Obama and Gay Rights

This was an important issue about which I did not yet have a satisfactory answer. It's just about the most progressive message I have ever heard from any national politician.

UPDATE: Andrew Sullivan makes his case that Obama is absolutely the best choice on this issue.

This One Goes Out To Meredith and Sam

Does this campaign seem familiar to anyone?

In Case You Ever Need an Excuse to Puke: Vegetarian Edition

Yummy.

Con Chavez Todo

This is an extremely well-written, even-handed, and nuanced account of Hugo Chavez's politics in Venezuela. It describes:

the often high-stakes and always high-decibel struggle that has raged for years between Chávez's supporters and his critics, with each side fully convinced that it is protecting Venezuelan democracy from the other. Unfortunately, the substance of their competing claims has been largely drowned out by polemics that reduce the country's complex political dynamics to a single question: is Chávez a dictator or a democrat?

This does seem to be a very difficult question. On the whole I probably lean toward dictator - the real test will come when the people try to vote him out of power, and my guess is he will not go gracefully - but I certainly had failed to understand some of his accomplishments.

I found this from Matt Yglesias's blog.

Brecksville Reservation

Melissa has been letting me use her old Rebel, so I am starting to learn how to use it and trying to take decent pictures. This is my first hike with the camera, and I think I got a few good pics.

and now... It's The Arts

In this quite unexpected but amusing article, the Economist opines:

Staggering, awe-inspiring deficiency [in the arts] perhaps deserves even greater recognition than the handful of prizes doled out today. It is the vital second front in the battle against creative mediocrity.

They've got a point. I have found that in most of my abortive artistic endeavors, I have never really had the talent necessary to be worse than mediocre.

On the subject of art

I just haven't been able to get this image out of my head for the last week or two. From Andrew Sullivan at the Daily Dish.

Freaking Amazing

More here. Again, from Patrick Appel at the Daily Dish.

That's all I have to say about that

Got this from Patrick Appel, who is doing a great job standing in on Andrew Sullivan's blog.

Deadly Seriousness meets Utter Ridiculousness

Flags.

I would, however, like to mention that I fully support the right of Kosovo to secede, as I support the right of all people everywhere to their absolutely fundamental right of self-determination. This is a topic on which I could rant for quite some time, but I will defer that for another time.

The Laffer Curve

Tax cuts do NOT pay for themselves. It is entirely possible that they are a good idea anyway, but not because they raise tax revenues.

Besides, I always thought this argument was a bit odd since one of the objectives of conservatives is to reduce the size of the government - that smaller government in and of itself is a good thing. So why would we want to raise more tax revenue to expand the government?

No Free Lunch

It seems that low-calorie sweeteners just might be too good to be true.

Torture

Andrew Sullivan has been posting quite eloquently about torture lately, very strongly making the case that it is absolutely and utterly abhorrent under any circumstances.

When you hear a banal phrase like "stress position", and hear people dismiss it, remember that everything is in the doing. And when human beings are given total control over others, they are capable of great evil. Sane and civilized societies do not give permission for such things. And they do not make excuses for them. And when they discover they have been done, they investigate and prosecute those who broke the law.

A couple more for good measure.

It's a shame about John McCain - his opposition to torture was one of his greatest virtues.

All Rolled Into One

This post (by who else but Megan McArdle) has a little of everything:

A tax, on the other hand, makes people better off by letting consumers choose whether they want to use more efficient bulbs; turn on fewer lights; or to cut their carbon consumption somewhere else. But efficiency regulations are easier to pass because the non-cash costs are invisible

I do not pretend that Obama is perfect, but he is much less likely to favor increasing regulatory authority; his solutions tend to focus on transparency and simple rule changes rather than massive new apparatuses for extending state power.