from "Farmers Wary of GMO Crops," The Zimbabwean

I continue to be wary of the long-term health effects of some GMO crops, and the use of the poor, uneducated, and/or malnourished as guinea pigs plus the predatory practices of big BioAg doesn't put me any closer to being on the thumbs-up path; however, in the interest of education, this was a good read.

A Lonely Quest for Facts on Genetically Modified Crops

Of course, I am looking for answers myself, and thus really try to check my skepticism, but this did stand out to me:

...the risk of [GMO crops] could be reliably tested, and had so far proved safe. "With scientists, we never say anything is 100 percent certain one way or another," Dr. Suzuki said. "We weigh conclusions on accumulated knowledge or evidence..." 

Yes, absolutely. But, the big BUT:  Like organic and conventional dairy and vegetables being deemed equal in nutritional profiles just a few years ago, or the scientific claim that thalidomide wouldn't cross the placental barrier, accumulated scientific knowledge sometimes goes horribly wrong. GMO crops should not be rushed to market or be allowed to propagate and be sold while in litigation, and should also be subject to litigation should there be health problems clearly associated with them; they should also submit to continual testing and monitoring once they are in the market (for now), and the patent holders/users be okay with informing the public with labeling so people have a choice.

I'm not one for a nanny state, but this should be the standard when we screw with the basic building blocks of life, especially ones that have the potential to have profound effects on the population.

There are so many promising things in GMOs, so I really hope I'm wrong, but we have to slow. down.

Yes!

Gays Wed in New Jersey

As couples across New Jersey began marrying on Monday after the stroke of midnight, Gov. Chris Christie abandoned his long fight against same-sex marriage, concluding that signals from the court and the march of history were against him. His decision not to appeal a judge’s ruling that allowed the weddings removed the last hurdle to legalized same-sex marriage in New Jersey, making it the 14th state, along with the District of Columbia, to allow gay couples to wed.

Ughs for Chris Christie, but at least he knows when to quit. You go, New Jersey!

Good morning, US of A.



If it turns out that President Barack Obama can make a deal with the most intransigent, hard line, unreasonable, totalitarian mullahs in the world but not with Republicans, maybe he's not the problem.

Wow, even the mainstream rags are going to town on this.

Though I still let out a big ol' le sigh, because sometimes, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

(at which point I transition away from the depressing and/or infuriating news of the day and aim my post toward the slightly less frustrating but more entertaining and sense-making (if I do say so myself), world of my bloggity blog, in abstract.)

Still with me?

I've been blogging here since March 2, 2006. I know! And teh internets are like dog years, which makes me, oh, at least middle-aged in internet time. Yes, I am not a Millennial! Microblogging, what? Nope, just me and the year to year grind of blogspot, baby. But if you're closing in on ancient like me, one thing that time and being both politically inclined and shallow in equal measure -- as well as holding on, pitbull-like, to your granny technology having archives -- will get you is teh hits. I've been getting a lot of hits lately where folks are clicking through my tags (which only date back to like, 2007, but whatever, that's almost 7 YEARS of my world), so, in an effort to placate my vanity see how consistent I am, I've been reading through my old posts.

Some observations...

I made a lot more time to write when I was a dewy-eyed 30-ish than a glassy-eyed [shut your mouth!]. Before I had a smartphone, or teh facebooks; when I had crappier jobs with more time that paid me more back then when I was building my career than now where I am in the midst of it; when I was less tired of EVERYTHING.

Again, the more things change...the more they stay the same.

Even though this ride has been less than a blip, a nanosecond in the life of mankind, it's been nearly a decade of mine and my contemporaries' lives, so it is disheartening to see that we're still fighting the same old battles forever and ever, and harnessing the same old fears to hasten the trading of freedom and scary civil rights violations for perceived security.

But we're winning a lot in a short time too. And even in this forever recession (RIP, amazing 21 Grand), my friends and I who were making art are still making art and living joyous lives.

Interesting, this internet life; one that is stored on both human and mechanical servers, to be reviewed at any time and, given circumstances, assessed in vastly different ways. Short and sweet, but forever there for somebody.

(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.

Sure, disrupt the dealers, but it does no good if you fail to wean the addicts (or, in fact, instead encourage them).

Benedict Cumberbatch Goes to War: Celebrity and Diplomacy

Great assessment.

Cumberbatch may be dreamy, clever goodness, but he's also an army of payroll for a carefully projected persona with a skyrocketing career made possible in part by the same folks he faults. Meh, why can't we all do like Damon?

The failure Cumberbatch perceives isn’t one of supply but demand. The star should have raged at his fans directly, not at his photographers. What if instead of chastising the paparazzi, he had written “Go look at Egypt.”

Benedict Cumberbatch might have reflected on his own experience as one of the most photographed individuals in the world. He has become an image himself. Photographs circulate endlessly of him at work and at play, in public and in private. Does his overexposure mean those who have seen his image know him or understand him?

Consider again his handwritten plea over the weekend: “Go photograph Egypt and show the world something important.” If he had spared the paparazzi his scorn and skewered his fans with the imperative to go look at Egypt, what would they see? What are we to make of the images so perilously obtained by photojournalists embedded in these protests?

Hope

We [don't] get rid of a military regime [and] replace it with a fascist theocracy.



A Young Boy Explains Why Egyptians Threw Out the Muslim Brotherhood

FOUR MORE YEARS!

...despite all our differences, most of us share certain hopes for America’s future.  We want our kids to grow up in a country where they have access to the best schools and the best teachers — a country that lives up to its legacy as the global leader in technology and discovery and innovation, with all the good jobs and new businesses that follow.
 
We want our children to live in an America that isn’t burdened by debt; that isn’t weakened by inequality; that isn’t threatened by the destructive power of a warming planet.
 
We want to pass on a country that’s safe and respected and admired around the world; a nation that is defended by the strongest military on Earth and the best troops this world has ever known — but also a country that moves with confidence beyond this time of war to shape a peace that is built on the promise of freedom and dignity for every human being.

We believe in a generous America; in a compassionate America; in a tolerant America, open to the dreams of an immigrant’s daughter who studies in our schools and pledges to our flag. To the young boy on the South Side of Chicago who sees a life beyond the nearest street corner. To the furniture worker’s child in North Carolina who wants to become a doctor or a scientist, an engineer or entrepreneur, a diplomat or even a President. That’s the future we hope for. That’s the vision we share.  That’s where we need to go. Forward. That's where we need to go.   

And thank you, Maine and Maryland.

I've got lots of friends who are public service employees -- firefighters, police officers, FEMA, and the like. I was reading this article in the SF Chronicle about the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in NYC and some of the rest of the Eastern Seaboard. The accompanying slideshow really made me appreciate the gravity of what it is that they are committed to doing for our communities.

New York City police officers go door to door in a housing project to take note of which residents are ignoring the mandatory evacuation order as Hurricane Sandy approaches on October 28, 2012 in the Rockaway Beach neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. 

So, in light of this, I find what we have at stake November 6 in the United States as even more important.


Romney Says America Doesn't Need 'More Firemen, More Policemen, More Teachers'

plus this excellent, no pulled punches opinion piece from the NY Times:

A Big Storm Requires Big Government

[Eliminating federal disaster coordination and support] is an absurd notion, but it’s fully in line with decades of Republican resistance to federal emergency planning. FEMA, created by President Jimmy Carter, was elevated to cabinet rank in the Bill Clinton administration, but was then demoted by President George W. Bush, who neglected it, subsumed it into the Department of Homeland Security, and placed it in the control of political hacks. The disaster of Hurricane Katrina was just waiting to happen.

The agency was put back in working order by President Obama, but ideology still blinds Republicans to its value. Many don’t like the idea of free aid for poor people, or they think people should pay for their bad decisions, which this week includes living on the East Coast.

Oh Chris Christie, you Romney shill, the irony.

I mean, this is definitely the rotten cherry on top of Romney's willingness to say anything to win, his abysmal knowledge of foreign policy (as demonstrated in the third Presidential debate), plus his views on women, gay rights, birth control, "the 47%" -- you name the right thing to do, and he's on the wrong side of both compassion and history.

It is of great importance in a republic not only to guard the society against the oppression of its rulers, but to guard one part of the society against the injustice of the other part.

Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist, 1788

Let's re-elect Barack Obama.

I *heart* Kal Penn

Obama and Kumar go to the DNC

Which is more adorable: that the president of the United States is so obviously reaching out for the stoner vote, or that Kal Penn, the star of the “Harold & Kumar” movies, has carved out such an impressive political career? 

Just in case anyone forgot...

Penn, who was the associate director of the White House Office of Public Engagement for two years before leaving to make another “Harold & Kumar” movie, is hosting the Democratic convention live coverage on BarackObama.com this week. He’s also speaking at the convention Tuesday night.

Proper.

Happy International Workers' Day!

Bravo, Joss Whedon. Bravo.

*spoiler*












Buffy's Choice: Joss Whedon Gets Political

I think strongly that teen pregnancy and young people having babies when they are not emotionally, financially, or otherwise equipped to take care of them, is kind of glorified in our media right now. You know, things like Secret Life [of an American Teenager] and Juno and Knocked Up – even if they pretend to deal with abortion, the movies don’t even say the word “abortion.” It’s something that over a third of American women are going to decide to have to do in their lives. But people are so terrified that no one will discuss the reality of it — not no one, but very few popular entertainments, even when they say they’re dealing with this issue, they don’t, and won’t. It’s frustrating to me.

I don’t think Buffy should have a baby. I don’t think Buffy can take care of a baby. I agree with Buffy. It’s a very difficult decision for her, but she made a decision that so many people make and it’s such a hot button issue with Planned Parenthood under constant threat and attack right now.

A woman's right to choose is under attack as much as it's ever been, and that's a terrible and dangerous thing for this country. I don't usually get soap box-y with this, but the thing about Buffy is all she's going through is what women go through, and what nobody making a speech, holding up a placard, or making a movie is willing to say.

omg, sooooo good.

Stephen Colbert Defends Planned Parenthood

During the fight over the federal budget, Republican Senator Jon Kyl stated that over 90% of the services performed by Planned Parenthood were abortions. Over the weekend, the folks at Fox & Friends said that Walgreens offered many of the same services as Planned Parenthood. On tonight's Report, Stephen Colbert hilariously debunked them both.

In conclusion, Jon Kyl is a brainless monster from another planet, intent on breeding more Americans in order to enslave the population to power his planet's machines. That was not meant as a (completely) factual statement. ;)

Stephen Colbert is a lifetime member of my man harem. That is meant as a completely factual statement. :)

WANT.

Metsa Design Cement Pearls

(If you're looking for my birthday gift and haven't already spoiled me with this Jaggy Nettle sweater, I definitely won't sniff at the earrings) ;)

Found these gems on the fashion blog Threadbared, after reading a feature article in the SF Chron about their unique blog content.

Threadbared is a fashion blog dedicated to "the politics, aesthetics, histories, theories, cultures and subcultures that go by the names 'fashion' and 'beauty.'"

if you've ever wondered why people of color appear as background props - think maids or drivers - rather than as models in glossy fashion spreads, open a box of bonbons and start scrolling through Threadbared

I must admit that I was expecting their political and social commentary to be a little more explicit, but even so it's still a really excellent intersection to be taken up and explored. Impressive.

The Arizona tragedy is being covered quite extensively, so not to go on and on, but this is well done:

No One Listened to Gabrielle Giffords

While the article does engage in pointing fingers -- what many on the right are bemoaning as unfair, and some, ridiculously, as "blood libel" -- it does so in more than one direction, and acknowledges something obvious I hadn't really thought about: that the current rabid antigovernment radicalism on the right is as dangerous as the same on the left in the late 1960s.

The difference now, full stop? Mainstream media outlets for the radical right that legitimizes it, and a major party that is an apologist for it.

Oh Arizona.




















Tombstone Politics

This is a tragedy that I think anyone with a reasonable bone in his or her body saw coming in some form or another, and as such I've been really at loathe to add my voice to the chorus of voices condemning the radical (and mainstream) right wing for their perceived role, but in the end there are too many implications around all the things I complain about with modern day dumb American politics to NOT comment.

Part of my hesitation to comment is sorting out my feelings around the idea of free speech, and where it crosses the line into incitement of violence. What would seem like clear ignorant nut jobs like Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin encouraging others to be ignorant nut jobs is one negative consequence of the right to free speech. So do we "compromise liberty for security and then deserve neither" and all that jazz? I'm somewhat reminded of the criticism of gangsta rap and the Tipper Gore PMRC hysteria years, and the attempt to link music to gun violence and suicide.

But music is entertainment, not real life. Yeah, I always say certain bands and songs shaped who I am, but the people who really shape how I am obligated to live my life within the confines of the laws of my country -- as well as those non-politicians with immense political power -- need to hold themselves to a higher standard, and use common sense with their constituencies.

Utilizing gun sights to indicate targeted lawmakers, rhetoric about "reloading" not retreating against lawmakers, and talk from (aforementioned nut job endorsed) candidates about being angry enough to use "Second Amendment remedies" is clear incitement to violence.

Would the sympathizers stand for environmental radicals like the ELF using gun sights as the symbol for targeting lawmakers in an election who had abysmal environmental voting records? Of course not. And nor would they stand for anyone using that same rhetoric to target lawmakers who were anti-health care bill, or anti-DREAM Act, or anti- any other countless thing that would be good for the United States that right-wingers deem "Socialist" or "anti-American."

The nasty "make the rich richer" liars that make up the Republican Party, and the redneck laughingstock that is the Tea Party claim to want less government intrusion in their lives. *snort* Do we need to legislate their common sense? It has to stop.

I didn't follow much of Comedy Central fixture and lifetime member of my man harem Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, but I loved the concept and the fact so many people turned out! And I'm loving this:

The 55 Funniest Signs From the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear

























And my particular favorites:

Awww yeah, we're getting there...

Judge Orders Injunction on 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'

Finally we are on the way to removing a ridiculous law that has existed my entire adult voting life.

And while I'm on the subject of civil rights: Dan Savage's It Gets Better project has gotten a lot of great press, and rightly so. What a gift, especially in these times of what sometimes seems like tireless backwards right wing bigotry.

There have been some wonderful testimonials from celebrities and regular folk alike, but this one has got to be my favorite. I'm from a small town where most the gay men I know who came out didn't fit in with the **fabulous!!** stereotype of loving musicals and being into fashion, and I think having a couple of guys in professions that are not only closer to the everyday reality for a lot of people but also break the girly stereotype for gay men is fantastic.



*love*

I *heart* Rachel Maddow!

Rachel Maddow ExposesRacist Origins of [Arizona's] SB1070



"Congratulations Arizona. This is going to make you really really famous for a really really long time."

I am filled with hope as I hear about the testimony from same-sex couples and arguments from those representing them during the current Proposition 8 proceedings before Federal District Court. How can anyone argue against love, justice, and equal treatment in favor of second-class citizenship?

Still on the fence? This might change some minds...

The Conservative Case for Gay Marriage

Thank you, Rachel Maddow.