Define Legalism

And then he didst commit the cardinal sin of intellectual discourse for he uttered "Don't think, just do it."
And just because you win every argument, doesn't mean you're right.

Veritas Vincit

I first saw this article on the wall in our bathroom. When I read the pull-quote I had to stop and finish the whole thing.

You rock wheelchair guy!

This is the most awesome picture ever. This weekend I when to the DC101 Chili Cookoff featuring Cake and Jimmy Eat World. Top prize has to go to the paraplegic in who crowd surfed in his wheelchair. Special blog tie-in: the grey clad arms belong to fellow blogger Stef (Newspaper Taxi).

Inhabitants of the concrete jungle

urban tribe n. A group of city dwellers who have formed a bond through a common interest, such as work or a social or recreational activity.

The urban tribe is a concept banging around the halls of pop culture critics, best-seller psychoanalysts, and trendy philosophers since the late eighties. More people are familiar with the concept than would be familiar with the term which has only recently found full elucidation in a book of the same name by Ethan Watters. The idea is that of a group of friends usually of both sexes though single and in their twenties or thirties. They live in a different city than their families and have delayed marriage later than earlier generations. In that vacuum they develop a close knit ritualized group of friends that have the appearance of a family but are outside any traditional form. Basically, the cast of the TV show Friends. This is an interesting concept. I intend to read Mr. Watters' book and deal with the idea further.

Magnetic Fields

It's really cliched to say so around my wing, but the Magnetic Fields are an awsome band. Stephin Meritt's lyrics are very skillful. His songs tend to be the perfect summation of an emotion everyone has felt pro ejemplo:

Or I could make a career of being blue
I could dress in black and read Camus
Smoke clove cigarettes and drink vermouth
Like I was seventeen, that would be a screem..

from: I don't want to get over you - The Magnetic Fields

A poem for you amusement

This is a poem I wrote inspired by the events so wonderfully blogged by Micah Towery.

Walking down the street at night
Passing windows dark and light
It is late the walks are still
I feel so wrong I feel so ill
I run and run to anywhere
I have got to go just be there
There is music rushing hushing
And my face is flushing blushing
In the dark the air is sweet
In the dark the air is sweet

I hear the bass I hear the drums
I hear the guitar when it strums
The sound surrounds me I can’t see
Where by God can they be
Down tiny streets and alleys blind
The living rhythm fills my mind
I feel the beat it’s thumping pumping
I hear the sounds it’s jumping bumping
I run and I can’t feel my feet
I run and I can’t feel my feet

Dark spice scents across my nose
I fly by houses all in rows
A yard is bathed in electric glow
And people dancing fast and slow
I yearn towards it with all my soul
This living riot is my goal
There the drums are pounding sounding
There are the people hounding bounding
Here am I and I am beat
Here am I and I am beat

How am I not myself?

Well the big day arrived, the highlight of the cinematic season, the premire of "I Y Huckabees" at last. The long awaited existential comedy who's trailer was an experience in itself. The grand verdict was kinda dissapointing but then the expectations may have been too high. I was a quirky, absurdly funny, offbeat film that made a weird kind of internal sense but left the view a little baffled. It was not the greatest movie ever nor the motion picture salvation for all thinking peoples. All in all the trailer was better than the film which sort of dragged towards the end as it's interesting characters begin to fail it. It did have nice music and some good quotes. Worth seeing, but not owning.

Inside the Beltway

This is an article I wrote after attending the Christian Coalition "Road to Victory: 2004" conference in DC

Washington, DC-
“John Kerry for President.”
“I voted for Kerry before I voted against him.”
“BUSH ’04: 4 more wars!”
“Bush/Cheney ’04.”
“Re-defeat Bush.”
“Kerry is scary.”
Bumper stickers, hundreds of them. They marked the backs of a quarter or a third of the cars driving into DC Friday morning. The District’s political saturation has come to a boiling point with the impending election. With all the shapes, sizes, and tones, the stickers fell into two distinct categories: Bush or Kerry. The highway was shared by two camps, two opposing teams awaiting the final show down.
This morning a part of the city played host to the conference of the Christian Coalition which attracted several prominent figures of the far right. Each speaker brought a different perspective and championed a different issue. All in all they spread out the fabric of American conservatism going into the election.
The Road to Victory 2004 conference featured training seminars instructing attendees in methods of grassroots political activism, strategy sessions focusing on the most pressing current issues and pending legislation, a Friday night gala dinner at the Washington Renaissance Hotel, and a session all day Friday in the Dirksen Senate Office Building were several elected officials and political activists spoke.
“Instead of having elected officials come to us as we have in the past, we decided to come to them, to come to their house,” said Robert Combs, President of the Christian Coalition.
In 1979 Rev. Jerry Falwell formed the Moral Majority, a grassroots political action group that rose out of the conservative evangelical community. For decades before this, fundamentalist Christians shied away from politics. The reversal of momentum was powerful; the group is largely credited with both of Ronald Reagan’s victories and must have contributed to the election of George Bush in 1988. The group was dissolved in 1989 and its mission was carried on by the Christian Coalition, its largest offspring founded that same year. The Coalition’s stated goal is to promote a “pro-family agenda.”
“It’s worth the fight to save the foundations of the American family,” said House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) who spoke Friday. The primary legislative thrust of the pro-family agenda is currently the Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA), which would add to the Constitution the definition of marriage as a union between one man and one woman. The FMA went before the House on Thursday

“There is a very distinctive role for a man and a woman in the life of a child,” said Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO), sponsor of the FMA. The main reason for FMA is the attempts of several states and courts to legalize same-sex marriage, specifically Massachusetts, California, and Oregon. Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender groups have called the bill an attack on their basic human rights.
“We are attacking no one, we are defending the basics institution of marriage,” said Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), who described the importance of tradition marriage to our national wellbeing. “It is the glue that holds this society together.”
Several speakers criticized the courts for forcing the need for a constitutional amendment and accused judges of trying to rewrite the law.
“There is only one branch of government supposed to be making law, the legislature,” said Rep. Musgrave.
“Aside from terrorism, one of the greatest threats to our country in activist judges,” said Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO), sponsor of the Pledge Protection Act of 2004 which excludes federal courts from ruling on the “under God” clause.
“Judicial activism destroys the people’s right to govern themselves,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “Judges are changing the laws that the people and their representatives have chosen,” said Sen. Hatch who denounced the Democrat’s blocking of confirmation proceeding on current judicial nominee and their use of Roe vs. Wade as a litmus test.
“A candidate’s position on Roe vs. Wade is a candidate’s position on what kind of government we have,”” said Father Pavone, head the Catholic pro-life group of Priests for Life, who called abortion a horrible crime that undermines our system of government.
“It’s an illusion to think that a politician who cannot respect the life of a little baby can respect yours or mine,” said Father Pavone. “A holder of public office who turns his back to an entire segment of the population who is being destroyed does not deserve to hold public office.”
“We can elect a pro-family, pro-life president or we can elect a man who voted against the partial birth abortion ban,” said Speaker Hastert. The differences between George Bush and John Kerry were a common thread throughout the day. The election loomed large over each issue.
“This is a year of big stakes,” said Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY). “You know there is a war in Iraq, well there is a war going on here too.”
“We hear all the time ‘this is the most important election in American history.’ Well this one is,” said Sen. Hatch.
The speakers demonstrated overwhelming support for President Bush, who has maintained a close relationship with the religious right and has been widely described as a man of faith.
“I’ve met President Bush on many occasions,” said Armstrong Williams. “Bush is a decent man. It’s not because he’s Republican or Democrat. Let’s not kid ourselves. It is what you believe in.”
“I’m going to predict for you: we will be at the polls like never before. I have never been so optimistic about this country,” said Rev. Jerry Falwell, whose “get out the vote” efforts spawned the Christian Coalition and like organizations. “There is a spiritual awakening; I cannot tell you how explosive it is.”
Rev. Falwell did, however, warn that the support of the religious right was contingent upon the Republican Party continuing to uphold conservative values.
“We don’t tell people to vote Republican or Democrat; we tell them to vote Christian. Christian is simple, it’s a buzz word. It means pro-life, pro-family, pro-morals, and a strong national defense,” warned Rev. Falwell. “The Republican Party does not have the head count to elect a president without the religious right.”
But Rev. Falwell placed his support behind the campaign of President Bush and pledged the efforts of his grassroots activists.
“We’re going to win in a landslide in November, but let’s play the game like we’re a point down. Let’s not get cocky,” Rev. Falwell said.
“I am encouraged by the grassroots efforts of people across the country,” said Dr. Michael Ferris, veteran political activist and President of Patrick Henry College. Dr. Ferris spoke on the need for conservatives to focus on education.
“People who receive an elite education disproportionately become the leaders of the nation,” said Dr. Ferris, decrying the liberal hold on education. He described the need for conservative interest in education and called for the creation of a “Christian Ivy League,” which he believes his college is at the heart of.
At 4 o’clock the session adjourned and the attendees headed back to the Renaissance Hotel for the “Faith and Freedom Gala.”
“I don’t care what your background is, there are families everywhere who’d want their children to be able to start the school day out with a prayer,” said Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC), the keynote speaker. “What we have in common is the family. We’ve got some brothers and sister in the Islamic world who want the same thing for their families as you want for yours.”
Sen. Graham was followed by Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) who spoke on the role of faith in government and John Fund, an editorial writer for the Wall Street Journal, who spoke on the need to eliminate voter fraud and warned that “Election Day could turn into Election Month again.”
Mr. Fund concluded his remarks and a praise chorus took the stage. Some people left while others clapped and cheered as the ballroom became more like a prayer meeting than a political gala. To those who remained, Roberta Combs gave these concluding remarks:
“It’s a continuous fight and it’s a continuous sacrifice to move forward.”

Putting the "Vice" in Vice President

Watchin' the debates
Best coverage on the net: Wonkette (if you can handle it)

And the beat goes on...

The Desolate Field
By William Carlos Williams

Vast and grey, the sky
is a simulacrum
to all but him whose days
are vast and grey and --
In the tall, dried grasses
a goat stirs
with nozzle searching the ground.
My head is in the air
but who am I . . . ?
-- and my heart stops amazed
at the thought of love
vast and grey
yearning silently over me.

The kudos, the kudos

The grand rollout has received numerous mentions on fellow blogs, check them out:

David Cooper
Brooks Lampe
Micah Towery

Don't be dramatic

I just watched "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and "Lost in Translation." The common thread? Both star great comic actors in offbeat serious roles. In my opinion, both Jim Carrey and Bill Murray do excellent jobs crossing genres. They are very believable in contrast with the previous films "Hamlet" (featuring Bill Murray) and "The Majestic" (starring Jim Carrey) where I found both a little disconcerting. Though it didn't detract from their great acting, both Eternal Sunshine and Lost in Translation included a few brief glimpses that reminded us who the actors really were by letting their old, familiar mannerisms shine through for a moment.