The Republic of T.

Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for February 27th from 03:06 to 14:47:

• Editorial: President Obama’s Budget: Progress on Health Care –
• Editorial: President Obama’s Budget: Some Honesty About Taxes — Finally –
• Carville: Jindal leads GOP on ‘march of folly’ –
• Op-Ed Columnist: Climate of Change –
• Editorial: President Obama’s Budget: Progress on Health Care –
• Editorial: President Obama’s Budget: Some Honesty About Taxes — Finally –

OK. I value my autonomy (what’s left of it) way too much to do something like this. But the idea of someone else being in charge is tempting at times.

Chen Xiao had pretty much given up making her own decisions and so decided to throw open her life to the whims of China’s hundreds of millions of Internet users, known in China as netizens.

“It’s your right to arrange Chen Xiao’s life, and it’s my obligation to serve you,” read her online shop.

Since December, Chen has been allowing others to decide what she will do each day, because, for the most part, last year was awful, she said. Her hometown was hit by blizzards, her country rocked by a devastating earthquake, friends divorced and her clothing shop went bankrupt.

“Every time I had a plan for what I wanted my life to be like, nothing would come of it. It was very disappointing. I figured if other people came up with things for me to do, I might stumble upon something new and better,” she told CNN.

C’mon, who hasn’t thought about it?

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Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for February 25th through February 27th:

• The Blight of Bagram –
• A Housing Rescue Long Overdue –
• Get Jiggy Wit the GOP –
• Death Row Futility –
• Thou Shalt Not Place Monument –

File this one under, “Are You Kidding Me With This?”

I didn’t see this one coming, but apparently grammarians have pounced on Obama already, just one month into his presidency.

WHEN President Obama speaks before Congress and the nation tonight, he will be facing some of his toughest critics.

Grammar junkies.

Since his election, the president has been roundly criticized by bloggers for using “I” instead of “me” in phrases like “a very personal decision for Michelle and I” or “the main disagreement with John and I” or “graciously invited Michelle and I.”

The rule here, according to conventional wisdom, is that we use “I” as a subject and “me” as an object, whether the pronoun appears by itself or in a twosome. Thus every “I” in those quotes ought to be a “me.”

Let’s keep in mind that, just a few months ago, Obama was a bit too well spoken.

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Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for February 24th through February 25th:

• This is Fucking Insane –
• Whackos Defending Buttars: Kill the Gays! –
• Obama Is Right to Take on the Very Rich –
• Harvey Fierstein: A Letter to Our President –
• Brandt Goldstein: Why Are All the Talk-Show Hosts White Guys? –

A while back I attempted to define “Drop Dead Conservatism.”

High on delusion, denial, and derision, it’s the face of a conservatism unequipped to recognize — let alone meet — the challenges America and the world now face, and blind to the possibility drowning itself in irrelevance. It’s the face of a conservatism that, facing the failure of its ideology, has more anger than answers.

In other words, it’s a conservatism fresh out of ideas, unwilling or unable to “get it” when it comes to the challenges we’re facing today.

Well, if “not getting it” were an olympic event, these guys would “medal.” No question.

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Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for February 24th from 01:40 to 13:51:

• Iraq Museum Reopens Six Years After Looting –
• INSIDE WASHINGTON: Who’s minding your food? –
• Iraq Museum Reopens Six Years After Looting –
• Release Binyam torture data – MP –
• Editorial: Gay Marriage Needs a Vote –

And gay dad bloggers will get around to that after we finish changing diapers.

The Washington Post has an article about gay bloggers that’s worth reading.

Only the blogosphere, perhaps, has room for Pam Spaulding — a black lesbian who lives in North Carolina, the only state in the South that has not banned same-sex marriage.

“California, Arizona and Florida all passed marriage amendments in November,” says Spaulding, 44, an IT manager by day and a round-the-clock blogger. “All eyes are on North Carolina now.” A few days ago, after reports that groups such as NC4Marriage and Christian Action League are organizing a rally in Raleigh to support “traditional marriage,” Spaulding wrote on her blog, Pam’s House Blend: “As predicted, the professional anti-gay forces plan to descend on NC.” What she doesn’t write is that, so long as she’s blogging, what happens in North Carolina won’t stay in the Tar Heel State.

Pam’s House Blend is an influential voice in the gay political blogosphere, must-reads that include the Bilerico Project, Towleroad and AMERICAblog, each attracting a few hundred to a few thousand hits a day. Just as the liberal Net-roots and the conservative “rightroots” movements have affected traditional party structures, the still relatively small gay political presence online is rebooting the gay rights movement in a decentralized, spontaneous, bottom-up way. It’s spreading news via blogs, Facebook and Twitter. Online, a story about two 16-year-old girls in a Lutheran private school in California being expelled for “conducting themselves in a manner consistent with being lesbians” — as the school’s lawyer describes it — goes viral. And hits nerves.

I didn’t even know the article was in the works, but that’s OK. I don’t read my email often enough to get news like that in time to do anything about it. Besides, it loooks like the writer was interested in the bigger names, and my blogging stature has been in decline for the past year, and at this rate I may disappear from the universe altogether.

(Whether that can be turned around remains to be seen, and will likely depend on getting a few extra hours added to the day.)

But at least a couple of the blogs I write for (occasionally) — Pam’s and Bilerico – are featured.

Two speeches from last night’s Oscars stood out to me.

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[Source.]

Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for February 20th through February 23rd:

• Best actor Sean Penn –
• Winslet wins best actress –
• Family accepts Heath Ledger’s Oscar –
• Obama: Government cannot forget lessons of Katrina –
• Prosecution for Bush War Crimes –
• Does ‘Milk’ Spill Into Real World? –
• Economics 101 Meets Buddhism – Alpha Consumer (usnews.com) –
• Pay Wall Street Less? Hell, Yes –
• Republicans clinging to flawed terror views –
• Rename law? No wisecrack is left behind –
• Jacob Heilbrunn: The Republican War Against Jobs –
• Intellectual bankruptcy –
• The Best Oscar Dresses –
• Money Is the Root of All Hypocrisy –
• Why economic recovery isn’t enough –
• Despite Rising Demand, We May Be at Risk of Losing Public Services Like Transit and Libraries –
• The Dukes of Moral Hazard –
• The Hidden Link Between Factory Farms and Human Illness –
• Geronimo’s Heirs Sue Secret Yale Society Over His Skull –
• The Catholic Crusade Against a Mythical Abortion Bill –

By now, everyone’s seen it. Everyone’s heard about it. (And everyone’s blogged about it, but hey, this is the first moment I’ve had time. So here’s the one millionth blog post on the subject.) All you have to do is ask someone, “So, how about that New York Post cartoon?” You won’t have to explain any further.

The only thing more astounding than the Post running the cartoon is how may people don’t get it, and how the people at the Post apparently don’t get why it’s offensive. What else explains what has to be the most heavily qualified, bizarre hybrid of an apology and a defense that I’ve see in a while?

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Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for February 19th through February 20th:

• The Catholic Crusade Against a Mythical Abortion Bill –
• The Catholic Crusade Against a Mythical Abortion Bill –
• The Catholic Crusade Against a Mythical Abortion Bill –
• The Catholic Crusade Against a Mythical Abortion Bill –
• The Catholic Crusade Against a Mythical Abortion Bill –

Dylan’s home with a case of … well … “the big D.” Let’s just call it that. So not much posting here today, except maybe a few digests. (Does anyone actually read those?) Got a coupla things I’m working on , but who knows when or if I’ll get to finish them…

Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for February 18th through February 19th:

• Martin: N.Y. Post’s chimp cartoon is racist –
• The Catholic Crusade Against a Mythical Abortion Bill –
• Holder: U.S. a ‘nation of cowards’ on talking race –
• A Powder Keg: Debt and Unemployment –
• Editorial: The Unfinished Case of Maher Arar –
• Editorial: The Unfinished Case of Maher Arar –

Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for February 18th from 00:00 to 14:23:

• Holder: America is nation of cowards on racial matters –
• Facebook Got Me Elected: How the New Media Helped Make Me the the First Openly-Gay Official in South Carolina –
• Utah Legislators Kill Two More Common Ground Bills –
• Bill to Repeal Anti-Atheist Provision in Arkansas Constitution –
• Is It Possible to Be a Conscientious Meat Eater? –
• Editorial: The Unfinished Case of Maher Arar –
• The Party of No –

Context.

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Well, no. But the image above was recently named World Press Photo 2008, and the judges framed it in a war context.

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Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for February 16th through February 17th:

• Obscene Wealth Can Be a Deadly Sin –
• The Oligarchy’s Bailout Ball –
• Donald Trump's Casino Company Files For Bankruptcy – How appropriate.
• The Price of America’s Prison Gulags –
• Republicans Bet on America’s Failure –
• Not All Happy Families Are Nuclear –
• Food-Safety Bills in Congress? ‘Turn Them Loose’ –
• Deepak Chopra: Can Values Save the Economy? –
• Former A.G. Held Up Torture Report –
• Boys With Toys –