The Yale Free Press Blog

2009-08-03T01:29:00.003-04:00

More Ammo

The Weekly Standard had the same thought on "Birther" statistics. (And when TWS comes out and calls right-wingers "kooky" for believing something, you know this "movement" has absolutely zero support among conservatives of any kind... it's the fringe of the fringe.)

2009-08-01T03:15:00.003-04:00

People Believe the Darndest Things--and not just "Birthers"

If you exclude the Southern results of the Daily Kos poll, more Americans believe that Obama was born in Hawaii than believe in heaven--and in the northeast, more Americans believe Obama was born in Hawaii than believe in God. And no matter how you choose to analyze it, twice as many Southerners believe Obama was born in the US as believe he wasn't, 47% vs. 23%.

These "Birthers" exist but they are hardly a movement, they're not serious, and their beliefs are no more delusional than lots of other weird Americans. Being angry at a "Birther" is like arguing with the tin-foil hat homeless guy waving an "END IS NEAR" cardboard sign. But if the weird and disproportionate anger toward these crazies continues to exist, here are some more crazy statistics you can throw in people's faces when they are outraged that anyone could believe Obama was born in Kenya:

-- 34% of Americans believe in ghosts*

-- 34% of Americans believe in UFOs*

-- 29% of Americans believe in Astrology*

-- 25% of Americans believe in reincarnation*

-- 24% of Americans believe in witches

* Democrats are more likely than Republicans to believe in these things--by 8%, 5%, 14%, and 14%, respectively.

Furthermore:

-- 66% of Americans believe the JFK assassination was a conspiracy (Democrats more than Republicans by a 15% margin)

-- 36% of Americans believe 9/11 was an inside job

-- +25% of Americans age 18-25 expressed doubt that humans have been to the moon (6% of all Americans believe it was faked)

All of these numbers are a greater percentage of all Americans than the percentage of just Southern Republicans (23%) who believe Obama wasn't born in the US--and if you exclude the Southerners (4-7% everywhere else) these comparative percentages are far larger.

People believe some ridiculously stupid things, and it cuts across party lines. The only thing Bill Maher got right was that every crazy idea can get traction with some group of people. But it has nothing to do with "the religious right" or the far-right wing, it's just incidental to this particular issue. And if you balk at that, look at those numbers above and tell me Republicans are the crazy ones on some of those beliefs.

2009-07-21T17:38:00.002-04:00

Good ol' sloppy Joe

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Ukraine on Monday to reassure its leaders that Washington has not forgotten the country (Moscow Times)

High bar there.

The streets of Kiev were shut down as a security precaution for Biden’s visit. Ordinary Ukrainians, however, were largely indifferent to the vice president’s arrival, and newspapers had little coverage ahead of his visit.

Keep up the good work. Note that Biden is supposed to have experience dealing with Slavs (SALT II, "lift and strike" Balkan strategy in the 90s, etc).

Obama was less than warm with Medvedev and Putin; now Biden is giving the impression that we'll "support" Ukraine in its NATO bids ("We are going forward, we have chosen a European path," - isn't Yushchenko just adorable?)-- hopefully they don't think "support" has anything to do with, y'know, aid- military or monetary.

Many observers say the combination of Russia’s base, Ukraine’s NATO aspirations, and Crimea’s mostly Russian-speaking population is a diplomatic tinderbox waiting to explode.

We'll get your back like we got Georgia's, no worries, man. And if the Russians turn off the gas again, oh, dude, we're so there.

It looks like the Ukrainians have come off their 2004 Orange Revolution high, though, so maybe they'll be smart enough never to buy into western promises. Otherwise it looks like all we've done this month is piss everyone off and set ourselves up to disappoint.

In other news, even Britney Spears is smart enough to keep her kids out of Russia.

After the St. Petersburg gig, where she played to 15,000 fans at the Ice Palace, Spears immediately left the country, deciding to spend the two nights before her Moscow show in Stockholm instead. A spokesperson in Moscow confirmed that she left the country between gigs.

There's almost too much warm fuzziness going around. My oh my.

2009-07-13T17:39:00.002-04:00

Medvedev refuses to play nice; Obama confused

President Dmitry Medvedev pledged support for South Ossetia’s separatist leadership during a surprise visit Monday that Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili condemned as Russia’s 'most immoral and shameful precedent in centuries.'

State television showed thousands of cheering Ossetians thronging the streets to welcome Medvedev, who is seen as a hero after the Russian military repelled Georgia’s attempt to seize the breakaway region by force last August.
...
Analysts said the timing of the trip was a slap in the face of U.S. President Barack Obama, who had expressed public support for Georgia during his visit to Moscow last week.
...
On Monday, Saakashvili said the timing of Medvedev’s trip was no coincidence.

“I do not know whether it was in response to the Nabucco summit, which is considered by them as their great diplomatic failure, or if it was a response to … Obama’s visit,” he said.

Gia Nodia, a political science professor at Tbilisi University, said Medvedev was certainly making a gesture to the West by visiting Tskhinvali. “Medvedev did not respond the day when Obama sent a clear message on Georgia, but now he is saying, ‘We do not care what Obama says,’” Nodia said by telephone from Tbilisi. (Moscow Times)

Screw global warming, I think it's getting a little chilly in here.

2009-07-08T01:46:00.001-04:00

More Snark, Less Filling

Check out the YFP Twitter.

2009-06-07T00:47:00.004-04:00

We'll sing as we heave to the maidens we leave, away, Rio!

Sitting with the YGC in a Brazilian buffet/churrascaria at dinner today (which seems to be the only kind of restaurant in existence in Rio de Janeiro) a rising sophomore got up and made an announcement for the students interested in attending mass on Sunday. Thus far he´d only been able to find services in Portuguese, but was on the look-out for anglophone-friendly churches. I made a snide comment about the disappearance of the Latin mass, and the meal continued.

Six or seven hours earlier, I was sitting in a McDonald´s off the Avenida Nossa Senhora in Copacabana, eating a Quarterão and listening to Beyoncé. I had four free hours between our dress rehearsal with the Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira and the concert that night and no one with whom to dine, so I grabbed a book and ran over to to the nearest McDonald´s, a ninety-second walk from our hotel. I ordered the exact same thing I would´ve ordered back in Nesconset, NY (where I grew up), listened to the exact same music I would´ve heard on BLI, and read Peter Lawler´s critique of Achieving Our Country by Richard Rorty. Aside from the unnerving after-taste of Coca Light and the slightly better tasting cheese on my burger, I could´ve been in any number of fast food joints in Suffolk County or even in New Haven. I was comfortable and at peace, if slightly more aware of my purse slung on the chair behind me.

Maybe it was the paleocon propaganda getting to me, but I wondered if this is what we, as a species, have come to- we´ve hyper-localized the spiritual and hyper-globalized the market. There wasn´t a single American in that McDonald´s with me; neither the servers nor my fellow patrons seemed to understand a word of English beyond proper nouns associated with processed beef or saccharine beverages.

The Christians in my choir never did find an English service to attend. I´m sure, come the morning, they´ll head out to worship anyway, Christo Redemptor watching over them. But they were among those laughing at my complaint about Vatican II and the eradication of the catholic mass. Do they know what they´re missing, and, worse yet, what they and their ancestors´compliance has helped usher in? Or is this for the best, and is that which is universal truly for the lowest common denominator?

2009-05-07T12:49:00.002-04:00

Strangers with Candy... and Bibles

A Colorado Springs church has been luring children into their vans after school and "baptizing children without their parents' permission."

2009-04-30T14:58:00.002-04:00

Oink Oink Cough

Joe Biden gaffes his way into the swine flu hysteria, and the White House pounces into WHO-5 level preventative spin for Biden's endemic foot-in-mouth disease. Meanwhile, Ron Paul tries to calm people down.

2009-04-30T03:55:00.004-04:00

Everything Your Mother Taught You About Contemporary Europe is Wrong

Bruce Bawer provides a brilliant overview of contemporary EU demographic and economic shifts in recent years, chronicling the rise of the European right (which is still pretty left, but hey, gift horse):

More and more Western Europeans, recognizing the threat to their safety and way of life, have turned their backs on the establishment, which has done little or nothing to address these problems, and begun voting for parties—some relatively new, and all considered right-wing—that have dared to speak up about them. One measure of the dimensions of this shift: Owing to the rise in gay-bashings by Muslim youths, Dutch gays—who 10 years ago constituted a reliable left-wing voting bloc—now support conservative parties by a nearly 2-to-1 margin. (Source: WSJ)

It's a long article but well worth the read-- good mix of numbers and analysis, very good at smashing my now-intuitive understanding of Europe (what's that? France got rid of its famed 35-hour work week? omg!).

One thing I can add is that Eastern Europe is also re-treading nationalist paths: "Euroskepticism" (didn't we used to call that communism? or slavophilia? or?...) is on the up-swing again (unsurprisingly, given how even EU members were hung out to dry recently)... As Professor Ivo Banac recently said in a lecture on the future of eastern Europe: "When I gave this lecture three years ago, I was much more optimistic."

Related Articles:
The Revenge of Geography - Robert D. Kaplan (Foreign Policy)
Culture & Barbarism: Metaphysics in a Time of Terrorism - Terry Eagleton (Commonweal)
1848: Year of Revolution (review) - William Anthony Hay (WSJ)
Democracy Denied, 1905–1915: Intellectuals and the Fate of Democracy (review) - Adam Kirsch (CityJournal)

2009-04-21T15:37:00.003-04:00

The Left Has 'Em Too

Conservatives aren't the only religious zealots in government. Today the Colorado State House voted to eliminate the death penalty, passing by one vote, 33-32. While Rep. Ed Vigil (D-Fort Garland) cast the tie-breaking vote, Rep. John Kefalas (D-Fort Collins) whispered under his breath "Thou shalt not kill."

2009-04-20T16:26:00.005-04:00

Tweed for Weed

The Party of the Right turned out for Bulldog Days to protest for cannabis legalization:

2009-04-17T21:49:00.003-04:00

Sellout

Obama gives hippie handshake to Hugo Chavez, calls communism a "stale debate."

2009-04-16T11:29:00.003-04:00

Oh, the Irony!

They want to fight global warming to save the poor in Bangladesh... but it's the poor in Bangladesh (and many third-world countries) who are causing global warming.

2009-04-13T01:23:00.001-04:00

Overstatement of the Day

A couple Navy snipers shooting three rag-tag pirates in a lifeboat: "An Early Military Victory for Obama"

2009-04-10T12:53:00.002-04:00

The Foreclosure Robin Hood... and Tie-Dye

A "housing liberation movement" called Take Back the Land is helping displaced Americans get back into their foreclosed homes, or into other homes that are sitting vacant. I was having pangs of sympathy until I read this:

On a recent afternoon, Ms. Omega sat on the tiled floor of her unfurnished living room and described plans to use the space to tie-dye clothing and sell it on the Internet, hoping to save some money before she is inevitably forced to leave.

Being homeless is one unfortunate thing. Being a hippie is another. Being a stupid hippie is yet another thing entirely. Who is this person who wants to tap into the vast online market for tie-dye clothing, an industry dominated almost entirely by 12-year-olds at summer camp?

2009-04-10T11:42:00.002-04:00

Marriage, Children, and Happiness

A study of 218 Denver couples found that marital happiness drops sharply after the birth of their first child. Steeper declines are likely if the mother's parents were divorced, the coupled lived together before marriage, or if the first child is a girl. The lead researcher notes, however, that the study fails to capture the deeper fulfillment of raising a family--and I think fulfillment is a better metric in the long-term than happiness anyway.

2009-04-10T11:39:00.001-04:00

Uncanny Similarities

Sean Penn is playing Joseph Wilson in a movie about the Valerie Plame leak? That couldn't be more fitting.

2009-04-07T05:30:00.002-04:00

Hatfields and McCoys: Pakistani Edition

A woman living in Canada slated for deportation back to Pakistan claims she will be dead as soon as she arrives back in her home country. Apparently, she's received death threats from her estranged husband on account of assaults on the family's honor. What awful act could warrant a death threat such as this? Oh, that's right. She worked at a salon, and in the process cutting the hair of both men and women. Outrageous!

Her brother, also living back in Pakistan, claims he will exact retribution upon her husband if he makes good on his threat. And so, the terrible conflicts that afflict the Arab world will be reenacted on a micro level. And we wonder why the area seems to be nothing but a pit of infighting and intolerance.

On a more practical level, this certainly raises some concerns for not only Canada's but also the Unites States' sanctuary and asylum policies. As they stand now, the fundamental criterion consists in a credible, or well-founded, threat to the individual; however, the polices specify that the threat comes from the other state in question. What happens when the social sanctions and, as a result, unenforced laws, of another country create a climate in which an individual could feel a credible threat from a source other than the state but which the state in question refuses to address?

International law and religious fundamentalist countries...who'd have ever thought those two things together might pose a conundrum.

2009-04-05T20:06:00.004-04:00

The Savior Stumbles

I thought the rest of the world was supposed to start loving the US again once we elected Obama. Turns out that's not the case. Anti-American protestors were still at the G-20 summit. French President Sarkozy has told Obama to butt out of Turkey's bid to enter the EU.

Bush was called a crazy fascist with ridiculous expansion of executive power. Now, our new President feels it's ok to call on the President of a major corporation to step down. The Senate is considering a new Cybersecurity bill that would grant the President unprecedented power to shut down private networks deemed "crucial to the nation's infrastructure" for "national security" reasons. Gitmo still exists. Troops are still overseas.

I said it before the election, but I'll say it again now. Not much is going to Change. Obama's losing the expectations game. He came into office with the majority of the country expecting change the likes we haven't seen in generations; instead, they get a tumbling economy, a President who's as prone to gaffes when speaking off-script as Bush was (see Special Olympics comment), and the advancement of the Bush doctrine (spend like crazy, fight inefficiently, have the world despise us, and look stupid doing it).

Update: Look he did it again:

"President Barack Obama invoked "state secrets" to prevent a court from reviewing the legality of the National Security Agency's warantless wiretapping program, moving late Friday to have a lawsuit that challenged the program dismissed." Source1 Source2

2009-04-04T21:57:00.003-04:00

Human Rights Watch V

The Washington Post criticizes the "self-aggrandizement" of some celebrity adoptions:

"While it is admirable for a star to use her popularity to draw attention to a worthy cause, there's no ignoring the fact that she is also luxuriating in the spotlight and enhancing her personal brand. When that celebrity is named Madonna, a significant amount of manipulative, narcissistic intent is assumed. Throw in photos of her in sunglasses, camouflage cargo pants and layered T-shirts against the backdrop of an impoverished Malawi as she searches for an orphan to adopt, and the stench of self-aggrandizement is nearly overwhelming. This is an image we do not trust."

2009-04-04T03:18:00.002-04:00

Heartland Values?

The Iowa State Supreme Court just recently legalized same-sex marriage in the state. The lawyers arguing on behalf of the couples whose rights had been trodden upon did so on state constitutional grounds so that the case could not be appealed to the USSC. Very clever.

They forgot one thing. California passed Prop. 8! This is the same state that in the very same election voted to exempt 16 year old girls from notifying their parents before having an abortion. The state that bans smoking everywhere they can (heck, in San Franciso, you can't even smoke on public property out-of-doors). Do these folks honestly think that the voters in Iowa won't amend their constitution the same way Californians did?

Same-sex couples in California at least had the option of civil unions with essentially the same privileges as a state-sanctioned marriage, but the couples in Iowa would have no such safety net. In the opinion of this blogger, the gay rights activists in Iowa displayed their ineptitude by not going for civil unions first.

2009-04-03T15:16:00.002-04:00

Human Rights Watch IV

Malawi has rejected Madonna's adoption plans, ending the terror of The Lost Generation--children forced into the bondage of Madonna's erratic behavior.

2009-04-01T23:49:00.002-04:00

Liberal Semantics

Democrats often criticized former President George W. Bush for utilizing the "language of fear," but we now come to find the Obama administration doing something quite similar. Only this time, its a language of obfuscation.

The officials in Obama's White House instructed the Pentagon recently to rename the Global War on Terror as "overseas contingency operations" and terrorism as "man-caused disasters." But it's not just in the realm of military operations that the new administration has renamed our current state of affairs. In the financial sector, spokespeople are using "legacy assets" as synonymous with "toxic assets." Basically, our government has told us we can't handle the truth!

Now, I realize a large portion of the United States is based on consumer confidence and this may simply be an attempt to allay the fear of the people, but one has to wonder if there is an ulterior motive.

2009-03-30T23:36:00.000-04:00

Human Rights Watch III

Hey, at least Madonna is not trying to make a coat or anything.

2009-03-30T22:40:00.000-04:00

Human Rights Watch II

Roland Martin thinks that Madonna should be more patriotic (read: protectionist) with her adoptions, kind of like kicking the tires on a Dodge truck.

2009-03-30T22:17:00.002-04:00

Human Rights Watch

How many more children have to be forced into adoption by Madonna before the international community does something about it?

2009-03-28T15:31:00.003-04:00

PETA Hypocrites

So according to a new study put out by the Center for Consumer Freedom, it turns out that the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals kills 95% of the pets placed in its animal adoption program. Of the 2,124 animals up for adoption last year, PETA found homes for only 7! Basically, it's ok to kill man's best friend without adequately trying to find him a home, but the cow in Texas, whose sole purpose on this earth is to end up in the slaughter house, should be preserved at all costs. I'm so glad I had that hamburger this afternoon.

For an organization that prides itself on bringing the message of the near human-like status of animals to the world, PETA seems to have no compunctions about euthanizing 21,339 dogs and cats since 1998. I congratulate PETA on their newly attained mass-murderer status.

2009-03-28T08:56:00.001-04:00

Kanye West Joke Averted

Awww, Barack Obama really DOES care about white people!

2009-02-23T17:18:00.002-05:00

Libertarianism: It Happens

"The local Jewish communities (kehillot), in place when Józewski arrived, funded themselves. The contributions of local Jews were supplemented by donations from Jewish emigrants in the United States. Services provided by the communes supplemented those of the state, most visibly in education. In the 1938-1938 school year, there were seven functioning private Jewish high schools in Volhynia. By comparison, there was one Ukrainian high school, and it was public. Every town in Volhynia had a Jewish library, and the larger towns had Yiddish weeklies."

Sketches from a Secret War, Timothy Snyder

2009-02-17T09:21:00.001-05:00

Religion of Peace Doesn't Get Irony

"The founder of an Islamic television station in upstate New York aimed at countering Muslim stereotypes has confessed to beheading his wife."

2009-02-15T19:01:00.005-05:00

If It Works Or If It Doesn't, We're Right

The White House claims that the economy won't show results until the second half of 2009. Funny, that's what the outgoing Bush administration said before this $787 billion stimulus package was on the table.

2009-02-14T23:16:00.002-05:00

A Modest Proposal

Since we're kowtowing to the Keynesians now, I want to propose another way to jumpstart the economy with $787 billion: invade Cuba.

Wars are a great way to ~~burn money~~ stimulate the economy! Democrats get to stuff money in the pockets of voters, Republicans get to kill commies, and global warming nuts get access to a huge supply of sugar cane to make ethanol. The Florida presidential vote can finally be decided by another interest group than Cuban-Americans! And with all of those tax rebates, where are the President's three million new employees going to spend it all? Oh, I know! Gambling it away in Havana nightclubs like the good old days.

We have been lusting after Cuba since the 1890s. Isn't it time we treated ourselves to a little imperialism in our own backyard for a change?

2009-02-14T22:48:00.002-05:00

Casualties of the Welfare State

A 13-year-old British boy has had a baby with his 15-year-old girlfriend. Tory MP Iain Duncan Smith said that "the birth highlighted another case of 'broken Britain' where 'anything goes.'" The most interesting thing to me, however, is the Sun's accompanying article titled "Benefit bonanza if pair 'move in'." I don't think the Sun could have created a better podium-thumper for the Conservatives.

2009-02-12T02:04:00.001-05:00

Ceci n'est pas un antecedent.

People who get paid to do this stuff do what I did, better.

2009-02-11T16:29:00.000-05:00

Boycott Valentine's Day?

CNN fails to be whimsical.

2009-02-10T14:10:00.003-05:00

Bailout Blues

So our newly minted Secretary of the Treasury began to speak this morning, clarifying how the rest of former President George W. Bush's $700 billion bailout would be spent, and guess what happened...the market tanked. My favorite line from the whole NYT article was, "The stock market, which had been trading down all morning, fell sharply as Mr. Geithner began speaking around 11 a.m. Geithner said that the US Treasury would essentially spend the money to build a toxic bank which would buy up all the bad assets held by various financial institutions, and the market responded, expressing its discontent."

Oh, how I love the smell of socialism in the morning.

2009-02-05T23:58:00.002-05:00

We're the kids full of nerve / As long as it's conserv- / ative, we're Barry's boys.

File this one under "Dispositional Conservatism, Lameness of":

What conservatives have yet to do is confront the large but inescapable truth that movement conservatism is exhausted and quite possibly dead. And yet they should, because the death of movement politics can only be a boon to the right, since it has been clear for some time the movement is profoundly and defiantly un-conservative--in its ideas, arguments, strategies, and above all its vision. ...

The story of postwar American conservatism is best understood as a continual replay of a single long-standing debate. On one side are those who have upheld the Burkean ideal of replenishing civil society by adjusting to changing conditions. On the other are those committed to a revanchist counterrevolution, the restoration of America's pre-welfare state ancien regime. And, time and again, the counterrevolutionaries have won. The result is that modern American conservatism has dedicated itself not to fortifying and replenishing civil society but rather to weakening it through a politics of civil warfare.

Oh, I'm sorry. Did we get our movement in your status quo? Oops.

American conservatism has always been counterrevolutionary conservatism, whatever Russell Kirk says. Even more than that, it's always been a youth counterrevolutionary conservatism. It was born at the 1960 Republican Convention among the "young fogies" who swarmed the halls with their blue and gold balloons. National Review reported, "They greeted Richard Nixon at the airport with Goldwater signs, and did the same thing for President Eisenhower the next day. They drove one Nixon aide into muttering in exasperation: 'Those damn Goldwater people are everywhere.'"

And then, of course, the let-down. Goldwater comes on stage. The room goes wild. And then he starts to talk:

"We have had our chance. We have fought our battle. Now, let’s put our shoulders to the wheel of Dick Nixon and push him across the line. This country is too important for anyone’s feelings. This country, in its majesty, is too great for any man, be he conservative of liberal, to stay home and not work just because he doesn’t agree. Let’s grow up, conservatives."

(In the Youth for Goldwater suite, L. Brent Bozell turned away from the TV and said simply, "That son of a bitch.")

But the young conservatives didn't grow up, at least not the way he meant. They got up the next morning, and they got together, and they changed the world. (Watch the video of Barry's Boys. Go to 1:30 if you don't need a history lesson.)

Just remember, boys and girls, "la Contre-Révolution ne sera pas une révolution contraire, mais le contraire de la Révolution."

2009-02-05T13:33:00.003-05:00

See how it feels Dems...

Obama's already feeling the heat (btw, I understand many people dislike Bill O'Reilly and his techniques on his show can be appalling; however, in written form, he's denied such tactics and can be quite interesting) that comes with being President (although, as Jake has said, not enough to turn down the thermostat and put on a sweater), but he'll soon have it turned up a notch whether he likes it or not.

In an attempt to do something on abortion our President has decided to implement a program of Faith-Based and Neighborhood initiatives to help decrease the number of abortions. That's right folks, he's done exactly what you'd expect. Not only has he taken one of President Bush's suggestions (the idea of faith-based initiatives), he's sidestepped the issue at hand, whether or not abortion should be legal.

Speaking of whether abortion should be legal, President Obama may have the opportunity to change all that with an appointment to the SCOTUS. Justice Ginsberg is ailing (I'd like to point out that we should all pray for her and her family; cancer is a terrible disease), and she may decide to step down to spend more time with family before the disease spreads. In such a case, Obama would, quite early, have an opportunity to apply Change to the court. Although in this instance, I doubt he would.

2009-02-04T22:13:00.002-05:00

One R Down and Another Added

So, the unholy trinity of Relief, Recovery, and Reform has reared its ugly head again in American politics. President Obama, despite our government already having pumped $700 billion of tax payer money into the economy, has decided to push for his so-called "American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan." Any conservative out there knows to head for the hills when the word recovery starts spewing from the mouths of liberal politicians, but Obama's added a new flavor to the socialist Neapolitan. Reinvestment. That's right folks, your money goes to the government and gets reinvested not amongst your fellow Americans (an act with which some folks have problems to begin with), but to private enterprises selected by the United States government (who then, of course, go on lavish retreats).

Let these businesses fail or restructure their crazy union plans. The market may take a dive, but it will be nowhere as severe in scope and longevity than if our new President has his way.

2009-02-04T20:49:00.003-05:00

Let Them Eat Cake, Part II

Even liberal do-gooders support my demand that President Obama turn down the thermostat in the Oval Office and wear a jacket.

2009-02-02T02:27:00.000-05:00

The War on Fathers

"We're a generation of men raised by women. I'm wondering if another woman is really the answer we need." -- Fight Club

2009-01-31T15:27:00.004-05:00

You Can Just Make This Stuff Up

The Huffington Post libels Karl Rove:

Along those lines, former White House strategist Karl Rove has privately contacted House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers to express regrets over his failure to testify about various scandals during the Bush presidency.

"I did the wrong thing," Bush's Brain writes bluntly in a three page confessional obtained by this blogger. "I orchestrated the entire scheme of firing the U.S. Attorneys, and good people were tarnished in the process. I was so full of myself after having successfully outed a covert CIA officer that I simply couldn't see straight."[italics mine]

We're supposed to believe that Karl Rove writes like that? The rest of the post is not satirical, and indeed reports factual events with cited sources, so it's not obviously parody. Can we see copies of this confessional? The whole thing sounds made up.

2009-01-30T19:12:00.002-05:00

I'm Not Saying the Guy's Not Qualified...

but I am saying this is really just another bad ploy by the Republican Party. People, in general are stupid, but please give the American people a ounce of credit. First, Sarah Palin as an obvious ploy to gain the women's vote after Hillary lost, and now an African American RNC chair to combat an African American President.

It's reasons like this I consider myself an intelligent Conservative, but not necessarily a Republican.

2009-01-29T15:37:00.002-05:00

Let Them Eat Cake

The President wants Americans to reduce their carbon footprints, but when it gets cold he's turning up the thermostat in the Oval Office instead of wearing a jacket.

2009-01-28T20:54:00.002-05:00

If At First You Don't Succeed, Spend, Spend Again

Republicans, both grassroots and establishment, launched an insurrection in September over President Bush's $700 billion bailout plan, but there has been little more than token opposition to President Obama's $819 billion stimulus package--except for making sure that money won't be spent on zoos, golf courses, or casinos.

Those amendments came from none other than Jeff Flake (R-AZ), a libertarian-friendly Ron Paul protege. I don't know whether to praise these House Republicans for trimming the pork in politically expedient ways, or denounce them for rolling over to the Democratic leadership.

2009-01-26T19:48:00.002-05:00

Have an Agenda Lately?

In the first line of a story about Wal-Mart, the New York Times describes the business as "a symbol of scorched-earth global capitalism."

2009-01-26T04:12:00.002-05:00

The Shortsightedness of Do-Gooders

Denver is trying to tax plastic bags, at the urging of a group of high school kids. Leaving aside the questionable environmental or economic merits of reducing plastic bag use, the bill will only affect stores that are larger than 10,000 square feet and have annual revenues greater than $1 million. (Whether that's an "and" or an "or" is unclear from the article.)

Prediction: a lot of new stores in Denver are going to be 9,999 square feet and flaunt their bag tax exemption to customers.

2009-01-26T00:42:00.003-05:00

The Fourth Estate Talks to Itself

It seems like a national newspaper puts out a story every two weeks or so about nationalizing an industry, despite it being (a) extremely unpopular and (b) politically unfeasible. If you want to suggest nationalization, that's fine... just do it in an op-ed column, not as political nudging under the guise of objective reporting.

2009-01-25T22:33:00.002-05:00

Strange Requests

Nevada brothel owners want their businesses taxed--as a sign of legitimacy.

2009-01-25T21:42:00.003-05:00

Gratuitous Praise

Honestly, after all the grief we take from Canadians about simply being America, I don't want to hear this.

2009-01-22T16:32:00.000-05:00

Split Infinitives and the Oath of Office

Prof. Steven Pinker (who teaches at some school in Boston) offers an explanation for why Chief Justice Roberts altered the Constitution's wording of the oath on Tuesday. Given that it is apparently an urban myth, I'm looking forward to wantonly splitting my infinitives in the future.

2009-01-22T15:27:00.002-05:00

As Goes the Campaign, So Goes the Administration

The President orders Guantanamo Bay closed within a year. So... what do you do with dangerous terrorists who their own countries don't want back, and innocent people who will certainly be tortured or killed if they are repatriated? Oh, wait. That would require details.

2009-01-22T15:22:00.000-05:00

Tightening Our Belts

When the going gets tough, Americans get going.

2009-01-20T15:56:00.003-05:00

No, You Can't

Official numbers from the Obamamania watch:

Obama t-shirts at lunch: 9
Students in DC instead of my afternoon seminar: 3
Professors crying in front of the class: 1
Televisions in my dining hall showing the inauguration: 4
My BAC: way too low

Check out this creepy video...fast forward to 3:54. Then move to Canada.

And finally, my favorite image macro to come out of this whole affair:

ETA: Oh, I almost forgot! Full text of Obama's landmark speech...

2009-01-20T08:45:00.003-05:00

Barack Obama: Aborting African Babies Since 2009

President Obama may repeal the Mexico City policy as early as his second full day in office. For as much flak as the policy receives from leftist public health groups, fighting HIV-AIDS and providing assistance to Africa were two of President Bush's strongest achievements in office.

2009-01-19T20:59:00.002-05:00

2009: Great Depression or Carter Recession?

Larry Kudlow draws a great analogy between the conditions that Reagan inherited in 1980 and the ones that Barack Obama inherits exactly 28 years later. The only real hole is that the global economy was in a better place in 1980 than today, but then again if you substitute China for Japan you have a similar case. (And even then, I'd much rather have a depressed global economy than the menacing presence of the Soviet Union.)

2009-01-19T19:55:00.002-05:00

Flatterland

Via Upturned Earth, Matt Taibbi rips Tom Friedman a new one:

Where does a man who needs his own offshore drilling platform just to keep the east wing of his house heated get the balls to write a book chiding America for driving energy inefficient automobiles? Where does a guy whose family bulldozed 2.1 million square feet of pristine Hawaiian wilderness to put a Gap, an Old Navy, a Sears, an Abercrombie and even a motherfucking Foot Locker in paradise get off preaching to the rest of us about the need for a “Green Revolution”? Well, he’ll explain it all to you in 438 crisply written pages for just $27.95, $30.95 if you have the misfortune to be Canadian.

...

...how about Friedman’s analysis of America’s foreign policy outlook last May:

The first rule of holes is when you’re in one, stop digging.When you’re in three, bring a lot of shovels.”

First of all, how can any single person be in three holes at once? Secondly, what the fuck is he talking about? If you’re supposed to stop digging when you’re in one hole, why should you dig more in three? How does that even begin to make sense? It’s stuff like this that makes me wonder if the editors over at the New York Times editorial page spend their afternoons dropping acid or drinking rubbing alcohol. Sending a line like that into print is the journalism equivalent of a security guard at a nuke plant waving a pair of mullahs in explosive vests through the front gate. It should never, ever happen.

The article is profanity-ridden and hilarious; not to mention a long-overdue takedown of one of my least favorite journalists. Read the whole thing.

2009-01-19T19:29:00.002-05:00

In which I leave my husband, kill my children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become a lesbian...

It's rare that I agree wholeheartedly with Feministing about something, but...seriously? Spike's list of "The Top 7 Butterbodies" features six gorgeous women and Liv Tyler, who looks vaguely middle-aged but otherwise attractive. (Note to middle-aged women: just kidding.)

Oh, wait. I think I just objectified them. Well, never mind about that "wholeheartedly."

2009-01-19T19:01:00.004-05:00

Bad Ideas from the Dept. of Racial Sensitivity

Tonight's dinner in the Yale residential colleges--ostensibly in celebration of MLK Jr's 80th birthday, but also less-than-discreetly a celebration of Barack Obama's impending inauguration--was "Southern cooking themed" according to the Yale Sustainable Food Project advertisements in the dining halls:

Yep. That's fried chicken, grits, and Hoppin' John. Also on the menu were (vegan) collard greens and cornbread. The cheese grits had been labeled "Barack Obama's favorite!" by a member of the dining hall staff. And all this from the university that threw a fit about white kids wearing blackface for Halloween. Nothing really completes your Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration like a big, steaming plate of racial stereotypes.

2009-01-19T15:49:00.002-05:00

You Can Stop Feigning Guilt Now

Almost 70% of African-Americans believe MLK Jr.'s visions for race relations in America have been fulfilled. Whites remain "less optimistic": only 46% agree.

2009-01-19T14:46:00.005-05:00

Pamela Y. George: STOP SPAMMING US!

The new Assistant Dean of Yale College and the head of the African-American Cultural House, Pamela Y. George, has a bit of a spamming habit. In addition to sending inane unsolicited emails to the entire college--an unethical, if not prohibited, practice--she has made the Yale College panlist a de facto recipient of all Af-Am House mailings. This is the most egregious example:

----- Forwarded message from afam.house@yale.edu -----
Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2009 14:22:45 -0500
From: Afro-American Cultural Center <afam.house@yale.edu>
Reply-To: Afro-American Cultural Center <afam.house@yale.edu>
Subject: Please vote for Kevin Olusola by tomorrow!
To: Suppressed List <itscomm2@yale.edu>

Kevin's piece is absolutely gorgeous. Please help him win!

From: Kevin Olusola [mailto:kevin.olusola@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, December 31, 2008 4:29 PM
To: George, Pamela
Subject: Yo-Yo Ma Recording Competition

Hello, Dean George.

I hope your Christmas was merry and that your New Years will be quite Happy!

I was hoping you could get the word out about a competition that I have just applied for. There is a competition on Indabamusic.com in which a person must make a version of Dona Nobis Pacem. The Grand Prize winner gets the opportunity to record with Yo-Yo Ma, the world's most famous cellist. What an applicant must do is make one's version of the piece Dona Nobis Pacem. The original is on

http://www.indabamusic.com/contests/show/yo-yomacontest

where it says "dona Nobis Pacem (cello solo)". They can listen to that, and then they can listen to my submission with the link below. Mine is me playing cello and beatboxing, called "Beatboxing Cello KO".

http://www.indabamusic.com/submissions/show/4347

Dean George, TELL EVERYONE TO VOTE FOR ME! They can create their own log-in, find my submission again, and VOTE! THe top person gets to record with Yo-Yo. Also, EVERYONE MUST ONLY VOTE ONCE WITH ONE EMAIL ADDRESS. Voting twice will get me disqualified.

Listening to almost every other submission, I truly, truly feel that I have a shot at winning this competition. I would really appreciate your help! Voting ends January 10th, so the sooner they vote, the better!

Thanks,

--
Kevin Olusola
Yale University '10
Phillips Academy '06
B.A. East Asian Studies, Pre-medical studies

Now, I'm not opposed to voting for Yalies in competitions as an act of partisanship. I'm in theory not opposed to cello-beatboxing mashups. But I am dismayed that a member of the Yale administration thinks it's appropriate to spam the entire college on behalf of a single student, or obvious favoritism towards a particular campus organization's membership. What's next, fowarded videos of kittens falling asleep? Invitations to "Pamela Y. George's Largest Facebook Group EVER"? Discount Viagra offers?

We can only hope that newly-installed Dean Miller cracks the whip on her staff to stop abusing the privilege to mail the entire college. Otherwise, I hope Assistant Dean George is willing to email the entire college on my behalf for conservative events, publications, and contests.

2009-01-18T15:15:00.000-05:00

Demand This Guy's Resignation

In July, we noted with disbelief that Zimbabwe had introduced $100 billion notes. Now they have begun printing $100 trillion notes, worth about $30 USD. In July the Mugabe regime estimated its own inflation at 231 million percent. The estimated inflation now, calculated by the Cato Institute, is 516 quintillion percent annually.

2009-01-18T11:39:00.002-05:00

Barnes Award Nominee*

Fred Barnes lists torture and the Medicare prescription drug benefit as two of the ten successes of the Bush presidency. (He also gets in a few shots at limited-government conservatives.)

* This new award, in true Andrew Sullivan style, will go to the "conservative" we most want to see read out of the conservative movement.

2009-01-16T20:19:00.003-05:00

Shameless Flattery Won't Save You Now

Mike Duncan has been soliciting RNC members for donations and signatures on a thank you card for President Bush. I would have written a snarky reply about his "service," but this guy wrote it already.

2009-01-16T10:45:00.004-05:00

Tom Hanks: Democracy is "Un-American"

The Huffington Post spends the better part of its existence decrying Republicans who describe their opponents as "un-American," but if Tom Hanks says it about Prop 8 supporters then mum's the word. I guess it's understandable though... after all, there's nothing more un-American than having a political disagreement, letting both sides campaign to the people, then having a democratic vote to resolve the conflict.

UPDATE: You know what else is not "un-American"? Anonymously creating a Google map showing where Prop 8 donors live.

2009-01-15T17:05:00.002-05:00

Mr. Obey Wants YOU to Vote for the Economic Stimulus Package!

So much for Andrew Sullivan's ~~belief~~ delusion that Obama's economic gurus would be "fiscal conservatives." I suppose Sullivan will find a way to attack George W. Bush for reckless spending and defend Barack Obama for piling on top of it with $825 billion worth of ineffective ~~stimulus~~ pork.

[Note on the title: A House Democrat named "Mr. Obey"? You can't make this stuff up!]

2008-11-14T05:27:00.001-05:00

Perspective

From the Moscow Times:

"Alexei Chadayev [Russian political analyst], for example, wrote: 'The black voters cast their ballots without thinking. The victory of democracy and tolerance in the United States is a sham. Obama won simply because of the black majority that voted for his skin color and not his views or policies.'

I suspect that this type of statement would be considered racist in the West."

It's a different world out there, children.

2008-11-12T23:06:00.003-05:00

Holy Shit.

My choler is way too up to be articulate right now.

Residents of Belmont can no longer smoke in their own goddamn homes.

Oh, our freedom's consuming itself,
What we've become is contrary to what we want.
Take a bow.

1950's: Mimetic desire.*
1970's: Mimetic envy.
1990's: Mimetic violence.
2000's: Communal purging of the scapegoat.

At least Denis Leary is getting some exposure.

*May/may not be random link-whoring to a paper my Dostoevsky professor wrote that synthesizes most of my favorite ideas and methods in one piece. Relevance nevertheless guaranteed.

2008-11-11T01:39:00.002-05:00

The Definition of Insanity

Paul Krugman's description of the New Deal is so simplistic it doesn't even make sense to call it wrong.

About the New Deal's long-run achievements: the institutions F.D.R. built have proved both durable and essential. Indeed, those institutions remain the bedrock of our nation's economic stability. Imagine how much worse the financial crisis would be if the New Deal hadn't insured most bank deposits. Imagine how insecure older Americans would feel right now if Republicans had managed to dismantle Social Security.

A common fallacy. "If the government isn't doing it, no one will." The very existence of credit default swaps, which are one of the biggest issues in this whole mess, is a strong counterexample.

Krugman ignores the fact that our govenrnment's excessive willingness to bail out failing companies likely contributed to the severity of this crash. When people don't think they'll have to pay for their mistakes (and why would they, given the $700 billion we just allocated to save them the trouble), they start taking greater risks. No surprise.

Now, there's a whole intellectual industry, mainly operating out of right-wing think tanks, devoted to propagating the idea that F.D.R. actually made the Depression worse. So it's important to know that most of what you hear along those lines is based on deliberate misrepresentation of the facts. The New Deal brought real relief to most Americans.

Roosevelt did make the Depression worse, as Krugman describes later on in his own damn article. Here is another huge mistake which the great French economist Frédéric Bastiat called the "broken window fallacy". It is true that the New Deal helped most Americans, but that tells us nothing about what it cost. If we bought most Americans a brand new house, that would indeed qualify as "real relief." But as we've noticed, giving everyone a house has had some drastic consequences for our economy, and by the end of all this it will have hurt everyone more than it helped. Krugman is ignoring these unseen costs.

That said, F.D.R. did not, in fact, manage to engineer a full economic recovery during his first two terms. This failure is often cited as evidence against Keynesian economics, which says that increased public spending can get a stalled economy moving. But the definitive study of fiscal policy in the '30s, by the M.I.T. economist E. Cary Brown, reached a very different conclusion: fiscal stimulus was unsuccessful "not because it does not work, but because it was not tried."
...
My advice to the Obama people is to figure out how much help they think the economy needs, then add 50 percent. It's much better, in a depressed economy, to err on the side of too much stimulus than on the side of too little.

In short, Mr. Obama's chances of leading a new New Deal depend largely on whether his short-run economic plans are sufficiently bold. Progressives can only hope that he has the necessary audacity.

Is there any limit to how much we can help the economy? Hell, why do we only talk about helping the economy when things are going badly? Why can't the government just print trillions of dollars every year, thereby stimulating constant and permanent growth?

We can't do that, because laws can't create wealth. Only people create wealth, and laws just move it around. Japan tried printing money, and look where it got them. The USSR was full of "boldness" and "audacity." That wasn't their problem. Their problem was that they wanted something for nothing, a quick fix, and a free lunch. There is no such thing.

2008-11-10T15:29:00.002-05:00

ISI Conference on "The Next American Conservatism"

I met Daniel Larison. We talked about Russia.

The conference was much less about the future of conservatism than the nature of conservatism itself, including a history of the American movement, a bold declaration that we moderns are doomed to live in a world devoid of anything that can meaningfully be called culture, a timid homily against conservatism as "movement", and a blogger panel whose idea of discussing conservatism's future was to suggest that we more forcefully articulate a non-modern understanding of "reason".

Oh, ISI.

In actuality I enjoyed myself immensely, although given my appraisal of other conservative events, that may be less ringing endorsement and more unwitting damnation. But lo, practical conclusions have I gleaned!

Dr Allan Carlson, who outlined the history of American conservatism, reminded those present of alternate histories that may have occurred: the rise of distributism (a la Chesterton & Belloc), communitarianism (Nisbet), reactions against the idea of wage as freedom, implementation of measures like a family wage, a return to cultural pessimism, etc etc etc. We tend to forget that it didn't have to be fusionism. I think examining these neglected saplings of our movement may prove rather enlightening.

Professor Anthony Esolen was widely regarded as by far the best speaker of the day, both in terms of content and delivery, even if relevance wasn't immediately apparent. Anyone incorporating "fools for the divine" into an address on the future of conservatism is okay in my book. Additionally, he said that the internet is a "dessicated and bloodless substitute" for real community. Professor Esolen clearly didn't see the photograph of myself, The Reactionary Epicurean, the Cigarette Smoking Blogger, Richard Spencer, Dan Larison, and an Iqrai rep outside Vanderbilt on Old Campus.

I won't go name by name covering the other speakers, but I will leave you with some choice quotes, all directly from the podium:

"Christians in this country should never have cooperated with the nation-state taking over its metaphors."

"In keeping with today's theme, I'm going to take a pessimistic view..."

"I hate to be an optimist on this..."

"Conservative fundraisers are happy as clams!" (regarding Obama's election)

"I'm too much of a Roman Catholic to discount geography."

"I'm sorry, I'm not a father or a husband, I know I'm causing the collapse of western civilization..." (Know your audience!)

"There are no think tanks in DC advocating imperceptible change."

A suggestion that we focus more on "contemplative outreach."

"Here I guess I'm a squishy moderate because I'm saying we should participate in politics at all..."

"Things had to be going better than the New York Times was saying!"

"I don't want to overstate the opportunity 9/11 presented to shift this dynamic..."

"A healthy move away from optimism is the first step."

We need to be "more hostile to the grand narratives of history" and "less prone to optimism."

"The country is now under control of the Chicago Political Machine... it may not be so bad."

"I yield the floor."

Additionally, Patrick Deneen used the word "palimpsest" appropriately. I hadn't even heard that word in about six years, let alone in proper context. Hats off to you, Mr Deneen.

2008-11-06T12:13:00.003-05:00

Numbers

CNN:
661,736 = votes cast for Ralph Nader
676,409 = votes cast for Bob Barr, Chuck Baldwin, and Ron Paul
56,557,897 = votes cast for John McCain
64,136,881 = votes cast for Barack Obama
- - -
37 = states in which Baldwin was on the ballot
45 = states in which Barr was on the ballot
46 = states (+DC) in which Nader was on the ballot

1 = region (DC) in which Barr was a registered write-in candidate
3 = states in which Nader was a registered write-in candidate
13 = states (+DC) in which Baldwin was a registered write-in candidate
- - -

To my knowledge Ron Paul was on only one ballot (Montana) thanks to the efforts of the Montana Constitution Party. I also don't think he was a registered write-in candidate anywhere, but if someone could point me to accurate information, I'd appreciate it.

2008-11-04T17:24:00.003-05:00

Summarily Reject the State!

Today I spent roughly 60 minutes navigating New Haven bureaucracy before I even got to wait in line to cast my ballot.

First, I went to the Registrar to obtain proof of residency in New Haven, since I'm registered in Suffolk County, NY. Simple.

Then I was told to go to the Clerk's Office across town. Upon arrival I was greeted with a closed door and a sign that said "ATTENTION: Office not open to the public. For absentee ballots and deliveries knock." I knocked. Fifteen minutes later I knocked again. Ten minutes later the door opens ever so slightly, and a mean looking old woman with narrow eyebrows drawn poorly an inch too high looks me over suspiciously. I briefly explain my situation. "City Hall on Church Street, 2nd floor." She closes the door. I pick up my bags and trek back across town.

I make my way over there, trudge up to the second floor, and get in line, first asking a very helpful election volunteer if, in fact, I can vote, given that I'm registered in NY. "Yes," he cheerily replied, "you can vote for President." I get in line, and feel out of place for three reasons: I'm the only white girl, I'm clearly an Eli, and I'm not voting for Obama. For once I'm grateful not to be wearing my "Proud Member Vast Right Wing Conspiracy" t-shirt.

20 minutes later I'm at the desk where they check for my name in their books. "I'm registered in New York," I say. "Ssshh," says the woman behind the desk. She points me to another table, where I fill out more paperwork. Then I'm given a ballot.

It was incredibly depressing. There were three options: Obama, McCain, and Nader. The write-in instructions were surprisingly unclear. I was really hoping I wouldn't have to write in a candidate, because write-ins are rarely counted. At first blush I write in Ron Paul. Then, realizing he's probably not a registered write-in, and that Bob Barr possibly is, I cross that out completely and write Bob Barr. Pretty sure doing that voided my ballot.

I felt really sick. I donated lots of money and as much time as I could to getting Barr on the ballot in Connecticut. We originally qualified, but they went through and voided a lot of our signatures. We spent a lot of time fighting it, but apparently to no avail. I could've done a lot more.

I can't believe how unclear the write-in process was. As if it's not bad enough that it's nearly impossible to get ballot access for third parties- they then fail to provide either a list of registered write in candidates or make it incredibly, plainly, boldly clear how one can write someone in.

In summation, two thoughts:

If you are surrounded by spiteful and callous people who do not want to listen to you, fall down before them and ask their forgiveness, for the guilt is yours, too, that they do not want to listen to you. And if you cannot speak with the embittered, serve them silently and in humility, never losing hope. - Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

and my theme song for tonight:

Oh mine eyes have seen the horror of the coming of the Reds,
They are tearing up Old Glory into fifty-million shreds,
They are hiding in the closets, they are hiding 'neath the beds,
Let's fight til they are gone!

Glory, glory, hallelujah,
Don't let the Commies here subdue ya!
We'll fight for the right, for the right, for the right,
We'll fight til they are gone!

(and possibly)

The Left has an amendment that will give them full control,
Domination of the Union is their one and only goal,
But the Right is sure to catch them with a trivial loophole-
The Right will e'er prevail!

Disenfranchisement forever!
Disenfranchisement forever!
Disenfranchisement forever!
The woodwork will not vote!

2008-10-31T07:10:00.002-04:00

"AN ACT CONCERNING THE PLACEMENT OF IDENTIFYING MARKS ON DENTAL PROSTHESES."

House Bill No. 5706

Public Act No. 08-24

Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2008) Each dentist licensed in this state who either makes or directs to be made a removable prosthetic denture, bridge, appliance or other structure to be worn in a person's mouth, shall offer to the patient for whom the prosthesis is to be made, the opportunity to have such prosthesis marked with the patient's name or initials. Such markings shall be accomplished at the time the prosthesis is made and the location and methods used to apply or implant such markings shall be determined by the dentist or person directed to act on behalf of the dentist. Such marking shall be permanent, legible and cosmetically acceptable. A dentist shall advise the patient of any additional charges that may be incurred to obtain such markings on the prosthesis. Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, if in the professional judgment of the dentist or the entity that is making the prosthesis, such markings are not practicable or clinically safe, the identifying marks may be omitted entirely.

Approved April 29, 2008

Why in the name of all that is holy is this being discussed in the Connecticut General Assembly?

That this bill was even brought up, let alone PASSED, indicates a complete misunderstanding of the function of legislature and government... oh, Lord, I weep; Ron Paul weeps with me.

It's like they're all just sitting there, thinking of ways to amuse themselves.

I can see why politicians lose sight of what's important, when crap like this gets thrown at you for your first few years. You think, "Well, why not?..." You don't want to be the asshole standing up and saying no. No one else even cares. They're just there because they were either too lazy to become public school teachers (or couldn't deal with small children), or because they have some wild ambitions to higher office.

I'm disgusted right now. I don't really know what to say. The 2008 General Assembly session runs from Feb 6 to May 7. It might be worth the occasional trek to Hartford to give 'em hell.

2008-10-22T06:34:00.002-04:00

Have I mentioned that I love the Russians?

From Exiled Online, a Russian web-magazine:

Instead you have wormed your way, in a manner all too typical of your nation, to the center of attention as a wronged innocent. You, the ordinary American, are the antithesis of innocence. You are lazy, yes; there is no more intellectually and lazy creature on this earth. And you are ignorant, willfully so. But a life spent actively avoiding moral introspection is not innocence. It is prima facie evidence of deep complicity in every crime your chosen proxies have committed.

"But a life spent actively avoiding moral introspection is not innocence."

Oh, God.

I need to go to Moscow.

Levity:

2008-10-20T04:51:00.000-04:00

I met a man just yesterday, he said he was a trad...

This is for you, MDSS.

2008-10-17T11:24:00.002-04:00

Span-Am War Vets Underrepresented in Washington

Two videos that bring some levity to our minding days in this season of foreboding and bereavement.

First, McCain roasting Obama at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner. I've never seen him so animated! Very well written, curious about its authorship.

"I can't shake that feeling that some of you are pulling for me." [applause] "I'm delighted to see you here tonight, Hillary."

"It's gonna be a long, long night at MSNBC if I manage to pull this thing off."

"Y'know I have fun with the media and we all know the press is really an independent, civic-minded and non-partisan group..." [wild laughter]

Secondly, a candidate I would enthusiastically vote for:

"I'm voting for a man I can imagine drowning a bag of cats."

On healthcare: "Flask of whiskey, needle and thread for all."

On Iraq: "Ya can't put a bucket on a pig's head, it'll just make him skittish!"

"Cressbeckler believes Obama to be a shoe shine boy."

2008-10-15T05:07:00.002-04:00

Sublimity, Tobacco, & the Unforgivable Heresy of the Smokeless Cigarette

(cross-posted at Culture11)

How much more exquisitely can capitalist entrepreneurs miss the goddamn point?

Tabagisme is the last fortress standing amid the utilitarian horde, which assails her noble walls with the fervor of a kamikaze pilot to achieve universal adoption of its efficiency fetish. How dare they deploy this beastly Trojan horse into our midst.

These, ugh, electronic cigarettes "contain no tobacco and do not produce smoke of any kind. Rather, they produce a vapor that is primarily made up of water and pose no harm to the user’s associates or environment." Smoking without the smoke. Without the burn. Without the laggard accumulation of ash, without the slow evanescence of the cigarette into nothingness, and without the curious distortion of time every smoker knows so well as a result of that process. Without everything that motivated Richard Klein to write his phenomenal treatise Cigarettes are Sublime.

Propagation of these products amounts to nothing less than the complete erosion of the smoker's community and code. Identifying as a smoker in today's world means ostracization from the many and eager embrace by the few, it means dirty looks in parks and unspoken camaraderie when sharing lights and bumming smokes. These "Ruyans" want all the beauty and none of the pain, without recognizing that the beauty, the experience of being a smoker, comes only from the many cons that motivate the ferocious anti-smoking sentiment in our culture.

Cigarettes are sublime, and the sublime is one of the few paths left to us leading us out and away from ourselves, our hyper-rationalism, and our modern hubris. While I don't think there's ever a chance of these "e-cigarettes" catching on (smokers know better), I feel morally obligated as a smoker religious in her fanatacism to cut it down at the root.

2008-10-14T02:10:00.003-04:00

Stop the eye-rolling?

My lunch conversation today centered around the possibility of an Obama assassination, citing doubt in black communities that the establishment will let a brother get to the White House, the absence of any procedure available to select a new Democratic candidate, the votes that have already been cast, the ballots already printed, the perfect opportunity for chaos, martial law, and things sinister and wicked. I reacted to it the same way I did to the Sullivan post linked above: with surprise, dismissal, and eye-rolling at conspiracy theorists.

Then I read this, and my libertarian sense started tingling.

"President Bush struck down Posse Comitatus -- which has prevented, with a penalty of two years in prison, U.S. leaders since after the Civil War from sending military forces into our streets -- with a 'signing statement.'"

That's right- Posse Comitatus endured the McCarthy era, but not the current "crisis".

"He also led change to the 1807 Insurrection Act to give him far broader powers in the event of a loosely defined "insurrection" or many other "conditions" he has the power to identify. The Constitution allows the suspension of habeas corpus -- habeas corpus prevents us from being seized by the state and held without trial -- in the event of an "insurrection." With his own army force now, his power to call a group of protesters or angry voters "insurgents" staging an "insurrection" is strengthened.

The more I learn about how our government functions the more I'm horrified (see: ballot access laws), but this incident seems to stand apart a bit. A critical thing my generation seems to share is the conviction that nothing ever actually matters- nothing will really change the way we live, even if, say, we have to switch from Stoli to Dubra, or be more conscious of our gas usage. My father, a police sergeant, was called in from Long Island in the days after 9/11 to make up for the shortage of NYC cops, and even I wasn't profoundly affected by that attack.

What will it take to wake us up? Do we need waking? Are there actual crises anymore?

And you think, alright, now people,
they have finally woked up-
but as soon as the trouble over,
watch them take another nap.
Nobody is making merry,
only trotting scared of boss.
Everybody's making hurry
for some old forgotten cause-
but one thing is surely eternal:
it's condition of a man,
who don't know where he is going,
who don't know where does he stand,
whose dream power is a bottle,
put away in dry dark place,
whose youth power is well buried
under propaganda waves,
whose dream life is in opposition
with the life he leads today,
who's beaten down in believing:
It just kinda goes this way!
Oh no, it doesn't have to be so...

Alternatively:

Our idols lay in ruins,
we'd have saved them if we could,
but we still chose to worship
the places where our idols stood.

If we've learned anything at all,
it's that the ghosts of idols will do just as well,
we all see what we want to anyway...

2008-10-09T01:11:00.002-04:00

October Print Edition of the Yale Free Press

can be read here.

On health care: "Health care is just too expensive without insurance. Lies. Damned lies. Health care costs so much precisely because we pay for it through insurance. Patients with coverage pay nothing out of pocket, and so they spare no expense."

On Sarah Palin: "So is feminism about making sure women have happy, fulfilling lives on their own terms, or is it about token achievement by going to a great school, getting a great job, proving to the world that a girl can dominate in a man’s world, and then hitting thirty and realizing that you are completely unfulfilled by any of that?"

On Barack Obama: "Libertarians and all people who value individual liberty or who admire the principles that America was founded on should vote for Barack Obama. He’s our last, best hope for restoring modesty and a respect for human rights to America."

On Bob Barr: "The chiding retort of all who don’t understand libertarianism is “why waste your vote on Bob Barr?” The real question, though, is why people continue to waste their votes on the lesser of two evils instead of being part of the political transformation that is necessary to save this nation."

On China: "China’s spending and purchasing of US dollars is allowing the US to float comfortably through an economic downturn. We must not fear this economic evolution. We should be thanking China, as their expansion gives us time to get our act together."

All this and more! Read now.

2008-10-09T00:31:00.004-04:00

Damnit, Volodya

Basic psychology says that when you're strong, you don't make a show of it- but I was hoping that I'd just misunderstood my dear Vladimir Vladimirovich. Unfortunately, I know the Russian psyche too well...

To be sure, the skylines of Russia's cities are chock-a-block with cranes. Industrial lofts are now the rage in Moscow, Russian tourists crowd far-flung locales from Thailand to the Caribbean, and Russian moguls are snapping up real estate and art in London almost as quickly as their oil-rich counterparts from the Persian Gulf. But behind the shiny surface, Russian society may actually be weaker than it was even during Soviet times. The Kremlin's recent military adventures and tough talk are the bluster of the frail, not the swagger of the strong... [WaPo]

I knew things in Russia were bad; I didn't know they were "one notch above [the] Gambia" bad.

"According to U.N. figures, the average life expectancy for a Russian man is 59 years -- putting the country at about 166th place in the world longevity sweepstakes... For women, the picture is somewhat rosier: They can expect to live, on average, 73 years... And the gap between expected longevity for men and for women -- 14 years -- is the largest in the developed world.

So what's killing the Russians? ...HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, alcoholism, cancer, cardiovascular and circulatory diseases, suicides, smoking, traffic accidents...

Three times as many Russians die from heart-related illnesses as do Americans or Europeans, per each 100,000 people.

Tuberculosis deaths in Russia are about triple the World Health Organization's definition of an epidemic, which is based on a new-case rate of 50 cases per 100,000 people.

Average alcohol consumption per capita is double the rate the WHO considers dangerous to one's health.

About 1 million people in Russia have been diagnosed with HIV or AIDS, according to WHO estimates."

So what does this mean for us?

1. Russia is still pretty good at propaganda, since both presidential candidates are talking about her as a serious threat.
2. Factoring into your decision how a candidate plans to deal with Russia is kind of silly, although neither of them have said anything substantive about it anyway.
3. Russia's army, already very strained, will only shrink and lose potency.
4. OIL CAN'T SAVE YOU.
5. The Russians, despite everything, are really slow to label anything a crisis. I read Russian newspapers a few times a week and never really see anything indicating that their average reader will probably die within 10 to 15 years. You do, however, see lots of stories about maternity and fidelity...

Questions it raises:
-Would the Russians be better or worse off if they were as vocal about their troubles as Americans?
-Why doesn't Vladimir love Russia?
-Why isn't anyone else concerned by this?
-No, really, Vovochka, what the fuck?

2008-09-29T04:50:00.002-04:00

Bob Barr: come for the candidacy, stay for the commentary

Some of you may be familiar with Libertarian Party Presidential Candidate Bob Barr's faux-debate hosted by Reason magazine, broadcast simultaneously with the real one. More than anything else it struck me as sad- like getting turned down for a date and spending an hour applying false eyelashes and standing outside the museum waiting for a face you know you won't see coming down the street. But he did have a few things worth saying:

10:30- Bob Barr: [Responding to McCain's devotion to blood & treasure] McCain oughta withdraw and have Gen. Petreus run. He should just step aside and let the man who he thinks is the very best person run for president instead.
10:32- Bob Barr: [Responding to Obama] It never enters his mind that if we stop spending that money in Iraq, we should return it the American people. The only thing he's interested in is spending that money.

I've read a lot of coverage of this debate, and most of it's annoyed the hell outta me, but this ain't too bad.

Mostly, though, he failed to be interesting, witty, or even particularly intelligent. I've got no sense whatever of this man's personality, and his pedo-stache helps little. Anyone know anything about this Constitution Party candidate, so recently endorsed by the good doctor himself? I'm voting in this election, goddamnit, but I just don't know for whom. Gut says LP, but I'm open to argument.

2008-09-11T14:05:00.002-04:00

The Left

Have I mentioned that I adore Dinosaur Comics?

In other news, Ariana Huffington will be in New Haven next week to address the Yale Political Union for Resolved: Blogs are good for democracy.

Brace yourselves.

I'll lay out my initial thoughts here, and hopefully my fellow mafiosi will pick it up and run (just because I'd rather have meta-blogging than discussions in the dining hall about blogging; it's more a propos).

The Internet as a free market of ideas is the intuitive place to go, but it's not a fitting analogy, because our economy is much more subtle than "site hits/track-backs == income", for the simple reason that you can write a post that gets a helluva lot of attention, and be the worse off for it- the blogosphere, in certain parts of town, has a long memory, and intellectual capital is hard won and easily lost. Some sites don't care- a hit is a hit, a comment a comment- but I'd really like the Union to address the lower tier blogosphere, composed of strong personalities, first name relationships, and spontaneous meet-ups in DC and NY, where no one would dare disrespect and abuse the medium- or themselves- by writing an intentionally disingenuous, nonsensically offensive post. Social/intellectual capital, people- that's the blogosphere I'm talking about.

More later on.

2008-09-07T05:45:00.003-04:00

In Which I Finally Get Over Sam Harris

Like every good gut libertarian in high school, I was an atheist-agnostic at some point, and so asked for Sam Harris' End of Faith for Christmas sophomore year. I enjoyed it (though didn't finish it)- and have had some modicum of respect for the man ever since.

Good job, Sam, on ending that today. Yes, I'm on board with "average isn't good enough", yes, I'm on board with that "narcissism [can become] indistinguishable from masochism"- but despite these two excerpts from the piece, despite my disgust with the GOP and violent, unrelenting refusal to vote McCain and confusion about why everyone is so impressed with Palin, I don't understand this editorial.

Don't look now, but our cousin Sarah just became leader of the free world! Tune in next week and watch her get sassy with Pakistan!

Now I'm as good a misogynist as the next girl, but this is a bit much, particularly from a devout (!) rationalist like Mr. Harris.

Harris critiques the American predisposition towards elevating the average Joe to whom we (?) can relate to heroic, leadership status- but he doesn't go all the way. "Palin is unqualified!", says he, but he won't say that what we need is an educated, worldly, great man.

Throwing peas from the little league stand at the screwball pitcher from Honduras is also average, Mr. Harris. What now?

2008-08-06T16:44:00.003-04:00

In Praise of Mud

Given how much Nietzsche, Ivanits, and Thompson I've been reading lately (and that I spend way too much time with these people), it's funny that I should find my philosophical cud for the day in this week's Economist- in a sports article, no less. Behold:

Eero Mantyranta, a Finn, was a double Olympic champion in cross-country skiing. His body has a mutation that causes it to produce far more of a hormone called EPO than a normal person would. This hormone stimulates the production of red blood cells. A synthetic version of it is the (banned) drug of choice for endurance athletes.

Mr Mantyranta was allowed to compete because his advantage was held to be a “natural” gift. Yet the question of what is natural is no less vexed than that of what is fair.

Amen, eh? The article actually comes out on the side of gene doping (a fairly controversial position, I think)- so long as it's "safe" for the athletes, despite acknowledging that athletes are often more than willing to forgo long-term health for short-term glory. I'm unsure as to how they arrived at the conclusion that "safety is easier to measure than fairness" (rationalization: "doctors and scientists adjudicate on such matters all the time"), but it's a ballsy stance and one that I am tempted to applaud.

As a former track athlete and 5'2" 400m hurdler, I understand the sense of unfairness one feels when confronted with a 6' opponent, all legs, next to you in the starting lane. She's a born athlete, you quickly surmise; she doesn't understand the loss of six hours every week to physical therapy, the dependence on pain killers to get through a race, the nightly icing and re-bandaging and hours of stretching obdurate muscles just so you can walk the day after a work-out. She just wakes up every morning, wraps a pink scrunchie around her hair, and she's off- running so gracefully and effortlessly that the hurdles seem to kneel before her approach out of respect.

Yeah, I get it. But I guess my sense of aesthetics is too strong to fall in line with the fairly rational analysis presented by the enlightened staffers of that weekly news-magazine.

The Olympics is best explained as a panoply of savagely dramatic, intensely pagan exhibitions of all that fascinates the reptilian brain within us. A majestic undying fire, a man running so fast that we lose him when we blink, a woman hurling herself sixteen-and-a-half feet into the air with nothing but a pole, millions of exotic peoples huddled together around a circus freak show draped in flags and soaked in sweat. This is not a gathering that exalts how far we've come, this is a collective unwillingness to abandon the mud from which we rose.

There's value in that- value in fanfare, wonder, rage- value in the irrational, and if the Olympics is our last great bastion of primitive humanism then may Nikolai the Wonderworker bless those five rings. But the moment we allow concern for the "unfairness" of natural biology to encroach on this hallowed ground- fairness, that revolting notion born from untrained "rationality"- that very moment, all significance shrivels to ash like a husk set aflame.

2008-08-05T16:58:00.002-04:00

McCain courts godless libertarians?

Via TMZ.

J-Mac will be stumping at the Sturgis Rally in South Dakota today. After the Senator pays tribute to Vets at the event, that well-known upholder of moral virtue Kid Rock will rock the main stage. Tans and tatas will be competing in the Hawaiian Tropic contest nearby.

And as the Huffington Post reports, the other entertainment on offer includes "Ringin' Wet & Wild" women's wrestling event and a Fake Orgasm Contest.

Somehow I don't think his press people will sell it that way.

John McCain is aware of the clitoris!

Sounds like a golden opportunity to me. After all, the bastard was a fox when he was younger.

2008-08-03T09:58:00.002-04:00

Hail to the Chiefs

David Broockman quotes Matthew Yglesias on some of the dangers of unrestrained localism:

Since urban areas tend to contain both pockets of poor people and pockets of liberals, it's to some extent inevitable that city governments will wind up taking the lead on poverty issues. But for the sake of poor people, we shouldn't be content to leave it that way. On the local level, after all, the easiest and most effective way to eliminate poverty is just to make it too expensive for poor people to live there. [...]
Which isn't to say that state and local government can't do good things. Often they do very good things. But ultimately the incentives facing a lot of local governments are bad, and the resources aren't distributed in the right way. National leadership is vital to making really sustainable progress, especially considering that the number of people in need of help goes up in downturns at just the time when state and local governments usually need to cut spending.

Unfortunately, Yglesias doesn't clarify "bad" or "the right way". To the classical, externality-oriented problem of NIMBYism (nuclear power and what not), my usual answer is to angrily link Coase Theorem five or six times and then play Kikazaru. I assume that's not what Yglesias is getting at.

One example he does give--spending cuts during economic downturns--is a bit strange. Our government's tendency to spend beyond its revenues originates not from any reduced danger compared to the many states but because the Congress enjoys nearly unlimited credit, and the states do not. As we're seeing, that's gotten us into a helluva lot of trouble (though it's made plenty of well-connected people very rich), and I usually count the reduced deficits of smaller governments as an advantage.

By "incorrect" resource distributions, is Yglesias possibly suggesting that poorer cities and states should receive wealth transfers from their richer counterparts? If the welfare state is suspect, state welfare has got to be one of the most disastrous ideas in common currency. Several failed governments on the African continent owe much of their troubles to Western "assistance", and foreign aid to Israel (among many benefits) continues to prop up a fundamentally broken party spoils system.

I think the most important point that Yglesias makes is that local governments tend to be more tightly controlled by an in-crowd who won't sacrifice their own interests. That's true, and in many ways that's the whole point. National governments are impossible to control, and the best we can hope for in any case is majority rule. Not only is popular sovereignty more consistently achieved by smaller governments, it's also worth having, because the population is more homogeneous. As James Polous pointed out earlier, we do have to give up on our dreams of "national unity", but that's also a good thing.

There is a general theme here. The danger with localism is that the strong might ignore the weak. The danger with centralism is a boot stamping on a human face. Forever.

Pick.

2008-08-02T18:03:00.003-04:00

DIY

Ars Technica's Timothy Lee reports on an intriguing development in network neutrality:

Customer-owned fiber may offer a way out of this regulatory morass. It's hard to believe today but, as Google's Derek Slater points out, there was a time when the phone company owned the entire telephone network, including the wires inside our homes and the phone on our desks. Shifting the demarcation point to the outside of our homes created a vibrant market for customer premises equipment: not just telephones, but modems, fax machines, answering machines, and other specialized gear. With customer-owned fiber, the demarcation point would be shifted even further from the customer. That would once again mean more responsibility for the customer, but with offsetting benefits that could flow from greater competition.

Lee has written previously on the flaws of Snowe-Dorgan-style regulation, particularly that, once again, we tried that before.

2008-07-31T15:12:00.002-04:00

More Alaskana

In follow up to the other day's post, I give you this NYTimes article on the new face of the Republican Party in Alaska.

Now if only the rest of the country can see the changes Alaska is.

2008-07-31T13:24:00.004-04:00

Devils in Saints' Cassocks*

Some characterize conservatism as fundamentally pessimistic. All I ever feel these days is exasperated.

While I normally adore the Chronicle Review (wannabe ivory tower academe** and all), their attempt to explain the "growing gap in wages" in this country leaves me with acute trichotillomania.

"There was enormous growth in educational attainment between 1900 and 1970," [Harvard econ prof Claudia] Goldin says in an interview. "But after 1970, the growth in attainment became much more sluggish. Putting those two parts together, you can explain a large amount of the story of wage inequality in the 20th century."

But get this: they say that "the short-term barriers to college are steeper than they once were." Really? Really? When more of the population than ever before is going to college, when financial aid at top universities is at record highs, when there are thousands of unclaimed scholarships every year... when on earth have college admissions been more amenable to first generation or lower class college students? Did I blink and miss the utopia?

A more difficult answer, Katz says, has to do with the weaknesses of American public-school education. "There are a myriad of possible reasons for that," he says. "Some people say it's all about resources. Some people say we need to improve incentives for parents and teachers. Clearly, over the long run, early-childhood intervention programs may be very important. We need a continuum of investments. But per dollar, we're not doing so well in the K-12 system in the U.S. these days."

No shit!

Spending per pupil in Washington, DC, is a whopping 50% higher than the national average, yet the city’s public schools are atrocious. If it were a state, its pupils’ test scores would rank dead last.

Ahem.

While I hate to defame my brothers on the left, what I'm about to show you is a textbook example of statist logic; prepare yourselves:

"There has been much more growth of inequality among college graduates than among noncollege workers," Katz says. Only some people, he says, are coming out of college with the high-level abstract-reasoning skills that fully complement the new information technologies and command high salaries. Workers with "midlevel" skills, by contrast, are more likely to see their tasks simply replaced by computers.
Does that mean, then, that too many people are going to college, and that the rewards of a B.A. are overrated, as some commentators have recently suggested?

"That's absolutely wrong," Katz says. "The reason we know that is the following: It's true that there's growing inequality among college graduates. But there's shrinking inequality among noncollege workers. The market is very bad for people with only a high-school diploma — they're not doing much better than people who dropped out in the eighth grade. So the return [on investment] to college is still very high. Even if you wind up in the bottom half of the college group, you're still much better off than in the top half of the high-school group."

And why is the market very bad for people with only a high-school diploma?

Between 1915 and 1950, the national high-school-graduation rate rose from roughly 15 percent to roughly 60 percent, and college attend-ance also spiked. As their numbers ballooned, educated workers could no longer command so much more in wages. Between 1915 and 1950, the college wage premium (the amount by which college graduates outearn people who hold only a high-school diploma) and the high-school wage premium (the amount by which high-school graduates outearn high-school dropouts) both fell sharply.

So flooding the market with tissue paper bachelor's degrees helps how? Oh, wait, it doesn't, but hey, if we make it easier for people to get those meaningless diplomas, it might help them out in the next year or three, and we'll deal with the underlying cause... when?

The more you meddle now, the more you'll have to meddle later. Cutting off my legs and giving me a wheelchair isn't a public service. When will they see?

*See Cassian the Unmerciful (that's a crap website, but it gets the gist across; those curious are encouraged to email me and give me an outlet for my nerdery)
**My actual department (Russian & East European Studies) is so obscure it doesn't have its own website; this is the next best thing.

2008-07-29T14:11:00.005-04:00

They finally got him.

So, it turns out that Mr. Stevens finally got his comeuppance. As the NYTimes reports, my Senator was indited for seven counts of federal corruption. Hopefully this will mean that the crotchety old man will finally be out of a job next election cycle. Granted, it means yet another Democrat will be in the Senate (and I have no wishes to see a Democratically controlled Senate as well as executive branch) and Alaska will lose the man responsible for getting us way more money than we deserve, but the kind of deep-seated corruption that Stevens engaged in is the kind of thing that is best punished, damn the consequences. Now I can only hope that Mark Begich, who seems to be a pretty good mayor, will turn out to be a good Senator as well.

And, just one more reason to have Stevens out:

2008-07-28T22:57:00.002-04:00

Whither the dance floor for divine accidents, the divine table for divine dice and dice players?

Oh, for the love of god.

In the study, the researchers note that lotteries set off a vicious cycle that not only exploits low-income individuals' desires to escape poverty but also directly prevents them from improving upon their financial situations. They recommend that state lottery administrators explore strategies that balance the economic burdens faced by low-income households with the need to maintain important funding streams for state governments.

"State lotteries are popular revenue sources that are unlikely to go away anytime soon," said George Loewenstein, a study co-author and Herbert A. Simon professor of economics and psychology at Carnegie Mellon. "However, it is possible to implement measures that can actually benefit low-income lottery players and lead to fairer outcomes." Loewenstein noted that one such potential method for addressing income inequality, which has shown promise in other countries, is tying lottery tickets to savings accounts.

I shit you not, ladies and gentlemen. What on god's green earth is more "fair" than the motherfucking lottery?

There is nothing more pernicious to modern society than this back-asswards notion of "fairness". Forget liberalism- I'm spending the rest of my days warring against this mephitic memory foam pillow of a concept, and I'm pretty damned sure the rest of the pieces will fall into place once I see it burning on a pyre across the Long Island Sound.

2008-07-28T06:36:00.003-04:00

One hundred quintrillion dollars!

Cato's Tom Palmer has noted some interesting developments in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe's troubled central bank introduced $100 billion banknotes Saturday [July 19] in a desperate bid to ease the recurrent cash shortages plaguing the inflation-ravaged economy.
...
As high as they are, though, the bills still aren't enough to buy a loaf of bread. They can buy only four oranges.
...
The new bills are actually bearer checks and have an expiration date of December 31. Zimbabwe has not had formal currency since the introduction of bearer checks as a temporary measure in 2003.

In other news, the O'Bama campaign has snapped up Paul Volcker, and Robert Mugabe is still going to hell.

2008-07-28T04:57:00.004-04:00

Retardedality

Joe Nocera of the NYT business page once again illustrates what happens when the state starts taking responsibility for all of our compelling interests. Apparently, as a potential investor in Apple Inc., it is essential to my ancient and cherished freedoms that Steve Jobs live out the rest of his days on a 24-7 CSPAN feed.

When I spoke to Steve Dowling in Apple’s public relations department on Thursday, I got the same response. “Steve’s health is a private matter,” Mr. Dowling said. Then, just for good measure, he said it again. “Steve’s health is a private matter.”
But is it really?

Yes! Yes it is!

A spokesman for the Securities and Exchange Commission said that the law defined materiality as information that “the reasonable investor needs to know in order to make an informed decision about his investment.”
...
I’m not suggesting that the S.E.C. should go after Apple for keeping mum about Mr. Jobs’s health. Indeed, I found plenty of people who felt he had every right to keep the information to himself.

Plenty of people, huh? My, what curmudgeons they must be, with all their oldfangled notions of individual liberty and decency. How dare they impinge upon our five-year plan!

Can we pause for a moment and consider how many people have a material interest in knowing every single detail of our lives? As long as we insist on deducting healthcare from our salaries, employers have a material interest in everything from our diets to our sex lives. (Hell, they probably don't even need the healthcare bills to claim "materiality".) Anyone raising kids within a one mile radius of my house has a material interest having me psychologically evaluated. University recruitment offices would probably kill to get subpoena power over students' records. Materiality is obviously not enough to justify anointing these interests with legal authority.

Maybe, just maybe, Steve Jobs has a material interest in not telling the world when he develops cancer?* No, that would be inconvenient for my rights theory...

* Four out of five oncologists surveyed choose Linux.

2008-07-25T10:33:00.003-04:00

OMG NO WAAAAAAI

Matthew Sheffield over at the Washington Times attempts to address the failings of modern American conservatism, saying we're "missing the point". Most conservatives rationalize our current situation one of two ways, he says: insufficient conservatism or under-utilization of technology. I'm throwing my lot in with those who blame the former, and I tend to think those who hyper-focus on the latter are the ones missing the point, but apparently we're all wrong.

The reason the Right has fallen on hard times is that it is in need of a strategic recalibration, not just newer and more conservative tactics.
The conservative movement needs to take stock of its principles in the 21st century and find ways to reach out to voters about the issues of our time. Fighting terrorism is vitally important, but it is far from the only issue facing America. It's time for the Right to step up to the plate and forcefully articulate an agenda that addresses not only foreign policy and other traditional Right-friendly topics, but also issues like the environment, education, high-technology and government reform - in a manner that adheres to conservative principles and exploits available technologies.

No, he doesn't really distinguish between strategy and tactics, in case you were wondering (I was). But the really funny part's right here:

Superior technology never saved a bad candidate, as Presidents Howard Dean and Ron Paul can attest. Observing their losses, however, many on the right have drawn the wrong conclusion, thinking that the failure of either candidate to acquire the traction they needed was because engaging the Internet is not useful (beyond raising money) or that it only appeals to young people who don't vote.
That last point is one particular myth that just won't die.

Contrary to popular misconception, people who read political blogs tend to be middle-aged. This ought to be self-evident, given that younger people generally are not interested in politics, and older people are less likely to be on the Web. It's long past time we put the myth of the youthful blog reader to rest.

2008-07-23T22:30:00.004-04:00

"But the truth is that conservatism is motivated by love!"

In a naively misguided attempt at understanding my elders, I picked up Why I Am A Reagan Conservative, a collection of "essays" by prominent Reaganites explaining why the movement was meaningful to them. It's a profoundly depressing book for a young conservative intellectual, peppered with such gems as

"[My family] taught me that people are called to serve, not to wage war on the government." - Rick Santorum

"Ronald Reagan often closed his speeches with the words 'God bless you, and God bless America.' God answered that prayer- for America and the world- by giving us the gift of Ronald Reagan." - J.C. Watts, Jr

"...the idea of free men and women governing themselves in justice and living civilly amid plurality. That is what conservatives are defending in the new world war in which we're engaged." - Henry J. Hyde

"What we protect in America is deserved by all the people on the planet. Except maybe the French." - Grover Norquist

"You can get bogged down for days debating the meaning of 'conservative'. I always skirt this debate by saying, 'I'm a Reaganite.' In fact, that's about the best thing Ronald Reagan ever did for me." - Jay Nordlinger

"Why am I a conservative? Because I know that God is wiser than me [sic]." - Marvin Olasky

"Government should be used to help those who cannot help themselves." - Chuck Hagel

"Until now, I never spent much time thinking about a label for my political beliefs. But one thing I know for sure, I always was- and always will be- a Reagan Republican." - Michael K. Deaver

"Choosing to start at the individual for the basis of society, I am- by definition- a conservative." - Pete Sessions

It's much more depressing in full, I promise. The overall tone is that of a middle schooler writing a practice Regents exam essay, which always includes at least one of the following: "my [relative] didn't even finish [low level of education] but was the smartest [man/woman] I ever knew!", [conversion narrative where FDR is Caiaphas and Reagan is, well...], creative avoidance of the word 'conservative' and variants ("You may call it 'old-fashioned' or 'conservative', but I call it common sense"; "Reagan campaigned for governor on a platform of common sense"), etc.

Anyway, there were one or two worth reading, and one in particular that was worth blogging about. Ladies and gentlemen, Peter Brimelow:

Conservatism understands that it is futile to debate the feelings of the mother for her child- or such human instincts as the bonds of tribe, nation, or even race. Of course, all are painfully vulnerable to deconstruction by rationalistic intellectuals- but not, ultimately, to destruction. These commitments are Jungian rather than Freudian, not irrational but arational- beyond the reach of reason.

Maybe Mr. Brimelow is more optimistic than I am, but they seem pretty fucking vulnerable to destruction to me- which is why postmodernism is so damned pernicious. Thoughts?

2008-07-23T13:09:00.002-04:00

But honey, I'm doing it all for you

The Daily Telegraph strikes semiblows for both traditional family roles and top earners, all in one article. To me, the author (Jessica Fellowes) must either be a super smug, self-satisfied wife of a rich man who takes pride in her low expectations and slavish devotion to the finer things in life, someone who wishes she were such a person, or an over-the-top parodist. It's pretty hard to tell. Some of the comments are worth reading, as well.

One highlight: "We have four homes that require maintenance, a vast range of utility and service payments, security, staff, insurances and half a dozen vehicles. Then there are domestic budgets, family travel logistics, school fees and so forth."

Out of fairness, the executive who spoke those words believed that he had struck a balance with his wife, but still I am with several commenters in thinking of the complainers in the article, "Aw, gee, it must be so hard having to deal with such burdens." Not out of jealousy, or because I begrudge them their luxury, but because such luxuries are a choice, and if they turn out not to be worth it, scrape 'em off, Claire. And as for the advice for ladies offered by Fellowes, the sentiment behind it seems to be one of cold-hearted economic thinking and valuation of spousal love and devotion below what thick-cut, applewood-smoked, pepper-crusted bacon the man can bring home. This article on family values and proper husbandry was brought to you by the letters M, E, and $. Or maybe £.

2008-07-18T20:08:00.003-04:00

Which figure from conservative history would YOU want to be dug up and reanimated?

Looking to resurrected cadavers hungry for brains to lead the movement: problem, or brilliant new strategy to save our country?

You decide.

2008-07-18T10:45:00.002-04:00

Bones: the hard core of the body

Heavy-metal Capuchin monk Br. Cesare Bonizzi has just released Misteri, his second album. The article speaks for itself, but I thought I would add a bit of context.

I recently returned from Rome, where the Crypt of the Capuchin monks in Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini (warning: both links have sound embedded) is one of the less familiar and more surreal stops on the Grand Tour. The existence of such a place, where death is not either fetishized or hidden away under the mattress with the dirty magazines, but celebrated and used as a medium for art, pleasantly surprises me, and endears the Roman Catholic church to the already sympathetic cockles of my heart. Amid the clangor of the doom-sayers, a big room full of scapulae can be a peaceful retreat.

2008-07-14T22:02:00.003-04:00

Dispatch from the People's State of America

I work at the Jerome N Frank Legal Services Organization, a pro-bono clinic of the Yale Law School, and a good deal of my job involves answering phones and listening to tales of woe. One I got today really struck me.

The gentleman who called works at a volunteer/combination fire department in Stamford, CT, and the mayor up there (Danniel Malloy) is trying to take over all the volunteer fire dept's. Apparently he's been neglecting to properly distribute the tax funds for years now, and as a result the fire dep't is in financial difficulty. In an attempt to fund themselves, they set up a phone/radio tower thing years back (don't ask me about technicalities) and they have contracts with lots of major phone service providers (Nextel, etc)- despite the fact that that brings in about $100,000 annually, they still can't afford to get the necessary repairs for trucks, proper equipment, etc.

So now the mayor's trying to take the tower from them under eminent domain, or some such (which is why the guy was calling about legal advice), which would, quite obviously, break both legs of the fire department.

I felt like I was talking to Dan Conway. Christ a'mighty.

As we say in my house, fuck the state.

2008-07-14T17:20:00.001-04:00

Quitcherbitchen

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There.

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