Ross is love.

President Kennedy at 50.

Today marks the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's inaugural address on January 20th, 1961. Whatever you think or thought of Jack, it's one helluva speech. Strangely, and a bit sadly, there's almost nothing that doesn't remain relevant today.

There's a little Double Rainbow Guy in all of us.

Here's what's making me happy today: Double Rainbow Guy.

via Chris Hartwick @Nerdist.

Homeboy loves him some double rainbow. If I loved stuff like double rainbow guy likes stuff, I'd be a way better person. My resolution today is to get at least half as excited about something. I think I'm supposed to find it funny, and, dear lord do I...but I also think we could all use a little more Double Rainbow Guy.

And it gets better:

The Double Rainbow Connection (Remix) by gdelahaye

Thurgood Marshall on trial at Kagan hearings.

Elena Kagan's first day of hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the late Justice Thurgood Marshall (for whom she clerked) was very much present. If only as the whipping boy of several Republicans on the committee. Orrin Hatch, Jon Kyl, John Cornyn, and Jeff Sessions all took potshots at Marshall, the nation's first African-American Justice, with the word "activist" thrown around liberally. 

While I'm not Elena Kagan's biggest fan, it's a topsy-turvy, upside-down world when association with Thurgood Marshall -- legendary Supreme Court Justice, slave descendant, champion of individual rights, chief lawyer in Brown vs. Board of Education, Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient -- could possibly be considered a negative. Aside from sound-byte-ready the lack of respect due to Marshall, I'd advise the GOP to tread carefully here: trashing one of the twentieth century's most respected and accomplished black Americans (whose reputation is based almost entirely on civil rights) may play well to certain audiences, but it's not going to help to expand a contracting base. I don't see much popular traction from the argument that Kagan should be declined because she clerked for Thomas, so the line of attack comes off as pointlessly petulent. Surely there are more instructive topics to raise.

Just a bit more on this from Salon's Steve Kornacki: a bit of historical context to do with Justice Marshall's confirmation hearings. Specifically, and in regard to Orrin Hatch's doubts about whether or not he would have voted for Marshall, Kornacki profiles the 11 senators who voted against Marshall in 1967.The small group is a hodgepodge of segregationists and lynching fans, along with more "moderate" Senators who were merely opposed to civil rights. In short, not the type of group with which one would generally choose to associate in 2010. Thurgood Marshall was a better American than all of them and Orrin Hatch combined.

BP Chairman testifies before Congress.

For the deeply interested and/or deeply bored, watch MSNBCs live feed of BP CEO Tony Hayward (he of the "small people" remark) facing Congress over the oil spill.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

BP Chairman: "We care about the little people"

Perhaps I should be sympathetic with the no-win situation that the gentleman finds himself in. I can, however, be bothered to conjure just so much sympathy for such a complete putz.

Black holes.

This is dumb:

From Bad Astronomy.

Battle Plan?

In case you missed it, President Obama's full speech on the Gulf oil spill from the White House last night: My reaction? Meh.I appreciated the strong words on the importance and impact of the skill, and the defense of the administrations response was strong. The proposals for ways forward, however, were wishy-washy and lacking. Lukewarm support for a stalled (almost dead) energy bill surely qualifies as too little, too late at this point. Others have complained, with justification, that the overall energy was off and inadequate to the horror of the situation. I don't disagree, but that's not what bothers me. I don't need him to start yelling, I need him to have an energy plan. As with health care reform, his offer to listen to any ideas, without suggesting that he stands for any in particular, came off as weak and un-presidential. He can surely do better.

When will I learn?

A post on Change.gov in reaction to President-elect Obama's decision to kick-off his inauguration with anti-gay pastor Rick Warren:

Mr Obama,

I am writing to ask that you return the campaign donations made by myself, Jacinto Hernandez, and my husband, Charles Callahan, to your campaign. Chet and I were passionate supporters-- Chet volunteered for weeks at a local phone bank. We attended numerous rallies and fundraisers-- including one with your wife, Michelle (see attached picture) That fund raiser was ostensibly held to court support with the gay community. At that fundraiser, Michelle held my my baby and promised to "not forget us." Yet you have. We worked tirelessly for your campaign-- replacing our yard sign when it was vandalized. So why would you betray the gay community- that stood by you-- and ask Rick Warren to lead your inauguration, when his anti gay rhetoric is dangerous to our family. He also was a huge proponent of proposition 8, that has endangered our family and has eliminated the civil rights of thousands of Californians.

We gave thousands of dollars-- despite the tough economy- in hopes that are community would no longer be marginalized. Despite the passage of prop 8, we celebrated on election day. Today we feel betrayed. There are so many christian leaders who are advocates for the gay community-- why choose one who is not?

Please return our donations immediately. We made donations over a number of occaisions, frequently in response to "urgent" pleas from your campaign. Consider this an "urgent" plea as well.

Please remove us from your mailing lists and never ask us for your support again, unless you stand with us and reject homophobia once and for all.

Here here. By making a claim to the appropriateness of Pastor Warren's invocation using words like "inclusiveness" and "diversity," Obama has once again made it clear that he's more than willing to take the gay vote for granted while legitimizing and accepting into the mainstream of American thought a man who believes that gay marriage is akin to child abuse and incest. All those first-time voters? The ones for whom Obama is an icon of cool? They just got told that decisions about whether to grant equal rights to all of America's citizens are reasonable and valid subjects for debate.

Rick Warren is perfectly entitled to his beliefs. I'll continue to hope that someday we'll get a country where those beliefs aren't given any more validation than those of skinheads. I'm starting to understand that we really do need to be the change that we've been waiting for, because it won't come from our president. After already informing me that I can't be married, but that we'd certainly come up with some seperate, though entirely equal arrangement, our incoming President just decided to re-validate a world where I can't visit my partner in the hospital. The bible, after all, tells us that would be wrong. The views of Obama's opponent on this issue were disgusting--neanderthal. But at least it was clear where he stood. All the Obama buttons and stickers I have sitting around here are making me a little sick this evening.

At some point, Mr. President-elect, I just start to feel used.

Bridge to nowhere.

So, with all due respect to her fans, I still have no idea what to make of Sarah Palin. She absolutely fascinates me as a woman, but I'm having a hard time seeing her as anything but a disaster as a candidate. The convention will determine how well she's received by the public at large, but at the moment, it's not looking good: in tracking polls covering the day of Palin's pick until now, Obama's trending upward all around. The Gallup poll has him at his highest numbers ever, and McCain unfavorables have reached their highest point. That campaign is completely in defense mode over all of the bits coming out, and I think that they deserve to be. The New York Times is reporting (from campaign sources) that the McCain team didn't begin vetting her until Thursday, after McCain's favored choices of Lieberman and Tom Ridge developed too much bad buzz over their abortion stances. McCain met her that day, and picked her shortly thereafter. I don't think I'm being overly partisan in saying that that's a shockingly slipshod way to choose a Vice President.

It's also put them way off message, and into some shady territory with regard to the truth. The McCain campaign denies that she was ever part of the Alaska Independence Party, an Alaska secessionist group, despite the group's contention that she was for two years and YouTube video of her address to the group's convention this year (there's debate about whether she was actually a member, but her husband certainly has been). Frankly, if Obama or Joe Biden had been recent supporters of a group seeking to extricate themselves from the United States...well, even this crazy liberal probably wouldn't vote for them. Her credentials as a reformer are also highly questionable: apparently she was for the bridge to nowhere before she was against it when it became unpopular, but the state still took that money, so there's not really any difference from a taxpayer perspective. She also ran up huge debts as the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska. Most gallingly, McCain's campaign manager is blaming the criticism on sexism: 

"Because of Hillary Clinton's historic run for the presidency and the treatment she received, American women are more highly tuned than ever to recognize and decry sexism in all its forms. They will not tolerate sexist treatment of Gov. Palin."

A Wall Street Journal opinion piece by McCain's spokesman is titled: "Ignore the Chauvinists. Palin Has Real Experience.", without citing any incidents of chauvanism. I have no doubt that there's plenty of that in America in 2008, but crying wolf on the topic as a political move...it bugs me.

I'm not trying to be a dick about Palin, I'm really not, and I understand her appeal...but there are serious, serious questions raised by this person's candidacy. You could say the same about Barack Obama, but America has had plenty of time to decide on him. People have had every opportunity, including voting in massive numbers, to decide if his level of experience and background are appropriate. They've not been given the same opportunity with Sarah Palin, which is why I find the rallying around her a little cynical. I understand wanting to win, but absolutely nothing that I've seen convinces me that Palin is ready to become president, by the exact standards of those who are now supporting her. Here's the other thing: in spite of all of the stuff about her family, I also have no reason to believe that she's not a decent, hardworking, public servant. She's gonna have to do a lot better than that, though, before this is over.

Also: I'm not allowed to have tequila anymore. That's not related in any way, but I'm putting it out there wherever I can.

Gustav.

So, as of this moment, Hurricane Gustav is expected to make landfall in Southern Louisiana around the middle of the day. I'll do what all of the national media seems to be doing, and ignore all of the other places that it's likely to damage in favor of talking about New Orleans, which is the only place on that map that's in danger of destruction. At the moment, it's expected to make landfall as a Category 3 just to the west of NO. Power is out in much of the city, and around 2 million people have been evactuated, and in what appears to be a far more orderly fashion that during Katrina.

Right now, if everything goes as predicted, and nothing major goes wrong, it seems as though it's going to be OK. They're estimating damage in the billions, and people have already been killed along the storm path..that's not nothing, by any means, but we might escape the kind of devastation that we saw three years ago.