From the NY Times Science section, a very interesting article on why religion ‘evolved’ in human societies.

This is about constitutional democracy, which we pretend is still important, right?

From Alas, a Blog

A pretty intelligent article on Sean Penn’s visit to Iraq.

Penn spoke quietly, with evident sincerity. This was the time for a kind of summing up. For the most part during his three-day visit, Penn had gone out of his way to avoid the cameras, saying that he would share his thoughts at a press conference just prior to leaving Baghdad.

Now, as he continued with his statement, the room was still. Penn said that he was “privileged to have lived a life under our Constitution that has allowed me to dream and prosper.” And he continued: “In response to these privileges I feel, both as an American and as a human being, the obligation to accept some level of personal responsibility for the policies of my government, both those I support and any that I may not. Simply put, if there is a war or continued sanctions against Iraq, the blood of Americans and Iraqis will be on our hands.”

And then, Sean Penn added: “My trip here is to personally record the human face of the Iraqi people so that their blood – along with that of American soldiers – would not be invisible on my own hands. I sit with you here today in the hopes that any of us present may contribute in any way to a peaceful resolution to the conflict at hand.”

Remember, as long as we’re pretending to be a democracy, the actions of our government are the responsibility of all of us. The citizens of Iraq, or Afghanistan, do that have that privilege or responsibility.

Is this code for “blame the Jewish-controlled media?”

Trent Lott on his critics — emphasis mine:

When you’re from Mississippi, when you’re conservative and when you’re a Christian, there are a lot of people that don’t like that. But I fell into their trap and so I have only myself to blame.

Dana Schutz at LFL Gallery — no pressure to buy, since they’re all sold.

Andy Warhol Still Lifes at Paul Kasmin — no pressure to buy, since you can’t afford them.

The cover of yesterday’s Daily Mirror:

Caryl Churchill’s latest play, “Far Away,” is at New York Theater Workshop, and it’s brilliant. I don’t feel like I can write a good review of it, but the people that call it a “tiny epic” are correct. It’s about an hour long, but it has more substance than most plays I’ve seen lately. Frances McDormand is brilliant, as are the other members of the cast. The equally fabulous Kathleen Chalfant will take over in McDormand’s role soon. The sexy Chris Messina, last seen (by us at least) in “”http://www.jameswagner.com/index.php?m=200205#58">This Thing of Darkness</a>," by Craig Lucas and David Schulner, also stars.

I know most of my friends in NY don’t have a lot of money to spend on culture, so check out the “Cheap Tickets” link at the top of the NYTW site for information on rush tickets or ushering.

NY Times review

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Tonight we saw Mac Wellman’s “Antigone” at Dance Theater Workshop, a collaboration with Annie-B Parson. It’s great fun, and it was one of the most beautiful — visually, musically, and verbally — evenings of theatre I’ve had in years. The cast is awesome, and the music and sound design are by Cynthia Hopkins. The Village Voice review seems pretty fair to me.

The Nation has a good essay by Adrienne Rich, titled “”Making the Connections" href=“http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20021230&s=rich”>Making the Connections</a>," regarding the fact that the pro-corporate, pro-war, anti-civil liberties activities of the current regime are all parts of the same agenda.

This makes a good excuse to link to the Blue Button Project — I set up the web site.

Head over to James’s site to read more about it.

An ad for lube:

Good blog post from Nathan Newman on Bill Frist.

Remember my post a few days ago about the Eli Lilly protection amendment mysteriously appearing in the Homeland Security Act?

The language was taken from Frist’s original version of a bill to protect them.