Brilliant post from Matt Langer.

So here we are after months of debate, after months in which the White House and other Democratic party leadership stood idly by while the right wing not only dictated the terms of the national debate but dragged that debate into the fascist-Nazi-communist gutter, after months of bowing down before moderate Democrats and Republicans from Maine, after months of allowing the 60-vote cloture goalpost to slide farther and farther away from anything the Democratic party campaigned and won on in 2008—after all of this, we find ourselves tonight beholden to one senator from Connecticut who is demanding a compromise on the previous compromise of the initial compromise.

If anything, I’m just embarrassed I didn’t see this coming. I’m embarrassed I let Obama’s rhetoric of “hope” lead me to believe the American left had actually grown a pair. I’m embarrassed I failed to remember that whatever balls the American left can lay claim to remain firmly in the clutches of the healthcare industry—or any other industry, for that matter.

It was difficult not to quote the entire thing.

From Either/Or: Sports, Sex, and the Case of Caster Semenya:

Currently, the United States government recognizes the marriage of a woman to a female-to-male transsexual who has had a double mastectomy and takes testosterone tablets but still has a vagina, but not to a woman who hasn’t done those things.

Silly is the first word that comes to mind.

I cannot support a movement that sees climate change as a hoax and offers domestic oil exploration as the core plank of an energy policy.

Among others.

I married my best friend one year ago today. Best decision I ever made.

(Life On Prints)

What is more cowardly?

1. Being depressed and committing suicide.

2. Being depressed, shooting as many people as possible, and then committing suicide.

3. Posting on an entirely insignificant weblog about how cowardly people who do #2 are.

(But #2 is a close second, in my opinion.)

Nuts.

I live in the South Loop area of Chicago. South Loop. Have for five years now. Other names have come and gone and been bandied about—Near South, SoLo, Central Station—but it’s the South Loop.

Google, however, now seems to think I live in a mystical place called Park Row. Just a few days ago, I lived in plain old Chicago, but now I live in Park Row.

What the hell is Park Row?

The most disturbing part: Yahoo, through Flickr’s geotags, has been calling it Park Row for as long as I can remember. What exactly is going on with Google?

I was having trouble accessing a journal’s submission page recently—it appeared to be an issue with Java—so I clicked a link on their login page that suggested they might know what was wrong.

That’s when things got amazing:

Your browser may not be supporting JavaScript…
If JavaScript is disabled in your browser, you must enable it in order to continue If you are using any of the following browsers, follow the steps given to enable JavaScript.

Netscape 6.x or higher:

1. Click Edit, then click Preferences
2. Click on Advanced.
3. Check Enable JavaScript (OR Java) for Navigator.
4. Click the OK button.

Netscape 4.x:

1. Click Edit, then click Preferences
2. Click on Advanced.
3. Check Enable JavaScript.
4. Click the OK button.

Internet Explorer 5 or higher:

1. Click Tools, then click Internet Options.
2. Click the Security tab.
3. Click the Custom Level button.
4. Scroll to the Scripting section.
5. Check Enable under Active scripting, Allow paste operations via script, and Scripting of Java applets.
6. Click the OK button.

Internet Explorer 4.x:

1. Click View
2. Click Internet Options.
3. Click the Security tab.
4. Click the Settings button.
5. Scroll to the Scripting section.
6. Check Scripting of Java applets and Active Scripting.
7. Click the OK button.

If your browser does not support JavaScript, you must upgrade to a newer version. We recommend using Internet Explorer 5 or higher or Netscape 6 or higher.

Got it. But I’m always left with the same question: WHAT ABOUT US IE3 USERS?

I think I may have to electronically mail their editor because I just can’t figure it out. How do you get on to Telnet with this thing? Maybe fax would be faster. IS THE HOT MAILS A GOOD ONE TO RUN MY LETTERS THROUGH?

Arguments Against Gay Marriage Literally Stop Making Sense:

The new law won’t make gay marriage equal to straight marriage. Instead, it will create a new kind of marriage in which gay people and straight people are equal.

First, that’s their compromise?

Second, is that really what we as a society are debating here? Or, even more absurd, does coming to such a conclusion even require any debate? I hope not; otherwise I am more embarrassed for this country than I initially suspected.

via jhoff