Valid Response or Fighting Words?

The unnecessarily long and painful path toward the approval of government bridging loans for General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC has exposed a new threat to Detroit. It’s one that Michigan consumers may want to keep in mind as they consider their expenditures, vacation options and even retirement plans.

The problem here centers on certain southern states — Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia and, in particular, Alabama — where certain bone-headed senators seem to have forgotten that the Civil War ended, with the appropriate outcome, almost 150 years ago.

During recent Congressional hearings, these ‘good old’ southern boys made it clear they could care less about Detroit’s survival and blocked passage of emergency loans in the Senate, leaving it to a decidedly reluctant President George W. Bush to approve the financial relief package….

So what should be done about this attempt to put Michigan out of business? The suggestions from readers came in thick and fast.

Apparently Alabama is quite a tourist destination for Michigan residents, so perhaps they will want to find other places to spend their hard-earned dollars. The southern state is also heavily favored by retirees from Michigan, but maybe that could change, too.

One other thought raised by readers concerns disasters; not the financial kind we are all experiencing, but the natural variety — droughts, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods — the sort of calamities that afflict southern states on a regular basis.

As you point out, federal taxpayer money flows freely in these circumstances, and so does free assistance from northern states, including Michigan. Detroit automakers, for example, gladly helped with vehicles and personnel when Hurricane Katrina slammed the Gulf Coast.

Is it time the South is reminded that a mean-spirited attitude is not a smart play when the whole country is on the ropes?

–full article at The Detroit News

[via Jesus’ General]

…The pope said humanity needed to “listen to the language of creation” to understand the intended roles of man and woman. He compared behaviour beyond traditional heterosexual relations as “a destruction of God’s work”….

—Reuters, via TR

Judgment on the non-heterosexual lifestyles of (allegedly) celibate priests and nuns is still pending.

Dear John Hodgman:

I just read your post about Rick Warren, and I would like to take this opportunity to profess my undying love. (For you, not Mr. Warren.) You are so eloquent and thoughtful on the matter of all things gay that I plan to write the HRC and request special funding for you and your occasional dark master, the equally eloquent Jon Stewart. HRC’s lobbying efforts on capitol hills across the nation would be far more effective with you and Mr. Stewart waging a battle royale for the hearts and minds of America’s hockey moms. Maybe your pal, Ms. Vowell, could tag along, too. She’s neat.

To be honest, I hadn’t given much thought to Mr. Warren. I was vaguely aware of him, and I knew that he had, in the past, taken flack from evangelicals for being too moderate. As someone who spent much of his childhood in a near-evangelical household, that sounded pretty good to me. Which, I suppose, is like a high school sissy saying, “Wow, that bully beats me up a little less than everyone else. He’s awesome”, but there you go.

When Obama announced that he’d tapped Warren–figuratively–I was actually somewhat “meh” (nb: potentially overused word of 2009). I’m not a fan of religion, but I’m a pragmatist, and I understand you have to have a prayer at shindigs like that, or America will call you names.

However, because of you, I am no longer ambivalent about the choice of Mr. Warren. I am not exactly Yosemite-Sam-rootin-tootin mad about it, but it is definitely a mark against Obama in my book. In ink. Thank you.

One more thing: while you’re at this business of changing the world, can you do something about Nicole Kidman? Her face is just…well, it’s just awful. And that Australia movie? I mean, the trailer tells you everything you need to know, doesn’t it? …Anyway, if you could do something about her–at least foment some public scorn–that would be just great. Thanks in advance.

With much love and admiration, I am your humble servant and remain,

Sincerely yours,

Richard

Everyone’s busy, right? Everyone’s up to his/her eyeballs in holiday crap and office parties (a variety of holiday crap) and traveling and cleaning off desks and the normal junk of everyday life, right? Good. Then I won’t complain or moan about that here. I’ll just say that I’m praying to a variety of deities that it’s all over soon.

As a result of all the year-end mishegas, I haven’t really done anything worth mentioning–unless running around like a crazy person who’s seven minutes late to everything is “worth mentioning”. (I just mentioned it, so perhaps it is.) However, I have been pretty good about keeping up with my feed reader, which is sort of an accomplishment. Here’s a handful of people/places/things that have amused/annoyed me over the past week:

1. Germans, who are weird: I mean, we had some kooky stuff going on in America in the 1970s, but check this. Wait ’till the 25-second mark for the oddness to kick in:

[via boingboing]

2. Kevin Allman, who is awesome: Not only is Kevin an excellent writer, editor, and all-around newshound, but he’s also got a great ear for “voice”. His piece on Arianna and her sometimes-shady HuffPo made me laugh while hitting a serious, pointed tone. Someone in New Orleans is developing a real destination site, y’all.

3. The Times-Picayune, which is not so awesome: I know it seems like I rag on the TP an awful lot, but jeez…. I haven’t seen their news pool in a while, but I’m guessing that by now it’s staffed by a bunch of macaques clustered around an overflowing vat of chicory coffee and one ominous obelisk. How else to explain breaking-news headlines like “Homeless taking residence in abandoned hovels”? Really? What next? Humans digest food? (NB: David Cuthbert is a notable exception to the Picayune‘s rule of mediocrity–and he’s retiring in a few months. Game over, man.)

4: Scientists, who’ve posited another theory for the dinosaurs’ extinction: Apparently, volcanoes in India might’ve been to blame. It’s an interesting theory, but I’d give it more credence if the writers knew the difference between “its” and “it’s”. Damned yahoos.

5. My inner wuss, which I have come to embrace: I used to beat myself up about not being able to watch sicko vids–you know, all the Faces of Death stuff or that “One Man, One Cup” crap. “I’m a human”, I’d think to myself, “and this is all part of the human experience. I should be able to watch this. It’s important to be able to watch this.” But as I was flipping through sites the other day, I stumbled across something really horrific–something that had been captured on camera–and I turned it off. Five seconds in, I hit the stop button, and I realized: there’s a lot of information out there, including the 352 unread items dumped into my reader over the past 24 hours. I can be a little choosy.

Speaking of Twitter, this may be my fave tweet so far:

Richard is one of the nine sister goddesses in Greek mythology, presiding over song, and poetry, and the arts, and do you believe me now, Sonny?

Only because it references a really gay movie and Olivia Neutron Bomb and because I say this all the damn time and no one ever seems to notice but it makes me laugh on the inside. And occasionally, the outside.

Richard…

• has been doing far more microblogging than is actually necessary.

• thinks Twitter may have killed his ability to think beyond 140 characters at a time.

• wonders when nanoblogging will supplant microblogging.

• thinks “microblogging” sounds kinda dirty, but says it anyway. ALL THE TIME, OBVS.

• thinks that ALL CAPS is starting to feel very 2008.

• is wondering when/if you’re going see Grenadine McGunkle. ‘Cause we’re not doing it next year, Mary.

• wants absolutely nothing for xmas. Except possibly less stuff. One gift card for antimatter, please.

• is going to spend this evening butching out with some 9-gauge wire and a blowtorch.

• should have a rather nifty Carnival-related announcement to make very soon. Stay tuned.

• wonders which of his friends who have threatened to visit during Carnival will actually follow-up. All of them, I hope.

• has had Billy Joel stuck in his head for the past eight hours (“It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me”). What the hell did I do?

• needs a break. Not a vacation. Definitely not a holiday. A BREAK.

Words to live by, from Tom Ford:

There’s one indulgence every man should try in his lifetime: If you’re straight, sleep with a man at least once, and if you’re gay, don’t go through life without sleeping with a woman. Either way, you might be surprised at how natural it will feel if you can get past the mind-fuck of stereotypes. In the end, it’s just another person that you are relating to in a physical way. [Details, via NY Mag]

I’m not always Tom’s biggest fan, but that’s pretty good advice. I am wondering, however, when’s the last time he’s paid a visit to the va-jay-jay–fragrance bottle avatars notwithstanding [nsfw].

Omigoddess, y’all: erstwhile Running With Scissors stalwart and current San Francisco treat James “Jimsey” Jeske is appearing as C3P0 in Star Wars: Live on Stage! If you’re on the West Coast, run–do not walk— to the Dark Room Theatre to catch one of only eight performances. The rest of you, check out the slideshow from SF Weekly.com and this nifty writeup.

Important to note: the production has a costume budget of about $100. For you non-theatre types, that’s about 1/4 of the fabric budget for a normal show. Does not everyone on that stage look awesome for $100? That Jimsey: so damn crafty!