Example of a Blog Post

This is a good illustration of Bluebeard's Wife.

Mic Check

Is this thing on?

Thursday Musical Tribute

The Ambassadors of Basketball

On Thursday, the Georgetown University men’s basketball team, which is currently on a good will tour in China, forgot about the good will part and engaged in a bench-clearing brawl with the Bayi Rockets.

What I find interesting about the brawl is the way in which the Chinese players stand at the bench before a slight melee occurs and then run, almost in formation, to attack Georgetown. While I am not the blog's resident conspiracy theorist, the high level of coordination to fight and not restrain seems unfortunate to say the least.

Head Slowly Exploding

So, I caught up in a research project. I have a Friday deadline.

While writing the last section of a research paper, I found myself in need of a little more research on religious exemptions concerning same-sex marriages. After feeling my mind slowly go numb from reading article after article, I found the following sentence and decided it is too good not to share:

"The New Jersey Supreme Court's decision in Lewis v. Harris is likely the most significant gay rights case since Goodridge, largely because it was decided by the supreme court of a major state."

After reading this, of course, I thought to myself: who the hell thinks New Jersey is a major state?

If your interested, the article in question is from: 30 Harv. J.L. & Pub. Pol'y 939. I'm too tired for a full citation. Fail me.

Trial By Media is a Bad Idea; or, a Rant

I didn't even follow the Casey Anthony murder trial because first of all wall to wall media coverage of a murder trial is stupid and base, and second of all I wouldnt have had time even had I wanted to.

That said, I am pretty sickened by the outcry against the jury's verdict today. The internet is blowing up with commenters outraged by the idea that the prosecution had to meet the burden of proof in this case, since everybody "knows" she did it.

Fuck CNN. Fuck our corporate media. Sometimes, sometimes I think Hugo Chavez has it right. Not often. But sometimes. Because Whatever sells, whatever makes money is what we get when we have a for profit media. Sell wars, sell Tiller the Baby Killer, sell guilty verdicts, sell Viagra, it's all the same to these fucking people.

Maybe I am a coward for writing this here instead of on my facebook page. God knows I havent seen a single one of my facebook friends come out and say, hey, they have to prove guilt, they have to remove doubt, and it doesnt matter what CNN anchors or Fox anchors or Dick Vitale or YOU, O Crusading American public, think about the case. So shut the fuck up. The right to a defense and the burden of proof being on the prosecution is not an inconvenience.

Anyway. Fuck it. Some things you just cant change. Most things in fact.

The Hamburger Method:

A delicious way to learn the five-paragraph essay.

Father's Day Musical Tribute

I love the Cat, man. This song is "Father and Son." It's one of my favorite tracks from Tea for the Tillerman, easily one of my top ten albums of all time.

This particular version is from the DVD "Yusef's Cafe."

I struggled with my decision to post this song as a Father's Day tribute. It's so sad. I mean, the father and son obviously have some communication issues and don't understand one another. But at the same time, it's happy. The son has decided that it's time for him to go out on his own, to explore the world and find himself. While we may not look forward to our children leaving home, I'm sure we will celebrate--with mixed emotions, of course--the day our sons and daughters set out to find their own way of being in the world. Isn't this what we, as parents, are preparing them to do?

For Solon

I heard that you watched The Big Lebowski for the first time last night. Better late than never, I suppose.

You need to show this clip to your students. The Dude knows how to debate: "Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man."

Late Wednesday Night/Early Thursday Morning Musical Tribute

Because yeah.

For Oxymoron: Share the Love.

Thinking of you. Of Me. Chive On.

Album Cover of the Week: Garth Brooks's No Fences

Oxymoron's recent comment reminded me of two things. One, the barbed wire fence post dovetailed (in ways not originally anticipated by the author) with solon's recent thoroughgoing treatments of privacy issues. And two, it has been more than two weeks since my last "album cover of the week." And so therefore this seems fitting:




I was always sort of "meh," when it came to Garth Brooks musically, with some songs being ones I really dug, but most being ones, again, to which I responded with a general "meh." Still, this album title, and the cover with all its invocation of the innocent, well-minded cowboy whose freedom must be preserved, oozes sociopolitical context, and therefore deserves to be taken seriously.

On the level of music? Well, I never much took Brooks seriously as a "Cowboy." I liked the class warfare implications of "Friends in Low Places" very much, however.

But you know what? I LOVE. I mean LOVE his epic song, "Two Piña Coladas," to the point that I elevate it into the top 50 stratosphere of pop song Utopia in my admittedly addled brain. But I mean really, check these shenanigans out:


Garth Brooks - Two piña coladas by taduckly_

The Rhetoric and Symbolism of the Barbed Wire Fence

A few days ago I encountered a quotation in some research that I am currently doing, and it has stuck with me to the extent that I feel compelled to share it with the vaunted Rhetoricians on this blog. Quoth Sara L. Spurgeon:

The barbed wire fence is a potent and deeply paradoxical symbol in the American West. On one hand, it is the triumphant emblem of Anglo-America's conquest of the land once referred to as the Great American Desert, of the sheer force of human will necessary to empty it of those animals like the buffalo that do not serve Anglo America's needs and to fill it instead with cattle--nature tamed and controlled by the sharp-edged product of Eastern facroties. It is also, for many Westerners, the sign of some final closure, usually expressed nostalgically as the loss of the wandering horseman's right to travel freely and without restriction across the landscape. That wandering horseman, the lone cowboy with his bedroll and his rifle, is the most commonly recognized modern American expression of the sacred hunter, the lone male in the wilderness, here digging the postholes that mark his own demise and performing the final fencing-in of th natural world.

Heh. Fascinating. I wonder if John McCain was struggling to make sense of this kind of mythopoesis, when he exorted the federal government to Build the Dang Fence.

Predicting 2012

After watching one debate, and really, if Reagan's 11th Commandment declares, "Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican," it seems clear that the Republican ticket in 2012 will be:

Romney for President, Bachman for VP.

If the field stays the same, the only alterations I would suggest is Romney President and Marco Rubio for VP or, the long-shot ticket, Bachman for President and Rubio for VP.

Just in Case You Missed It:

Here is a review of the Republican Debate by New York Magazine (if you couldn't guess that the only thing mentioned was nothing other than repeal everything Obama). Some excerpts:

Most Meaningless Self-Descriptor: Tim Pawlenty saying, "I'm a husband .... I'm the father of two beautiful daughters, I'm a neighbor." Oh, so people live near you.

Time It Took for Someone to Claim That Obama Doesn't Believe in American Exceptionalism: Thirteen minutes (Romney)

Most Unsurprising Bombshell: Michele Bachmann announcing during a presidential debate that she’s running for president.

Meekest Moment: Tim Pawlenty barely defending his own assertion, made on Fox News Sunday yesterday, that President Obama's health-care reform is basically "ObamneyCare."

Time Until Tim Pawlenty Said “Meat-packing Town”: 31 minutes.

Statement Made Oddly Risky Because of the Influence of the Tea-Party Movement: “Federal government should be doing food safety.” —Herman Cain

"Oh Snap" Moment: Michele Bachmann reading a quote from then-senator Barack Obama on how raising the debt ceiling was a "failure of leadership."

Boldest Plan for Afghanistan: Mitt Romney saying that he wants a plan to safely hand Afghanistan over to the "Taliban military," as a military man in the audience visibly flinches.

Biggest Pander (tie): Mitt Romney announcing that the hometown favorite Boston Bruins were up 4-0 in the Stanley Cup finals; Pawlenty saying that what he learned tonight was that the Boston Bruins have “more heart” than the Vancouver Canucks.

Biggest Contradiction: Michele Bachmann saying she supports a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage while also claiming she wouldn't interfere with state law. What about the states with laws allowing gay marriage?

I would also take a moment to read the live-blog write up at Democracy in America, which was much more entertaining the debate itself.

Where Aren't We Live Blogging the Republican Debate?

Seriously. I could, one, give better answers than the Republicans and, two, think it sucks that the Bruins are up 4 - 0 on the Canucks.

The Death of the Author

In the postmodern sense, not literally. More like Barthes and Foucault than Theo Van Gogh or even Hemingway.

A prominent female blogger in Syria goes missing:

Abdallah's cousin wrote on the blog that Amina was taken Monday by three men in their 20s "assumed to be members of one of the security services or the Baath Party militia."

"One of the men then put his hand over Amina's mouth and they hustled her into a red Dacia Logan with a window sticker of Basel Assad," Rania Ismail wrote.

Abdallah describes her blog as "An out Syrian lesbian's thoughts on life, the universe and so on..." -- this, in a country where homosexuality is not just taboo, but illegal.

But, maybe not after all. The first apology and the second apology:

I never expected this level of attention. While the narrative voıce may have been fictional, the facts on thıs blog are true and not mısleading as to the situation on the ground. I do not believe that I have harmed anyone -- I feel that I have created an important voice for issues that I feel strongly about.

I only hope that people pay as much attention to the people of the Middle East and their struggles in thıs year of revolutions. The events there are beıng shaped by the people living them on a daily basis. I have only tried to illuminate them for a western audience.

This experience has sadly only confirmed my feelings regarding the often superficial coverage of the Middle East and the pervasiveness of new forms of liberal Orientalism.

However, I have been deeply touched by the reactions of readers.

If there were ever a time for lit crit, now would be that time over the issues of sexuality, gender, voice, identity, and appropriation.

Update on Greg Fultz, or, the First Amendment v. Privacy Rights

I just wanted to update my previous post.

According to ABC News, the billboard in questions can be found at the main thoroughfare in Alamogordo, N.M (according to the 2000 census, Alamogordo has a population of 35,582).

Fultz admits that he does not know whether or not Nani Lawrence, his ex-girlfriend, had an abortion or a miscarriage but he knows that when the six-month relationship ended, the baby was lost, or as he says, “there was a pregnancy, then there wasn’t.” He claims that the intention of the billboard concerns the public presentation of a pro-life message rather than an attempt to defame or harass his ex-girlfriend. According to ABC News, he states that the billboard is a general pro-life message that is inspired by events in his life. Describing the political nature of the message in question, he states:

"“It’s my belief that fathers should have a say regarding pregnancy....Women have all the power when it comes to pregnancy. The men get no say when a woman wants to go and have an abortion without the say of the father.”

Time reports that when Greg Fultz purchased the billboard, he paid $1300 for the space. He paid for the billboard through his own money and from donations from private individuals. No other organizations helped fund the project.

Originally, the billboard possessed two endorsements. N.A.N.I., the National Association of Needed Information, endorsed the billboard. Of course, N.A.N.I. is a not so clever and way too cute acronym for his ex-girlfriend, Nani Lawrence. Additionally, the Right to Life New Mexico endorsed the billboard. Both endorsements have been removed. Fultz removed N.A.N.I. as the name of the organization interfered with the message. The RLNM removed their endorsement when the organization learned that it was unsure whether or not Lawrence had an abortion or miscarriage.

In response to the Billboard, Nani Lawrence sued Fultz. As ABC News reports, Lawrence brought suit against Fultz for "a petition for domestic violence and charges of harassment and invasion of privacy." Lawrence's lawyer, Ellen Jessen, states that, "I think Fultz's right to free speech ends where Nani Lawrence's right to privacy begins. ... We have to balance one's right to free speech against one's right to free speech."

According to a court order, Fultz has until June 16th to remove the ad or he faces jail time for the billboard.

Fultz plans on fighting the order based on his First Amendment rights under the Supreme Court's decision in Snyder v. Phelps, which protects repugnant and offensive speech, even if it causes emotional distress, over the right of privacy, e.g. a funeral service.

After thinking about this, what do I think?

First, under Synder v. Phelps, the tort case should not stand as political speech should trump the emotional injury.

Second, I have a hard time accepting the line that the privacy rights of Lawrence trump the speech rights of Fultz. The real controversy is not the difference between freedom of speech and privacy (freedom from speech) but in form. The speech in question is quite sophomoric but, nonetheless, quite important political speech. If this message were in an autobiography, a movie, or a Facebook status update, then there would be no problem with Fultz's message. Fultz could walk door to door to tell his story to all 36,000 people in Alamogordo and this would be protected speech. However, since it occurred on a billboard or a non-traditional form of personal and political advertisement for this issue then someone finds it offensive.

Third, the type of speech in question, that "abortion is murder" is typical political speech, especially in relation to pro-life protests. I would say that this is quintessential political speech as the people who employ it desire a change in the law. While I know that Harrogate disagrees with this type of discourse, it is a rhetorically valid definitional argument for certain audiences. The strength of the argument rests on upon the emotional aspects of the message, i.e. the anger within the claim abortion is murder. And, under Cohen v. California, the emotional aspects of the message can be as important as the message itself. To punish this type of speech is to punish the content and form of the message and the government should not be able to punish either.

Further, though the claim is quite reductive and rests an appeal to pity, i.e. the manipulation of the emotional aspect of the message, I do not see how it would be slander unless she had a miscarriage. The standards for slander for a private citizen are much lower than a public citizen and since acted recklessly, i.e. not knowing the facts of the case before publishing them on a billboard, it seems like a defamation case against Fultz would be easy.

However, knowing this, if she mad a miscarriage she would not be arguing a right to privacy. Why argue the harder case when you can argue the easy, winning case? You don't.

Fourth, in this case, the right to privacy seems to mean that Lawrence ought to be free from hearing or seeing a message and that Fultz ought not to speak out on certain messages. I find that in the first instance, Lawrence has no case. While the second instance is quite complex, I am not sure if she has a case based on notions of privacy.

Privacy, in this case, seems to rest on an understanding that medical decisions, especially abortion, occur only between a woman and her doctor. While abortion rests on the woman's decision but that decision does not occur within a social vacuum. By arguing privacy, it seems that Lawrence is trying to frame the controversy that Fultz is trying to take away her rights. However, Fultz's argument criticizes Lawrence's decision and a person is not free from criticism over this type of decision.

Though this is just conjecture, it seems that Lawrence chose to discuss the issue with Fultz. What Lawrence and her lawyer ask is that Fultz remain silent on this issue in public, which means that Fultz must separate this relationship and an aspect of this relationship from the rest of his life and beliefs. Her privacy includes his life and this would be true for any partner that she had.

The irony is that, if Lawrence forces Fultz to take down the sign, Lawrence takes ownership of Fultz and requires Fultz to be silent and autobiographical aspects of his life. I think that this means no one personally wins.

Fifth, as to whether or not he is harassing her, the billboard should not be considered harassment. Maybe he is doing something else though I am not sure. But the speech in question does not constitute harassment.

Should Fultz have been more judicious about what he disclosed about his personal relationships? Absolutely. But it is best that the First Amendment does not require a level of judiciousness as not much, if anything, would be said.

Unfortunately for Nani Lawrence, Fultz seems like a very terrible, vindictive person. I hope that as people hear about this controversy, he never finds a date again. Since he places politics over personal relationships, he doesn't seem to deserve another date. But maybe he will find a nice pro-life woman and settle down and start a nice pro-life family. I really don't care.

Yet, I find his speech and actions constitutional.

An Important Annoucement

When an RTS blog post goes up, it's kind of a big deal. Because yeah. We're that sexy.

For Harrogate

I hear he's feeling lonely....

I do not know what this means....