Elves have their sexual needs, like all of us, apparently (completely safe for work). Only Tolkien suggests they were much more chaste than us humans. Unfortunately…
To disappoint slash writers everywhere, there were no clear statements of elf homosexuality. There weren
Something about this Wired article totally grabbed me. Well, the headline and deck hed are pretty arresting in combo, but then the article itself did this spectacular job of drawing me into this little dark room with these two scientists, poking at eggs under a microscope. Somehow, the writer gets away with using science jargon without turning me off. I read all the way through. I learned a bit, too. Now I’m all interested in seeing how these experiments turn out.
I haven’t seen any links to this fantastic William Saletan article, so I’m-a step in to fill that void.
Saletan humbly links back to his overconfident September 2000 prediction that GWB was “toast,” and then goes back to his earlier spot-on analysis of Bush’s whiz-bang political technique, and rounds up the whole thing by showing how Dean is employing that very same technique in his attack on Bush. Great stuff, and I’m not even a Sale-fan.
Take a look at that universal acclaim, baby.
The score will drop as more reviews come in, I’m sure. But will 11 reviews so far, that’s still pretty damn impressive.
Robin and I already have our tickets. How about you?
Mr. John Edwards also gave his foreign policy speech today. Thankfully, instead of posting the whole, high-fallutin’-rhetoric-having speech on his website, he presented it in a nutritious little bite-size five-part morsel. But Edwards’ and Dean’s ideas are basically parallel. His five planks, in brief:
1) Global Nuclear Compact: Everyone get together and non-proliferate!
2) UN Resolution: Criminalize terrorism-sponsoring and nuke-developing countries.
3) Secure Loose Nukes: Triple the amount we spend on threat reduction programs. To do this, we’d severely cut back our own nuke-developing efforts.
4) Homeland Intelligence Agency: This new government wing would take over the terrorist-tracking duties of the FBI. We’d also hire more intelligence folks.
5) Non-Proliferation Director: A new high-level administration position.
Dean’s outline was broader; he includes more money for non-proliferation efforts and assorted goodies like $30 billion to combat AIDS. But where does he plan to get these billions from? Edwards’ plan may be more realistic.
Of course, if the Dems lose Congress, neither plan will have much traction now, will it?
While the L.A. Times was running 19 pages of Saddam coverage (thanks, Kevin Drum), Dean was giving his major foreign policy address. Like all such speeches, it was long on rhetoric and short on specifics, but here’s the broad outline:
Saddam in custody is nice and all, but it don’t change much.
There are three parts to Dean’s terrorism-wrasslin’, mass-destruction-avertin’ plan:
1) Grant more resources to military and intelligence agencies, but less on nuclear weapons development and testing.
2) Rebuild our shattered alliances, giving special consideration to a NATO role in Iraq and foreign affairs in general, as well as to Latin America.
3) Focus the fight against terror by making it a global thing, and building up our homeland security institutions (bringing the National Guard back home, for example).
Extra goodies:
I am very happy Saddam was captured. I hope justice will be brought on the evil man, and to his wounded country. Great job, 4th Infantry Division.
I also hope The Washington Post puts this David Finkel article back up in a prominent spot on the front page. My infant crush on the WaPo has now developed from an unfertilized ovum into a full-fledged zygote with this piece. A sample:
Everyone turns to look at Hill, the only one with a hand in the air, and suddenly her status is clear. They will lose their jobs by the end of December. She will still be working in January. They are seasonal. She is permanent. They are Sales. She is Sparkle.
Bloggers everywhere are agog.
At CalPundit and at Daily Kos, armchair pundits (much like myself) read elaborate Machiavellian intentions and ramifications into the move.
In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, Al Gore has apparently decided to endorse Howard Dean tomorrow.
To me, this is unexpected, but not mystifying or nonsensical, by any stretch. Over and over again these past few months, Gore has indicated a desire to reach the exact same demographic that is currently falling all over itself for the good doctor — the young, tech-savvy, anti-war types that continue to make people stand up and notice Dean’s campaign. Gore’s and Dean’s most prized audiences align almost perfectly; it seems like a perfect fit to me.
Why all the shock?
Dean/Clark.
Dean/Clark.
Quite the intriguing ticket. The combination has almost a dramatic potency. Dean, whichever way you slice it, has a record of actually accomplishing his prioritized goals against political odds, rare in recent Democratic observance. And of course his campaign itself is a phenomenon. Clark is, quite simply, an
Is it possible to make a movie out of someone like Stephen Glass and not glorify him?
My strongest reaction to seeing “Shattered Glass” yesterday is the desire to read all of his fabricated stories from The New Republic. Seeing as how the magazine has removed those articles from its web archives, and my curiosity isn’t strong enough to fuel a visit to an actual library to read the articles, I have to satisfy myself with reading the transcript of his 60 Minutes interview, a few of his former associates’ takes on his new novel and movie, and his [partially? completely?] fabricated work for Harper’s.
“Shattered Glass” anticipates these impulses, and spends its second half punishing me for having them. For thinking that Peter Sarsgaard’s two-dimensional Chuck Lane really is humorless and self-righteous. And that even if Hayden Christensen’s Stephen Glass is a conniving psychopath, he’s also a clever, self-deprecating wunderkind whose imagination only outstripped his conscience. (And besides, the chap had the decency to provide us with a name divinely outfitted for plays-on-words