STAND-ALONE CITIES? Various criticisms of my claim that cities need the rest of the state as a tax base to maintain their social services etc. I’m getting this from an old, and not online, City Paper cover on problems with D.C. home rule, so my memory may definitely be faulty here–it’s hard to imagine that most cities could pay for themselves (I’d believe NYC as an exception), but maybe I am overestimating the proportion of poor people and concentrated services... Read more

IF IT’S NOT LOVE, THEN IT’S THE BOMB THAT WILL BRING US TOGETHER: The Agitator gives us a Valentine’s Day soundtrack. I of course must present my own, rather different one. I will be spending Valentine’s Day a) swilling orange juice in hopes of warding off this wretched lingering cold, b) commiserating, the time-honored tradition, and c) counseling women with unwanted pregnancies (although for some reason we don’t tend to get too many appointments on Feb. 14…), but that doesn’t... Read more

And his true love faire Psyche with him playes, Fair Psyche to him lately reconcyld, After long troubles and unmeet upbrayes, With which his mother Venus her revyld, And eke himselfe her cruelly exyld: But now in stedfast love and happy state She with him lives, and hath him borne a chyld, Pleasure, that doth both gods and men aggrate, Pleasure, the daughter of Cupid and Psyche late. —TFQ–I actually just read this bit an hour ago, I haven’t been... Read more

BEHIND THE FOREIGN FILM OSCARS: Boy, this is weird stuff. But fascinating. Excerpts: “In Slate, June Thomas explains that Almodovar’s film wasn’t even presented to the Academy’s nominating committee, since Spain — perversely, to my mind — decided to submit another film, Mondays in the Sun, instead. Similarly, Mexico’s nominating committee decided on El Crimen del Padre Amaro over a hit film, Y Tu Mama Tambien, which was disqualified on a technicality, and which was overlooked the previous year for... Read more

EH, deleted, some thoughts are too half-formed even for a blog. Read more

“GAY SEX OR JEW. HOW COME JEW WON?“: “David Bianco, longtime queer media player, bids goodbye to sex with men.” Note the “just a phase, dear” language the interviewer uses! On the other hand, both Bianco and the interviewer are much more personal and up-front than one might expect, and the whole interview just feels really honest–refreshing, and not TMI. This is very much not the sort of interview I would expect the Gay City News to run. Recommended. Read more

ANOTHER, RATHER DIFFERENT blogger in Baghdad–an American member of the Iraqi Peace Team (pacifists)–very very interesting. I feel bad saying this about someone who’s risking his life, but the guy seems pretty naive–nonetheless he’s a good observer and the site is worth your time. Link via Soundbitten. Read more

’80S HITS: Also in this week’s City Paper, an annoyingly pretentious but nonetheless affecting article quoting abandoned civilian complaints against the D.C. police. The complaints were filed in the 1980s, but never dealt with, and are basically sitting in boxes being shoved between various agencies who are trying not to have to deal with them (since each agency has its own, more recent, cases to handle). There are between 80 and 100 of these boxes. I will ignore the condescending-ironic... Read more

GOOD LETTER to the Washington City Paper: “I read the Feb. 7 Loose Lips column on congressional voting rights for D.C. with an all-too-familiar feeling of disappointment. Once again, a local media outlet frames it in terms of D.C. statehood, as if that were the only method available. Once again, a local writer castigates those mean old Republicans for denying statehood, because D.C. is overwhelmingly Democratic across all racial and income barriers, and would send Democratic representatives–and, especially, two Democratic... Read more

EVER ANCIENT, EVER NEW: The blog of the Association of Students at Catholic Colleges–basically, students who think the word “Catholic” has, you know, meaning. Read more