Insert a Trite Metaphor About a Corral

Posted on May 17, 2005 in Roundup

This roundup covers the period from 8 May to 14 May 2005.

It was an interesting week, with most of my personal time devoted to trying to explain to some people the difference between name-calling and assessments of healthfulness. I am sorry to have missed the discussion about how gay men have a different sense of smell: long ago, I’d proposed to Lynn that that might eventually be discovered to be the basis for the difference between straight and gay men. I’m thrilled to see my theory vindicated.

The looming hammer of the Frist filibuster busting caught many peoples’ attention as did tales of torture from various parts of the world. It still strikes me as absurd that so many Americans get all emotional over preserving their “right” to overeat while so many suffer in war zones and regions of catastrophic environmental disaster. I look in my mirror and say shame on me. We deride Hummers, the waste of dollars for war toys, and government corruption while blatantly ignoring the corruption that we manifest as persons. Last week one false feminist suggested that I be castrated. And I can’t say that I agree with anyone who calls any episode of violence “amusing”. All around, I felt sad about how twisted or insensitive even members of the Left can be.

I think we need to show some discipline in our ranks. We can’t excuse the lack of it on the grounds that those in power do worse because they invokes our small acts as justification for more horrific ones.

Politics

• cntodd revealed a horrifying scenario taking place in one of our allies:

The situation is atrocious, but President Bush knew all along that Karimov did not respect human rights. The former British ambassador to Uzbekistan testified that the Uzbek interrogation process included downing, rape, suffocation, and yes, the boiling of victims. Yet the CIA and the U.S. military have special permission to take prisoners of the “war on terror” to Uzbekistan precisely because such methods are used.

• Jane reviewed some great moments in Republican family values

when they talk about respect for “family values” what they’re really defending are the privileges of patriarchy to do whatever they damn well please without consequence or responsibility.

• Randy Paul provided a balanced perspective on Venezuela’s Chavez:

There are some on the left who ignore the legitimate concerns about Chavez’s rule…while heaping ample praise (some of which is deserved) for helping the poor. There are those on the right who criticize Chávez for the same things that worry me about him, but offer little if anything else in the way of a legitimate alternative other than the status quo ante Chávez. If you want to fight communism in Latin America, here’s one of the first steps you must take: address poverty and make capitalism much more just, free of corruption and put an end to oligarchies.

• shari finds that Ahnold has no problem saying no no no to children but not to his wealthy donors.
• Deb showed how, in England, an unelected official can not only have power, but also win himself lifetime glory in the House of Lords.
• Mileah caught the Bush Administration raising the Terror Level last year to spook people into voting Republican. What a surprise.

Culture

• Bitch Ph.d related the tale of a professor who kept a not-too-secret blog about her impressions of students and faculty at SMU.

I don’t have a problem with IHE linking academic blogs w/out permission, though I know some do. But I do think this whole question of academic blogging and the private / public divide is really interesting. I’m uncomfortable with the statements in the article that there’s a problem with what the Phantom Professor blogged was that it hurt students’ feelings. It seems somewhat Horowitzian, this idea that as professors we have a responsibility not to say things that will make our students uncomfortable. Malicious slander is one thing; but satire and social commentary surely ought to be allowable intellectual endeavors.

• Tracy is having trouble proving that she exists to the State of Ohio.

I no longer exist. Or at least, I cannot prove that I exist. How could this happen, you ask? I lost my driver’s license. Somewhere between North Carolina and Ohio. It might’ve been at the Fox & Hound, where Kim and I shot pool. It might’ve been at that little gift shop in West Virginia where we bought the coffee cup. It might be inside the pocket of a pair of jeans I wore between then and now or shoved in the shredding file with all my report sheets from work. We have searched and searched and searched…and finally decided to have the fucking thing replaced.

• Joe learned that gay men love different scents from straight men.

I have to admit that I don’t find these pungent scents so enticing. Then again, I don’t have much of a sense of smell. I’ve needed admonishment to throw out a pungent smelling bag of garbage more than once by a caring friend. I attribute this to having my nose cauterized as a little lad due to recurring nose bleeds.

• Francis had his own anecdote about the women-only railway cars in Japan:

Apparently, the excuse is that setting aside a whole car for women makes overcrowding on the rest of the train worse. Well, if the men would keep their hands to themselves and behave like mature adults, then this wouldn’t be necessary. And, really, I doubt that the number of women on a train like that is so few that they couldn’t make good use of ONE train car.

• Manda shared her doodles from a lecture on interdisciplinarity.

Now there is a certain crass humor in likening disciplinary knowledge to piles of shit. But, it’s something we produce. And shit can be gross and stinky and make you sick… hey, so can academia. But it also makes the crops grow. So, I’m not trying to be insulting here.

• Ming insisted that most of the information we receive from companies marketing products is false.
• Brian Kane nominated It’s a Small Small World as the most annoying song ever.
• Elkit claimed she never loved Elvis, but you couldn’t tell by her blog.
• Jeremy asked “Why is dumpster diving illegal?”
• H.K. celebrated the Disco Years.
• Robert counted the incidence of certain words on Google.
• Andrea talked about living with organized crime.
• Lauren started a few fights this week, but check out what she said about women, drinking and violence.

Religion

• Bill dreaded what the Religious Right would make of the discovery of a new animal.
• chari delivered a few choice words to the Religious Right.

Personal

• gulnaz wondered about finding her Prince Charming.

I am miffed at being so disappointed. I have been slightly bitter lately for not coming across my prince charming, I certainly thought it was my birthright; after all I have been waiting for him since I was a little girl. However, I am told its all rubbish and I must get married now, all my friends are married and with babies too, and it really doesn’t make a difference either ways, so they tell me. Therefore, I have handed over the task of finding me a lad to my parents as I have utterly failed at doing so myself. Unfortunately, even they have not yet found me that one person, whom I will want to marry. Perhaps I seek too much.

• shelli is feeling overwhelmed.
• Luminous received a $707 gift certificate for groceries.
• Hamburger Lad is drumming his fingers waiting for the results of his HIV test.
• Victoria made the top seven of Blogging for Books
• John stopped using Blogroll for entirely apolitical reasons.

Visual Art

• Bill: Amarillo Armadillo, Texas

Poetry and Fine Prose

• K: Morning Verses
• Rana: Coping with Enormity

I watch fleas hopping on the wooden floor, new-hatched fleas, smaller than the head of a pin. Yet I see them, standing tall on their springloaded legs.

Due to a cold, I only got so far through my list. Next time I will start from the bottom.