(UPDATE 9/16/2013: The transcript of The Guardian's original interview regarding Cumberbatch's views on Manning, et al has been placed on their site, and though his misguided quotes are still there, this does serve to soften via muddling his position a bit.

What to take away? The internets: never what they seem -- even this -- and designed for hits, full stop. Actors' -- even the smartish ones -- opinions: still generally not a great foundation to base your own views on, and who knows what they're actually thinking, though good on Cumberbatch for recognizing his power and reach, and/or simple need to preserve his reputation in attempting to clarify that he isn't a daft monster. Cumberbatch does truly own the internets, and damn, I wonder how much his publicist makes.

If you're still wondering about why anyone would care about what someone like Benedict Cumberbatch thinks is at all important: The Banality of Systemic Evil)

Okay, okay.

Giving 26 interviews a day, being thrust into the spotlight because of a starring role in something that tackles extremely complex issues, and being just a plain old human with human vanity and human verbal diarrhea are probably factors. But still, I hate when this happens.

Benedict Cumberbatch: Chelsea Manning Got What She Deserved

Ugh, so disappointing.

But [her] superiors might have been right to say to [her], it’s not your position to be worried about it within the hierarchy of the military organisation, which is why [she] had to be sentenced. [She] took an oath, and [she] broke that oath.

Lesson numero uno, actors: don't open your pie holes when it comes to politics unless you're extremely well-versed in your comprehension of the issue, and your name is Matt Damon.

If they are saving lives, how can we say that’s less important than civil liberties?

Ummmm, maybe I should just stop reading about your opinions and just enjoy the shiny shiny? Oh god, can't. stop. reading.

Isn’t it hypocritical to say, we should know everything about you as a government, but the government can’t know anything about us?

For the reals? Mayday, mayday, hurtling uncontrollably toward becoming un-Batched. Sad panda.

And now a word from our author:

What is heartbreaking about this set of sentences? Aside from the abandonment of the notion that individuals are obligated to the best of their ability to discover and struggle for what is right—especially as they grow up—it’s the contradiction involved in simultaneous claims to sympathy for one’s fellow humans and unthinking deference to authority. With this statement, Cumberbatch leaves us to wonder whether he understands that governments are run by groups of individuals who often use state power for their own underhanded purposes[...]America’s founders accepted a measure of mass insecurity to preserve the personal liberty they knew was essential to democracy and human dignity and happiness. Cumberbatch is not an American, but one could think that the last two-and-a-half centuries of Western fealty to this idea might have made an impression on him.

Thank you for writing what I've been thinking, Alexander Reed Kelly.

I HATE bureaucrats and lack of common sense, which so often go hand in hand.

The City Taketh Away

About a year ago, Larry Moore was panhandling for booze. Since then, he has built up a popular shoeshine business and hasn't had a drink. He nearly had the $600 needed to rent a place and get off the street until S.F. stepped in and forced him to pay for a vendor permit.

I know the Public Works official is just doing her job, but christ! Giving this guy a break doesn't set bad precedent -- it serves to reward someone trying to do the right thing and demonstrate there's a bit of humanity left in our structures.

Anyway, I may hate automatons in government, but I do love the human spirit.

"I had $573 ready to go," Moore said, who needs $600 for the rent. "This tore that up. But I've been homeless for six years. Another six weeks isn't going to kill me."

I have a problem with being annoyed about things I cannot really change, especially those small human defects we all have that very often result in scenarios that are really none of my business. Like going out to dinner the other night at a pizza joint, and the young lady at the table next to me ordering garlic and pineapple on her slice ("hmmm" I thought, "that's exactly what I was going to order"). She then sent it back when it arrived as she had ordered it, and bagged on the waiter to her friend while waiting for her replacement slice (though she took the offending slice on the house as well). She had apparently forgotten she asked for garlic (or maybe she was just super-stoned). Either way, lame.

And lame that I even care! Hating on entitlement, working class solidarity, annoyed by people with bad memories, or just plain sad -- call it what you want, but that kind of shit just makes me crazy. Feel my pain -- it sucks!

So as you can imagine I've refrained out of self-preservation from posting about the really big fuck-yous that our humanness hands us, like AIG and all of the banking crooks who are in the process of using taxpayer bailouts to pay millions in bonuses and renovation of their headquarters, among other things. And that is because it fills me with so much annoyance -- nay, rage -- and helplessness that I can hardly see straight -- don't need to be reminded of that on my blog!

But this bit in the New York Times today is worth it:

A.I.G. Revenge Is All the Rage, but It Isn’t Healthy

Maybe it’s time to take a deep calming breath. Some people already have, no matter how deep their economic suffering. They are finding constructive ways to channel the anger they’ve been feeling — outlets that quell the instinct to throw a rock through the window of somebody’s mansion.

Joe Maysonet, the fitness manager at the Printing House Fitness and Squash Club in Manhattan, said there has been a rush of new attendees at boxing classes. Punching a human-shaped rubber dummy is especially popular.

While fists fly, trainers yell inspiration like, “You’re punching your money back into your pockets!” he said. “You’re punching that portfolio you used to have!”

Ha ha...humbug.

Though I do like this bit:

The dummy, Mr. Maysonet said, will not press charges. “He’s withstood it all,” he said. “Just like our country.”

Here's to the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

















Some more hallelujah:

Obama Lifts Global Gag Rule

"For too long, international family planning assistance has been used as a political wedge issue, the subject of a back and forth debate that has served only to divide us," Obama said in a statement released by the White House. "I have no desire to continue this stale and fruitless debate."

He said the ban was unnecessarily broad and undermined family planning in developing countries.

I love him.

Of course, there's the usual crap coming out:

"Coming just one day after the 36th anniversary of the tragic Roe v. Wade decision, this presidential directive forces taxpayers to subsidize abortions overseas — something no American should be required by government to do," said House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio

Bitch, please. What kind of argument is this? The day Americans stop paying taxes for the things we don't support is the day our country falls even farther into the shitter than it already has. Boehner, you're rhetoric is truly embodying politics as usual. Look where this has gotten us with our own healthcare. A whole lotta bitter, hypocritical, stale and fruitless nothing.

But I digress. Americans shouldn't have to pay taxes for what they don't support, eh? Then we must mention not only the ridiculously inconsequential -- the possibility that abortions may be performed with the $.001 each that Mr. Boehner and his fellow minority of Americans may contribute to an international aid group by virtue of being citizens of the US of A -- but also the horrific: hemorrhaging tax dollars to a war internationally recognized as unjust, and paying for an administration that embraced American exceptionalism and thus destroyed our reputation with the rest of the world.

Boehner, I know where you stood on my tax money being spent on the Iraq War, you loon. And I think I have 1) a better argument for not paying, and 2) more of your American constituency behind me.

Can you get on that whole speaking for me and the millions of Americans who didn't support the war ASAP? Ta muchly.

Allowing funding to resume to groups that provide not only abortion services but other important services -- including counseling, contraception, gynecological exams, surgery, and STD education and prevention, to name a few -- is a no brainer. But then again, Boehner, you don't have to pass an IQ test to be [a public servant].

Conversely, thank the stars for our new president. He's done more good work in a week than BushCo did in a year.

This was a pretty interesting read:

Stanford Biologist Sees Money in Preservation of the Environment

This is a new way of saving nature. Until now, the conservation movement has said people should care about nature for nature's sake - with charity as the driving economic force to preserve land. And that, [Stanford biologist Gretchen] Daily said, has failed. She sees a renaissance in the conservation movement hinging on investment.

[...]No one gets paid for water purification or climate stabilization or protecting biodiversity on a large scale. That's what Daily envisions.

She advocates at the state and even country government level, using software developed that can, for example, "estimate the worth of a forest full of pollinating insects vital to nearby crop production."

Where does it make sense to convert forests to agricultural production? Where should they be left alone?

Financially strapped countries could find the tool crucial, advocates say. A poor nation might be tempted to let a rich corporation develop land because it doesn't know the dollar value of the natural resources that will be destroyed.

"If you put yourself in the shoes of a poor government, it's hard to turn down the cash deal," said Mark Tercek, a former official at investment giant Goldman Sachs who recently left to head the Nature Conservancy. "It's hard to put a value on these services. That's what (Daily) is trying to map out."

--

"We're in the biggest mass extinction since the dinosaurs," [Daily] said in her Stanford office, which is covered with photos of her husband and two children. "People estimate we'll lose half of the Earth's life forms in our lifetime."

I don't know who "people" are, but that postulation is scary.

On a related note, this reminds me of the fundamental difference of policy that has guided two different nonprofits I've worked for, and how I believe it has been the key to their successes. Both social justice nonprofits, this difference stems from a crucial bit in their mission statements: investing in their grantees and clients, versus a "charity" approach, which I have seen firsthand foster community and allow dignity and personal power in one's life to drive lasting change.

Oh lord, help me remember this in my own life's little interactions!

In case you didn't know...

Men Who Do More Housework May Get More Sex.

I hope my taxes aren't funding these oh-so-surprising conclusions! :)

Also, C.W. Nevius in the SF Chron today gets it right when he says that everyday life is the best argument for gay marriage.

I'm really for civil unions for all, and think we'd gain a lot more converts quickly if we lobbied for both straight and gay unions to be recognized as civil unions instead of marriage by the State and Feds for tax, inheritance, etc. purposes, and then recognized marriage as only a religious, extraneous thing that is personal and private.

But I digress: gay unions becoming commonplace and acceptable by most is inevitable, and this is common knowledge to me and many people I know, but it is still nice to read this in print -- at the very least, in order to keep the faith while we trudge forward through the haters toward that destination:

At the end of the day, when the change comes to allow same-sex marriage - and it's coming, don't kid yourself - it won't be because of protests. It will be because people in this state, and across the country, are talking to gay and lesbian co-workers and neighbors, meeting same-sex couples and their kids at Little League games, and working at companies with domestic-partner health plans.

...

It is that familiarity driving the change in perception. Polls tell us that those born before 1940 are probably a lost cause. But those in their 40s, for example, have seen a dramatic uptick in support for same-sex marriage. And the real sea change is among the teens and twentysomethings who seem to wonder what the fuss is all about.

When my parents were children, it was illegal in the State of California for them to marry and/or have children. My father once told me of an interracial couple who were tarred and feathered in my hometown when he was a small child in the late 1930s.

These horribly backward things are, thankfully, just ugly, fading memories for many Americans now. But they are very relevant in the fight to recognize full equal rights for gay unions. So, it is good to be reminded of this truth: in my lifetime, anti-gay marriage platforms and the moral panic around gay folk that feeds it will go the way of anti-miscegenation laws.

It is just so tiresome fighting the haters, and waiting!

I feel like all I've been doing is complaining lately, but I just have to post what's currently pissing me off. From this article, in a nutshell, it is namely:

1) State officials say the amount of pesticide applied shouldn't pose severe health risks, but they've also refused to rule out that the spray can affect humans, particularly sensitive people such as children and the elderly.

Or people with lungs, or skin, or eyes. Read on...

2) The U.S. Department of Agriculture obtained an "emergency exemption from registration" from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that allows the agency to use the pesticide in aerial sprays over California cities. Because of that exemption, the spraying program isn't subject to state approval, according to representatives of the state Department of Pesticide Regulation.

Not subject to state approval. That has all kinds of implications for future nastiness.

3) There is no widespread infestation of the light brown apple moth, but U.S. Department of Agriculture officials say they are trying to head off a potential disaster.

Check out this fact sheet about Checkmate -- the pesticide being used -- and the light brown apple moth.

What is laughable is the assurance by the Feds that since the EPA has no concerns about the pesticide and even allows farm workers into the fields after spraying, we shouldn't worry either. This is the same EPA that exempted power plants from new mercury emission rules and needed a Supreme Court order to force them to regulate greenhouse gases. Um, yeah, sure -- I feel better already.

Less important, but still relevant: what happens to organic farms in the area? Also, my inner conspiracy theorist is inevitably suspicious about being used as a guinea pig for other more destructive applications, like biological weapons. This isn't right, and it smells fishy.

To paraphrase Senator William Proxmire – ‘If a foreign government crop dusted our children and our cities with powerful, secret, untested, unwanted pesticides – we would consider it an act of war’

David Dilworth, Nov 2007, HOPE Executive Director

I am so glad I graduated from my high school 16 years ago and was not around for this utter shite.

It is Web-based, so [Vice Principal Pat] Chabot looks up the videos on his computer. He can also track people along the cameras as they go from place to place on campus.

"It's digital, we can go back at least a week, possibly two weeks," Chabot said. "What's neat is I can just type in whatever time and date and I can see what happened."

Internet security and privacy issues at the very least aside, again, I thank god I graduated from this godforsaken place in 1992 when all we had to worry about were hapless narcs who looked like 1983 and asked you for weed after talking to you for 15 minutes.

Sorry, the impetus for these cameras does not sound like protecting students, but more like Panopticon shenanigans. Welcome to the real world, kiddies. I'm glad to see that my government's excuses for gross privacy violations in the name of the smallest bit of security are finally filtering down into the redneck high schools of NorCali.

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

No no no to iris-scanning, even if it's "for the children." Sure, the powers-that-be parade out the most vile scum as the reason why we need it. Of course. But come on! I know, it is surely not as scary as the unbelievable Proposition 69 (collection of DNA samples from all felons, and from others arrested for or charged with specified crimes). But it is more unfounded and reeks of band-aid tactics and ulterior motives.

Hey Alameda County, here's a thought: how about hire 300 more cops to patrol the streets of Oakland, starting with money voters approved years ago for just 60 new officers we have yet to see, so we actually have a force comparable to other cities of our size?

Until they can explain why they might reasonably need iris-scanning, create laws around its use, hire the humanpower to manage sex offenders closely and personally like they should (how about all those who don't register?), and change the laws so that they aren't lamely labeling both 17 year olds who have sex and people who get caught pissing in public as sex offenders, we'll talk. But I'll probably still say no, on the grounds that, hello, this does more to make regular folk victims of crooked people in power than it does to "protect the children!" Scanning my body without my permission, possibly even from a few yards away? And storing that easily manipulated data in a database run by government toadys who don't know their head from their ass? Yeah, nice.

And the comments on this one! "I would prefer the DNA and blood characteristics of every single person be banked;" "I have nothing to hide, and we sadly live in a world with a lot of bad people. Anything to keep my family safe is fine with me;" "...not to mention after all the horror stories I have heard from people I know who had their identity stolen, I would LOVE the bank to require me to submit to an iris scan before any transactions."

Good god. I need a European visa.

In case you didn't know...

...that Caltrans spent over $500,000 of California tax money to pay for something that could have been conveyed for far less if we just stopped pandering to the willfully clueless, now you do.

I get the need for some level of advertisement. And if you have driven on the freeway at all in NorCali in the last three weeks, you could not have missed those flashing signs on the side of the road screaming, "BAY BRIDGE CLOSED LABOR DAY WEEKEND!" But expensive color flyers and paid tv and radio and movie preview ads? Grrr, give me my hard earned money back! Hire one person to actually work at a State of California office to call churches, schools, and other community centers to get the word out! News and radio peeps will follow up -- for free -- because that's how news and community works.

But for those who've been hiding in a cave or on a six-month world cruise: The bridge will close at 8 p.m. Friday and reopen no later than 5 a.m. Tuesday.

It's cold, I know, but if you fall into these categories: while you may not deserve to have to turn around and drive to San Mateo to get into San Francisco, sometimes you gotta take one for the team.

I too have been stuck on the bridge -- which is HELL -- and also had to go 'round "the backdoor of the Bay" on the Golden Gate and Richmond/San Rafael to get home to sweet Oakland when they've been working on the Bay Bridge. So, when I have something to do in the city, now I check to see what I'm in for.

I can, however, get fully behind footing the bill for the insanely expensive BART trains for the weekend, and running them 24 hours. May even take a wee electric voyage myself over the weekend then.