Dreaming On

The Forward has nice biographical snaplet of Jewish lesbian poet Adrienne Rich, on occasion of the publication of her new book, A Human Eye: Essays on Art in Society, 1996-2008.

The Is/Ought

Publius explains to Ed Whelan the difference between a descriptive and a normative argument.

Vermont Legalizes Gay Marriage

Vermont made history today as the first state to legalize gay marriage through legislative means, overriding Republican Gov. Jim Douglas' veto. I look forward to hearing how getting a 2/3 majority in both state houses is insufficiently democratic.

And while I want to reiterate my congratulations to Iowa, I have to say that it is New England which is really representing on this issue. Half the states in New England (Connecticut and Massachusetts are the others) have now legalized gay marriage.

Clean Hands

A performative contradiction:

"We're disappointed that Levi and his family, in a quest for fame, attention, and fortune, are engaging in flat-out lies, gross exaggeration, and even distortion of their relationship," [Palin family spokeswoman Meghan] Stapleton said. "It is unfortunate that Levi finds it more appealing to exploit his previous relationship with Bristol than to contribute to the well-being of the child."

Because clearly this tirade is helping tons in terms of creating a solid and supportive family environment.

Happy Bodies

A group of Carleton College students, including the lovely Jill, have started a new blog: Happy Bodies, promoting body positivity.

We began to talk about bodies. We wanted to talk about our own: what they look like, what they do, what we think about them. And we wanted to talk about all our bodies: health and positivity, discrimination, sexual violence, and power.

We wanted a space to talk about bodies. So, here we are.

Give them a warm welcome.

More On Drug Enforcement

Pun definitely intended.

As the Supreme Court considers whether (poorly warranted) suspected possession of ibuprofen justifies the strip-search of a 13 year old girl in school, and on the heels of the ruling that teenage drug use is so terrifying that we have to ban gibberish phrases to keep the monster at bay, a Fairfax County (VA) student got suspended for two weeks and may face expulsion after she was caught popping her birth control pill during lunch. Drugs + Sex = a county that either needs to learn how to roll with flexible circumstances, or have a rock thrown at its head.

The student did learn some useful information though. If she had showed up to school high on heroin, she would only have been suspended five days. Live and learn, I guess.

McCain Lashes Out

The National Journal reports that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is not happy with the Latino community, whom he views as betraying him by giving 2/3 support to Barack Obama in spite of his strong support for immigration reform legislation:

"He was angry," one source said. "He was over the top. In some cases, he rolled his eyes a lot. There were portions of the meeting where he was just staring at the ceiling, and he wasn't even listening to us. We came out of the meeting really upset."

McCain's message was obvious, the source continued: After bucking his party on immigration, he had no sympathy for Hispanics who are dissatisfied with President Obama's pace on the issue. "He threw out [the words] 'You people -- you people made your choice. You made your choice during the election,' " the source said. "It was almost as if [he was saying] 'You're cut off!' We felt very uncomfortable when we walked away from the meeting because of that."

In 2006 and 2007, McCain was a leader on immigration, but his efforts ran aground largely because his legislation included what many Republicans derisively characterized as "amnesty," a pathway to citizenship for the nation's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants if they took a series of steps to earn legal status.

Having stuck his neck out in the past, McCain apparently is in no mood to do so again for an ethnic group he seems to view as ungrateful. On NBC's Meet the Press on March 29, McCain repeated his message that the ball is in the Democratic president's court. So far, the senator said, he has not seen much on immigration from the Obama White House, although the president recently met with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and set the goal of launching the debate in the fall, a senior administration official said.

It would be perfectly reasonable for a Latino voter to say "John McCain bucked his party to support a position I care intensely about, and thus I'm voting for him." It would be equally reasonable for that voter to say "I'm glad John McCain voted the way he did, but that's one issue and on a host of others, we have fundamental disagreements. At the end of the day, I'm closer to Obama than McCain." It'd also be reasonable to say "I like McCain fine, but the Republican Party has gone crazy and I'm not comfortable putting them into power -- even with McCain as the leader." The notion that they owe him something is ridiculous.

Mushy

I'm a big fan of J Street, and that hasn't changed. But Mira Vogel of Greens Engage writes something that I have noticed and does bother me: J Street is awfully mushy on the topic of anti-Semitism.

This position on Caryl Churchill is a manifestation of an aspect of J-Street that makes me uncomfortable. It’s not the entirety of J-Street - it’s the part which tries to fend off antisemitism with appeasement. “They say there’s a Jewish lobby? Well, we’ll show them a second Jewish lobby which speaks against the one they hate. We’ll be seen to criticise Israel. We’ll be recognised as US patriots. And then they’ll leave us alone”. The pathos is acute.

It's the good Jews all over again. With the prevalence of the Livingstone Formulation amongst the left-wingers that they wish to convert, J Street seems to think the best way to counter is by studiously refusing to call anything anti-Semitic (except, presumably, the most obscene cases). This is how one wins credibility on what passes for today's left; or it would, if it works. And I'm not sure it will -- Mr. Livingstone's fellow travelers are quite adept at recasting any criticism of leftist orthodoxies on Israel as knee-jerk accusations of anti-Semitism.

But to an extent, this is besides the point. Since I don't think a genuine left can take such a blase attitude towards resurgent anti-Semitic attitudes (even when they don't rise to the level of murderous violence), J Street's approach is more than just aggravating: it's an indictment of its professed political position. If J Street is going to be what it aspires to be, it can't take the easy way out. It might look more difficult to build a genuine pro-peace alternative to AIPAC without this form of appeasement. But I think J Street will find the people whom it thinks it is appealing to through this tact will not be true friends when push comes to shove. In any event, if J Street wanted to do things easy, it could have merged with AIPAC. There's a reason I and many others are looking for an alternative, and it isn't because we're just looking for another set of cliches to jump to.

An Inventory

People get known for the randomest things. At the law school, I've developed a little bit of a reputation for wearing college t-shirts -- both the frequency of wearing them and the variety of schools represented (particularly given that I have little to no linkage to many of them). So I thought to myself: what exactly is my inventory of various higher-education shirts? Unfortunately, I'm too lazy to check, so this is by memory:

Carleton College (2x)
University of Virginia (2x)
University of Chicago (2x)
UC-Berkeley
UC-Santa Barbara
Columbia
Yale
Arizona State (MIA)
University of Miami (MIA)

It doesn't look like that much, but when you think about it, that's enough to get me through two school weeks wearing nothing but various university shirts. Impressive, I think.

Incidentally, I'm wearing UVA today, and wore UC-Berkeley yesterday.

What a Boxing Weekend

This weekend was just an orgy of good things for the boxing fan.

First, Friday Night Fights got a knockout of the year candidate with Randall Bailey's (39-6, 35 KOs) vicious destruction of Francisco Figueroa (20-3, 13 KOs).



(Go to 2:13)

Then, Golden Boy Promotions put on a great PPV card Saturday with its "Lightweight Lightning" quasi-tournament. Everything about this card was done right. The original lineup of fights was spectacular; with injury dropouts, it stepped downwards merely to excellent. The price was $40 -- very reasonable for four legitimate lightweight battles. And the fans were not disappointed. In the first fight, which might have looked to be the least competitive on paper, late replacement Rolando Reyes (31-4-2, 20 KOs) turned on the heat in round five to take out former titlist Julio Diaz (36-5, 26 KOs). Reyes has been laboring as a fringe contender for awhile now, and this vicious KO of a legitimate top-10 guy may finally give him that big fight. He's calling out the other J. Diaz, Juan "The Baby Bull" (34-2, 17 KOs), and I for one like it. It's a good payday and step-up for Reyes, and it is a legitimate and live bounce back fight for Diaz, who is coming off a KO loss to division champ Juan Manuel Marquez (50-4-1, 37 KOs).

The next fight pitted Vicente Escobedo (20-1, 12 KOs) in a major grow-up fight against former titlist and Salvadorean national hero Carlos Hernandez (43-8-1, 24 KOs). Escobedo, who represented America in the Olympics, was a highly touted prospect whose career momentum stalled out after split-decision loss to Daniel Jimenez. Hernandez, the first person of Salvadoran descent to win a world title, had said he had to win this bout or retire, and he fought like it, putting forward every ounce of grit, veteran savvy, and determination to put Escobedo in the trenches all fight long. Escobedo, who is more known as a lanky boxer, rose to the occasion, matching Hernandez shot for shot on the inside and knocking down the veteran twice in rounds one and two to get the decision victory. If this is it for Hernandez, what a way to go -- he surely covered himself in glory.

The co-feature put action star Michael Katsidis (25-2, 21 KOs) against comebacking former titlist Jesus Chavez (44-5, 30 KOs). It may have been the least exciting fight of the night -- but that isn't saying much. It was a back and forth brawl for the first several rounds before Katsidis began to impose his will on the older, oft-injured fighter. Katsidis (and perhaps more importantly, Katsidis' corner) needs to learn that he is not a boxer. He is a brawler. He wins when he gets in his opponent's grill and wails on them. Chavez quit/retired at the close of the seventh round. It wasn't completely out of line -- Katsidis had seemingly turned a corner and was landing many hard shots on Chavez, but it still didn't look like the hometown fighter was completely out of the fight. But Chavez -- who has battled injuries throughout his career, not to mention the Leavander Johnson tragedy -- was bothered by a cut all fight long and seemed to definitively lose his focus. It may be time for him to call it a career as well.

Finally, we saw the headliner -- and by this point, the promoters had long since earned my $40. Antonio Pitalua (46-4, 40 KOs), who burst onto the lightweight scene with an upset KO victory over Jose Armando Santa Cruz (whom many thought should have been the lineal champ when he was robbed of a victory over Joel Casamayor), got the honor of fighting YouTube sensation (and 70s porn star look alike) Edwin Valero (25-0, 25 KOs) -- the Ring's #1 Jr. Lightweight contender who possesses frightening power. But this was the first time he has fought in the US (licensing issues due to a brain bleed in a non-boxing related accident). Valero was moving up in weight to fight Pitalua, whose power isn't too shabby itself (14 straight knockouts since his last lost in 2001).

Let's put it this way -- Valero is for real. Pitalua is a durable fighter, if a bit of an unknown quantity. In round two, not only did Valero knock Pitalua down, he did so with a hook on his heels. And it still had Pitalua on queer street. Pitalua managed to get to his feet, but it was only a matter of time, and referee Laurence Cole waved the fight off as Pitalua went down for the third time in the round.

Meanwhile, Showtime had its own card going on. I missed Librado Andrade (28-2, 21 KOs) cruising to a decision over Vitali Tsypko (22-3, 12 KOs), but from what I've heard it was a typical Andrade victory: marching forward with a terrifying imperviousness to punishment and progressively breaking down a game Tsypko. This sets up a rematch with Lucien Bute (now 24-0, 19 KOs), who controversially defeated Andrade after the referee gave him a little help and extra time allowing him to survive a 12th round knockdown. Bute, who is originally from Romania, has been adopted by Montreal as one of their own (which has lead many to speculate about the motives of Montreal-based referee Marlon Wright). But after two fights in Montreal, now Andrade has also seemingly been accepted as a local there, which will make for a fabulous fight scene when the two meet up again in what is rapidly establishing itself as one of the premier fight cities in the world.

The main event was a unification bout between Patterson, New Jersey based Kendall "Rated R" Holt (25-3, 13 KOs) and California-representing Timothy Bradley (24-0, 11 KOs). In the first round, Holt put Bradley down for the first time in his career (amateur or professional) with a huge right hand. It is testament to Bradley's incredible conditioning that he was able to rise at all, and he had the state of mind to walk to his corner and then take a knee to make sure he was all gathered up before rising again at 8. From there, the fight was a textbook Kendall Holt evening: the ability to control the fight, and persistent refusal to do so. Holt's jab was giving Bradley fits when he used it, but that wasn't often. His work rate was low throughout the fight but particularly in the middle rounds, when Bradley put round after round in the bank. Holt woke up a little towards the end of the fight, but even in the 12th round, when he actually scored another knockdown after Bradley's gloves touched the canvass, there was never any sense of urgency. It cost Holt his belts in a unanimous decision that could have gone either way (Bradley was clearly worried as the scores were being announced).

Holt wants a rematch. It isn't the most unreasonable request in the world, but really, Holt's got nobody to blame but himself for his loss. When he lets his hands go, uses his jab and keeps the workrate up, he really is a special talent. But in fight after fight (even some of his victories), he's demonstrated serious focus lapses, and at some point you have to wonder if it is something he'll ever overcome.

But that's a downer note to end this post on. The point is, I got to watch six genuinely wonderful fights this weekend. That is a great thing, and I am grateful to the fighters and promoters for putting these shows together and giving all of us fans such compelling performances.

Getting Me Killed

The Pittsburgh man who shot and killed three Pittsburgh police officers believed that the US was influenced by "Zionist propaganda":

Mr. Perkovic and other former classmates said they were surprised by this morning's events. Mr. Perkovic said Mr. Poplawski was opposed to "Zionist propaganda" and was fearful that his right to own weapons would be taken away but he wasn't a member of an organized group or militia.

"He always said that if someone tried to take his weapons away he would do what his forefathers told him to do and defend himself."

Another friend, Aaron Vire, 23, said he'd helped Mr. Poplawski and Mr. Perkovic with a radio show they'd broadcast on the Internet, discussing "politics, girls and life."

Mr. Poplawski had supported Republican candidate John McCain in the presidential election and had "very spirited debates" about Democratic candidate Barack Obama, Mr. Vire said. Mr. Poplawski was opposed to Mr. Obama's election, which he thought would result in the loss of his rights, Mr. Vire said.

"He wasn't a racist but thought some of his amendments were overlooked," Mr. Vire said. Even though Mr. Vire is black and Mr. Poplawski is white, the debates over President Obama did not hurt their friendship, he said.

Mr. Poplawski told him he bought his guns "because he felt the quality of life was being diminished," Mr. Vire said.

"He said he'll be ready if there's ever an invasion of the United States and that he had stockpiled foods and guns for that eventuality."

Dave Neiwert already has the goods on how Mr. Poplawski was probably stoked by right-wing extreme paranoia about Obama, liberals, and guns. Today, three Pittsburgh officers died because of it. But it's worth noting the usual right-wing intersection between anti-state violence and anti-Semitic attitudes.

Believe me, I know enough to worry about left-wing anti-Semitism. But in this country, it remains right-wing elements which are most likely to provoke and implement violence against me and my family. When Beck, Limbaugh, et al launch their rants and ratings calling for violence and insurrection, that gets pointed directly at me, because I'm contained on the list of legitimate targets by the folks with the gun. And it's something I keep in mind about anyone who supports or apologizes for these inflammatory thugs.

A Helping Hand

The Jerusalem Post has a fascinating article up about Israeli settlers who want out:

Breaking the stereotype of the radical settler are an increasingly vocal number of families in certain communities who want to leave voluntarily, driven by motives ranging from personal security to wholesale political U-turns. Bound together in wanting out of the West Bank, they are campaigning for government assistance to enable them to move out of their homes, which in some settlements have plummeted in value. But their potential lifeline, a law compensating those who voluntarily evacuate, is now facing an uncertain fate, with a new right-wing government and the most liberal US administration Washington has seen for years.

For those of us who think that arresting the growth of the settlements is one of the crucial stepping stones to reaching a peaceful solution to the conflict, this is an important instinct to nurture. A goodly chunk of the settlers recognize that their presence is an obstacle to peace, and they are willing to leave, so long as there are feasible alternatives (hell, even Avigdor Lieberman has placed himself in this camp, albeit in his case only as part of a negotiated resolution to the conflict rather than in response to a proposed resettlement program). I'm more than willing to support an Israeli law compensating those who resettle in Israel proper, and I believe the US should throw its own diplomatic muscle into getting it passed (hell, why not bundle it into our own financial aid package that goes to Israel?).

The article notes that a large portion of the settler community, far from being the stereotypical religious zealots, are more akin to American exurban families. They were drawn to the West Bank because of the open space, the potential to have a bigger house than reasonably available in Israel's core, even superior schools. To be sure, it was Israeli policies which made that dream realizable in the West Bank (like the United States, which very deliberately constructed the conditions which allowed what we know as suburbia to flourish). And, again like the United States, many of these policies were at the very least spectacularly short-sighted, if not wholly disconcerned with the way they affected political outgroups. We shouldn't overstate: there is still much hostility directed toward the people within the settlement community leading the calls for evacuation. But their presence in neither minuscule nor trivial, and is something that committed actors have a chance to build upon.

It may be this article is overly optimistic. Nonetheless, once we get past the idea of all the settlers is irrational nutjobs motivated by hate, it is possible to create and implement a pragmatic peace agenda that can get them out of the West Bank. Every settler that we can get out of the West Bank and back into Israel is one less irritant blocking the resolution of the Israel/Palestinian conflict. But even those settlers who personally desire to leave and are even ideologically aware of the implications for regional peace and justice are going to hard pressed to register support for any evacuation if they don't know where they're supposed to land after they're pushed. It doesn't do any good to yell and wave signs about ending the occupation if you're not thinking about what happens the day after.

(Via Greens Engage)

UPDATE: Charles Ettinson has a good followup post tracking where the bill is at in the Knesset and the particulars of "how" to get the settlers out.

Leave Out All The Rest

Last night's episode of Dollhouse might have been the best in the series. The twists were well executed, we got a much better look at Topher and Dr. Saunders, and an inside look at the personalities of some of the main dolls (Sierra, particularly, got fleshed out excellently). This show has really found its voice over the last few episodes, and for that I'm really happy.

Meanwhile, I was listening to the latest Linkin Park album, and it occurred to me that one of their songs seems to fit perfectly with the theme of the show (this is a program which managed to make Lady GaGa's Just Dance fraught with meaning, so Linkin Park isn't much of a stretch).

I dreamed I was missing
You were so scared
But no one would listen
'Cause no one else cared

After my dreaming
I woke with this fear
What am I leaving
When I'm done here?

So if you're asking me
I want you to know

When my time comes
Forget the wrong that I've done
Help me leave behind some
Reasons to be missed

And don't resent me
And when you're feeling empty
Keep me in your memory
Leave out all the rest, leave out all the rest

Don't be afraid
I've taken my beating
I've shed but I'm me

I'm strong on the surface
Not all the way through
I've never been perfect
But neither have you

So if you're asking me
I want you to know

When my time comes
Forget the wrong that I've done
Help me leave behind some
Reasons to be missed

Don't resent me
And when you're feeling empty
Keep me in your memory
Leave out all the rest, leave out all the rest

Forgetting all the hurt inside
You've learned to hide so well
Pretending someone else can come
And save me from myself
I can't be who you are

When my time comes
Forget the wrong that I've done
Help me leave behind some
Reasons to be missed

Don't resent me
And when you're feeling empty
Keep me in your memory
Leave out all the rest, leave out all the rest

Forgetting all the hurt inside
You've learned to hide so well
Pretending someone else can come
And save me from myself
I can't be who you are
I can't be who you are

-- "Leave Out All The Rest", Linkin Park

RIP Dr. King

That is all.

Y'all Shall Not Kill

I'm converting to Oklahomaism!

Via Steve Benen's TWIG.

Bauer Channels The Bad Romney

Back in the cesspool that was the 2008 Republican primary, Mitt Romney indicated that he would refuse to hire any Muslims into his cabinet were he President of the United States (to his credit, John McCain was I believe the only Republican candidate to sharply criticize the remarks).

Now, former candidate and all around nut Gary Bauer has a column up entitled "Muslims in the White House?", raising the terrifying specter that Obama, who "says he's a Christian", may still appoint some Muslim persons to various jobs in the White House.

The Two Things He Fears Most

Ah, there it is: Rep. Steve King's (R-IA) reaction to the Iowa Supreme Court decision striking down the state's gay marriage ban:

This is an unconstitutional ruling and another example of activist judges molding the Constitution to achieve their personal political ends. Iowa law says that marriage is between one man and one woman. If judges believe the Iowa legislature should grant same sex marriage, they should resign from their positions and run for office, not legislate from the bench.

Now it is the Iowa legislature’s responsibility to pass the Marriage Amendment to the Iowa Constitution, clarifying that marriage is between one man and one woman, to give the power that the Supreme Court has arrogated to itself back to the people of Iowa. Along with a constitutional amendment, the legislature must also enact marriage license residency requirements so that Iowa does not become the gay marriage Mecca due to the Supreme Court’s latest experiment in social engineering.

I genuinely wonder whether King hates the "gay marriage" or the "Mecca" part of that statement more.

In Dissonance, Strength

In my readings on the effects of diversity in social institutions, there have two distinct and seemingly contradictory findings that have emerged. The first, more pessimistic, is exemplified by Robert Putnam's study which found decreased social cohesion in diversified communities, particularly in the form of greater withdrawal from the public sphere. The second, indicated by Samuel Sommers, provides data which shows that diversified institutions tend to out perform their homogeneous peers.

It may be, though, that far from being a contradiction, these effects are two sides of the same coin. A new study published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin argues that we see improvements in institutional performance through the addition "Socially Distinct Newcomers" in tandem with increased discomfort by the "old-timers" at their presence. From the abstract:

The impact of diversity on group functioning is multifaceted. Exploring the impact of having a newcomer join a group, the authors conducted a 2 (social similarity of newcomer to oldtimers; in-group or out-group) x 3 (opinion agreement: newcomer has no opinion ally, one opinion ally, or two opinion allies) interacting group experiment with four-person groups. Groups with out-group newcomers (i.e., diverse groups) reported less confidence in their performance and perceived their interactions as less effective, yet they performed better than groups with in-group newcomers (i.e., homogeneous groups). Moreover, performance gains were not due to newcomers bringing new ideas to the group discussion. Instead, the results demonstrate that the mere presence of socially distinct newcomers and the social concerns their presence stimulates among oldtimers motivates behavior that can convert affective pains into cognitive gains.

This is definitely an interesting study -- the finding that the increased performance gains were not due to the unique ideas of the out-group. That's in itself counter-intuitive and deserving of further study. But the overall observation of the paper -- that the discomfort in-groups feel about diversity (that Putnam observes) actually translates into concrete performance gains (Sommers) has many important implications for policy-making in the context of meritocratic structures (i.e., ones where "performance" matters).

***

Katherine W. Phillips, Katie A. Liljenquist, Margaret A. Neale, "Is the Pain Worth the Gain? The Advantages and Liabilities of Agreeing With Socially Distinct Newcomers," Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 35, No. 3, 336-350 (2009) (via)

Clash of the Titans

Rep. Don Young (R-AK) has a better idea for former Sen. Ted Stevens than a futile effort to get Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK) to resign. He thinks Stevens should challenge Gov. Sarah Palin (R) and try and take the Governor's mansion.

Are Both Sides Up For Investigation?

This Ha'aretz article, reporting on the appointment of Jewish South African judge and prominent international law expert Richard Goldstone to lead a probe into war crimes allegations stemming from Israel's Gaza operation claims that Goldstone's mandate includes both Israeli and Palestinian violations. This is a break from the UNHRC's historical practice, and conflicts with other sources I've read which say Goldstone only has jurisdiction over Israeli activities.

This AP article seems to catch the heart of the dispute:

According to the mandate, the investigation should focus on Palestinian victims of the three-week war between Israel and Hamas earlier this year.

But Goldstone, a Jewish former judge of the South African constitutional court, said his team would investigate "all violations of international humanitarian law" before, during and after the conflict that ended Jan. 18.

"It's in the interest of the victims. It brings acknowledgment of what happened to them. It can assist the healing process," he told reporters in Geneva. "I would hope it's in the interests of all the political actors, too."

Martin Uhomoibhi, the council president, explained the apparent contradiction by saying the mission always intended to evaluate the proportionality of Israel's response, which requires that acts of both warring parties be examined.

It will be interesting to see a) how vigorously Goldstone pursues his claimed mandate over violations committed by both sides and b) how the UN bodies will react if Goldstone does do more the engage in a pro forma critique of Palestinian human rights violations.