Flag Woes

The Mexican flag has been at the center of much of the controversy surrounding this week's immigration demonstrations around the country. The snap-judgment goes like this: what's the logic in waving the flag of the country you're trying to get away from? Or more crudely: if you like Mexico so much, why don't you go back? But I think these people miss the point. The Mexican flag is simply being used as a symbol of their heritage...and that happens to offend some people. Much like Southerners claim the Confederate flag is a symbol of their heritage...and it offends people. Why do I feel the people complaining loudest about the Mexican flag are the same people defending the Confederates?

Polygamy Debate

Being a fan of freedom of choice, my position on the polygamy debate is: do whatever you want, as long as it's legal and doesn't mess with me. But, frankly, I'd never seriously considered it much. This article by Jonathan Rauch, a good writer to whom I've linked before regarding introversion, has this thoughtful piece that I'm not sure I agree with, but is worth reading nonetheless. His point is that polygamy will ultimately destroy a society because the ratio of available women to available men goes all cattywampus.

The social dynamics of zero-sum marriage are ugly. In a polygamous world, boys could no longer grow up taking marriage for granted. Many would instead see marriage as a trophy in a sometimes brutal competition for wives. Losers would understandably burn with resentment, and most young men, even those who eventually won, would fear losing. Although much has been said about polygamy's inegalitarian implications for women who share a husband, the greater victims of inequality would be men who never become husbands.

He goes on to cite sources that claim societies with more men than women are governable only by tyrannies that export these "bare branches" in search of war. This article approaches the debate from a strange angle that I had never considered. It also claims that same-sex marriage is generally a stabilizing force in society while polygamy is destabilizing.

I oppose polygamy where the women cannot act of their own free will (which Dick Logan, our correspondent in Utah, claims is the usual variety.) I don't think polygamy is going to really catch on when all parties are acting out of their own free will, and therefore I doubt we would ever reach the tipping point ratio referred to in this article.

Live Shows

After a night of playing trivia I've retired to the porch to drink a few more beers and listen to some music. I've chosen a live CD by Joe Ely tonight. It sent me thinking about live shows, as Joe Ely is probably the best live performer I've ever seen (next to Six Feet High and Rising of course.)

I've seen some great shows, but I'm interested in your best concert experiences. For me, it's mostly small venue shows, as I feel arena shows are dehumanizing. Here's a few that are especially memorable:

Joe Ely at Mayfest in Fort Worth about 2001: If this guy can get this crowd going, he's capable of anything.

Uncle Tupelo at Liberty Lunch in Austin about 1992: first show at which I was high, plus it was my favorite all time band...transcendent.

Toots and the Maytals at Liberty Lunch in Austin (~1988): man I was shitfaced and almost got my ass whipped marching to the front. Backup singers were amazing.

Devo at the Backroom in Austin (~1990): I had a headache but one of my favorite all-time bands jammed my way through it.

Gourds at Barleyhouse in Dallas (1997): during my non-drinking phase, but still great.

True Believers at Eastchase Live in College Station (1987): because of a storm, Alejandro and the boys were about two hours late but still rocked the shit out of the crowd of about 10.

Son Volt at Sons of Hermann Hall in Dallas (~1994): what a great joint for a show, I think Toby got a signed poster. They can never go wrong closing with Chickamauga.

Ramones and Social Distortion at the Bronco Bowl in Dallas (1993): two powerhouse bands at an amazing venue.

I'm sure I'm leaving out dozens of shows, but the dates bespeak the fact that I haven't seen a good show in a while. I saw the Gourds a couple of years ago at the Wreck Room in FW and they were good, but I really haven't been a live music guy lately. Let me hear your stories. Toby, don't forget the Simple Minds concert at Reunion in 85 or so.

McCain Sellout Watch Part III

More evidence that McCain is selling out his maverick image in favor of the same groups that burned him at the stake in 2000. I don't think you can rely on him to speak his mind any more.

Busy week

I've had limited time for posting this week, I'm learning about intercorrelation and multi-collinearity. But I have an interesting story on immigration. Yesterday in downtown Fort Worth we had what passes as a protest here. There was about a thousand Mexican teenages marching through the streets and howling. As is usual for downtown Fort Worth, there was also a large police presence: horseback, bikes, cars, and on foot.

I was following the protestors around just for kicks and all of the sudden cops came screaming from all directions. I arrived at Fifth and Main, nexus of the problem (and location of my friendly tobbaconist.) Apparently some girl took a swing at a female cop on a bike. Next, her boyfriend took a swing at a male cop on a bike. It wound up worse for the male, because the cop threw him through the window of a parked truck. I missed the actual cop-protestor violence, but saw them get arrested and saw the truck get towed. The cops quickly diverted all traffic to avoid any rioting. It was nice to see the horseback cops finally have to do some real work.

Anyway, I'm not sure how much good the protest march did for the cause. The violence probably caused a whiplash effect.

Watch Out For Atheists

I have to confess that this surprised me a little bit.

From a telephone sampling of more than 2,000 households, university researchers found that Americans rate atheists below Muslims, recent immigrants, gays and lesbians and other minority groups in “sharing their vision of American society.” Atheists are also the minority group most Americans are least willing to allow their children to marry.

and...

[Penny Edgell, associate sociology professor and the study’s lead researcher] believes a fear of moral decline and resulting social disorder is behind the findings. “Americans believe they share more than rules and procedures with their fellow citizens—they share an understanding of right and wrong,” she said. “Our findings seem to rest on a view of atheists as self-interested individuals who are not concerned with the common good.”

Maybe I really don't belong here.

PSA

As a Public Service Announcement, you should know that cops are now patrolling inside bars looking for drunks. I think they're bound to find some.

And here's the rationale according to TABC Commissioner Carolyn Beck, "We feel that the only way we’re going to get at the drunk driving problem and the problem of people hurting each other while drunk is by crackdowns like this.” Sure she's worried about drunk driving, but she's got some other social ills in mind, "People walk out into traffic and get run over, people jump off of balconies trying to reach a swimming pool and miss.” Those are the people that need saving.

This woman is not living the reality-based community. If she keeps this up, the restaurant and bar owners trade association will become more powerful than the Teamsters and the AARP combined. Maybe that's the final showdown I'm looking for with the religious right. The Evangelicals pitted in a death match with restaurant and bar owners and their patrons.

Actually, maybe there's a political solution that I can be a part of. We need to have a referendum to make the TABC Commissioner an elected position. I will gladly serve in this capacity if the good citizens will elect me and I will tirelessly support their mandate to do nothing (beyond building a tent out behind my office where I can smoke cigars while I do business.)

Album Names

I mentioned in a comment that Steve Earle's "Shut Up and Die Like and Aviator" was one of my favorite album names. This got me thinking of starting a thread about album names. Also on my list: Rolling Stone's "Goat's Head Soup," and Uncle Tupelo's "Anodyne."

Cure for Cancer

Somebody has finally found a cure for cancer. Merck has developed a vaccination that prevents cervical cancer with staggering statistical significance. Glaxo is close on their heels with a similar vaccine. Call the neighbors, wake the children, get this puppy on the market, right?

Well, our friends in the Bush administration are likely to resist approval of the vaccines because it angers their benefactors on the religious right. In another skirmish in this administration's war on science, they will argue that this vaccine gives young girls a license to have underage sex. They believe that unhealthy sexual habits lead to cervical cancer and by giving girls this vaccine, they will be giving them a license for promiscuity.

I don't know the answer, but I wonder how many young girls delay their defloweration out of a concern for cervical cancer? According to the article from the New Yorker linked above, the average age that girls lose their virginity is under seventeen. The Bush theocrats are unhappy with this and seek to stem this tide with anti-science (and anti human-nature) actions like not availing girls of this vaccine, pouring tons of money into abstinence education, and keeping young folks away from rubbers. Similarly, they will not financially support efforts to educate people about condoms in AIDS-ravaged sub-Saharan Africa.

Part of me wishes that we could compare the average age at which girls lost their virginity in the 16th century (think of thirteen or fourteen year-old Romeo and Juliet) with current statistics. I think sexual behavior starts after puberty and there would not be a statistically significant age difference in the onset of such behavior through time immemorial. This would conclusively say what we already know - that the Bushies are trying to fight human nature. Unfortunately, such conclusive statistical proof would surely be shrugged off as fuzzy math or some other witches brew of illogic concocted by the reigning Evangelical inquisition.

So there you have it. Add this insult to the injuries of global warming, stem-cells, and all the rest, and pity the imminently avoidable deaths due to cervical cancer.

Jeopardy Test Online

I'm exempt, of course, because I'm already on the active contestant list (heh, heh), but anyone wishing to take the Jeopardy test can do so online now (where was this option during my lean years?!)

Sopranos Talk: Spoiler Ahead

So what's going to happen to Tony Soprano? I figured in last night's episode he'd be recuperating and plotting what to do with Junior. Now it's brain damage? I can't believe there will be 18 more episodes with James Gandolfini on a ventilator.

Are they following the leads of Six Feet Under and Deadwood where they have significant episodes where the main characters are comatose. Let me state for the record that I oppose this. However, it was kinda funny seeing Tony dress and speak like a midwestern salesman during last night's dream sequence.

Additionally, I'd be interested to know how "Big Love" is going over in Utah from our Sagebrush State correspondent, Dick Logan.

Townes Movie

For our singer/songwriter crowd...I was recently informed that there was a biography of Townes Van Zandt playing that the Ft. Worth Modern Art Museum. Alas, I missed it by a couple of days. Luckily it's available on Netflix here. It's about 10th in our queue, which is being managed like a Japanese manufacturing facility by my wife, so I should have a review up in a week or so.

Headline of the Day

Courtesy of the Chicago Sun-Times: "Man severs own penis, throws it at officers"

Dude, when you're out of ammo, you're out of ammo.

More Music Talk

Because I'm a blogger who is responsive to his readers, let's kick off a new music thread. I've been accused on many occasions of "good ol' days syndrome." Ask me about any band and I'm bound to answer, "I like their old shit." So, I want examples of bands where this does not hold true. Here's some examples of bands that are not up for debate:

Rolling Stones
U2
AC-DC
Bowie
Deep Purple (snickering)
Jefferson Starship (maybe the most high-contrast example)

Now I know that Toby is going to throw Steve Earle at me, but I don't buy it. As good as his post-heroin music has been, it ain't Devil's Right Hand or Guitar Town. Don't try Elvis either.

My Name is Steve and I am an Introvert

If you are an introvert or think you may know someone who is, read this essay by Jonathan Rauch. Highlights:

[S]omeone you know, respect, and interact with every day is an introvert, and you are probably driving this person nuts.

For introverts, to be alone with our thoughts is as restorative as sleeping, as nourishing as eating. Our motto: "I'm okay, you're okay—in small doses."

We can only dream that someday, when our condition is more widely understood...it will not be impolite to say "I'm an introvert. You are a wonderful person and I like you. But now please shush."

No doubt.

Fish on Friday

From the Startlegram: "During Lent, the Christian season of penitence preceding Easter, Catholics are prohibited from eating meat on Fridays. But in an unusual move, Bishop Kevin William Vann of the Fort Worth Catholic Diocese has waived that ban for this week only -- because St. Patrick's Day is Friday."

This seems a bit arbitrary, no? But why stop there. St. Patrick's Day might be the most famous (and least holy) of Saint's days, but it is by no means the only one. A quick trip over to the Saint's Calendar shows that pretty much every day is a Saint's Day (if you have time, don't miss the Saint's Fun Facts!)

Therefore, I propose, in honor of the Saint's, to continue this trend of relaxing Catholic prohibitions on Saint's days. For example, I think it would be appropriate on St. Cletus' Day (April 26) to allow all manner of birth control, lest someone bestow the Saint's name on an innocent child. Maybe there's a "St. Dwayne Ray" on whose day the Catholic's could turn a blind eye to capital punishment. Suicide by shotgun to the mouth would be acceptable only on St. Kurt's day. Sins of taking the Lord's name in vain as well as all other spoken vulgarities could be overlooked on St. Al Swearengen's Day.

I welcome religion turning its collective back on rigid moral absolutism. Things really do depend on circumstances. It's St. Patty's Day? Let's party.

Is Bush Conservative?

Andrew Sullivan has this scathing critique:

Bush is not a conservative. He's a Christianist in social policy; and a left-liberal on entitlements. This has been clear for several years now. His main achievement has been to wean more and more people onto government assistance; and to pledge vast increases in the generosity of that assistance. None of this will be reversed; very few entitlements ever are. All that's left is a massive tax hike. But that's coming. When it arrives, whoever enacts it, it will be the legacy and policy of one man: George W. Bush. And it will have to be the biggest tax increase for a very long time.

Ouch. I find the duality of Bush's frames of reference interesting as well. Domestically, it seems like everything he has done has been for short-term political gain (tax cuts, steel tariffs, prescription drug plan) while in foreign policy the thinking is all airy-fairy "let the historians judge me" long-term thinking (democratizing the universe). I think Rove being the point-person on domestic policies has a lot to do with it.

News Whip

I'm so beaten down by current events lately. Excuse me, but I can't work up enough emotion to blog about raising the eight trillion dollar debt ceiling or the morass in Iraq/Iran. I guess Mike Wallace retiring is news, but the man is 88 years old. Retire already. My interest this morning spiked a little when I saw this headline at Drudge: GEOLOGISTS: AFRICA SPLITTING APART, NEW OCEAN FORMING. But it was typical Drudgian hyperbole. The active area seems to be about the size of Palo Pinto County with the "new ocean" about the size of Possum Kingdom Lake. And so, the following...

What image does your brain conjure when you read that Germany "is deploying an army of prostitutes to satisfy the needs of libidinous fans during the month-long 2006 World Cup"? To me it's kind of an S&M thing, because you know jackboots are involved. I suppose if the Germans are going for another massive remilitarization, I'd prefer they be hookers. However, there is some concern that domestic supply may not meet the demand. The article continues, "German media had reported in recent months that up to 40,000 women would be smuggled into the country to work as sex slaves during the World Cup." Ah, Globalization!

Brackets?

If anyone is running a bracket, let me know. If I don't hear from anyone, I'll set one up.

McCain Sellout Watch

We've witnessed the beginning of what will be a series of sickening episodes over the course of the next two years. John McCain, former maverick firebrand who, in 2000, was screwed over by Bush in South Carolina, has realized he can't win without selling his soul to the religious-Bushian right. He recently said that he would sign the South Dakota abortion bill that outlaws abortion even in the case of rape or incest. He also implored voters in the Tennessee straw poll not to vote for him, but to write-in Bush's name because it's a patriotic thing to do when we're a country at war. He has also cratered by supporting the Bush position of teaching intelligent design based on showing "all the theories," supporting the port debacle, and flip-flopping in tax-cuts.

McCain was once a tolerable Republican to me, because he seemed to be fiercely independent, pragmatic, and not in the pocket of the religious right. Count me off that bandwagon.

Wrong message?

Bush said, ""I'm concerned about a broader message this issue could send to our friends and allies around the world, particularly in the Middle East."

I see where he's coming from but I think I disagree (big surprise, huh?). Aren't we really saying that there's a pretty high standard to participate in the global economy and if you want to have diversified (non-petroleum) economies, you need rigidly prove you don't associate with terrorists?

And I think it also tells the executive branch that a fully globalized economy isn't and end unto itself...globalization also should have a major security component. It appears this deal was rubber-stamped by the economic branches of government and shows a frightening decoupling of economic policy from security policy despite all the inter-agency cooperation that was purported to have been accomplished as a result of 9/11.

Our goals should be to eventually have strong trade interactions with Arab and Muslim countries because not only does this help them elevate their economies, but it gives us strong leverage to insist they crack down on terrorists using and abusing their countries.

I also think the WTO should play a larger role insuring global trading partners are not associated with Islamic anarchists.

Life Elsewhere?

Here's big news. Looks like NASA had found water on a moon of Saturn. Biblical literalists beware.

For the love of God...

Check this out:

A Gallup report released today reveals that more than half of all Americans, rejecting evolution theory and scientific evidence, agree with the statement, "God created man exactly how Bible describes it."

"They are "not so quick to agree with the preponderance of scientific evidence." "

Though it goes against every fiber of my belief in privacy and personal freedom, I think these people need to wear signs on their backs. Something discreet saying, "Don't try to be logical with me," or "God on board" would be fine.

The anti-science/pro-ghost stance of the Bush administration is just fueling this fire so I think Bush should be the first to wear a sign. Maybe "I was told there is no math."

As a person overly educated in statistics, I'm more than aware of how high the bar is to claim "correlation." The following summary of their regression analysis sums up why I'll never be a Republican:

"Several characteristics correlate with belief in the biblical explanation for the origin of humans. Those with lower levels of education, those who attend church regularly, those who are 65 and older, and those who identify with the Republican Party are more likely to believe that God created humans 'as is,' than are those who do not share these characteristics."

Putting on my elitist cap, I translate that to cretinous riff-raff, people who go to bed early on Saturday night, dying old people with nothing to lose and grasping for hope, and Bush/Robertson Republicans. Not a very fun bunch.

Flush the hands-free toilet

This article gives a right-good pantsing to the laser-toilet. Key points:

The auto-flush toilet violates two basic rules of technology adoption: Never replace a technology with an inferior technology; and never confiscate power from your users.

I have to deal with these shitty shitters every day and couldn't agree more with the author. Warning: link is a bit scatalogical.

Weber's Theory

In the last week or so, I think I've heard the definition of a "state" as and entity that claims a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence within a given area. This grouping of words seemed to be more than a coincidence...and that's what Wikipedia is for. It's called Weber's Thesis. It's brought up frequently in relation to the Iraqi situation and how the forces of violence seem to be aligning along tribal lines instead of in support of a central government. It seems to be a pretty solid theory to me: name one stable country with two armies.

Lego Weirdness

I thought my recreations of X-Wing Fighters using Lego was impressive back in 1978, but I can't hold a candle to these folks.

Back

I don't know which excuse works best for my extended absence. I was in a training class last week, so I had no blogging time at work. Then I've been on a four-day jag that finds me on the porch late on Sunday night drinking Mexican beer out of a can and smoking a cigar that's been riding around in the bed of my truck.

I'm glad Hustle and Flow won and Oscar tonight for their Pimp song. Anything to go get more people to watch that excellent movie. Crash won best picture in what I believe was backlash against Brokeback. I saw Crash and it was good...but not best picture good (no cripples or homos). I think the message of Crash was that there's a bunch of racism and it sucks and there's likely to continue to be a bunch of racism - which sucks.

On to the news: regardless of my feelings about the Dubai port deal, we're seeing the repercussions of inept political leadership at the White House. The wheels are off. I'd be pissed if they had handled something which I support in such a ham-handed way (like tax reform, for instance). The only thing even approaching this for sheer silliness is that Hillary was unaware that Bill was helping the Dubai folks out while she was railing against the deal. It's no surprise that they're personally out of sync, but it is a surprise that there political machine is out of sync.

As for my views on Port-gate, I can see both sides of the issue and have softened a little. If I had any trust that our government had a shred of competency, I may trust that due-diligence had been done and support the deal. However, I don't and as a member of the Anti-Stupidity party I'm going to have a tough time believing a word they say. (The platform of my party is, "don't support people that are stupid" - and both major parties are currently out of favor. Since the GOP has all the power, and are, therefore, the only party that can "do" anything, they'll be getting the bulk of the hate mail.)