Presented without comment
Opposite marriage…and beyond
Braak explains opposite marriage and so, so much more:
Fortunately, because I am a fiend for nomenclature, and because I KNOW ALL THAT IS, I have it within my power to elucidate this issue for you all, as well as to inform you about the many and varied other forms of marriage possible in this world, and in geometrically-dissimilar parallel worlds.
I shall do this.
At once.
I am now dumber, but happier.
Damn straight.
Obviously, this blog has been neglected for a few days now. HEY, I AM BUSY. But this post from Andrew Sullivan demands attention, and reblogging almost in full:
If I had one belief in politics, it would be that the freedoms secured by the modern West are worth fighting for. Absolutely central to those freedoms is barring the executive branch from torturing people. No power is more fatal to freedom and the rule of law than torture. It is like Tolkien’s ring: no society remains free, if its rulers use it. Its power is banned because it is a solvent to the rule of law, the establishment of truth, and the limits of government. For an administration to secretly and illegally unleash this weapon - against citizens and non-citizens alike - and to demand that it not be subsequently called to account, that it be allowed to get away with it under some absurd notion that it’s too divisive to hold war criminals accountable for their crimes is and was an outrage. Punishing those responsible for war crimes is not “scapegoating”. You know what scapegoating is? It’s throwing Lynndie England in jail for following orders given by George W. Bush, while leaving him to the luxury of a Texan suburb.
The precedent of a torturing American president must be reversed. That means it cannot be allowed to stand.
There is no way the American experiment can continue while legal and historical precedent gives the president the inherent authority to torture. It is the undoing of the core idea of the founding - protection against arbitrary, lawless, cruel and despotic rule. And the impact on the entire world of America allowing this to stand would be profound. The world looks here for moral leadership. Those who endure real political oppression, imprisonment, torture and abuse at the hands of despots look to America for leadership, for guidance, for hope. If America - America - discovers that its own president has illegally tortured and decides that it simply won’t do anything about it, that it doesn’t matter, that it’s too polarizing to restore the rule of law … then what hope do those people have? To whom will they look when they fight far more pervasive tyranny, buttressed by the same absolute power to coerce the truth and break the human soul?
We don’t want vengeance. We want America back. And we are going to fight on and on until we get it back.
That says it all, and says it just about perfectly.
Catching Up , The Day in Review, The Weekend in Review
The race. And the zoo. And family. And new shoes.
Irony: I started writing these Day in Review posts in part because I wanted to start keeping a record of Important Events in my life. But when those events actually happen, I find—quite naturally, I think—that I have less time and energy for blogging about them. Anyway…
First off, as noted earlier, I must modestly confess that I rocked that 5K. I should note that one of my friends, Francis, started running last year, after about as long a hiatus as I’ve taken, and has been good-naturedly taunting me since, in the hope that I would do exactly what I ended up doing: get off my ass and train for a race.
Wha?
Sometimes Andrew Sullivan’s posts are weird. Like this one, because the story he links to is barely about the decline of MySpace at all. And because the reason MySpace is dying is mostly that it looks ugly and sometimes asks you to log in three or four times in one session. It’s just not very good.
