Monday
Nov102014
The Commentariat -- Nov. 11, 2014
Internal links, map, photos & related text removed.
Mark Landler of the New York Times: "The Obama administration said Tuesday that it had achieved a breakthrough in negotiations with China to eliminate tariffs on an array of information technology products, from video-game consoles and computer software to medical equipment and semiconductors. The understanding, reached during a visit to China by President Obama, opens the door to expanding a World Trade Organization treaty on these products, assuming other countries can be persuaded to accept the same terms. American officials predicted a broader deal would be reached swiftly now that it had resolved longstanding hurdles with China." ...
... Update. New Lede: "China and the United States vividly displayed on Tuesday why they are both rivals and partners atop the global economy, announcing an agreement to reduce tariffs for technology products even as they promoted competing free-trade blocs for the Asian region."
<>Michael Shear & Edward Wyatt of the New York Times: "President Obama on Monday put the full weight of his administration behind an open and free Internet, calling for a strict policy of so-called net neutrality and formally opposing deals in which content providers like Netflix would pay huge sums to broadband companies for faster access to their customers. The president's proposal is consistent with his longstanding support for rules that seek to prevent cable and telephone companies from providing special access to some content providers. But the statement posted online Monday, as Mr. Obama traveled to Asia, is the most direct effort by the president to influence the debate about the Internet's future."
Net Neutrality' is Obamacare for the Internet; the Internet should not operate at the speed of government. -- Sen. Ted Cruz, on Twitter
... Eric Dolan of Raw Story: "Cruz has previously said the FCC should be completely stripped of its authority to enforce net neutrality regulations. The power to regulate the Internet should be in the hands of Congress, he claimed." CW: Because Ted Cruz should be in charge of everything. ...
... Steve M.: "Average citizens who get it will cheer the president; those who have a monetary interest in unleveling the playing field will be upset, and will push back hard against what Obama's trying to do. The GOP is on the side of the latter group, obviously, because Capitalists Can Do No Wrong. Beyond that, however, the GOP is working hard to make its millions of uncritical, unthinking followers into haters of net neutrality. If Obama's for it, they should be against it. If Obama's for it, it must be evil." ...
... Ed Kilgore: "The more Republicans extend their philosophy of absolute private property and unregulated markets into areas that affect aspects of daily life, the more they may ultimately undermine their own message that government is always the problem and big avaricious companies can do no wrong. This was a good move for Obama." ...
... See also safari's question in today's Comments. If only we had a better press, some of them would ask Cruz exactly how his Net Big Business policy helps all the mom & pops who "built this."&
GOP Vows to Destroy Environment. Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "The new Republican Congress is headed for a clash with the White House over two ambitious Environmental Protection Agency regulations that are the heart of President Obama's climate change agenda. Senator Mitch McConnell, the next majority leader, has already vowed to fight the rules, which could curb planet-warming carbon pollution but ultimately shut down coal-fired power plants in his native Kentucky. Mr. McConnell and other Republicans are, in the meantime, stepping up their demands that the president approve construction of the Keystone XL pipeline to carry petroleum from Canadian oil sands to refineries on the Gulf Coast."
Newsflash: The number of Ebola patients in the U.S. is now officially zero. I'm sure the Republicans are all over it. Thanks, Obama! (And all the best to the brave and altruistic N.Y. doctor. May he bowl 300. ) -- Victoria D., in yesterday's Comments
David Tedrow, in a Washington Post op-ed: "The Obamacare subsidies saved my life. Now, I'm scared the Supreme Court is going to gut them." CW: Good for the Post for publishing Tedrow's story. Now let's see if the Washington Examiner will publish similar accounts. Justice Scalia has said he only reads the Right Wing News; he's probably not the only Supreme who can't handle the real news. ...
... DeNial is a River that Runs through Right Wing World. Jonathan Chait: "Last night I linked to [Tedrow's] story on Twitter, writing, 'The Republican Party is trying to kill this man.'... My tweet set off a backlash.... The fascinating thing about the response was its uniform, fervent denial of the possibility that crippling or repealing Obamacare would have the effect Tedrow describes.... The Republican health-care strategy is to flip a switch whose immediate effect will be to impoverish and kill a lot of people. Is there a single conservative who will admit this?" ...
(... If you're knocking about looking for something to read on a day off, this piece on denialism, and what to do about it, by Massimo Pigliucci, is a nice read. Via Driftglass.) ...
... Paul Waldman is a teensy bit pessimistic about the outcome of the case. And he thinks Republican governors will let ObamaCare (and people!) die if the Court rules for the plaintiffs: "... will they be punished? Don't bet on it.This is a country where people shake their fists at their members of Congress and say, 'Tell the government to keep its hands off my Medicare!', where people like their state Obamacare exchange but hate Obamacare, where people approve of almost everything this law does but disapprove of the law itself. You think the public as a whole is going to understand this lawsuit and know who to blame? Don't bet on it. They'll only know that now they can't get insurance anymore. 'Obamacare took away my subsidy!' they'll cry. And Republicans will laugh and laugh." ...
... CW: Yo, Mitch. Let's see some of that bipartisan-y thing you've been talking about since the election. Tell us you & Boehner are going to introduce a bill removing those four little words "established by the state" from the clause in question, thus averting the need for your Supreme friends to sully themselves & saving your Kynect constituents from losing their "Website." And, yes, I do believe pigs fly. ...
... Dana Milbank: "So it turns out there is an Obamacare death panel after all. It has nine members and it operates out of a marble building directly across the street from the Capitol.... The very act of taking up the challenge to the law will itself undermine the law. The justices announced their decision just a week before the open-enrollment period for 2015 begins -- and the looming possibility that the high court will strike down the law will probably deter those who are considering signing up for its coverage." ...
... Elise Viebeck of the Hill: "Officials at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Monday projected that up to 9.9 million people would be enrolled in ObamaCare in 2015, millions fewer than Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates." ...
... AND ObamaCare architect Jonathan Gruber's foot-in-mouth disease flared up again.
King Barack. Rand Paul, in the Daily Beast: The "war" against ISIS "is now illegal. It must be declared and made valid, or it must be ended.... This is, of course, not the only way in which this president is acting like a king. Conservatives have rightly decried President Obama's unconstitutional executive action on Obamacare -- and his promises to do the same with immigration. With both branches of Congress now under Republican control, we should act to halt those power grabs, too.... Conservatives who blast the president for ignoring the separation of powers on immigration display a fatal inconsistency by embracing unlimited war-making powers.... If ever there was too much bipartisanship, it would be the bipartisan acceptance of unlimited presidential war-making power." ...
... Ahiza Garcia of TPM: "Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) said on Monday that impeaching President Obama 'would be a consideration' if he moves forward unilaterally on immigration." ...
... Peter Beinart of the Atlantic: "Waiting for Republicans to Act on Immigration Is Pointless.... Ever since Obama became president, Republicans have been opposing his agenda militantly while periodically warning that if he pushes forward with it they'll stop being so cooperative.... Boehner's claim that Republicans are just dying to pass immigration reform, if only Obama abstains from executive action, not only contradicts his past behavior. It contradicts his past statements."
Lee Fang of the Nation: "President Barack Obama can issue an executive order today that requires government contractors to disclose their dark-money campaign contributions. Why doesn't he? And why don't campaign-finance-reform organizations push for such a fix?... After initially floating the possibility of issuing the executive order, the administration backed down."
Jonathan Capehart of the Washington Post on the spate of Valerie Jarrett-bashing.
Annals of "Justice," Ctd.
What a Police State Looks Like. Shaila Dewan of the New York Times: "The practice of civil forfeiture has come under fire in recent months, amid a spate of negative press reports and growing outrage among civil rights advocates, libertarians and members of Congress who have raised serious questions about the fairness of the practice, which critics say runs roughshod over due process rights.... Despite that opposition, many cities and states are moving to expand civil seizures of cars and other assets.... Much of the nuts-and-bolts how-to of civil forfeiture is passed on in continuing education seminars for local prosecutors and law enforcement officials.... The Institute for Justice, which brought the videos [of some seminars] to the attention of The Times, says they show how cynical the practice has become and how profit motives can outweigh public safety." Read the whole report. This could happen to you. ...
... Robert O'Harrow of the Washington Post: After their lawyer obtained a video of a search-&-seizure stop in Iowa that showed the driver did not commit the violation for which they were stopped, "William Barton Davis, 51, and John Newmerzhycky, 43, both from Humboldt County, Calif., claim their constitutional rights against unreasonable searches and seizures were violated. They also contend the stop was part of a pattern connected to the teachings of a private police-training firm that promotes aggressive tactics." They have filed "an unusual federal civil rights lawsuit.... An earlier [Des Moines] Register analysis last year found that 86 percent of warnings and citations issued by Iowa's aggressive interdiction units between 2008 to 2012 were given to out-of-state drivers."
Via Addicting Information.The USA, Where Voting Is a Luxury. Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: "Voter suppression efforts may have changed the outcomes of some of the closest races last week. And if the Supreme Court lets these laws stand, they will continue to distort election results going forward.... Poll-tax equivalents are newly thriving, through restrictive voter registration and ID requirements, shorter poll hours and various other restrictions and red tape that cost Americans time and money if they wish to cast a ballot." ...
... CW BTW: some of the veterans we're "honoring" today for "preserving our freedoms" are certainly among the disenfranchised. Get the hell out of this polling place & thank you for your service.
Paul Farhi of the Washington Post: "Rush Limbaugh ... is threatening to sue the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for a series of fundraising e-mails that suggested Limbaugh was condoning campus rape in comments he made on his widely syndicated program on Sept. 15."
Caroline Bankoff of New York: "The Associated Press remains (rightfully) pissed over last week's disclosure that, in 2007, an FBI agent pretended to be an AP reporter in order to catch a 15-year-old who had threatened to bomb his high school.... FBI director James Comey brushed off complaints about the incident..., but the AP wants a promise that this kind of thing will never happen again. In a letter addressed to Comey and Attorney General Eric Holder, AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt demanded to know who signed off on the impersonation, as well as whether the FBI has carried out similar operations since."
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.
Josh Marshall of TPM: "... on Saturday Breitbart published an exclusive pointing out that President Obama's Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch was part of the team that defended President Clinton during the Whitewater investigation - not a bad little scooplet. Only it wasn't the same Loretta Lynch, which kind of takes the punch out of the story." Marshall calls their "correction" one for the ages. CW: Better correction:
... Timothy Johnson of Media Matters: "Later on November 9, Breitbart.com removed the article...." ...
... CW: Breitbart's two Greatest Hits were against Shirley Sherrod & Loretta Lynch. What does that tell you?
Charles Pierce runs down the Sunday shows to spare those of us who can't watch. Here's a teeny excerpt: George W. Bush, in a CBS "News" interview: "And no, no, I think you have to earn your way into politics. I don't think anything is ever given to you.' Pierce: "... it's ... not often that one sees the awesome majesty of a complete lack of self-awareness in a single human being.... Coming from a guy who depended on Daddy's money to bail him out of an incredible string of failed businesses and several messy scrapes with the law, on Daddy's influence to keep him out of both Vietnam and (very likely) Alabama during wartime, and on Daddy's lawyers to hand him the presidency? Jim Baker? Shoot, fellers, never heard of him. My god, he's getting worse."
Our Bad Media: "... this past Friday ... Capital New York reported that Arianna Huffington, editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post, had taken disciplinary action against her own journalists for covering our work on Fareed Zakaria's plagiarism. The official reason given ... was that the writer didn't reach out to Zakaria for comment. That's pretty convenient for Zakaria, who has refused to comment on the story to even his own network. Sources within HuffPo itself, however, say that 'punitive actions were only taken after Huffington received complaints from ... Zakaria'..... And so it stands that as of now, the only people to be punished for Fareed Zakaria's plagiarism are journalists who made the mistake of reporting on it...." The writer notes that Huffington frequently appears on Zakaria's CNN show "GPS." ...
... Paul Farhi of the Washington Post: "The Washington Post's editorial page has found 'problematic' sourcing in five columns written by Fareed Zakaria and will likely note the lack of attribution in archived editions of the articles, the section's editor said. Fred Hiatt, The Post's editorial page editor, said he would act after the anonymously written blog Our Bad Media on Monday posted, side by side, excerpts from six Zakaria's columns and work published earlier by other writers. Zakaria used language that was identical, or strikingly similar, to what others had written." ...
... Margaret Hartmann of New York: "On Friday Newsweek removed the editor's note from all of Zakaria's work and put specific corrections on seven articles. The magazine also published an interview with the bloggers behind Our Bad Media...."
Lindsey Bever of the Washington Post: Glenn Beck reveals "he's been hiding a mysterious brain illness." No jokes, please. I know they write themselves, but it's possible Beck is actually ill.
God News, Tuesday Edition. Laurie Goodstein of the New York Times: "Mormon leaders have acknowledged for the first time that the church's founder and prophet, Joseph Smith, portrayed in church materials as a loyal partner to his loving spouse Emma, took as many as 40 wives, some already married and one only 14 years old. The church's disclosures, in a series of essays online, are part of an effort to be transparent about its history at a time when church members are increasingly encountering disturbing claims about the faith on the Internet."
November Elections
Alex DeMarban of the Alaska Dispatch News: "At least 53,000 ballots remain to be counted that could affect margins and possibly outcomes in two closely watched political races in Alaska. The competition in Alaska for Democratic Sen. Mark Begich's U.S. Senate seat has drawn national attention, with Republican candidate Dan Sullivan holding a 8,149-vote lead over Begich -- a 3.6 percent difference -- after the first round of vote counting immediately following Tuesday's general election. The governor's race is also tight, with independent Bill Walker leading Republican Gov. Sean Parnell by 3,165 votes, or just 1.4 percent."
Presidential Race
Ruby Cramer of BuzzFeed: "Sen. Rand Paul's latest knock on Hillary Clinton -- his potential rival in the next presidential race -- came in a Politico article, published on Monday, in which he appeared to take a shot at her age and health. Clinton just turned 67. In the interview, Paul questioned whether Clinton would be able to physically handle running for president. 'It's a very taxing undertaking to go through,' he said. 'It's a rigorous physical ordeal, I think, to be able to campaign for the presidency.' Paul, the junior senator from Kentucky, is 51 years old. If Clinton were elected president in 2016, she would be 69 on inauguration day -- the same age as Ronald Reagan when he took office in 1981. The chair of the Republican National Committee, Reince Priebus, has said he considers Clinton's age and health 'fair game' in a possible presidential race."
Charles Pierce doesn't understand why we don't hear Al "Franken's name bandied more about as a Democratic presidential possibility in 2016."
Rick Perry Goes to College. Timothy Connor of the Dartmouth: "Arriving to the tune of 'Deep in the Heart of Texas,' Gov. Rick Perry, R-Texas, spoke under the Texas flag about U.S. border security, energy initiatives and foreign policy to an audience of more than 100 people ... Sunday night. Several students raised explicit questions concerning Perry's stance on homosexuality during the event."
Beyond the Beltway
Jason Kravarik & Sara Sidner of CNN: "Gun sales spike as Ferguson area braces for grand jury decision." With video.
News Ledes
New York Times: "Russia agreed on Tuesday to build two new nuclear power reactors in Iran, with a possibility of six more after that, in a deal that greatly expands nuclear cooperation between the two countries.The agreement shows that Russia is pressing ahead with its own vision for ensuring that Iran does not build nuclear weapons, by supplying civilian power technology that will operate under international monitoring."
** New York Times: "John Doar, who was a leader in the federal government's legal efforts to dismantle segregation in the South during the most volatile period of the civil rights movement in the 1960s, and who returned to government service to lead the team that made the constitutional case for the possible impeachment of President Richard M. Nixon, died on Tuesday at his home in Manhattan. He was 92."
Washington Post: "The captain of the doomed South Korean ferry that capsized in April, claiming more than 300 lives, was sentenced Tuesday to 36 years in prison for willful negligence and dereliction of duty."
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Reader Comments (18)
Re: comments in yesterday's thread about Krugman's new NYT headshot. The picture of him that appeared in the Times up till about a week ago was at least a decade old. We all change in a decade (except me; I still look 23).
Marie
And me, Marie. I still look 94.
" the Loose Bowel Syndrome wing of the Republican Party." Jeez, AK that's a visual I just don't need. Yet, your accuracy and discernment seems ok, if not above average.
Small comfort in the Canadian view of Obama. I have thought often during this last election cycle of moving to Canada--but this year Oregon did not disappoint!
www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/The-Vote/2014/1110/After-midterm-sweep-Canadian-asks-What-were-you-thinking-America
So will all those white, middle-aged small business owners (a.k.a. "I built it myself" job creators) who voted GOP actually stand up for their interests and push back against Cruz and Co. regarding net neutrality? This issue is a perfect example of the fight between Corporate America's fat cats versus Main Street start-ups and small businesses trying their best to put new technology and communication strategies into growing their dwindling piece of economic pie. Do giant corporations really need more structural advantages in our economy molded to their desires? The stock market is at record highs and corporations are sitting on piles of cash. Corporate America seems to be doing well enough for themselves without another leg up in the rat race. But FREEDOM means that companies should be able to essentially censor any competition that can't pony up as much cash, because that's what unregulated "free market" capitalism is really about. After cementing Citizens United as the law of the land, I can't see how the powers that be would be against letting $$$ pay for anything with a price tag (politicians included of course).
The strategy is too easy: Tie it to Obamacare (somehow they always find a way) and unleash the populist rage. While the tricorns are ironing their George Washington costumes and discussing what clever meme their picket sign's gonna say, Cruz Inc. is busy looting their meager savings they've stashed under the mattresses or in their complementary safe after they exchanged their tyrannical guvmint dollars for GOLD!!!
Not sure if you've John Oliver's takedown of state lotteries and the supposed benefits they bring in, i.e. education. I'm not much of a gambler so I had no idea about all this, but it's very informative, and another big step backward for investing in America's future. That our tax dollars pay for the whole bonanza is disheartening to say the least.
http://www.alternet.org/video/watch-john-olivers-amazing-takedown-ethically-bankrupt-state-lotteries
Sorry for so many comments, I've got the day off here for the Armistice and what better way to spend the morning than perusing the interwebs of RC.
@ PD pepe Thanks for the Bill Maher link, I'd missed that one, good stuff!
@ Ak and Marvin Schwalb "Akhilleus, you right, the human mind today in America is in most cases the same as the medieval mind."
I came across this quote while reading Bertrand Russell's book Power which made me feel a bit better about our turn toward definitive unexceptionalism as of late.
"In Renaissance Italy, as in Ancient Greece, a very high level of civilisation was combined with a very low level of morals: both ages exhibit the greatest heights of genius and the greatest depths of scoundrelism, and in both the scoundrels and the men of genius were by no means antagonistic to each other."
So in other words, we're just about as evolved as our Ancient Greece brethren, despite the 2,500 year gap. Seems exceptional enough.
One of the great mistakes of the century is the concept of 'political correctness'. So its perfectly OK for millions to use the 'n' word in the head but not there mouth. How nice that we have given them permission to hide the truth. I thought about this now the the ACA is under attack again. My view is that the Republican agenda is seriously a version of Nazism. The creation of the network of rich and middle class who define themselves as an entity. You know, you middle class are really partners with us rich except of course when it comes to money. And we are the true Americans. Those niggers, spics and poor are not really America. They are the problem so we have to get rid of them. So lets start by making sure they die of hunger or disease. I know its frustrating that we can't build ovens but we will get it done another way.
It's time to tell the truth. It's time to use the words that define the truth. And my apology for not being politically correct.
Citizen,
Sorry for the icky visual. If you think it's bad for you, just imagine how the custodial service at the Capitol building feels.
As promised, here is a link from last week; as Ak had pointed out, the sell-by date has expired, but anyway.... I think the paywall on the article has lapsed (you'll let me know). I find his castigation of the Executive Branch plausible, even while he chose not to balance it with its Progressive accomplishments. The odd optimism comes from the closing which, as an active member of a large extended family (>50s primaries) that spans both the continent and the political spectrum, median to the right of center, I find reassuring. Again, unless you are entertained by our local news, the essay is the bottom entry:
http://theava.com/archives/36786
ps. As long time residents of MN, we were pleased to re-elect with substantial margins progressive (mostly) Democrats Mr. Franken, Mr. Ellison, Mr. Walz and Governor Dayton, and pleased the AVA Editor made the correction.
Wingnut flot, sam, jet, sam, and Brownback, Sam.
Funny how Ted Cruz, Teabag avatar for small to zero government interference, all of a sudden has decided that the government (ie, him), through the congress, needs to be the calling the shots on the issue of net neutrality. Whatever happened to Government is the Problem? I'm wondering how many 'baggers even know what net neutrality is? Never mind. When the call goes out to scream "hands off my net" they'll jump. The problem is, hands off is not what Cruz is after. He's all for corporate giants grabbing the internet and most of its users, by the neck and throttling it, then handing it over to the highest bidder. What a surprise! Such integrity! Such concern for the public good!
Ted Cruz, ladies and gentlemen, he'll be here every night for the next four years! He's sumpin' ain't he?
The Kochs and their Big Oil 'n Gas buds are ready to let Jowly McConnell off the leash to sic all those inconvenient rules protecting the environment. Go git 'em Mitch. Good boy! Git that environment. Kill it! Wonder if his collar is connected to an electrical field. Mitch! Have you been talking to Democrats? Bad dog! Zaaaaap!
The coming ACA destruction: The Waldman article linked by Marie mentions that people love everything the Affordable Care Act does but hate the Act itself. This is the absolute nadir of basic thought processing. It's like saying you love the idea of bathing and drinking but hate water. What?? He also mentions the following: "You think the public as a whole is going to understand this lawsuit and know who to blame? Don't bet on it. They'll only know that now they can't get insurance anymore. 'Obamacare took away my subsidy!' they'll cry. And Republicans will laugh and laugh." And they will too, unless two things happen. First, that Democrats open their mouths and point fingers in the right direction. And never shut up about it. And second, that the press does it's fucking job and explains that members of the public who like bathing and drinking and watering their lawn will be brought up short when Republicans turn off the spigot. Well, okay. Make that one thing.
Catherine Rampell, in the WaPo, suggests that Kansas might have a new governor, one who isn't insane, except for the voter suppression efforts by the GOP. The numbers seem to agree, so her contention is certainly reasonable. But she then goes on to draw an entirely unreasonable (or severely overly optimistic) conclusion: " The best we can hope for is that the Supreme Court recognizes the damage these controversial laws have done — not just to individual voters’ rights, but to Americans’ confidence in the integrity of the democratic process more broadly — and strikes them down." Um....First, Catherine, I have every confidence that the Supreme Court recognizes the outcome. I'm not overly sanguine, however, that they view the results of voter suppression as "damage". For Little Johnny and the Dwarfs, denying millions the right to vote, which then tips the scales in favor of their party is exactly the result they hoped for, and now that suppression of the vote has demonstrated its usefulness to wingnuts in such an exciting and definitive fashion, rather than striking it down, they'll likely see the 2014 election as reason to expand vote suppression to all corners of the country.
A Sam Brownback in every pot!
Whyte,
Thanks for the link, yesterday, to the Counterpunch article on Entropy and Empire. Thoughtful piece. I have some small bones to pick with some of the assumptions, but overall, a useful addition to the database of things to think about.
The conclusion seems to (well, not seems, it does) suggest that the only way out, or at least the best way out of the current morass, which, according to the author grows increasingly complex and less stable (there are plenty of reasons to agree with this contention), is nothing less than a complete restructuring of social, industrial, agricultural and monetary systems. Not a reboot, but a completely new operating system.
I'm not sure this is possible given that so many with vested interests in maintaining the status quo--and actually making things worse by ignoring the very real likelihood of the failure of many system processes or systems themselves--are, through a variety of schemes (vote suppression, election rigging, bought and paid for politicians, corrupt Supreme Court justices, etc) striving to secure their positions of control and power far into the distant future.
The other problem would be the difficulty such a plan would run up against when confronting certain dominant belief systems. The religion crowd and the American Exceptionalism clan--plenty of overlap there--will fight the idea of entropy to the bitter end (pun intended).
Entropy may be a reality in the world of physics, but for those who view science as a trick of the devil, it's all folderol--and evil folderol at that. It can't hurt those who don't believe in it. Right? I mean, if they wish hard enough, everything is possible: the laws of physics are retracted, gays become straight, blah people get jobs and quit whining, women quite complaining about equal pay, and things just get better and better and we don't have to do anything! Plus, god would never let anything bad happen to the good 'ol US of A. Don't you know that, you damn Commie atheist?
Just one more reason that education is under attack from the right. The less people know about everything, the easier it is to sell them shit on a stick and call it an ice cream cone.
I recently got into an argument with a red state acquaintance about the concept of specific chiropractic, which, according to its practitioners, can cure cancer, blindness, deafness, practically anything, by freeing the energy routes in the body to connect with god. He complained that I just needed to believe in it, just give it a chance, and I would see. My response, which never penetrated, was that specific chiropractic is a quasi-religious exercise, a kind of laying on of the hands. It ain't medicine and it ain't science, because science works whether you believe in it or not.
Sadly, this is not a winning argument.
Entropy proceeds apace.
Damn, forgot to mention my favorite question of the month in my earlier wingnut rundown. It came during a Rick Perry (R-Dickhead) visit to Dartmouth, place of origin of some pretty awful wingnuttery in the recent past.
A student taking on both Perry's bigotry and hypocritical greed, asked whether he would be willing to have anal sex in exchange for a campaign contribution of over $100 million.
Unfortunately, the Dartmouth reporter neglected to include Perry's answer which was "Shit yeah! I'd do it with horses for that kind of money. Done it many times, in fact."
Yee-haw! Ride 'em cowboy!
Hey kids, it's time for a fun new feature, Ask Li'l Randy! A Q & A on today's coolest topics. We'll learn fun facts like which congressperson is the fastest at running away from potentially awkward situations with voters (hint, he wears a wig), and which senator wears what looks like a dead animal for a wig (hint, he's really fast).
Today, we have a question from "Ted" from Texas. He wants to know if age is a factor in running for president, how hard is it when you're like, really old, like that Hillary lady, and if so, should older people run or should they just stay home and knit stuff.
Li'l Randy sez: Well, presidential elections are very taxing undertakings. So if we're talking about Hillary Clinton, I think she should quit right now.
Boy, Li'l Randy, that sure is good advice. And you should know, right? I mean, you've been thinking about being president of something for a long time. Hillary better listen to you. After all, she's only run for president once. It's just amazing that you know so much better than she does, how hard it is, and you haven't been through a single one!
Next week on Ask Li'l Randy, he'll explain why board certified doctors are the bunk.
@Ak, the entropy piece was allegorical indeed, but what a clever entertaining use of analogy. And the guy is not even a natural scientist.
Poem by Wilfred Owen (no relation) to close Veteran's Day:
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2014/11/hello-again-and-again-to-all-that-by.html
First, let me say I wish Glen Beck good luck on his many mysterious maladies, but I refrained from watching the videos since I am not that interested in what he has to say.
RE: the Bush interview: Back in 2002 Nicholas Leman did an extensive profile on Condolezza Rice for the New Yorker. He asked her at one point to describe the way her boss thinks. Here are a few of her responses:
"He's very intuitive and insightful. He works from a framework, and then we work through the details. But he's intuitive in a way that I find very comfortable."
"He is somebody who very efficiently goes to the essence of a question. He least likes me to say, 'this is complex' ''.
"I know that the President is always going to ask first what is the principled thing to do or the right thing to do."
Leman found that on this subject Rice was extremely careful, but found it striking that if one tried to use any of these sentences as a description of Rice's mentors (those she had said were instrumental in her trajectory) like Papa Bush, Scowcroft or Shultz, it doesn't seem to work. In stressing intuition over intellect, right and wrong over strategic considerations, and simplicity over detail, Rice is really communicating something about Bush. (And we know what that was).
I thought of Rice after I read the long piece from yesterday on Valerie Jarrett (who by the way comes from a (many greats) grandmother, a slave whose plantation owner was the father of her six children and when he died endowed her freedom and a goodly sum so that she was able to fend for herself and children) who was portrayed in the article as Obama's whisperer. So here we have two black, extremely smart females who were/are as close to a president (Condi spent much of her free time with Laura and George) and obviously both have been instrumental in their influence on a president. There are big differences here on the women themselves, but I find it a fascinating study.
Thank you Whyte Owen for including Wilfred Owen's Dulce et Decorum Est. The shadow of WWI hangs over us still, no matter how modern we feel we are.
All those poppies....