Month: November 2007

Hmm.

Not that I think that free speech should impact someone’s ability to earn a living, but do you think Macy’s and Martha Stewart know their brands and ads are currently running on Malkin’s site? [From comments on Nutpicking]

Holiday shopping season approaches and it seems that some of America’s more influential household brands are associated with people for whom the word “ragegasm” was coined. That doesn’t seem right to me.

Given the propensity of the ankle-biters on the Right to harass the advertisers who support mainstream and progressive publications, the old saying “sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander” comes to mind.

Remember: Camille Paglia writes for Salon because the editors of Salon hate you. [From Golden Needles in Our Eyes]

The more conventional argument about ignoring race relates to the idea of race as “The Great Contradiction.” Quite literally, since the founding of this country, race has “contradicted” the American ideal. In 1776, we were the slave-holding nation that fought a war for liberty. In 1789, we created the most modern, rationalist, democratic government in history, but one that reduced black people to 3/5 of a person. We erect statues and monuments to great men, who happened to own slaves. In World War II, we rightly fought a war against hideous doctrines, while we tolerated Jim Crow. During the Cold War, we wrapped ourselves in rhetorical cloaks of freedom, while churches burned in Birmingham. Even today, we praise American markets and prosperity, while hurricanes (ever so briefly) force our eyes upon urban black poverty. [From Why Defend Reagan on Race?]

• Armistice Day 1941: “The Czechs too Know the Answer. The Poles. The Danes. The Dutch. The Serbs. The Belgians. The Norwegians. The Greeks.”
  Less than one month later, war was declared. Not everyone learned from the experience of WWI.
  (tags: war history values democracy)

Since a trip to Portland isn’t complete — indeed, isn’t worth taking — without a trip to Powell’s City of Books, here’s some stuff I picked up. The images and title text will take you to Amazon (where I get a small cut) but I also include a link to Powells for which I get nothing. Enjoy 😉

“Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip – Book Two” (Tove Jansson). Or buy it at Powells.

“The Death and Life of Great American Cities” (Jane Jacobs). Or buy it at Powells.

“The Innocents Abroad: or, The New Pilgrims’ Progress (Modern Library Classics)” (Mark Twain). Or buy it at Powells.

“Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character)” (Richard P. Feynman, Ralph Leighton). Or buy it at Powells.

The Feynmann is wonderful. What a mind he had. The Twain is one I thought I had in hand at one time, but didn’t, so it has been on my list for awhile. The Moomin book needs neither explanation or introduction. And the Jane Jacobs book is one I can never finish in the time the library allows.

And of course, I have remembered some other I should have picked up while I was there.

Well, our catless days have ended, for now. I went to the Seattle Humane Society and took delivery of 5 year Bagheera, as black as her namesake, but a little more high-strung. She’s not had a good time thus far, so we’re hoping she can settle down and enjoy life a little more. She is essentially a discard, as she was the odd-pet-out in a household with some friction. Apparently, there were two cats and a dog and the other cat could deal with the dog. Bagheera had some issues with that situation — perhaps she needs to be the only pet or can only share quarters with non-threatening roommates.

Anyway, she is here, and after a day of hiding and making the rounds, she has gone to sleep on a drawer of my clean clothes in the closet.

I found Seattle Humane Society to be a very efficient and informative place, and it was hard to leave with just one 😉 I made some friends while I was there, and I know if I didn’t go alone, it would have have been very difficult.

Their mission, as a no-kill shelter, is to find homes for as many of their animals as they can, and at the same time, try to reduce the numbers of unwanted pets by offering free or low-cost spaying and neutering services. When you realize their facility is kept full by people dropping off boxes of kittens — 17 in one box means more than one litter and likely more than one unspayed mother cat — it’s a big job. But I found one pair of volunteers who had taken home 5 kittens who were too young to be adopted so they could gain weight and get out of the shelter. Communicable diseases are a problem in densely concentrated populations. Any time an animal can spend away from that preserves the health of the whole community. So there are people out there who are making it work.

Bagheera will be with us at least a month and we’ll see how she fits in and what we really want at that point. If you have ever thought about the benefits of pet ownership without the long-term commitment, maybe fostering is for you.

Someday there may even come a time when they won’t mention that Joe was Al Gore’s running mate, and will instead point out that Joe Lieberman couldn’t even win his own state primary as an 18 year incumbent. [From TBogg – “…a somewhat popular blogger”]