Friday, February 27, 2004 Must Reads The Economist in favor of Gay Marriage, and not just Civil Unions either. Oxblog's running tab on senate opinion on Bush's FMA. Slate's review of Mel's movie. Or, if you're in a big hurry, as most of this blog's readers probably are, you could just check Andrew Sullivan out. He's got the goods on The Passion and Gay Marriage.
I haven't seen the movie yet, and probably won't get to for a while. Did anyone actually enjoy it? I haven't read a good review of it yet. I've read that it is deeply moving, pornagraphic, sadistic, and that it gave one person a heart attack. How's the acting?
Posted by Graham,
12:09 AM
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Thursday, February 26, 2004 John Kerry's outsourcing Bill
Anyone hear about John Kerry's recent senate bill designed to curb tech support outsourcing to India? I'm a Kerry supporter, but personally I don't like the sound of it.
The bill would require all foreign call centers to disclose their location at the beginning of the conversation. The irony is that I found the way Kerry's websites defends the bill to be more troubling than the criticisms of the bill. If you're going to pass a bill to protect jobs, just say so. Don't hide your intention inside accusations that people in poor countries are dishonest, like the following:
"Lastly, consumers are deeply concerned with the growing phenomenon of identity theft. Efforts to stem this tide and keep up with the technological advancements that enable these crimes have done little to allay those concerns. This trend becomes all the more frightening when millions of calls involving personal financial transactions are routed across our borders where laws and law enforcement are even more remote to U.S. customers."
Sure, consumers may be concerned about identity theft, but is there any evidence that putting call centers in India and other developing countries leads to identity theft? Kerry's website certainly doesn't supply any. I've heard of a lot of call scam, but none directly linked to legitimate foreign call centers. If anyone has this evidence please share. If not, then I can't help concluding that the allegation is simply racist.
Posted by Justin Sarma,
11:01 PM
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Wednesday, February 25, 2004 The Passion Jami Bernard of the New York Daily News on the Passion:
"Mel Gibson's 'The Passion of the Christ' is the most virulently anti-Semitic movie made since the German propaganda films of World War II. (...) Jews are vilified, in ways both little and big, pretty much nonstop for two hours, seven minutes. Gibson cuts from the hook nose of one bad Jewish character to the hook nose of another in the ensuing scene. He misappropriates an important line from the Jewish celebration of Pesach ("Why is this night different from all other nights?") and slaps it onto a Christian context. Most unforgivable is that Pontius Pilate (Hristo Naumov Shopov), the Roman governor of Palestine who decreed that Jesus be crucified, is portrayed as a sensitive, kind-hearted soul who is sickened by the tortures the Jewish mobs heap upon his prisoner. Pilate agrees to the Crucifixion only against his better judgment. The most offensive line of the script, which was co-written by Gibson with Benedict Fitzgerald, about Jews accepting blame, was not cut from the movie, as initially reported. Only its subtitle was removed.”
There's a mass movement a-brewin' to draft Mary Cheney, daughter of VP Dick Cheney, into the war against the same-sex-marriage-ban amendment. And I do believe it will be quite a war, of sorts.
Check out the site, read about how Dick Cheney has flip-flopped on this very personal issue, marvel at the Miracle-On-34th-Street-esque stampede of postcards folks have sent to Ms. Cheney (who will hopefully, someday, become Mrs. Cheney), and even send a postcard yourself! Again, it can only help.
Posted by Nick,
7:13 PM
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Cambodia's King is more liberal than Bush?
Cambodia's King Norodom Sihanouk has shown that advancing years are no barrier to an open mind and liberal attitude. After watching television images of gay marriages in San Francisco, the 81-year-old monarch has decided that single sex weddings should be allowed in Cambodia too. (BBC, via political aims)
Posted by Timothy,
3:39 PM
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Columbia Grad Student Bubble Boy, when you're a grad student preparing a lecture on Adam Smith, you sure can miss a lot. This afternoon, I picked up a copy of the Columbia Daily Spectator on my way out of Philosophy Hall and saw this article on a silent protest by Columbia students over a Cartoon printed in The Fed. (See their apology here. I cannot find the cartoon on the web, but the Columbia Daily Spectator reprinted it today curiously with a small caption.) I then walked onto Columbia's 'green' and saw that students were again protesting, and many were walking around with signs saying "I am being SILENCED". The protesters also passed out fliars that talked about: 1) a December Columbia Marching event, which according to the fliar, there was "an overtly prejudiced attack in which they vilified people of color, women, and members of religious groups as well as demonstrated explicit homophobic remarks and antics in advertising what they consider to be a 'traditional' Columbia student event." One of the replicated pictures has a picture with Edward Said "X" ed out, and the caption "Mess with the Jews, will you?" and "Yaweh: 1, Said: 0." [sic] Another one had pictures and drawings of Michael Jackson. 2) a February Conservative Club Affirmative Action bake sale "during which no practical or factual discourse surrounding Affirmative Action legislation was facilitated. The event focused solely on debasing and trivializing the qualifications of entire ethnic and cultural groups." [The only relevent Spectator article I could quickly find was an article on a Young Democrats counter-protest] 3) The fliar said of the Fed cartoon about Black History Month: "A 'flippant ad abrasive disclaimer' set the tone for a comic strip which reduced the history of Black Americans to being 'invented in the 1700s as a cheap form of labor." Further panels of the cartoonhad Blacks playing basketball, discovering Funk, rapping, and the last panel ended with 'black people do even more crap crap, but don't worry about it until next February... and 'til then remember-- KILL WHITEY!'
I report, you decide: I must return to xeroxing readings by Lenin, Hobson and Schumpeter.
Posted by Timothy,
2:43 PM
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Monday, February 23, 2004 Feminism as a Flesh-Colored Bustier
Issue 4.10 of the DFP is now on the web. And as with the 10th web issue of each year, this one has once again been stricken by what our staff has termed “The Curse of Jared.” To get it, you’ll have to click here
Despite the Curse, the insides are just as juicy: Karsten keenly observes the dominance of white- and blue-skinned students at the Polar Bear Swim, Meredith Esser sheds light on the holiest of holies in an interview about the Vagina Monolgues, Sarah Ayres takes a bite out of the watered-down arguments of Sally Winn, Welton continues his crusade, and Andrew gives us more reasons not to care about the SAT. 'Twas a voluptuous issue all around, with much more to see inside.
Posted by Nick,
8:09 PM
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Sunday, February 22, 2004 Spoiler for President
"There's too much power and wealth in too few hands," he said. "They have taken over Washington." "Washington is now corporate occupied territory," Nader said. "There is now a for-sale sign on most agencies and departments. ... Money is flowing in like never before. It means that corporations are saying no to the necessities of the American people. ... Basically, it's question of both parties flunking."
Both parties???? Washington is controlled by ONE party Nader! What reality are you living in? I really just find this stunning. Nader is putting his own ego above the principles he claims to support. If Nader really cares about strengthening third parties -- why doesn't he join a third party? He's not even a member of the Green Party. This is a sad day for progressives. I don't know who is supporting Nader or telling him to run, but I hope you think very carefully about what you're risking: four more years of Bush and the strong liklihood of a more conservative justice replacing O'Connor on the Supreme Court.
Ralph, please run for Senate in a blue state if you think you need to be involved in politics. Don't destroy a second Presidential election.
Posted by Dan,
10:46 AM
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"Didn't we already give them a break at the top?...What are we doing on compassion?" -Bush on tax cuts, to his inner cabinet.
Paul Krugman has a reviewof "The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill", by Ron Suskind, in the New York Times Review of Books. The Suskind book received most of its coverage because in it O'Neill, the former White House Treasurer, claimed the Bush administration was planning to go to war with Iraq before September 11'th. But there are also some less publicized nuggets of white house conversation contained in its pages, like the following little exchange that allegedly took place between Bush and his inner cabinet:
They also knew that their policies heavily favored rich people—indeed, in an uncharacteristic moment Bush himself seemed uneasy over the tilt, asking, "Didn't we already give them a break at the top?" And when Bush asked, "What are we doing on compassion?," no one answered. -Krugman
"What are we doing on compassion?" How great is that? Even as a liberal, I find his naivete strangely endearing. Unfortunately, these personal doubts didn't stop him from insisting in public that "the vast majority of my tax cut goes to the bottom of the economic spectrum", as Krugman points out. Dick Cheney must have really had to slap him back into shape for that one.
