ntelligentsia

In light of Barack Obama’s recent policy shifts on FISA and Iraq, and his recent kowtowing to the jesus freaks, I’ve decided to pull the campaign lit and links off of each of my websites. I’ll still vote for the guy, but I won’t be actively supporting the campaign.

Sorry for the recent lack of activity - I’m taking a bit of a hiatus for the next week or two. You may see some new stuff here and there, but don’t expect things to really pick back up until after 18 July or so.

This is a first, as far as I know - voters using a candidate’s website to influence policy decisions:

mybarackobama.com - Senator Obama - Please Vote NO on Telecom Immunity - Get FISA Right

The interwebs really are changing everything this election cycle. Welcome to the new politics.

Matthew Yglesias, on John McCain:

John McCain doesn’t know how to use a computer. John McCain doesn’t know when he last pumped gas or what it cost. John McCain owns seven homes and forgot to pay taxes on one of them for the past four years. But at least he’s not an elitist like Barack Obama. He earned his money the old-fashioned way — marrying an heiress.

He left out the part about McCain cheating on and dumping his first wife to marry the younger mistress/heiress.

Two married men - one who frequents prostitutes and another that enjoys extra-marital gay sex in public restrooms - join forces to co-sponsor the `Marriage Protection Amendment’.

The irony is almost enough to make your head asplode.

A very perceptive essay from the editorial section of today’s Roanoke Times:

Daniel Malore: The fundamentalist population bomb

Many of us are familiar with studies suggesting populations stabilize as economies modernize, producing education, better health and job opportunities. But the elephant in the room we often ignore is the rise of fundamentalist religions promoting the value of a large family as part of God’s plan.

If God’s plan is to have us well-armed and at each other’s throats fighting for limited resources, or to drown in the human-generated waste and pollution that capitalism and consumerism demand, we need to challenge this outdated God and religious dogma.

Malore is a Quaker who lives and writes in Lexington, Virginia.

Malore’s subject matter - how outdated religious practices have increasingly become a net drag on society - is something that has weighed on my mind for quite a while.

As an atheist, I’ve long been torn between the lassiez-faire “live and let pass” school of thought and the disappointing realization of just how utterly selfish some people - especially those of the fundamentalist stripe - can be when it comes stuff like shared resources and shared spaces.

How does a society best address the conflict that arises when a substantial subset of the population hordes and consumes far more than their fair share? Should the more enlightened souls be expected to sacrifice even more, conserve even more, give even more, in order to compensate for those who could care less?

Do we go so far as to mandate lifestyle changes? Do we use economic policy, taxes and tariffs to encourage people to live responsibly and sustainably?

These types of questions are becoming less and less esoteric with each passing day. Mr. Malore should be commended for speaking out like he did.

TPM: Obama on FISA

If there was any doubt that Sen Barack Obama (D-IL) would vote for the new FISA legislation — even if he fails to strip telecom immunity from the bill — he cleared that up in a press conference today, saying that telecom immunity does not override “the security interests of the American people.”

It sure as hell overrides my plans to donate to your campaign next month.

They’ve actually resorted to ignoring e-mails:

NYT: White House Refused to Open Pollutants E-Mail

The White House in December refused to accept the Environmental Protection Agency’s conclusion that greenhouse gases are pollutants that must be controlled, telling agency officials that an e-mail message containing the document would not be opened, senior E.P.A. officials said last week.

The document, which ended up in e-mail limbo, without official status, was the E.P.A.’s answer to a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that required it to determine whether greenhouse gases represent a danger to health or the environment, the officials said.

I don’t guess we should be surprised.

Maureen Dowd: More Phony Myths

It’s hard to believe that if Americans get attacked after all these years of getting strip-searched at the airport, they’re going to be filled with confidence at the performance of the Republicans on national security.