More Robot Worries

Hmmm, this may be marking of the "Singularity". Beware, they are coming, and now they do all the hard work of being human.

clipped from www.nytimes.com Impressed and alarmed by advances in artificial intelligence, a group of computer scientists is debating whether there should be limits on research that might lead to loss of human control over computer-based systems that carry a growing share of society’s workload, from waging war to chatting with customers on the phone. Their concern is that further advances could create profound social disruptions and even have dangerous consequences. “Something new has taken place in the past five to eight years,” Dr. Horvitz said. “Technologists are replacing religion, and their ideas are resonating in some ways with the same idea of the Rapture.” A physician told him afterward that it was wonderful that the system responded to human emotion. “That’s a great idea,” Dr. Horvitz said he was told. “I have no time for that.”

Bacon is a Wepon of Mass Destruction

I LOVE the anthropology of food. Food is something all people have in common and while being far from a foodie, I like to look at people and their interaction with food. Recently on NPR, I head about the psychology and biology of eating a snicker's bar. You must check it out.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106470909

It is called, "How Tasty Foods Change the Brain". This story talk about the snicker's bar as the perfect food because it mixes protein, sugar, caffeen, and salt. All delicoius things. I think that the example from the "Bacon as a Weapon of Mass Destruction". The McGriddle really is an equally alluring and addictive food. I've never eaten one, myself, but I know others who are highly addicted.

clipped from www.alternet.org The confluence of factory farming, the boom in fast food and manipulation of consumer taste created processed foods that can hook us like drugs. Among my fondest childhood memories is savoring a strip of perfectly cooked bacon that had just been dragged through a puddle of maple syrup. It was an illicit pleasure; varnishing the fatty, salty, smoky bacon with sweet arboreal sap felt taboo. How could such simple ingredients produce such riotous flavors? That was then. Today, you don't need to tax yourself applying syrup to bacon -- McDonald's does it for you with the McGriddle. It conveniently takes an egg, American cheese and pork and nestles it between pancakelike biscuits suffused with genuine fake-maple-syrup flavor.

This Ain't Your Old Man's Weed

This article had some very very interesting points. I guess until it said it, I had not thought much about the difference between decriminalization and legalization issues. I'm in favor of first decriminalization so we can keep people out of prisons and save some money. I strongly support the law enforcement officers' comment about how if a huge number of people are disobeying the law, and yet aren't killing others or destroying property, then maybe we should re-look at this law. It won't happen very soon, but maybe the libertarians in Idaho will look at it.

I guess I've not really thought much about this issue because it doesn't really affect me. Even if it were decriminalized, or legalized, I would still choose not to do it.

Article is worth the read.

clipped from roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com A New York Times article on Sunday discussed the debate over whether more and more potent types of cannabis affect the levels of addiction to the drug. This particular issue has become part of the larger debate over whether marijuana should be legalized or decriminalized. Surveys indicate increasingly positive attitudes in the U.S. for liberalizing marijuana policies. Two ways of doing this are: (1) legalization, which would involve lawful cultivation and sale of marijuana, and (2) decriminalization, which would retain criminal penalties for cultivation and sale while removing them for possession of small amounts. Any law disobeyed by more than 100 million Americans, the number who’ve tried marijuana at least once, is bad public policy. As a 34-year police veteran, I’ve seen how marijuana prohibition breeds disrespect for the law, and contempt for those who enforce it. we’ve halved tobacco consumption through public education — without a single arrest.

White Male History

Note:"White" in this blog is referencing to people with northern European ancestry, and weighted heavily toward Christians. I also wasn't sure about capitalization of "white" so I vary it up a bit.

First I read, then come questions. What is the male equivalent of this "Off the Path" game? Why does a white-male game that teaches a similar moral not get the same attention? Or if it does, why it is often framed as "Christian". These questions come on the back of another racial discussion currently in the news.

Looking at the Sotomayor hearings, I have heard her questioned on her comments framed as "wise Latina" v. "white male". I thought nothing of this as a comparison comment; I was struck that she would dare to comment that white males have an unexamined history. No one likes to be told they live an unconscious life. History has over represented European contributions and at the same time has not really been kind to white males.

White culture has dominated history by claiming to be universal. This is changing with the expansion and appreciation of minority history. I must note that this appreciation is not at competition with the antiquated version of history most of my generation and others was taught. It is complementarity. Again, some people think that pointing out how something is unexamined means it is competition. Not the case.

This still begs the question of why is there not more attention to white male history. This attention would not be a glossing of others' history in an effort to be universal. I would like to see a critical look at white male history intended as white male history. It should also be taught from the perspective that it is not competing with other history, and should be oppressive to others.

I really had this idea click when an archeology professor talked about taking students from Pocatello to Europe to dig up Vikings. In America there is a hostility towards White anthropologists digging up the ancestors of the first Americans. It comes from the destructive habits of the past. Today anthropologists are more conscious in doing no harm to other groups, but still curious about where we are today. For those of us with a northern European history we are away from our biological relatives and so we want to see what is where we are. My professor wanted to take white kids and have them dig up white kids, or even more balanced is first American kids digging up northern Europeans. Scientifically, bringing the diversity of backgrounds is most likely to generate the most innovation.

But I wonder, where is white history. Is it really so much the trees that I cannot see it? I can just imagine the conversation with my 76-year-old dad when we sit down and I ask him to explain what it is to be "White" with me. Geeze, I'd settle if he could explain what it is to be Irish-German-Dutch with a family history of both Mormon and whatever those religions his mom and him tried. As a white male, if he can't explain white male history to me, then I only more understand and appreciate Sotomayor's comments. I can explain my female, lesbian history experience to him so I hope I could make a wiser conscious decision.

clipped from www.npr.org All Things Considered, July 15, 2009 · The classic story of Little Red Riding Hood is a warning to girls about the dangers of strangers — particularly male strangers. The video game The Path begins with a warning, too: When you're going to grandmother's house, it says, best stay on the path. But that warning's a ruse. "In some ways, the girls are all one girl," observes Auriea Harvey, The Path's other co-designer. "Or one girl at different stages of her life. In some ways, this [game] is about the various stages of life a girl has to go through in order to become a woman."

Money and Justice

Yet another Grapes of Wrath Reference...

When I read this, the first thing I thought was..., well, I thought about the NPR story I had just heard on the news. The story was about undocumented workers and their cost to the California budget. The story says "Legislative Analyst Dan Carson says California now spends about $4.6 billion yearly to provide services for — or to incarcerate — illegal immigrants."

Also, there was a story from yesterday that says about California's budget problems that "The prison population has grown from 25,000 to 175,000 since the early 1990s, not because of an increase in crime, Sullivan says, but because of the "tough-on-crime, three-strikes-and-you're-out" laws. But the growing population isn't the only prison-related challenge facing the state."

But then I asked other questions...How did we deal with homelessness in the past? Those Hoovervilles of the past are now not in the country, they are in the city. Has there ever been a solution? Hoovervilles ended when people found jobs in munitions plants. But today, our Hoovervilles are not just filled with unemployed, but the unemployable. In the past families could take more care of the mentally ill. Population growth, and the new industrialization has misplaced so many of our fellow citizens. Housing seems to be the least we could offer, and save money in the process.

On the topic of criminalizing homelessness, there are already problems and pressures in the justice system. Do we really need to argue this is an economic issue? What value is there to framing the justice system issues, like the problems now that put innocent people in jail, into an economic framework? I think justice really is outside of an economic framework, but it is harder to argue with people how human beings should be valued than the economics of the situation. Well, not harder, but they are less likely to listen to the emotional argument. I wonder in the advocacy work being done for those in the system, what styles of talking about justice there are. And are the framings of the issues leading towards change?. I'm not familiar with a lot of it. I took "race, class, and gender' in college so I have some sociology of crime and punishment knowledge. What should I know if I am going to have a conversation with someone who supports 'tough on crime" or, I would say, who is afraid of being victimized...

And what role does the fear of victimization play in the attitude of people when they would oppose changes to the justice system?

I'm very curious and interested in what changes are being suggested and more of the details from law enforcement about how we got to where we are.

I'm familiar with Foucault's Birth of the Modern Prision on the history of how we culturally got to the modern system, but what were the small pieces of evidence (popular fokelore) that are pushing things as they are?

I also have friends who are very good about posting stories need to be told, but I've never found one that is compelling for me to repost...what is it about this in my own attitude/experience that has me not pushing toward a new culture more consciously.

My Blog, My rules, My questions. Something for me to chew on.

clipped from www.npr.org Urban Panning: The 10 Meanest Cities In America? Without further ado, the groups' Top 10 Meanest U.S. Cities are: 1. Los Angeles 2. St. Petersburg, Fla. 3. Orlando, Fla. 4. Atlanta 5. Gainesville, Fla. 6. Kalamazoo, Mich. 7. San Francisco 8. Honolulu 9. Bradenton, Fla. 10. Berkeley, Calif. It's tempting to look at other, less serious ways cities might be ranked among the most mean. Largest number of quick-changing yellow traffic lights, for instance. Or least garbage pickups per month. A great city, Aristotle said a while back, is not to be confused with a populous one. In other words: Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses. Just make sure they don't huddle and mass in public places.

Adendum to "Robots' Rights Now!" or Just A Crusafix in a Jar of Pee?

I never thought I would get so much pleasure from these three words...The Summer Movie. If you have read my "Robots' Rights Now!" blog from a few weeks ago, you may understand how I have been personally transformed by Transformers. But after reading this article about Transformers as an art film, I have had a much different experience with the film. Please read this article.

clipped from io9.com Since the days of Un Chien Andalou and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, filmmakers have reached beyond meaning. But with this summer's biggest, loudest movie, Michael Bay takes us all the way inside Caligari's cabinet. And once you enter, you can never emerge again. I saw this movie two days ago, and I'm still living inside it. Things are exploding wherever I look, household appliances are trying to kill me, and bizarre racial stereotypes are shouting at me. this isn't a movie, in the conventional sense. It's an assault on the senses, a barrage of crazy imagery. Bay has put all of this excess of imagery and random ideas at the service of the most pandering movie genre there is: the summer movie. You try in vain to understand how the pieces fit, you stare into the cracks between the narrative strands, until the cracks become chasms and the chasms become an abyss into which you stare until it looks deep into your own soul, and then you go insane. You. Do. Not. Leave. The Cabinet.

My Wo"Man In The Mirror".

I'll add my remarks to this later. I should be getting back to work.

clipped from www.commondreams.org In celebrity culture we destroy what we worship. The commercial exploitation of Michael Jackson’s death was orchestrated by the corporate forces that rendered Jackson insane. Jackson, robbed of his childhood and surrounded by vultures that preyed on his fears and weaknesses, was so consumed by self-loathing he carved his African-American face into an ever changing Caucasian death mask and hid his apparent pedophilia behind a Peter Pan illusion of eternal childhood. The stories we like best are “real life” stories—early fame, wild success and then a long, bizarre and macabre emotional train wreck. O.J Simpson offered a tamer version of the same plot. So does Britney Spears.

What Were They Not Thinking?

Wow. This was the first thing I read this morning and not exactly how I wanted to start the day. Since it is here, it should be commented on.

I have two reactions to this story. The first was, ew! The "ew" feeling is my wrenching but expected feeling of disgust with those making the comments. It is this behavior that has been given a pass by the Free Republic types. Usually the remarks aren't so obviously racist/sexist/homophobic, they have more nuance. In this case, they were obvious. This is why I had a second reaction.

I may be an optimist, but I also thought "at least they DID take them down". It may have taken a day or two to make the right decision, but the site moderator did remove them. This is a sign of progress rather than regression. Those who are wrong, are now becoming more conscious they are wrong. It may not change them to the positive, but it could be one stress that moves them toward the positive later. I was proud that at least some (if only a few) of the bloggers on the Free Republic site did stand up and tell others that the remarks were inappropriate. It has to start somewhere, even if it is like 40 years later then everyone else.

I also have two other thoughts on the topic. One was about how shaded the new racism is. There is sometimes debate upon whether something is or is not racist. My definition of "racist" is when outdated stereotypes are used to infer behavior. "Racism" is when the outdated stereotypes are used to deny equal power to a group. In this example there are a few outdated incorrect stereotypes. Bitasking a comment with a skin color characteristic in the same one as "monkey" is a reference to the eugenic and, what I would call, poorly done physical anthropology of the past. It is a historical reference. Which lead to my second thought, would history lessons reduce racism?

History is not directed at changing behavior like "sensitivity training", "diversity" workshops, and even batterers' treatment models, are. Is describing the history and ordering it so we learn where our unconscious beliefs come from a way that those who still are using outdated stereotypes to be addressed without the immediate defense going up? When we call for particular histories to be told that have been lacking (Black History, Women's History, Gay History, ect...) we aren't just wanting examples of heroes, we are asking for our own lives to be put into context. We are asking for counter examples to the outdated stereotypes. Could it be history that is lacking in education, more than any intercommunication training?

I'm not sure, but I'd like to have the discussion.

And my last thought, real quick before I go get my waffle fix...
This behavior is not unexpected from the Free Republic site. White supremacist groups use sites like these to recruit new members. "Tea Parties" and small libertarian groups, and even small Christian congregations, are being perverted by the bad guys out there. It makes me sick.

clipped from www.vancouversun.com Conservative Free Republic blog in free speech flap after racial slurs directed at Obama children These are a small selection of some of the racially-charged comments posted to the conservative 'Free Republic' blog Thursday, aimed at U.S. President Barack Obama's 11-year-old daughter Malia after she was photographed wearing a t-shirt with a peace sign on the front. The thread was accompanied by a photo of Michelle Obama speaking to Malia that featured the caption, "To entertain her daughter, Michelle Obama loves to make monkey sounds." Such was the onslaught of derision on the site that the person who originally complained about the slurs, a Kristin N., claims only one comment in the first hundred posted actually criticized the remarks as inappropriate. Only after significant negative attention from a host of left wing political blogs did the maintainers of the Free Republic site place the thread under review for a second time, before finally pulling it.

Gay Panic Defense

I normally don't do two blog posts a day, and I'm sorry to anyone who came to the blog today expecting my tech blog to be first on the list, but after reading this I really have to say something, or at minimum raise some good questions.

I found this article through some friends on Facebook who I totally respect. However, while the brutality toward gays, and especially Chad Gibson, the 26-year-old Fort Worth resident who was put into a coma during a police raid of a gay bar last week , should be brought to light, this particular article (and a few others I have read on the subject) deflect from one of complications of the story. I understand this is a compelling story for many reasons. One is the brutality by police. Second is the group it was directed to and their historical struggle. Three is the issue of sexual assault. I would like to bring up a few points for discussion about the latter.

The following are excerpts from the article. I suggest reading it, but beware, it is not a news article, it is an opinion piece. For a more objective piece check out "Raid at Club in TX Leaves Man in Coma." The author did however collect relevant quotes from TX newspapers that are important pieces of evidence to their argument. Their emotional reaction is very understandable and I love those gut-reactions because I think they have the most individual truth in them of how the person will treat the situation unconsciously. Consciously, I think we step back and correct our behavior for affectiveness.

clipped from slog.thestranger.com Fort Worth Police Chief: That Faggot Had It Coming The officers who raided the Rainbow Lounge claim that the men in the bar made "advances" on them[.] This is a classic example of the Gay Panic Defense. In the very recent past all a straight man who brutally murdered a gay man had to say was, "He made a pass at me!", and the jury would ignore the evidence and let the murderer off. The Gay Panic Defense doesn't fly in many courts of law these days but it still has currency in the court of public opinion. And the chief of police in Forth Worth, a major U.S. city, is attempting to use the Gay Panic Defense to convince the citizens of Fort Worth to ignore the evidence—to ignore photographic evidence and credible eyewitness accounts—and let his officers off. Gay men don't grope police officers when they enter gay bars

This article brings up a very importance idea, this of the "Gay Panic Defense".
Gay Panic Defense a real problem. This idea that people deserve a "pass" for behavior because it is fair is, well, unfair. An officer was assaulted, so force was excused. But if we extend this analogy does it remain true? Look at the example of the prosecution of Nazi prison guards. Most guards were individuals caught up in bad politics and had a terrible job. Was their murder of Jewish "criminals" (as defined by Germany at that time) a justified reaction? Sometimes reactions are not fair. Being angered at the police isn't about punishing the individuals, it is anger about unjust society. We are trying to create a just society and creating a society that has laws that clearly define unacceptable behavior. In this case we have the excuse that because there was a preceding event, the police's reaction is justified. If the police are allowed to use the "Gay Panic Defense", then why not also accept the "Jewish Panic Defense"...the Jews in Germany did have jobs that Anglo-Saxon Germans would have had, and fear of losing a jobs in a poor economy uas used as a reason for a Nazi prison guard to just do their job. Both are justified because of a preceding events. In the case of the TX officers, they say the bar patrons were groping them.

The NYTimes article reports a more moderate version of the story. The TX Police captain is defending the officers, the people who were there have a different interpretation. I seriously doubt that every officer was groped, and that every bar patron involved in the violence were the ones doing the groping. But I doubt it has never happened before either. However, the author is using their own experience of gay bars to describe the behavior of a very large and diverse group. Basing a the argument on their personal experience is great if they are expressing an opinion, or using it to introduce information with respect to their point of view (as I am about to do), but it doesn't fit into the argument that this author is making; that the behavior of the police is equivalent to a hate crime.

This author's argument that he personally knows that "gay men don't grope police officers when they enter gay bars" brings up a good topic of conversation because I have had a different experience. I don't think my experience is universal at all, but it is my experience.

I have had many times with different men in Idaho had a similar conversation; I know at least a dozen straight men who are LGBT allies and gay men, however they are uncomfortable in Pocatello's gay bar, Charley's. They have been made to feel uncomfortable because of behavior by people that if I saw in any other context would be sexual assault. Their experience was caused by the behavior mostly of men, and a few women, not all of one sexual orientation. I can't claim it is a "gay thing", but these questions are raised because of their location not the sexuality of the participants. These assaults are not always physical, but has been enough that I would say that physical sexual assault is not rare.

Men, and some women, have commented that when they go to Charley's they are touched inappropriately. They may also have comments made to them of a sexual nature, but not just one comment, often it is a lot of them in a row. I wouldn't say every time this happens it would be categorized as sexual assault, but when the victim asks for it to end, and it continues, that moves beyond playful. I have also seen it used as a weapon to discourage people from returning to the bar, both intentionally and unintentionally. And really, any unwanted physical sexual touching is assault, especially when used to make the victim feel less powerful.

So, the question I have are the following:

Does sexual assault get minimized by being in a place where sexuality is expected to be on display, such as a bar, especially a gay bar?

What is an appropriate response to physical sexual assault?

Men in society are traditionally, although unfairly, the creator of the norms of behavior. Is their violent reaction (in this case) the correct one for women to imitate? Is a violent reaction the correct reaction to begin with?

What are women taught and expected to do in the same situation at other bars?
What are women taught and expected to do in non-bar situations?

Why is the sexuality of the perpetrator and victim given more weight then the offensive act in most of the discussions of what happened in Texas?

Why location is given weight to the activity?

Eve Elsner's "My Short Skirt" applies here. If you haven't heard "My Short Skirt" watch this video.

I agree with it's premise that the police uses excessive force and there are some major problems to be addressed about treatment of minorities by police, brought up by this article. I am conscious I have spun this from the first article's intention, but I'd like to have this discussion. Please let me know your thoughts.

Social Media Lessons of the Week

I decided to browse NPR and the NYTimes for "technology" this morning. Two interesting article came up. The first one is about Power.com.

Power.com is a program where you can log into multiple social networking sites at once. Sound's pretty awesome. I'll take it for a test drive this afternoon and see if I like it. I'm logged into facebook like 16-20 hours a day so if there is a way I can keep up with my other lesser used sites during the day, that would be cool. Sure I love my twitterfox, and I'm becoming more and more fond of tweetdeck, but I'm always looking to one better my tech connection. The NYTimes article is about how Power.com is suing Facebook for monopolizing social networking. They are likely to lose, but they are getting some attention from it, even if it is just from me and the NY Times.

Second lesson of the day is from NPR. One of the reasons I like Facebook and my Google mail is that the marketing towards me is getting smarter. I like most of the ads that I get on Facebook. They are set by profile information, not text written in messages, statuses, and posts. This is both too bad, but also makes it more affective then how Google does it.

Google will pull words from the text of e-mails. This is frustrating to me sometimes. I had to click on Jim Risch ads everyday because they would be generated by my e-mails during the Nov '08 election. I clicked on the ads, mostly just to cost him money through Google's pay-per-click. I also marked his ads as "offensive", like I often do on Facebook hoping they will get the picture that I am not interested in the Young Republicans' ads, or any ad for republican candidates or issues. I wish there were a preference of excluding ads instead of just adding data that will generate better ads. If Google base more of the ads on profiles and less on key words generated in e-mail conversations, I think the ads would be more relevant. I also wish I could request types of ads. I love all the ones for vintage clothing and would like more of them.

I guess in the end it doesn't matter. I'm of a generation that has been so advertised to since youth, I am pretty good at tuning them all out. Unless it is a picture of a girl in a vintage swimsuit. That always catches my eye.

clipped from www.npr.org Facebook Ads A Big, Fat Wrinkle For Some Users But, I recently found myself in a dilemma, and it all had to do with Facebook and my age. I noticed, as I thought about it, that all the Facebook ads on my page were about wrinkle creams and diets. Whoever was advertising had focused on my age and on nothing else revealed in my profile; for example, a love of science fiction or birding. [Then she removed her age from her profile, and] started looking again, and I noticed no ads for diets or wrinkle cream. It turns out that now you can vote ads on Facebook up or down, and even vote them out. I'm guessing a lot of people voted against those ads for wrinkle cream. And when she took her birth year out, "there was an obvious decrease in the number of those types of ads. Now the ads are geared more toward key words in my profile, and seem based on my interests."

Robot Soup

Robots are in the news again. This time taking the variety out of taste. Soup is even getting some robot flavor.

clipped from www.npr.org A ramen shop owner in Japan has blended his love for noodles with his passion for electronics. Customers enter his store and tap into a computer their preferred levels of salt and soy sauce and broth richness. The robot then whips up the perfect broth. Humans are still needed to make the noodles and place them in the bowl. Robot Attracts Customers To Ramen Shop

The Obama Administration and LGBTQI Rights

As people who believe in social justice and as Americans, we are all wanting our government to parallel our personal beliefs and ideals. We all have high hopes for the Obama Administration and want them to represent and act on issues we hold dear and affect us and those we love. I've participated in many discussions, especially on LGBTQI rights, and heard a lot of criticism of the Obama Administration, both fair and some of it unfair. When I think about it, I always think of it like the Audre Lorde quote about how I view progress and what is happening around us.

"There's always someone asking you to underline one piece of yourself--whether it's Black, woman, mother, dyke, teacher, etc.--because that's the piece that they need to key in to. They want to dismiss everything else. But once you do that, then you've lost because then you become acquired or bought by that particular essence of yourself, and you've denied yourself all of the energy that it takes to keep all those others in jail. Only by learning to live in harmony with your contradictions can you keep it all afloat. You know how fighting fish do it? They blow bubbles and in each one of those bubbles is an egg and they float the egg up to the surface. They keep this whole heavy nest of eggs floating, and they're constantly repairing it. It's as if they live in both elements. That's something that we have to do, too, in our own lives--keep it all afloat. It's possible to take that as a personal metaphor and then multiply it to a people, a race, a sex, a time. If we can keep this thing going long enough, if we can survive and teach what we know, we'll make it. But the question is a matter of the survival and the teaching. That's what our work comes down to. No matter where we key into it, it's the same work, just different pieces of ourselves doing it."

I took Gender and The Law from Dr. Adler and we specifically went over civil rights of minorities in the class. Also with a basis in the history of the U.S. Constitutional law, I see the move towards LGBTQI full equality as going to take awhile and I see the small gains are being strategically placed. The goal, long term, is to use the Constitution to illuminate our rights, but to do that, we (LGBTQI) must reach "suspect class" status. This status is gained by challenging laws, one at a time, until their is a substantial number of cases with a precedence. There also must be sound research that also shows the costs and affects of the laws being unequally applied. There must also be the practice of our government to use sound science in law. To reach full equality, without states being selective/obstructive of rights, the road must be set down first. Demanding everything "now" is not going to make the for full equality, it is actually fodder for "separate but equal" proponents. I also trust and hope Obama and Biden have more vision of what they are doing because of they both have knowledge of constitutional law and how legal change comes about. Full equality under the law must come through law if it is to be permanent.

I think what has been done so far by the Obama Administration is to recognize rights that will help to move forward the evidence for further legal rights later. For the U.S. to recognize the same-sex benefits to federal employees, is a excellent place to begin. It is not where it ends. It sets a precedence of treatment and respect that more gains can be built on; and it didn't cause huge debate. It was a great test of the waters and a real practice change that moves forward the cause without using too much energy.

I don't think things are static, I think they are moving along at a steady pace. Slower than I would like? Absolutely! But, we also must respect that LGBTQI rights should not just be forced upon the majority or there can be a dangerous re-action. With the change in the age and ideas of the next generation, there can be both a change in the law and a change in culture that isn't forcing others to behave in a certain way. I don't want to force others into a belief, but in as little as 4-10 years, demographically and through education, the changes will move themselves toward the positive. This is a link to one of the models that shows a positive change. I am more scared than anything that in if a case comes up too quickly to the courts (Prop 8 is an example), that more could be lost then gained. Picking battles is very important and I see the Obama Administration is making positive moves for sustainable change.

Also, as someone who (rather dangerously sometimes) sees all the connections between human rights and other issues, I think that picking the winning battles and making friends in other movements, then linking those issues, is a better way to build a coalition who will choose the right thing with minimal effort. It is like judo. In judo you use other's momentum to win the battle and save your own energy. Judo just means "the gentle way". The Obama's Administration's lack of quick movement on LGBT issues isn't as pressing for me, right now because I see them taking the gentle way. For example, many environmental issues are about respect. We must respect Earth and change our behaviors to illustrate our respect. Human rights are also about respect. We can teach respect by working on environmental issues. Respect can then applied when describing human rights and we have something in common; and working together we have the added benefit of creating alliances. People can then make better decisions on their own without it taking so much force, doing it the judo way. Van Jones has said it best when he asked why would anyone care about the polar bears and global warming when they can't get a job, or they have a sick child and can't afford health insurance. While I don't think health care or the environment should come before human rights, I try to understand where people are before we can move forward together. It makes progress slower then I would want sometimes but by taking the long view I can keep a balance that I hope moves humans towards respect of their own energy.

The same goes with how I see the Obama Administration's work on international human rights and peace/war. We must engage where we can make the most positive and sustainable change as it comes up. LGBTQI rights haven't moved to the top of the list yet, but they are in que and ready to addressed in the near future when momentum will make the job easier and make the results more permanent.

Thoughts of the Day, Is a M.A. Useless to Me?

Aw geeze. I didn't want to hear this. Really not a great story, but something to chew on for someone like myself who is looking for a M.A. program. Looks like a J.D. is a good idea after all. Boo.

clipped from roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com Room for Debate recently published two forums on the burdens of student loans, and heard from a lot of former students, parents, professors and others who shared personal horror stories, blunt advice and critical observations about higher education. Degree inflation increasingly obliges more degrees to compensate for the devaluation of earlier degrees. Jobs that once were filled by high school graduates and later by college graduates today often require a master’s degree. This is largely optical, but one deals with the world he or she lives in. Still, just as the double and triple undergraduate major is a form of gilding the lily, a form of product enhancement, meant to seduce the hiring partner or the human resources director, the growing interest in the M.A. reveals the inadequacy of the baccalaureate. Not all degrees are equal — a master’s in anthropology or art probably has less incremental earning power than a M.B.A. or advanced engineering degree.