Posts tagged “politics”

Today I became an American citizen. I came partly for safety -- Trump's Muslim Ban terrified green card holders like me -- but also because after 11 years, America has seeped into me. Despite its very real flaws, I'm fundamentally optimistic about this country's future. And wanting to help fix it? That's pretty American.

Trinidad and Tobago's anti-gay laws are why I can't live in the country I was born in. Jason Jones is taking the T&T government to court to overturn them, and he needs your help. Please donate to his campaign. I'll be matching donations on Twitter.

I lay out my theory for defeating Trump: make him look corrupt, establishment, and above all, weak. His base elected a strongman who promised to fix everything, so amplifying his failures is key. Peel off his inner circle, obstruct from within, and starve his surrogates of airtime.

Brendan Eich was wrong to donate to Prop 8, Mozilla's board was wrong to appoint him CEO, and the resulting mob rule was fine by me. We're still losing the broader culture war, so I'll take any wins I can get. Our freedom to be ourselves matters more than your comfort with that.

I'm a gay Caribbean man responding point-by-point to a homophobic newspaper column. The author's claims about homosexuality being abnormal, his grotesque medical misinformation about anal sex causing incontinence, and his dangerous lies about AIDS transmission all deserve correction. I correct each factually, firmly, and with occasional dry humor.

I defended PRISM on Twitter and caused a shitstorm. My position: surveillance isn't inherently abusive, the government has been doing this for a decade without evidence of misuse, and the real outrage should be Bradley Manning's treatment. If they can read our emails, we should be able to read their cables.

A quick tour through decades of US government surveillance programs, from COINTELPRO's mail-opening in the 50s through Carnivore, ECHELON, Room 641A, DCSNet, and now PRISM. The names change, the methods evolve, but the core activity stays the same. PRISM shouldn't surprise anyone paying attention.

I just got my green card after a six-year wait, so I've been thinking hard about why Americans should support immigration reform. The short answer: immigration is basic economics. It creates wealth for everyone, keeps goods affordable, and immigrants only come when jobs exist. Love your country? Make immigration easier.

I'm obsessed with the 2012 presidential election. Ignore national polls and focus on the electoral college. Virginia, Ohio, North Carolina, and Florida are the key battleground states. Also watch Obama's job approval, and both candidates' favorability ratings. Romney's currently negative favorability is bad news for his campaign.

I constructed a hypothetical dialogue with Rick Santorum using his actual public statements, walking through his positions on gay marriage. His arguments ultimately contradict themselves: he claims to support equality while opposing gay sex, civil unions, and any legal recognition of same-sex relationships.

I support Wikileaks, though quietly, out of genuine fear of reprisal. That fear itself is damning. The cables and war diaries served real public interest, were handled responsibly, and the US government's heavy-handed response has done far more damage to America's reputation than the leaks themselves ever could.

A Vermont mother wrote a brilliant letter defending her gay son. The standout line: "If you want to tout your own morality, you'd best come up with something more substantive than your heterosexuality. You did nothing to earn it; it was given to you." I want it everywhere.

Three years after first hearing Obama promise universal healthcare in Oakland, I watched him deliver on that promise. Not perfect, not fully universal, but the biggest healthcare reform in a generation. The optimism I felt that day in 2007 was justified.

Corporations aren't people. They don't breathe, they don't care about our health or happiness, and they serve no interests but their own. The Supreme Court's decision to grant them free speech rights in political advertising is a threat to democracy itself. We need to reverse this, now.

Immigration is an economic force that moves labor from high supply to low demand areas, creating global prosperity. The fear that immigrants will cut your salary by 5% ignores the far greater gains from immigration-fueled growth. America's restrictive policies are self-defeating, economically and morally.

I don't like 4chan, but AT&T has no right to censor it. Starting with a cesspool is shrewd -- it won't find many defenders -- but this is an opening shot in the network neutrality war. AT&T is a pipe. It should act like one, or face my lost business and a lawsuit.

Six months in, and the gay community is understandably frustrated with Obama. The DOMA brief was genuinely troubling, but his Stonewall speech clarified his position: DADT and DOMA are on the list, just not at the top. Fix the economy and healthcare first. Then our turn.

I grew up in an oil-producing nation where we've "had 30 years of oil left" my entire life. Production tracks prices, not depletion. Proven reserves have risen for a decade. We have plenty of time to transition away from oil -- the apocalyptic countdown clocks are nonsense.

Mirroring my friend Wilfried's transcribed phone call with his uncle in Tehran, who describes a stolen election, nightly protests, army violence, and a people committed to nonviolent revolution. His uncle's message to Americans: don't judge Iranians as terrorists. They want democracy, peace, and good relations with the world.

The California Supreme Court upheld Prop 8, letting a voting majority strip away my civil rights. So fuck you, California voters. The rest of the country is moving on without you, and soon you'll just look like hateful throwbacks alongside Mississippi.

I went to the inaugural concert and was completely blown away. Tuesday's inauguration will draw more people to the Mall than live in my entire home country.

A video of the Presidential inauguration, though likely US-only due to streaming restrictions.

Michelle Obama makes Beyoncé look like an amateur. (The New York Times eventually caught on, naturally.)

2008 was dominated by Obama's election and the fight against Prop 8, with some tech commentary on Chrome, Android, Twitter, and the future of the web mixed in. Also: the global financial system collapsed, Sarah Palin imploded, and HTTP conversation codes became a surprise hit.

I support net neutrality. Letting ISPs charge content providers for faster delivery creates perverse incentives: they'll deliberately degrade default service to extract payment. This stifles competition, entrenches incumbents, and could put the US at a further disadvantage in broadband access. The internet is infrastructure, like roads, not a postal service.

A video (probably fabulous) plus a chat with isaac about Obama being a giant nerd, Spider-Man being the geek's superhero, and X-Men being a pretty much perfect analogy for gay people. Powers manifesting at puberty, some hidden, some flaming. It tracks.

I'm passionately against Prop 8, but we lost a fair election. Protesting or pursuing legal challenges feels undemocratic and counterproductive. The real problem is older voters, and they're dying. We should put marriage equality back on the ballot in 2010. We will win eventually.

I outline my wish list for Obama's national CTO: mandate that government IT actually improve efficiency, require open APIs so agencies can share data without redundant collection, move all paperwork online with real digital capture, and consolidate physical offices into universal "Department of Getting Stuff Done" service centers.

Two recent Republican incidents have me baffled: one claiming Bush was remarkably gaffe-free, another comparing Obama's civilian corps proposal to Hitler. The GOP crazies aren't fringe voices, they're running the show. Good luck with that bipartisan unity thing, Barack.

Yes. Oh hell yes.

Vote.

My friend Ed and I can't figure out why Mormons donated a billion dollars to fight gay marriage. I live in SF and see guys kiss maybe twice a year. If you find it icky, stay in Utah. Expecting rational thought from the religious is itself irrational.

The Bradley Effect is a myth. In 2006 it was undetectable, black candidates actually outperformed their polls, and even at its worst it only created a 3% gap. McCain would need a 6.5% swing. Stop worrying, and go vote.

I'm urging Californians to vote no on Proposition 8, which would eliminate same-sex marriage rights. Arguments against gay marriage don't hold up: marriage grants legal rights to people of all faiths. Voting yes is like supporting interracial marriage bans. Please vote no, or donate to the campaign.

I subscribe to AFA newsletters for the laughs, but today's message from Donald Wildmon is genuinely alarming. He's claiming this election will permanently destroy America's Christian foundation, eliminate religious freedoms, and pass the entire "homosexual agenda." The panic is palpable. Register to vote. Defeat Prop 8.

Mattress sales are booming while everything else looks pretty fucked. That's the economy right now.

I've got this.

Couldn't easily find the 2008 presidential debate schedule, so I'm posting it here for my own reference: three presidential debates in September and October, plus one VP debate on October 2nd moderated by Gwen Ifill.

Being gay means even mundane purchases like buying beer require researching whether the company is funding anti-gay causes. Straight people just don't have to think about this stuff.

84,000 people showed up. That's not just a rally, that's a movement.

Built and launched a website in 32 minutes, from idea to live. Bonus SEO tip: link to your new site from a high-PageRank domain using keyword-rich anchor text. Like I'm doing right now.

My friend Laurie cuts through the Russia-Georgia conflict with brutal efficiency: war with Russia never ends well, nobody has two decades to waste, and clearly we should all just gang up on China instead.

News outlets are falling over themselves to publish the most presidential-looking Obama photos they can find.

Despite ongoing global disasters, this week had bright spots: gay marriage became legal in California, Edwards endorsed Obama, Republicans lost another special election, and best of all, I helped register a man who hadn't voted in 15 years because someone lied to him about his rights after prison.

I support Obama over Hillary for reasons of character, competence, and vision. He's optimistic where she's divisive, forward-looking where she's dated, and principled where she's expedient. His campaign has been better run, his policies more sophisticated, and his conduct more dignified. He makes me believe American politics can be real again.

The Economist compares Hillary's campaign to a cartoon character who's run off a cliff but hasn't looked down yet. Brutal.

The math is undeniable: Hillary needs 84% of remaining delegates to catch up. After Obama's 14-point blowout in NC and her razor-thin Indiana win, it's time for her to concede. I'm hoping her cancelled appearances tomorrow are a sign.

London elected Boris Johnson as mayor while I was away. Mildly horrified, though it does mean fewer Schwarzenegger comparisons. At least Arnie ran a successful business.

Obama gets technology in ways Hillary simply doesn't. His policies on net neutrality, privacy, open government and appointing a national CTO show real understanding of how deeply IT shapes our economy. Any candidate ignoring technology in 2008 isn't ready to lead through 2016.

Florida wants to fine people for hanging fake bull testicles from their trucks. I'm not sure what's more depressing: that this is popular, that someone was offended, or that lawmakers think banning offensive things is acceptable governance.

Tonight's ABC debate was a disaster. Nearly every major issue facing America went unaddressed while moderators obsessed over flag pins, bitter-gate, and Obama's former preacher. Nakedly pro-Hillary and substance-free, it was terrible even by the embarrassingly low standard of American political debates.

The Olympic torch controversy is messy but meaningful. China's willingness to engage with the world stage, despite the protests it invites, reflects an internal struggle between openness and the status quo. Let the protests happen, let the Olympics proceed. We have to start learning to coexist somewhere.

Here are the remaining Democratic primary dates, from Pennsylvania on April 22nd through Montana and South Dakota on June 3rd. Obama's too far ahead to lose, but millions of Democrats still get to vote.

Marc Andreessen spent 90 minutes with Obama and wrote something you need to read. Obama is post-boomer, post-culture-war, and thinking about the world as it actually is today. Marc thinks he's one of the smartest people in political life. So do I. Read it.

Watched the Democratic debate tonight. A tie benefits Obama since the choice becomes about leadership and charisma, where he wins. Hillary's closing showed hints she knows she's losing. Her "Xerox" joke bombed, and her heartfelt closing turned out to be plagiarized. I hope Obama picks her as VP.

Obama's taken the delegate lead, my eyes are killing me from screen strain, and work was awful. But karaoke at Jason's birthday party helped on all fronts: great people, great laughs, and six feet of screen distance giving my poor eyes a break.

Super Tuesday is behind us. Obama won more states and delegates, tied the popular vote, and cut Clinton's lead to under 100 delegates. For a challenger, that's a win. Momentum is ours. Many states still to come, and we're ready.

I spent months as an Obama precinct captain in San Francisco, making hundreds of awkward phone calls, knocking on doors, climbing impossible hills, and handing out flyers at BART stations. I can't vote myself, but I did my part. Now it's your turn.

Vote Obama, not Clinton. Four reasons: no dynasty politics, anyone can be president, he unifies instead of polarizes, and he inspires rather than lectures.

As an Edwards supporter, you backed a candidate who made poverty and healthcare real issues. Now I'm asking you to support Obama. He's not perfect, and he's not Edwards, but he genuinely wants to change this country for the better. That's not a slogan. He's the real deal.

Obama crushed it in South Carolina by 29 points. If you're not on board at this point, I'm not sure what to tell you.

A reference list of 2008 US presidential primary dates and results, updated as they happen.

Obama gets the internet not just as a technology or industry, but as a fundamental organizing principle of politics and culture, like the printing press before it. His telecom policies reflect that understanding. Hillary's stance on video game violence tells me she doesn't get it at all.

The US barely notices treason accusations while the UK nearly topples a government over accidentally lost CDs. Surely there's a middle ground somewhere between these two extremes of scandal reaction.

Burma's crackdown on protesters has turned deadly serious. I initially posted about, uh, the photogenic monks involved, but now that people are actually getting hurt, I feel a bit shallow. Sorry, Burma.

I'm subscribed to the AFA newsletter for laughs, and they deliver. They're claiming their boycott is tanking Ford's sales, ignoring that Ford has been declining for a decade. Better yet, gay people not buying Fords apparently proves gay disloyalty rather than the absence of any agenda.

The American Family Association, those charming right-wing loons who fill my inbox with weekly entertainment, have outdone themselves by condemning a Hindu Senate prayer. Apparently Hinduism hasn't "produced great things in the world." They just dismissed the oldest major religion in a single sentence. Stunning.

I went to see Obama speak in Oakland today. He's as charismatic as advertised, but I came to hear policy specifics. I got some: universal healthcare by end of his first term, carbon caps, troop withdrawal by the election. Light on details, heavy on hope. I'm impressed, and I can't even vote.

Here every creed and race Find an equal place and may God bless our nation (from The Trinidadian National Anthem) The Archdeacon of Tobago doesn't want Elton John to perform at the Plymouth* Jazz festival. Because he's not a jazz singer? No, because he's gay. And because Trinidad and Tobago is not so great at keeping its laws up to date and has altogether too many religions, there are still laws on the books against sodomy: passed as recently as 1986, the law provides for up to 10 years in prison for homosexual acts between consenting adults (but if you are a minor, and you commit the act, it's only five years... how lenient!). There's also another, much older law which prevents "self-confessed prostitutes and homosexuals" from entering the country, but I cannot find any record of it online. It doesn't look like this will really happen, of course. Gay rights has come a long way in Trinidad in recent years. But this kind of story just makes me want to weep for my stupid,...

I jinxed it. James Brown, Gerald Ford, and Saddam Hussein all died while I was away, plus Saddam's execution was a rushed mess. And it's only 11am on New Year's Eve.

I can't give blood in the UK because I'm a gay man who's had sex. The National Blood Service calls it "behaviour based" policy, but that's just weasel words for discrimination. Sign the petition to overturn this ridiculous ban.

Hell yes. Democrats take the House AND the Senate, and Rumsfeld finally gets the boot. Best day in politics in a long time.

The DVD industry's CSS encryption failed because they had to give users the tools to decrypt it. Airline security has the same flaw: publishing the rules tells attackers exactly what to work around. Security theater with a known ruleset is just a temporary inconvenience for a determined adversary.

Taking a break from heavy topics to share the cutest couple alive, cuter than pandas holding hat-wearing kittens. Also: is Blair done? My sources say he'll last through the party conference, but I'm not so sure he makes it to October.

I'm not advocating mandatory parental licensing, but we should be teaching parents how to parent. Research shows parenting styles meaningfully predict children's educational success. We already offer financial support to disadvantaged kids; teaching parents evidence-based parenting skills is another tool worth using. The question is how.

Blair wants to identify troublemakers before birth. Surely no one's ever explored where that road leads.

A foiled plot to blow up transatlantic flights dominates the news, but deprived of actual carnage, media scramble for content. Meanwhile, 24 young British Muslims are arrested, and nobody should be surprised. We've done nothing to address the genuine grievances driving this radicalization.

Both sides in the Israel/Hezbollah conflict are morally reprehensible. Israel's intention to avoid civilian casualties doesn't excuse the overwhelming disparity in deaths. Knowingly killing civilians to achieve your goals is a war crime regardless of provocation. Someone needs to separate these fuckers, and fast.

Castro's ailing, his 75-year-old brother Raul is running things, and everyone wants to know what happens next. No US invasion, no sudden opposition triumph. My bet: a USSR-style gradual loosening, then a tipping point. Cuba could be a real Caribbean power, but will probably just become another US satellite.

I give up on this shit.

I dissect a passionate anti-Tesco rant point by point, revealing how each complaint about the supermarket giant is really just globalization working as intended: bigger stores, cheaper food, greater access, fewer arbitrary national boundaries. The real villain here is nostalgia, not progress.

We and al-Qaeda have found common ground: neither of us believes in transparency. The White House actually argued we can't discuss rights violations because it would help terrorists. That's a reason to *stop* violating rights, not to hide it. Can 2008 get here already?

A Christian college receiving $10 million in state funding expelled an honor roll student simply for being gay. This is textbook discrimination, and exactly why church and state must stay separate. Spread this story.

BBC answers Bob's bird question: don't touch dead birds, and only call the Defra helpline under specific circumstances. Turns out Bob did the right thing with his single dead bird. The advice has some ambiguity, but it's good enough for non-grammar nerds.

V for Vendetta earns its title: the word "vindicated" captures everything this film attempts. It's an American movie disguised as English, a live-action comic book unashamed of its stylisation, and ultimately a moral argument about freedom, justice, and whether a terrorist's revenge can ever truly be justified.

Saw Syriana, good but no Munich. Also: 959 days until 2008, and the Democratic field is already depressingly weak. Gore and Kerry again? While Republicans have Giuliani and McCain? At least a Clinton-Rice race means a female president, even if she'll be stupid and corrupt or smart and evil.

Holocaust denial laws are misguided. Jailing David Irving for 17-year-old statements he already retracted highlights the absurdity: we're criminalizing specific speech rather than racism itself. You can't selectively ban one form of hate speech without appearing hypocritical, especially given our defense of the Muhammad cartoons as free expression.

Smoke-free clubbing is coming and I'm thrilled, even though it's nanny-state overreach and I'm a hypocrite. Also I didn't actually read the article properly -- the ban isn't until summer 2007.

Cheney shot a guy and tried to cover it up, and it's barely news here. In the UK this would end a career instantly. The United States is fucking crazy.

Saw Munich. Brilliantly acted and directed, but deeply dishonest. It dresses up as thoughtful commentary on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict while glorifying Israeli vengeance. The Palestinian deaths get one throwaway line; the Israeli deaths get graphic detail. The real message: don't mess with the Jews. Horrible film, brilliantly executed.

The BBC's photo editors couldn't resist choosing the most villainous possible shot of Abu Hamza for his trial coverage. The man already has one eye and hooks for hands. How much more sinister do you need to make him look?

The cartoon controversy is muddled because both sides are partly right. The first cartoon is genuine hate speech; the rest are legitimate commentary. Meanwhile, we condemn their treatment of gay people while they condemn our blasphemy, each convinced the other is crazy. And neuroscience suggests neither side can really help it.

New Woman readers have ranked David Cameron just above James Blunt on the sexy list. Blair's probably annoyed, but spare a thought for numbers 93-99, beaten by a podgy-faced Tory. Worryingly, his policies almost make sense too.

I wrote to the Western Mail to protest Lowri Turner's column arguing gay men are unqualified to lead because they can't have children. Her logic is spurious, her stereotypes offensive, and her claim that "different from the norm" disqualifies anyone from office is dangerous nonsense.

Not good. Sharon has had a major stroke. This is really bad news.

Responding to comments on my defense of selfishness: I support free speech and personal choice, but not your right to harm others. Secondhand smoke crosses that line. America isn't monolithic. And yes, a smoking ban might cut union services, but fewer carcinogens is a net win.

Warwick students voted to ban smoking in their union. Selfish? Sure, but so is forcing non-smokers to breathe your fumes. Democracy runs on selfishness. Hurrah for the smoke-free majority. We non-smokers just need to wait for our numbers to grow -- which won't take long.

The BBC keeps using the same stock photo in their extended opening hours coverage. Pretty sure it's actually Jennifer Aniston drowning her post-Brad sorrows. Does the BBC really need to rub it in?

I updated my voter registration online via an amusingly dodgy council website, only to be thanked not for completing the form, but for "using the Internet" in general. You're welcome, Islington. We'll keep using it.

The BBC used a gross photo to illustrate plans to ban drinking on trains. I'm all for the ban. Also, Bacardi won't be happy. I may need a new category just for complaining about other outlets' photo choices.

George Takei came out today. CNN marked the occasion with the gayest photo they could find. Also worth knowing: he spent ages 4-8 in a Japanese internment camp. America, you've had your moments.

Rumors are swirling that Cheney could face indictment in Plamegate and resign. It's on the internet, so it must be true. A good day for good news.

Trinidad's PM Manning claims to know who's behind four bombings but admits he has no courtroom-worthy evidence. That's not knowing anything. Don't grandstand about "Mr Big" when you can't back it up. Embarrassing.

For a brief moment during Katrina, American media actually did its job. Now CNN is running feel-good stories about white survivors while thousands of poor black people are dead. New Orleans is 63% black. The media's return to form makes me sick.

The US healthcare system is broken and inefficient, but the "Americans have no healthcare" argument is oversimplified. The US spends more on healthcare as a percentage of GDP than almost any other nation, and extensive programs cover the elderly, poor, and veterans. The reality is more nuanced than the critics suggest.

The Republican party is run by jocks. Bush, Rumsfeld, Rice, Hastert -- all serious athletes. This isn't coincidence; it's culture. Jocks get their way by force, distrust intelligence and analysis, and bully those who disagree. Sound familiar? Geeks of the world, unite. We need to take our country back.

Scientology isn't uniquely corrupt. Christianity, Islam, and Scientology are the same animal at different life stages. Religion is a strong, viral, self-defending idea, but strong doesn't mean good. I'm done apologizing for rationalism. I think religion is actively harmful, personally and socially, even if I won't hassle you about it.

Ken's new One London campaign has a great website and they actually encourage you to steal their logo. Love it.

I catalogued every time Bush shoehorned "hate freedom" into an unrelated speech. Home ownership, cattle farming, senior fitness, Labor Day, Greek Independence. He managed it every single time. The man cannot open his mouth without pivoting to terrorism, no matter how tortured the logic required.

Angry, not scared, after today's failed London bombing attempts. They were amateurs compared to last time, but they still had a plan and still panicked the city. My tube link to London is down again. Retreating into Harry Potter, where the villains are clear and defeat is guaranteed.

Some bombings get names and others don't. The Baghdad attack killed twice as many people as London, but you wouldn't know it from the coverage.

After July 7th, I emailed my former Muslim coworker M to get an unfiltered view on British Muslim anger. He confirmed many are furious, but condemned the bombings as un-Islamic. His ranked grievances: Palestine, Kashmir, Iraq, Bosnia, and Western hypocrisy. This isn't hatred of freedom. It's anger at specific things we did.

Impromptu barbecues that spiral from Big Brother gossip into hours of evolutionary theory, Geldof, and poverty debate are exactly what I need. More of this, please.

Jonathan Ross is being paid £45k to present a concert about ending poverty. Nuff said.

I'm sick of Bob Geldof's self-congratulatory crusade. Live 8 is just guilty liberals convincing themselves that watching Keane in a field somehow saves African lives. It doesn't. If you actually care, do something real. The wristbands and the concert are just ego and nonsense.

Bluewater's hoodie ban is a lazy, blunt instrument that will catch chemo patients and cold-eared tourists alongside actual troublemakers. Give security staff the discretion to make real judgements. Zero-tolerance policies are an abdication of responsibility, not a solution.

Watching the election circus from 6,000 miles away in Bequia. Distance makes the pettiness even clearer.

Just back from the amazing Grenadines, full report coming. Also: the new Pope looks genuinely evil. Emperor Palpatine levels of evil. Lightning bolts from the fingers, people who use condoms, you know the drill.

The name Donald is pretty bad.

I break down the UK election issue by issue and tally up the results: Lib Dems and Labour tie, but with similar Europe positions, Lib Dem edges ahead. Conservatives surprisingly win on crime and war, but I'm voting yellow unless the Tories look like they might actually win.

Labour -14 Conservative -18 Liberal Democrat 30 UK Independence Party 3 Green 18You should vote: Liberal DemocratThe LibDems take a strong stand against tax cuts and a strong one in favour of public services: they would make long-term residential care for the elderly free across the UK, and scrap university tuition fees. They are in favour of a ban on smoking in public places, but would relax laws on cannabis. They propose to change vehicle taxation to be based on usage rather than ownership.Quiz at Who Should You Vote For, via Dom, as usual.

Tory poster generator fun. And yes, I know the grammar's dodgy, but Labour get away with "Forward, not back" so let's not go there.

Pope John Paul II has died. Time for the media to treat the papal election like a presidential race. Also, happy birthday M!

The EU's anti-liberalisation argument contradicts itself: if jobs are fleeing east, why would workers flee west? They're going where the jobs are. Liberalise, jobs follow people home, problem solved. Unless welfare tourism is the real issue, which is fixable separately.

Too busy to write a full post, so here's a half-formed thought: "gay" is a hard-won identity, not just a sexual behavior. The NHS distinction between identity and practice is actually meaningful, and collapsing them risks erasing what generations fought to define.

Bush arrives in Belgium and somehow the photo looks fake, and Laura looks like she escaped from a Dracula film.

Rice's careful non-denial about attacking Iran tells the whole story. "Not on the agenda at this point" is diplomatic cover, not a denial. Given Bush's track record of doing the unthinkable, and Iran's role in funding the Iraqi insurgency, I'd bet we're attacking Iran within twelve months.

Had a wonderful day of wide-ranging conversation with an attractive American, covering everything from Heisenberg to Che Guevara coasters to the Iraq war, followed by a dinner party touching on blogging, valium, and FTP servers. Too tired to elaborate further.

Help me pick a blog title. Also, I took the political compass test: Economic Right 4.00, Social Libertarian -6.00. My rightward drift continues.

2004 in quizmeme format: I rediscovered hard work, got an iPod, started a job I actually like, and remained broke despite secret long-term investments. Bush got re-elected, Kerry didn't win, and I had almost no sex. Much happier than last year, slightly thinner.

The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake has killed 46,000 people and counting. That's 23 times the 9/11 death toll. We fuss over far smaller tragedies while the Earth casually erases entire communities. We are not lords of this planet. We are an irrelevant eyeblink between ice ages. Donate if you can.

Federally funded abstinence-only sex ed is teaching kids that touching genitals causes pregnancy and half of gay teens have HIV. My tax dollars are funding medieval gender roles dressed up as science. I am furious. You should be too.

Quick trivia: the three original estates were clergy, nobility, and commoners. The press became the fourth estate in 1837. I'd never heard any of these terms before, and now I'm sharing them with you, ironically helping to kill journalism in the process.

Remote-controlled internet hunting is idiotic. Hunting was always a thin justification for killing things, but at least it involved actually being there. Clicking a mouse to shoot a deer from your couch strips away every last pretense. If you can't afford the trip to Texas to kill things, maybe don't kill things.

Tanks apparently rolled into LA to intimidate anti-war protesters. The video looks real, sourced from IndyMedia via AlterNet. Protesters immediately struck Tiananmen Square poses, which is both funny and depressing. I'm skeptical but can't explain away the footage.

Ashcroft's resigned, but not before claiming he's "achieved the objective" of keeping America safe. Mission accomplished? We're in two wars! I'm just glad this lunatic is gone. Maybe he'll finally focus on his singing career.

Bush's reelection proves Americans, not just their renegade president, endorse his agenda. I can no longer pretend America is a friendly nation temporarily hijacked by the wrong leader. The world must stop waiting for Americans to come to their senses and start pushing back.

Welp. America reelected Bush and his gang of villains. I'm holding you to your promise to move to Canada.

Watching the 2004 election results at 3:30am with Bush ahead and the key states still undecided. Heading to bed, desperately hoping America gets it right this time. Canada's weather is a strong motivator.

Stumbled across Internet Veterans For Truth, a scrappy group of bloggers hosting clips everyone should see: Kerry on Vietnam, Bush dodging the 9-11 commission, Rice's damning testimony about that August 2001 PDB, and more. Worth your time.

I break down the Iraqi insurgency into three groups: local power-grabbers, Iranian-backed destabilizers, and largely mythical al-Qaeda fighters. The real danger is Iran exploiting instability to seize territory and oil influence. Withdrawal ultimately hurts Western interests more than staying hurts Iraqis.

Rumsfeld literally confused Saddam Hussein with Osama bin Laden. Twice. In 20 minutes. Maybe we didn't invade Afghanistan because these idiots couldn't find it on a map. The conspiracy theories were dumb, but at least they required basic competence to execute.

I support the Iraq war but still oppose Bush for plenty of other reasons: drilling in wildlife preserves, tax cuts for the rich while exploding the deficit, the PATRIOT Act's police-state overreach, blurring church and state on gay rights and abortion. Also, he's just a big dumb clumsy Texan.

The US Army's free recruiting video game is working: 30% of young people with favorable views of the military credit America's Army for shaping that opinion. Dear god.

Grade inflation is real and inevitable given the vicious cycle: examiners reduce syllabus to boost pass rates, so teachers teach less, so students learn less, requiring further reductions just to maintain results. Pass rates were never meant to rise indefinitely; they exist to indicate relative ability and enable selection.

Been busy with work and comics, so here are some links: evil giraffes, Cory Doctorow on DRM, a quiz about strong black women, a map of queer America, and the troubling anti-Muslim backlash following recent beheadings.

Despite 1000+ interviews and months of evidence, Bush and Cheney keep implying an Iraq/9-11 link the commission explicitly found no evidence for. Cheney even claims he "probably" knows things the commission doesn't. Why didn't he share it with them, then? I'm equal parts furious and terrified.

A scattered collection of links: Reagan trivia, Transformers motion capture, censored album art, Murphy's Laws, the new Superman, a blog-themed song parody, TiVo for radio, and more Reagan-adjacent oddities than you can shake a stick at.

Links worth your time: a hot guy, UK internet censorship that's making me furious, Sainsbury's scripted small talk, improving gay rights, armed Swiss men near the Pope, a gadget I covet, the war on terror meets DRM, terrifying butter dogs, and breakup stories that make me feel better about myself.

A roundup of random links: nuclear war statistics, another Microsoft obituary, Troy's cinematic merits despite historical liberties, the inevitable Chucky sequel, an 11-year-old fashion activist who can't spell, my worryingly high mobile phone addiction score, and some deeply silly internet ephemera.

A grab-bag of links: Jellyfish's albums deserve your attention, interview prep resources for the newly employed, BBC's useless press release rewrites, Bush's bald-head fetish and his trophy gun, American atrocities in Iraq, quiet planes, and inevitably, a clown named Spanky facing porn charges.

The Chalabi scandal keeps compounding: we paid millions to a convicted fraudster for false intel, invaded Iraq based on it, and possibly got played by Iran. Nobody's been fired. Never underestimate the Bush administration's capacity to make catastrophically bad situations dramatically worse.

Don't tell me we're "winning by numbers" in Iraq. With 25 million Iraqis, if even 1% want to fight us, that's 100,000 insurgents. We're killing 20 at a time. Do the math. Numbers are precisely the argument you don't want to make here.

A grab-bag of links: Jellyfish are a great band, Abu Ghraib reflects routine US prison abuse, Jon Stewart gave a funny commencement speech, and Smallville is getting good now that it's ditching freak-of-the-week for real Lex-vs-Clark conflict.

Rumsfeld's out. Good riddance.

If this story is accurate, the US is now keeping slaves in Iraq. Slaves. I'm done making jokes about this administration. Bush is closer to Hitler's wartime behavior than anyone in recent memory. This has to stop.

Clearing my backlog: Abu Ghraib torture outrages me, we should rent a castle in August, Mills and Boon manga exists, some guy bet his life savings on roulette and won, and yes, Wolf Blitzer's mother really does call him Wolf.

Took an Empire Records quiz (I'm Lucas, appropriately enough), got distracted by Moore's War President image, felt genuinely guilty about Iraq, and fell down a rabbit hole of random LiveJournal photos. The internet is vast, weird, and occasionally moving.

A massive backlog of links covering Rice's testimony fact-checks, movie trailers, gay rights, crime math, the Sheikh Yassin moral tangle, London's skyline, and a one-legged DDR player. Something for everyone.

Security contractor killed in Fallujah worked for a company called Custer Battles. You really can't make this stuff up.

The Bush administration is going after porn, which surprises no one who remembers Ashcroft covering naked statues. My response: enjoy this portrait of Ashcroft made from pornographic images. Also, Wonkette is great and the Republibloggers criticizing it for gay jokes really need to check their irony detectors.

Trying to parse the logic on targeted killings in the Middle East is making my head spin. Both sides are committing atrocities out of mutual terror, the security fence looks inadequate, and the only thing I'm sure of is that simple answers don't exist here.

Welcoming a new Warwick blogger and dumping a pile of links I've been hoarding: blog catfights, Bush's tasteless 9/11 ads, The Economist endorsing gay marriage, loaded survey questions, Al Sharpton's greatest hits, and DeviantART being gorgeous. The usual chaos.

Go read my thoughts on Bush's proposed constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, posted over at the gay geek site.

I took a quiz and apparently I'm an Intellectual. Which America-hating minority are you?

I suggested a balanced mix of news sources to a friend, from BBC to IndyMedia. Then he sent me a Fox News clip that made me realize they're even more unhinged than I'd thought. That anchor looks genuinely evil. Cheney's brother?

Support the BBC.

The Hutton report was a complete whitewash. Both sides clearly shared blame, yet the conclusions absolved the government entirely. The BBC lost two top executives over what amounts to a journalistic error, while the government faced zero consequences. This threatens BBC independence and leaves me furious.

Linking to a great piece about America's baffling assumption that everyone loves them. Not everyone wants to be American, not everyone agrees America is the best, and sometimes America gets things completely wrong. Apparently these are radical ideas.

Today's a great day: Massachusetts just struck a blow for marriage equality, and I'm done with euphemisms. He's my husband. Not my partner. My husband. Also, Henry VIII's church probably shouldn't lecture anyone about traditional marriage.

Bush may bring back the draft to staff an Iraq occupation that experts say could require up to 480,000 troops. Meanwhile, the government's insistence that the Constitution doesn't apply at Guantanamo has backfired, making it impossible to prosecute an accused spy for treason.

Tom Coates nails the Tories: aside from the odd Letwin horror show, the only press they get is from their regular attempts at televised suicide.

Responding to Bob's comments on censorship: we can't make value judgements about information because we lack the context to predict what will prove useful, or to whom, or when. The SARS cover-up illustrates my point perfectly. Allow free flow of information; punish misuse instead.

Arnold won! I'm stoked, though maybe I'll hold off on total cynicism -- the guy has a business degree and was a self-made millionaire at 22. Could be worse.

Three massive blackouts in quick succession across London, the US, and all of Italy. The Americans panicked, the British screamed, but the Italians? Apparently unfazed. Also, is this coincidence, infrastructure failure, or Al-Qaeda targeting power grids? I'm going with conspiracy theory.

Bloggers don't change lightbulbs, they link to discussions about it. Also, the Tories want to shut down the BBC website, which would be a disaster. The BBC provides something the market doesn't: impartial news. Thankfully, the Tories are completely unelectable anyway.

A grab-bag of links: Bush action figure, scary nuclear-isomer weapons, the Chewbacca defense, a serial killer vs. programmer quiz, and the Blaster worm, which hit me personally. At least the worm's source code had a funny message for Bill Gates.

I support civil unions over gay marriage. Marriage is a religious ceremony, like a bar mitzvah, and we shouldn't demand access to it. But the legal rights marriage provides? Those are a human rights issue. Separate the two, grant civil unions to all couples, and let churches sort out the rest.

Interactive cat toy alert! Also, Slate praises Tony Blair, which gets me thinking: Blair is way more beloved in the US while Clinton is more popular in the UK. Can we just trade?

Reading a critical article can get you FBI-investigated now. Plus, shredding documents is no longer safe thanks to reconstruction software. Glad I'm not in the States. Also, A Straight Person's Guide to Gay Etiquette is hilarious - go read it.

The casual way people reference physical torture as an interrogation tool is unsettling. "There are ways other than physical torture" implies it's the obvious fallback. That framing is deeply troubling.

We don't need government propaganda, we're deluded enough on our own. A third of Americans think we found WMDs in Iraq, 22% think Saddam used them during the war, and before the invasion, half believed Iraqis were among the 9/11 hijackers. None of this is true.

Massive link dump covering: someone falling off a Segway, the UK's new supreme court, old Netscape versions, Burning Man VR, Matrix Reloaded hotness, barcode self-valuation (I'm worth £6.06), P2P legality, carfree cities, blog hype, X2, Iraq war stage-management, and lists of lists.

Four exams down, one easy French one to go. I'm back, redesigning the site and dumping my massive backlog of links on you, 10 a day. Job hunting too. Hundreds more links where these came from.

Linking to some good Iraqi Information Minister humor (still funny, always will be), plus thoughts on SARS panic outpacing the actual disease. That 5% death rate isn't reassuring when you think about it statistically. Staying scared for now.

The Rockall Times piece reads like satire, but the underlying reality it's describing is all too real.

Thomas Friedman declared the "terrorism bubble" burst because Iraq fell. But hey, the terrorists weren't Iraqi, their money wasn't Iraqi, and bin Laden sure as hell isn't Iraqi. If anything, we just gave the Middle East more reasons to hate us. Friedman is an idiot.

I debate Ben about Iraq: the war was the right thing to do even if Bush's motives were self-serving. The UN is toothless, European opposition was self-interested, and Iraqis couldn't free themselves. I'd love a world government, but until then, at least our empire isn't genocidal.

Stop sending me the Baghdad Bob link! Fine, here it is. Also: a Honda ad that took 606 takes, a chimp using a vending machine, Syria apparently being next on Dubya's list, and assorted other internet flotsam I've been collecting.

G Takahashi's weblog has great war coverage, including a soldier's email home that vividly captures life in combat. Written March 29th, the soldier mentions "upcoming weeks" ahead, proving the media's quick-victory narrative was nonsense. Also fascinating: how the internet and Al-Jazeera have dethroned CNN as the war's trusted voice.

I support removing Saddam but question why we only target certain undemocratic leaders. Some Americans get the real story, others are hopelessly clueless. Also, try Googling "the worst search engine" for a laugh.

Slate reminds us why Rumsfeld has no business lecturing anyone on the Geneva Conventions. Did they really think we'd forgotten about Camp X-Ray?

Consumed by war coverage, I've rounded up a grab-bag of links: a Baghdad blog gone silent, Robin Cook's resignation speech, anti-French hysteria, ready.gov parodies, propaganda name generators, BBC's free video feeds, and the CIA's hilariously absurd kids' homepage.

Massive link dump covering everything from RSS search engines and Google's brand anxiety to sea lion soldiers, Shar-Peis, ties as sexist oppression, and Terminator 3. Consider it a window into my chaotic, easily distracted brain. You're welcome, you link-hungry fiends.

On the eve of the Iraq war, I'm laying out my thinking: yes, it's being fought for money and oil, not principles. But removing Saddam is still probably the right call, for the same reason stopping Hitler early would have been. Right thing, wrong reasons. God bless democracy.

We're going to war. Like it or not, apparently.

Moz plugged Gay Geeks, so I'm returning the favor by pointing to his new site, Meaningless Artichoke. Also: Congress renamed french fries "freedom fries," which is either hilarious or terrifying. At least we haven't declared actual war on France. Yet.

I'm ambivalent but increasingly convinced we should attack Iraq now, before Saddam gets nukes. It's not about the reasons Bush gives (oil), and yes, innocents will die, but stopping a greater evil before it's inevitable seems worth it. I just hope Iraq can govern itself afterward.

The US declared it doesn't need permission to act on security. The UN and NATO disbanded, citing irrelevance. Also, read the Borowitz Report. He's a self-satisfied dickhead, but worth it.

USA Today has tips for Americans abroad to avoid anti-American sentiment. Shocking revelation: don't be loud, flag-wearing, fast-food-eating tourists. Was this not obvious? This advice applies to everyone, always. Also, 54% of Americans still think the world likes them. It doesn't. Even Canadians are winning now.

A grab-bag of links: the Atkins controversy (spoiler: Americans just eat too much), a political compass test that confirmed my lib-dem leanings, Fred Durst's questionable Britney claims, my finished AI essay, and a new OLED camera that oddly connects back to my very first blog post.

Antiwar art is flourishing. Check out a satirical Blair/Bush lip-sync video and a mind-reading Flash toy, plus my favorite image making the rounds.

Living outside the US, I rely on friends like Ed to remind me how absurd American domestic security theater has gotten. Nationwide terror levels, duct tape against chemical weapons, and delivery guys worrying about terrorism in suburban Michigan. You can't make this stuff up.

If the US has evidence Iraq is hiding WMDs, just give it to Blix. Convince him, get your material breach, then bomb away. Otherwise, shut up. Why is this hard?

A US Congressman's anti-France rant on Radio 4 is the most gloriously offensive thing I've ever heard. The surrender joke at 5:40 is pure gold. Also, go send someone an anti-valentine.

A parody song to the tune of "If You're Happy And You Know It," skewering every hollow justification for invading Iraq. Thanks to Beardy Ben for passing it along. It's darkly funny because it's basically true.

Catching up on a backlog of links: cloning circuses, botox deodorant, dumb food laws, Putin-elf controversies, Harry Potter's questionable morals, AOL's staggering losses, and Bush funding a sun on Earth. Plus games, books, and a testicle shortage. You're welcome.

A British think-tank wants to give children the vote to counter the outsized electoral influence of elderly voters. Lowering the voting age to 14 sounds reasonable, but parents voting on behalf of infants? Not so sure about that part.

I predicted the Economist's position on Britain's child pornography laws before they published it. Smug? Maybe. But the issue matters: criminalizing computer-generated images punishes thought, not action, and statistics suggesting pornography availability correlates with declining abuse rates raise questions worth taking seriously.

Elliot Spitzer gave a speech to stock analysts that said everything dot-com crash victims have been dying to scream at them for years. Deliberately offensive, ruthlessly direct, and full of damning details about analyst corruption. Read it.

Posting from Trinidad with a few links worth sharing: a C/C++ garbage collector, Get Your War On skewering war criminals in the Bush administration, 419 scammer baiters, a friend making notable Trinidadian lists, and reindeer spontaneously combusting before kindergartners. Holiday cheer!

Britain's response to a bus hitting a tree? Cut down the trees, naturally. Also, someone is exploring quantum mechanics through the medium of sheep.

I almost respected Bush today. His administration, run by far cleverer people, has handled Al-Qaeda and Iraq surprisingly well. Still, Venezuela, Rumsfeld, and Ashcroft temper my praise. Credit where it's due, but let's not get carried away.

Only 13% of young Americans can find Iraq on a map. More startlingly, 11% can't find the US either. Also: public autopsies, airplane homes, the end of antibiotics, and I really need to stop playing the Sims. Smallville is terrible but I can't stop watching it.

Bin Laden's crew notes the irony of Bush and Sharon being called men of peace. Hard to argue with that logic.

Melton has the world sorted, and Bush supporters are staying visible post-election. Also, here's an Enigma-encoded message for you to crack: settings AAA, M1322 group 4, Naval M3, wheels 3,2,1. Get googling.

The Queen shed a tear and Britain lost its mind analyzing why. Maybe something was in her eye. Maybe a corgi died. Lighten up, people. Also, unilateral aggression breeds terrorism. Just saying.

The UN Security Council voted unanimously for the Iraq resolution, prompting a Clinton NSC member to warn that there are "no checks and balances on President Bush." The irony of foreign autocracies positioning themselves as defenders of democratic restraint is apparently lost on everyone involved.

Two things: Sharon's already talking about attacking Iran before Iraq's even started, which seems premature. Also, Pamela Anderson has a new video you need to see.

I hate winter. I'm distracted by Trinidad's warm webcam, wondering what sufferin' succotash actually means, and questioning why Clinton is still everywhere. The web answers everything except why Bush Sr. and Reagan got more peace and quiet.

CNN is clearly funding global terrorism to boost ratings. The sniper got caught just as interest waned, conveniently replaced by a Moscow hostage crisis, then a school shooting. For less than a Friends episode, you can bankroll a lot of mayhem. How long until you drop the bomb, CNN?

Outraged by Russia's use of chemical gas to end the Moscow theater hostage crisis, killing civilians while withholding the antidote from doctors. Putin, what were you thinking? Also, Phoenix browser is simply the best browser ever made.

MoveOn.org has a brilliant ad showing how Bush's "regime change" rhetoric might just apply a little closer to home.

Mocking CNN's DC sniper coverage for fanning panic, celebrating a wild Birmingham clubbing weekend including an impromptu wet t-shirt competition, and puzzling over a Macromedia knockoff site and bizarre Iraqi protest footage.

A convicted child molester killed a man who discovered his abuse, then manipulated the man's two young sons into confessing. A year later, Chavis walked free and the kids were convicted. The same prosecutor argued both cases. The legal system is broken.

Back at Warwick for Freshers' week. Campus living is great, being network tech support less so. Sleep deprivation is real. Also, there should be a law against straight guys being misleading on the dancefloor. Oh, and Turkey seized weapons-grade uranium smugglers. Sleep well, everyone.

I think speaking English is useful in England, but shouldn't be a citizenship requirement. Citizenship is about state protection and loyalty, not language. Culture and language shift over time; you can't legislate that. Encourage English learning, even fund it, but don't make it mandatory.

Surveys show nearly half of Americans want to gut the First Amendment in the name of national security. Freedom of speech, press, religion, academic freedom -- all apparently negotiable. Honestly, people who'd so eagerly surrender these rights deserve exactly what they're asking for.

Two fun links: ogle attractive men at MostBeautifulMan (feminism!), and check out Fark's hilarious photoshops of legalized weed advertising. Plus, automated shopping carts are coming to replace cheap labor. The weed.com/switch campaign is my favorite.

Credit to Matt Elton for the office supplies link. More pressingly: how many innocent people like that BBC story's subject are we not hearing about? And what happened to our outrage over Guantanamo Bay?

Satirical writers are recycling the same tired "Arafat is gay" joke. Two stories in, the pattern is clear: they've hit a creative wall.

The US military has apparently been flying massive, silent, delta-shaped aircraft capable of reaching orbit since the 1980s. UFOs explained? Maybe. Also, that CNN Money columnist is an idiot.

Sierra Leone's ex-dictator is broke and living with his mum, which is funny enough. But the real kicker: the UN sent him to study law at my university, Warwick. I can't stop picturing a former military dictator at Top Banana.

Corporate scandals are making it risky to buy a copier, pay electricity, or make a phone call. Looks like the recession started in 1997 and everyone's been faking profits since. Anyway, off to New York for July 4th!

Exhausted by the endless Middle East violence. On a lighter note, Googling my pre-exam anxiety led me down an unexpected rabbit hole.

A satirical song about third world struggles, hypocrisy, and American cultural dominance. Corrupt governments, borrowed dollars, cholera water, and yet we still wear Nike. We hate America but want to be America. Because yeah, the third world really sucks.

World peace is impossible. We're genetically hardwired to fight over ideology, and total peace would mean evolutionary stagnation anyway. The best we can hope for is conflict limitation, which ultimately requires faster-than-light travel and infinite universal expansion. Cheery stuff, but at least it's something to aim for.

My bookmarks pile up until I can't take it anymore. This week: the Israel-Palestine conflict needs to just stop, I built an XML/PHP app, some webcomic recommendations, the Simputer, the evil CBDTPA, spike-based spam justice, and Scott McCloud being delightful.

The UN Security Council voted 14-1 to back a Palestinian state. About time. The endless cycle of death in that region fills me with despair.

BBC News is predictably grim lately, so it's refreshing to see Will Young coming out as gay making headlines. Called it. Also, the guy's barely been famous two weeks and he's already managed to torpedo his own career. Impressive work.

Colin Powell caused a stir by supporting condom use for teens, which put him at odds with Bush's abstinence-only stance. Hard not to notice the hypocrisy of a former cocaine user and alcoholic preaching abstinence from something that hasn't hurt anyone.

Alanis is back with *Under Rug Swept*, a fantastic return to form. Also: America's treatment of Camp X-ray prisoners violates the Geneva Convention, the USA PATRIOT Act is being abused to silence dissent, and the "land of the free" is looking pretty hypocritical right now.

George Harrison's death is sad, but front page news? With a war on? News outlets have forgotten their responsibility: instead of reporting what matters, they manufacture importance, and readers let them. That's dangerous.

Major media conglomerates are even more sprawling than you think. AOL Time Warner's reach is staggering, and one company quietly owns 600+ radio stations. Check out this ownership map and prepare to be surprised.

Ralph Nader wrote a great letter roasting the DOJ's pathetic Microsoft settlement, which actually protects Microsoft from open-source competition. Also: Internet2 and Geant are doing amazing things with bandwidth. And there's a girl on the BBC who really should be a lesbian.

US networks are suppressing bin Laden's statement at White House request while simultaneously broadcasting counter-propaganda. That's state censorship, plain and simple. There's no obviously good outcome to any of this. War is such shit.

September 11th. Everything has changed.

The SSSCA would make it illegal to own storage devices without "certified security technologies." Combined with the DMCA and anti-rave legislation, the US is becoming a frighteningly fascist state. The UK will probably follow. Time to emigrate. To Mars.

A satirical image imagines a world run by the Daily Mail, the UK's staunchly right-wing tabloid. Worth a look, as is the site hosting it, The Wibble, which reminds me of Matt's Alpen, but with a better name.

Son of Star Wars has a fun new flaw: intercepted missiles don't just disappear, they land *somewhere* untracked between launch site and target. Could be your backyard in middle America. Or Europe. Nice.

A perfect Onion quote: why bother cloning when most Americans are already identical?

Bush has withdrawn from Kyoto, the ABM treaty, and the Biological Weapons Convention, and is rattling sabers at China over Taiwan. All in one month. This man is out of control.

Polygamy between consenting adults seems no different than gay marriage to me, so why is it illegal? Also, Microsoft's 64-bit Windows won't threaten UNIX on high-end servers: it's a first version, it's buggy, and "high-end server" plus "security" just doesn't equal Windows.

Not all my content comes from Slashdot. Some comes from Ed. Also: marijuana is 3-4% of Canada's GDP, and I'm on board with banning heterosexual marriage and reproduction.

IndyMedia looks promising for non-corporate news. Also, here's how to build a budget atomic bomb capable of leveling a major city. Keeping up my anarchist streak lately.

Disappointed by London's May Day anti-capitalism protests. Five thousand protesters, six thousand cops, and everyone behaved themselves. Germany had firebombs, Australia had riots, but London managed nothing but cyclists. Anarchism has really gone downhill.

I'm angry about Columbine. America's conformist moron majority makes life hell for anyone different, then acts shocked when those kids snap. I was bullied, gay, and miserable in school. Until America stops punishing nonconformists and starts holding bullies accountable, my sympathy for shooting victims is basically zero.

Found a great Kuro5hin piece linking the nature of reality to corporate vs. individual conflicts, exploring how organizations do things none of their members actually want, a theme Steinbeck touched on in The Grapes of Wrath.

Reason magazine rocks. Journalistic intelligence in its purest form.

My housemate Simon tried to open a bottle by screwing a corkscrew through the metal cap. The story made it into the Dilbert newsletter as a True Tale of an Induhvidual. Fame at last, of a sort.

AlterNet has a brilliant piece arguing school shootings are a white America problem that white America ignores. The drug statistics alone are staggering and somehow more darkly funny than anything the Onion published this month.