I had a post here about Dean's wacky speech the other night, but I took it down. People are jumping all over this and it may actually hurt Dean politically. That's stupid beyond words, and I want no part of it.
If you haven't heard of the incident with Margaret Cho last week, it's worth a read. (Warning: horrible, offensive material.)
There's a lot of talk out there--not defending the freepers, per se, but claiming that Cho "knew what she was getting into" when she told the jokes. That misses the point entirely. This whole thing isn't about having sympathy for Cho. She's a grown woman, and she's responsible for what she says. The point here is that there are a lot of sick people in this country, who still have some neanderthal ways of thinking about race and gender and homosexuality. There remain some enormous, deep-rooted problems--and that needs to be addressed.
A lot of people in this country believe that we're far beyond the racism of the pre-civil-rights era, but we're not. Today is MLK Day, and we'll all watch Dan Rather get all choked up at a 30 second clip of King's "I Have A Dream" speech, and think how lucky we are that things have changed. The fact is, things haven't change all that much. They certainly haven't changed enough.
A few more quick thoughts on John Ashcroft's recusal in the Plame investigation. ... Why did this happen? And why now?
A few possibilities suggest themselves.
One might surmise that Ashcroft, after some time to think it over, decided that it was the wiser course to recuse himself and appoint a special prosecutor.
You could surmise that. But then you'd be pretty stupid. So let's pass on that possibility....
The first time I heard, from hardened polar bear veterans, that "it really isn't that bad" I chuckled politely. By the third time, I was starting to get pissed. What do you mean it isn't that bad? It has to be that bad. It's the freaking Atlantic Ocean! It's Boston! It's January!
It really wasn't that bad.
On Thursday morning I joined the L Street Brownies (why are they brownies? I'm not sure.) in their 100th annual New Year Day plunge. (Details here.)
It was cold, yes. It was FUCKING cold. It was so cold that, once I came up for air, my lungs didn't work. (They'd been shocked into a sort of temporary cryogenic hibernation, and I stood trying unsuccessfully to inhale for some seconds before they finally kicked in.) It was cold as hell, but it didn't hurt. I'd sort of expected it to sting, or burn or ache or something, but it didn't. So in that sense, it "wasn't that bad". And I felt great for the rest of the day--not just relieved that it was over, but exhilarated and recharged and ready to take on the new year. It was a great experience, and I may do it again some day.
An enormous thanks to everyone who pledged their money and support. I raised about $500 for the monkeys, and the 50 or so swimmers from my company who joined me raised a total of over $25,000 for various other causes.
I only got a few pictures of the experience--the best of which is posted above. (No, that's not a wetsuit. It's just a t-shirt.) There was video--supposedly excellent video featuring closeups of all my sputtering and cursing--but it was lost. I'm pretty disappointed, but in the end no photograph could really do justice to the experience. It was cold as fuck.
Thank you again to everyone who supported me out there in cyberland. For a bunch of AI bots created by some Carnegie Mellon undergrad, you're pretty frickin' cool.
UPDATE 1/4/2003
You can see video of the event here. If you look closely, you can see me in the background at around the 55-60 second mark.
