Israeli policy

1 God told Abram: "Leave your country, your family, and your father's home for a land that I will show you.

2-3 I'll make you a great nation
and bless you.
I'll make you famous;
you'll be a blessing.
I'll bless those who bless you;
those who curse you I'll curse.
All the families of the Earth
will be blessed through you."

Genesis 12

There's no easy way to explain the current United States policy toward israel outside of this scripture. So many people wonder why the US has taken sides with Israel when they've allegedly "committed such heinous acts" and whenever they respond to a threat it's so incredibly disproportionate to the perceived threat. The answer is simply stated: Don't fuck with the jews.

So much of our policy is predicated on this promise to Abraham that it might as well be enshrined in law in the US. We as a nation are convinced that no matter the prevailing winds of public opinion we will not take sides against "God's people" Lest we invoke the flip side of that promise... "the curse."

I went to private schools all my life, most of whom were Fundamentalist Evangelical in their leanings. I was taught from a very early age to have respect for "God's People." I was taught that a nation rises and falls with its deference to that passage in Genesis. And it seems, I was not alone.

Closet cub is really closeted

I posted something on facebook about the sugar free reases peanut butter cups having a warning on them about a possible 'laxative effect' when eaten in excess. I hot a response from a friend about how she fed them to a kids party and all the kids had 'the browns' for a week. Closet cub posted something to the effect that that would be the only way 'the browns' could ever win the superbowl. I posted a response that it was 'cute when he talked butch.' well apparently that was over the line because he sent me this email on how my flirting was making him uncomfortable and he wasn't comfortable with me hugging him in front of the restaurant the day before.

Oy with closet cases and their drama.

Thing is, I know where it comes from. I was there 10 years ago. In the words of Harvey Milk, "Come out come out wherever you are."

Closet Cub

It was an ok party. I knew about half the people there. It was in one of those 50's ranch houses that have been added on until the house just rambles like a scrabble board and seems to go on for days. I grabbed a glass of wine and wandered out into the pool area and a group of lesbians were over in the corner, smoking and talking facing the bay with the lights sparkling and reflecting on the bay in the damp Florida night. At the other end of the pool, a guy I knew was talking to a guy I didn't. I crossed and began talking to the guy I knew. Smalltalk, nothing in particular. And then he wandered up. Cubbie. Cubbie and I talked about how he was campaign manager for the guy I ddn't know sitting there and I pledged my support. Cubbie asked me if I was on facebook and I pulled out my iPhone and friended his candidate. Cubbie spent the next hour talking about nothing in particular and I really wasn't listening because I was imagining him naked and what I would do to him when he was. After the party, I went home and tried to find him on facebook, but was unsuccessful.

The next morning I got a friend request from him. But in his profile it didn't say he was gay. Had I misread the situation? I looked for clues in the list of favorite movies... Mama Mia AND wedding crashers... Damn. Mixed signals. Finally I just im'd him... 'Are you gay?' because I thought I sensed that. He explained that he wasn't out to all his facebook friends so he didn't have that information on his profile.

I asked him if he eaten. He said no, so we met at a local diner for brunch. He told me he was business partners with his two brothers and one is a conservative religious guy and he couldn't alienate that brother right now because he was depending on that money to make it through grad school.

He's adorable and smart. I have to get to know him better. He's my little Closet Cub.

Bush Administration Insider knocked off

A story is making the rounds about a bush administration insider who was hosting the data for the 2000 and 2004 election while at the same time maintaining close ties to republican insiders and data from the elections that was hosted on a shared sever with party sites. You think to yourself... they wouldn't steal the election, would they? They wouldn't actually tamper with data from an election source...???

Well, put that together with what we know about diebold voting machine's security issues. Mix in what I know about administering a shared server and, at the least, you have a situation where the data on that server cannot be trusted to be accurate.

Social Networking

So i'm doing a lot with twitter/facebook/linkedIn and working with their PHP tools to make connections between websites. It's going to be interesting to see the type of applications that develop over the next year or so based on previously closed social networks opening themselves to developers and providing connections between the various services. There are many that are simultaneously competitive and complimentary. For example, LinkedIn and Facebook. LinkedIn is primarily business focused where Facebook is primarily personal. It makes sense for them to open themselves to connections linking your business life with your personal life. Twitter's strength is immediacy. Linking the three profiles on the three different services provides a unique synergy that neither of the three of them could achieve alone.

America is out of good ideas

In the first part of Tony Kushner's masterpiece "Angels in America", subtitled "Millennium Approaches", the world is running down, everything is becoming empty and man as a creation is out of creative ideas. I feel that acutely now. With so many corporate failures and so many companies on the verge of bankruptcy asking for governmental handouts, it seems the baby boomers leading American companies have led us to our doom. We are an empty cistern of ideals. With no imagination we are trustifarians living on a credit card tied to the hard work and accomplishments of our forefathers.

I believe in rain. I believe in renewal. There's always a second act.... a Part II. Perestroika ... the new openness... is coming. We shall be renewed. Good ideas will come and we again will be led by a progressive leader.

I have to believe. Please don't let us down, President Obama.

The Bubble Project

The heart of the McCain/Palin Constituency

Polling: National Trend

McCain and the Keating Scandal

Pollster.com

DON'T VOTE

D

John Stewart on the Presidential Address

Wanda Sykes on Sarah Palin and Weed

Musical Intervention

a prayer for New Orleans

to the God who I believe created me
then you for your grace
thank you for peace
thank you for rain
but I pray for New Orleans
I pray that lessons were learned
that this time people will leave
that the leaders will be wiser
that the indigent will be cared for
that lessons will be learned
that people will leave
that squall lines will move quickly
and that people won't die

amen.

Sent from my iPhone

Awareness Test

what "wrong message"?

And the money quote.... "The law is supposed to discriminate sometimes."

angry

I'm angry at you billy rothstein. The way you left us was inexcusable and I will never forgive you.