On the Importance of Light and Warmth

A synopsis of the film The Mirror (Lo Specchio):

In the far northwest corner of Italy, in a quiet valley dominated by steep hills, is the tiny hamlet of Viganella. It’s centuries old and mostly uninhabited. In the next fifteen years, the population of Viganella will dwindle from 100 to fewer than 30. For the inhabitants of this village, the empty stone houses point to a very real fear – their town is dying and it may soon be a village of ruins.

The mayor of the town, Pierfranco Midali, knows this. So he’s going to try and realize an incredible, if crazy, dream – to revive Viganella by building a giant mirror on the mountain behind the village to reflect sunlight into the town square.

Watch the trailer:

Polanski Walks

From the New York Times:

The Swiss government declared renowned film director Roman Polanski a free man on Monday after rejecting a U.S. request to extradite him on a charge of having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl.

Post-traumatic Homophobia Syndrome

On the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell - from The Onion:

This May, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) promised voters he would do everything in his power to prevent gays from serving openly in the armed forces, and on Thursday, he told reporters that the role of the military is to defend American freedoms, not "the rights of, you know, those people some of us stay up all night thinking about as we toss and turn."

"Imagine you've got a boat full of sailors out cruising the Gulf of Aden when all of a sudden they're attacked. Some of the homosexuals lock themselves below deck and begin touching themselves," said the 73-year-old senator and Vietnam War veteran, his breath quickening. "One of their names is Ricardo. Unbuttoning his pants, he throws his gunner's mate down on the cot and penetrates him, his big, beautiful dick shimmering with power, his dog tags bouncing up and down as he's pounding, and pounding, and pounding."

Added McCain, "What I'm trying to say is: It all boils down to combat effectiveness."

We Don't Let Facts Get in the Way

From the Boston Globe:

In the end, truth will out. Won’t it?

Maybe not. Recently, a few political scientists have begun to discover a human tendency deeply discouraging to anyone with faith in the power of information. It’s this: Facts don’t necessarily have the power to change our minds. In fact, quite the opposite. In a series of studies in 2005 and 2006, researchers at the University of Michigan found that when misinformed people, particularly political partisans, were exposed to corrected facts in news stories, they rarely changed their minds. In fact, they often became even more strongly set in their beliefs. Facts, they found, were not curing misinformation. Like an underpowered antibiotic, facts could actually make misinformation even stronger.

Prop 8 Case and DOMA Ruling Videos

Long interview with Davide Boies and Ted Olson at the Aspen Ideas Institute:

The Palin Puppet Soap Opera

Levi Johnston's reconciliation with Bristol Palin and the Palin family resulted in Levi threatening his sister Mercede.

The message was from my mother saying that Levi, who has not spoken to us since he rekindled his relationship with Bristol (although we had attempted repeatedly to call or text him), left a message saying that if I did not take my blog down by Wednesday that I would never get to see him, or Tripp, again.

Mercede continued her blog post with this:

As for this new People magazine article where my brother “Apologizes to the Palins” I am extremely disappointed in him. Not only is he being controlled like a puppet, but saying that all of his comments and stories were lies is absurd!

I know for a fact that all of his comments were true. I lived through all this and I remember clear as day all of the times that Levi would come home and tell me about Sarah complaining, or fights going on between the family, .etc.

I know he wasn’t making all that up, why would he have back then? I am very disappointed that he is allowing them to control him in such a manner.

Levi, please don’t do this to yourself and family again.

I am not afraid of the Palins. And yeah maybe it is just me up against a huge army of Palin supporters, but really what else can they take from me?

Nothing.

In the end the truth shall prevail.

Swimming in Oil

From PetaPixel, photographer Jane Fulton Alt comments on the BP oil disaster. She previously documented the aftermath of Katrina.