Since some of my friends have been asking, here is a link to my post on swine flu at my Ryan's Adventures blog
And here is a link to Enrico's blog Hotel Tuesday...he's adorable
UPDATE: I had the wrong link for my other blog, but it is fixed now!
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Want to Visit Mexico City?
Check out my guide for flying to Mexico City at ryansadventures.wordpress.com. I rank the various airlines I've tried, their pros and cons, and give a few tips on finding a ticket! Now you too can come see me.
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
It's Time To Leave
As President Obama seeks to restore the US to economic glory and institute a wide variety of domestic programs, two wars continue rage without end in the Middle East. Having never learned the historical lessons of Afghanistan--namely, that few if any imperial powers or invaders have ever succeeded there--the US continues a war started 7 years ago, continues to support an Afghanistan which remains woefully corrupt and inefficient, and has yet to destroy Al Qaeda or the Taliban. On top of that, the 6 year old Iraq war with its own trials. And yet, we spend billions on war when the nation is falling apart.
The time is to leave. We can't do that without consequences, and there will those. The Afghanistan government will fall, and the country will be in the hands of the radicals and terrorists again. Iraq may fair better, or it may dissolve into civil war. But we need our money here, we need our focus closer to home where Mexico is on the verge of losing control of sections of its country to drug lords and our corporations seem to think that bailouts are gifts without strings and a well they can continue to drink from.
It's time to leave, to cut our losses, admit our mistakes, and hope that 7 years of war hasn't destroyed our civilization like endless war has in the past.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Warren, Obama, and Gay Rights
I have been dismayed with the choice of Rich Warren by President-Elect Obama as a key participant in the inauguration. In particular, this choice confirms my suspicions (raised last spring) about Obama that his centrism and religious beliefs ultimately may harm the LGBTQ community, especially in light of the numbers of Obama supporters who turned out to be homophobes in California. Granted, Obama has promised to include diverse groups in his administration so as to represent a cornucopia of voices, rather than a political ideology. But, his refusal to be on the "right" side of this historical issue is troubling, and it remains to be seen whether he will sacrifice sexual minorities--including all of my voracious friends who marched in the Chicago PRIDE parade with pink Obama shirts--when it is politically expedient so as to achieve a larger political goal. Obama has been and remains a key figure of hope, an audacious hope in an America which no longer is beholden to and hostage of the "agents of intolerance," so many of whom, we've discovered, are so intolerant because of their own self-loathing. Rev. Haggard? Senator Craig? And, I still believe, Rev. Robertson?
However, are we looking at the sort of hope that Harvey Milk sought and that LGBTQ activists have fought for for decades? Or, a hope that Obama won't slide into the "don't ask, don't tell" backstabbing of Bill Clinton, once his own honeymoon was squandered, and he had to make policy in a "center-right" nation.
Frank Rich, writing in the NY Times, has a great column and much to say on this topic and the fact that gay people are "likable enough" for the Obama camp which is reveling in its political capital by choosing Warren. One of my favorite moments:
But we're not there yet. Warren’s defamation of gay people illustrates why, as does our president-elect’s rationalization of it. When Obama defends Warren’s words by calling them an example of the “wide range of viewpoints” in a “diverse and noisy and opinionated” America, he is being too cute by half. He knows full well that a “viewpoint” defaming any minority group by linking it to sexual crimes like pedophilia is unacceptable.
Indeed. I'm all for moving the country to a new position and doing so in a way that ensures Proposition 8 disasters don't happen again. But I grow tired of the "need" of homosexuals to subordinate their rights for party unity without much in the way of progress on an institutional level. We may be winning the cultural wars one bloody battle at a time, but we are often failing politically. And it is those losses which will scar the face of American human and civil rights for a generation, despite the newer opportunities LGBTQ individuals may have in the United States today.
Thursday, December 04, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
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