What Is To Be Done?

Steve Benen has a thoughtful post over at The Washington Monthly called, Wanted: More American Liberals. It does a good job of laying out where we are.

A new Gallup poll says 41 percent of those asked described themselves as conservative, compared to 21 percent describing themselves as liberal.

A significant takeaway quote from Benen's post:

It’s important to keep some caveats in mind when looking at results like these. For one thing, the public’s understanding of what these words actually mean varies considerably, and not everyone who considers themselves “conservative” is on the same page as, say, Jim DeMint. For another, ideological identification often doesn’t match up well with policy positions.

And that is really true. Conservative politicians want to end Medicare and Social Security, yet I'd guess that most people who call themselves conservative would like to preserve both programs. Most people who call themselves conservative probably don't like polluted air and rivers, yet conservative politicians promote policies that guarantee both. It goes on and on.

On the other hand, it would be much better for elections if people had conservative policy ideas and called themselves liberals.

How They Fell

Let's Default

This is a post I never dreamed I'd be making. As I'm writing, Congress is considering and voting on the latest Grand Compromise.

It's a disaster. It appears to have been written by an infinite number of monkeys sitting at an infinite number of typewriters. There is no sense to it. And it contains a guarantee that this madness will continue for months, maybe years.

What has happened is that a relatively small group of simple-minded people in the Republican Party, called Tea Partiers, has threatened to destroy the credit of the United States of America unless they get their way.

Technically, it's extortion.

To default on the debt is a terrible, terrible thing. We will pay for it for decades. History will call us the Worst Generation. And it should.

But this country cannot survive if a small group of morons is allowed to have their way just because they threaten to destroy us all if we don't give them what they want.

Whether this Grand Compromise passes or not, we are in for some terrible times. But we will never get ourselves out of it if we yield to extortionists. The greater evil is to allow this compromise to pass.

Addendum Aug 2: Joe Nocera sees it, too.

You know what they say: Never negotiate with terrorists. It only encourages them.

These last few months, much of the country has watched in horror as the Tea Party Republicans have waged jihad on the American people. Their intransigent demands for deep spending cuts, coupled with their almost gleeful willingness to destroy one of America’s most invaluable assets, its full faith and credit, were incredibly irresponsible. But they didn’t care. Their goal, they believed, was worth blowing up the country for, if that’s what it took.

[...]

For now, the Tea Party Republicans can put aside their suicide vests. But rest assured: They’ll have them on again soon enough. After all, they’ve gotten so much encouragement.

A Disaster

I have to agree with Paul Krugman:

A deal to raise the federal debt ceiling is in the works. If it goes through, many commentators will declare that disaster was avoided. But they will be wrong.

For the deal itself, given the available information, is a disaster, and not just for President Obama and his party. It will damage an already depressed economy; it will probably make America’s long-run deficit problem worse, not better; and most important, by demonstrating that raw extortion works and carries no political cost, it will take America a long way down the road to banana-republic status.

Jimmy Carter was called a weak president, but he was not. He was undermined by the Northeast liberals in his own party, who did not understand and snickered at his evangelical Christianity.

Barack Obama is a weak president.

God knows, I'm sick of the Clintons. But Hillary would not have caved.

Debt Ceiling

It's just amazing what the Republicans are prepared to do to this country to make sure millionaires and billionaires don't have to share the pain.

A Guilty Pleasure

I feel I can now come out of the closet about this Peter Gabriel/Kate Bush video of a song called "Don't Give Up." The video is too hokey by half, but ... well, that's Kate Bush there. And what man wouldn't want Kate Bush telling you not to give up?

There was a time when I needed this song, and it helped.



The reason I can come out of the closet is because none other than Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman posted another version of it on his blog yesterday. Only he called it, Music for the Lesser Depression.

Looks like we're going to be needing this video for a few years.

But don't give up.

Blinding You with Science

Here's another video that will give you something fun to think about, courtesy of Andrew Tobias:

Four Pernicious Ideas

My kid brother Chip tipped me off to this op-ed piece in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, named "Four Pernicious Ideas in Budget Debates." Well worth the read.

Good-bye Incandescent Bulbs?

Have you been hoarding incandescent light bulbs in preparation for their disappearance from store shelves next year? I've been hearing about the ban for years.

Even Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal has an article today which authoritatively states:

The light bulb ban was part of the 2007 energy bill. It will outlaw the sale of traditional 100 watt bulbs starting in 2012. Many Americans dislike the new fluorescent bulbs, which give off less heat and are more energy efficient, because they don't like the quality of the lighting.

You've probably heard about the ban on incandescent bulbs, too. God knows, the Tea Party crowd has their undies in a bundle about it.

Only problem for them is: it's not true. Quelle surprise! Imagine a Tea Partier getting hysterical over something that isn't true!

Kevin Drum has the story.

Carmageddon

As I've said repeatedly, this is a high-class blog. So I don't like to use words that are not kid-friendly. But this was so funny, I had to share it:

Barking Mad

Steve Benen at the Washington Monthly:

For the country’s sake, I’d ... be absolutely delighted to learn that Republicans are just aggressive poker players, but when push comes to shove, they’ll be able to tell the difference between fantasy and reason, and they’ll put the nation’s interests first.

But here we are, 20 days until a brutal deadline, and Republicans give every appearance of being downright certifiable. We know this from their own rhetoric, and we know this from every published description of Republican deliberations in this process. According to the party’s own Speaker, at least a quarter of the House GOP caucus actually wants to see the United States default. The actual number is probably much higher.

As one leading economist put it yesterday, observers around the world are saying of Republicans, “There’s no way they could possibly be this stupid.”

It’s time people start coming to grips with the fact they very well might be precisely this stupid.

A Good Question!

Those Pesky Facts

I'm in a hurry to run out and take some pictures before the sun rises too high on the horizon, but this post from Paul Krugman's blog is important.

The takeaway quote:

... we don’t have a Medicare problem, we have a health care cost problem. And Medicare actually does a better job of controlling costs than private insurers — not remotely good enough, but better.

If you look at Medicare in isolation, the cost rise looks terrible, because it is:


Source.

But it looks a bit different if you look at private insurance, too:



If Medicare costs had risen as fast as private insurance premiums, it would cost around 40 percent more than it does. If private insurers had done as well as Medicare at controlling costs, insurance would be a lot cheaper.

It’s a mystery why anyone claims that shifting more people into private insurance is a good idea.

Worth 5 Minutes

I understand there are reasons why asphalt is usually the preferred surfacing material for roadways. It provides good traction. Snow and ice melt faster than with concrete.

But there's a big problem with it: it's black, so it absorbs energy and heat from the sun. It's a big contributor to Global Warming.

Is there another approach we can take to roadways? This little video raises interesting possibilities. I recommend it. It suggests how newer technologies could be applied to the problem.

Well Said

Amanda Marcotte, writing on Slate.com, summarizes the Tea Party approach to history (see prior post):

... I think it helps to understand that, for right-wing populists, this thing we call "history" is less about real people who did real things in the real world, and more like just the Bible Part II. It's a myth that can be manipulated to suit their purpose, which is usually to establish themselves as the only Real Americans. When Palin says she got it right, I believe she believes that, because her story wasn't really about Paul Revere. Her story was a thinly veiled allegory of the Tea Party worldview, and in it, Tea Partiers are Paul Revere and the British stand in for Obama, the foreign usurper who is out to take their guns. (That Obama is a gun-snatcher is also a lie worth noting, and of course there's a bit of Birtherism going on here, too.) In a sense, Palin's mangling of history is minor compared with some of the major whoppers that have percolated through Tea Party lore, with the big ones being that the main demand of the revolutionaries was an end to taxation (in fact, the main concern was lack of representation in the government, and frankly a larger desire for independence), and that the Founding Fathers were interested in establishing a government based on Christian principles, instead of those pesky secular ones they accidentally wrote into the Constitution.

There's a Good Novel in This

My readers being the smartest people on the face of the earth, you're all familiar with George Orwell's novel, 1984. In an ironic move (you will see why in a minute) let me quote from the Wikipedia article on the book:

In the Ministry of Truth, protagonist Winston Smith is a civil servant responsible for perpetuating the Party's propaganda by revising historical records to render the Party omniscient and always correct ....

Okay, keep that thought in mind.

Now let's look at Sarah Palin's recent, addled ramblings on Paul Revere's ride:



If this was the first time you've seen that, I should apologize. Please resist the urge to bang your head against a brick wall. It's okay. She's never going to be President.

Okay, now let's move the story up to yesterday, when she was asked about this on, of all places, Faux News. Remember, she had had several days to think of how she was going to answer the question about this ... um ... unique understanding of Paul Revere's ride.

Here's what she said:

You know what, I didn't mess up about Paul Revere. Here's what Paul Revere did:

He warned the Americans that the British were coming, the British were coming and they are going to try to take our arms so we have to make sure that we were protecting ourselves and shoring up all of our ammunitions and our firearms, so that they couldn't take them. But remember that the British had already been there, many soldiers, for seven years in that area. And part of Paul Revere's ride, and it wasn't just one ride -- he was a courier, he was a messenger -- part of his ride was to warn the British that were already there that, "hey, you are not going succeed, you are not going to take American arms. You are not going beat our own well-armed persons, individual private militia that we have." He did warn the British, and in a shout-out gotcha type of question that was asked of me I answered candidly. And I know my American history.

Let's just sit here a minute with blank looks on our faces, and then say, "Uh-HUH!"

But the story doesn't stop there. Talking Points Memo reports that "Palin's supporters have apparently taken to Wikipedia, and are editing the entry on Paul Revere to better fit the former Alaska governor's account."

So we've come a long way since 1984. In the novel, history is revised to suit the centralized, collectivist state.

In the real world, it turns out, things are a little different.

It's About Time

Of the many hypocrisies that are the Republican Party today, one of the most puzzling has been the ability of the Ayn Rand cultists to coexist with the rapture-believing crazies. Rand did, after all, take Judeo-Christian morality and stand it on its head. Might makes right. Financial success makes right. It's wrong to help those less fortunate than you. It's a wonderful moral system for billionaires (read: Koch Brothers) who think they should rule the world.

Paul Ryan, author of the GOP budget, is a high priest in the cult. He reportedly requires his staff to read all of Rand's novels, and he's gathering the other True Believers around him.

I am delighted that somebody is finally going after him:



And here:



"No disrespect, sir."

Do I believe atheists are immoral? Of course not! Do I believe you need to believe the Bible is the Word of God to run for public office? To me, that is a preposterous idea.

But I sure am glad somebody is finally going after these Ayn Rand jokers. Maybe, just maybe, the right wingers who really do take their religion seriously will, like Colonel Nicholson, wake up to see what kind of bridge they've been building.



Addendum: Here's more.

How Low Can We Go?

Ed Schultz, who is what passes for a liberal commentator on cable television, called Laura Ingraham, who is what passes for a conservative commentator on cable television, a "right wing slut."

For this he will be suspended for one week.

Laura Ingraham is a despicable human being.* But Ed Schultz should have been fired before he had finished his sentence.

* Just for example, Wikipedia: As a Dartmouth undergraduate, she was a staff member of the independent conservative newspaper, The Dartmouth Review. In her senior year, she was the newspaper's editor-in-chief,[3] its first female editor.[2] She wrote a few controversial articles during her tenure, such as a piece characterizing a campus gay rights group as "cheerleaders for latent campus Sodomites". She also secretly tape recorded the organization's meetings, and sent copies to the participants' parents.[4][5] Jeffrey Hart, the faculty adviser for The Dartmouth Review, described Ingraham as having "the most extreme antihomosexual views imaginable," and noted that "she went so far as to avoid a local eatery where she feared the waiters were homosexual and might touch her silverware or spit on her food, exposing her to AIDS."[6] In 1997, Ingraham wrote an essay in the Washington Post in which she stated that she changed her views after witnessing "the dignity, fidelity and courage" with which her gay brother Curtis and his late companion coped with AIDS.[7]

Straight Out of Hollywood

Huguette Clark died on Tuesday at the age of 104. If you have no idea who she was, that would apparently have suited her just fine.

Her father was a copper barron, born before the Mexican-American War, who actually bought himself a U.S. Senate seat. Huguette was raised in a 121-room mansion on Fifth Avenue – Fifth Avenue!

121 rooms!

If you can get the NY Times, make sure you read her obituary here.

According to the obituary, "although her three palatial homes — a 42-room apartment on Fifth Avenue; an oceanfront estate in Santa Barbara, Calif.; and a country manor in New Canaan, Conn. — are fastidiously maintained, she had not been seen in any of them for decades." [My emphasis.]

Then follow the link to the "country manor" in New Canaan, which is finally for sale. It has its own web address. Take a look.

The description says,

The story of this magnificent estate is almost as striking as the mansion itself. Constructed in 1937 by a former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, who spared no expenses in its construction, it was sold in 1951 to an owner who never moved into the estate. It has stood unoccuppied for decades, maintained by caretakers who live on the property’s two brick gatekeeper cottages. [Again, my emphasis.]

It has stood unoccuppied for decades.

For decades.

Figure it Out for Yourself

Solving the Middle East Problem

Was Obama's recent speech, declaring that negotiations between Israel and a future Palestinian state should be based on "1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps," "the basic idea for at least 12 years" or "throwing Israel under a bus?"

It appears to depend on who you ask. I found this article interesting.

Will Michele Bachmann Wimp Out?

Or, as a City Pages Minneapolis blog puts it, is Michele Bachmann smarter than a high school sophomore?

Amy Myers, a high school sophomore in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, has challenged Michele Bachmann to a debate:

Dear Representative Bachmann,

My name is Amy Myers. I am a Cherry Hill, New Jersey sophomore attending Cherry Hill High School East. As a typical high school student, I have found quite a few of your statements regarding The Constitution of the United States, the quality of public school education and general U.S. civics matters to be factually incorrect, inaccurately applied or grossly distorted. The frequency and scope of these comments prompted me to write this letter.

Though I am not in your home district, or even your home state, you are a United States Representative of some prominence who is subject to national media coverage. News outlets and websites across this country profile your causes and viewpoints on a regular basis. As one of a handful of women in Congress, you hold a distinct privilege and responsibility to better represent your gender nationally. The statements you make help to serve an injustice to not only the position of Congresswoman, but women everywhere. Though politically expedient, incorrect comments cast a shadow on your person and by unfortunate proxy, both your supporters and detractors alike often generalize this shadow to women as a whole.

Rep. Bachmann, the frequent inability you have shown to accurately and factually present even the most basic information about the United States led me to submit the follow challenge, pitting my public education against your advanced legal education:

I, Amy Myers, do hereby challenge Representative Michele Bachmann to a Public Forum Debate and/or Fact Test on The Constitution of the United States, United States History and United States Civics.

Hopefully, we will be able to meet for such an event, as it would prove to be enlightening.

Sincerely yours,
Amy Myers

God bless the yutes of America. We need to make sure Michele rises to the challenge. She can do some cramming with Mike Huckabee's Learn Our History course. Cartoons.

Is It Possible Fox News Doesn't Realize How Racist It Is?

No.

As Jon Stewart says in the second of the two following segments, it took longer to play examples of their hypocrisy than it did to find them.

A must-see:

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The Ridiculous and the Sublime

Thanks to Kevin Drum for pointing me to this, from The Guardian.

A couple appearing on a quiz show in England guessed that Roger Bannister, the great English runner who was the first human being to run a mile in less than 4 minutes (when they still ran mile races), was actually "the first man ever to put the toilet seat down."

Of course, I suppose there's no reason he couldn't have done both. He was that good.

Andrew and Vanessa, the quiz show contestants who made this stab in the dark, seem to be potential candidates for the Darwin Award. They should definitely take out lots of insurance.

The Guardian columnist who reported this has been keeping a file of great quiz show answers:

This may have cost them their shot at wealth, but Andrew and Vanessa shouldn't get downhearted. They've entered the immortal ranks of the all-time most stupid quiz show answers ever. Their appearance now sits alongside the time a contestant on Beg, Borrow or Steal announced that Cambridge University was in Leicester, the time someone on Wogan's Perfect Recall was asked "which Duke resides at Woburn Abbey?" and answered "Hazzard", and the time a lottery quiz contestant finished Eamonn Holmes's question of "there are three states of matter: solid, liquid and . . ." with the word: "jelly".

However, The Million Pound Drop has a long way to go before it catches up with the two biggest idiot magnets around: The Weakest Link and Family Fortunes. At least contestants on the former have an excuse for answering "what is the name of the insect which makes honey?" with "honey fly" or "what 'Z' is used to describe a human who has returned from the dead?" with "unicorn"; they are being glared at by a terrifying dominatrix.

Family Fortunes contestants – who have answered "name a Paris landmark" with "Hawaii", "name an animal with horns" with "a bee" and "name something that flies without an engine" with "a bicycle with wings" – don't exactly have that luxury.

At the other end of the stupidometer, here's a video for my friend, Ethan, who Friday night succeeded in clearly explaining why, when you have chosen Curtain One, and Monty Hall shows you what's behind Curtain Two, and offers you the chance to pick Curtain Three, you should take him up on it. Do not let your mother see this video, Ethan. I'll never get another free meal if you do.

Correspondents' Dinner Videos

I've promised several folks to give the links. Great stuff.

First, Obama's speech:



Seth Meyers' routine:

Why I Love the Tea Party (#1)

Via Gail Collins' quiz in this morning's NY Times, I learned this tidbit. A Tea Party favorite in the Texas state House has introduced a bill which makes it illegal, punishable by a fine of $10,000 and two years in jail, to hire an undocumented immigrant.

Exception: your maid and the guy who cuts your lawn.

Details here.

Geronimo!

As soon as I heard it, I flinched. The code name for the mission to get bin Laden (or maybe for bin Laden himself) was "Geronimo." What were they thinking?

I don't want it to take anything away from the great and brave job the Navy Seals' Seal Team Six did. But really. This was predictable.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

From The Writer's Almanac:

Today is Cinco de Mayo, which commemorates the Mexican victory over the French in the Battle of Puebla in 1862, but is, in a more general way, a celebration of Mexican heritage and culture in the United States.

After a series of wars in the mid-19th-century, Mexico was reeling. President Benito Juarez announced that payment of foreign debts would be temporarily suspended in 1861, and the French navy showed up to demand repayment. As long as they were there anyway, Napoleon III thought it would be a good idea to replace the current government with one more favorable to French interests -- and France could also establish a base of operations to aid the Confederacy in the American Civil War.

In a David-and-Goliath battle, the 8,000-strong, well-armed French army was routed by 4,000 ill-equipped Mexican soldiers, and though it wasn't a decisive battle in the course of the war, it became a symbol of Mexican pride. It also kept Napoleon from aiding the cause of the Confederacy.

Cinco de Mayo isn't widely celebrated in Mexico outside the state of Puebla, but it has been adopted by many Americans regardless of their heritage, much like St. Patrick's Day and Oktoberfest. It's been celebrated in California since 1863, and grew in prominence in the rest of the country along with the Chicano movement of the 1940s. It wasn't until beer advertisers decided to promote the holiday heavily in the 1980s that American celebration of Cinco de Mayo became widespread.

What They Said

Via Talking Points Memo:

Donald Trump is Very Proud of Himself!

Make sure you listen to the whole thing.

More audio at MyNorthwest.com

And I liked this reply to Trump's "concern" about Obama's grades, from the remarks section of a pathetic Jake Tapper post:

I was president of my law school's law review. At most places, the president doesn't usually publish anything himself.

And all the carping about his grades? He graduated magna cum laude from HLS, where all the exams are read with the identity of the student removed. He got those marks on merit.

Just go ahead and say you think black people aren't capable of being head of the law review and he only got there because of affirmative action. It's what you really mean, right?

Update: I loved this, from Gail Collins,

Donald Trump immediately took credit. “Today I am very proud of myself,” he said. This is in contrast to normal days, when Trump is continually walking around in an existential funk, asking himself why he was ever born.

Beyond the Fringe

Via Paul Krugman, Beyond the Fringe:

Will Humor Work?

Tiresome Facts

I'll be walking to the mailbox today with a check for the IRS. It's the first time in a long time (like, maybe, forever) that I didn't get a refund. And I'm sure it's because Suellen didn't do the taxes this year. I bought TurboTax, but just didn't have the heart to sit down and work through everything. Next year should be different.

Anyway, I came across a fascinating collection of charts and graphs relating to taxes from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Here are two of them:





Take a look at the rest of the charts here.

Then decide if ending Medicare is really the only way out of our budget dilemma, or if maybe – just maybe – it's the not-so-hidden agenda of an Ayn Rand cultist.

Update: As I released the tax payment envelope and saw it flutter into the maw of the mailbox, I realized I had not put a stamp on it. Reason #79 Suellen always did the taxes.

Colbert

Jon Kyl is apparently the best that Arizona can do.

Framing the Debate

Tom Tomorrow casts his eye on Paul Ryan's budget.

This is especially spooky for me because 1) I know a little girl who calls her grandmother "Graham Cracker," and 2) I expect (and ask) that when things get too bad, I will be pointed out into the desert.

Read the cartoon, and you'll see what I mean. Make sure you click on it to get a readable version.

Running Second in GOP Polls

Don't miss the exchange between Gail Collins and Donald Trump on the momentous issue of whether Barack Obama was born in Kenya.

Gail's first column here.

Donald Trump's response here. Best line: "Her storytelling ability and word usage (coming from me, who has written many bestsellers), is not at a very high level."

Gail's rejoinder here.

Considering that Trump is now running second in GOP presidential polling, is it any wonder Republicans think Paul Ryan is a serious person?

ATM

Long-time fans of godhead will recognize at least one of the actors in this video – the multi-talented Jason Charles Miller.

Get ready to cringe every time the wife opens her mouth.



I'd love to work with the guy who did the lighting for this.

Lewis Black on Donald Trump

Priceless.

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Republican Buffoonery

Brooklyn Congressman Anthony Weiner congratulates the GOP for taking on the pressing issues of the day.



Thanks to Talking Points Memo for calling my attention to this.

A Little Humor

First, you need to have seen this ad for Apple, featuring the singer Feist, or one like it:



Now see the latest:

Terrifying

So this is what a tsunami looks like:



I'm looking for good reporting on the nuclear reactor issues in Japan. What is the worst case scenario? How far will be the reach? Anybody know?

Here's the latest from the NY Times:

“They’re basically in a full-scale panic” among Japanese power industry managers, said a senior nuclear industry executive. The executive is not involved in managing the response to the reactors’ difficulties but has many contacts in Japan. “They’re in total disarray, they don’t know what to do.”

Feel safe?

Living Planet

Kris and Chicago Ted invited me Shabat dinner on Friday, where we had good conversation which came very close to solving the problems in the Middle East. John and Bev Elmquist were there. John is a remarkable musician-composer. His music is intelligent and often very funny. (He shares a lot of it at Hard Art Groop.)

[Sidebar: John and Bev helped out several times at St. John's Thanksgiving Dinner. Suellen, who ran the show and loved all volunteers, referred to them as "My Lutherans."]

John sent me this link to a slide show by photographer Timothy Allen. What great stuff! Don't miss it.

Leonard Cohen

Apropos of nothing, here's a very nice video of Leonard Cohen doing Famous Blue Raincoat. It does a better job than any of the commercially prepared videos of capturing what his concerts are like. Notice that the audience sings along. Notice that the concert is in Lisbon.

Portugal.

Enjoy

Rahm Emanuel

I think I've mentioned before that several years ago I had the opportunity to sit down and have a one hour, almost one-on-one, conversation with Rahm Emanuel. He was my Congressman for several years, then he went to Washington and did something, can't remember what, and now he's running for mayor of Chicago. Which is all the proof you should need that he's either corrupt or out of his freaking mind.

This Sunday the NY Times will run a little story about Emanuel by the author, Scott Turow. That's another six degrees of separation thing. Scott used to be – I don't know, maybe he still is – an attorney at Sonnenshein, Nath, and Rosenthal (currently has a new name, but who cares what it is), where Suellen worked. And for some reason (there are many to choose from), Scott took a liking to Suellen. We sometimes would go to readings that Scott gave from his latest book, and when he spotted Suellen he would walk over to her and chat with her. I'd hold her coat. She was thrilled and I was jealous. That was a common pairing.

Anyway, Scott's story is here. It's not the greatest political journalism, but it's an easy read.

Emanuel has had some good political ads (brought to you by Axelrod & Co). I'll talk about one of them later.

Joao Silva Update

The earlier vagueness about the extent of Joao Silva's injuries led me to anticipate this: Silva lost both legs when a land mine exploded under him in Afghanistan. He was a "contract photographer" for the Times, which means the Times is probably contractually not responsible for him from now on. Thus, the fund raisers. Welcome to the Reagan Revolution. [Update: See Chip's comment, below.]

Here are the pictures Silva took just before – and after! – the explosion. And a video of his recovery, which is going well.

Mainstream Culture

It seems MTV is very concerned about their new hit show, "Skins". Why? Because they're afraid it may violate child pornography laws. Imagine that. How far we've come. Thanks, Hollywood, for your sense of social responsibility.

The NY Times has the story here.

Takeaway quote: “There are times when I look at mainstream culture and think it is skirting up against the edge of child pornography law.”

That's about right.

[Note to Em, Ted, Kris, and Chip: Yes, this post is ironic. Ha, ha.]

Everything Bad is Joe Lieberman's Fault

So says Gail Collins.

Don't take it personally, Joe.

You Can Close Your Eyes

James Taylor and Iris DeMent in this video:

Rewriting Huckleberry Finn

The Daily Show's "Senior Black Correspondent" handles a publisher's announced intention to replace every occurrence of the n-word in Huckleberry Finn with the word "slave". Perfectly.

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Huh!

You be the judge. This is George W. Bush's official portrait:



Actually, I kind of like it as a portrait. But as a Presidential portrait?

Take a look at GWB's most recent predecessors, via Obsidian Wings.

Placed among the other portraits, GWB's reminded me of the dining halls at Oxford's colleges. They all seem to have portraits of the colleges' past presidents up and down and all around the walls. Some of them are in Henry VIII-era garb, and gradually they work their way through the clothing and hair styles of the different centuries. The 20th century is kind of a shock, with portraits that stylistically look avant garde at best (well, avant garde for Oxford, anyway), inappropriately informal at worst.

One thing about GWB's portrait: it stands out.

Dr. Strangelove (1964)

It's not really on anybody's radar these days, what with the recession and all, but via Crooks and Liars, here's a fascinating time-lapse video showing where all 2,053 nuclear explosions have occurred since World War II. As bluegal suggests, watch the world light up in the early 1960s. Fun times.

Don't let the 7-minute run time scare you; despite the modern world's efforts to the contrary, you still have an attention span that long. And it's so fascinating that you'll loose track of the time.

The Simpson/Bowles Report

I've been scratching my head about the Simpson/Bowles deficit reduction report, which the media is referring to as a draft of the President's Deficit Commission Report, which it is not.

Some people, like Simpson and Bowles, think the government needs to be smaller. This doesn't seem to be based on any practical calculation, it's some kind of "philosophy" or something. It's very important to them. More important than making sure old people have enough to live on, or that sick people get health care. Personally, I think government should be as big as it needs to be. No bigger.

But I guess if you propose cuts to Social Security and Medicare, you're considered a serious person. Even if, as part of a deficit reduction package, you are proposing additional tax cuts for the wealthy. One man's serious is another man's insane, I guess. Paul Krugman doesn't think this is a serious package.

Kevin Drum has the facts that will not go away. Please read. It's short.

Profiles in Courage

Back in 2001, when the horrifying events of September 11 were still raw in our memory, a homicidal idiot decided it would be a good thing to send envelopes through the mail containing anthrax spores. Five people died. Nobody knew who was sending the letters, or why, or where the next one might turn up. It was frightening. It was during this time that I learned we can be at the mercy of the most hysterical people among us.

But we don't have to be hysterical. We can make another choice.

Last week it was reported that two packages mailed to the United States from Yemen contained explosive devices. One of those packages was addressed to a very small religious congregation in Chicago. This small congregation has been meeting in the building of a larger Chicago congregation.

That's pretty frightening for both congregations, and raises interesting questions, one of which is: How did the obscure, small congregation, which doesn't even have its own building, come to the attention of bomb makers in Yemen?

That's a question for the National Security folks. The questions of greatest moment for both congregations are: How purposeful were the bombers in sending the package? Are they determined to strike this little congregation, or was it a random pick in a long list of places they would like to destroy? In other words, what are the chances they'll try again?

If you're a member of either congregation, and your children attend its Sunday school, these are questions to keep you up at night. And you have a choice in how to respond to them.

You could choose hysteria. You could run away and never come back. Or you could allow your fears, which are real and justified, to trump what you say are your values. We see that so often these days.

Or you could choose another approach: courage. It's a quality we don't hear about too often outside of war stories, and apply to ourselves mostly in fantasies. But it is a courageous thing to face evil and not flinch; to say, "Our values are real, even when we are afraid."

If you're a member of the congregation, you do what you can do to make the place as safe as any place can be in this world, short of turning it into a place that violates its own values. I've talked to members of the congregation, and that's exactly what they're doing.

"Does that include suggesting the guest congregation find another meeting place?" I asked.

The response was emphatic. "Absolutely not!"

For some reason, I feel safer now.

Ted Sorensen 1923-2010

If you start watching this interview with Ted Sorensen, you'll have a hard time turning it off before it's over. He talks, among other things, of the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis, things from the earliest days of my political memory. Very interesting.

About that Comma

In my years as a working man, I had to read and approve thousands of memoranda. And any staffer who wanted his/her work to see the light of day knew that "Comma Bob" did not accept the slovenly habit of failing to place a comma before the "and" in a series, as in "Three cheers for the red, white, and blue."

And here's a good illustration of why that was so:



Kudos to theweaselking for spotting this one.

Bad News from Afghanistan

The news from Afghanistan has been relatively good recently (with strong emphasis on the relatively), what with headlines in the NY Times about the Taliban being routed in Kandahar province.

But this morning brought the news that Joao Silva, a NY Times photographer, had stepped on a land mine and "was wounded in his legs." Three American soldiers were also injured by the mine.

Joao Silva has had a remarkable career. As one of four members of the "Bang-Bang Club," he was responsible for some startling images of the apartheid era in South Africa. He has since worked as a photojournalist in the Balkans, Iraq, and now Afghanistan.

Here he is talking about one of his South Africa photographs.

Here's hoping for a speedy recovery for all.

October 24 Update: Lens, the NY Times blog, has a feature on Silva here.

The Very Model of a Modern U.S. President

Thanks to the always interesting Bullied Pulpit for this one:

The Enthusiasm Gap

If you're disappointed at what Obama has accomplished in a year and a half, you might reconsider after takng a look at Andrew Tobias's post today:

It’s remarkable how poorly we’ve done highlighting the accomplishments of the last 21 months – but that does not mean they weren’t real, or that it’s not crucial that we keep moving forward.

From the Washington Post:

. . . Reasonable people can debate whether the stimulus was big enough or whether Dems could have passed a more comprehensive health reform law. But you would have thought few would debate that this Congress is one of the most ambitious and productive in decades in terms of the sheer number and scale of successful legislative initiatives.

Yet despite passing an enormous stimulus that many credit with rescuing us from disaster, passing health reform after a half century of failure, rescuing the auto industry, and successfully completing the biggest overhaul of Wall Street regulations since the Great Depresssion, only one third of Democrats think this Congress has achieved more than other recent ones. . . .

Take a look at the rest of Obama's accomplishments, if you've got an hour or two.

Talking about Income Disparity is Socialist

Steve Benen over at Political Animal has a great screen capture from Fox News:



Addressing the disparity of income in America is something only socialists do, apparently. Read Benen's whole post; it'll only take a minute, and it's worth it.

Still Alive

The Tea Partiers don't believe in global warming. “They’re trying to use global warming against the people,” Ms. Deaton said. “It takes way our liberty.”

“Being a strong Christian,” she added, “I cannot help but believe the Lord placed a lot of minerals in our country and it’s not there to destroy us.”

Would somebody translate that "takes away our liberty" business for me? You hear it all the time from the Tea Partiers. What liberty is anybody trying to take away? Okay, there's the liberty [metaphor coming] to dump your night soil in the village well; we want to take that liberty away, yes. But what else, exactly?

Meanwhile, Juan Williams finally got canned at NPR. I'd largely stopped listening to NPR because of his "analysis," which consisted of repeating things he'd heard over at Fox News. Apparently he actually said, "I'm not a bigot, ... but ..." and then said some stupid things about Muslims. Fox News, where anti-Muslim bigotry is an article of faith, took no action.

Gail Collins can still make me laugh at it all.

Good 'Ole La Grande Jatte

Greetings from San Diego! If you, like I, had a vague feeling you had seen the young lady with the parasol before, it finally occurred to me where:

Idiots with Money

I'm travelling today, so no time to expand on this, but make sure you read Krugman today, and then follow his link to the incredibly vile, racist, fantasist cover story at Forbes Magazine. Then resist the urge to put white-hot pokers in your eyes.

Another Place Keeper

Sorry for the paucity of postings. My sister is home and doing well, and I'll be seeing her soon!

I'm paying attention to what's going on in politics, and it's ugly and scary. The Tea Party movement won't last more than a couple of years (they said that about the National Socialists in Germany, I'm sure), but it remains to be seen how much damage they'll do before they're done.

In the meantime, I've been buying 19th century photos on eBay. I absolutely love this one. Click on it.


The umbrella (or would that be a parasol?), the bustle, the pose, even the painted background. Love it. I won't mention that she's cute, too.

A Place Keeper

Right now most of my attention is focused about 2,000 miles away, where my sister is recovering from a heart attack. I'd tell you what a terrific sister she is, but that would be unMiller-like.

In the meanwhile, here's a picture from a couple of years ago. I think Suellen and I were going to a medical appointment, and I had my little Canon G9 with me. It was snowing, I think. It's a little more interesting if you click on it.

For non-Chicagoans, Water Tower Place used to be the shopping Mecca of Michigan Avenue. It's lost some of its luster over the years. Don't we all?

Fact Check

From Steve Benen, over at Political Animal:


This is a chart of the jobs lost/gained in the private sector in the past few years. The red bars are Bush Administration; the blue bars are Obama Administration.

Stupid, Meet Evil

Via Chicago Ted, make sure you watch these two Daily Show episodes:

First:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Extremist Makeover - Homeland Edition
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Then go here:

At risk of sounding like a broken record: Why is it that this stuff is covered in comedy shows, but not in the mainstream media? Answer: They have been so lax for so long, and Fox has grown so powerful, that now MSM are afraid of Fox.

The Cordoba House

Frank Rich has a good column today on the Fox cynicism behind the flap.

And don't miss Franklin Graham's explanation of how Obama was born a Muslim.

Finally, Laura points me to a little thing showing up on Facebook pages:



Fly the flag to show your opposition. Love that.

In Dr. Johnson's famous dictionary patriotism is defined as the last resort of a scoundrel. With all due respect to an enlightened but inferior lexicographer I beg to submit that it is the first.

-Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary.

Villains

Have you noticed how, whenever there is a minority somewhere to be villainized, the Republicans fall all over themselves to seize the opportunity? It's apparently all they've got.

Lately it's illegal immigrants and Muslims. It's sad, too, how often they get away with it.

The so-called Mosque at Ground Zero, which isn't a mosque and isn't at Ground Zero, is a perfect example. Keep the folks at home all worked up over this, and real issues don't need to be discussed in the fall campaign. So Harry Reid has to take the cover offered by the Anti-Defamation League: I've got nothing against [insert minority here], but in this case ....

Wish I could work up head of steam on it, but it's all just too sad.

Here are two articles worth reading, though. First a quick one from TPM about what else is at the hallowed ground of Ground Zero. And this very informative one about Muslims. Turns out they're not all jihadists.

It's all just too sad.

Lens

No, this isn't about Chip's fabulous new lens, which is (literally) on a slow boat from China (or Japan).

It's a recommendation that you regularly visit the New York Times photography blog, called LENS. I've put the link to it in the list on the right, to make it easier for you. There's some really outstanding stuff there.

Underpass Update

Work on the underpass is moving along. All the "canvas" has got something on it, and now they're mostly in the shading phase, which means they're adding contour and depth to the paintings. There's some remarkable work being done there.

This was work done today.

Location, Location, Location

Across the street from us, they're building some boxes they'll be selling for about $625,000. Here's what two of them look like right now:



Meanwhile, out in Freeport, Illinois (115 miles WNW from Chicago), this is what you can get for about the same money. Make sure you click the link; it probably won't be active very long.

Anybody want to start a commune?

Hubris

Again from Andrew Tobias, a link to a Huffington Post story about JPMorganChase.

Did you think the financial meltdown of 2008 sobered up anybody in the banking industry? Think again.

I was going to rerun the guillotine picture, but instead here's a shot of JPMorgan's global commodities group:

A Road to Somewhere?

Andrew Tobias pointed to this video about the possibility of roadways made of solar panels (which are made of landfill). Sounds bizarre. But in addition to being a roadway, the panels serve as an electronic grid, delivering electricity everywhere it goes. Sounds cool.



A few years ago I bought a 1 gig flash drive for about $35. Today you can get three 4 gig flash drives for $35. And I just bought a 2 terabyte hard drive for less than our first 20 megabyte hard drive cost us. If there's a reason to be hopeful, it's because of things like this.

On the Road to Nowhere

Paul Krugman is pessimistic about the economy. So am I.

And don't miss his column about Wisconsin's Paul Ryan, who is what passes in Washington these days as a "serious thinker."

And if that hasn't got you reaching for the razor blades, try The Third Depression.

The Great Depression wasn't all bad, though. It was the Golden Age of Board Games and Jigsaw Puzzles. And it reminded people of the importance of having a functional government.

T-Storms Again

Okay, so nobody liked the squirrel joke. I should have listened to Suellen, who thought it was a stupid joke.

It was really just a device to point you to my kid brother's Flickr site. He does outstanding wildlife photography (and bugs), and his bird pictures have been used by Audubon and others. Leaf through a few pages and you'll see why. Make sure you blow up the pictures. They're incredible.

I did get some pictures of the underpass yesterday, but there were only 3 or 4 people working. It was raining in the morning, and the humidity in the afternoon made me fear for my camera.

Everybody seems to like the stylized versions best (sigh) so here are some more.

This picture has been oversaturated:


And here's the same picture, desaturated:




Rain again this morning, which will give me the chance to get these pictures organized for sharing with the people who are doing all the work.

Rain-out?

It's raining this morning, so there may be no underpass painting activity. I'll post a picture from yesterday for now:


It's more interesting in the larger version (click on it to enlarge it), which usually means it's not all that interesting to begin with.

I'm not saying it's heavily manipulated, but this is the picture I started with.

Overpass Project

Took some more pictures of the overpass mural today. There was no activity over the weekend, but the kids were hard at work today.



I might have stylized this picture just a little.

And So It Begins

I've always liked Target stores. They're cleaner than most big-box stores, the aisles are wider. We recently bought a television at our local Target (plus a bunch of school supplies for the local food pantry to give out).

So I was really bummed to read this article in Talking Points Memo. Target Corporation has decided to take advantage of the unique opportunity provided by the Citizens United Supreme Court decision to corrupt the electoral process in Minnesota.

The Target Corporation has effectively given $150,000 of their stockholders' money to a gay-baiting, über-conservative Republican candidate for governor.

According to TPM:

Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel has explained that the company's support for Emmer is based purely on economic issues. "Target has a history of supporting organizations and candidates, on both sides of the aisle, who seek to advance policies aligned with our business objectives, such as job creation and economic growth," wrote Steinhafel. "It is also important to note that we rarely endorse all advocated positions of organizations or candidates we support, and we do not have a political or social agenda."

Well, Gregg, if that's how you feel, use your own damn money. Myself, I'm going to have a hard time walking into a Target store anytime soon.

Street Art

A few blocks away a group of artists are in the process of creating a mural on the walls of a railroad underpass. And I've been dropping by to record their progress.

Here's how things are going so far:

Weiner Becomes a King

Rage is not a popular emotion among politicos. But I've been feeling so much rage for so long about the Republicans that it's a relief to see somebody actually call one out.

In this video, Rep. King (R) of New York is called out by Rep. Anthony Weiner (D), also of New York.



This morning, on Fox [spit] Weiner and King had it out again, or should I say: Weiner sliced and diced.



The commentator's closing comment is idiotic. But it was Fox, so that's redundant.

Thanks to TalkingPointsMemo for posting these clips.

How Crazy Are They Really?

In this morning's NY Times:

The United States and South Korea on Sunday kicked off their largest joint war game in years, with a nuclear-powered American aircraft carrier prowling off the east coast of South Korea while North Korea threatened to retaliate with its nuclear weapons and reportedly put its military on an alert for war.

Seems like this should have made the evening news last night.

Another Fox Network Disgrace

One of these days the mainstream press will run with the actual story: Fox falsifies news whenever they can get away with it.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

A Note About That Video

I was kind of curious about the background on the video posted below, and started searching. The composer of the music is Garry Schyman, and the singer was a high school junior from Minneapolis named Palbasha Siddique. Palbasha was born in Bangladesh, but her parents moved to Minneapolis when she was six. The composer talks about how it came together in his June 22, 2008, entry here.

Matt Harding's girlfriend discovered the singer on a YouTube video from a fellow who does a show for KFAI radio in Minneapolis, who apparently went to the University of St. Thomas (threw that in for Laura).

The lyrics are from a poem by an Indian poet named Rabindranath Tagore, who won the Nobel prize for literature in 1913. Translated, they say:

Stream of Life
The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.
It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth in numberless blades of grass and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.
It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth and of death, in ebb and in flow.
I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life. And my pride is from the lifethrob of ages dancing in my blood this moment.

My suspicion is that Rabindranath Tagore did not make a profit on his lemonade stand.

Truly Remarkable

Chicago Ted sent this truly remarkable video. I promise you'll smile.



I had to make it smaller to fit, but click on those little arrows in the lower right-hand corner. Thanks, Ted.

The John Galt Theory of Lemonade Stands

Here in Chicago we have a personal finance columnist named Terry Savage, who works for the Sun-Times. I rarely read her because 1) I rarely read Chicago newspapers, and 2) especially not the Sun-Times, and 3) I heard her talk about Social Security once and it wasn't conventional wisdom, it was unconventional stupid.

Came across this "column" of hers this morning. Nice to know nothing has changed, and I still don't have to read her. I'll bet she keeps your ball if it goes in her yard.