25
2004
1.Having read President Bush’s comments calling for a constitutional amendment to define marriage while maintaining states’ rights (baby: split), I’m standing by my that much of the tension underlying gay marriages is over the changing role of women.
C.V. Nevius turns in a nice column sort of making this point in today’s Chron by quoting a bunch of religious scholars who point out that marriage has changed – a lot – in the past 2,000 years. And while I’m saying nice things – hey, it happens -- about the crowd down on Mission Street, please note their coverage of the gay marriage issues has been complete, smart and, every once in a while – Nevius today, for example – useful.
2.The BBC last night carried some interesting news out of Libya. The New York Times picked it up today. And it raises some questions about whether or not the U.S. invasion of Iraq was the impetus for the Libyan decision to dismantle its nuclear arms program.
The Libyans aren’t taking responsibility for bombings, their prime minister said recently in comments that the U.S. State Department immediately questioned. They were just paying for peace, to remove the economic sanctions that had been imposed. So, once again, it’s not clear if it was the invasion or the economic pressure; we may never be able to point to one over the other. But that, itself, raises more questions – particularly when combined with this news out of North Korea – about the merits of the Bush Pre-emption Doctrine.
3.Didja see Gov. Terminator on Meet the Press using his celebrity to maximum advantage? I stopped watching the Sunday shows – silly Lexis/Nexis generated “gotcha” quiz fests – when I left Washington. Watching Arnold Schwarzenegger turn tough guy Tim Russert into the Pillsbury Dough Boy of National News reminded me why. It’s a dumb format. It accomplishes nothing.
The Gov. used his movie star smarts to kay-o Russert. And he took his sweet time about it, too. First he talks about how Meet The Press, is “Like a movie promotion, the way you guys hype up with whole show here.” Cute. The gov is dissing the show very nicely with a HUGE smile on his face.
A little later, Schwarzenegger thanks Russert for reading his body-building books so carefully. They’ve paid off, says the Gov. He can just see Russert’s six pack abs and well-developed deltoids. Pretty funny. The last six pack Russert – who was almost squirming – saw was at Buffalo Bill’s game. And Deltoids, he probably thinks that’s a county in Mississippi.
That Arnold. He can pump up you up. Then he brings out the big needle. And you're not so inflated anymore. Deliberate? Absolutely. Scary, huh?