Round and Round the Blogs We Go

Posted on February 27, 2004 in Roundup

It’s politics Friday!

Mel Gibson’s film Passion has taken attention away from the suddenly boring Democratic primaries and the more crucial same sex marriage issue. Nevertheless, there have been many fine articles written in the course of the week on matters of state, church, and culture. I am starting the practice of marking the articles that I like as such.

• Lynn is joining me in restricting her political blogging to two days a week, in her case for Lent even though “Quakers don’t do Lent”. The old Anglican habits die hard in my beloved. I’m not doing this for Lent: I’m doing it for my sanity! [Church]
  
• Camassia declares that “it’s precisely because I think that sex is important that I’m reluctant to call homosexuality a sin.” [Church]
  
• Intellectual Property lawyer Denise Howell discussed the issues surrounding the lawsuits now being made against P2P networks by the music industry. “[Q]uestions at oral argument suggested the Court may think the considerable amount of authorized or public domain materials being traded on the networks — perhaps 750,000 files, according to the record before the Court — comprises a substantial noninfringing use,” she writes. [Politics]
  
• The article most deserving of being read by you at Balkinization (where the articles are nearly always deserved of being read by you) concerns the attempt by militant Right wingers to destroy the Constitution by the misleadingly Constitutional Restoration Act which seeks to prevent Federal courts from hearing cases regarding local jurisdictions which wish to mark “God as the sovereign source of law, liberty, or government”. Jack calls this an attempt to score political points. [Politics]
  
• Randy of Beautiful Horizons makes his personal list of bad films which were well-received. His list includes Titanic, The Deer Hunter, and Coming Home. Tell him if you agree or disagree. [Culture]
  
• They couldn’t call the Haitian refugees “terrorists”, so they called them “Hijackers”. Body and Soul reviews the strangely uncompassionate conservatism fueling Bush’s decision to send Haitian refugees back to the land of horror. [Politics]
  
• Andrew of Byte Back examines his own hypocrisy when comparing his reactions to what was done to Michael Savage and what was done to Howard Stern recently. [Culture]
  
• The Truth Laid Bear makes the case for a Nader candidacy, which amounts to “Hey Democrats, you want the vote of the Left, you need to give us stands we can count on you for.” [Politics]
  
• Jeremy gives his personal reasons why you can’t shame him out of voting for Ralph Nader. [Politics]
  
• Will the Press turn America around? Personally, I doubt it. [Politics]
  
• Jaded Ju writes about a disastrous first date. [Culture]
  
• Victoria rebuts a Nader supporter who said “To be perfectly blunt I don’t see more than a handful of things that Bush has done that Gore would not have done.” [Politics]
  
• Coup de Vent presents a unique, anti-establishment view against same sex marriage and, for that matter, heterosexual marriage: “Registration of relationships? Of course there are some benefits. What are the benfits to the instituions? Definitely monetry pay-offs. But you are also handing over personal details to authorities who are totally untrustworthy. Never underestimate that there are others with sinister longer term intentions.” [Politics]
  
• MetaManda reacesses C.P. Snow’s Two Cultures. The rise of the Geek has overturned Snow’s world: it’s the literary intellectuals who just get no respect now, she believes. Tell me about it! I know a few techies who could stand deep immersion in the humanities. [Culture]
  
• Billy confessed to buying a murder weapon, concealing it in a paper bag, and carrying it out. [Politics]
  
• George the Old Fashioned Patriot put to rest “Two Myths about Dean” [Politics]
  
• For a Wiccan perspective on the film Passion, see what Kimber had to say. [Church]
  
• A modest debate about RSS feeds is happening at the underread Prairie Point. [Culture]
  
• Robert Brady went to watch a firewalking ritual at Sugawara Jinja. [Culture]
  
• Red Water Lily comes up with another reason to be bothered by John Kerry. [Politics]
  
• Kris disagrees with my recent comments about the Anybody-but-Bush crowd led by John Kerry. [Politics]
  
• Yule recounted the moving story of Lanier Phillips, an African American castaway in Newfoundland, for Ash Wednesday. [Culture]

I don’t necessarilly endorse the views of these posts, but I will say that they made me think.

In the meantime, I’ve been chasing after Popdex citations.