Link-dump

Take a look at one, several, or all of these links, whatever interests you! Comments always welcome!


Education

A wonderful and in-depth breakdown of the problems with No Child Behind Left--I mean, No Child Left Behind. Let's hope the new administration takes the advice in this article!

Heroes who said no when they were told to administer standardized tests!

Alternatives to standardized testing revealed!

What kind of a society are Open Court and its scripted-curriculum siblings trying to create, says the postmodern eco-anarcho-syndicafeminist to the masses? Someone look up the description of fascism. Yes, I'm being histrionic (that's a word unlikely to be covered in a scripted program -- it's too big -- it means melodramatic), but when life is melodramatic, I rise to the occasion.

Who benefits from hyper-accountability and Every Child Left Behind? Click here and find out. Discordians, find the 17 and 23. Everyone, look for the re-creation of the aristocrat class.

Poverty affects the brain like a stroke. This is part of why I'm becoming a teacher.



Barack Hussein Obama

I know I've been hard on the guy, but read this and pass it on. I'm still fairly well convinced that he faces some of the worst danger of assassination as any of our presidents. Every bit of protection helps!

Barack won't end the war in Iraq. Welcome to many more years of war, militarization, and wasted money.



Politics

A nice

and loving look at a conservative father by a liberal son.

Extremely touching, and a wonderful model for anyone looking to

build empathy and compassion across ideological lines.

Pleasnt Grove City claims that, as a city

government, its "free speech" rights allow it to restrict public

displays to Christian elements (the Ten Commandments, in this

case), to the exclusion of any other religion (in this case,

small new religious movement Summum's Seven Aphorisms). I'm

left wondering: Does the government have free speech rights

when acting in an official and/or collective fashion? Should

it?

"Touching" is a

word rarely used to describe anything political. This website

is touching. Go. Visit it. Now.

I feel

odd as I read this article concerning the automotive industry

bailout. I identify as a postmodern anarcho-syndicalist, yet

when I am not talking about total revolution (or, hard for me to

look at, an ideal society I may be emotionally attached to as

impossible), I seem to feel more like a big-government liberal.

I'm not certain if this is a failure of spirit, a giving to

Caesar what is Caesar's, or what . . .

I can

say nothing but the title of this sermon: "The Unlikely

Martyrdom of Free Market Jihad". Mmm, mental/rhetorical candy .

. .

I'm not so sure about this article; it seems to make decent conclusions based on "good" data and take them to the level of smearing and bad-naming by the end. If you can sort out the reasonable from the a-little-hard-to-swallow (but not necessarily untrue), I think it very much helps understand the complex recent heritage of the modern conservative movement. I will say that, although the McCarthyite inheritance is certainly a major part of the conservative movement, and although the various movements that oppose themselves to the conservatives (progressive, liberal, radical, et cetera) have tolerance and diversity of thought and opinion as one of their greatest virtues, nonetheless the us-vs.-them discourse has greatly infected those movements in a strange sort of way: "It's us versus them, 'cause they think in terms of us versus them." It's an all-too-easy mental trap I often find myself falling into . . .

A truly sensible list of possible Obama appointees! This just makes me think: imagine what government would be like if we expanded the definition of professional to be truly democratic! Democracy cannot survive when there develops a group of people whose sepcialization is policymaking (the sort of professional that is the only type of person many people are willing to accept as present at the higher reaches of government); in fact, the point of specialization in democracy is (well, first of all, it's a bit weak, but I -- obviously -- think anarcho-syndicalist government and labor structures can find the right balance, but it's also) that the people who do X decide how to legislate X. That is, farmers decide how to govern farming, reporters decide how to govern reporting, sexbloggers decide how to govern sex, tree-sitters (and lumber companies!) decide how to govern the forests, et cetera. Before anyone says anything: yes, I can see how problematical that would be if it onvolved current structures of power-over and money-based incentives, et cetera; that's why I had to mention the deeper and/or more far-reaching reforms I lumped together under the name anarcho-syndicalist.

It's not just San Jose-based Jeppesen helping the CIA move people around for questionable reasons! Also, Discordians, I found two 23s while reading this (one was the number of diggs, so that might change) -- AND the airport used was in a town called Moron! How many fnords can you see?

I'm wondering what ya'll think of this post . . . I'm trying to digest it myself . . .

A discussion of some Theosophical writings concerning politics, from back in the day a century ago when alternative religions and new religious movements (such as Theosophy and even Spiritualism) wrre unabashedly and unapologetically political, and when that political stance was intimately tied into their cosmology and theology. Oh, how I miss those days I never saw :-)

Neil Gaiman calmly and rationally (and powerfully) explains the First Amendment and what it means to be a free-speech activist. Should we be ashamed that a Brit (whose home country HAS no free-speech rights) is explaining this to us?



International Politics

A

beautiful and wonderful essay by historian Vijay Prashad

concerning the events in Mumbai recently

Mumbai

as reflection of American-establishment views on the Iraqi

insurgency, an illuminating take on the situation, to be sure!



NEWS FROM AUSTRALIA: LABOR MP James Bidgood, the first-time MP under investigation for selling pictures of a protester attempting to set fire to himself outside Parliament House, has declared the global financial crisis an act of God. Yep. Just . . . yep.

Amsterdam is trying to gentrify, ya'll.

Ever wonder what it's like to be a "security detainee" in Iraq?

Somalian pirates are, in origin, environmental vigilantes. This is quite intriguing . . .



LGBTQQIA

The letter I sent to Mayor Stu Rasmussen:
Salve, Mayor Rasmussen.

There has been a lot of talk since November 4th about the

historic nature of Barack Obama becoming President of the United

States. I find myself having difficulty feeling the same sort

of optimism, hope, and a sense of real change (both accomplished

and possible) that other people feel from his election. I think

this is because I always assumed that I would live to see the

nation's first black president, that it would happen in my time.

Though I am reticent to admit it, being a liberal well-versed

in political correctness, the fact that I do not identify as

black and, as far as I know, no one in my family does either,

might be a factor in this response (or lack of response) as

well.

I do, however, identify as genderqueer. I was assigned a male

sex at birth and raised masculinely, but that assignation never

fit. Nor, in truth, does "woman" (making me not a transsexual),

though I take on and identify with many aspects of femininity.

No, my gender is something else, something more fluid, something

more undefined. I choose to call this identity "genderqueer".

Needless to say, there few transgendered role models highly

visible in our culture, and fewer still who provide positive

models. I never once thought that I would see a member of my

community elected to any position in the United States. In

those hopeful moments when I managed to fool myself into doing

so, I always imagined that it would be a transsexual who was

elected, someone who allowed the masses to keep their two-gender

system intact, someone who wouldn't challenge the fundamentals

of the system, only its details. This made me sad, even in

these optimistic moments, because this person I imagined being

elected still wouldn't quite represent me in all my heterodox-

gendered glory.

But you were elected, Mayor Rasmussen. Though I've never met

you or talked to you, the newssites tell me that you identify as

a transgendered man who presents femininely, rather than as a

male-to-female transsexual. Where Barack Obama has taught black

people and others around the country that "Yes We Can", I,

rather, have learned that lesson from you. Thank you very much.

Thank you a thousand times.

His response:
Greetings Trisissima!

While the media has made much of this election, my role has been relatively small.

In my opinion, the community that elected me voted for the candidate who addressed the relevant issues and offered solutions to the perceived problems. They were already comfortable with my gender fluidity and it was not an issue for the majority.

Honestly, there are probably dozens (if not hundreds) of currently elected officials with gender variances, I am probably just the most 'out' about it. Maybe this will allow others to come out of their closets and show the world that it's not the package, it's the contents that matter.

It will take time, but we have ll the time in the world :)

Thanks for your kind comments

Mayor Rasmussen's website

Prop H8 events throughout California up through halfway through January!


Pop Culture! Just 20 seconds in the microwave and you

get hot, steaming, salty, fattening, delicious Culture!
Pop Culture

In case you haven't heard

yet, Amanda Palmer of Dresden Dolls fame has been judged "too

fat" by her record label. People are reacting with

understandable disgust, outrage, and solidarity, but I find

myself focusing more on the fact that she won. The label

let her make the video. She must be one totally awesome person.

If anyone is stuck on what to get me (for whatever winter

holiday you celebrate), I think her album might be a good idea .

. . ;-)

The changing traditions of marriage. I thought I was well-read on what traditional marriage was, but this article taught me some stuff! Read it!

Anyone wanna go to this conference with me in January?



Spirituality

A few recently published books that sound pretty

awesome.

Especially check out the last one; alfrecht wrote it

and he's, well, quite frankly, he's pretty awesome :-)



Environmentalism

Curious about clean coal? Just ask Al Gore!

Again I mention the Greek word oikos ("home") root of both ecology and economy. Not only do I want to know more about ecological economics (gift idea!), I think it's amazing that New Scientist is publishing it!

I wanna live in a house like this! Anyone have the money and/or land in San Jose to subsidize me? I'd pay you back! Think of it as a loan!

As lupagreenwolf so eloquently put it: You can't fake nature!



Wanna buy me a present?

Holy shit! They made a video game out of one of the best Batman graphic novels ever! Seriously, Arkham Asylum: A Serious House for a Serious Earth; was Grant Morrison's treatise on the Tower card of the Tarot using the famous Lovecraft-named mental institution just outside of Gotham. If you haven't read it, go read it! NOW! I'm not a big video-gamer, but I think me want . . .

More Cthulhoid Christmas Carols!!!!! I don't own any of these, but me want! me want! me want!