Dim Sum in Chinatown

Got together with the family for dim sum today at Emperor Garden. Judging from the procenium separating one huge dining room from the next and the murals on the wall, I assumed the building had once housed a grand movie palace. Turns out it was a site for entertainment, but for men only. According to my sister-in-law, who remembers it from her days at Tufts, it used to be a strip club known as The Naked I. As for the meal, my feeling is I always think I'm going to enjoy dim sum more than I ever actually do. The sweet pork buns are a treat, but overall I'd rather just order from the menu and share a few plates. Dim sum strikes me as a quintessentially male type of meal; it's all about hunting for the next bit to eat waiting for the carts pass by and then devouring what you nab.

Happy New Year, 2005

We watched this DVD last night, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)", courtesy of Netflix. I found parts of it a tad too psychodelic for my taste, but the creative impulse is breathtaking. Are there no limits to the imagination of Charlie Kaufman?

If they can marry, why can't I?

Will someone on the far right please explain to me why convicted, incarcerated double-murderers have the right to marry but a law-abiding, tax-paying, vote-casting citizen cannot if he is gay

So much for the sanctity of marriage ...

So the Florida legislature has just overruled the state court in the case of that comatose woman. Whatever happened to separation of powers? That court had ruled based on existing law. So the new standard is every time we don't like what a court does we pass an ex post facto law? And what about the sanctity of marriage? This woman's HUSBAND is the one who sought the court order. But instead of honoring that, the legislature and governor sided with her parents. I know Florida, which is one of two states that prohibits gay people to adopt, will never allow gay marriage; but I didn't realize they were against supporting traditional marriage.

Wonderful news for Nancy LaMott fans. I cherish her six albums (plus the few others on whch she sings a track or two, including the soundtrack for the film Jeffrey) How wonderful to hear more from this most splendid artist, who left us too soon and young.

I can't help but fear that yesterday's black out was caused by terrorists testing to see what would happen if they conducted a relatively small-scale disruption to the power grid. Think about it: they targeted a known weakness (the Hart-Rudman report identified it; see p. 27) and probed to see what the effects would be and how we would respond. And what did they learn: no wide-spread pandemonium, no panic, no looting - but also no advanced warning and no way to prevent it. Could this be similar to the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center - a not-so-subtly signalled preview of awful things to come?

Arianna is toast. No candidate can survive such a disclosure. Even though she broke no laws and did exactlty what the tax code allows, people don't want to elect someone who pays less than they do it taxes.

Now that's a smart dog!

I've been shuttling between Washington DC and Boston a lot this summer and have been joined on my travels twice by leading lights of the US Senate - Joe Lieberman and Ted Kennedy. The difference between the two? Lieberman flew first-class while Kennedy took an aisle seat in an exit row in coach (alright - so I'm not sure how comfortable I was entrusting my safety to him in case of an emergency.....). And within 30 minutes of landing at Reagan National Kennedy took the Senate floor to fight against William Pryor's judicial nomination; Lieberman, met by a state trooper on arrival at Logan Airport, was heading to a New Hampshire fundraiser.

The latest right-wing screed against gay marriage and in support of a constitutional amendment to outlaw same comes direct from the Senate Republicans. Notice how their central arguments against gay marriage seem to flow from the consequences of gay divorce - specifically as it would affect child support and the division of property. So the assertion isn't that recognizing loving same-sex relationship is the problem, but rather the (presumed) likelihood that such unions will fail. Could this be more evidence that the greater threat to marriage is not gay marriage but the way divorce laws have evolved in the past three decades? Strange how the focus is on marriage as a legal institution, not a "sacrament," which is a positive development as far as the separation of church and state.

David Brooks is probably the most insightful social analyst writing today, not to mention one of the hardest working - how many jobs does this guy have (The News Hour, Atlantic Monthly, Weekly Standard, NYT Magazine)? His new place on the NYT op-ed page may be a sign that the paper is finally back on track. Now if they'd only dump that gas-bag Krugman....

Pennsylvania's Senator Rick Santorum is an idiot who should refrain from trying to strain his tiny mind by attempting to make nuanced legal arguments. First, bigamy has to do with the regulation of marriage, which we know both states and the Federal government do (ever hear of the "Defense of Marriage Act"?). Second, bestiality is an act which by its very nature occurs without the consent of the animal, so it cannot be properly compared to homosexual activity between consenting adults. As for incest, well...he may have a point regarding the similarity, but when was the last time you heard that someone was was arrested for committing incest? How about NEVER?!