ryan.freebern.org

Allow me to further extend my admiration and congratulations to Spain, who legalized gay marriage today.

Canada, you have my sincerest admiration and respect. Congratulations to you for making same-sex marriage legal. If only those of us in other so-called enlightened nations would follow suit.

Andrés Martinez, a columnist for the L.A. Times, wrote a column yesterday entitled “Who’ll Apologize for the Filibuster? In it, he contends that rather than just apologizing for not passing anti-lynching bills, the Senate should have also apologized for using the filibuster to block passage of those bills. He goes on to claim that the filibuster is utterly worthless — even evil — and should be excised from the Senate’s toolbox, an argument that we’ve been hearing from Frist-supporters a lot lately.

This is utterly stupid. “I’m sorry I wrecked the furniture in a fit of anger, and I’m sorry I used a hammer to do it. If only we didn’t have hammers, everything would have been fine!” Martinez wants to blame the tools used for the actions of their users. According to his logic, guns should be illegal because they can be used to kill people — yet I’m sure he’s as big a supporter of the 2nd Amendment as any other Republican.

Martinez blames Democrats — specifically, Mary Landrieu, D-LA — for keeping “the f-word out of the resolution.” He thinks that the resolution as stated makes it sound like “a majority of senators were on the same moral plane” as the pro-lynching Senators who did the filibustering. How would his resolution have read? “We’re sorry about the lynchings — but it wasn’t our fault!” Helluva sincere apology there, Andrés.

He says that “[t]he filibuster is an anti-democratic instrument that upsets the delicate system of checks and balances already written into the Constitution.” Hang on, I thought that the filibuster was pretty much the last refuge of a beleaguered and largely powerless Senate minority when faced with the prospect of the majority running rampant over their rights and desires. It is the check and balance against pure majority rule in the Senate. If Martinez wants a complete and utter democracy, then why do we even have our representative republic in place? Shouldn’t all votes be put to the masses, and screw the non-whites, non-Christians, non-heterosexuals?

The filibuster is a tool. It’s a utility. It’s never going to be popular with the majority; that’s its whole point. It is the last roadblock, the final riot shield to keep the mob from running rampant over the unpopular guy. It absolutely must be kept in place if we are to keep a semblance of rationality in our Senate and fairness in our government. Removing it would be one more nail in the coffin of true democracy, and one more step down the road toward totalitarianism.

I just sent the following message to CNet:

I am disappointed in the way that you took the helpful, simple, and easy-to-use TVTome and turned it into the hideous, advertisement-covered user-interface nightmare that is TV.com. I used to go to TVTome any time I wanted information about a show; now, after watching my browser struggle through the myriad unnecessary animations and giant images covering the disgustingly designed pages, I’ve decided that I’ll seek out my information elsewhere in the future.

Thanks for ruining a perfectly good web resource. I’m inclined to avoid your websites in the future.

Bush and his pals in Washington made a lot of noise in March when Syria looked like it was going to pull its troops out of Lebanon. “Freedom will prevail,” Bush said. And indeed, Lebanon just held its first free elections in 30 years.

Around the time Syria was considering withdrawing, Bush stated his hope that Hezbollah would disarm and become a purely political party. “I would hope that Hezbollah would prove that they’re not [a terrorist organization], by laying down arms and not threatening peace,” he said. Well, George, Hezbollah certainly has embraced politics: it just swept the southern Lebanon election, winning all 23 seats that were up for grabs, and is expected to win more in the rest of Lebanon as well.

But how did it win? Not by “laying down arms.” Not at all. It won by running on an anti-American, pro-Syrian platform, specifically against Bush’s calls that it disarm. The people have spoken, Bush, and they want violence against America, they want to go against your will, they want terrorists in power.

Congratulations. Your plan to make the middle east safer is working like a charm.

A good friend of mine at Cornell University is participating in a student protest to save Redbud Woods, a wooded section of campus that the University wants to pave over. As of right now, over 330 faculty members have added their support to the protest, and even the New York Times has mentioned it.

If you feel that a small amount of parking space isn’t worth destroying a beautiful wooded area, help spread the word and add your voice to theirs!

In an effort to increase air quality, New Haven, CT is allowing hybrid cars to park in metered spaces for free, as well as working on replacing much of the city’s fleet with hybrids. I’ve wanted to visit New Haven for a while, to see Yale and maybe eat at Claire’s Corner Copia. Now I have one more reason to go!