WIRED on Congress on porn
Regina Lynn, WIRED magazines in-house master of all things sexual, has a great follow up to the recent congressional hearing on porn. The hearing represents one of the best examples of pseudoscience that the Bush administration has been able to conjure to date.
The stated point of the hearing was to determine whether Congress should fund studies about the effects of pornography addiction on families and communities, and whether it should launch a public health campaign to warn people of the dangers of online porn.
If it’s going to spend money in this arena at all, I’d rather Congress fund studies about the effects of pornography in general, including its effect on the economy, on technological innovation, on sexual function and dysfunction, and so on. Even the anti-porn panelists who testified before Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) admitted the dearth of such studies.
Regina has been writing on all things SexTech since sept and shes been pumping out some great material.
Photo of the day
A Ukrainian woman places carnations into the shields of anti-riot policemen standing outside the presidential office in Kiev, November 24, 2004. Ukraine’s authorities raised the stakes in a face-off with their liberal opposition on Wednesday as they prepared to announce results of a disputed election that are likely to infuriate thousands of protesters in the streets. Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters
French Massacre
This is what it is, video of French soldiers gunning down unarmed civilians in the Ivory Coast. At about 3min in things start to get pretty grim.
There are a lot of close up’s here, and a lot of very badly injured people. Just a warning.
100 MB download
link
Asshole.
The gentleman who started the riot at the Auburn Hills Palace by throwing a cup of beer at Pacer Ron Artest has been identified.
John Green, of West Bloomfield, initially said he had no comment to Local 4. Green was caught on tape throwing his cup of beer onto Indiana Pacers player Ron Artest, Local 4 reported. The act sent Artest into a rage in the stands, where players and fans then fought during the game between the Pistons and the Pacers.
Green eventually commented to Local 4 Monday morning outside his West Bloomfield home, saying, “I’m not going anywhere. The police know where I live. I’ve talked to them already.”
What kills me is that this guy hasn’t been charged with something along the lines of affray, where as all the players involved are set to be warming benches all season. As a country we need to get over our undying love affair with professional sports and realize these cats are just people. Many of them stupid people with poor impulse control. The next person I hear say that sports figures are supposed to be role models for children is having their parenting license revoked. And then I’m sending George the Animal Steele over for lunch.
Greeks to sue over Alexander the Gay
Life is still difficult for ancient gay millitary leaders.
While the film starring Colin Farrell and Angelina Jolie will be released on Nov. 24, Varnakos said he has already gathered enough information regarding the content of the movie to suggest there are “inappropriate references.”
“We have not seen the film but from the information we have already there are references to his alleged homosexuality, a fact that is in no historical document or archive on Alexander,” he said. “Either they make it clear that this is a work of fiction or we will take the case further.”
Southern Conservativism explained from the inside
This livejournal post came through the metafilter last night and immediately struck me as the most honest representation of Southern Baptist Christianity that I can recall. This should be mandatory reading for every liberal that claims to not understand the south or the concept of moral voting.
It starts with the fact that we as conservative Christians are taught to see America as our land. I mean, you guys in Europe and the loonies on the East and West Coasts think the Founding Fathers died to bring us religious freedom. They so did not. They died to give new Christianity a place where it could flourish. And if you think that Catholicism was flourishing perfectly fine before that, thank you, then you don’t understand conservative Christianity. See, I grew up being taught that Catholicism was almost-sort-of-not-quite-but-we-won’t-talk-about-it cult. Really. Lots of Southern Baptists believe Catholicism is a cult, despite the fact that it is the largest practiced religion in the world. If you understand that we can believe that about Catholicism then maybe you can understand that American Conservative Christian values don’t necessarily fit into any kind of historical, cultural, or anthropological perspective. They never really have.
RadioBall quote of the day
“I think a large part of the public likes the conservatives’ theme music. Now they will be tested on whether they like the lyrics.”
– Barney Frank, Brookline TAB, Nov. 4th, 2004.
Time to find a new platform
This article from yahoo! makes the claim that BitTorrent now accounts for an astounding 35% of all internet traffic. It contains some interesting quotes from media industry officials who make it known the cats out of the bag.
I’m just gonna go back to copying cassetts.
Blue states under attack!
Looks like Bush found a way to get rid of the Blue states, and it was right there under his nose all this time. The military!
LITTLE EGG HARBOR, N.J. Nov 4, 2004 - A National Guard F-16 fighter jet on a nighttime training mission strafed an elementary school with 25 rounds of ammunition, authorities said Thursday. No one was injured.
Final nail for SNL?
Lorne Michaels will be hosting a reality show to decide the next new cast memebr to be added to the sinking ship that is SNL. Chevy Chase must be leaving.
link via adrants
