Category: The Dish

Not good to have their confidence about the imminent contests broadcast to the world.

Re-reading Romney’s speech, that is how he describes a vote for the Democrats. He has become the vessel for the furthest of the Dolchstoss right. It’s a very sad denoument, despite some parts of his speech with which I fully agreed. More later …

New data suggests that the male competitive edge may be primarily culturally-based:

Our experimental results reveal interesting differences in competitiveness: in the patriarchal society women are less competitive than men, a result consistent with student data drawn from Western cultures. Yet, this result reverses in the matrilineal society, where we find that women are more competitive than men. Perhaps surprisingly, Khasi women are even slightly more competitive than Maasai men, but this difference is not statistically significant at conventional levels under any of our formal statistical tests.

If you missed Jon Stewart’s interview with Project Runway’s Tim Gunn last night, check it out. Mr Gunn really is a breakthrough cultural figure in my book. He’s drily hilarious, extremely smart, courteous beyond measure, and … civil and humane. Yes, we only catch glimpses of him on Project Runway. I didn’t care for his own new series (less is more when you are watching a minimalist of manners). But his character really shines through the cracks of reality television. 

It is thrilling to have openly gay men of such erudition and accomplishment and manners in the public square. Neither brandishing their sexual orientation nor hiding it, a handful of mature adult men are forging a new understanding of how integral gay people are to the broader society. The men who come to mind – Tim Gunn, Tim Gill, Peter Gomes, Michael Cunningham, David Geffen, Barney Frank, Alan Ball, Alan Bennett, among many others – represent to me, at least, role models for gay men who are at ease with social responsibility and adult maturity. They inspire me – and many others. None of them has in any way denied his sexual orientation, and yet all have integrated it into something much broader and bigger and complicated. This is not the first time that gay men have achieved these cultural and social heights, of course. Far from it. But it is the first time a critical mass have done so openly and proudly and increasingly without any affect. For men in their 50s or older, this was an achievement. They survived a plague among their peers, and thrived. We owe them.

Michael Moore says his Catholicism forbids his voting for Senator Clinton in the primaries.

It grows: $7.5 million now.

One of those stories:

On Jan. 31, The Daily Toreador’s editorial board was made aware by a Texas Tech faculty member of an instance of plagiarism.

Columnist Ty McDonald took direct statements, ideas and content from "Plagiarism and intellectual loot," a post on Christiaan Briggs’ Weblog located at http://last-straw.net for two of his articles: "A new way to think about thoughts" and "Plagiarism is not a sin."

The Field retracts its post on how many delegates will be selected in a caucus. It’s a quarter not two-thirds.

A new study suggests circumcision may not, in fact, help prevent HIV transmission from men to women.

Matt Yglesias doesn’t get it. I’ve come to realize I never will.