taggers — and I find them. There’s thousands of them, literally thousands of them, and they’ve grown up, because of the change of times, in a different generation. There used to be a gang, the neighborhood is called whatever it is and the gang would mark the territory (with graffiti that was the name of the gang ED). And then Maria’s or Johnny’s little brother decided to be part of a crew, which is three or four or five or six at the most kids, who go out and tag. Now they’ve learned through Heavy Metal magazine and interpretations of air brush, well, a spray can gives that look.

“GM: Are they tagging for a gang for themselves?

“LL: Themselves.

“GM: Oh, so this is Me-Tagging?

“LL: Yeah, Me-Tagging.

“GM: I’ve seen some amazing tags in my neighborhood. Especially on the freeway and on billboards. I’m amazed they can do that without killing themselves. I mean, do you consider these taggers to be, like, the new muralists?

“LL: No, because these kids know nothing about the local art history, they’re tagging the murals. There’s commercialism in tagging. Like I said, I have a certificate in sign painting, and these guys (taggers ED) are signing, but they’re not saying anything. Their tag, which is their art, is their signature. And they sign them, and they actually put a copyright on them, with a stencil.”
Interview with Leo Limon, J LHLS, June 20, 2005

~~~

“In mid-October (2007), some of the murals were whitewashed without warning. (Gloria) Molina and the Department of Public Works denied involvement, but in December, Molina got the county Board of Supervisors to pass an emergency motion giving the Friends of the Los Angeles River 90 days to paint over the murals or pay up to $70,000 for their removal.

“County crews removed about 60 million square feet of graffiti in 2006 at a cost of about $32 million, county officials have said.

“The Friends group stands by the idea of having art by the river, spokeswoman Shelly Backlar said. But the organization, which is scrambling to rebuild its stock with the county and the agencies that supervise the river, concedes some of what the artists put into the mural might not belong there.

“‘It’s their permit and their event, and we’ve been pulled in because of the work that we do,’ Backlar said. ‘It’s not what we thought it would be.’

“Councilman Ed Reyes, who originally supported Poli’s project and authorized the permit, said he regrets that decision because he believes the art has attracted gang members, who have added their tags to the riverbed walls.

“The graffiti ’spilled out of the river channel, into the sidewalks, onto the handrails, into buildings,’ Reyes said. ‘Before it was a neutral place, but now we have clear indicators that rival gangs and taggers are showing up there.’”
Graffiti project painting grim picture. L.A. riverbed being turned into art, but critics argue many of images are obscene, inappropriate, by Raquel Maria Dillon, AP, April 6, 2008

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GO to the Atwater Farmers’ Market, Sundays 10-2, buy some lemon and lavender infused goat cheese spread from the goat cheese lady (next to the sage honey lady), buy some strawberries from the stand across and slightly lift from her. Put spread on strawberry. Eat. I saw God, but you might have a different experience.

Just FYI neighbors. DO IT!

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“‘Playing gotcha with Democrats and patty-cake with Republicans,’ Joe Conason explained on salon. com, ‘will remain basic operating procedure for the mainstream media this year, no different from the past half-dozen presidential campaigns…. [T]he same fuzzy but obsessive focus on “character” that plagues Bill and Hillary Clinton will be turned on him with equal or greater ferocity by those who once claimed to admire him. He is now subject to the ‘Clinton rules,’ which have long permitted pundits, editorialists and reporters to indict the former president and first lady for sins that other politicians, mostly Republican, may commit with impunity.’

“Conason compared the hullabaloo over Hillary Clinton’s exaggerated account of her landing in Bosnia to the free pass that Ronald Reagan was granted for his purely imaginary account of liberating Nazi concentration camps, and President Bush for his unexplained ‘lost years’ in the Texas Air National Guard.

“Obama’s inexperience left him vulnerable. If he didn’t want to talk about flag pins, he ought never have explained why he doesn’t wear one. (False patriotism, basically.) Dumb symbolic issues have a way of looming large in November. Obama ought to have purged himself of potentially embarrassing Chicago figures long ago, i.e., Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Ayers and political fixer Tony Rezko. That he hasn’t suggests a certain softness Republican smear artists are sure to exploit mercilessly.”
Superdelegates shouldn’t ignore the odds, Gene Lyons, April 23, 2008

An entire generation of the MSM might have to die out before we get decent press again. Too bad I won’t live to see it. Oh well.

This is a tough choice. I like Hill’s feisty savvy, but I think Obama would get us out of Iraq quicker. But, as I have always said, I’ll vote for whoever gets the nomination.

(and because I’m a bad person, heeeeere’s… (more…)

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Although I think I like the vocal on the Wayne’s World cover better.

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I remember hearing this on Dr. Demento’s show about a week after it was released. I think he said he was glad a rock song could be under three minutes again. Or something odd like that. Then he played “Seafood Mama.” It was a weird segue even by Demento standards.

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If God really cared, we could go back and swap Paglia for Molly. Damn, I miss Molly.

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“So, Brownfemipower makes a brilliant speech about immigrant abuses being a feminist issue at the WAM conference a few days ago, at which [X] was in attendance. Days later, [X] writes an Alternet article which is pretty clearly cribbed from it - surprise surprise, without due credit. Bravo.”

~snip~

“It’s bad enough that [X] has a long history of ignoring or dismissing women of colour as a feminist ‘big blogger’, but resorting to stealing the stuff of others - the WoC bloggers who tackle this stuff day in and day out, no less, is an all new low. So I’d like to add my voice to that cry: just stop it. Give credit where credit is due.”
Stealing other people’s stuff is not cool, Burning Words, April 9, 2008

By the time this posts to the Hackenblog it will be old news, but I use this blog as a record for myself most of the time. So if you want current events, read Cursor.org.

So why did BrownFemmePower take her entire site down over this? Hmmmmm.

I think I’ll start reading Burning Words on a regular basis.

BrownFemiPower responds to…something.

Skippy, where I left a comment, links to PhysioProf on Amanda.

Twisty.

Jesus, even I’m sick of this subject.

I guess I’m not sick of the subject.

I Guess It’s a Jungle in Here Too, Huh

Breaking up with Pandagon

There’s a saying in Hollywood Amanda might want to know about: Be nice to everyone on your way up because you’ll meet them again on your way down.

I wonder what Jesse and Pam S are thinking about this mess.

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April 14 - I’m back, it was great, and I’m very tired. I’ll post a link when the video of the whole show is up. I was very pleased with everything they did. It was amazing. Also, Texas bbq is fabulous.

To see a theatrical interpretation of “Darkness at Sunset and Vine.”

I’d like to thank the fabulous Dr. Kelly S. Taylor for bringing my angry novella to the wider world and Arkansas, where, I am told, it was a big fucking hit.

Also of interest: The production concept and the Darkness at Sunset and Vine Trilogy (Kelly’s only doing part I, but doing it extremely well) if you run out of things to read while I’m gone.

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Of course I was mere child when this aired but I kind of remember this.

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“So goes the most notorious passage of one of the most controversial piece of film criticism ever written, ‘In Defense of Violence’ by Michel Mourlet, published in Cahiers du Cinema #107,m May 1960. One cannot but recall this signal work by the MacMahonist High Priest now that Moses, Ben-Hur, Michelangelo, El Cid, NRA president et.al. has bought the farm.”

~snip~

“Back in 1941 he had little to offer but his babe-a-liciousness in Peer Gynt, an exceedingly low-budget rendition of Ibsen in which director David Bradley (soon-to-be auteur of the ineffable They Save Hitler’s Brain) decided that the best thing to do was have Chuck wear as little as possible (hubba-hubba.)” Hear hear!

~snip~

Re: slashy backstory in Ben Hur

“No surprise there. And no surprise that he agreed to go along because ‘anything is better than what we’ve got.’ And so Boyd was told about his motivation, but not Heston. For Wyler cautioned ‘Don’t ever tell Chuck what it’s all about, or he’ll fall apart.’ One can only wonder why Heston, who began his acting career under the direction of David Bradley, and continued the better part of it running around half-naked, would ‘fall apart’ over the notion of an off-screen, backstory love affair with Stephen Boyd. But then how could the man who marched with the embodiment of non-violent protest Martin Luther King turn around and head the NRA?

“Perhaps clues can be found in the last act of Heston’s film career which is climaxed by Planet of the Apes, in which not only his heroric demeanor but physical self is brought low, and continues with the dystopian horror of Soylent Green.”
Death of an Axiom, Fablog, April 6, 2008 (The only Heston obit you’ll ever need!)

I can’t help it, Charlton Heston was sex on legs in “Ben Hur” and I love the whole galley slave rescuing the Roman admiral and making him row scenes. Woof. Subtext anyone?

Yeah, Gary Cooper was also a rightwingnut, and I like him, too. What is it with these beautiful men? Does it go to their heads? (Hey, write your own jokes.)

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“In the film, A League of Their Own, Tom Hanks proclaims, “there’s no crying in baseball.” If that same standard applied to American politics, Darrell Issa’s career would have ended long ago.

“In 2003, Issa led the effort to recall California Governor Gray Davis. (Davis was undone by the energy crisis which crippled the Golden State thanks in large part to market manipulation by Enron.) But part two of the Issa plan - to capture the Governor’s office himself - abruptly ran aground when Arnold Schwarzenegger decided to get in the race.

“On August 7, 2003, Issa shocked supporters and announced he would not continue his candidacy. Comically claiming, “It had nothing to do with Schwarzenegger’s decision,” Issa at times wept uncontrollably as he made his premature withdrawal. (This video shows Issa’s pathetic performance as he concluded his gubernatorial ambitions had been terminated. The water works start around the 7:30 mark.)”
op 10 Darrell Issa Hall of Shame Moments, Perrspectives, April 4, 2008 (via)

Having bought the recall for himself and then having it whipped out from under him, I tried to make the word Issa synonymous with sucker, alas, it never got much traction.

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Clark’s Picks (mmmmm, I sure like this guy’s taste in music)

The Real vs The Spiel

The Velvet Grindstone

Cartoon Brew

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I don’t care who wins, just Get. Us. Out. Of. Iraq. Now.

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“Now, as all things must, it has shown up on ebay. Someone has found twelve original negatives to the English dubbed version in the vaults of Los Angeles’s KCOP-13 and is selling them on ebay for $24,000. Close up images of these negs can be viewed here. Note that one is marked for use by New York’s TV station WPIX (where I saw it as a kid).”
Tezuka’s Amazing Three, Cartoon Brew, April 4, 2008

Ah ha! I watched this on Channel 13 in LA as a kid, but no one on earth seemed to know what I was talking about when I described a Japanese cartoon with aliens disguised as barnyard animals, so I figured I dreamed it. Nice to know I didn’t. Although I seem to remember it in color, but, um, maybe I dreamed that part, I dunno…

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I really should get out more.

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(click on image for full size)

Thank you to Seth Anderson at B12 Partners Solipsism for the cover images, which are “Rookery” on the front cover and “Before the Rain Blues” on the back. Chicagoans might recognize at least one of these images.

There’s still some room left for blog essays in the first issue. Here’s more information on the whole deal. I won’t be finalizing anything until after April 18, so if you want in, send me your blog essay on or before April 17 on one of these templates:

MS Word or Rich Text Format or Plain Text. Don’t worry about how it looks, I’ll be formatting up a storm in the final document.

But whether your blog essay is in there or not, J Bloglandia 1:1 is going to have a very lovely cover.

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(via Cartoon Brew)

And I thought I had a thing for Tron.

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And as with all Batman v. Superman matchups, the question is inevitably, which one is more powerful? Why?”
Superman vs. Batman, Edge of the American West, March 21, 2008

Comics! There’s no escape!

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“The tile mural was meant to depict a quaint Sunday in Boyle Heights. Many angry residents say it makes their neighborhood out to be a crime-ridden dump filled with fat women, stray dogs, beer-swilling men and illegal street vendors. And don’t get them started about the piñata.

“‘There’s no American flag. There seems to be a rule against that,’ said Rosalie Gurrola, born and raised in Boyle Heights, to rousing cheers and applause at a recent community meeting. ‘We need an American flag!’

“The 4,000 tiles are glazed, fired and ready to be installed next month, but public outcry threatens to keep the artwork from ever going up.

“The 100-foot mural by artist Sandow Birk has unwittingly tapped a raw nerve below the surface of a seemingly homogenous community, widely considered L.A.’s mothership of Mexican culture.

“Residents complained about the unleashed dogs, about the ‘illegal’ street vendors, about a man holding a can they guessed was beer. They complained about what wasn’t shown — historical figures, children reading books, more war veterans, positive images of cops — and about what was.

“‘This one lady has clothes drying on bushes,’ said Vera Del Pozo, 56. ‘I’ve seen that in Mexico. Not here.’”
Mural sparks outcry from residents of L.A.’s Eastside. To some in Boyle Heights, a work made of tiles proposed for the Hollenbeck police station contains too many Latino stereotypes, by Hector Becerra, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer, March 20, 2008

When is Cultural Affairs going to wake up in, y’know, Los Angeles? When? Idiots.

Here’s a pdf if the LAT removes the article.

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The depth of the problems at Bear Stearns which led up to the buyout are not clear. Mr. X wondered why they did not try to use committed credit lines before agreeing to the JPM Chase deal. These lines were significant and included large amounts committed by Japanese banks, who are now relieved that they did not have to extend the credit.

“Maybe Bear assumed at the rate of its cash depletion that it would burn through those credit lines quickly and being more leveraged might make other solutions more difficult, but the tone of the Japanese notes is that the credit lines were large enough in aggregate to have made a difference.

“And even odder: those credit lines are still in place. Why did the Fed stump up a whole $30 billion? This seems a tremendous oversight on its behalf. Of course, those lines probably terminate upon a change in control, but the Fed probably could have leaned on the banks to keep them in place (after all, they are lending against a better balance sheet with JPM, although adding the Bear lines to whatever credit facilities they now have with JPM might put them over their limits for exposure to any one bank. But the Fed could have offered to backstop the excess, which would be a smaller commitment than the one it made).

“Stranger and stranger….”
Why didn’t Bear use its credit lines?, Naked Capitalism, March 21, 2008

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“Those who care about the American dilemma — a racial history that contradicts our stated beliefs — will filter their perceptions through their own life experience, their own political bias, their own emotional stake in this particular election. Whatever the political effect, however, the man obviously said what he really thought.

“He told the truth: We are all racists. That does not mean that we are all prejudiced, but it does mean we notice the color of the people around us, and that affects the way we think and talk and act. And he was probably right about most of us, black and white, when he asserted that our racism is generational, that old men like Pastor Wright and me have more trouble dealing with race than do our children and, I expect, than our grandchildren will.

“That’s the way it is. We are on a long trail to a post-racial society — we may never reach the end — and this election will give some indications how far along we really are.”
Hearing the Obama Speech, by Richard Reeves, March 19, 2008

Yes, I bet even Bill and Hill would be proud to vote for Obama after that speech. This is not an Obama endorsement, but if America has to face it, really face it, on race, all the races, then that can only be good for us and the world.

I think Reeves is wrong about one thing here: whether Senator Obama wins or not, this is going to be remembered as one of the greatest speeches on race in America. It’s a tough subject, I thought he did a stellar job with it.

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“The scene with Fyodor Chandler provides a moment where Nellie at least momentarily finds her moral compass. It makes what she does afterwards make more sense. In the modern action-adventure film, actions don’t necessarily have to have moral motivation… or even make sense, for that matter.

“I still worry that I’ve just become the studio hack who cut the scene from ‘The Big Sleep’ that explained who committed the murder Phillip Marlowe was supposed to be investigating. I think my cast knows everyone will be too busy listening to Bogart and looking at Bacall to care.”
Darkness at Sunset and Vine Director’s Log, The Ides of March, 2008

Oh, man, dystopian linguists don’t get no respect. But this Director log thingy is way cool. And there’s video, too!

Click here for a better idea of what the hell I’m on about. Some of you might remember the enraged anti-bush novellas from 2003-2005 that are the Darkness at Sunset and Vine trilogy. Many cool bloggers of those years ended up in those stories, or at least plays on their names did. The first novella is being produced as a theater piece in Denton Texas, and performed there, Savannah, Georgia and somewhere in Arkansas in March and April. Hey, if Hillary can win Texas and 9 inches of snow can fall in the Metroplex, then Darkness at Sunset and Vine can be performed in the Southland. Oy.

By the way, Fyodor Chandler came out of a conversation I had with Jane Seaton about how I felt like the story was a cross between Dostoyevsky and The Long Goodbye. So of course the next logical thing was to name a character Fyodor Chandler. Isn’t that what anyone would do?

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“Both Tier 2 and Tier 3 workers can typically do more to safeguard a client’s privacy. There are no guarantees, of course, but they tend to shun contractual relationships with agencies that advertise their services. There is less of a paper trail. They typically will only take a john via a referral, and even then, they may require that the john ‘date’ them for weeks before deciding to offer up sex. I have heard of Tier 2 and 3 sex workers who vet prospective clients for months, sometimes hiring a private detective to see if the john is stable—psychologically and financially. As a former attorney general, Spitzer must have known all this.

“What high-end clients pay for may surprise you. For example, according to my ongoing interviews of several hundred sex workers, approximately 40 percent of trades in New York’s sex economy fail to include a physical act beyond light petting or kissing. No intercourse, no oral stimulation, etc. That’s one helluva conversation. But it’s what many clients want. Flush with cash, these elite men routinely turn their prostitute into a second partner or spouse. Over the course of a year, they will sometimes persuade the woman to take on a new identity, replete with a fake name, a fake job, a fake life history, and so on. They may want to have sex or they may simply want to be treated like King for a Day.”
Skinflint, by Sudhir Venkatesh, Slate, March 12, 2008

I mean, wtf? guys? I hate to tell you this but there’s more to life than your dick and you ego.

And Spitzer, you threw away your chance to make the world a better place. You, your dick and your ego can rot in hell as far as I’m concerned.

And, sisters, $10K a month to prop up some guy’s ego and maybe blow him? Advantage capitalism. Christ. I know women who work two jobs for the luxury of doing that. Oh, but they’re in love, so that’s different.

How lucky I found this, too!

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Hmmm.

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