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Friday, September 30, 2011
Stop That Noise!
Lighten Up
There are a lot of reasons to be against New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and his possible entry into the presidential race, but his weight shouldn't be one of them.
I'm looking at you, Michael Kinsley and Eugene Robinson.
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I'm looking at you, Michael Kinsley and Eugene Robinson.
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Not Just For Hippies Anymore
The Occupy Wall Street demonstration is drawing in some new faces.
Inevitable comparisons are being drawn between the Occupy Wall Street movement and the Tea Partiers who rallied in Washington. Aside from the fact that the grammar and punctuation quotient (not to mention the costuming) is probably higher on Wall Street, the Tea Party rallies were going to the wrong place; the cause of the recession and the collapse of the economy didn't come from Washington; it was engineered on Wall Street. But of course many of the people behind the curtains at the Tea Party were complicit in the Ponzi schemes of Lehmann Brothers and the bubble machines, so of course they're going to point the blame somewhere else, and Washington is such an easy target. And don't forget that nothing was wrong with the deficit and the markets until 12:01 p.m. on January 20, 2009.
Bonus video: To make the point of Wall Street's disdain for the middle class, bankers sip champagne as they mock the demonstrations below.
Shall we give them a tumbrel?
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A loose coalition of labor and community groups said Thursday that they would join the protest next week. They are organizing a solidarity march scheduled for Wednesday that is expected to start at City Hall and finish a few blocks south at Zuccotti Park.As digby notes, that also included airline pilots, a group not normally noted for being left-wingers. But they've been losing out on their pensions, and the mergers of major airlines have decimated both the ranks and the pay scales.
“It's a responsibility for the progressive organizations in town to show their support and connect Occupy Wall Street to some of the struggles that are real in the city today,” said Jon Kest, executive director of New York Communities for Change, which is helping to organize the march. “They're speaking about issues we're trying to speak about.”
Inevitable comparisons are being drawn between the Occupy Wall Street movement and the Tea Partiers who rallied in Washington. Aside from the fact that the grammar and punctuation quotient (not to mention the costuming) is probably higher on Wall Street, the Tea Party rallies were going to the wrong place; the cause of the recession and the collapse of the economy didn't come from Washington; it was engineered on Wall Street. But of course many of the people behind the curtains at the Tea Party were complicit in the Ponzi schemes of Lehmann Brothers and the bubble machines, so of course they're going to point the blame somewhere else, and Washington is such an easy target. And don't forget that nothing was wrong with the deficit and the markets until 12:01 p.m. on January 20, 2009.
Bonus video: To make the point of Wall Street's disdain for the middle class, bankers sip champagne as they mock the demonstrations below.
Shall we give them a tumbrel?
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Ideal Delusions
Melissa Harris-Perry wrote a piece for The Nation that has got a lot of people talking.
Bob Cesca does a fine job of responding to the critics of the president who say he hasn't lived up to their ideals of the liberal leader riding to their rescue from the wilderness of the Bush years and how, echoing (deliberately or not) the arguments of the GOP, he hasn't accomplished anything.
Perhaps the most important element is that a lot of progressives and liberals deluded themselves into thinking what they thought they were getting when they voted for Barack Obama. I've noted this many times before, but it still seems to elude: he's not the great liberal savior. He never sold himself as one, he hasn't governed as one, and anyone who thought he would be one just because he's black and a Democrat is as guilty of race-tinged assumptions as those on the right who looked at him and instantly saw Malcolm X and Robert Mugabe. Even a skimming of his books -- you can still buy them -- reveal a rather centrist and pragmatic thinker who doesn't do the Rick Perry "Fed Up!" routine at all. As Bob Cesca notes, "[n]evertheless, many progressives have unfairly superimposed their own politics onto the president. I’m not sure why, but then, when the president doesn’t follow through with your agenda, he’s suddenly a disappointment."
I don't want progressives or liberals or centrists or anyone else to lock-step support the president, and I don't want them to stop criticizing and analyzing the job he's doing. But I want them to at least be fair about it, be aware of the agenda they're bringing with it, and acknowledge that perhaps the wrong place to appreciate what Barack Obama has done would be from the bleachers as Rick Perry's inauguration parade heads down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House.
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President Obama has experienced a swift and steep decline in support among white Americans—from 61 percent in 2009 to 33 percent now. I believe much of that decline can be attributed to their disappointment that choosing a black man for president did not prove to be salvific for them or the nation.In other words, a lot of white liberals voted for Barack Obama out of a sense of guilt and now they are seeing him as just a guy who was elected president.
Bob Cesca does a fine job of responding to the critics of the president who say he hasn't lived up to their ideals of the liberal leader riding to their rescue from the wilderness of the Bush years and how, echoing (deliberately or not) the arguments of the GOP, he hasn't accomplished anything.
According to Politifact, the president has kept 147 of his promises in just under three years, and broken 47. In other words, he’s batting around .750. In baseball, a .300 average is Hall of Fame worthy. Additionally, and I repeat for the umpteenth time, try to name a single president in American history who kept all of his promises and with whom you agree on every policy. I can’t think of a single one. To impose a different standard on this president seems dubiously motivated — a key point in Harris-Perry’s column.This is also a sign of one of the worst things about progressives: we are our own worst critics and seem to feed on our own self-doubt. It's a paradox that has haunted us for generations; we have always been able to publicly and proudly proclaim our ability to waver. To many, that's a feature, not a bug. Many believe it shows us as being open-minded and willing to listen to other ideas, but far too often we come across as wimps whose core convictions can be rattled and changed by having someone yell at us on cable TV.
Perhaps the most important element is that a lot of progressives and liberals deluded themselves into thinking what they thought they were getting when they voted for Barack Obama. I've noted this many times before, but it still seems to elude: he's not the great liberal savior. He never sold himself as one, he hasn't governed as one, and anyone who thought he would be one just because he's black and a Democrat is as guilty of race-tinged assumptions as those on the right who looked at him and instantly saw Malcolm X and Robert Mugabe. Even a skimming of his books -- you can still buy them -- reveal a rather centrist and pragmatic thinker who doesn't do the Rick Perry "Fed Up!" routine at all. As Bob Cesca notes, "[n]evertheless, many progressives have unfairly superimposed their own politics onto the president. I’m not sure why, but then, when the president doesn’t follow through with your agenda, he’s suddenly a disappointment."
I don't want progressives or liberals or centrists or anyone else to lock-step support the president, and I don't want them to stop criticizing and analyzing the job he's doing. But I want them to at least be fair about it, be aware of the agenda they're bringing with it, and acknowledge that perhaps the wrong place to appreciate what Barack Obama has done would be from the bleachers as Rick Perry's inauguration parade heads down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House.
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Quote of the Day
Michele Bachmann on the Obama administration decision to send the appeal on the healthcare law to the U.S. Supreme Court:
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The Supreme Court should not be deciding our laws. That's the people we elect, that's who should decide our laws.Whatever law school she went to should demand their diploma back. (Oh, wait...)
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Short Takes
Germany to the rescue -- The German parliament voted to help out its fellow EU members with finances.
Syria -- The U.S. ambassador was accosted by a pro-government mob in Damascus.
Unemployment applications fell sharply last week.
Bank of America will start charging for using their debit card.
Garage Sale -- The U.S. considers selling off some of its stuff to raise cash.
Doing okay -- The Federal Reserve says Florida will avoid a recession.
Tropical Update -- Ophelia became a hurricane but is staying away from land for now; Philippe is still a tropical storm and is turning towards the west.
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Syria -- The U.S. ambassador was accosted by a pro-government mob in Damascus.
Unemployment applications fell sharply last week.
Bank of America will start charging for using their debit card.
Garage Sale -- The U.S. considers selling off some of its stuff to raise cash.
Doing okay -- The Federal Reserve says Florida will avoid a recession.
Tropical Update -- Ophelia became a hurricane but is staying away from land for now; Philippe is still a tropical storm and is turning towards the west.
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Thursday, September 29, 2011
Talking Baseball
It seems there were some interesting games last night in baseball.
My cohort at The Reaction, Michael J.W. Stickings, does a great job of wrapping up the nailbiters between the Cardinals and the Braves, the Rays and the Yankees, and the Red Sox and the Orioles.
A few weeks ago, I heard a sports commentator say that this year's baseball playoffs were going nothing to get excited about; look for the usual suspects in the races, including the Red Sox and Atlanta. And now... well, that's another reason to love the game.
Go Tigers.
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My cohort at The Reaction, Michael J.W. Stickings, does a great job of wrapping up the nailbiters between the Cardinals and the Braves, the Rays and the Yankees, and the Red Sox and the Orioles.
In the National League, the Cardinals and Braves were tied for the Wild Card going into the final day of the regular season -- and tied only because of a Cardinals surge in September, coming from well behind to be in contention. Ex-Blue Jay Chris Carpenter, an injury-plagued star, led the Cardinals to a decisive 8-0 win over the Astros, a dominant performance. So the Braves had to win.This is why I love baseball. I love watching the intensity of the relationship between pitcher and batter; it is not a game of constant motion but of paced and studied movements. There's a metaphor for life in there, I'm sure, but even if you don't get all heavy and philosophical, there's still a level of grace and coordination that you don't see in other sports, especially those that are playing against a ticking clock.
And they were ahead going into the bottom of the ninth, with their outstanding closer, Craig Kimbrel, on the mound. But the Phillies, the NL's top team, tied it up and then won it with a run in the top of the thirteenth, 4-3. A win would have meant a one-game playoff with the Cardinals, but now it's St. Louis in the playoffs, going up against what on paper is a much stronger Philadelphia team (with Milwaukee going up against Arizona in the other NL series).
In the American League, the Red Sox and Rays were similarly tied -- and only because an epic collapse this month by a Boston team that spent wildly in the off-season and that was predicted by many to win the World Series. As if to make the situation even more intense, the Rays were playing the Yankees, the top team in the AL and Boston's historic rival, not to mention one of Tampa's rivals in the highly competitive AL East (where the Blue Jays finished fourth). Meanwhile, the Sox were going up against the Orioles, the last-place team in the division but still a team, after a disappointing year, with a lot to prove.
And the games were played at the same time.
A few weeks ago, I heard a sports commentator say that this year's baseball playoffs were going nothing to get excited about; look for the usual suspects in the races, including the Red Sox and Atlanta. And now... well, that's another reason to love the game.
Go Tigers.
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Bad For Business
Via Think Progress:
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An outbreak of listeria, a disease tied to tainted cantaloupe, has sickened 72 people and killed at least 16 others, making it the country’s deadliest food outbreak in more than a decade. The disease has killed people in eight states from Maryland to New Mexico after the tainted melons were shipped from a farm in Colorado. As many as 25 states received the shipment of bad cantaloupes, which have now been recalled, according to the Associated Press.According to Michele Bachmann, the private sector can take care of itself, and we don't need no stinkin' FDA to be snooping into the food chain. It's bad for business.
“That’s part of the problem, the overkill,” Bachmann told reporters during an appearance in which she posed with huge slabs of beef. “And when they make it complicated, they make it expensive and so then you can no longer stay in business.”Maybe the people who can't take the time or the expense to make sure that the food they grow and sell doesn't kill people shouldn't be in the business in the first place.
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Next, Please
So far the GOP primary race has resembled less a political process and more like the cover of a thirteen-year-old girl's notebook with stickers of her current favorite star, covering over the old ones like old wallpaper: Daniel Radcliffe ("Harry Potter") gave way Justin Bieber, then to the Twilight boys, flipping between the soulful gaze of Robert Pattinson to the bulging biceps of Taylor Lautner, and all the while waiting for the Mr. Perfect to come along. (It can never be a girl idol; they're nice, but they're not dreamy.) It's as if Time and Newsweek have become the Tiger Beat of politics.
Now that we're in the middle of the latest GOP crush -- this time it's Chris Christie -- I can hardly wait to see who the next one will be when this fad runs its course. Who will the nation turn its lonely eyes to? Paul Ryan? Jeb Bush? Teddy the Wonder Lizard?
The Christie Crush will last about as long as the last one did, and then they'll realize that A) he's not that into you and B) he's nothing special, anyway. There is no magic in the man from Trenton; he's just another noisemaker and bully, and while it may be fun for some in the GOP to watch him pull off a Tony Soprano-like rant against the public school teachers or the woman who had the nerve to ask him where he sent his kids to school, this isn't what the world needs in a president. It's what the world needs in the guy who drives the president's limo.
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Now that we're in the middle of the latest GOP crush -- this time it's Chris Christie -- I can hardly wait to see who the next one will be when this fad runs its course. Who will the nation turn its lonely eyes to? Paul Ryan? Jeb Bush? Teddy the Wonder Lizard?
The Christie Crush will last about as long as the last one did, and then they'll realize that A) he's not that into you and B) he's nothing special, anyway. There is no magic in the man from Trenton; he's just another noisemaker and bully, and while it may be fun for some in the GOP to watch him pull off a Tony Soprano-like rant against the public school teachers or the woman who had the nerve to ask him where he sent his kids to school, this isn't what the world needs in a president. It's what the world needs in the guy who drives the president's limo.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
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Wedding Bell Blues
First it was pharmacists who wouldn't fill prescriptions for medicines that made the Baby Jesus cry; now it's town clerks in New York who won't sign marriage licenses for same sex couples because of (ick).
So either quit your job or do it according to the law you were elected to uphold.
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Rose Marie Belforti is a 57-year-old cheese maker, the elected town clerk in this sprawling Finger Lakes farming community and a self-described Bible-believing Christian. She believes that God has condemned homosexuality as a sin, so she does not want to sign same-sex marriage licenses; instead, she has arranged for a deputy to issue all marriage licenses by appointment.Actually, yes, you are supposed to leave your beliefs at the door at your government job. It's part of the job to do the things the laws of the state require, and you don't get to pick and choose them to suit your faith and practice, especially if it is to deny legal services to people.
But when a lesbian couple who own a farm near here showed up at the town hall last month, the women said they were unwilling to wait.
Now Ms. Belforti is at the heart of an emerging test case, as national advocacy groups look to Ledyard for an answer to how the state balances a religious freedom claim by a local official against a civil rights claim by a same-sex couple.
Ms. Belforti, represented by a Christian legal advocacy group based in Arizona, the Alliance Defense Fund, is arguing that state law requires New York to accommodate her religious beliefs.
“New York law protects my right to hold both my job and my beliefs,” she said in an interview last week, pausing briefly to collect $50 from a resident planning to take 20 loads of refuse to the town dump. “I’m not supposed to have to leave my beliefs at the door at my government job.”
So either quit your job or do it according to the law you were elected to uphold.
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Short Takes
The Obama administration is asking the Supreme Court to rule on the healthcare law.
The EU is still thinking about helping Greece.
A man is under arrest for plotting to bomb the Pentagon.
Rick Perry backs off his comments about immigrants; he didn't mean to be so nice.
Primary Challenge -- Florida moved the primary to January 31.
R.I.P. -- Former Florida Gov. Claude Kirk; Nick Navarro, the Broward County sheriff who became famous for being on Cops.
Tropical Update -- TS Philippe takes a turn to the west.
The Tigers won their 95th game of the season by beating the Indians, and now head to New York to begin the ALDS.
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The EU is still thinking about helping Greece.
A man is under arrest for plotting to bomb the Pentagon.
Rick Perry backs off his comments about immigrants; he didn't mean to be so nice.
Primary Challenge -- Florida moved the primary to January 31.
R.I.P. -- Former Florida Gov. Claude Kirk; Nick Navarro, the Broward County sheriff who became famous for being on Cops.
Tropical Update -- TS Philippe takes a turn to the west.
The Tigers won their 95th game of the season by beating the Indians, and now head to New York to begin the ALDS.
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Wednesday, September 28, 2011
ראש השנה
To all of you who celebrate Rosh Hashana, L'shana Tova! (That's "Happy New Year!" from right to left.) The year 5772 begins at sundown today.
Here's one of the traditions for the celebration: the blowing of the shofar; the ram's horn.
Shofar, so good.
Another tradition is dipping apples in honey....
Happy holidays!
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Here's one of the traditions for the celebration: the blowing of the shofar; the ram's horn.
Shofar, so good.
Another tradition is dipping apples in honey....
Happy holidays!
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Question of the Day
Nicked from Melissa, who got it from Kate A:
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What is your least favorite platitude or cliche?When someone tells me, "It is was it is," I reply, "That's a fallacious tautology. What's your point?"
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Chutzpah of the Day
Via TPM, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) is pressing FEMA on the status of relief funds for his district after last month's natural disasters, including an earthquake and a brush with Hurricane Irene.
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On Friday, Cantor held a conference call with Federal Emergency Management Agency and Louisa County officials. A readout of the call provided by Cantor's office indicates that he asked FEMA officials about the timeline and process for determining whether the agency would grant federal assistance. 'FEMA said they have received the Governor's request and sent it to the White House for a decision but could not provide any specific information on timing," the readout said. "Even when asked for an estimate based on past applications they were unable to do so."That's just a bit ironic, given that it was Mr. Cantor who threatened to kill any more money for FEMA unless the Democrats agreed to off-setting budget cuts, and one of the reasons the final bill with the FEMA money took so long to pass was because of his threats to kill all the FEMA funding.
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See For Yourself - Update
The police officer who pepper-sprayed an Occupy Wall Street demonstrator has a history of civil disobedience.
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The Guardian has learned that the officer, named by activists as deputy inspector Anthony Bologna, stands accused of false arrest and civil rights violations in a claim brought by a protester involved in the 2004 demonstrations at the Republican national convention.
Then, 1,800 people were arrested during protests against the Iraq war and the policies of president George W Bush.
Alan Levine, a civil rights lawyer representing Post A Posr, a protester at the 2004 event, told the Guardian that he filed an action against Bologna and another officer, Tulio Camejo, in 2007. The case, filed at the New York Southern District Court, is expected to be heard next year.
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We're In This Together
At a Silicon Valley town hall meeting earlier this week, a Google employee named Doug Edwards told President Obama to please raise his taxes. The Orcosphere went off on him, calling him a plant and getting all snarky about how he is free to donate his extra cash to the government all on his own. Greg Sargent notes:
It wasn't always this way. The history of this country has many examples of the rich spreading their wealth around for the public good; one of the best examples was Andrew Carnegie and his effort to build libraries throughout the country. Cities large and small are dotted with museums, concert halls, schools, and public parks, all thanks to very rich and -- in the old meaning of the word -- conservative men and women who felt more than just a duty to give back to the nation; they did it out of pleasure to help their fellow citizens. Sure, they got their name on a cornerstone, but it was the building and the spirit that mattered.
At one time, a wealthy person who wanted to give back was treated as a patriot and a hero. Now he's held up to mockery by the right wingers. But that's what we've come to expect from these folks who don't have the maturity or the class to see beyond the end of their grabby, greedy little fists.
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Conservatives have offered a number of responses to this argument. Some have insisted that if wealthy people like Buffett and the former Google exec want to pay higher taxes, by God, they should go ahead and pay higher taxes. But this badly misses the point: These men are making an argument about the imperative that their whole income group do more to help solve our fiscal mess, not just about their own desire to chip in more themselves.This situation also points out a basic difference between the two groups. The conservatives have become the party of "I've Got Mine, Screw You," while the progressives still believe in the idea of the social contract: those with a lot have a duty to do more for others who don't.
It wasn't always this way. The history of this country has many examples of the rich spreading their wealth around for the public good; one of the best examples was Andrew Carnegie and his effort to build libraries throughout the country. Cities large and small are dotted with museums, concert halls, schools, and public parks, all thanks to very rich and -- in the old meaning of the word -- conservative men and women who felt more than just a duty to give back to the nation; they did it out of pleasure to help their fellow citizens. Sure, they got their name on a cornerstone, but it was the building and the spirit that mattered.
At one time, a wealthy person who wanted to give back was treated as a patriot and a hero. Now he's held up to mockery by the right wingers. But that's what we've come to expect from these folks who don't have the maturity or the class to see beyond the end of their grabby, greedy little fists.
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Sticking To Their Guns
The National Rifle Association used to be the mainstream wingnutty outfit in American politics. You could always count on them to come out with wild accusations about the evul guvamint plotting to take your guns out of your cold dead hands.
But recently the Tea Party has been hogging all the crazy talk. That's not sitting well with the NRA; for one thing, they don't like to share the street corner with other loons. It's bad for their image and dries up fundraising. So spokesman Wayne LaPierre is going on the attack against the Obama administration's non-existent plans to burn up the Second Amendment.
What's ironic is that the NRA is a victim of their own success. They've been able to lobby enough legislators in Congress and around the country into doing their bidding that they've become irrelevant: the assault weapons ban is dead and the Supreme Court has made individual gun ownership a part of the Second Amendment. So I guess the only thing left for the NRA is to fall back on the old reliable nutsery theories for moral support and money. It's always worked in the past.
HT to Steve Benen.
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But recently the Tea Party has been hogging all the crazy talk. That's not sitting well with the NRA; for one thing, they don't like to share the street corner with other loons. It's bad for their image and dries up fundraising. So spokesman Wayne LaPierre is going on the attack against the Obama administration's non-existent plans to burn up the Second Amendment.
“[The Obama campaign] will say gun owners — they’ll say they left them alone,” LaPierre told an audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Friday. “In public, he’ll remind us that he’s put off calls from his party to renew the Clinton [assault weapons] ban, he hasn’t pushed for new gun control laws… The president will offer the 2nd Amendment lip service and hit the campaign trail saying he’s actually been good for the 2nd Amendment.”This is conspiracy theory Nirvana: lack of proof of a conspiracy is the ultimate proof of a conspiracy.
“But it’s a big fat stinking lie!” the NRA leader exclaimed. “It’s all part of a massive Obama conspiracy to deceive voters and destroy the 2nd Amendment in our country.”
“Obama himself is no fool. So when he got elected, they concocted a scheme to stay away from the gun issue, lull gun owners to sleep and play us for fools in 2012. Well, gun owners are not fools and we are not fooled.”
What's ironic is that the NRA is a victim of their own success. They've been able to lobby enough legislators in Congress and around the country into doing their bidding that they've become irrelevant: the assault weapons ban is dead and the Supreme Court has made individual gun ownership a part of the Second Amendment. So I guess the only thing left for the NRA is to fall back on the old reliable nutsery theories for moral support and money. It's always worked in the past.
HT to Steve Benen.
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Short Takes
The Greek parliament passed a new property tax to avoid default.
No Shutdown -- It looks like the House will pass the stopgap budget this week.
The FBI keeps cleared or acquitted people on the terror watch list.
It's a Deal -- Miami police and the city agree on a contract.
Busted -- The head of ICE in South Florida has been arrested for child porn.
Andy Rooney will retire from 60 Minutes this Sunday.
Tropical Update -- TD Ophelia stays away from land; TS Philippe is moving slowly to the northwest, well out in the Atlantic.
The Tigers beat the Indians again. Meanwhile, it's down to the wire for the Red Sox and Rays.
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No Shutdown -- It looks like the House will pass the stopgap budget this week.
The FBI keeps cleared or acquitted people on the terror watch list.
It's a Deal -- Miami police and the city agree on a contract.
Busted -- The head of ICE in South Florida has been arrested for child porn.
Andy Rooney will retire from 60 Minutes this Sunday.
Tropical Update -- TD Ophelia stays away from land; TS Philippe is moving slowly to the northwest, well out in the Atlantic.
The Tigers beat the Indians again. Meanwhile, it's down to the wire for the Red Sox and Rays.
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Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Banned Books Week
Beware of penguins promoting the Radical Homosexual Agenda.
Few things in this world rankle me more than other people telling people what they can't read. Books are the doorway to the mind, and, to quote from an often-banned play Inherit the Wind, an idea is a greater monument than a cathedral. People who think books are a threat are a greater danger to humanity than the most radical book in the library, and censorship is an assault on the intellect and intelligence that is greater than the most egregious example of harmful literature, including The Da Vinci Code.
If the prigs and the prudes want to shield their children from sex and violence in books, let them start with the Bible and its tales of lust, adultery, murder, and begatting. It beats the hell out of gay penguins.
HT to SKM.
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Justin Richardson’s and Peter Parnell’s "And Tango Makes Three" tops the list of the American Library Association’s (ALA) Top Ten List of the Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2010. The list was released today as part of the ALA’s State of America’s Libraries Report."Challenged" is the preferred term, but in reality what the blue-nose know-nothings would like to do is ban these books from the schools and libraries so children don't get the crazy idea that not everyone -- even flightless birds of the Antarctic -- lives in an Ozzie and Harriet world and that it's okay to read Brave New World and Harry Potter.
"And Tango Makes Three" is an award-winning children’s book about the true story of two male Emperor Penguins hatching and parenting a baby chick at New York’s Central Park Zoo. The book has appeared on the ALA’s Top Ten List of Frequently Challenged Books for the past five years and returns to the number one slot after a brief stay at the number two position in 2009. There have been dozens of attempts to remove And Tango Makes Three from school and public library shelves. Those seeking to remove the book have described it as "unsuited for age group," and cited "religious viewpoint" and "homosexuality" as reasons for challenging the book.
Few things in this world rankle me more than other people telling people what they can't read. Books are the doorway to the mind, and, to quote from an often-banned play Inherit the Wind, an idea is a greater monument than a cathedral. People who think books are a threat are a greater danger to humanity than the most radical book in the library, and censorship is an assault on the intellect and intelligence that is greater than the most egregious example of harmful literature, including The Da Vinci Code.
If the prigs and the prudes want to shield their children from sex and violence in books, let them start with the Bible and its tales of lust, adultery, murder, and begatting. It beats the hell out of gay penguins.
HT to SKM.
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Quote of the Day
Pastor Robert Gates of Bay Minette, Alabama, where people convicted of small crimes have a choice of either going to jail or going to church.
Tomás de Torquemada
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You show me somebody who falls in love with Jesus, and I'll show you a person who won't be a problem to society.Wanna bet?
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See For Yourself
A high-ranking New York City police officer -- the white shirt is the uniform of a lieutenant or above -- is caught on tape using pepper spray directly on an Occupy Wall Street demonstrator as she was held in custody by police. James Fallows reports:
Any crowd can get unruly, and the police have to be prepared for any contingency -- I'm sure that if it was a Tea Party rally and they came packing heat they would be ready, right? -- but for a plain-clothes officer to incapacitate a person just for the fun of it is over the top. Cops have a tough enough job without the additional burden of dealing with power-freaks like that.
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Unless there is something faked about this video, which is on the New York Times' City Room site and is based on annotation and slow-mo apparently from USLaw.com, a uniformed New York City police officer abused power in a way that was cruel and cowardly during yesterday's Wall Street protests. It's worth the time to watch.
He walks up; unprovoked he shoots Mace or pepper spray straight into the eyes of women held inside a police enclosure; he turns and walks away quickly (as they scream, wail, and fall to the ground clawing at their eyes) in a way familiar from hitmen in crime movies; and he discreetly reholsters his spray can.According to the New York Times, a spokesman for the Police Department says the spray was used "appropriately." Oh, sure, it's appropriate to use it on someone who is already in custody and not threatening anyone. (No, it's not.)
You may have already seen this. If you haven't, it is worth knowing about. If this is what it looks like, it is outrageous. The mayor and others should say something. And this man can certainly be identified.
Any crowd can get unruly, and the police have to be prepared for any contingency -- I'm sure that if it was a Tea Party rally and they came packing heat they would be ready, right? -- but for a plain-clothes officer to incapacitate a person just for the fun of it is over the top. Cops have a tough enough job without the additional burden of dealing with power-freaks like that.
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More GOP-Minority Outreach, Ctd.
Here's another example of open-mindedness in the Florida GOP:
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Islam and tea-party activism clashed at a raucous meeting Monday night when a group of Broward County Republicans blocked a Muslim activist from becoming a member of the party’s executive committee.Well, their reaction is understandable after you hear what Michele Bachmann is telling folks in Iowa about the Muslims' plans for Cuba.
Republicans, who changed their rules to publicly vet Nezar Hamze and then vote on his application by secret ballot, said they didn’t oppose him because he was a Muslim — but because he is associated with the Center for American-Islamic Relations, whose Washington-area affiliate was an unindicted co-conspirator in a federal terrorism indictment.
Hamze, director of CAIR Florida, said his local group had nothing to do with the suspect activities in Washington. He said CAIR advocates for civil rights for Muslims, who have been unfairly targeted ever since 9/11.
“I’m aligned with Republican values. And I want to serve the party,” said Hamze, who earlier told a reporter that any effort to block him was the result of anti-Islamic “bigotry.”
At times, when he addressed the packed room at the Sheraton Suites in Fort Lauderdale, a few members shouted out among the crowd of about 300.
“Terrorist!” said one man.
[The] Republican presidential candidate said Monday that it would be “foolish” to normalize trade with Cuba because Hezbollah could soon have “missile sites” there.It's true; she heard about it from some lady in the parking lot. They're planning to launch giant hypodermics loaded with HPV vaccine at us.
“Why would you normalize trade with a country that sponsors terror?” the candidate asked a crowd of supporters in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. “There is reports that have come out that Cuba has been working with another terrorist organization called Hezbollah. And Hezbollah is looking at wanting to be part of missile sites in Iran and, of course, when you are 90 miles offshore from Florida, you don’t want to entertain the prospect of hosting bases or sites where Hezbollah could have training camps or perhaps have missile sites or weapons sites in Cuba. ”
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Pierce Arrow
Charles P. Pierce, author of Idiot America and often heard on NPR's Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!, is now blogging at Esquire's Politics blog. He does not mince words.
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It is not possible to run for president as a Republican these days without at some level having to become a parody of yourself. Running within a radicalized, self-contained universe with its own private, physical laws and its own private history, with its own vocabulary and syntax that has to be learned from scratch almost daily, requires an ongoing manic re-invention that can do nothing but make the candidate look ridiculous to people outside that universe.Why yes, I am on their blogroll. Nice of you to notice.
This is how we get Mitt Romney, with his $290 million, telling an audience that he doesn't "try to define who is rich and who is not rich." (Here's a hint, Mitt. You're rich. You're filthy, stinking rich. You reek of money. You belong on a card in a Monopoly set, okay? Buy a damn monocle already.)
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Photo of the Day
I've seen different versions of this around the web; still cracks me up.
(Click to embiggen... so to speak.)
HT to CLW & CMB.
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HT to CLW & CMB.
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Short Takes
Pakistani soldiers have been linked to the 2007 border assault on Americans.
The Senate passed a bill to avoid a government shut-down on Friday.
The Supreme Court could rule on the healthcare law next year. Good timing....
Lawyering Up -- Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado hires a criminal-defense attorney over a campaign finance probe.
Lawyering Up II -- They're also hiring lawyers in Wisconsin over Gov. Scott Walker's campaign financing.
Tropical Update -- TS Philippe hasn't moved much since yesterday. Typhoon winds struck the Philippines.
The Tigers routed the Indians.
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The Senate passed a bill to avoid a government shut-down on Friday.
The Supreme Court could rule on the healthcare law next year. Good timing....
Lawyering Up -- Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado hires a criminal-defense attorney over a campaign finance probe.
Lawyering Up II -- They're also hiring lawyers in Wisconsin over Gov. Scott Walker's campaign financing.
Tropical Update -- TS Philippe hasn't moved much since yesterday. Typhoon winds struck the Philippines.
The Tigers routed the Indians.
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Monday, September 26, 2011
A Little Night Music
I heard a Muzak cover of this song while waiting for my plane at Toledo Express Airport yesterday. I need to hear the real thing to clear my head of that hideousness.
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Still Not Racist
Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs has a sample of the comments by readers of Andrew Breitbart's over-the-top reporting on President Obama's speech to the Congressional Black Caucus.
Mr. Breibart's response is to take great umbrage at the charges of racism: of course he's not a racist -- how could you think such a thing? -- and besides, he's not responsible for the people who come into his blog and leave comments any more than the GOP is responsible for the audience that comes to their debates or the gun-toters who show up at Tea Party rallies with signs showing President Obama dressed up like a witch doctor.
Bullshit. If you bait the trap with a certain kind of red meat, you're going to draw the flies you want. Neither the GOP or people like Mr. Breitbart would be getting this kind of viewer or reader if they were not trying to attract the attention of the low-wattage and racist elements of their party. They know that that's both where the money is and where they're going to get the most attention: shock sells.
America has always had a vile racist streak to it -- look at how we treated the natives when we got here -- and we always will. That, along with our infantile devotion to puritanical religious tenets regarding women and gays and our amazing ability to turn anything at all into a chance to make a buck, is part of who we are. To paraphrase Edward R. Murrow, the Republicans and Andrew Breitbart didn't invent these people, they merely exploited them, and will continue to do so until they either can't get any more use out of them or they decide that even they are too disgusting to be around. My guess is that it will be the former rather than the latter.
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These comments are just from a quick skim through the first few pages. And keep in mind that these dozens and dozens of vile, openly racist remarks are right next to complaints that they’re being unjustly accused of racism.This goes to the larger point that the GOP/Tea Party is attracting a motley collection of followers. We've already had people applauding the death penalty and letting people without healthcare die, and booing a gay soldier at the Republican debates, so this kind of overt racism isn't really a surprise. A casual glance at the comment stream of just about any right wing blog will offer hard proof that comments like what Mr. Breitbart got are neither out of the norm, nor are they chastised, banned, or deleted.
Mr. Breibart's response is to take great umbrage at the charges of racism: of course he's not a racist -- how could you think such a thing? -- and besides, he's not responsible for the people who come into his blog and leave comments any more than the GOP is responsible for the audience that comes to their debates or the gun-toters who show up at Tea Party rallies with signs showing President Obama dressed up like a witch doctor.
Bullshit. If you bait the trap with a certain kind of red meat, you're going to draw the flies you want. Neither the GOP or people like Mr. Breitbart would be getting this kind of viewer or reader if they were not trying to attract the attention of the low-wattage and racist elements of their party. They know that that's both where the money is and where they're going to get the most attention: shock sells.
America has always had a vile racist streak to it -- look at how we treated the natives when we got here -- and we always will. That, along with our infantile devotion to puritanical religious tenets regarding women and gays and our amazing ability to turn anything at all into a chance to make a buck, is part of who we are. To paraphrase Edward R. Murrow, the Republicans and Andrew Breitbart didn't invent these people, they merely exploited them, and will continue to do so until they either can't get any more use out of them or they decide that even they are too disgusting to be around. My guess is that it will be the former rather than the latter.
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Is There A Pill For That?
The Florida straw poll didn't exactly come out the way Rick Perry planned it.
I think this is a sign of more than just Rick Perry's meteoric rise and fall. The Republicans are still in the try-out phase, and it's clear that they haven't settled on either a candidate or a message other than "Get That _______ Out of Our White House." But they keep trotting out these new candidates with the flurry of an audition for "American Idol," except this particular show could be "The GOP's Biggest Loser."
There have been so many Republican flavors of the month that it's hard to keep track of who's hot and who's not: Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, Donald Trump, Jon Huntsman, and Rick Perry have all had their moments in the sun... and melted like snowflakes. That's enough to give hope to the early drop-outs like Tim Pawlenty and Thaddeus McCotter. There are enough of the No, Thanks crowd -- remember Mike Pence, Mike Huckabee, Haley Barbour, and Mitch Daniels? -- that they could start their own primary. They're even going back to try to get Chris Christie to consider a run despite his Shermanesque attempts stay out of the race.
And through it all Mitt Romney cruises along, nary a hair out of place, winning the Michigan straw poll on Sunday and Mr. Perry barely showing up. Mr. Romney's advantage is that his father, Gov. George Romney, was a popular figure in Michigan fifty years ago. Since the average age of the Michigan GOP pegs out the actuarial tables, my guess is that most of the votes he got were because they thought they were voting for his dad.
In spite of that, were I a betting man, I'd say that Mitt will end up getting the nomination, even if it's barely worth having. To quote a wise gambler, when the money is split between the favorites, bet on the long shot.
HT to CLW.
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ORLANDO -- From the bottom of the polls to the top of the pack, businessman Herman Cain won a surprise victory at the Republican Party of Florida’s nationally watched presidential straw poll Saturday in a sign that frontrunner Rick Perry is in deep trouble.On the other hand, as Scott Simon tweeted, Mr. Cain must be feeling a little left out: "African American man wins FL Republican straw poll & lead is still 'Perry Loses.' What more does Herman Cain have to do?"
Cain’s landslide victory, with 37 percent of the vote, exceeded the combined total for Perry and Mitt Romney, who only garnered 15 percent and 14 percent, respectively.
But it was a particularly stinging defeat for Perry, the frontrunner in Florida and national polls. He had wooed the nearly 3,000 party faithful with fliers before the weekend and a free breakfast Saturday.
"Folks, this is what you call momentum," Cain, the former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, said in a video message from his campaign bus. "The Herman Cain train is picking up steam."
The vote also showed how soft Republican support is for Mitt Romney, who came in third with 14 percent. Unlike Perry, though, he avoided schmoozing the voters.
[...]
Ana Navarro, of Miami-Dade and an advisor to Jon Huntsman, said Perry is more show than substance.
“Rick Perry is a Texas stud, a real macho-man who looks great in cowboy hat and boots and was supposed to come galloping on his stallion to rescue Republicans and lead us to the promise land,” said Navarro, an advisor to Huntsman’s campaign. “But it’s become increasingly clear he can’t perform. He has electile dysfunction.”
I think this is a sign of more than just Rick Perry's meteoric rise and fall. The Republicans are still in the try-out phase, and it's clear that they haven't settled on either a candidate or a message other than "Get That _______ Out of Our White House." But they keep trotting out these new candidates with the flurry of an audition for "American Idol," except this particular show could be "The GOP's Biggest Loser."
There have been so many Republican flavors of the month that it's hard to keep track of who's hot and who's not: Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, Donald Trump, Jon Huntsman, and Rick Perry have all had their moments in the sun... and melted like snowflakes. That's enough to give hope to the early drop-outs like Tim Pawlenty and Thaddeus McCotter. There are enough of the No, Thanks crowd -- remember Mike Pence, Mike Huckabee, Haley Barbour, and Mitch Daniels? -- that they could start their own primary. They're even going back to try to get Chris Christie to consider a run despite his Shermanesque attempts stay out of the race.
And through it all Mitt Romney cruises along, nary a hair out of place, winning the Michigan straw poll on Sunday and Mr. Perry barely showing up. Mr. Romney's advantage is that his father, Gov. George Romney, was a popular figure in Michigan fifty years ago. Since the average age of the Michigan GOP pegs out the actuarial tables, my guess is that most of the votes he got were because they thought they were voting for his dad.
In spite of that, were I a betting man, I'd say that Mitt will end up getting the nomination, even if it's barely worth having. To quote a wise gambler, when the money is split between the favorites, bet on the long shot.
HT to CLW.
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Short Takes
Europe is sweating out the Greece debt crisis.
The freed hikers say Iran held them because they were Americans.
Economic downturn upside -- Gas prices are lower.
Finally -- The first Boeing 787 has been delivered to a customer.
Saudi women get the right to vote and run for election. Still can't drive a car....
Diana Nyad has to quit her attempt to swim from Cuba to the US.
Tropical Update -- TS Philippe does not appear to be a threat to land.
The Tigers beat the Orioles, and the Lions beat the Vikings to go 3-0.
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The freed hikers say Iran held them because they were Americans.
Economic downturn upside -- Gas prices are lower.
Finally -- The first Boeing 787 has been delivered to a customer.
Saudi women get the right to vote and run for election. Still can't drive a car....
Diana Nyad has to quit her attempt to swim from Cuba to the US.
Tropical Update -- TS Philippe does not appear to be a threat to land.
The Tigers beat the Orioles, and the Lions beat the Vikings to go 3-0.
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Sunday, September 25, 2011
Back Home Again
The trip home was uneventful -- except for waiting an unprecedented 20 minutes for the ramp folks at O'Hare to unload the luggage that was supposed to be on the jetbridge when we got off the commuter flight from Chicago. The flight from Chicago to Miami was packed. Who goes to Miami in September?
Anyway, here's one of the photos from the reunion.
The Three Doctors (One D.O., two Ph.D's.)
Amazing how after forty years, we all still follow the school dress code.
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Anyway, here's one of the photos from the reunion.
Amazing how after forty years, we all still follow the school dress code.
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Sunday Reading
The Music of the Mountains -- Composer Stephen Lias climbed Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park last summer, and wrote a sonata to tell the tale.
More below the fold.
Confidence Game -- Leonard Pitts, Jr, on what it takes to execute people.
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I have climbed Longs Peak twice; once in 1964 when I was eleven and a camper at a summer camp, and again in 1980 when I was a counselor at the camp and led the hiking program for boys ages 11-12. I have never forgotten both hikes, and I can well believe that music is a part of the magic of the experience.Anyone familiar with Rocky Mountain National Park knows the power and presence that Longs Peak holds over the entire area. No matter where you go, the peak always seems to show its unmistakable, angular profile above the surrounding peaks. It dominates the park, daring you to climb. It is not an arduous ascent, as fourteeners go, but it still gets the best of many—especially those who jump in too quickly without acclimating. Each year, thousands of people attempt it. Many turn back along the way, bested by altitude or intimidated by the catwalks, and one or two perish in the attempt.
None of my previous visits had provided sufficient time to tackle the peak, but this trip was different. I had been in the park for a week already and had taken progressive training hikes every couple of days—first the popular Loch Vale trail up to Timberline Falls (eight miles round trip with a 1,300-foot elevation gain), then the longer and less-traveled route past Lawn Lake to Crystal Lake (13 miles round trip with a 2,960-foot elevation gain). With these safely under my belt, I felt reasonably confident that I was ready for the 15 miles and 4,850-foot gain that Longs Peak would require.
Between these explorations, I rested and tried to compose music in my cabin. My plan was to write a sonata for trumpet and piano that focused on experiences and locations unique to Rocky Mountain National Park. I had brought along just enough technology to meet my needs: a portable keyboard and a laptop running some notation software. Although this was my fourth in a series of compositions focusing on national parks (following pieces about Big Bend, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon), my primary struggle was just what you might suspect. What does the experience of the park sound like? While mimicking the sounds of nature is one possibility, the results can sometimes trivialize the subject matter by sounding a bit “cartoony.” Vivaldi and Mendelssohn were able to get away with imitating bird sounds and donkeys braying, but they didn’t have to contend with the legacy of Tom and Jerry, the Roadrunner, and their ilk. Pieces like Carnival of the Animals and Peter and the Wolf are effective and popular but inevitably assumed to be children’s pieces, largely for this reason. An equally precarious approach is to recreate the disorganization and complexity of natural sounds in a way that comes across as random or experimental. This tends to alienate contemporary audiences, who are already distrustful of serious music by living composers. I’ve learned that today’s concert-goers tend to prefer their composers dead.
And yet, here I was, very much alive—alive in the way you feel only when you’re in the midst of one of your life-list trips. How could I make music speak about this feeling, this scenery, the drive that pushes us to test our boundaries and explore? As I wandered the park, I turned this issue over in my head. I tested the quality of the experience like deliberately tasting a new food. What were its elements? How might those elements become sounds?
More below the fold.
Confidence Game -- Leonard Pitts, Jr, on what it takes to execute people.
There are literally hundreds, of men and even a few women who have been exonerated and set free after being sentenced to death, life, 25, 60, even 400 years for awful things they did not do. I could make a longer list, but space is at a premium and there is more that needs saying here.Doonesbury -- An honest man.
They killed Troy Davis Wednesday night.
He went to his death still proclaiming his innocence of the 1989 murder of a Savannah, Ga., police officer. Davis was convicted on “evidence” that boiled down to the testimony of nine eyewitnesses, seven of whom later recanted.
But Spencer Lawton, who originally prosecuted the case, would not want you to worry your head about that. Hours before Davis was put to death, Lawton was quoted by CNN as saying he had no doubts about the case and was confident Davis was the killer. How much do you want to bet the prosecutors of Fain, Brewer, Krone or any of those hundreds of others would have said the same thing, expressed the same confidence? Without that confidence, the whole house of cards comes tumbling down.
Meaning the death penalty, a flimsy edifice erected on the shaky premise that we always get it right, that human systems always work as designed, that witnesses make no mistakes, that science is never fallible, that cops never lie, that lawyers are never incompetent.
You have to believe that. You have to make yourself believe it. Otherwise, how do you sleep at night?
So of course a prosecutor speaks confidence. What else is he going to speak? Truth? Truth is too big, too dangerous, too damning. Truth asks a simple question: In what field of endeavor have we always gotten it right? And you know the answer to that.
So truth is too pregnant for speaking. Better to avert your eyes and profess your confidence.
But one day, too late for Troy Davis, too late for too many, truth will out. Godspeed that day the cards come tumbling down.
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Short Takes
There was a plane crash on Mount Everest with 19 passengers aboard.
The big satellite came down, but NASA isn't sure where it landed.
Herman Cain won the Florida straw poll.
Tropical Update -- There's a bunch of tropical activity out in the Atlantic, but it looks like they'll all stay away from the U.S.
The Tigers lost to the Orioles... and Justin Verlander was denied his 25th win.
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The big satellite came down, but NASA isn't sure where it landed.
Herman Cain won the Florida straw poll.
Tropical Update -- There's a bunch of tropical activity out in the Atlantic, but it looks like they'll all stay away from the U.S.
The Tigers lost to the Orioles... and Justin Verlander was denied his 25th win.
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Saturday, September 24, 2011
Birthday Greetings
Today would have been Jim Henson's 75th birthday. So...
Bonus: check out the Google home page.
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Bonus: check out the Google home page.
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Old Friends
The gang looks good.
There were twenty of us, including husbands and wives, from the Class of 1971 that gathered in what I still think of as the Lower School Gym, now an auditorium named after a former headmaster. For a class of 47 that has lost some to death, others to distance, it was a good turn-out. Some faces were easy to recognize thanks to Facebook and the fact that even after forty years, some faces never lose their unique qualities; a smile or a profile, and some voices have never changed beyond what I remember from the classroom.
After the reception and a tour of the school, since remodeled and grown in so many ways over the years, we all gathered for dinner in a restaurant in a private room, settled around a large table, and talking up a storm.
We all got to tell our stories, all of them laced with good humor and tales of accomplishment, but also leavened with experiences of life. What amazed me was the ease at which we were able to bring things long forgotten back to the fore; some good memories, some bad; some comic, some tragic. We have all faced the ravages of time, of disappointment, but also joy and blessings.
Tonight we will gather again for a formal dinner and dancing at a local country club. There will be pictures and more tales and more laughter and probably a few tears. The one thing we are sure of is that we will not let another ten or more years pass before doing this again. The friendships and bonds and rivalries we formed all those years ago and renewed now will not be so easily cut again.
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There were twenty of us, including husbands and wives, from the Class of 1971 that gathered in what I still think of as the Lower School Gym, now an auditorium named after a former headmaster. For a class of 47 that has lost some to death, others to distance, it was a good turn-out. Some faces were easy to recognize thanks to Facebook and the fact that even after forty years, some faces never lose their unique qualities; a smile or a profile, and some voices have never changed beyond what I remember from the classroom.
After the reception and a tour of the school, since remodeled and grown in so many ways over the years, we all gathered for dinner in a restaurant in a private room, settled around a large table, and talking up a storm.
We all got to tell our stories, all of them laced with good humor and tales of accomplishment, but also leavened with experiences of life. What amazed me was the ease at which we were able to bring things long forgotten back to the fore; some good memories, some bad; some comic, some tragic. We have all faced the ravages of time, of disappointment, but also joy and blessings.
Tonight we will gather again for a formal dinner and dancing at a local country club. There will be pictures and more tales and more laughter and probably a few tears. The one thing we are sure of is that we will not let another ten or more years pass before doing this again. The friendships and bonds and rivalries we formed all those years ago and renewed now will not be so easily cut again.
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Short Takes
What a Surprise -- Vladimir Putin says he will run for president of Russia in 2012.
Palestine -- The talk of statehood gets the peace talks going again.
Change for Nickleby -- The White House proposed waivers for No Child Left Behind (NCLB).
Cash for Classrooms -- Vice President Joe Biden said South Florida schools could get a lot of money for construction from the American Jobs Act.
Tropical Update -- TS Ophelia is keeping away from land; TD Seventeen is off the by the Azores.
The Tigers beat the Orioles in another close one.
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Palestine -- The talk of statehood gets the peace talks going again.
Change for Nickleby -- The White House proposed waivers for No Child Left Behind (NCLB).
Cash for Classrooms -- Vice President Joe Biden said South Florida schools could get a lot of money for construction from the American Jobs Act.
Tropical Update -- TS Ophelia is keeping away from land; TD Seventeen is off the by the Azores.
The Tigers beat the Orioles in another close one.
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Friday, September 23, 2011
Reunion
My fortieth high school class reunion is this weekend, so I'm heading off to Toledo.
This was the cover of our yearbook, The Weathervane.
And this was the back. It was printed upside down so that you could open the book from the back and see our senior section that included photos and poetry by Rod McKuen (hey, it was the '70's).
It's going to be fun seeing people I haven't seen in a long, long time. There should be some interesting stories. And for a price, I won't post any of them.
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This was the cover of our yearbook, The Weathervane.
And this was the back. It was printed upside down so that you could open the book from the back and see our senior section that included photos and poetry by Rod McKuen (hey, it was the '70's).
It's going to be fun seeing people I haven't seen in a long, long time. There should be some interesting stories. And for a price, I won't post any of them.
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Stay Classy
We've seen the audiences at GOP debates applaud for the death penalty and then just letting sick people die if they don't have health insurance. Last night at the GOP debate in Orlando, an audience member booed loudly at the video of a gay soldier asking Rick Santorum about DADT.
Groucho Marx once said something along the lines of "I would never want to belong to a club that would have someone like me as a member." That doesn't seem to apply to Republican candidates.
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Groucho Marx once said something along the lines of "I would never want to belong to a club that would have someone like me as a member." That doesn't seem to apply to Republican candidates.
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Short Takes
Exodus -- Most of the delegates at the UN walked out on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as he addressed the General Assembly.
President Obama took his jobs bill pitch to Mitch McConnell and John Boehner's front yard.
There was another GOP debate last night.
Wall Street had another big down day.
No, the Department of Justice did not pay $16 a piece for muffins.
Oh, look, the Park51 Islamic Center has opened and the world did not come to an end.
Bugged -- Miami-Dade County has issued a mosquito alert because of West Nile virus.
Tropical Update -- It looks like TS Ophelia will stay away from land.
The Tigers lost to the Orioles.
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President Obama took his jobs bill pitch to Mitch McConnell and John Boehner's front yard.
There was another GOP debate last night.
Wall Street had another big down day.
No, the Department of Justice did not pay $16 a piece for muffins.
Oh, look, the Park51 Islamic Center has opened and the world did not come to an end.
Bugged -- Miami-Dade County has issued a mosquito alert because of West Nile virus.
Tropical Update -- It looks like TS Ophelia will stay away from land.
The Tigers lost to the Orioles.
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Thursday, September 22, 2011
Question of the Day
It's finally cooling off in some places, which means that it's getting towards cold and flu season.
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Are you getting a flu shot this year?I'm not sure; the last time I got a flu shot, I still got the flu.
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The Meddling Fed
The Republican leadership sent a letter to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke asking him not to do anything more to help the economy.
Shorter version: You're ruining our plans to wreck the economy, and that's the only way we can win the election, so knock it off.
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Shorter version: You're ruining our plans to wreck the economy, and that's the only way we can win the election, so knock it off.
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Whip It Good
It looks like President Obama's jobs bill is the least of John Boehner's worries.
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GOP legislation to continue funding the federal government failed in the House Wednesday by a vote of 195-230, after Democrats rejected a controversial measure to nix a popular manufacturing program to offset federal disaster aid.If the government does shut down next Friday, the one thing that you know will happen is that no matter what the Tea Partiers do, the GOP leadership will find a way to blame it on someone else. Gee, I wonder who.
A successful Democratic whip effort left Republicans without enough support in their caucus to pass the bill along party lines. Over 40 Republicans, demanding steeper cuts to federal programs, rebelled against GOP leadership.
Only six Democrats voted in favor of the legislation, a version of which must pass both chambers before September 30, or the government will shut down.
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Who Wants What?
According to Gallup, a majority of Americans like the idea of taxing the rich at a higher rate than they are paying now.
So when the Republicans tell you that "the American people" don't want higher taxes, they must be talking about the other American people.
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So when the Republicans tell you that "the American people" don't want higher taxes, they must be talking about the other American people.
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Put To Death
A lot of people have written about the last days of Troy Davis, many of them very powerful pleas for clemency while doubt was raised about his guilt. A lot of people from all sorts of places -- everyone from the Pope to a former head of the FBI -- tried to appeal to the authorities in the state who could grant clemency or a re-examination of the evidence. But it all ended last night after the United States Supreme Court denied the last attempt at a stay.
I have always been against the death penalty. It is a vengeful sentence; there is a visceral element to tying a man to a gurney and killing him. But that doesn't make it justice. The law is supposed to be dispassionate; there should not be an element of revenge or blood lust in it, and the punishment should both teach a lesson to the criminal and restore balance. But you can't teach a lesson to a corpse nor does an execution seem to prevent more crime, and a second death does not balance the scales. And if, in the course of a human endeavor that is so adversarial and complicated, the justice system is misapplied and an innocent person is put to death, there is no going back. There are very few absolutes in life and in justice, but in having the death penalty, we make it very possible to be absolutely wrong.
Another execution took place yesterday in Texas. One of the men convicted of the horrific dragging death of James Byrd in Jasper, Texas, in 1998 was executed. There is nothing in common between this case and the case of Troy Davis except that the day after, we have two more dead men, both put to death by the state. Somehow that does not fit within the definition of equal justice under the law.
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I have always been against the death penalty. It is a vengeful sentence; there is a visceral element to tying a man to a gurney and killing him. But that doesn't make it justice. The law is supposed to be dispassionate; there should not be an element of revenge or blood lust in it, and the punishment should both teach a lesson to the criminal and restore balance. But you can't teach a lesson to a corpse nor does an execution seem to prevent more crime, and a second death does not balance the scales. And if, in the course of a human endeavor that is so adversarial and complicated, the justice system is misapplied and an innocent person is put to death, there is no going back. There are very few absolutes in life and in justice, but in having the death penalty, we make it very possible to be absolutely wrong.
Another execution took place yesterday in Texas. One of the men convicted of the horrific dragging death of James Byrd in Jasper, Texas, in 1998 was executed. There is nothing in common between this case and the case of Troy Davis except that the day after, we have two more dead men, both put to death by the state. Somehow that does not fit within the definition of equal justice under the law.
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Short Takes
Troy Davis was executed by the state of Georgia last night after his stay request was denied by the Supreme Court.
President Obama makes his case for Israel at the UN and tries to dissuade the Palestinians.
The disaster-aid bill didn't pass the House.
The American hikers have been freed by Iran; they're in Oman on their way home.
Whew -- That big satellite scheduled to to de-orbit won't hit the U.S.
Charm Offensive -- Gov. Rick Scott's approval is inching up, but he's still among the lowest in the swing states.
Tropical Update -- TS Ophelia is moving slowly northwest.
The Tigers rallied late to beat the Royals.
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President Obama makes his case for Israel at the UN and tries to dissuade the Palestinians.
The disaster-aid bill didn't pass the House.
The American hikers have been freed by Iran; they're in Oman on their way home.
Whew -- That big satellite scheduled to to de-orbit won't hit the U.S.
Charm Offensive -- Gov. Rick Scott's approval is inching up, but he's still among the lowest in the swing states.
Tropical Update -- TS Ophelia is moving slowly northwest.
The Tigers rallied late to beat the Royals.
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Wednesday, September 21, 2011
It's Better
Here is one of the best things about the end of Don't Ask Don't Tell.
This is why the end of DADT is more than just the end of a bad law. It is touching families and friends in the most personal way.
Speaking as someone who came to terms with being openly gay more than thirty years ago and having been blessed with parents, family and friends whose love and support I never doubted, all I can say to Randy Phillips and the countless others who are coming out, it does get better, and I'm really glad to have you on our team.
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Shortly after midnight Tuesday in his bedroom at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, Randy Phillips set up his web camera, dialed his cellphone and called his father in Alabama.
“Can I tell you something?” Phillips, 21, asked, with the camera rolling. “Will you love me, serious? Like, you’ve always loved me, as long as I live?”
“Yes,” his father said.
His voice dropping, Phillips told him: “Dad, I’m gay.”
“Yikes,” his father replied.
“I still love you, and I will always love you, and I will always be proud of you,” his father said later.
This is what the end of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy brought — hundreds, if not thousands of quiet, personal exchanges between family, friends and supportive colleagues who long suspected they knew. Some took to podiums on Capitol Hill or attended parties and “coming out” ceremonies. Military officials reported no incidents or increase in activity at military recruitment stations.
This is why the end of DADT is more than just the end of a bad law. It is touching families and friends in the most personal way.
Speaking as someone who came to terms with being openly gay more than thirty years ago and having been blessed with parents, family and friends whose love and support I never doubted, all I can say to Randy Phillips and the countless others who are coming out, it does get better, and I'm really glad to have you on our team.
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Above It All
David Brooks was disappointed the other day that President Obama is acting like a politician.
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Yes, I’m a sap. I believed Obama when he said he wanted to move beyond the stale ideological debates that have paralyzed this country. I always believe that Obama is on the verge of breaking out of the conventional categories and embracing one of the many bipartisan reform packages that are floating around.Shorter version: You mean he's actually going to fight back? Well, that's so... disappointing.
But remember, I’m a sap. The White House has clearly decided that in a town of intransigent Republicans and mean ideologues, it has to be mean and intransigent too. The president was stung by the liberal charge that he was outmaneuvered during the debt-ceiling fight. So the White House has moved away from the Reasonable Man approach or the centrist Clinton approach.
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All Booked Up
I've been wondering when some sort of insider book on the Obama administration would be coming out, and I guess one has.
The problem with this or any book about any president is that it's not really all that interesting unless you're a West Wing kind of nerd and you get off on listening in on gossip about people you don't know doing things that have no real context. They're talking about someone's management style as if that is a true measure of how successful or not they will be. I've worked for people whose office looked like the bottom of a birdcage and treated people like shit and got amazing things done, and I've worked for people who were organized and dispassionate and accomplished just as much. Or sometimes nothing at all.
The whole point is that these kinds of inside-the-Beltway inside-baseball books don't really mean much except to give people we don't care about a little airtime on daytime cable TV.
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The problem with this or any book about any president is that it's not really all that interesting unless you're a West Wing kind of nerd and you get off on listening in on gossip about people you don't know doing things that have no real context. They're talking about someone's management style as if that is a true measure of how successful or not they will be. I've worked for people whose office looked like the bottom of a birdcage and treated people like shit and got amazing things done, and I've worked for people who were organized and dispassionate and accomplished just as much. Or sometimes nothing at all.
The whole point is that these kinds of inside-the-Beltway inside-baseball books don't really mean much except to give people we don't care about a little airtime on daytime cable TV.
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Quote of the Day
Texas Rep. Wayne Christian (R) on the state's ongoing effort to control women's bodies by medical and other means:
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Well of course this is a war on birth control and abortions and everything, that’s what family planning is supposed to be about.Why can't we have a war on ignoramuses? I know it would last forever, but it would be worth it.
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Best Reason So Far
Bill O'Reilly threatened to quit his job if President Obama's plan to tax millionaires passes.
But if doing even close to that is enough to get this waste of chemicals off the air, then by all means pass the damn bill.
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If Barack Obama begins taxing me more than 50 percent, which is very possible, I don’t know how much longer I’m going to do this. I like my job but there comes a point when taxation becomes oppressive. Is the country really entitled to half a person’s income?In the first place, no one is talking about taxing him 50 percent. Second, even if the rate was 50%, it wouldn't be "half his income;" that's not how the tax code works.
But if doing even close to that is enough to get this waste of chemicals off the air, then by all means pass the damn bill.
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Short Takes
The former president of Afghanistan was assassinated in his home.
President Obama met with the new leaders of Libya.
Drug wars -- More than 30 bodies were dumped on a street in Mexico.
Despite pleas from a lot of powerful people, Georgia plans to execute Troy Davis.
Back to the drawing board -- Texas's redistricting plan doesn't get past the Department of Justice.
Always a bridesmaid -- Miami-Dade Schools miss out on the Broad Prize again.
Tropical Update -- TS Ophelia has popped up in the Atlantic and is heading for the islands.
The Tigers lost to KC.
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President Obama met with the new leaders of Libya.
Drug wars -- More than 30 bodies were dumped on a street in Mexico.
Despite pleas from a lot of powerful people, Georgia plans to execute Troy Davis.
Back to the drawing board -- Texas's redistricting plan doesn't get past the Department of Justice.
Always a bridesmaid -- Miami-Dade Schools miss out on the Broad Prize again.
Tropical Update -- TS Ophelia has popped up in the Atlantic and is heading for the islands.
The Tigers lost to KC.
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Tuesday, September 20, 2011
"It's Not Class Warfare. It's Math"
President Obama kicked off his push for tax hikes on the rich to cut the deficit, and kicked some ass while he was at it.
A lot of people are relieved to see the president finally get feisty with the Republicans, myself included, but when you think about it, the timing is pretty good. Not a lot of people were paying a lot of attention to the machinations going on inside the Beltway over the summer; they were worried about more important things like finding a job, keeping the one they have, keeping their house from burning up in the wildfires or being washed away in a flood, or even if Justin Verlander could make it to 20 wins. Now that the Republican primary circus is getting past the opening acts at the state fairs and Rick Perry has perfected his shitkicker twang for prime time, folks are going to start paying attention to this new season of fun and wackiness. If President Obama had started this hard-ass approach back last spring, he would have been doing it far too early for it to have the desired effect. Now that there is a looming deadline of the deficit committee to actually do something, this puts the ball squarely in the GOP court.
Now that the GOP has to play defense for the indefensible -- it's awfully hard to feel the love for someone like yet another millionaire congressman who's dedicated to keeping every dime for himself -- they're going to have to scramble to explain to the Tea Party how standing up for the stinking rich is a battle for the working class.
(Drew Sheneman via GoComics.com)
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Faced with falling poll numbers for his leadership and an anxious party base, Mr. Obama did not just propose but insisted that any long-term debt-reduction plan must not shave future Medicare benefits without also raising taxes on the wealthiest taxpayers and corporations.As expected, the Republicans all chimed in with various versions of "class warfare" while clutching at their pearls and reeling to the fainting couch. And as often happens, Mr. Obama was blessed with the good fortune of having Rep. John Fleming (R-LA) go on TV and claim that he finds it very hard to live on $400,000 a year -- not including his $174,000 salary -- and whine about being a casualty in the War on Class. (Except for that to happen, you have to have some in the first place.) By the way, for being such a sharp businessman, Mr. Fleming doesn't get the basics of the tax code. The president is proposing a tax increase on people whose income is over $1 million. If, after all his expenses and business deductions, Mr. Fleming is left with the pittance of $400,000, he doesn't qualify for the higher tax.
He uncharacteristically backed up that stand with a veto threat, setting up a politically charged choice for anti-tax Republicans — protect the most affluent or compromise to attack deficits. Confident in the answers most voters would make, Mr. Obama plans to hammer on that choice through 2012, reflecting the fact that the White House has all but given up hopes of a “grand bargain” with Republicans to restore fiscal balance for years to come.
A lot of people are relieved to see the president finally get feisty with the Republicans, myself included, but when you think about it, the timing is pretty good. Not a lot of people were paying a lot of attention to the machinations going on inside the Beltway over the summer; they were worried about more important things like finding a job, keeping the one they have, keeping their house from burning up in the wildfires or being washed away in a flood, or even if Justin Verlander could make it to 20 wins. Now that the Republican primary circus is getting past the opening acts at the state fairs and Rick Perry has perfected his shitkicker twang for prime time, folks are going to start paying attention to this new season of fun and wackiness. If President Obama had started this hard-ass approach back last spring, he would have been doing it far too early for it to have the desired effect. Now that there is a looming deadline of the deficit committee to actually do something, this puts the ball squarely in the GOP court.
Now that the GOP has to play defense for the indefensible -- it's awfully hard to feel the love for someone like yet another millionaire congressman who's dedicated to keeping every dime for himself -- they're going to have to scramble to explain to the Tea Party how standing up for the stinking rich is a battle for the working class.
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Born Again
They're back.
HT to CLW.
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Hey, remember the birthers?Well, why not? It's a new TV season and we all love a good sitcom.
Infamous Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio does -- which is why he announced a five-person "Cold Case Posse" that will delve into the issue of President Obama's birth certificate.
HT to CLW.
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Good Riddance, DADT
Don't Ask Don't Tell is history.
My hope is that very soon we'll all look back and wonder what in the world made us even care about such a thing as sexual orientation. But more importantly, I hope that we can do something to restore the honor and rightful place to the thousands of men and women who were discharged for such a trivial matter. That would go a long way to making today just another day.
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The 18-year-old “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy officially ended at midnight and with it the discharges that removed more than 13,000 men and women from the military under the old ban on openly gay troops. To mark the historic change, gay rights groups are planning celebrations across the country while Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will usher in the new era at a Pentagon news conference.That's all any soldier -- gay, straight, or otherwise -- wants; to be treated as just another soldier, dedicated to doing his or her job without the fear of retribution for being who they are.
The other side will be heard, too: Elaine Donnelly, a longtime opponent of allowing gay men and lesbians to serve openly in the armed forces, has already said that “as of Tuesday the commander in chief will own the San Francisco military he has created.” Two top Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee — the chairman, Representative Howard P. McKeon of California, and Representative Joe Wilson of South Carolina — have asked the Pentagon to delay the new policy, saying commanders in the field are not ready. But the Pentagon has moved on.
No one knows how many gay members of the military will come out on Tuesday, although neither gay rights advocates nor Pentagon officials are expecting big numbers, at least not initially.
“The key point is that it no longer matters,” said Doug Wilson, a top Pentagon spokesman. “Our feeling is that the day will proceed like any other day.”
My hope is that very soon we'll all look back and wonder what in the world made us even care about such a thing as sexual orientation. But more importantly, I hope that we can do something to restore the honor and rightful place to the thousands of men and women who were discharged for such a trivial matter. That would go a long way to making today just another day.
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Short Takes
Yemen -- There were some deadly battles between government forces and rebels.
Libya -- Taking Qaddafi's hometown is still a battle.
Abbas is pushing the Palestinian statehood issue at the U.N.
Crime rates have dropped in the last year for the fourth year in a row.
A Miami therapist who ripped off Medicare gets a long prison term.
The MacArthur Foundation handed out its "genius" grants.
Tropical Updates -- Those two disturbances are still getting organized.
The Tigers play the Royals tonight in KC.
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Libya -- Taking Qaddafi's hometown is still a battle.
Abbas is pushing the Palestinian statehood issue at the U.N.
Crime rates have dropped in the last year for the fourth year in a row.
A Miami therapist who ripped off Medicare gets a long prison term.
The MacArthur Foundation handed out its "genius" grants.
Tropical Updates -- Those two disturbances are still getting organized.
The Tigers play the Royals tonight in KC.
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Monday, September 19, 2011
Arr-Rated
Ahoy, landlubbers, it's Talk Like a Pirate Day.
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So grab your copy of Treasure Island...At first an inside joke between two friends, the holiday gained exposure when John Baur and Mark Summers sent a letter about their invented holiday to the American syndicated humor columnist Dave Barry in 2002. Barry liked the idea and promoted the day. Growing media coverage of the holiday after Barry's column has ensured that this event is now celebrated internationally, and Baur and Summers now sell books and T-shirts on their website related to the theme. Part of the success for the international spread of the holiday has been attributed to non-restriction of the idea or trademarking, in effect opening the holiday for creativity and "viral" growth.
* "Bring me one noggin of rum, now, won't you, matey."To quote Captain Nancy Blackett, "Jib-booms and bob-stays, you tame galoot!"
* "Avast, there!"
* "Dead men don't bite."
* "Shiver my timbers!" (often pronounced as "Shiver me timbers!")
* "Fifteen men on a dead man's chest — Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!"
* "Have I lived this many years, and a son of a rum puncheon cock his hat athwart my hawse at the latter end of it?"
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Gas Price Survey
So, what's it going for in your neck of the woods?
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See You In The Funny Papers
In case you're at all curious, the reason I haven't written anything more about Joe McGinnis's new book on Sarah Palin -- other than to note that it was being serialized in some fashion in Doonesbury -- is because she's not worth much more attention than a comic strip cat that likes lasagna.
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Of Course They Did
Not like it's a big surprise, but the Republicans are finally getting around to rejecting President Obama's jobs bill. And just for good measure, they're trotting out the tired old "class warfare" trope.
That's a trick question, because since the beginning of the Obama administration, the Republicans haven't come up with, in the immortal words of Haley Barbour, diddley. Each one of their budget proposals has been little more than a campaign flyer, and the only one that was more than ten pages was Rep. Ryan's, which was so fatal to programs such as Social Security and Medicare that even his fellow Republicans were backing away from it.
The response to the Obama plan from the Republicans was so predictable that you could have called it in the first inning. But here's where it gets good, finally (hopefully). The president is not backing down. In fact, he's doubling down.
Bill Keller's complaint about ambivalence notwithstanding, it is a relief to see -- at long last -- the president and the White House not afraid to draw the "class warfare" attack. In fact, I'd be surprised if they didn't want it because they're sure that this time it could be a winner. All you have to do is point to the record profits that Wall Street, the banks, and the large corporations made this year and last, remind the viewers how the tax code is skewed to the rich and the "job creators," call bullshit on the "uncertainty principle" that has become the new way of saying "I got mine, screw you," and stir up a little more genuine populism among the voters instead of that ersatz Tea Party brand that is about as grass roots and spontaneous as a holiday parade in North Korea.
Yes, it's politics. At this point, that's about all you are going to get. So if this is class warfare, make the most of it.
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The so-called “Buffet rule” would make sure millionaires pay about the same tax rate as the employees that work for them. It’s named after billionaire Warren Buffet, who has said that he is taxed at a rate of about 17.4 percent, while his secretary is taxed at a rate of about 36 percent.Mr. Ryan is correct in one respect; it does make for good politics. And he should know, because that's basically all the Republicans have done for the last three years. Think about it: can you name one jobs plan or budget plan that the GOP has come up with other than something that is either so loaded in favor of the corporate side or so knee-jerk anti-Obama that it could pass the laugh test?
“If you tax something more, Chris, you get less of it,” Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) told Fox News’ Chris Wallace. “Class warfare, Chris, may make for really good politics, but it makes for rotten economics. We don’t need a system that seeks to divide people and prey on peoples’ fear, envy and anxiety. We need a system that creates jobs and innovation, and removes these barriers for entrepreneurs to go out a rehire people. I’m afraid these kinds of tax increases don’t work.”
That's a trick question, because since the beginning of the Obama administration, the Republicans haven't come up with, in the immortal words of Haley Barbour, diddley. Each one of their budget proposals has been little more than a campaign flyer, and the only one that was more than ten pages was Rep. Ryan's, which was so fatal to programs such as Social Security and Medicare that even his fellow Republicans were backing away from it.
The response to the Obama plan from the Republicans was so predictable that you could have called it in the first inning. But here's where it gets good, finally (hopefully). The president is not backing down. In fact, he's doubling down.
Bill Keller's complaint about ambivalence notwithstanding, it is a relief to see -- at long last -- the president and the White House not afraid to draw the "class warfare" attack. In fact, I'd be surprised if they didn't want it because they're sure that this time it could be a winner. All you have to do is point to the record profits that Wall Street, the banks, and the large corporations made this year and last, remind the viewers how the tax code is skewed to the rich and the "job creators," call bullshit on the "uncertainty principle" that has become the new way of saying "I got mine, screw you," and stir up a little more genuine populism among the voters instead of that ersatz Tea Party brand that is about as grass roots and spontaneous as a holiday parade in North Korea.
Yes, it's politics. At this point, that's about all you are going to get. So if this is class warfare, make the most of it.
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Consider the Alternative
Bill Keller in yesterday's New York Times on how the Republicans and President Obama's ambivalence have left us with some blank spaces.
The mind, it doth boggle.
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I can stand a little ambivalence in our leaders, particularly compared with the blinkered certitude of the previous administration. But in politics there are few greater liabilities than a perceived lack of definition.There's another element to this, and that's the suicidal efforts of a lot of voters to elect someone who is clearly working against their own interests for the purposes of "sending a message." This came up last week in the special election in New York to fill the seat vacated by Anthony Weiner. People who claimed they were life-long Democrats voted for the the Republican right-winger to tell President Obama they weren't happy with the economy. That's like someone shooting themselves in the foot to protest the lousy way their health insurance system works.
Against Obama we have a cast of Republicans who talk about the federal government with a contempt that must have Madison and Hamilton spinning in their coffins. The G.O.P. campaign sounds like a contest for the Barry Goldwater Chair in States’ Rights: neuter the Fed; abolish the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Education and a few other departments; turn Medicare and Social Security into individual 401(k) programs; dismantle national health care and revoke consumer protections. Rick Perry, who likes to rouse Texans by claiming the right to secede from the union, sometimes sounds as if he has expanded his view to encompass the secession of all 50 states. Even Mitt Romney — at heart a Republican technocrat (and the only candidate I’ve ever seen give a campaign speech with PowerPoint) — talks as if the main role of the president is to grant waivers from any kind of mandate upon the states. Such is the power of our new, centrifugal populism.
Do they really believe this, or are they just playing to the Ron Paul libertarian niche? Do you really want to find out?
So let’s get real. Yes, Obama could do better. But we could do a lot worse.
The mind, it doth boggle.
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