Best Year Ever!(for Oil Barons)

Aren't you happy for Exxon Mobil, which just announced the highest quarterly profits of any company in U.S corporate history, and the largest annual earnings by a publicly held company ever. $25 billion for the entire year in 2004 and $8.42 billion for the last quarter alone. And where's that money coming from? You guessed it! Crude oil sales. So, while we're all suffering at the gas pump, you can rest assured that the world's largest publicly traded oil company isn't suffering at all! Warms the cockles, eh?

Exxon Mobil's annual profit is higher than the GDP of Syria and the company fell just short of $300 billion in sales for the year 2004. Better luck this year guys!

Department of Wish I'd Said That

It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into.
-Jonathan Swift

Also:

We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.
-Swift in Thoughts on Various Subjects

Learning by Going

Great Nature has another thing to do
To you and me, so take the lively air,
And, lovely, learn by going where to go.
This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.
What falls away is always. And is near.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I learn by going where I have to go.



Wise words from "The Waking" by Ted Roethke, one of my most favorite poets.

Twenty First Century Folk Songs

We walked for forty blocks to the middle of the place we heard where everything would be.
And there were barricades to keep us off the street.
But the crowd kept pushing forward 'til they swallowed the police.
They went wild...

We left before the dust had time to settle.
And all the broken glass swept off the avenue.
All the way home held your camera like a Bible, just wishing so bad that it held some kind of truth.
And I stood nervous next to you in the dark room.
You drop the paper in the water and it all begins to bloom.

That's Bright Eyes (AKA Conor Oberst) - lovely lyrics from "Old Soul Song (For The New World Order)" off his new album I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning. Folks have been comparing this young whippersnapper to Dylan for years now. Stacks of MP3s and videos on the Saddle Creek site.

Patently Unfair(To Say the Least)

I'm acquainted with SC state Senator Mike Fair. He attended the church I once attended in Greenville, SC. I ate in his home, when he and his family were kind enough to host our college group there.

Mr. Fair recently introduced this bill in the South Carolina Legislation. In reaction to complaints about state-funded license plates reading "Choose Life," which have no pro-choice counterpart, Fair offered the bill, which states the following:

THE DEPARTMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES SHALL ISSUE "CHOOSE DEATH" SPECIAL LICENSE PLATES AND TO PROVIDE FOR THE DISTRIBUTION OF FEES COLLECTED FOR THESE SPECIAL LICENSE PLATES TO THE SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH TO USE FOR COUNSELING POST ABORTION TRAUMA IN FEMALES WHO HAVE HAD ABORTIONS.

I'm somewhat hesitant to describe myself as pro-choice, but I think abortion is a complicated shades-of-gray issue which some conservatives try to paint as black and white. However, given only the choices of pro-abortion, pro-choice and pro-life--and all three terms being heavily freighted with rhetoric--I'd have to describe myself as pro-choice. With that admission, I don't know how to describe Fair's action in any other way than repugnant. Repellant. Morally indefensible.

This is what far-right conservatives in South Carolina offer in the way of dialogue over abortion? One license which at least politely suggests "Choose Life" and another which actively shames those who have had abortions? Mr. Fair's reaction to the declared unconstitutionality of the state's one-sided license plate is to create two one-sided license plates, including a revolting and oppressive one?

The debate over abortion is a serious one and for good reason. And both sides have serious points which deserve to be heard. But Mike Fair refuses to treat the issue seriously. As Planned Parenthood says in the press release I received:

Not only is this bill a pathetic attempt to stigmatize those of us who understand the importance of safe, legal and accessible abortion as being "pro-death," it is also a slap in the face to women who have undergone abortions.

Mr. Fair's bill combines flippancy, vulgarity, and sheer contempt for other human beings in a way I've never seen present in legislature before. At best, his bill is a waste of the SC Legislation's time and lacking in any moral seriousness. At worst, it's a vicious and cruel-hearted attack on woman who have had to wrestle with something he will never have to.

I would ask Mr. Fair to imagine himself in the place of a father whose 12-year old daughter has been raped. Full of fear and shame, the daughter takes two weeks to tell her parents about her horrible ordeal. The family soon discovers their pre-teen daughter was impregnated by her attacker. Mr. Fair, what would you do? Would you have your daughter carry her child to term? Become a mother at 12? Allow the rest of her life to be changed because of the actions of one wicked man? Or should she carry her child to term and put it up for adoption? What will she do during those months? Should her parents send her away for nine months until the baby is born as they would have decades ago? Or should she stay at home, perhaps never leaving the house, for fear of suffering the stares and disdain of people both familiar and strange? What if after wrestling with the decision for days, even weeks, in a state of agony, which a man cannot begin to understand, the girl decides to abort the fetus and to try, somehow, to move on with her life? In this case, Mr. Fair, would you suggest the father purchase a "Choose Death" license plate, knowing that part of his purchase would go to department of health, which could aid in his daughter's psychological recovery?

Of course, Mr. Fair isn't serious about this legislation. It's just a joke to him. A sick, cruel, monstrous joke.

Mr. Fair makes a big deal about his being a Christian and has close ties with Bob Jones University. Tell me Mr. Fair, in this case, what do you think Jesus would do?

Bored?

This funky little Flash video for Evil Nine's driving hip-hop tune "Crooked" should get your body movin'. Featuring Aesop Rock. Flash by UK's Preloaded, who also encourage you to "watch telly."

NeoCon NeoNsense

Earlier, I attributed this year's "Quote of the Year Thus Far" to a poor, innocent middle-aged Tennessee lady in devil jeans. Oh, how soon we forget! Here's the real "Quote of the Year Thus Far" and it goes to none other than America's favorite Vice President, Dick Cheney:

We don't want a war in the Middle East if we can avoid it."

Oh, man, that's a good one! I'm wiping the tears from my eyes. Who writes this stuff for him? Maybe Carson was sending 'em in? Guess we'll never know.

Cheney was responding, of course, to Seymour Hersh's recent New Yorker article in which Hersh suggests the neo-cons may now be planning a neo-imperialist incursion into Iran.

Money quote from "a former high-level intelligence official":

Next, we’re going to have the Iranian campaign. We’ve declared war and the bad guys, wherever they are, are the enemy. This is the last hurrah—we’ve got four years, and want to come out of this saying we won the war on terrorism.

Yee-haw boys!

(And, er, we don't want no war in the Middle East? You mean, aside from that little skirmish in Iraq?)

RIP Philip Johnson

The inimitable American architect Philip Johnson died yesterday at 98. Now, that's what I call a long, full life. This Wikipedia entry has a good listing of his work.

Note that the Times's superlative architectural critic Paul Goldberger wrote Johnson's lengthy obit.

Devil in Denim

This must be the quote of the year thus far: "I'm glad I serve a God who can work through my pants."

But you *gotta* read the whole thing: an 83 year-old Pentecostal preacher gets into a scuffle with two sisters - ages 46 and 64 - over the fact that they came into his church wearing blue jeans.

"You're not wearing pants in my church, you demon," the preacher apparently said as he came down from his pulpit to mete out his justice upon these sinful ladies.

Part of me thinks, what have they got in the water up there in Tennessee? Part of me thinks, man, I woulda paid to see that!

Defining Torture Down

In Tom Tomorrow's latest cartoon, he gives conservatives a right proper (pictorial) spanking for their defense of torture.

(Via Andrew Sullivan.)

When We Say "No Smoking" . . .

No smoking at Michigan healthcare company, Weyco, Inc. They reserve the right to fire employees who smoke at work or at home. Weyco just fired four employees who refused to take a test to determine whether they smoked or not. The company doesn't want to pay for their higher health insurance.

Part of me says, hey, folks don't hafta work if they don't like it. Part of me says, what will other legal behavior will companies start restricting because it's an inconvenience to them? I guess if they restricted it to activities, which verifiably cost the company a greater amount, I may not have a problem with it. I mean, think about the smokers you know who go on all those smoke breaks. That costs the company money, too.

Your thoughts? Am I being a meanie by leaning towards, let the company do what they want in this case? If the government were telling people they couldn't smoke, I'd be more concerned.

(Via Pike Speak)

Just Because I Can

Just to join the rest of the blogosphere, a gratuitous SpongeBob mention. Solidarity ya'll!

Now, please consider giving to the Human Rights Campaign. As we found out today, the battle against the amendment is far from over.

BTW, it's been pointed out elsewhere, I'm sure, but it's especially sad to note that James Dobson's complaint with SpongeBob was not even that the fictitious sponge creature might be gay, but that a cartoon character was being used to promote tolerance of gay people. So. It's wrong to be tolerant of gay people. Man, which Jesus does this guy spend his spare time studying?

I mean, let's devolve for a moment and pretend homosexuality is wrong. How do you think Jesus would treat gay people, Jim? I mean, Jesus treated prostitutes with respect. With tolerance. Even lovingly. Can you really imagine him treating gay people otherwise? (Just for the record: If Christ had treated gay people with animosity, I believe he would've been in the wrong.)

You know, I don't consider tolerance such a big deal. I mean, you can tolerate soemthing and still believe it's annoying, nasty or even wrong. So how exactly does Dobson suggest his followers treat gay people?

Personally, I don't think being tolerant is enough.

A Byrd & a Bush

Michelle Malkin tries to make the case that since Democratic Senator Robert Byrd was once a klansman, then the media--and particularly CBS--should pay special attention to the fact that he opposes the Condoleeza Rice nomination.

Come on, Michelle. That would be a story if Byrd were against Condi's nomination because she's black. But I doubt that's the case. And I doubt Malikin could prove it is. Besides, there are plenty of good and decent reasons to oppose the Rice's selection for Secretary of Defense.

I mean, should The Weekly Standard and The Washington Times have run a headline saying Texas Cokehead Runs for President back in 2000?

No, of course not. That wouldn't make sense. That wouldn't have been fair.

So why is Malkin digging up the past?

She even admits in a previous piece that Byrd left the KKK back in 1943. Sixty two years ago. What''d Barbara Boxer do 62 years ago that Malkin can dig up? What a minute, Boxer can't even be that old.

So Long, Johnny

Johnny Carson died today at 79, apparently from emphysema.

KOed by Kauffmann

I always enjoy reading Stanley Kauffman's movie reviews for The New Republic. More often than any other reviewer (and I read many), his taste overlaps with mine. He often has a dissenting opinion when mainstream films are concerned. He didn't think much of the almost universally praised Clint Eastwood flick Million Dollar Baby, for example, which I haven't seen. Here's his one sentence appraisal of the female lead:

Hilary Swank, who seems to me to have too many teeth for a boxer, tries hard and sincerely.

Ouch. Now, that's what I call a back-handed compliment!