I had so much I was gonna do last night but it was raining. I was gonna go have drinks for Holly's b-day but it was raining. Then I was gonna go to Emo's to see the New Year (and Tortoise, too, I guess) but it was raining. And I was tired. So instead I watched those chump-ass Detroit Pistons blow a six point lead in the last minute and go on to overtime only to lose to the Lakers. That'll teach me to root for the underdog.

Right now I'm reading "A Problem from Hell" : America and the Age of Genocide by Samantha Power. It's a pretty damning indictment of not just the US's habit of ignoring genocide but, really, of the whole civilized world. It's a good book - a very interesting read. Smart and quick. But does make me wonder - everyone knows the US will ignore things until either a)they can't be ignored or b)all of a sudden there is some vital US interest at stake - but it makes me wonder why anyone would put any faith in the likes of the UN or Amnesty Int'l who seem to always make cheap politics and anti-Americanism their priority when in place like, say, Sudan there is a crisis of huge proportions - slavery, mass rape, forced exile and lots of plain old murder. Instead they (the UN/Amnesty, etc) will spend months talking about the US abusing prisoners which was an awful thing, but come on, have a sense of proportion. I would save some outrage for the my own gov't if I hadn't long ago lost faith in their using the power and resources for good.

Ok, sorry. I try my damnedest to keep politics off of this thing because, really, who wants to listen to someone blather on about this shit and also because, most of the time, my politics are so confusing to keep track of, I'd have to write a thesis every time I wanted to explain why I think this way or that.