Selfish Hedonist

I saw a movie three times this weekend: The Weather Underground. I saw it once regular, once with the director's commentary, and once with the commentary of two of the leaders of the organization, Bernadine Dohrn and Bill Ayers (now out of hiding and living in Hyde Park, Chicago).

Each time I watched it, the sense of immediacy was almost overwhelming. The parallel of our current war to the war out of which the New Left was, in part, born was certainly there. But far more important to me was the increasing depth of understanding I had for political movements today and how they got this way (including, perhaps most importantly, the NewCons).

I am more than happy to explore some of the themes brought up over drinks with anyone, any time, anywhere. But here are some of they keys:

• To what extent did the rhetorical and tactical excesses of the militant left discredit it (them)?
• What the hell revolution were they really trying to pull, and what the hell made them think it would actually work?
• Do they feel really, really stupid for aligning themselves with Castro, Mao, and the rest, even in the abstract?
• And of course, the biggie: given that leftism, progressivism, liberalism are so under attack in the U.S. politically these days, how do we find strength in the good parts of our heritage without being weighted down by the other baggage?

The film really made me think about how, in a quest for greater truth, I feel like it's important to take yourself out of your own political milieu and put yourself in your opponent's shoes. If you justify a rhetorical or activist tactic for yourself, can you justify it for them? Are your goals so pure that you deserve greater latitude for your missteps? As long as you win in the end, will the morality of your tactics even matter (see the 2000 Florida recount)??

Definitely check out the movie. Listen to the commentaries. And then buy me a beer & we'll discuss.

Sorry for the downer to end the week, but I really do think this story is quite important:

Louisiana: Historic legislation would ensure uranium testing for local soldiers

According to Leuren Moret, a geoscientist who has worked around the world on radiation issues, depleted uranium is coming back into the U.S. "in veterans' uniforms and trophies and bags." It's also coming back in their bodies, transferred through semen.

Moret cited a U.S. government study, conducted by the VA on post-Gulf War babies in a group of 251 soldiers in Mississippi who all had normal babies before the Gulf War. The study found 67 percent of their post-war babies were born with severe birth defects. Some were born without eyes (anophthalmos), ears, with missing organs, missing legs and arms, fused fingers, thyroid or other organ malformations. Moret said that in some families, the only healthy members are those born before the Gulf Wars.

snip

The health repercussions in Iraq are unprecedented. In babies born in 2002, the incidence of anophthalmos was 250,000 times greater (20 cases in 4,000 births) than the natural occurrence, one in 50 million births.

The Army and Air Force fired at least 127 tons of DU shells in Iraq last year, according to Pentagon spokesman Michael Kilpatrick, in an interview with the New York Daily News. "Because of its density, it is the superior heavy metal for armor to protect tanks and to penetrate armor," Kilpatrick said.

Okay. So. We're using depleted uranium. We know about the adverse effects. We apparently don't fucking care. Anything goes as long as we can hide behind the "support the troops" war cry. Is that how it works?

I cry now.

From Wonkette, via Americablog:

BUSHFISH



Not as great as yarmulke bra, but still an amazing product of this great land of ours.

They say this is not a parody, but COME ON! When you have references to both "bush" and "fish" you know some queen is taking it to the next level. Hopefully he makes a profit off of it. As their disclaimer says:

PLEASE NOTE: The BushFish does not suggest that President Bush is Divine.

Because THAT would be blasphemy. President Bush could never hold a candle to Divine, Mink Stole, or any of John Waters' stars.

If you're interested in who Christine Cegelis is going to face in the primary next year, Tim Tagaris has the skinny. Interesting that O'Malley is BRAGGING on his site about the 9% of the vote he got when he finished 4th out of 4 for the DuPage County Board, and that he voted for McGovern back in a school mock election in 1972. WHAZZA??

And for those who didn't see it, here's what I sent out to all my peeps this week:

Please consider donating $20.06 to the Christine Cegelis for Congress campaign. Below I have much more info about who Christine is, why I think this campaign is crucial, why donating now is so important, and how else you can help. If you are like me, and don't like to "read" lots of "important details," then just trust me and go here to donate:

This is a terrific opportunity to put the brakes on the GOP of Bush, DeLay, Hastert, Hyde, Limbaugh, Santorum, Musgrave, Lott, Cheney, Falwell, Rove, Frist, Coulter, Dobson, LeHaye, Robertson, Hannity, Keyes, Ashcroft, Rumsfeld, Roy Moore, Ralph Reed, Michael Savage, Grover Norquist, and on, and on, and on. This fight isn't over, people. With focus, energy, and smarts, we can prevail.

Thanks!

Jonathan Kelley
Chicago, IL

P.S. If you do donate, please let me know so I can track how this little appeal worked. And more importantly, please consider forwarding this to 20 friends, family members, neighbors, crushes, groupies, and/or bus buddies (and cc. me). I would love for this to get to 1,000 people around the country in the next week!

P.P.S. Don't be intimidated by the "party" set-up of the donation Web site. It's just how the campaign tracks various fundraising efforts.... You'll end up donating through ActBlue, FYI.

Got Taco Bell today. Picked up a couple of packets of Fire Border Sauce. They've got pithy sayings on them. One of them was especially fun:

"Nice palm. I read a great deal of pleasure in your future."

Not making this up.

What's going on in the world today:

• 11 U.S. troops killed in Iraq over the weekend.
• Some massive U.S. offensive near Syria, either killing 100+ insurgents or just causing extreme damage to some villages, depending on which side you believe (the media so far is only repeating the military 's version, and of course has no independent means to determine what happened).
• North Korea might have 5-6 nuclear weapons. ACTUAL FUCKING NUCLEAR WEAPONS!! The kind we pretended to go to war over in Iraq!

So what's CNN.com's question of the day?

"Do you believe a dog could care for a baby?"

You can NOT make this shit up.

For the record, there have been 120,165 votes so far, with "Yes" winning 65%-35%.

International edition.

Lyn May es la vedette más famosa y erótica de México. Desde muy joven posó desnuda para revistas y su época dorada fue en los 70. Hoy, después de casi toda una vida dedicada al striptease y con casi 60 años de edad, esta exótica mujer confiesa tener el secreto para la eterna juventud: una crema facial cuyo principal componente es el semen y “es infalible”, según la actriz.

Well, whatever works... The question is, how does she get her raw material?? Well, according to her manager, she harvests it herself:

A través de donaciones de chicos guapos entre 18 a 21 años, atractivos, fornidos y sexualmente empeñosos. ... Si ve a un chavo atractivo lo invita a su casa y le paga 500 pesos por el semen (26 mil pesos chilenos).

I won't say not to try it at home, but if you do, please remember to mix in oats, milk, and honey.

Seriously, I think Spokane's mayor who is soliciting young dudes online and is being sued for molesting a couple of even younger dudes way back when and has apparently been one of the state's leaders in anti-gay crapola could use a few more Seattle values:

In his 2002 campaign against Dolan, West accused the School District 81 administrator of having “Seattle values,” but ducked a Seattle newspaper columnist who wanted him to explain what he meant.

As far as I can tell, there was one decent-souled person in that race, and it was the one with "Seattle values." The other one was a dick.

In another article, he tries to explain exactly what he's been doing online:

Later, asked about his private life, he said: "I wouldn't characterize me as 'gay,' but he didn't distance himself from the term "bisexual."

"The Gay.com thing has only been, I can't recall, but it hasn't been very long," West later said when told the newspaper had learned about his online aliases "Cobra82nd" and "RightBi-Guy."

"I can't tell you why I go there, to tell you the truth … curiosity, confused, whatever, I don't know," the mayor said.

How about "stunted"?

Seriously, I think this guy is messed up. And who was the 18 year old who said in the chat room that they'd done it, leading to West's claim that "sex Nazis" were out there trying to stop consenting adults from gettin' their sweat on? Hopefully it was one of the Gonzaga college republicans.