NYCweboy

It's A Good News/Bad News Kind Of Silence...

As you may have noticed, life - the life outside of blogging - has been taking me away. On the plus side, I'm happy to report that I got promoted at the 'bucks. Yes, I am now one of those Shift Supervisors people think shouldn't get tips. On the minus side, it's been a pretty nonstop whirl of training, and heavy schedules. So I'm back, but things will be a little hectic on that front until the weekend. Hoping you'll bear with me while posting is a little light...

... and anyway, I don't really have much to say about Kentucky or Oregon. Nobody does, it seems.

So What's The Use (Wow, Bam) Of Falling In Love?

Meanwhile... though it seems I wrote nothing today,that's just because you don't check me out at New Critics, as I try to tell you... and this one, about the lead-up to Sex And The City... well, it's not bad. :)

-- Weboy

A Sunday Funny

Via, of all people, Jonah Goldberg... this is amusing... and dead on.

Thinking Over Things I Wish I'd Said

Between going to bed late last night after work and getting up - late - this morning to do it all again, I needed a break.  But I haven't been completely out of it... just behind the curve.  Here are a few things I wish I'd said:

• Zuzu (who I really admire, and haven't linked to before) goes in depth on the NARAL national endorsement that's exposed the deep rift among women's organizations in lefty politics. I was as surprised as anyone by their decision to back Obama... but even more intrigued by the fallout and blowback, which probably has more longer term implications. Anyway, go read it, especially if you care about the politics of pro-choice politics.
• Armando (a/k/a Big Tent Democrat) over at TalkLeft writes the long overdue takedown of the extremely broken Democratic presidential selection process. One of the most disheartening aspects of the primary season, for me, has been the Obama supporter types (that means you, Kos-sians) who would otherwise find this primary season appalling looking the other way because their guy is in the (narrow) lead because of arcania and minutiae. Gary over at Riverdaughter adds the interesting wrinkle that Cokie Roberts had the guts to say something very similar.
• Also at Talk Left, BTD takes on the Charles Blow "Appalachia Argument" that appeared today in the Times. These are my thoughts, exactly. And I would have said it too... if I hadn't been serving coffee at the time. :)
• And, yet again, props to Andrew Sullivan - who, while totally in the tank for Obama, has the integrity on his key issue... gay marriage... to acknowledge that Obama's position and rhetoric, even after the California decision, is dreadful.  And while guest blogger A. Serwer makes excuses over at TAPPED, I'd say Sullivan has it right: it's reasonable to expect a politician with the lefty cred Obama is supposed to have to be braver on this issue than he has been... or at least call his overly safe approach what it is... pure politics. And cowardly.

Now I'm off to sleep single in a single bed. I've been the one sleeping all alone for a long, long time. ;)

(PS J in Baltimore... did you ever notice that Barbara Mandrell sounds like Toni Tenille?)

Friday Evening Flowerlude

jinbaltimore

Your American Dream Didn't Mean A Thing... Suburban King

This post has been swilling in my brain for a while, at times a positive one, at times a negative one... depending on how stuck I feel in my current living situation.

Still, with Ezra talking public transportation, it seemed as good a policy hook as any to try and lift my thoughts up to a different level.

It's been interesting, living in the suburbs, and driving more to do basic things than I have in 20 years or so. The 15 or so years I spent in the urban cores of New York and Boston were all about public transportation and walking. Now, it's into the car to go to work, to the store, to get gas... to get anywhere.

And without it... I feel trapped.

Do You Make A Promise... I Do. I Do.

This time I am going to jump in over RedStar, because this is personal: the stunning decision in California to allow same sex marriages has left me floored.

Indeed, when I first heard it on the car radio this afternoon, I didn't entirely comprehend the enormity of it: we now have two states where gays and lesbians will be able to get marriage licenses (and, more cynically... divorces).

For a long time I was very ambivalent about gay marriage; I am old school in my rad fag tendencies, and the "sexual outlaw" aspect of the gay rights movement was something deeply meaningful to me (as a philosophy, oddly, and not a personal manifesto; I have the sexual history of an uptight protestant... because I am one). I believe, still, that out loud and proud gay activism should challenge every aspect of the heteronormative pressures our society puts forth, including the notions of marriage, fidelity and monogamy that are drilled into us day after day (just ask Vito Fossella.  Or Elliott Spitzer.)

Still, that was before, as I've mentioned previously, going to my first gay wedding, where I took pictures for my very good friends, and brought them a lovely Smythson guest sign-in book (again: uptight, and protestant. How many times must I tell you?). Just like a real wedding.  The ceremony, on Martha's Vineyard, in a three day affair, was lovely. Just like a real wedding.

Because it was.

Ultimately, as Red points out, there's a lot of political reasons to be impressed today. But this is personal. This is what Loving vs. Virginia means to me, and to my family. This is, as Mildred Loving said, about love, and families, and the simple, human desire to spend your life with the person you love. And so... if it makes me a little less rad, I'll admit: this marriage thing is pretty cool. And necessary. And I, too, am thrilled to see California move into the modern age.

But remember... it means we can get married. It doesn't mean we have to. :) Because I do... still... want to be one with the freaks, weirdos, and outsiders.

The progressive policy 1-on-1 continues b/w CA & MA

Today the CA Supreme Court ruled that banning same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. Previously, MA was the only state in the nation allowing same-sex marriage, following a similar ruling in 2004.

It feels like CA comes up again and again here in MA as our #1 competitor for health, energy, and civil rights policy. Sh*t! CA passed legislation funding stem-cell research! We've got to get on that, and hell, we'll actually make it work! (Ah, the beauty of second-mover advantage...hopefully it will work out as well as we follow their lead in adopting their low-carbon fuel standards...)

While we're at it, why don't we legislate universal health insurance and ensure that our infertility coverage is arguably the best in the nation?

Still, I hear CA is one of the best places for gays/lesbians to adopt. Their second-parent adoption laws are strong, and there's some deal about the use of the word "partner" on birth certificates, if I remember correctly. Though I think we did create some precedent setting law here.

Anyone else want to give a shout-out for their state's progressive policies, or add to this non-random, partial list? Thanks for joining my nerdy celebration of this historic and wonderful ruling in California today!!

Further Proof That John Edwards Is Not An Overweight Woman

I mean, if it's not over until the fat lady sings... then that's not John Edwards.

The question, as last night fades into this morning, isn't so much "why did Edwards endorse Obama" - that's been in the cards for months, even with stories about tensions between the Obamas and the Edwardses - but "why now?" Why not before West Virginia, at the very least, or at least, why not in North Carolina, where it would have made sense? Why not come out after the loss in Pennsylvania, when the difference it could make down the line would be much clearer?

As Jeralyn says over at Talk Left, I tend to think it's because of the West Virginia results, but in a slightly different way: lost in the coverage of last night's loss was much mention of the fact that Edwards got 7% of the vote in West Virginia, which is what really led to Obama's losses in WV coming close to his lows in the white vote in South Carolina. In both places, the combination of Edwards and Cinton appealing to white voters pushed Obama's numbers down dramatically.

I'm not sure Edwards had a choice with results like that - he's been out of the contest for months, and this result beats percentages he got while he was still in the race. I think the expression of dissatisfaction - especially with Obama - inherent in his vote total, forced his hand. And, since I tend to think Edwards is especially prone to following the political winds (that hair looks better in a breeze, really), the choice of Obama was fairly obvious: time to stick to the winner. And that meant taking his name out of consideration for white voters looking for a way to protest Obama without picking the woman.

Choosing Clinton, after all, would reflect a bravery and a confrontational style that simply isn't Edwards: despite being closer to her on issues like healthcare, and sharing her concern, ostensibly, for the challenges of those less economically well off, Edwards can usually be found on the winning side of an issue.

And it's hard to see how the Southern white man would be on anyone's winning side by picking the white woman over the black man.

On the plus side, this endorsement probably means, as others suggest, that Florida and Michigan are solved: Obama can't claim close to half of Edwards delegates without seating Florida, in full. I also tend to believe that Edwards probably got some promise, like Attorney General, something he'd be unlikely to extract from Mrs. Clinton,

Edwards clearly would love to be a conciliator and a unifier; his endorsement of Obama focused on shared values and coming together... but that, too, made his endorsement just as odd: why pick Obama over Clinton? Well, because he said so; and because, well, it's over. 

It says something that even Nick Beaudrot, both a longtime Edwards admirer as well as a gung-ho Obama backer, can't see the logic. It makes even less sense staking the usefulness of an Edwards endorsement on reversing the steep disparity in Kentucky when that result seems unlikely. That's especially true as any number of people move to the realization that by winning Kentucky and heading toward success in Puerto Rico, Clinton may well have the actual popular vote lead at the end of this. It's a sobering calculation to  see the Democrats poised to overlook the popular vote leader in favor of technical success... and a moment where Florida plays a key part. It all seems so familiar... and at the very least, it's not the sound of a fat lady singing that makes this tune so familiar.

A World of Disaster

And I'm not just talking about for Sen. Obama in W.VA last night.

For those who didn't read my old blog, I study urban inequality and have worked with non-profit responders to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, and with survivors of September 11 in Lower Manhattan.  I don't consider myself a disaster specialist, but I've certainly seen my own small devastating share in this century.  I'm floored by the tragedies that befell our country on 9/11/01 (almost 3,000 killed and hundreds of thousands personally impacted as survivors/witnesses of the attack, or as relatives of the lost) and beginning on August 29, 2005 (when Katrina made landfall and worked its way across the region, followed by almost a week of flooding in the city of New Orleans and months of water removal.  Almost 2,000 dead, half a million temporarily or permanently displaced, and 300,000 homes damaged or destroyed).  But they PALE in comparison to what we're witnessing in China and Burma right now (and these are only 2 natural disasters of countless across the globe this century).

At least 12,000 dead in China, and rescue efforts compromised and delayed because the damage is so unstable.  I think that's roughly the student body here at MIT.  Over 30,000 dead and almost as many missing after a cyclone in Burma, with a government that won't let in international aid.  The town I grew up in had about 35,000 people in it.  Effectively, my hometown and current school have just been destroyed.

Electoral Perversity In West Virgnia

By the end of last night, the results were so lopsided that the Obama supporting blogs wanted to talk about anything but West Virginia, a silence that was, by itself, a fascinating admission. So, instead of talking about the loss, we got self-congratulating posts about Scott Kleeb, the Netroots guy who managed to blowout the Nebraska Senatorial primary by beating the Republican who pretended to be a Democrat. Or even more breathless celebrations of Travis Childers admittedly gratifying win in Mississippi... which did give us a seat that hasn't had a D since 1973, but we got it by getting someone who looks, in many ways, like an R. Yea for the antichoice, anti gay marriage guy! Whooo!

Never mind, for a moment, the 40 point spread; in a night of numbers (everyone had a favorite), the one I noticed was 26%. I had planned to point out that Obama didn't reach 30%... but it's more than that now.  He barely eked out one fourth of the vote.

This, I'd like to remind you, is the guy who has the nomination "sewn up."