New York Times Columnist Line of the Weekend

Maureen Dowd unleashes her razor tongue on Obama, not for the first time, but (I thought) to particularly good effect, in Saturday’s “Can the Dude Abide?”

His arrogance led him to assume: If I build it, they will understand. He can’t get the gratitude he feels he deserves for his achievements if no one knows what he achieved and why those achievements are so vital.

Weekend bonus quote:

Noting that he has a lot of friends and staffers in committed gay relationships, Obama conceded only that his attitude was evolving. “I think it’s pretty clear where the trend lines are going,” the president said.

Trend lines? Really inspiring, dude.

Photo-Blogging the…Sanity

Until I get time to re-do this as a legitimate photo post, go ahead and check this out, or see all of them in the Flickr set.

Favorite Rally to Restore Sanity Signs

Dear America,

From the nation’s capital, I am pleased to report that my experience of yesterday’s Rally to Restore Sanity And/Or Fear was enjoyable, pleasant, and totally reasonable.  Everyone was polite and civil, I didn’t have to deal with metro crowds or Porta-Potties, the music was great (mostly… what was with that hyperbolic intro for Kid Rock?  I was expecting Stevie Wonder or someone actually legendary), and the comedy was funny.  And I thought Jon Stewart’s “sincere” summation was in fact quite earnest and that he made some very  good, insightful points.  Listening to that speech, I considered seriously for the first time that Stewart could very well go on to have a serious political career when he’s done being a pseudo-fake journalist.  I realize I might be rather late with that epiphany.

Countdown to rally. This was my view-- and judging by my friends' reports, I was lucky to be able to both see and hear what was going on

Favorite signs that I saw:

Hyperbole is butchering America

I disagree with you but I’m pretty sure you’re not Hitler

People who fear Obama scare me

Please stop shouting, my ears are starting to hurt

Muslims don’t destroy countries; meteors destroy countries. Fact.

Excuse me, do you have evidence to support that claim?

Tread with me

Yes, Glenn, we’re mocking you

I’m against picketing but I don’t know how to show it

I doubt this sign will change your opinion

I believe in a sanity clause

Late Night Thoughts on Halloween Eve

On the plus side, getting dressed up means I’m less likely to wimp out of plans just because it’s getting late and we haven’t left yet.  I mean, I have makeup on and everything.

I'm a flapper this year. This is *exactly* what I look like, minus the... dog. And the hair. And the hairpiece. But otherwise-- identical twins.

(-) On the minus side, now I feel compelled to still go out, even though it’s getting late.  I’m kind of a homebody/old lady like that.  After 12am seems too late to be beginning anything.

(-) And also, there won’t even be candy, most likely.

(-) Just kegs.

(-) Which would be a plus for some, but I still don’t like beer.

=

Increased envy of children who can still go trick or treating.

+ Sadness that even with my (I think) cute outfit, I will attract virtually no praise because my costume isn’t slutty enough to warrant attention.

+ Relief about same.

“There are some people smoking weed”

Some local news covering the World Series, when reporter Newy Scruggs discovered that some folks were smoking some weed.

Morning Constitutional – Friday, 29 October 2010

Good morning, everybody. Three authors made Forbes Magazine’s list of top-earning dead celebrities. Now, your morning constitutional.

Iran has agreed to resume talks on its controversial nuclear program in November.

North Korean troops have shot across the border into South Korea and the South has returned fire.

The economy grew at a rate of 2% in the second quarter as consumers bought more.

Several shots were fired at the Marines Corp Museum in Virginia, the second shooting there in recent days.

Beating malaria in the developing world may be impossible now, with many efforts likely to backfire.

New York judge finds that a four-year-old can be sued.

The president’s economic policy team will be wildly understaffed following the election.

Why is Burma holding an election?

Halliburton knew it was pouring faulty cement into the exploded oil well in the Gulf of Mexico.

Solar power projects facing potential hurdles.

Finally, a report (from Purell, the company that makes instant hand sanitizer) shows that Americans prefer to bump fists than shake hands.

Curmudgeonly Rant of the Day

Say what you will about the creativity-in-a-bag that is a Ricky’s costume but at least those people never get asked who they’re supposed to be. This is a question I can barely answer the other 364 days of the year so God knows why I’d be able magically self-actualize on Halloween.

I have not much to add, just want to recommend this pretty amusing essay by Sloane Crosley from yesterday’s NYT Opinionator.

Okay, I’ll add just a bit.  Crosley’s rant has to do with Halloween in NYC and the problems inherent.  I’ve found Halloween personally problematic since the beginning of college, when my ability to think of any cool costumes apparently dissipated, as if I’d suddenly outgrown that particular form of creativity.  This has continued to today, and as it stands now I alternate between a couple of standby costumes that consist mainly or entirely of items already in my closet (e.g., “gypsy”).

I work part time as a nanny now, and I’m impressed and (shamefully) a bit envious of the girls’ Halloween enthusiasm.  They have great costume ideas (the youngest is going as a convertible car(!)) which they’ve spent weeks putting together.  They’ve been counting down the days til their school’s Halloween parade and til the actual holiday.  Mostly I’m excited for them, but part of me misses being a kid and getting that excited, not to mention getting to go trick-or-treating.  Just another aspect of life that seems to mandate having children of one’s own, so at least there can be some living-vicariously/stealing-your-kids’-candy later in life.

Poor rich guys, getting made fun of while making millions

It’s a little funny seeing the Wall Street crowd, the rich folks, the businessmen, getting all hot and bothered by the president.  Remember when Blackstone founder Steve Schwarzman said that tax increases on private equity firms would be “like when Hitler invaded Poland in 1939?”

“The fundamental problem,” says Steve Reinemund, former PepsiCo CEO and now dean of the Wake Forest University School of Business, “is the sense the President doesn’t consider business a noble profession.”

Gosh, they have it so bad. I mean, that flaccid finance reform package—which has some good parts, but isn’t nearly enough to contain the virus—that was a direct assault on these poor guys. And poor these guys must be getting, right? Premier Comrade Barack Mao Stalin Lenin Marx Hussein Obama is taking all their money, right? You’d think so by the way they’re talking.

Oh, wait:

Profits have surged 62 percent from the start of 2009 to mid-2010, according to the Commerce Department. That is faster than any other year and a half in the Fabulous ’50s, the Go-Go ’60s or the booms under Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.

Under another president, especially a Republican president, the data on corporate profits would be envied. George W. Bush, who dedicated a good deal of his presidency to tax cuts aimed at boosting business profits, probably would have loved such results. It took Bush nearly four years to post the gains that Obama has managed in less than half the time.

Oh, you mean they’re getting richer? Nay, wildly richer? Then, why do these poor—I mean rich—guys think they’re not being given a fair shake? Maybe:

“There is a venerable tradition of business being antagonistic to Democrats, even in instances when the policies are advantageous to them,” says Fred I. Greenstein, a professor emeritus at Princeton University and author of books on Presidential leadership. The strain between the Administration and business “was similar for FDR, which was the period of the last great reregulation of the economy,” says Bruce Buchanan, a professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin, referring to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. “And there is an element of hurt feelings to it as well, which surprises me.” Despite numerous meals with business leaders, the President seems to approach the relationship in a detached fashion, as if he were checking off a box, say executives who requested anonymity in order to speak freely.

Of course, except FDR was way less nice to the rich guys in the board meetings. The real answer is that no matter how rich they’re getting, they hate—hate—regulation, because they think regulation will hurt their profitability. Doesn’t matter that this has been proven wrong time and time again.

Chart credit: Timothy Noah at Slate.

Why the foreclosure fraud mess is a big deal

We haven’t spent a lot of time discussing it, probably for the good reason that none of us are experts on mortgage financing (none of us at V+V are or have ever been property owners). But luckily, RJ Eskow, who spent many years working in the financial system, is now exposing it for what it is. Banks and mortgage companies (some of whom don’t even really exist!) are literally foreclosing on properties that either don’t actually carry mortgages, or aren’t even delinquent. In a post today, he explains why this foreclosure fraud business is a big deal, including a rather novel argument that goes back to, yes, the Magna Carta:

The last counterargument is literally an ancient one. It’s based on the long-established right of any citizen to be inviolable in their home and possessions. This goes back to the Magna Carta, which established that the will of the monarch wasn’t arbitrary and that the property of “freemen” could not be seized without proper legal recourse. This principle was enshrined in the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution, which says “”No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law.” (emphasis mine)

It’s bad enough that we’ve seen massive violations of the Constitution and people are saying it’s no big deal. But we’re also seeing massive violations of a legal principle that was established as an inalienable human right … in 1215 AD! And people are still saying it’s no big deal. This isn’t a “technical” problem or a “paperwork” issue. It reflects on our national character, and our will to preserve the rights and liberties that have existed for eight centuries.

The problem isn’t that some people bought “more house than they can afford.” The problem is that we have more rights as free citizens than the banking industry can afford. So, naturally, they want us to pretend those rights don’t exist. If we do, we’ll lose them. And that will be a really big deal.

You’ll want to go read the rest, including the other three reasons why this is a huge issue.

The President and Jon Stewart

On the off chance you’ve somehow missed the President on the Daily Show last night, or any coverage/clips of the event on TV, you really show see it. It might not need to be said, but Jon Stewart is one of the—if not the—best interviewers out there now.

The conversation was especially substantive. They discussed not just the politics of the first two years of the administration, but addressed a number of real policy issues in detail, including the Affordable Care Act, how “Change We Can Believe In” became “Change We Can Believe In But…” Steward asked hard questions, and the president gave obviously thought-out and candid answers. In short, one of those conversations where both sides seem to have had to think hard, yet it’s obvious that some kind of knowledge was passed. Sadly, this is not the case in most interviews.

Despite the substance of the conversation, what I found especially entertaining was how, at least in the beginning, overwhelmed Stewart was. He doesn’t usually cower to celebrity, but, there must be something about having the dang President of the United States sitting in front of you. That did diminish over time; in fact, after the president let slip a “he did a heckuva job,” Stewart did respond by calling the president “dude.”*

* Seriously, I’ve been watching cable news all day, and that seems to be the only thing they can talk about: “Was it appropriate for Jon Stewart to call the president “dude?”

One thing to note: This is the first time a sitting president has appeared on The Daily Show. This president is exposing himself in a number of unconventional ways; late shows (he’s appeared now, in addition to The Daily Show, on The Tonight Show and The Late Show), as well as daytime shows (The View). In fact, President Obama has given more than twice as many interviews in his first 20 months than any of the most recent presidents:

Google and Monopolies

From Scores.org, a really interesting infographic, Is Google a Monopoly? by Jess Bachman:

Google has a dominate market share of a very important gateway; internet search. Can they stay impartial when they have their own products to pitch? Whether or not they are a monopoly is up to the government and the best way to predict the future is to look to the past. Examining these four historical monopolies, and their outcomes, should give us a better sense of Google’s fate.

The “new” Christian Coalition goes live with new radio ad

Ralph Reed is back. Somehow not disgraced after his substantial role in the whole Jack Abramoff scandal (remember that?), he’s back with a new organization, the Faith and Freedom Coalition. Of course, the name just reeks of a Christian Coalition for the tea party set, and it seems that, yes, that’s exactly what it is.

(Although, they like to think of themselves as “a 21st century version of the Christian Coalition on steroids, married with Moveon.org with a sprinkling of the NRA.” Why is everything always “a _____ on steroids?” Time for new analogies, people.)

They’ve gone live with a new radio ad targeting 18 House and Senate races, to the tune of $500,000, in an effort to boost evangelical Christian turnout against the Democrats. Right at the top of that list is Sharron Angle, who appears to be pulling slightly ahead of Harry Reid in late polling.

The ad (text after the jump) focuses on how Democrats (“them”) want to stifle freedom. Not kidding. It brings up, of all things, the stimulus, trying terrorists in civilian courts, and healthcare reform. Then, how godless the Democrats are, I think, and how godly the Republicans are. It’s a little strange, but, honestly, I can see it resonating, as it’s basically what many evangelicals believe anyway.

Again, transcript after the jump.

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Poem of the Week: Her Kind

When I discovered the poetry of Anne Sexton, I was a junior in high school.  I had no reason to relate to her writing, really–no experiences, good or bad, to compare to her highs and lows: the sweetness of being a mother, the thrills and agonies of her various romances, and of course, her suicidal depression.  And yet, I did relate.  Like all the best writers, Sexton at her finest transcends her particular identity and circumstance, putting voice to emotions that, if they weren’t universal, at least a lot of us reading could tap into.  Her poetry is often somewhat strange, but I’ve always found Sexton more accessible and enjoyable than her better known contemporary (and friend) Sylvia Plath.

So, just in time for Halloween, here’s Sexton poem.  Link to Anne Sexton reading “Her Kind” aloud here.

Her Kind

by Anne Sexton

I have gone out, a possessed witch,
haunting the black air, braver at night;
dreaming evil, I have done my hitch
over the plain houses, light by light:
lonely thing, twelve-fingered, out of mind.
A woman like that is not a woman, quite.
I have been her kind.

I have found the warm caves in the woods,
filled them with skillets, carvings, shelves,
closets, silks, innumerable goods;
fixed the suppers for the worms and the elves:
whining, rearranging the disaligned.
A woman like that is misunderstood.
I have been her kind.

I have ridden in your cart, driver,
waved my nude arms at villages going by,
learning the last bright routes, survivor
where your flames still bite my thigh
and my ribs crack where your wheels wind.
A woman like that is not ashamed to die.
I have been her kind.

The tea party-backed murderer running even in the North Carolina 7

That’s Ilario Pantano, a retired Marine who, while serving in Iraq in 2004, murdered two unarmed Iraqis. From the Guardian:

The basic facts are undisputed: on 15 April 2004 Ilario Pantano, then a second lieutenant with the US marines, stopped and detained two Iraqi men in a car near Falluja. The Iraqis were unarmed and the car found to be empty of weapons.

Pantano ordered the two men to search the car for a second time and then, with no other US soldiers in view, unloaded a magazine of his M16A4 automatic rifle into them, before reloading and blasting a second magazine at them – some 60 rounds in total.

Over the corpses, he left a placard inscribed with the marine motto: “No better friend, No worse enemy.”

The criminal case against him was eventually dropped due to lack of evidence, but “the officer presiding over the hearing recommended that Pantano be given non-judicial punishment for having displayed ‘extremely poor judgment’, adding that by desecrating the Iraqi’s bodies with his placard he had brought disgrace to the armed forces.”

He’s currently standing for election in the North Carolina 7, which has not been represented by a Republican since 1871. And, he could win. Donations have flooded in: he has raised almost a million dollars. He’s practically tied in the polls with 6-term Democrat Mike McIntyre.

In this climate, apparently even a murderer has a chance of winning—we already know a philanderer can. More realistically, it’s the nihilism of today’s Republican party, where winning—where power—is more important than governing or holding to anything resembling values. Reminds me of that line from the Big Lebowski: “Nihilists! Fuck me. I mean, say what you like about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it’s an ethos.”

Pot and Race

Remarkable: Far more whites have used marijuana than of any other race/ethnicity. Yet, the drug war continues to battle black and Hispanic communities disproportionally. Jacob Sullum at Reason points out that Hispanic communities have been shown to be almost as targeted as blacks:

The authors of the DPA report, led by Queens College sociologist Harry Levine, found that from 2006 to 2008 “major cities in California arrested and prosecuted Latinos for marijuana possession at double to nearly triple the rate of whites.”

Additionally, from the Drug Policy Alliance:

Although African Americans comprise only 12.2 percent of the population and 13 percent of drug users, they make up 38 percent of those arrested for drug offenses and 59 percent of those convicted of drug offenses causing critics to call the war on drugs the “New Jim Crow.” The higher arrest rates for African Americans and Latinos do not reflect a higher abuse rate in these communities but rather a law enforcement emphasis on inner city areas where drug use and sales are more likely to take place in open-air drug markets where treatment resources are scarce.

I’ll admit that I like The League of Ordinary Gentlemen’s Jason Kuznicki’s take on those who are afraid to vote for legalization even though they’ve dabbled with the drug in the past:

The most important thing you need to understand about your youthful pot smoking is that you’re not alone. You’re not even unusual. If you’re privately making room for yourself, you’d better make room for the rest of us, too.

You — the guy who smoked a few times in college, or with that one group of friends, or at that one party — you are the average pot smoker. You are not special because you escaped marijuana. You are perfectly typical. That’s what most marijuana use is like. You try it for a while, and then you stop.

Nicholas Kristof has more.

New York Times Columnist Line of the Day

If you’re one of the four-or-so frequent readers of this here blog, chances are you also occasionally check out the New York Times op-ed page. You may even know the names: Thomas “Friedman’s Just Another Word For Nothing Left to Lose” Friedman, Gail “The Colander” Collins, Nicholas “The Dark Crystal” Kristof, &c. This is a daily feature dedicated to these folks: one line that is either awesome, funny, insightful, intelligent, ridiculous, or utterly divorced from reality.

Today’s is from Gail “The Collander” Collins, who in her column “Lessons Learned. Already.,” writes about the New York state gubernatorial debate:

This was possibly the worst debate I ever saw, and while some of that was due to the fact that the Republican, Carl Paladino, was preoccupied by his need to go to the bathroom, the big problem was all those third-party candidates clogging up the stage. I’m beginning to think we make it too easy to clutter the ballot with names of people who want to run for office only because they lack the money to achieve their true objective, which is to have a large poster of their face looming over Times Square year round, or at least get a continuing part in a reality TV show.

The coming wave

Larry Sabato with his final prediction:

Before Labor Day we issued a projection of +47 net gains for the Republicans. … Even at this late date, we see no need to do anything but tweak the total R gains, based on more complete information now available to all. Thus, we are raising the total to +55 net R seats. We consider 47 to be in the ballpark still, but more of a floor than a ceiling.

Nate Silver’s prediction actually comes pretty close:

The model’s best guess is that the new Congress will be composed of 203 Democrats and 232 Republicans: a net gain of 53 seats for the G.O.P.

In addition, Democratic odds of retaining the House dropped to 17 percent from 20 percent; their chances of doing so essentially boil down to there being systemic errors in the polling and the other indicators that the model uses, as it is likely too late for them to alter the fundamentals of the electoral landscape.

So, the two best prognosticators see a much bigger Republican wave coming in than thought even this summer. Personally, I think it’ll be smaller, but probably not by much.

For those who haven’t done the math: There are 255 Democrats and 178 Republicans in the House (two seats are vacant). Republicans need to win over 40 sears to retake the House.

Morning Constitutional – Thursday, 27 October 2010

Good morning, everybody. Kid Rock thinks Steven Tyler judging American Idol is the stupidest thing he’s ever done. Now, your morning constitutional:

Hundreds of people remain missing in Indonesia days after a tsunami blasted several remote islands in the country. Additionally, Indonesia’s Mount Merapi erupts again while victims of its first eruption are being buried.

Pakistani-born Amerian Farooque Ahmed has been charged in an attempt to bomb the D.C. subway system.

Sir John Sawers, the head of MI6, Britain’s secretive spy agency, describes torture as “illegal and abhorrent,” in the first speech by a sitting MI6 head in its 100 years.

Democrat Jerry Brown has opened a 10-point lead over his Republican rival Meg Whitman in the California gubernatorial race.

In the final week of the campaign, it appears tea party candidates are doing more hard than good for Republicans.

College costs have risen again this year, but federal college aide has also jumped.

Cogitamus: The fierce urgency of whenever.

Most Americans are concerned about paying their mortgages or rent.

North Dakota Senator Kent Conrad leading a spirited defense of TARP and the stimulus package.

As its economy booms, is it time for Germany to take center stage in the world economy?

Inventor of the Super Soaker believes he knows the key to affordable solar power.

Finally, turning poop into plastic.

Speaker Boehner?

CC photo by Flickr user House GOP Leader

I’ve never quite understood the sheer about of vitriol that’s been levied at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Sure, as the leader of the Democratic House, she is, in effect, a lightning rod for criticism, but for the past three years since she became the first women to lead the House, the attacks have been nastier than I can remember. You never saw Democrats featuring a website with a burning Gingrich, Hastert, or even DeLay. And, it always seemed that Republicans even held a somewhat-secret respect for Tip O’Neil. The tone is just nastier now. Because she’s a women? Perhaps. However, I guess when you couple it with the brutality of the Right’s attacks on the president, it may just be par for the course nowadays.

But, she’s performed a very difficult job, and done it pretty well, all things considered. She’s pretty much united a new and largely fragmented caucus. Yes, the Democrats control a larger and more meaningful majority in the House, but the party is really an amalgam of many different interests and philosophies. Liberals from the Northeast, conservatives from the South, Libertarians from the West. And, many of the newcomers, those who made the majority possible, came from districts that historically have gone Republican. The fact that she’s held this caucus together is noteworthy. Not to mention that the House has passed over 420 bills that stopped, for one reason or another, in the Senate, where the Democrat’s fractious majority is more infamous.

Even so, by all accounts, Speaker Pelosi will likely get her two-month’s notice next week, as the Republican wave takes control of the House. And part of the reason they’ll take over is by throwing her name around the country, where many see her as the symbol of some kind of failed liberal.

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Insane Clown Posse on O’Reilly Factor?

How come nobody told me this existed? This interview took place in 2001, but finally hit YouTube seven years later. Definite nod to Ezra Klein.

Also: Apparently they were supposed to be secretly Evangelical Christians?