Yeti Menace

One of the biggest ironies of life in America is the prevalence and persistence of poverty. To me, this is the most important and difficult problem facing the country, one that has only gotten worse in my lifetime. The irony stems from the fact that America is the richest, most powerful nation on Earth, providing billions in international aid to developing nations to battle poverty and disease, yet millions of our own citizens live in destitute poverty, lacking the basics: food, housing, healthcare, jobs, education.

The question I have to start with is Why is Poverty a Persistent and Growing Problem? I don’t think there is any one direct cause of poverty in America, it is a confluence of many things. But I think that there is a distinct lack of action on the issues of poverty because of the Ideology of Individualism and our societal Fear of Socialism. There is a disconnect by our political leadership to recognize and address poverty manifested as outright denial. When we have politicians who claim “The State of our Economy is Strong,” they are referring to the economies of the middle and upper classes, not to our economy as a whole, completely ignoring the millions who are persistently poor in America.

To add insult to injury, we have been engaged in the war in Iraq, spending $10 billion a month there. Yet, these kinds of expenditures aimed directly at the problems of poverty: education, healthcare, job creation, even direct assistance are off limits to be considered for domestic spending programs. The Ideology of Individualism and the Fear of Socialism reinforce each other in a causal loop of inaction.

It will take real leadership to address the issues of poverty to make a change in America. It will have to come from the top, from our President and s/he will have to stand ready to debunk the rhetoric of the Ideology of Individualism and the Fear of Socialism that will immediately be called into action against the effort. What can we do about it? We need to talk about it: with each other and with our politicians. We must construct the arguments that the elimination of poverty is making America a better place, for everyone. And that we owe it to ourselves to make war on poverty as forcefully as we would the wars we have fought in the last generation.

Wouldn’t that be the proudest moment of our history, to end poverty in America?

For those of you who don’t know Paul Krugman, you should. Krugman is an economics professor at Princeton and a popular pundit who has appeared on virtually every major news program around. He has been on my must read list for many years now and I look forward to his insightful columns in the New York Times like an eight year old boy on Christmas morning. Krugman has been a fierce critic of the disastrous economic policies of the Bush administration, and some of his recent columns rip them a new one.

This morning Krugman was awarded the 2008 Nobel Prize for Economics ”for his analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity.” Congratulations, Paul, you are officially fucking brilliant.

My favorite moment in last night’s second presidential debate between Obama and McCain was at the end when McCain bumbled into the middle of the stage directly in front of Brokaw, obscuring his teleprompter and forcing Brokaw to ask him to move.

Arianna Huffington commented on this so eloquently in her morning post:

Brokaw might as well have been speaking on behalf of the future: Senator McCain can you please get out of the way so we can get on with it?

I could not agree more.

I think Obama did just what he needed to do in the debate: he held his own against McCain and proved he has a sophisticated knowledge of the issues of foreign policy. Granted, this is McCain’s strong suit, but Obama scored some zingers on him: “John, you refused to meet with the leader of Spain!” and “John, you act as if the war started in 2007!”

McCain is not to be underestimated in a debate. He has had a multi-decade career in public service and has gotten excessive face time on the Sunday pundit shows, largely due to the credit of the late Tim Russert. The interesting thing here is that this is not the John McCain of the past 25 years, this is FrankenMcCain with body and brain parts grafted on after being grown in some toxic neo-con vat.

The striking difference here was the demeanor of each of these candidates on stage: Obama appeared calm, collected and IMHO Presidential. He was gracious and level-headed while McCain was mean and smarmy, smirking paternalistically at an upstart youngster. Obama made a point of saying where he and McCain agreed on the issues even to the point of being complimentary; McCain never said one nice thing about Obama instead opting to claim repeatedly that Obama “doesn’t understand” X or Y issue, and repeatedly lying about Obama’s record.

There was a decisive display of character on show in Oxford last night, one that should leave no doubt in anyone’s mind the manner in which they will lead in the White House: Obama as even-tempered analyst and John McCain as erratic prevaricator.

McCain did as expected in the debate: he relied on his experience. But Obama shined, held his own and appeared far more down to Earth and in touch with the people and the issues that are needed to take us forward in the next 50 years, not back to the last 50.

Thanks to Zafar for pure inspiration for this post. Read his astute pre-debate analysis here.

Yesterday’s interview of Vice-Presidential nominee Sarah Palin by Katie Couric is Palin’s definitive moment in the campaign. When viewed objectively, it can be seen as nothing less than the incoherent ideological ramblings and regurgitations of talking points spat from the lipsticked lips of a mediocre pol who has been cramming for a final exam, but forgot to attend class all semester. This is indeed the stuff of nightmares.

From the moment of her announcement I have been saying insistently that Palin is ignoblely unqualified to be VP, and by necessity, President of the United States. But her popularity soared, bouyed by her grim, mean, cynical and homely speech at the RNC. She’s a woman! She’s a governor! She’s a MILF! She’s a religious consevative from a red state! She’s a hockey-mom! She’s a pitbull! These are metonymical definitions that have no or little bearing on her fitness to serve. They are in any analysis irrational and irresponsible reasons to consider her capable of leading the country. Now we have proof: Palin fails so miserbly in the Couric interview it is painful to watch.

But the most important issue here is not the cult of personality surrounding Palin, it’s the fact that Sarah Palin is the one chosen by John McCain to be VP, and thus by design, second in command and first in line to be President. This was the first and most important decision of McCain’s campaign once nominated, and clearly he failed. In a cynical and erratic move devoid of oversight or depth, McCain foisted a running mate on his supporters that is unequivocally unqualified. This wrongheaded and dangerous decision flat out disqualifies McCain to be President. There is no rational explaination for electing him and risking the county’s leadership to someone so incapable.

As I write this, the debate has started. Tonight the country will know more about who to to elect. Let’s hope what happens in November ends the absurdity of what has become a political nightmare.

The McCain of today sayz: “I was against it before I was for it!” OK, so I’m paraphrasing… but hey, with this tricky guy, I can barely keep track… who knows what he’ll say next? Maybe…

“Evil must be defeated!” — John McCain 8/16/08

“Enough is enough! We’re going to put an end to greed!” — John McCain 9/17/08

via Chris Kelly @ HuffPost on how McCain is going to fundamentally change human nature.

The incomparable masculine images of my friend Blake Little are on display in his show The Company of Men opening September 18, 2008 at Wessel + O’Connor Fine Art in Brooklyn, NY. Blake has captured the reality, masculinity and sexiness of these men, many of whom I know. Blake has an eye that cuts to the realism of who these men are. It’s amazing to see them this way. Blake is working a book of these stunning photographs. There are several pages of images to browse thru, check it out. I only wish I could go to NY for the opening… Thanks, Blake!

Wednesday, August 27, 2008 was the inaugural ride of Beers, Gears and Queers, a bicycle ride/pub crawl with destinations across Los Angeles. BGQ is the creation of Mike Skiff (far left in the photo). On the auspicious day of 8/27 we met at The Eagle in Silverlake and rode to the Gold Coast in West Hollywood. After a few drinks at the Gold Coast, we turned around and made the return trip to The Eagle. We started with 13 riders and covered 14 miles. The photo was taken on the return ride in front of the historic Studs Theater (fka TomKat and Pussy Cat).

BGQ is returning this week, Wednesday, 9/10. Meet up at The Eagle @ 8:30pm and we ride out at 9:00pm. As always, our destination is TBD. Be there and be queer!

This is one of the most surreal moments captured and injected into the 2008 presidential campaign. I can understand that politicians have to get their pictures taken with civic groups of all kinds, and I’m so glad for this one, it just makes me chuckle. Come on, who doesn’t like a bit of fur and grr.

If anyone has any context or attribution for this photo, please post a comment.

Via Bil (who should be posting on the Yeti)

Tetris has arrived on the iPhone in the form of the new free app Tris. It’s the same old game only revised to respond to iPhone touchscreen gestures: tap to rotate, swipe down to drop. It could not be simpler or more intuitive. I was instantly captivated, yet again, by this ancient game. Oh my, another addiction to manage.