What a great idea!

What Dana Milbank said on the subject of Governor Quitter. I'm not writing anything about her in February, either.

However, since it's only January 28th, let me point out that current Alaska guv Sean Parnell will probably find yet another convenient reason to not release all of those emails from 2008 that MSNBC and Mother Jones (among others) have been sending out freedom of information requests for come May 31st.

Uganda: In the words of Hunter S. Thompson, "The Scum also Rises"

Some of you may have noted the murder of Ugandan gay activist David Kato; I sure did, especially in the wake of the attempting passage of a ridiculous law I previously mentioned when I noticed a MSNBC piece that included one of the more vile rationales I've seen for this type of murder in a while. That piece seems to have disappeared as a consequence of the article being updated, But the BBC News online edition did me a favor by repeating the words of Giles Muhame, editor of Ugandan tabloid Rolling Stone and the chief turd responsible for the infamous "Homo list" (shown here):

"We want the government to hang people who promote homosexuality, not for the public to attack them”

What the fuck?

Anyone strongly opposed to the death penalty must be salivating at the chance to pick apart the pretzel logic inherent in that sentence: in Muhame's mind, it's perfectly legitimate for the Ugandan government to murder people for their sexual orientation but not a vigilante or a mob. Pardon me if I fail to see the difference. 

Likewise, pardon me if I shake my head at the following:

Anglican priest Thomas Musoke told mourners that homosexuality was "evil".

Many members of the lesbian and gay community wore T-shirts with Mr Kato's portrait on the front and the words "La luta continua [the struggle continues]" printed on the back.

They were shocked when the priest started condemning homosexuals.

"You must repent. Even the animals know the difference between a male and a female," he said, before warning that they would face the fate of residents in Sodom and Gomorrah, the biblical cities destroyed by God.

Gay rights activists then stormed the pulpit and prevented the priest from continuing.

An excommunicated priest who has in the past called for people to respect the rights of homosexuals then presided over the rest of the service.

What makes all of this especially revolting is what the ultimate source of most African laws criminalizing homosexuaiity actually is:

Homosexuality is illegal in most countries in Africa, where sodomy laws were introduced during colonialism (emphasis mine).

In a way, nothing is more sickening than a government of former imperial subjects resorting to the same outdated laws that they chafed under in order to oppress someone else. And this is certainly the most revolting proof imaginable.

Kollision Con: uh oh

Can't any anime con in Chicago not called Anime Central get an even break?

From the web site's front - and apparently only - page:

Since closing ceremonies of the first ever Kollision Con, we have been searching high and low for a new location.
At this moment Kollision has it's sights set, and is in talks with perspective venues!

When we have news to announce, it will go up right here first!

Uh huh. Sure it will.

There have been several attempts to start up - and maintain  - an Chicago-based anime convention competing with Acen in the past. Reactor (2003-7. 2009) ultimately fell apart because of reasons that I can't publicly go into here. Anime Sound and Vision was a one-shot (other than a smaller event they held in March 2005) that apparently wasn't intended as such. The same goes for KazeCon, which tried to relocate to Milwaukee (now home of - what else? Anime Milwaukee) and failed. Fan Service never got off the ground in the first place. 

Now, the wisdom of scheduling a convention on the same weekend as local SF stalwart Windycon (and held at the Hyatt Regency Woodfield - Windy's old location for over 15 years, for crying out loud) last year seems more than a bit questionable (in both timing and locale) to me. Still, I don't understand why Acen - a convention practically bursting at the seams with attendees and which has the highest hotel rates for any annual fan-run convention in the Chicago area - is still paramount when they've had so many problems in the past. The DDoS attack that effectively destroyed its on-site registration process (and caused thousands of people, including me, to stand in line for over 6 hours) a few years ago was an prime indicator of this, but Acen still thrives - and increases in size every year - while its competition just turns into dust. Go figure.