Just got an email with some blogs from a friend I trust on such matters, and I thought I’d share, for those of you looking to do oppo research.

Mudflats. Newer, but high quality.

Progressive Alaska by Phil Munger, who’s worked with FDL and other progblogs.

Celtic Diva’s Blue Oasis who was a credentialed blogger in Denver.

Kodiak Konfidential which looks a little on the silly side, but why not?

OK, fuck all that html; it’s Labor Day, dammit. You can copy and past the rest:  Read more 

[update: fixed the link, sorry about that] Fear and Loathing (or not) in Denver:

Another pause. Then: “If Obama wins, I just hope that black people don’t start thinking they’re superior.”

You all can hate on me for this, but I really wish we could discuss this more here. If this doesn’t hook you, try this, from the same post:

overcome all the fuzzy directions and vague instructions and claw our way past the security staff, shove our way past the Google lounge and up the diggit staircase and down the YouTube corridor…into a hectic room full of rude people with laptops. As a software guy, it occurs to me that I’ve never seen a room with so many computers and so few Asians. In fact, it seems to me that the blogger pool is considerably less racially diverse than the mainstream media. The overwhelming whiteness of this crowd really can’t be exaggerated.  Read more 

As Mulder’s office poster said, “I want to believe!”

It took a Texan receiver misjudging the two-point conversion pass after a touchdown Houston scored three times before it counted to salt away the Cowboys’ first preseason win of the year, but the ’Boys eked out a 23-22 win over the Texans in the game for the Governor’s Cup.

Tony Romo and Terrell Owens appear back in sync, but the best news of the night is that Houston Texan Harry Williams, who was laid flat on the field, motionless with a neck injury in the first quarter, is said to have movement in all four extremities.  Read more 

Via Avedon, find out at this site, here is mine (coulda been worse!):

Feel free to leave yours in the comments!

I am a big fan of science-fiction in general (good science-fiction is always good sociology), and of Joe Haldeman (that website needs some updating, Joe! Oh well, we can console ourselves with Live Journal) in particular ever since I read The Forever War. I have read all his books since and they keep getting better (The Accidental Time Machine was great but then again, I love the time travel sub-genre). The latest one is Marsbound. It belongs to the first contact genre, humans meet aliens.  Read more 

There is a place in New Mexico, a few miles outside Carlsbad, you should go. Just because you can see the Seven Rivers country from one of the overlooks in Living Desert State Park. You can watch a bobcat have a bath, rub an elk’s nose, study more than 40 species of Chihuahuan desert native wildlife at your own pace — and for a reasonable price. You can see these folks, at their house, too.
— and some really impressive birds, too  Read more 

Reading is my second favorite indoor sport. It’s (late) summertime, and the book I want to talk about posits a world in which ordinary Americans confront extraordinary circumstances — and as is apt to happen, do so with mixed results. It’s called 1632, and the author is Eric Flint.

Some might call it science fiction; others might call it fantasy. I call it a rippin’ good story — and without being pedantic, it reinforces “the American way” as it was before 2000. The book isn’t new — it was written in 1998-99.  Read more 

So apparently this dude named John Edwards has had an affair, and even ran for teh presidential nomination knowing that there was this little skeleton in his closet.

Colour me shocked. Tall, telegenic politician running for national office has a secret affair? How can this be?

All jokulating aside, obviously we all know that cheating on your wife is probably not a good thing, especially when she’s recovering from cancer. But we also all know from, um, previous experience, that it’s not wise to speculate about the peculiarities of relationships between the rich and famous.

It’s also probably not wise to have an affair when running for president.  Read more 

Cross-posted from The Global Sociology Blog.

In addition to the plenary session which I’ll talk about below, I attended a couple of teaching workshops sessions that are probably of interest only to me, but they provide me with materials for

Things that suck and make me run out of the room within the first 20 minutes of a session  Read more 

Sounds veerrry interesting. Quixote at Shakesville does a good job setting the stage for what may be a forthcoming announcement from NASA.

Yay! Sounds like we’ve learned something new! I don’t care what they found — more water, organic compounds, fossil bacteria, everybody’s missing socks — just, Yay! It’s hard not to hope for something conclusive about life.

Meanwhile, People of Earth wonder (as summed up by Watercat at Shakesville): “Why are they briefing the US President, and how are they getting scientific facts into little tiny words so he can understand them?”

Cross-posted from The Global Sociology Blog.

Things that suck:  Read more 

• Having one’s flight delayed for 2 hours because of a big time thunderstorm in Chicago

• Being seated on the plane next to a big guy (so, no armrest separation possible) who progressively opens his legs wider and wider… guys, keep your goddamn legs together and stop encroaching on women’s already drastically limited legspace, ok?

• Being surrounded by people who must think their disgusting habits have to be shared in public (picking one’s nose, chewing gum with one’s goddamn mouth open and making a lot of slushy noise, manicuring oneself by opening one’s mouth really wide and shoving half one’s big finger in there)… seriously, I wish there were 2 economy cabins: one of normal people like me, who just read, rest and have their Ipods on. And then one for families with kids and people with gross habits… a sealed and soundproof cabin for them… heck, different flights altogether.

Apparently it has. I thought I remembered these guys outlasting Magnum, but it looks like, via the Wayback Machine, I was wrong.

Apropos of not a lot, I remember when TV tried to entertain, maybe even uplift, the viewers. Wha’ happen’?

Cross-posted from The Global Sociology Blog.

Parts one, two and three.

The highlight of the session “Women Confront Globalization” was the screening of a rough cut of the film Poto Mitan - Haitian Women, Pillars of the World Economy, directed by Renee Bergan (she is also the founder of Renegade Pictures) and she co-presented it with anthropologist Mark Schuller of UC Santa Barbara, co-director of the film.

 Read more 

Well, no one could say Mr. Nader is a shy, retiring type:

Nader was asked if Obama is any different than Democrats he has criticized in the past, considering Obama’s pledge to reject campaign contributions from registered lobbyists.  Read more 

Woohoo!! My DVD arrived today!

Persepolis is the animated film by Marjane Satrapi, relating her coming of age in Iran, starting before the fall of the Shah regime to today.

The film is divided into several segments:  Read more 

Cross-posted from The Global Sociology Blog.

(Via Le Monde) Today, the Council of Europe launched a campaign against most forms of corporal punishment, including slapping, spanking, hitting, mistreating, humiliating and any other practice that damage the dignity of a child. The campaign will consist in TV ads , the publication of a manual for parents on violence-free parenting as well as materials for parliamentarians of the Council’s 47 member countries.  Read more 

Cross-posted from The Global Sociology Blog

I watched The Devil’s Miner (website) last night for the first time (it was originally from 2005) and what a film this is. The central question of the film is

How do we live in dignity?

Especially when you are 14 years old, living in Potosi, Bolivia, and you work at a mine inCerro Rico, "the mountain that eats men"? The mines there have been exploited for 450 years and are responsible for 8 million dead. Initially, exploited by the Spaniards, the mines were taken over by the Indios (indigenous peoples) and run as cooperatives but it is still as dangerous and it is still drudgery.

The film’s central character is Basilio He is 14 and has been working in the mines since he was ten. He lost his father when he was two, so, now, he is the father in the family, so much so that his little sister, Vanessa, calls him "papa". He works with his little brother Bernardino, who is twelve (also in the mines). The boys go to school for half a day and spend the rest of the time working in the mines.  Read more 

because you did ask …

2007 commemoration of Bloody Sunday at Brown Chapel AME Church, in Selma, Alabama

update: i deleted the photo from this post

Since I have just received my DVD of this great film, I thought I’d re-post the review I wrote at The Global Sociology Blog.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a wonderful and harrowing adaptation of the book of the same name by Jean-Dominique Bauby (“Jean-Do”, as everyone calls him). Jean-Dominique Bauby was the editor of the French fashion magazine Elle when, at 43, he had a major stroke that put him in a coma for three weeks. When he finally regained consciousness, he was suffering from a rare condition named “locked-in syndrome”: his mind was intact but he was completely paralyzed, from head to toe.  Read more 

So, I have to confess: I can’t find my Muse. Yes, I’m sick and tired over some RL crap that won’t go away, but it’s deeper than that. And I’m not sure exactly why. I keep driving back the little voice, that is so loud and obnoxious sometimes when I’m doing the standard political surfing. She says, “you know you just don’t care about this shit anymore.”

It may come from the horrible primary bullshit that won’t die. It may come from my inability to find affordable health care. It may come from the crushing burden of caring for those for whom no one else will care for, and which my moral values demand that I do. I guess I’m just not sure. Old Timers: is this normal? In the midst of a “hot” political season like we’re having now? All I seem to want to think about is sex with Jewish grrls and my flowers. I feel guilty, lazy, untalented, stoopid, etc.

I think most of you here grok it, even if you express it differently. HRC wasn’t my choice, but I can share with all of you my many fears about what a BHO admin will really mean, bring, create, destroy, etc. Just as I have disdain for his supporters who can’t call- no, I won’t go there. So where should the energy go, or rather, where is it to be found so I can get it back? I crapped out of supporting Harry and Nancy shortly after our Glorious Victory of 06, and I haven’t been sorry about that, those lying fuckwads. These days, my answer to ennui over national politics is “local, local, local.” It’s working, but at the same time, not as satisfying. Anyway, I’m rambling as I’m on the verge of a major migraine and about to go to sleep to fight it off. But I’m wondering, am I alone? So much of what I read on today’s intertubes seems so transient, so fake, so much not of the moment that matters to people who eat food and breathe air. Or, it could just be summer. What do you think?

Cross-posted from The Global Sociology Blog.

Elizabeth Pisani’s The Wisdom of Whores - Bureaucrats, Brothels and the Business of AIDS is a great book (along with a great website). Elizabeth Pisani is an epidemiologist with years of experience working on HIV/AIDS (or sex and drugs, as she puts, which sounds a lot, well, sexier) at a variety of agencies, including UNAIDS. The book is the story of her frustrations at the way the international community, national governments, NGOS and AIDS activists have dealt with the epidemics, as well as her hopes in some of the progress made.

I got interested in the book when I read an interview Pisani gave to the Guardian. The interview kinda billed the book as a controversial work where Pisani would be the mean lady who said people got AIDS because of their stupid behavior and not enough was being done because of political correctness. So, I was ready to get really pissed off with the book. That has not been the case at all.  Read more 

It is clear that Senator Clinton did not imply an assassination attempt against Senator Obama. Listen to the clip.  Read more 

Massive post alert, Cross-posted from The Global Sociology Blog, because believe it or not, there is other stuff going on in the world besides tomorrow’s much anticipated coronation.

I read all these articles and reports so you don’t have to.

Weeks after the food riots spread around the world, a flurry of articles have been published all over the place, taking stock of what is happening, providing analysis and critique as well as prospects on global food production and policy. So let’s review.  Read more 

(Massachusetts Senator Ted)Kennedy’s Senate office released a written statement just after 2 p.m. today offering the first official confirmation, saying, “It appears that Senator Kennedy experienced a seizure this morning. He is undergoing a battery of tests at Massachusetts General Hospital to determine the cause of the seizure. Senator Kennedy is resting comfortably, and it is unlikely we will know anything more for the next 48 hours.”

This is actually good news as first reports indicated a stroke and a situation that might be life-threatening. If you are so inclined, send positive thoughts and/or prayers on behalf of this public servant and his family — he’s among the last of a generation whose work, despite the steady drumbeat of repeal from Nixon ’til now, helped lead the United States of America into the light of progress.