Out Foxed

Connor Friedersdorf asks an intelligent question: Do Liberals really want their own version of Fox News?

The right and the left aren't mirrors of one another. The strengths and flaws of both sides are different, as are the people who make up the ideological coalitions. For this reason, I very much doubt that the left is capable of building its own talk radio empire or Fox style news channel even if it wanted to do so. But I want to explain at greater length why liberals shouldn't envy the right for its blowhards.

Alongside their benefits, let's examine the costs.

These are inseparable from the success of Fox News and Rush Limbaugh's status as the right's most popular entertainer. Foremost is the echo chamber effect: a bubble where the Iraq War was always going swimmingly, patriotism seemed to require support for torture, and the Bush Administration's domestic agenda never lacked for defenders happy to obscure the manifold ways that it violated even the principles of conservatism. The conservative media isn't wholly responsible for 8 years of Republican rule that left the right exceptionally unhappy. But it acted as a consistent enabler of policies that did long term damage to the country and brought about an electoral flameout that handed progressives their biggest opportunity in years. 

Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and friends have also succeeded in dumbing down the right's ideas. How could it be otherwise when they traffic in absurd conspiracy theories that many prominent conservatives are afraid to directly contradict? If you only trust right-leaning media sources – that is true of many conservatives – who is pushing back against the notion that Barack Obama is a Kenyan anti-colonialist, or that all liberals are power-hungry statists bent on spreading tyranny as their preferred end? Perhaps there are instances when these sorts of lies produce a short term political advantage. In the long run, it is never worth the extra distance put between the right and an accurate grasp of reality.

It's a strong argument and one that I agree with quite a bit. What you see in the relationship between Conservative thought and Fox News is a clash of interests. It is in the interests of Conservatives to provide pragmatic alternatives to Liberal programs, in line with their ideology. It is in the interest of Fox to get ratings and advertisement sales.

Unfortunately in this clash, entertainment has clearly won out over sensible politics. Would the Left really want to saddle themselves with the same albatross? He concludes:

The antidote for Fox News isn't Keith Olbermann. It's Jon Stewart. It isn't a new left-leaning host who turns Glenn Beck-style destructive absurdity to different ideological ends – it's someone who effectively demosntrates the absudity of blowhards.

The Dead

I feel a little mean saying this but I can't resist...Hey nerds! Your king died!

Ron Patterson, creator of the first Renaissance fair has gone to that great jousting tourney in the sky. He was 80.

With its pastoral setting, strolling players and bonhomie made bonnier by tankards of ale, the fair was an idea whose time had come. Amid the Vietnam War, inhabiting a lost era of courtly love and gentler combat had tremendous appeal, and the fair became a kind of early, wimpled Woodstock. 

I'm tried and failed to find an appropriate image to go with this post...A Google search seems to bring up nothing but heaving bosoms and predictably, men in tights. And this just isn't that sort of blog, thank you!

The Morning Blog

Egypt has shut down the Cairo office of Al-Jazeera and taken steps to block their satellite signal coming into the country. Currently, they probably have more reporters on the ground than any other news agency, six of whom, are reportedly being held by authorities. This happens amidst speculation that Egyptian authorities are permitting widespread looting in order to justify a massive crackdown. A "March of Millions" has been called for Tuesday. It looks as if Nobel Prize winner, Mohamed ElBaradei may be emerging as some sort of consensus leader though it's far from clear how deep his support runs. It's clear what Egyptians do not want: Mubarak. However, I still don't understand what their specific demands are.

Photos from the protests are available here.

Remember, Iran had an uprising a little bit ago as well? You may recall that it turned ugly. Sadly, the ugliness continues: Iran has hung a woman who was involved in the protests. She had dual Dutch-Iranian citizenship prompting the Netherlands to sever all diplomatic ties with Iran.

Speaking of Al-Jazeera...They've become a sort of Arabic Wikileaks with the dissemination of the Palestine Papers. Foreign Policy takes a good look at what they mean for the Israel lobby in the United States here.

In more cheerful news, NASA is preparing to publish a list of 400 stars that present the best odds of having earth-like planets. Always nice to meet some new neighbors!

This is more than just an intellectual exercise, scientists say. Traditional religious images of ourselves as God’s creatures, or even of God, could be in for a rough time if we ever discover pond scum living by completely alien chemical rules on some moon or planet, let alone the Borg — the alien race ruled by a collective mind on “Star Trek” — inhabiting some distant realm. 

Moreover, as astronomers keep reminding us, humanity will eventually lose Earth as its home, whether because of global warming or the ultimate plague or a killer asteroid or the Sun’s inevitable demise. Before then, if we want the universe to remember us or even know we were here, we need to get away.

Speaking of space, here's a bit of Kacee Bait: Baby, let's go on vacation.

Speaking of new neighbors...

Protesters unite to ruin a vacation. C'mon guys! Even billionaires "scheming to do things against our democracy" deserve a break now and again! Especially if we're none too sure what those "things" are that they're scheming about!

This is an invitation I imagine I would decline...

Indonesia has sentenced a pop star to three years in prison over making a porno:

"As a public figure, the defendant should be aware that fans might imitate his behaviour," said Judge Singgih Budi Prakoso.

Indonesians are still planning on making babies, right?

How do you say C.H.U.D in French?

Looks like Silvio Berlusconi's less than decorous behavior has had profound consequences for one specific segment of the Italian economy.

I find this article to be slightly vague.

Is anything else interesting going on in the world? I'm not too sure...Huh. Here's a good way to end things:

Marilyn Monroe writes a letter about being committed to the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic. She was found dead a year later.

Puppy vs. Lizard

Didn't expect to say this but...LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE LIZARD!!!

Songs From A Couch

Hey, the Girlfriend:

I miss Nashville. Can we live there?

Radley Balko presents "Songs From My Couch" over at the Nashville Byline.


Tom House - "Suzanne" from Mark Crozier on Vimeo.


Nice bit about the Springwater here. I remember it fondly:

So do you have any good "only in Nashville" stories for me?

Let me see. Well about 25 years ago at Springwater we started something called the “Working Stiff Jamboree”. The only stipulation to play at the jamboree was that you couldn’t have a job in the music industry. You had to have a regular job. Terry Cantrell let us put them on long as we didn’t advertise. So that went on for a long time and got pretty big, just by word of mouth. It wasn't glamorous. There used to be holes in the roof, so when it would rain, the show could sometimes get rained out. The water in the room would be an inch or two thick. But it was a very democratic thing. A lot of the songwriter nights can get pretty political about who gets on stage. But for this, anyone could come up. You could be some left-wing Irish political band, a jazz band, German polka, whatever. We had them all.

You’d get some crazy people in the audience at those shows. Sometimes you’d find yourself having a dialogue with someone in the audience in the middle of the song. People would just start talking to you. I remember one guy, this character David Wall, he used to line up beer bottles on a table in the front row, and he’d blow across the tops of the bottles along with whatever song they were playing on stage.

In tune?

Yeah. In tune and everything. He was a weird and talented guy. Looked like Tom Waits. He moved to Nashville after he got out of prison. He had this homemade three-string guitar, and he actually wrote a few good songs for it. He’d just slide his finger up and down that one string. Really one of Nashville’s true characters. He lived here about 10 years. I think he's in California now.

But the best story from those shows I can remember, there was a couple on stage singing this really stilted, operatic version of “God Bless the Child”. The woman, I think she worked in public radio, she was a very nice lady, but I think she thought of herself as some sort of classical singer, which didn’t go over well. There was a guy in the audience--and he’s still around so I won’t mention his name--he got fed up. He was a hard-core music fan, used a lot of drugs, he's pretty well-known around town. Anyway, he gets fed up, so he walks up to the stage and he actually sets the sheet music on fire while they’re playing. The poor woman didn't know what to do. Her music was on fire. Of course, the place just went nuts.

Quote for the Week

Let's change things up a bit and rather than go for the weekly bit of poetry, let's look to a quote from 19th-century American individualist anarchist, Lysander Spooner. Just for fun:

"But this theory of our government is wholly different from the practical fact. The fact is that the government, like a highwayman, says to a man: 'Your money, or your life.' And many, if not most, taxes are paid under the compulsion of that threat. The government does not, indeed, waylay a man in a lonely place, spring upon him from the roadside, and, holding a pistol to his head, proceed to rifle his pockets. But the robbery is none the less a robbery on that account; and it is far more dastardly and shameful. The highwayman takes solely upon himself the responsibility, danger, and crime of his own act. He does not pretend that he has any rightful claim to your money, or that he intends to use it for your own benefit. He does not pretend to be anything but a robber. He has not acquired impudence enough to profess to be merely a 'protector,' and that he takes men's money against their will, merely to enable him to 'protect' those infatuated travellers, who feel perfectly able to protect themselves, or do not appreciate his peculiar system of protection. He is too sensible a man to make such professions as these. Furthermore, having taken your money, he leaves you, as you wish him to do. He does not persist in following you on the road, against your will; assuming to be your rightful 'sovereign,' on account of the 'protection' he affords you. He does not keep 'protecting' you, by commanding you to bow down and serve him; by requiring you to do this, and forbidding you to do that; by robbing you of more money as often as he finds it for his interest or pleasure to do so; and by branding you as a rebel, a traitor, and an enemy to your country, and shooting you down without mercy, if you dispute his authority, or resist his demands. He is too much of a gentleman to be guilty of such impostures, and insults, and villanies as these. In short, he does not, in addition to robbing you, attempt to make you either his dupe or his slave."

Grifting Grannies

The Daily Beast reports on a pair of diabolical seniors:

When divorced contractor Jim Davis died of a heart attack at his home in Los Angeles on April 2, 2006, he was laid to rest in a quiet ceremony, surrounded by two close family members and mortuary staff. After a funeral service at the Steward-Pearce Mortuary, his casket was buried at a cemetery in Los Angeles.

At least, that’s what it looked like. But in reality, Jim Davis may never have died. In fact, Davis may never have existed at all except as a fictional character created by two old ladies as part of an elaborate scam.

Personally, I'm just glad that they managed to find something to keep themselves busy. And at the end of the day, insurance fraud is a bit more creative than the arts and crafts classes taught at the home. 

The Dead

Local boy made good and inventor of the Ant Farm (!!!), Milton Levine has passed away at 97.

Interesting note: Because federal law prohibited shipping queen ants across state lines, he was only able to provide worker ants. As a result, generations of children enjoyed the awesome experience of watching tiny civilizations slowly wither and die off.

The Sunday Matinee

Cooler than a crossword, I should say.

From the presenters description:

Based on a true legend of the famous unsolved code.

The film contains 16 hidden messages that hold clues to the characters' secrets. Eight are fairly easy requiring only a close eye. Six are moderately difficult using various encryption methods. Two are extremely difficult requiring a genius mind to decrypt.

More about the film,
thomasbealecipher.com

The Thomas Beale Cipher from Andrew S Allen on Vimeo.

Have fun with it guys!

The Morning Blog

The New York Times reports that police have withdrawn from major Egyptian cities. Meanwhile, the military is taking no actions against protesters and in some cases, showing solidarity: several armored personnel carriers moved at the front of one group of protesters and anti-Mubarak graffiti has appeared on armored vehicles. There's speculation that this is withdrawal is a tactic by the police to encourage looting and violence, thus justifying a violent crackdown. I would wonder how that's going to work out though, now that the military has established such a presence.

Speaking of Egypt, here's your Daily Dose of the Obvious.

Meanwhile, things in America must be pretty awesome given that we even have time to ponder the collision of civil liberties with a tasty chicken sandwich. Here are some takes on it:

“I’m not a fan of Jesus at all, but I still go to Chick-fil-A maybe once a week,” said Tony Parker, 25, of San Antonio. “Your reason for not going to a fast-food place is bad customer service and poor food quality, not religion.” 

But Douglas Quint, a concert bassoonist who operates The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck in New York during the summer, said he believed that people should make informed decisions about their food.

“It literally leaves a bad taste because I know the people who are putting this food in my mouth actively loathe me,” he said. “I’m all for freedom of religion, it’s just that I know where I want my money to go and I don’t want my money to go.”

Both seem perfectly reasonable. They do make pretty tasty sandwiches but I absolutely support the idea of not spending money on a company that feeds you with one hand while advocating against your interests with the other. Both positions are strong, libertarian ones.

A quick note on the tough gun control laws in New York city, undoubtedly the safest city on earth:

The day I visited John Jovino Gun Shop, on Grand Street, a happy, ruddy-faced family followed me in, pushing a stroller. They were visiting from Sweden, they explained before anyone thought to ask, and they wanted to make sure to see a real live gun store. 

I informed them that New York is one of the hardest places in the world to buy a gun. They seemed surprised. 

In fact, I said, the whole process can take up to six months. They laughed. In Sweden, they said, you can buy one on the street. 

We all know what a violent hell Sweden is...

Interesting question here: If the Steelers win the Super Bowl, will Roethlisberger start being an utter bastard again? I can't answer that personally. What I can say is this: My question at the beginning of the season when there was talk of dropping him was "What's more likely in the case of Roethlisberger in his remaining years on the field, another Super Bowl or another sexual assault charge?". Frankly, we'll have to see. I wish him the best but he's got a long, long way to go before I think fans can in good conscience, respect him.

What a crappy child.

You have to give it to the Scots, they're a pretty hardy people. This one fell off a goddamn mountain and was found standing on his feet, reading a map.

Taco Bell has enlisted the aid of the Super Delicious Ingredients Force in order to protect the honor of their beef, which I believe, is graded as being of lower quality than dog food. But hey, I'm more than happy to give new super heroes their due. Have fun with the clip.

Oh my.

Elton John is besieged by Gypsies! I'm going to haul out a regrettable stereotype and assume that they're after his baby.

More on Mubarak's Speech

Lexington takes a good look at his political position as well as our own:

Since the one thing the rioters seemed to agree on is that he had delighted them long enough after 30 years on the presidential throne, and should depart for Saudi Arabia, it is impossible to know whether his decision to brazen it out will quieten or inflame the situation. The latter, one imagines. But—and this is speculation only—it must be assumed that the president secured the backing of the armed forces before deciding to make his stand. Thus the stage could be set for a more violent confrontation on the streets, which remain thronged in defiance of an official curfew.

Shortly after Mubarak spoke, so did Barack Obama. He called on the Egyptian president to "give meaning" to his promises to improve the lot of the Egyptian people. But all this makes it a cruel irony that Mr Obama chose Cairo as the venue for the big speech in 2009 that was designed to start to restore America's relations with the Muslim world. One of the main promises he held out there—American help for Palestinian statehood—has recently run into the sand as the result of what even his admirers admit was a sequence of cack-handed diplomatic fumbles, notably the mistake of picking a fight over Israeli settlements and then backing down. Now he will be judged, not only in Egypt but well beyond, by whose side he takes in the showdown between Hosni Mubarak and the Egyptian people.

So far, the administration has been trying hard to avoid making a choice: Mubarak is our ally but we deplore violence and are on the side of "reform", goes the line. Hillary Clinton has called for restraint on all sides and for the restoration of communications. She said America supported the universal rights of the Egyptians, and called for urgent political, economic and social reforms. This is a sensible enough line to take, but sitting on the fence becomes increasingly uncomfortable as events unfold.

The Morning Blog

Mubarak announces a new government will be appointed... Click the link for video of his speech. My favorite line: "The economy is too dangerous to be left to economists".

Meanwhile, Obama is taking necessary damage control steps by distancing US policy from Mubarak. Obviously, Egypt is a key ally and should Mubarak fall, retaining relations with whoever rises to power will be critical.

In the event your government goes the Egypt route and shuts down the internet, here are ways you can maintain the lines of communication.

Megan McArdle by the way, has taken a break from business writing to offer an analysis of when rioting does and does not work. The role of the military will be key.

Two cases have arisen that will probably force the administration to take a stand on the Defense of Marriage Act. It's a pretty interesting article breaking down the legal challenges the administration will face in justifying federal discrimination. If they can successfully argue that homosexuality is a choice (and in doing so, probably sacrifice the gay vote for 2012), then they'll only have to show that the law advances a "conceivable rational state interest". In that case, they have argued that the federal government should allow the states to experiment with the issue. If they fail to convince a judge that gay people have a choice about their orientations (I have a hard time seeing the administration really pursuing that argument to be honest), they'll have to prove that the law in fact advances a compelling rather than merely conceivable interest of the state.

In other gay rights news: homosexuals seeking refugee status may be deported to their home countries if they don't act gay enough. A spokeswoman for the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services says that dismissing an asylum request for not being sufficiently flaming would not be condoned. In light of the DOMA cases above, I would like to quote this statement from a FEDERAL OFFICIAL:

“We don’t say that someone is insufficiently gay or homosexual, whatever that would mean, or that he or she could be saved by hiding his or her homosexuality,” Ms. Rhatigan said. “Sexual preference is an immutable characteristic. It is something an individual can’t or shouldn’t change.”

Finally on this topic: The Christianists always keep it classy. Have these people no shame?

Tracking Freedom of Information requests? Sounds...shady. Congressman Issa has requested the names of people asking for information from the government. The stated purpose is that it will help verify that requests are being handled expediently and legitimately, hopefully encouraging greater transparency. But still...They're still talking about centralizing and tracking the names of people that look into what the federal government is doing. There's something creepy about that.

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:


Sheesh....

This is interesting: Video diaries of the criminally insane.

Oh my, oh my. Very, very troubling. You know the economy is in trouble when due to collapsed housing prices the next big retirement spot might be Detroit. I would prefer to not spend my golden years in the rust belt if I could help it.

My dad is bigger than your dad.

Thanks NPR!: Song of the Day. Brought to you by "Yuck".

Ronald Reagan quite infamously spent some time with astrologers. Meanwhile in Britain...

Today's Helpful Graphic, Cont.

Once again, from the good folks at Democracy in America: 

For what we suck at, please see here.

Free Market Fairy Dust

Radley Balko reports on a nice example of people making decisions freely in order to overturn a bigoted policy:

It all began last month, when the private Christian college Belmont University fired women’s soccer coach Lisa Howe shortly after Howe revealed to her players that she and her same-sex partner were expecting a child. Belmont has maintained that Howe was not fired for her orientation, and resigned on her own. But no one in town really believes that. Howe’s players say she told them she wsa pressured to resign because of her orientation.

Belmont is a very conservative school. All faculty members are required to sign a declaration of faith before they’re hired. Until 2007, the school was officially affiliated with the Tennessee Baptist Convention. And as a private institution, Belmont was well within its legal rights to fire Howe. Tennessee’s anti-discrimination law does not include sexual-orientation, but even if it did, such regulations often include exemptions for religious institutions.

But that doesn’t mean Belmont is immune from criticism and pressure from outside the government. And in the following weeks, a curious thing happened. Belmont students held protests in support of Howe. Faculty members spoke out on her behalf. The Faculty Senate passed a resolution in support of the school’s gay employees, and demanded that school administrators sponsor an open discussion about Belmont’s discrimination policy. Belmont benefactor, trustee, and Nashville music baron Mike Curb threatened to withhold his financial support for the school, and wrote a public letter praising the faculty for speaking out on what he called a “basic civil rights issue.” (Interestingly, Curb was the Republican Lieutenant Governor of California from 1978-1982. He is also a partner in the gospel music company World Label Group.)

The payoff: Belmont trustees announced just today that they are adding sexual orientation to their non-discrimination policy.

The Morning Blog

In an effort to curb further protests, Egypt has shut down all internet access in the country (Free registration required to view the link. But it's the Financial Times so totally worth it). This is a considerably more drastic step than those taken by authorities during Iran's Green Uprising last year. From a virtual standpoint, Egypt has literally vanished from the map.

Meanwhile in Yemen...

Meanwhile in Jordan...

One thing I question about these protests though: Are they necessarily pro-democracy? It strikes me that more than a few of the protesters are advocating for the freedom to be fundamentalists.

Kabul has supermarkets? I'm not at all surprised that a bomb went off in Kabul but...supermarkets? That's not something I expected.

On a more cheerful note, Nelson Mandela has returned home from the hospital.

More on the US Consular employee who shot and killed two Pakistanis in Lahore. I'm fairly certain that the man was trying to protect himself from what he perceived to be a robbery attempt. However, I have to side with the Pakistanis on this: Why exactly was an embassy employee driving about with a gun in a foreign country? I can't imagine that that's normal protocol.

I'm starting to get very, very sick of the snow. My mother returned from London yesterday, landed in New York without incident but was then stuck for hours on the tarmac before the airport could clear enough snow to get a ramp out to her plane.

Interesting article here about the ticking time bomb that is the Japanese age demographic. There are simply too many older people clinging to jobs and forcing the younger generation into "irregular work"; jobs that are strictly considered temporary. By stifling youthful innovation, the economy is getting wrecked:

The nation had just 19 initial public offerings in 2009, according to Tokyo-based Next Company, compared with 66 in the United States. More telling is that even Japan’s entrepreneurs are predominantly from older generations: according to the Trade Ministry, just 9.1 percent of Japanese entrepreneurs in 2002 were in their 20s, compared with 25 percent in the United States.

I've also noted previously, that Japan has an utterly backwards immigration policy. Not only are they making it impossible for their own people to get decent jobs, but they're removing any highly-skilled, foreign born workers from the mix as well.

SCIENCE! has determined how to genetically manipulate mice to make them more socially dominant. Arrogant rat bastards!

Going to the Super Bowl? Probably not. Me neither, if it makes you feel any better. Anyways, if you are one of the lucky few planning to make it to the big, BIG GAME, here are some ways to get there without mortgaging your children's future.

Huh...Interesting. There is speculation that the Steelers may play the Cardinals in a regular season game in Ireland. Hey Sarah: Any chance I can take my niece to the game?

Love means never having to say you're sorry.

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Republicans insist on a reading of the Constitution recently? Seems as though the Arizona delegation wasn't paying attention. Arizona Republicans have launched a frivolous new bill that would deny citizenship to children born in this country to foreigners. Sigh. Really shouldn't be necessary but here, once again, is the pertinent text of the 14th Amendment:

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Straightforward, I'd say.

Important Question: Will you be covering yourself in the rebellious stench of Jack Bauer?

Didn't China recently make the US some promises about NOT stealing intellectual property? Excellent pun in the article by the way! No doubt it was the work of a 'maverick' employee!

Here are photos of animals that probably won't be around much longer.

Speaking of animals, this woman is an idiot.

I've been a little rough with links to sad animal stories today so let's end things on a positive note: Your Daily Dose of "Aw! Cute!"

Franco's Italian Army

No, not that Franco. The non-fascist one.

Stuff our Pets Dream About

Via Cracked:

Birth of a Gun

Esquire provides an excerpt from what looks like a fascinating book: C.J. Chivers "The Gun" which details the history of the AK-47 and the Kalashnikov line of rifles in general. It really does look like a very, very interesting book, the Kalashnikov is quite arguably the most effective and absolutely most prolific weapon of mass destruction ever invented. I am quite certain that far more people have died because of the AK-47 than died as a result of Fat Man or Little Boy.

One significant effect of the creation and dissemination of the Kalashnikov was the utterly woeful development of America's M-16, a rifle that proved utterly useless in Vietnam due to what seems to be nearly constant jamming problems caused by shoddy manufacture. Though it's a weapon that eventually proved its worth after considerable modifications, in its initial form, it was profoundly negligent to allow it anywhere near a battlefield.

After McNamara's team endorsed the assault-rifle concept, the United States military could have decided what it wanted an assault rifle to be and to do. This would have been a matter of proposing specifications for caliber, muzzle velocity, weight, accuracy, and any number of other characteristics. These specifications could then have been provided to government designers and private industry — to Ruger, to Colt's, to Remington, to Winchester, to Browning, to Cadillac Gage, and others — with a deadline for design submissions. In doing so, the intellectual capital of the private sector would have been invited to compete. And when the deadline came, the Pentagon would have had multiple designs from which to select. Instead, the United States had a hyped rifle rising through the bureaucracy with little testing or vigorous competition. Its selection process looked less like deliberation than lunging. And as McNamara and General William Westmoreland pushed and pulled the rifle along, the signs from tests and field reports of its emerging weaknesses were suppressed. Colt's assault rifle, the internal reports said, was vulnerable to corrosion and given to malfunctions. No matter. The most senior military officials knew American troops were being outshot. They ordered the M16 — as the military's version of the AR-15 was named — first in a batch of 104,000, and then as the standard firearm for the war. The rollout began.

In the end, soldiers actually began a black market in personal sidearms such as revolvers in order to protect themselves when their fantastic new rifles inevitably failed. Well worth the read. I intend to purchase the book.

The Dead

Because my mother loved his show: The death of Uncle Dougie.

The Morning Blog

It's another snowy, gray day today. I remember when I would have greeted this sort of thing with gasps of joy. Oh for the happiness of childhood and a snow day off from school!

I think grownups should have snow days. That and Transformers.

Anyways.

Know what else isn't getting a snow day today? Protests in Egypt, that's what. The Tunisians aren't taking the day off either for that matter. It's amazing how decentralized these protests are proving to be. They don't seem to be motivated by any particular political philosophy other than a violent aversion to whoever is in charge. Not that that's a bad thing necessarily. I just wonder where they're going to take things.

Nothing to see here, folks. Please move along.

A Dose of Perspective: There's been a lot of talk in America of late about how tone, a general lack of civility and violent rhetoric may have (probably not), led to actual political violence. This is what it actually looks like when that sort of thing happens.

Nelson Mandela has been hospitalized for routine tests. I certainly hope he's feeling well and is able to return to his life shortly. The man is a living saint.

Maybe not this sort of living saint... Oh the fun to be had with a random Google search!

The article is spotty on details but apparently he was visited by his ghastly ex-wife. I was under the impression that she was in jail? I guess that isn't the case unfortunately.

A member of the Tea Party elected on an anti-tax platform has run up against the hard fact of basic revenue collection. Someone's gotta pay for this crap:

"As is the case elsewhere in New York State and the nation, this is the convergence of anti-tax fervor and a lack of political will to make the expense cuts necessary to balance the budget," Stokes, the NIFA board member, told Reuters.

Regrettable: Looks like Aaron Smith will not be playing in the Super Bowl. It's probably for the best though. He's one of my favorite players and I'd hate to see him aggravate his injury and possibly lose out on another season.

In other sports injury news, someone got hurt... jousting.

Hundreds of rabbis have decided that they've had quite enough with that meshuggener over at Fox. I can agree. Enough with the Nazi allegories already! It's getting tired! Pick a new group to compare Democrats to. Perhaps the Khmer Rouge or something...I dunno. Be creative!

While I've always maintained that olives can be treacherous, this really, REALLY seems a bit much.

Where were the police during this fracas?!?!?



A wives take on Davos. Oh the zippy fun of the World Economic Forum! It's gotta be the wonkiest sleepover ever!

Well, except for the explosion... Goddamn communists.

Let's just accept that the Tyrannosaurus Rex was the greatest monster ever and be done with it. I don't want them to be scavengers. It kills the glory of an epically terrible beast. It's sort of like putting power boats in the Odyssey. Just makes everything less cool.

Render unto Caesar...

Kacee Bait: Baby, this sounds so much cooler than law school!

A US consular official managed to get involved in a gunfight in Pakistan. Probably not a diplomatic high point.

Calling Mario. The CIA needs you!

Eminent Domain

Interesting documentary about a community in New York City that's fighting against eminent domain in the shadow of CitiField.

Willets Point: The Iron Triangle from Nicholas Weissman on Vimeo.

The filmmaker notes that the area has been declared a blight despite the fact that it's home to numerous tax-paying businesses. Owners argue that a considerable degree of blight has been caused by the city's refusal to provide decent road or sewer repair.

Question for a libertarian: Is this a good argument? My knee jerk reaction is instant revulsion at the thought of eminent domain. I hate it. However, having built your business in a blighted area, you have an expectation for other taxpayers to cover your costs?

The Periodic Nice

From the always fantastic Girlfriend as well as...Well, good people at Volkswagen I guess:



I find that perfectly delightful! Well done, car people!

In Which Your Author Considers Dissolution

Oh boy...I'm gonna buy myself something very special. And very expensive I might add. Terribly, terribly expensive.

Please don't ask how expensive. You'll only make my parents worried.

At any rate, I sincerely hope that it's worth it! Here are some reviews that definitely look promising. I guess the challenge for me is going to be saving these beers. They really are extraordinarily expensive and are meant to be cellared like wine. It shouldn't be that hard though. With an ABV like that and the impression I'm getting of really complex, almost thick flavors, I really don't see myself putting down more than one a month.

Sort of interesting though, that I'm making an arguably frivolous purchase at a time when I need to start thinking about saving squirreling some cash away. I would argue that it's the sort of thing that does fit into my budget (it just takes up a fairly sizable chunk of it). I don't really buy a lot of stuff that's just for my enjoyment so I think I deserve it.

I would ask: What's the greatest, least useful thing you ever bought?

Kacee Bait

Not that Kacee is a hoarder or anything. But she likes that tv show about the people with the stuff and the too much of the stuff and anyways...

The Daily Beast takes a look at the situations the children of hoarders face upon the death or disability of their parents:

Greg Martin wasn’t sure what to expect when his mother died last May, forcing him to return to his childhood home for the first time in nearly 18 years. The house, located on a pleasant block in San Diego, had always been cluttered, but now it was virtually uninhabitable. “There were piles as tall as me, six feet or so,” Greg said. “Where there used to be floor, there were trails—a foot and a half high, so you’d be walking on stuff.” Greg was forced to navigate through piles of magazines, papers, and books, plastic bags filled with thrift-store purchases, expired medicine bottles and literally tons of clothes. The only “living space” was a small pocket by the front door, where his mother, a colorful and fiercely independent woman, had collapsed shortly before her death at the age of 83. Greg, who has taken a leave of absence from his job, expected that cleaning out the house would take six months. It’s now been eight—and counting.

Stuff was Said

I'm beginning to wonder if I even need to bother with the State of the Union. And for that matter, should anyone?

Connor Friedersdorf compares coverage of the SOTU to an aged married couple going through the sexual motions and raises the point:

Here's another funny thing about the media. Pitch an obscure story to an editor at USA Today. Likely as not he'll get on the Google, and if he finds the New York Times wrote about the same thing 5 weeks before in a little read blog item, your story idea is no good to him. But the State of the Union! It is guaranteed that every newspaper in America will editorialize on it... and every newspaper still editorializes on it.

Why? 

His alternate vision for a State of the Union address is available here.

The Morning Blog

Well, I missed the State of the Union. I know, I know...Terribly irresponsible of me. Frankly though, I find that SOTUs rarely prove to be that significant. Mostly, it's just cheerleading. I'll catch up with it later. Maybe I can Netflix it.

Anyways here's the response from the loyal opposition...Huh? Wait, why are there two of you?

Huh...Looks like one of the replies might not have gone over too smoothly.

Interesting: In Monday's MoBlo, I mentioned that Al-Jazeera is running with it's own Arabic version of Wikileaks. It continues. Documents now purport to show operational cooperation between the PLA and the Israeli government over a targeted assassination. This is definitely not going to simplify things in the Middle East. Not one bit.

When I read articles like this, it makes me support a strong, heavily fortified fence between the United States and Mexico. I just don't understand why the Mexicans haven't built it yet! They need to do what they can to stop this American crap from getting into their country!

Cooking class! Twenty of them actually...I like Mark Bittman. My mother gave me his "How to Cook Everything" for Christmas. I find it wonderfully helpful. Sadly, this week marks the end of his columns for the New York Times.

Rahm Emanuel is back in the Chicago mayoral race. I think it makes sense. Besides the fact that he was showing a prominent position in the polls, I think that the residency issue was a bit silly. He was considered enough of a resident to vote in Chicago, why shouldn't he be able to run for office in Chicago? Ultimately, I have to agree with this analysis:

“In a circumstance where there is uncertainty” about the interpretation of an election statute, Mark D. Rosen, a professor at the Chicago-Kent College of Law said, “basic democratic principles would suggest you would construe the uncertain statute to expand voter choices rather than contract them.”

Oh fun! Here's a 19th Century guide to New York's Brothels.

Do you support bans on using cell phones while driving? How about while walking? Idiot legislators. Let's hear it for these words of wisdom from Ms. Marie Wickham:

“I think it’s an infringement on personal rights,” she said. “At some point, we need to take responsibility for our own stupidity.”

Nice way of looking at the Super Bowl: We can't lose. Personally, I don't care if Green Bay's coach is a local boy. Packers fans wear cheese on their heads! There is something so profoundly wrong about that. It must be quashed. It does give a pretty good description of what Pittsburgh is like though. Our neighborhoods are tight!

Are we seriously considering trying a 13 year old boy as an adult for a crime (and a horrific one granted), that he committed when he was 11? How is that right?

Here's an audio take on the protests in Egypt. Harrowing.

Theresa Bait: 10 Ways to Make a Wonder Woman Show. I dunno about them...Do we really need to fiddle with the costume? That has proven to be less than awesome. I will concede that they can probably ditch the invisible jet. But they better not skimp on those fabulous, red hooker-boots!

Booze.

Guns.

And just for the hell of it... pancakes!

In Which Your Author Throws Up His Hands in Dismay and Votes for the Bull Moose Party

Connor Friedersdorf over at "The Daily Dish" discusses his vote for 2012:

In theory, it shouldn't be difficult. I'm a fiscal hawk with libertarian instincts on domestic policy. I am skeptical of President Obama's signature legislative achievement. And the Obama Administration's record on civil liberties vexes me – the executive branch thinks its unchallengable say so is sufficient to assasinate Americans, even if it requires waging drone war sans Congressional authorization in neutral countries. Yes, I know. It's the unhinged opposition to our president that causes some of you to look past these flaws. I'm as appalled as anyone by the absurd, paranoid accusations made by Dinesh D'Souza and Andy McCarthy. I've demonstrated the holes in their thinking as forcefully as anyone. But it isn't a mark in a leader's favor when he or she is attacked unfairly.

George W. Bush wasn't like Hitler. Barack Obama isn't a Kenyan anti-colonialist who has allied himself with radical Islamists. Can we put Visqueen sheeting down, accept that the kids are going to hurl food at one another in the den, and disappear into the dining room for a frank conversation among adults? Our last two presidents are unlike one another in most ways. It so happens that what they have in common is tremendously consequential. Both presidents needlessly undermined civil liberties, the separation of powers, and the rule of law in the course of fighting the War on Terror and the War on Drugs. Had President Obama merely lived up to his own pre-election rhetoric on civil liberties, I'd be here arguing for his second term. As it is, I'm very much hoping for a change of leadership.

So why haven't I pledged my support to his eventual opponent? The way I see it, my vote is the GOP's to lose, and they may well do it, because several contenders for the nomination would be even worse than President Obama. Put simply, I won't vote for any Republican who thinks that our current leadership is excessively solicitous of civil liberties in the war on terror, or whose main foreign policy critique is that our leaders are insufficiently bellicose. It isn't much to say that the current administration hasn't tortured anyone, or launched any unwinnable foreign wars, but one couldn't say it about its predecessor.

I agree...mostly. The major caveat is that contenders for the GOP appear to be so uniformly awful. As much as I am profoundly, profoundly dismayed by Obama on some pretty key civil rights issues (granted, he did repeal DADT. Well done), I would be shocked if there was a Republican contender that didn't offer worse policies.

Sue Bait, "Torch Song" Edition

Oh, what the hell? Marvel has announced the death of yet another character. Not to mention, the dissolution of an iconic team. This is getting ridiculous. I mean, I'm all for verisimilitude but really, when will the dying stop? Who's next? Super Man? Captain America? I mean....oh, wait. They've already died.

Sorry.

Oh well, at least it's not a character I like. I always thought that Johnny Storm was a bit of a tool ("hot headed", wocka wocka!).

Knowing comic books, the Human Torch will doubtlessly be resurrected in the coming months due to cosmic radiation or the intervention of the Asgardian gods or some-such. Likely, he'll have a shiny, new power to boot. Personally, I'd like it if he had all his flame powers but could also communicate with fish.

Interesting question: Why is that comic companies have started announcing these huge events? Isn't this the sort of thing that would be a bit more effective as a surprise? Is it just the profit motive of getting one last, big sales boost out of a flagging title?

Today's Helpful Graphic

Brought to you by the solid citizens over at Democracy in America:

Of course Pennsylvania is tops in arson! Do you people have any idea how very, very cold it is here?

The Morning Blog

The situation in Brazil continues to be awful. The death toll due to flooding and mudslides has now reached 800 with a further 400 people missing.

Strange things are going on in the world of Chicago politics. Also, the sun rose this morning. With a commanding lead in the polls and a sizeable war chest, Rahm Emanuel has been kicked out of the mayoral race due to residency restrictions. I personally have no feelings either for or against Emanuel and Chicago is it's own problem as far as I'm concerned. But I wonder why residency restrictions are such a big issue. I understand that there are personal reasons to want a mayor to be a local, but are there any compelling practical ones? Are there real problems inherent in opening the field wider?

The New York Times takes a rather snitty tone when describing the upcoming Steelers / Packers Super Bowl:

The Packers and the Steelers did not so much roar as scratch their way to the Super Bowl. If this were college football, these two teams might not be meeting for the championship at all.

Sour grapes much? Sorry about the Jets, guys. Live with it.

In addition to a big game, there's also going to be a big speech. I think it's regrettable that three of the nine things we can expect to look forward to are pretty lightweight: tone, seating arrangements and the possibility of a "big line"? Those don't strike me as matters of particular import.

Happy Birthday, Robert Burns! Not only is it his birthday, but they just discovered a letter from him, containing a draft of his poem "On Seeing a Wounded Hare":

INHUMAN man! curse on thy barb'rous art,
And blasted be thy murder-aiming eye;
May never pity soothe thee with a sigh,
Nor ever pleasure glad thy cruel heart!

Go live, poor wand'rer of the wood and field!
The bitter little that of life remains:
No more the thickening brakes and verdant plains
To thee shall home, or food, or pastime yield.

Seek, mangled wretch, some place of wonted rest,
No more of rest, but now thy dying bed!
The sheltering rushes whistling o'er thy head,
The cold earth with thy bloody bosom prest.

Oft as by winding Nith I, musing, wait
The sober eve, or hail the cheerful dawn,
I'll miss thee sporting o'er the dewy lawn,
And curse the ruffian's aim, and mourn thy hapless fate

Speaking of Burns Night...

These people are described as "misunderstood" and "waging an uphill battle against stereotypes". Um...Good.

"Armageddon" was a terrible, terrible movie about an asteroid heading towards Earth. Here's an idea for a sequel. I think it's safe to say that it would up the ante a bit.

Ivory Coast weirdness has spread to Paris. The envoy appointed by the presidential claimant recognized as legitimate by everyone (well, except for the former president who refuses to give up power), had to break into his own embassy. Pretty rude of the former ambassador who vacated the premises in December. He could have at least hid the key under the doormat or something.

Oh my...It appears as though Hobbits may have had more to worry about than just orcs.

Upset about the procedural farce that is the filibuster, Senate Democrats have utilized a procedural farce to freeze time and fix the sun in its place. Who knew the Constitution granted them the awesome powers of the Time Lords?

Today marks the birth of our coming mechanical overlords. Intriguingly enough, it also marks the 32nd anniversary of the first human death caused by a robot.

Oh well. If the rule of man must fall, I'd rather see us usurped by robots than damn, dirty apes. My cousin actually cared for a baby monkey as it was going through training to become a 'helper animal'. By all accounts, it was a total bastard.

Monday Funday

Pshaw. Sorry kids, but Muppets can fuck off.

Fun Stuff to Look Forward To

Leslie Gelb looks at some perfectly dreadful possibilities in the coming year.

I have to disagree with him on the Yankees: In a truly just world, the Yankees will lose Again and again and again. However, this is apt:

Mexico could fall into further turmoil and control by drug dealers, thus compelling Washington to make much greater commitments to “the Mexican problem”. Americans have been underplaying this one for decades, especially given the immigration and drug issues plus mutual trade and investment. The one good result of this would be that Americans finally realize that Mexico is far more important to their national security than Afghanistan.

The Dead; Muscles Edition

Fitness guru, Jack LaLane has died. He was 96.

There might be something to this fitness stuff after all:

At 60 he swam from Alcatraz Island to Fisherman’s Wharf handcuffed, shackled and towing a 1,000-pound boat. At 70, handcuffed and shackled again, he towed 70 boats, carrying a total of 70 people, a mile and a half through Long Beach Harbor. 

That's pretty neat...Not sure when it would come in handy but you never know: Someday you might end up in a shipwreck as an octogenarian. Best to be prepared!

The Dead; Really Touching Edition

Remind me again what the arguments are against gay adoption? The family of Maurice Mannion-Vanover eradicates them.

Few people begin life with so many strikes against them as Maurice had when he was born with AIDS on Sept. 11, 1990, to a crack-addicted mother in a hospital in Washington. There were physical and developmental issues severe enough that his twin sister, Michelle Reed, lived only 20 months. Deserted by his parents, he got his first break in 1993 when two men, intent on caring for a baby with serious physical needs, agreed to take him in. 

The two, who came to be known as the Tims, Tim Mannion and Tim Vanover, were told he would probably live six months. But, to everyone’s amazement, he began to thrive. He gained weight. His T-cell count steadily increased. In 1996, they adopted him, becoming the first gay couple in Washington to adopt a child. A year later, they adopted a second son, Kindoo, eight years older. When Tim Vanover got a new job in New York, they moved to Montclair in 1998. 

Eventually, the family of two white gay men and two black children became two men, two children and one horse, Rocky, short for Rockefeller. The Tims bought Rocky, a 4-year-old cross between a Morgan and a quarter horse, for $3,500 in 2002 and gave him to Maurice on Christmas Eve.

The Morning Blog

Some game huh? I certainly had high hopes for the Steelers but had no expectation of the absolute dominance they showed in the first half. Frankly, I was hoping for a shut out. So very, very much...Oh and hey! It was Myron Cope's birthday! Double Yoi!

And that is awesome.

Oh, and I guess Green Bay accomplished something as well yesterday. Congratulations. Their fans traditionally wear cheese hats. That's not something I can support. At all.

Oh, serious things actually happened today as well it seems:

In the wake of Wikileaks, it becomes more and more apparent that all diplomats are either blabbermouths or prone to leaving sensitive documents lying about on the bus. Al-Jazeera has obtained documents showing that the PLO offered major concessions on Jerusalem to Israel during negotiations, in contrary to public declarations.

This is certainly promising: Police in Zimbabwe actually did their job and thwarted a property invasion by so called "war-veterans" and supporters of Mugabe. Considering that Mugabe's disastrous land reforms have reduced Zimbabwe, once the bread basket of Africa, to penury, protecting tourist resorts is certainly too little too late. But at least it's something.

More on Zimbabwe here. Why am I not surprised that North Korea is involved?

Looks like Baby-Doc Duvalier will be standing trial for his crimes. He seems to have a strange misunderstanding of a word though. Perhaps it's a typo in the article? He's announced that he's ready to face "persecution". No, no Baby-Doc. That's not the right word. You're thinking of "prosecution". Persecution is when people are tortured or made to disappear and terrorized by the state. I would have thought he'd have a better understanding of that.

Sort of an interesting article here about the conflicts between a blogger and his community.

The pope will probably not answer your friend request.

Very, very, very troubling: The House will have hearings on radicalism in the Muslim community. Describing it as 'McCarthyism' is no exaggeration, particularly when Rep. King, the man responsible for the hearings, is producing fanciful and uncorroborated statements like "85% of mosques are run by radicals". It sounds chillingly familiar.

Government Waste, Space Edition: The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency spends billions of dollars a year. Manages to duplicate the services provided for free by Google Earth.

Is it just me or does it seem as though there's little difference between the theoretical work of string theorists and stuff stoned high school kids talk about?

Happy Birthday, Beer Cans!

Organic food is all well and good. However, a report has determined that unless genetically modified food is embraced by the agriculture industry, we can expect to see food prices double.

Neighbors and neighbors and neighbors and neighbors: China is creating a mega-city with 42 million people. It's expected to be twice the size of Wales.

Bears.

Because It Bears Repeating

Ahem. The Steelers are going to their...What is it? 8th Super Bowl?

So I'm posting this again. Old season, old video. But still, I think that it exemplifies the pure, glorious ugliness of proper, smashmouth, Steelers football.

Football

Are you guys watching the Steelers take it to the Jets? Wow.

Poem for the Week

Cesare Pavese - "Atlantic Oil"

The drunk mechanic is happy to be in the ditch.

From the tavern, five minutes through the dark field

and you’re home. But first, there’s the cool grass

to enjoy, and the mechanic will sleep here till dawn.

A few feet away, the red and black sign that rises

from the field: if you’re too close, you can’t read it,

it’s that big. At this hour, it’s still wet dew.

Later, the streets will cover it with dust, as it covers

the bushes. The mechanic, beneath it, stretches in sleep.

Silence is total. Shortly, in the warmth of the sun,

one car after another will pass, waking the dust.

At the top of the hill they slow down for the curve,

then plunge down the slope. A few of the cars

stop at the garage, in the dust, to drink a few liters.

At this time of the morning, the mechanics, still dazed,

will be sitting on oil drums, waiting for work.

It’s a pleasure to spend the morning sitting in the shade,

where the stink of oil’s cut with the smell of green,

of tobacco, of wine, and where work comes to them,

right to the door. Sometimes it’s even amusing:

peasants’ wives come to scold them, blaming the garage

for the traffic—it frightens the animals and women—

and for making their husbands look sullen: quick trips

down the hill into Turin that lighten their wallets.

Between laughing and selling gas, one of them will pause:

these fields, it’s plain to see, are covered with road dust,

if you try to sit on the grass, it’ll drive you away.

On the hillside, there’s a vineyard he prefers to all others,

and in the end he’ll marry that vineyard and the sweet girl

who comes with it, and he’ll go out in the sun to work,

but now with a hoe, and his neck will turn brown,

and he’ll drink wine pressed on fall evenings from his own grapes.

Cars pass during the night, too, but more quietly,

so quiet the drunk in the ditch hasn’t woken. At night

they don’t raise much dust, and the beams of their headlights,

as they round the curve, reveal in full the sign in the field.

Near dawn, they glide cautiously along, you can’t hear a thing

except maybe the breeze, and from the top of the hill

they disappear into the plain, sinking in shadows.

So Long and Thanks for all the Yelling

"Wingnuts" author, John Avlon; takes a look at Olbermann's departure (hopefully to soon be followed by Glenn Beck. I can dream, can't I?):

Olbermann was the highest profile opinion anchor of the left and he used his pulpit at times in a mirror image of the professional polarizers on the right. When he attacked Democrats, it was for being too centrist, never for being too radical—echoing the RINO-hunting arguments from the right. One of his last attacks was against retiring Senator Joe Lieberman, who received a resounding “good riddance” despite actions such as shepherding the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell through the Senate. Olbermann also often let his moral outrage drag him into immoral invective, the mirror image of Wingnut gutterball politics from the right, as when he called Scott Brown “a racist, homophobic, promoter of violence against women” on air the night before the special election in Massachusetts. He called Michelle Malkin “a mashed up bag of meat with lipstick on it." I had the odd badge of honor of being named one of the “worst persons in the world,” and got a repeat when the postpartisan group No Labels was named one of the worst in the world late last year. These are just blips on his list of pitchfork and torch greatest hits, which he would have gone red in the face condemning if they came from conservative opinion anchors and were directed at the liberal activist class.

Certainly, I would not argue that Olbermann is as bad as Beck. Mostly because I find some small common ground with him. However, that's sort of like saying that "Cancer isn't as bad as the Black Plague". Both Olbermann and Beck are sorely guilty of pushing partisan bile into politics for their own self-aggrandizement. They're symptomatic of a political philosophy that seems to boil down to "Attack". 

The Periodic Horor

In truth, I don't even know where to begin. Words fail me. I sincerely hope that the people who failed in their responsibility to monitor this place are never able to sleep at night again.

The Sunday Matinee

Clocking in at a lean three minutes and featuring almost no discernible plot, this film still features better acting than any of the Star Wars prequels. Watch it and you'll see where I'm coming from.

3 Minutes from Ross Ching on Vimeo.

The Morning Blog

Duane Claridge strikes me as sort of an anti-Assange. While both of them are private citizens engaged in gathering information clandestinely, they appear to come from diametrically opposed points on the political spectrum. Assange seems to be a sort of anarcho-pacifist. Whereas Claridge's political philosophy seems to more of the "STOMP 'EM! STOMP 'EM! USA! USA!" variety. At any rate, the man certainly has an interesting hobby. Personally, I'm considering coin collecting.

India's democracy remains a remarkably messy thing. In the face of this though, it's still remarkable to me that their economy is growing so quickly. You have a fun sort of contrast between authoritarian China with a rapidly advancing infrastructure and India with...well, pretty much whatever the hell works!

Speaking of China...The New York Times compares trade tensions with China to those felt with Japan in the '80s. Personally, I don't know that we necessarily "beat" Japan. I kind of think that they rather capably beat themselves due to a toxic mix of protectionism, a real estate bubble, a corporate culture that really does not award innovation and just to throw it out there, tentacle porn. I think that though China certainly has the ability to fall prey to these issues (well, maybe not the porn thing), the sheer mass of the country should help boost them through.

Uh... Big game today. I like our odds.

A state bankruptcy bill is supposedly imminent. Good news: It might provide states with a tool when negotiating with public employee unions. Bad news: It will devastate the municipal bond market, something I imagine quite a few people have pension funds invested in.

Folks are talking about not talking about Palin. Wanna talk about it? Personally, I'd LOVE to never feel the need to mention that vapid creature again. And could certainly choose not to, because I am not a responsible journalist. I'm a blogger and have the freedom to write about what I damn well please. The people making these calls however...are. And I can't really support that sort of thing. Regrettably, she is occasionally newsworthy. It just smacks of self-censorship.

Here's something new that wants to eat you.

Wow! Sorta scary...But WOW!

Finally...The fashion police weren't involved. Rather it was police of a more conventional sort. At any rate, given the circumstances, this rates as a rather poor clothing decision.

Thou Shalt Not Follow a Multitude to Do Evil

Betrand Rusell for the win:



There's really quite a bit to take away from this interview. The first thing that stands out to me is this:

It seems to me a fundamental dishonesty and a fundamental treachery to intellectual integrity to hold a belief because you think it's useful and not because you think it's true.

Later, the interviewer asks him if the so-called "ordinary people" might not be strong enough to find their own "personal ethic".

To paraphrase, Russell responds with "Bullshit."

Bad Craziness About the Insane

William Galston begins his piece quite adequately with a warning that his prescription for involuntary commitment will make civil libertarians unhappy.

He is correct.

This of course, is in response to the shooting in Tucson and Galston is certainly not alone in advocating for these reforms:

We need legal reform to shift the balance in favor of protecting the community, especially against those who are armed and deranged. This means two changes in particular. First, those who acquire credible evidence of an individual’s mental disturbance should be required to report it to both law enforcement authorities and the courts, and the legal jeopardy for failing to do so should be tough enough to ensure compliance. Parents, school authorities, and other involved parties should be made to understand that they have responsibilities to the community as a whole, not just to family members or to their own student body. While embarrassment and reluctance to get involved are understandable sentiments, they should not be allowed to drive conduct when the public safety is at stake. We’re not necessarily cramming these measures down anyone’s throat: I’ve known many families who were desperate for laws that would help them do what they knew needed to be done for their adult children, and many college administrators who felt that their hands were tied.

Second, the law should no longer require, as a condition of involuntary incarceration, that seriously disturbed individuals constitute a danger to themselves or others, let alone a “substantial” or “imminent” danger, as many states do. A delusional loss of contact with reality should be enough to trigger a process that starts with multiple offers of voluntary assistance and ends with involuntary treatment, including commitment if necessary. How many more mass murders and assassinations do we need before we understand that the rights-based hyper-individualism of our laws governing mental illness is endangering the security of our community and the functioning of our democracy?

To begin with, I really don't understand how insisting that people actually represent a danger to themselves or or others in order to commit them represents a threat to the "functioning of democracy". Is it keeping people from voting somehow? There's really no reasonable way to respond to a claim like that. I'm just going to assume that he wanted to end his piece with a bang so I'll leave it at that.

More significant are the reforms that he advocates. What he's arguing for is that people face criminal liability for not doing something. That should always be worrisome but in his case, he's specifically pushing to prosecute people that fail to perform a diagnostic that typically is only accepted when performed by clinicians with advanced degrees. His plan envisions a world where every parent with a weird teenager, may very well be placing themselves in legal jeopardy if they fail to report their child's eccentricities to the police for questioning.

Second of all, his idea of a "process that starts with multiple offers of voluntary assistance and ends with involuntary treatment, including commitment if necessary" has nothing voluntary about it. Basically he's saying "You can choose whether or not to receive help unless you choose not to." He's suggesting that a population of citizens be stripped not only of their liberty (in the event that they are in fact committed), but also of their sovereignty over their own bodies (in the event they are compelled to take medications against their will). And he's suggesting this course of action regardless of whether or not the person presents any discernible threat.

In closing he questions "How many more mass murders and assassinations do we need"? Well, clearly none. However, how many more mass murders and assassinations are on tap for the foreseeable future? A significant element to the horror of the Tucson tragedy is these occurrences are so infrequent. Deranged killers are definitively rare. Stripping a segment of the population of their rights and coercing parents, teachers and even associates to monitor and report peoples behavior is not the solution.

UPDATE: I meant to include this when I first put this post together: Here are some stories of people that have been involuntarily committed.