... you can talk all night.
Monday, October 31, 2011
The gesture Cain made that, he says, brought a complaint about sexual harassment.
On Greta Van Susteren's show, he spoke of an employee in her late 30s or early 40s who accused him of sexual harassment:
Rush Limbaugh's reaction today:
"She was in my office one day, and I made a gesture saying -- and I was standing close to her -- and I made a gesture saying you are the same height as my wife. And I brought my hand up to my chin saying, 'My wife comes up to my chin.'" At that point, Cain gestured with his flattened palm near his chin. "And that was put in there [the complaint] as something that made her uncomfortable," Cain said, "something that was in the sexual harassment charge."Supposedly, the woman and her lawyer asked for a "huge" settlement, but she got very little, just enough to induce her to terminate the lawsuit.
Rush Limbaugh's reaction today:
Now, we don't have any evidence of ice packs on a busted lip as we had with Juanita Broaddrick and Bill Clinton. Yeah, Bill Clinton and Juanita Broaddrick, "Hey babe, you better put some ice on that, you're bleeding at the lip." We don't have any of that. This story appears to me to be a close relative of the hit job that the Washington Post is doing on Marco Rubio. It's not a news story. This is gutter partisan politics, and it's the politics of minority conservative personal destruction, is what you've got here. Rubio and Cain unfit to lead, don't you see. We cannot have a black Republican running for the office of president. We can't have one elected. We can't have an Hispanic.
The left owns those two groups, and those two groups are gonna forever be minorities. Those groups cannot ever be seen to be self-sufficient or rising above, on their own. Those two groups are owned -- lock, stock, and barrel -- by the Democrat Party and anything good that happens to any black or Hispanic in American politics can only happen via the Democrat Party....
This is how the mainstream media keeps the Republican Party in check: They're scared to death of this kind of thing happening to them. Pure and simple. It's also why (I'm just predicting) you're not going to see too many people in the official Republican establishment rise up to Herman Cain's defense. You know, if this exact circumstance (as I just mentioned) had happened in a conservative publication, not only would the Democrats and the media be going after the women -- as James Carville did and others during the Clinton years -- they'd be going after the reporters. They'd be going after the publication. Anybody who had anything to do with the story, it would be search-and-destroy. Our side will not do that.
Rush Limbaugh's crisis of confidence.
This is odd, because you think of him as supremely confident:
... I've been talking about things I really don't care about and I have been worried (particularly for the past month) that I'm boring everybody silly....
I'm asking myself, "Have I reached a career crossroads here?" This is a new experience for me.... I mean, I've really been agonizing over this in a career sense, and I have been dealing with it as best that I go....
[T]hat's what I've really been worrying about: "Have I lost it?" Snerdley, I've walked outta here every day the past month thinking, "This has to have been boring as hell to listen to. Just has to be," and I worry about it, 'cause every day this show I do for the audience. I don't do it for me. Well, I do do it for me. That's crazy. But I do it for the audience. I know what the audience expectations are, and they are high, and the objective here is to meet and surpass them each and every day. When I think I'm not doing that, I get depressed in terms of letting people down.
Why is Perry but not Romney or Cain beating Obama in the Rasmussen poll of Wisconsin voters?
Perry beats Obama, 46%/54%, but Obama beats Romney, 45%/41%, and Cain, 47%/42%.
I just don't get it. What's getting Perry those extra 4 or 5 percentage points here? Something about the empathy toward immigrants? The HPV vaccine? Is Wisconsin harboring some anti-Mormon or anti-black folks?
I genuinely don't know, and I also wonder what it might say about the recall effort against Scott Walker.
ADDED: Rasmussen has a new poll about Walker:
Now, here is the most interesting statistic:
I just don't get it. What's getting Perry those extra 4 or 5 percentage points here? Something about the empathy toward immigrants? The HPV vaccine? Is Wisconsin harboring some anti-Mormon or anti-black folks?
I genuinely don't know, and I also wonder what it might say about the recall effort against Scott Walker.
ADDED: Rasmussen has a new poll about Walker:
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Wisconsin Voters shows that 38% Strongly Approve of the job Walker is doing, while the same number (38%) Strongly Disapproves. Overall, the Republican governor earns positive reviews from 49% and negative grades from 49%....What's with the sex divide? Well, that's not special to Wisconsin, is it? The Perry thing... that's what's puzzling.
Walker’s overall ratings have improved since March, when 43% approved of his performance and 57% disapproved. At that time, 34% Strongly Approved of the job he was doing and 48% Strongly Disapproved....
While 55% of male voters in the state like the job the governor's doing, 55% of female voters disapprove of his performance.
Most voters under 40 disapprove of Walker, while the majority of their elders approve. Married voters and those with children in the home are more likely to approve of the governor's performance than are unmarrieds and those without children.These kids today!
Now, here is the most interesting statistic:
Just four percent (4%) of Wisconsin voters rate the U.S. economy as good or excellent, while 60% describe it as poor. Fifty-seven percent (57%) of those who think the economy is poor give Walker favorable marks.
Are the NY police relying on criminals and lowlifes to break down the protest in Zuccotti Park?
Excellent reporting by Harry Siegel at the NY Daily News:
And what of the police strategy Siegel seems to uncover? I can't say what is really going on, but suppose the police (and the Mayor) decide that it's too difficult — too much effort and too much bad press or too legally confusing — to oust the protesters from Zuccotti Park, and instead they encourage criminals and lowlifes to move in and prey upon the idealists and naifs.
Most of the working groups have been clustered at the east end of the park....Read the whole thing. It's fascinating sociology: the little society that has grown up within Zuccotti Park. It reminds me a bit of "Slouching Towards Bethlehem," Joan Didion's account of of Haight-Ashbury, which describes the decline of what was supposed to be a Utopia.
Most of the non-participants in turn pitched camp west of there, as far as possible from the workers. That dynamic reinforced itself, as occupiers nervous about their possessions and safety slept by their equipment and each other to the east, while the carnival crowd kept to the other side of Zuccotti....
The police, whom many occupiers see as the enemy and who work under a mayor who’s made no secret of his distaste for the occupiers, have little reason to help them maintain order, and rarely seem to have entered the park over the last week for anything short of an assault....
But while officers may be in a no-win situation, at the mercy of orders carried on shifting political winds and locked into conflict with a so-far almost entirely non-violent protest movement eager to frame the force as a symbol of the oppressive system they’re fighting, the NYPD seems to have crossed a line in recent days, as the park has taken on a darker tone with unsteady and unstable types suddenly seeming to emerge from the woodwork. Two different drunks I spoke with last week told me they’d been encouraged to “take it to Zuccotti” by officers who’d found them drinking in other parks, and members of the community affairs working group related several similar stories they’d heard while talking with intoxicated or aggressive new arrivals....
“The police are saying ‘it’s a free for all at Zuccotti so you can go there,’” said Daniel Zetah, a member of several working groups including community affairs. “Which makes our job harder and harder because the ratio is worse and worse.”
And what of the police strategy Siegel seems to uncover? I can't say what is really going on, but suppose the police (and the Mayor) decide that it's too difficult — too much effort and too much bad press or too legally confusing — to oust the protesters from Zuccotti Park, and instead they encourage criminals and lowlifes to move in and prey upon the idealists and naifs.
Steve Jobs's feet.
From the Walter Isaacson biography "Steve Jobs":
He was still convinced, against all evidence, that his vegan diets meant that he didn’t need to use a deodorant or take regular showers. “We would have to literally put him out the door and tell him to go take a shower,” said Markkula. “At meetings we had to look at his dirty feet.” Sometimes, to relieve stress, he would soak his feet in the toilet, a practice that was not as soothing for his colleagues.***
To produce the fully packaged Apple II would require significant capital, so they considered selling the rights to a larger company. Jobs went to Al Alcorn and asked for the chance to pitch it to Atari’s management. He set up a meeting with the company’s president, Joe Keenan, who was a lot more conservative than Alcorn and Bushnell. “Steve goes in to pitch him, but Joe couldn’t stand him,” Alcorn recalled. “He didn’t appreciate Steve’s hygiene.” Jobs was barefoot, and at one point put his feet up on a desk. “Not only are we not going to buy this thing,” Keenan shouted, “but get your feet off my desk!” Alcorn recalled thinking, “Oh, well. There goes that possibility.”
Attacks upon the neck.
Talk of a high-tech lynching got me thinking about the neck attack that made the news here in Wisconsin last June. Do you remember? State Supreme Court Justice David Prosser was said to have put Justice Ann Walsh Bradley in a "chokehold." There was an investigation, a special prosecutor, and a decision against bringing criminal charges, but there was also an investigation by the Wisconsin Judicial Commission, concentrating on judicial ethics, which nobody seems to talk about anymore.
Back in August, I wondered about the way nobody was talking about the Judicial Commission anymore, perhaps because the criminal investigation made it seem that Bradley was the aggressor and Prosser reacted in self-defense. When the tables were turned, the noise died down, but when there were only allegations that Prosser was the aggressor, protesters vilified Prosser:
Back in August, I wondered about the way nobody was talking about the Judicial Commission anymore, perhaps because the criminal investigation made it seem that Bradley was the aggressor and Prosser reacted in self-defense. When the tables were turned, the noise died down, but when there were only allegations that Prosser was the aggressor, protesters vilified Prosser:
This is the level of left-wing activism we witnessed here in Madison. A justice is despised because his decisions do not please liberals, and so, without thought, they forgot about things liberals like to love themselves for caring about, such as fairness and due process....Speaking of turning the tables, liberal hypocrisy, and David Blaska, he's writing about a new incident here in Madison:
[Isthmus blogger David] Blaska demands apologies from people who should be "ashamed of their lynch mob mentality." He names the "practitioners of the dark arts of 'by any means necessary.'"
A Dane County prosecutor says she believes Madison Ald. Brian Solomon sexually assaulted a city employee who is assigned to work with the common council. But the district attorney's office won't bring him to trial only because, it says, getting a unanimous jury to convict would be chancy....
Is the Left calling for Ald. Solomon to resign? Not that I can tell. No righteous indignation from The Capital Times. Crickets at Madame Brenda's Forward Lookout website. No protest rallies in front of the Capitol. The drum circles are silent.
The Former Kathleen, County Supes Melissa Sargent and Diane Hesselbine, and Madison Ald. Lisa Subeck suffered no such reticence in organizing a shouting, chanting Capitol rally on July 12 demanding that Supreme Court Justice David Prosser resign for allegedly choking fellow Justice Anne Walsh Bradley. They did so even as the legal system was in the midst of a careful, detailed inquiry. No, the feminist lynch mob could not wait for due process....
Why the differing responses? We know why, don't we class? Brian Solomon is a liberal, he's Progressive Dane for chrissakes! He's for the victim (even if he creates some of them).
High-tech lynching + Herman Cain.
A Google search returns 35,400 results the day after Politico drops its story about 2 female employees who, years ago, were angered and upset by what they said was "sexually suggestive behavior" by Herman Cain.
Let's listen to the original use of the phrase "high-tech lynching." It was just about exactly 20 years ago that Clarence Thomas, nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court by George H. W. Bush, faced the Senate Judiciary Committee, which, under the watch of Senator Joe Biden, heard testimony accusing him of sexual harassment.
Let's listen to the original use of the phrase "high-tech lynching." It was just about exactly 20 years ago that Clarence Thomas, nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court by George H. W. Bush, faced the Senate Judiciary Committee, which, under the watch of Senator Joe Biden, heard testimony accusing him of sexual harassment.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Saturday's protest ambiance: mellow, low-key.
A woman dressed in nonthreatening witch garb stood under the "Forward" statue and implored people to assemble for an "Oakland March" — which I presume was a protest against the recent attempt by the police in Oakland, California to oust the Occupy Oakland protesters.
People gave the "witch" a wide berth. It was a Farmers' Market day, so the Capitol Square was pretty crowded, mostly with people who didn't seem to be shopping for any new political ideas. But there was a woman standing under a black "Recall Walker" umbrella, and a man with a lot of 9/11 Truther paraphernalia.
Then there was this man with a "Decline of Western Civilization" poster. It's got this quote that's attributed to Alexander Fraser Tytler, a Scottish-born British writer who died in 1813.
The Wikipedia article says: Tytler "believed that 'a pure democracy is a chimera,' and that 'All government is essentially of the nature of a monarchy.'" The "Tytler Cycle" that appears on the poster is unlikely to have been written by Tytler. I'm not sure what political position the poster-holder is trying to take. He has a "you are here" pointer — see the enlargement — between "from Abundance to Complacency" and "from Complacency to Apathy." "Apathy" subsequently leads to "Dependence," which makes me think he's taking a right-wing position against the people becoming dependent on government. "Dependence" leads to "Bondage," which gets us back to the beginning of the cycle. But I'm going to assume that he means it in a left-wing way. Right?
People gave the "witch" a wide berth. It was a Farmers' Market day, so the Capitol Square was pretty crowded, mostly with people who didn't seem to be shopping for any new political ideas. But there was a woman standing under a black "Recall Walker" umbrella, and a man with a lot of 9/11 Truther paraphernalia.
Then there was this man with a "Decline of Western Civilization" poster. It's got this quote that's attributed to Alexander Fraser Tytler, a Scottish-born British writer who died in 1813.
The Wikipedia article says: Tytler "believed that 'a pure democracy is a chimera,' and that 'All government is essentially of the nature of a monarchy.'" The "Tytler Cycle" that appears on the poster is unlikely to have been written by Tytler. I'm not sure what political position the poster-holder is trying to take. He has a "you are here" pointer — see the enlargement — between "from Abundance to Complacency" and "from Complacency to Apathy." "Apathy" subsequently leads to "Dependence," which makes me think he's taking a right-wing position against the people becoming dependent on government. "Dependence" leads to "Bondage," which gets us back to the beginning of the cycle. But I'm going to assume that he means it in a left-wing way. Right?
"Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow."
The last words of Steve Jobs, recounted by his sister, the novelist Mona Simpson, in her fine eulogy.
On "Face the Nation," Bob Schieffer chastised Herman Cain about the "smoking man" ad.
Bob Schieffer could not restrain himself within the role of journalist today. It was pretty ridiculous:
BOB SCHIEFFER: Mister Cain, I-- I just have to ask you. What is the point of that, having a man smoke a cigarette in a television commercial for you?This is a journalistic interview with a frontrunning presidential candidate? What an embarrassment. Too bad Herman Cain had to refrain from telling Schieffer he ought to take personal responsibility for the habits he indulged in that made him sick. Can you believe how long Schieffer belabored the subject?
HERMAN CAIN: One of the themes within this campaign is let Herman be Herman. Mark Block is a smoker, and we say let Mark be Mark. That's all we're trying to say because we believe let people be people. He doesn't deny that he's a smoker. This isn't trying to--
BOB SCHIEFFER: Are you a smoker?
HERMAN CAIN: No, I'm not a smoker. But I don't have a problem if that's his choice. So let Herman be Herman. Let Mark be Mark. Let people be people. This wasn't intended to send any subliminal signal whatsoever.
BOB SCHIEFFER: But it does. It sends a signal that it's cool to smoke.
HERMAN CAIN: No, it does not. Mark Block smokes. That's all that ad says. We weren't trying to say it's cool to smoke. You have a lot of people in this country that smoke but what I respect about Mark as a smoker, who is my chief of staff, he never smokes around me or smokes around anyone else. He goes outside.
BOB SCHIEFFER: But he smokes on television.
HERMAN CAIN: Well, he smokes on television. But that was no other subliminal message.
BOB SCHIEFFER: Was it meant to be funny?
HERMAN CAIN: It was meant to be informative, if they listen to the message where he said, "America has never seen a candidate like Herman Cain." That was the main point of it. And the-- the bit on the end, we didn't know whether it was going to be funny to some people or whether they were going to ignore it--
BOB SCHIEFFER (overlapping): Well--
HERMAN CAIN: --or whatever the case may be.
BOB SCHIEFFER: --let me just tell you, it's not funny to me.
HERMAN CAIN: Okay.
BOB SCHIEFFER: I am a cancer survivor--
HERMAN CAIN: Right.
BOB SCHIEFFER: --like you.
HERMAN CAIN: I am also.
BOB SCHIEFFER: I had cancer that's smoking related.
HERMAN CAIN: Yes.
BOB SCHIEFFER: I don't think it serves the country well. And this is an editorial opinion here, to be showing someone smoking a cigarette. And-- and you are the front-runner now. And it seems to me as front-runner, you would have a responsibility, not to take that kind of a tone in this. I would suggest that perhaps, as the front-runner, you'd want to raise the level of the campaign.
HERMAN CAIN: We will do that, Bob. And I do respect your objection to the ad. And probably about thirty percent of the feedback was very similar to yours. It was not intended to offend anyone. And being a cancer-- being a cancer survivor myself, I am sensitive to that sort of thing.
BOB SCHIEFFER: Would you take the ad down?
HERMAN CAIN: Well, it's on the internet. We didn't run it on TV. And once--
BOB SCHIEFFER (overlapping): Well, why don't you--
HERMAN CAIN: Once--
BOB SCHIEFFER: --take it off the internet?
HERMAN CAIN: It's impossible to do now. Once you put it on the internet, it goes viral. We could take it off of our website but there are other sites that have already picked it up. It's nearly impossible to-- to erase that ad from the internet.
BOB SCHIEFFER: Have-- have you ever thought of just saying to young people, don't smoke? Four hundred thousand people in America die every year--
HERMAN CAIN (overlapping): I--
BOB SCHIEFFER: --from smoking related.
HERMAN CAIN: I will have no problem saying that. And matter of fact--
BOB SCHIEFFER (overlapping): Well, say it right now.
HERMAN CAIN: Young people of America, all people, do not smoke. It is hazardous and it's dangerous to your health. Don't smoke. I've-- I've never smoked and I have encouraged people not to smoke. So, I don't--
BOB SCHIEFFER (overlapping): And it's not a cool thing to do.
HERMAN CAIN: It is not a cool thing to do. And that's-- that's not what I was trying to say. Smoking is not a cool thing to do.
The mess that is "Meet the Press" had me laughing until tears ran down my face.
We watch the NBC show on DVR and pause frequently to analyze, dissect, and mock. Here's today's transcript. They had Walter Isaacson, the author of that terrific new biography of Steve Jobs, and then they also had Tom Brokaw, NBC's retired news anchor, who also has a new book. It might make a mildly appreciated Christmas present for any members of the "greatest generation" who still survive in your family. Pushing Brokaw's book, they subjected us to text like this:
It was so frustrating, because we so much wanted to hear what Isaacson had to say about Steve Jobs, but Gregory had to keep weaving in the platitudinous themes of Brokow's book, and the effort was ludicrous:
Isaacson tried to fit in. He quoted someone who once told Jobs he "would make an excellent king of France" and noted that "when you're the president in a democracy, in a divided government, you can't just order and lead by fiat." Yes, and? Come on, Walter. You don't have to temper your remarks lest the air just become more and more toxic until it is suffocating. Lay it on the line. It would be insane to have a President like Steve Jobs! Oh, but... oh, no... Brokaw needs to talk...
Brokaw goes on about how he got a Macintosh when they first came out and he had the CEO of IBM over at his house and the IBM guy didn't think Macs were serious. Yes, yes, we were talking about the "reality distortion field" and the presidency. There was some potential for insight, and Brokaw drags us back to that time in the 80s when he had the CEO of IBM over to the house.
"Slashing rhetoric and outrageous characterizations have long been part of the American national political dialogue ... but modern means of communications are now so pervasive and penetrating they might as well be part of the air we breathe, and therefore they require tempered remarks from all sides. Otherwise, the air just becomes more and more toxic until it is suffocating."Imagine what blather must have been in that before they did the ellipsis. And try translating it into plain English. You see what he's saying? In the old days of network broadcasting, people only heard from designated authorities like me, but now that everyone's voice can be heard, it's time to tone it all down. Now that there's so much potential for opinion, it should all be made very bland, because it's hurting my tummy. And my old, old lungs. I can't breathe because other people are talking too much. All this newfangled media. Why back in my day, everybody listened to me and the air was fresh and clean.
It was so frustrating, because we so much wanted to hear what Isaacson had to say about Steve Jobs, but Gregory had to keep weaving in the platitudinous themes of Brokow's book, and the effort was ludicrous:
MR. GREGORY: It's interesting about Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson, because part of what I think Tom is talking about is not only a sense of national purpose and civic identity, but it's also a can-do practicality that he really manifested. And this is how you write about it, the distortion reality--reality distortion field that you write about throughout the book, and this is how it was described in the book...Those quotes are about the way Steve Jobs generated a "reality distortion field" that had some effects that were very positive and some that were very negative (like the way it killed him). That doesn't translate to "can-do practicality." Gregory was only saying "can-do practicality" to connect it to the book Brokaw got on the show to promote. What would happen if the country was run by a Steve Jobs type who set up a "reality distortion field" and barraged us with charismatic rhetorical style and indomitable will?!
"Steve has a reality distortion field. ... In his presence, reality is malleable. He can convince anyone of practically anything. It wears off when he's not around, but it makes it hard to have realistic schedules." Bud Tribble, part of that original Mac team, the Macintosh team.
Also, "The reality distortion field was a confounding melange of a charismatic rhetorical style, indomitable will, and eagerness to bend any fact to fit the" purposes--the "purpose at hand." Andy Hertzfeld, also part of that original Macintosh team.
Why doesn't Washington have that kind of can-do practicality where they could--he cannot blink when he stares at you and say, "Get your mind around this. Get this done."
Isaacson tried to fit in. He quoted someone who once told Jobs he "would make an excellent king of France" and noted that "when you're the president in a democracy, in a divided government, you can't just order and lead by fiat." Yes, and? Come on, Walter. You don't have to temper your remarks lest the air just become more and more toxic until it is suffocating. Lay it on the line. It would be insane to have a President like Steve Jobs! Oh, but... oh, no... Brokaw needs to talk...
Brokaw goes on about how he got a Macintosh when they first came out and he had the CEO of IBM over at his house and the IBM guy didn't think Macs were serious. Yes, yes, we were talking about the "reality distortion field" and the presidency. There was some potential for insight, and Brokaw drags us back to that time in the 80s when he had the CEO of IBM over to the house.
Matt Yglesias says "Let Children Vote."
The notion is: they probably won't, but the ones who do would probably "come from an unusually dedicated and informed sub-set of American teenagers."
Matt himself is, despite appearances, already old enough to vote. His idea reminds me of one of my earliest political opinions. It was 1960. I was 9. I said: "If kids could vote, it would be a landslide for Nixon." It seemed so unfair! If only kids could vote.
Speaking of unfairness, the voting age changed from 21 to 18 in the year I turned 21. It was 1972, my first chance to vote for President, and suddenly all the 18 and up kids could vote too. Of course, I voted for McGovern. Now, to be realistic, if the voting age had been 18 all along, 1972 would still have been my first presidential vote. I was only 17 in 1968. It was so unfair. But I was able to inform my unduly conventional parents about my (unusually dedicated!) support for Eldridge Cleaver. Peace and Freedom!
Oh, I know what you're thinking. How did she get from Nixon to Cleaver in 8 years? It's called teenage.
Matt himself is, despite appearances, already old enough to vote. His idea reminds me of one of my earliest political opinions. It was 1960. I was 9. I said: "If kids could vote, it would be a landslide for Nixon." It seemed so unfair! If only kids could vote.
Speaking of unfairness, the voting age changed from 21 to 18 in the year I turned 21. It was 1972, my first chance to vote for President, and suddenly all the 18 and up kids could vote too. Of course, I voted for McGovern. Now, to be realistic, if the voting age had been 18 all along, 1972 would still have been my first presidential vote. I was only 17 in 1968. It was so unfair. But I was able to inform my unduly conventional parents about my (unusually dedicated!) support for Eldridge Cleaver. Peace and Freedom!
Oh, I know what you're thinking. How did she get from Nixon to Cleaver in 8 years? It's called teenage.
Yesterday, we drove past the new "Occupy Madison" encampment...
... which you can see in the first 10 seconds of this 14-minute video...
... and you can hang out with Meade and me for the rest of the drive if you want. You'll see some more of Madison and the University of Wisconsin and eavesdrop on us. It's not all politics, I assure you, at 2 p.m. on a beautiful Saturday.
ADDED: A couple extra videos for reference. Here's the awesome song "United We Stand" by Brotherhood of Man:
And here's one of the wonderful "I'm a Pepper" commercials from the 1970s:
Of course, you must know the Herman Cain "smoking man" commercial, and here's the take-off by the Huntsman daughters.
AND: 2 more references. Donald Rumsfeld:
And Little Edie:
... and you can hang out with Meade and me for the rest of the drive if you want. You'll see some more of Madison and the University of Wisconsin and eavesdrop on us. It's not all politics, I assure you, at 2 p.m. on a beautiful Saturday.
ADDED: A couple extra videos for reference. Here's the awesome song "United We Stand" by Brotherhood of Man:
And here's one of the wonderful "I'm a Pepper" commercials from the 1970s:
Of course, you must know the Herman Cain "smoking man" commercial, and here's the take-off by the Huntsman daughters.
AND: 2 more references. Donald Rumsfeld:
And Little Edie:
"This is snow, it's not going to kill us. What they're doing to us will kill us. What they're doing to our world."
Winter comes early to Zuccotti Park, where — as the apparently editorless New York Magazine puts it — tents "are explicitly forgiven."
That beaming middle-aged finance facilitator isn't the first one to liken the plight of the occupiers to Valley Forge. Here's an AP bit from 3 days ago:
While the occupation's ranks have thinned, the hard-core activists are sticking around, huddling in a large central tent and distributing donated sleeping bags. "It's like Valley Forge out there now," a beaming middle-aged finance facilitator named Mercury John told me. "But it's a beautiful day ... We'll keep splashing in the puddles."Valley Forge. Except you have the option to go inside whenever you want, and you're getting something to eat besides "fire cake,' a tasteless mixture of flour and water." And you don't have typhoid and dysentery. And no one is expecting you to fight a war. But yeah, it's like Valley Forge.
That beaming middle-aged finance facilitator isn't the first one to liken the plight of the occupiers to Valley Forge. Here's an AP bit from 3 days ago:
“Everyone’s been calling it our Valley Forge moment,” said Michael McCarthy, a former Navy medic in Providence. “Everybody thought that George Washington couldn’t possibly survive in the Northeast.”Actually, it was easier for the Valley Forge folks to put up with the harsh conditions. There weren't buildings all around that they could duck into if they lost heart.
Anne Applebaum prattles about the divide in America between the upper-middle class and the lower-middle class.
Instapundit pointed me to this piece, so I read it:
Applebaum poses what she must think is a ponderous question:
We're a diverse bunch, we Americans. But I think most of us understand the way we are equal in America. We have equal rights and equal opportunity. We have never had equal economic outcomes, and very few of us have ever believed in the kind of politics that say we need equal economic status to feel like political equals.
Despite all the loud talk of the “1 per cent” of Americans who, according to a recent study, receive about 17 per cent of the income, a percentage which has more than doubled since 1979, the existence of a very small group of very rich people has never bothered Americans. But the fact that some 20 per cent of Americans now receive some 53 per cent of the income is devastating.What?! "It seems..."? It doesn't seem that way to me! I'm securely in the "upper middle class" as Applebaum describes it, yet I don't see myself as easily grasping the things on that list of what it takes to feel you're doing "minimally 'well.'" Why would people distributed throughout the middle class feel left behind because they can't get all that? Applebaum seems radically out of touch with reality. Do people even want McMansions anymore? The professors I know seem to love modest-sized houses when they have a nice design and some pretty gardens. And I don't know anyone who comfortably shells out cash for college tuition. And who are these people who think it's necessary to get over to Europe in the summer?
I would argue that the growing divisions within the American middle class are far more important than the gap between the very richest and everybody else. They are important because to be “middle class”, in America, has such positive connotations, and because most Americans think they belong in it...
“Middle America” also once implied the existence of a broad group of people who had similar values and a similar lifestyle. If you had a small suburban home, a car, a child at a state university, an annual holiday on a Michigan lake, you were part of it. But, at some point in the past 20 years, a family living at that level lost the sense that it was doing “well”, and probably struggled even to stay there. Now it seems you need a McMansion, children at private universities, two cars, a ski trip in the winter and a summer vacation in Europe in order to feel as if you are doing minimally “well”. ...
Applebaum poses what she must think is a ponderous question:
[I]f Americans are no longer “all in the same boat”, if some of them are now destined to live better than others, then will they continue to feel like political equals?They? Why is she saying "they"?! I'd say we will go on as we always have. We look at those who have more, make some choices, and do what we can. Some of us get motivated to work harder at making money, and maybe we succeed and maybe we don't. Some of us decide not to work so hard but to control our covetousness and develop our capacity to love what we have. (Why not leave Europe to the Europeans and buy an annual pass to your state's parks and value the beauty of the landscape you live in? That's what Meade and I do.) And, yes, some of us fall prey to bitterness and cynicism, and if that happens, we can either perceive this state of mind as our own character flaw or plunge deeply into blaming others.
We're a diverse bunch, we Americans. But I think most of us understand the way we are equal in America. We have equal rights and equal opportunity. We have never had equal economic outcomes, and very few of us have ever believed in the kind of politics that say we need equal economic status to feel like political equals.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
What the "Occupy Madison" encampment looked like today...
"Why were we born?"
"What were we born for?"
The link goes to a commercial — in Japanese, with subtitles — for an insurance company. I am presenting it neutrally for you to comment on.
ADDED: After I watched that, YouTube suggested that I watch this ad, which I will comment on and say I liked:
The link goes to a commercial — in Japanese, with subtitles — for an insurance company. I am presenting it neutrally for you to comment on.
ADDED: After I watched that, YouTube suggested that I watch this ad, which I will comment on and say I liked:
"Are you just occupying space?"
The Occupy Wall Street — or Occupy [Your City] — movement made me remember an old expression: "Are you just occupying space?" It was normally preceded by another question. For example: "Are you getting any work done or are you just occupying space?" In the expression, to "occupy" is to be irritatingly passive and ineffectual. In my experience, it was a relatively mild insult, usually deployed by mothers and schoolteachers.
Should protesters want to convey an aura of inaction? Perhaps! Think of the old protest slogan: "We're here/We're queer/Get used to it." The message is: look, we exist. The onlooker is challenged to stop denying the existence of the people who are making their existence apparent by just occupying space. That's all.
What's perplexing about Occupy [Your City] is that the onlookers already know that people affected by the economy exist. Everyone is affected. The onlookers don't feel that they are at any sort of distanced relationship to the problem the protesters are attempting to highlight. The protesters are simply the people who have taken up urban camping as a manifestation of concern about the problem.
The onlookers might admire the protesters for their stamina and hardiness, but they might also be annoyed by the filth and chaos, especially if it undermines their ability to pursue their own livelihood. Why do these people who are just occupying space think they are heroic when I work all day and go home at night to take care of my family?
The protesters should be able to connect with the nonprotesters, since the economic problems are shared and there's little emphasis on solutions. (Did you see this Onion piece: "Nation Finally Breaks Down And Begs Its Smart People To Just Fix Everything"?) There shouldn't be an us/them relationship between the protesters and onlookers. It's a shared predicament, and the protesters don't have superior knowledge about the problems or what to do about them. But they are there, out on the street. Then what?
They could turn inward and resist communication, like the Occupy Oakland protesters who wore masks and then turned their backs on a reporter who wanted to interview them about what they were doing. But it would be better for them to turn outward, adopting a demeanor that would allow onlookers to talk with them and have real conversations about shared problems. Of course, a conversation goes both ways. You can't just harangue people. There must be back and forth, and since the protesters don't really know what to do about the problems, they can demonstrate their good faith by really engaging.
An outsider to the protest should be able to move into the crowd and get a dialogue going, the way investment guru Peter Schiff did the other day:
Last March, during the height of the occupation of the Wisconsin Capitol, we were impressed by a man — we call him "The Man in the Middle" — who was not one of protesters, who took a seat in the center of the rotunda and invited people to sit down and talk to him one on one. That was one of the best moments in the protests.
Why don't people talk to each other? There was a popular chant last winter — now taken up by the Occupy crowds — "This is what democracy looks like." But democracy should look like people talking to each other. Not staring each other down from a secure distance.
Should protesters want to convey an aura of inaction? Perhaps! Think of the old protest slogan: "We're here/We're queer/Get used to it." The message is: look, we exist. The onlooker is challenged to stop denying the existence of the people who are making their existence apparent by just occupying space. That's all.
What's perplexing about Occupy [Your City] is that the onlookers already know that people affected by the economy exist. Everyone is affected. The onlookers don't feel that they are at any sort of distanced relationship to the problem the protesters are attempting to highlight. The protesters are simply the people who have taken up urban camping as a manifestation of concern about the problem.
The onlookers might admire the protesters for their stamina and hardiness, but they might also be annoyed by the filth and chaos, especially if it undermines their ability to pursue their own livelihood. Why do these people who are just occupying space think they are heroic when I work all day and go home at night to take care of my family?
The protesters should be able to connect with the nonprotesters, since the economic problems are shared and there's little emphasis on solutions. (Did you see this Onion piece: "Nation Finally Breaks Down And Begs Its Smart People To Just Fix Everything"?) There shouldn't be an us/them relationship between the protesters and onlookers. It's a shared predicament, and the protesters don't have superior knowledge about the problems or what to do about them. But they are there, out on the street. Then what?
They could turn inward and resist communication, like the Occupy Oakland protesters who wore masks and then turned their backs on a reporter who wanted to interview them about what they were doing. But it would be better for them to turn outward, adopting a demeanor that would allow onlookers to talk with them and have real conversations about shared problems. Of course, a conversation goes both ways. You can't just harangue people. There must be back and forth, and since the protesters don't really know what to do about the problems, they can demonstrate their good faith by really engaging.
An outsider to the protest should be able to move into the crowd and get a dialogue going, the way investment guru Peter Schiff did the other day:
Last March, during the height of the occupation of the Wisconsin Capitol, we were impressed by a man — we call him "The Man in the Middle" — who was not one of protesters, who took a seat in the center of the rotunda and invited people to sit down and talk to him one on one. That was one of the best moments in the protests.
Why don't people talk to each other? There was a popular chant last winter — now taken up by the Occupy crowds — "This is what democracy looks like." But democracy should look like people talking to each other. Not staring each other down from a secure distance.
Friday, October 28, 2011
At the Prairie Café...
... you can hang out with us all night. (We're watching Game 7. Are you?)
UPDATE: Nice work by the St. Louis Cardinals.
Critiquing mainstream media and praising Occupy Wall Street, Dahlia Lithwick accidentally slams Barack Obama.
This essay rambles along, excusing OWS for its vague message on the theory that cable TV newsfolk just don't understand:
Occupy Wall Street is... a movement that has wisely shunned the one-note, pre-chewed, simple-minded messaging required for cable television as it now exists....Okay. The media doesn't get it. Check. Now, look at the final paragraph.
The mainstream media... has no idea whatsoever of how to report on a story that isn’t about easy fixes so much as it is about anguished human frustration and fear....
While the mainstream media expresses puzzlement and fear at these incomprehensible “protesters” with their oddly well-worded “signs,” the rest of us see our own concerns reflected back at us and understand perfectly....
By refusing to take a ragtag, complicated, and leaderless movement seriously, the mainstream media has succeeded only in ensuring its own irrelevance. The rest of America has little trouble understanding that these are ragtag, complicated, and leaderless times. This may not make for great television, but any movement that acknowledges that fact deserves enormous credit.These are leaderless times?! Whatever happened to The One?
Why do people have so much trouble understanding Herman Cain's smoking guy ad?
Back in 2007, we were able to get Mike Gravel's throwing-a-rock-in-the-water ad:
Maybe some day Mark Block — the smoking guy — will explain his ad the way Mike Gravel explained his ad here:
All right, now... try again. Here's the smoking guy ad:
Do you understand now? It is a little different, but there are similarities, and I don't just mean that both ads are weird and went viral as a result. Both have an old white guy, who seems pretty boring and rather surly, with his face right up in the camera. In both ads, you endure that face. How long must I look at this old guy?
Finally, something happens. In the Gravel ad, the old guy throws a rock in the water. Ah! In the Herman Cain ad, what happens is... the music comes on — "I am America!" — and the old guy starts smoking. It's absurd and still about oldness. This old man is doing that old thing from the past — smoking! What the hell? Then suddenly... Cain! He looks so fresh-faced, and he's not surly at all. He's got this slow-breaking smile. It takes 5 seconds for the smile to broaden to the point where the teeth begin to show. And those are not smoker's teeth. They are sparkling white teeth. We see that smile for 10 whole seconds.
And then you go on to talk about — not the 10-second long smile — but the smoker guy. Why was that man smoking?! You watch it again and get other people to watch it as your conscious mind dithers over the puzzle of the smoking man. And all along, you're falling — unwittingly — in love with the man with the beautiful smile.
Watch it again. See the smile. Sly!
Maybe some day Mark Block — the smoking guy — will explain his ad the way Mike Gravel explained his ad here:
All right, now... try again. Here's the smoking guy ad:
Do you understand now? It is a little different, but there are similarities, and I don't just mean that both ads are weird and went viral as a result. Both have an old white guy, who seems pretty boring and rather surly, with his face right up in the camera. In both ads, you endure that face. How long must I look at this old guy?
Finally, something happens. In the Gravel ad, the old guy throws a rock in the water. Ah! In the Herman Cain ad, what happens is... the music comes on — "I am America!" — and the old guy starts smoking. It's absurd and still about oldness. This old man is doing that old thing from the past — smoking! What the hell? Then suddenly... Cain! He looks so fresh-faced, and he's not surly at all. He's got this slow-breaking smile. It takes 5 seconds for the smile to broaden to the point where the teeth begin to show. And those are not smoker's teeth. They are sparkling white teeth. We see that smile for 10 whole seconds.
And then you go on to talk about — not the 10-second long smile — but the smoker guy. Why was that man smoking?! You watch it again and get other people to watch it as your conscious mind dithers over the puzzle of the smoking man. And all along, you're falling — unwittingly — in love with the man with the beautiful smile.
Watch it again. See the smile. Sly!
Paul Ryan at the Heritage Foundation: "Saving the American Idea."
Here's 52 whole minutes if you've got the time for a full serving of Paul Ryanosity:
Posters, with window reflections.
Some interesting sayings, especially for Madison:
(Enlarge.)
(Enlarge.)
Inside the Overture Center, it was a demonstration of poster printing.
ADDED: I enlarged a photograph enough to see the printer's name "Kennedy Prints," and Googling, I got here and found this trailer for a documentary about Amos Paul Kennedy Jr.:
Wow! Click on the last link in the post for a picture of Kennedy. Click through to the enlargements. The aphorisms on the posters are really terrific.
(Enlarge.)
(Enlarge.)
Inside the Overture Center, it was a demonstration of poster printing.
ADDED: I enlarged a photograph enough to see the printer's name "Kennedy Prints," and Googling, I got here and found this trailer for a documentary about Amos Paul Kennedy Jr.:
Wow! Click on the last link in the post for a picture of Kennedy. Click through to the enlargements. The aphorisms on the posters are really terrific.
A quote from Bill Daley, the White House Chief of Staff. Guess what he's talking about?
"That was a freakin’ drag out, knockout, every day sort of bing-bang-bong. There isn’t that now. There isn’t a sort of 'woe is us,' kind of dragging around, tail between the legs. Maybe there ought to be, but there sure isn’t."
What is he comparing to what?
He's comparing the Clinton impeachment days to the present situation in the White House.
Daley was Secretary of Commerce in the Clinton years. The entire linked article is worth reading. Excerpt:
What is he comparing to what?
He's comparing the Clinton impeachment days to the present situation in the White House.
Daley was Secretary of Commerce in the Clinton years. The entire linked article is worth reading. Excerpt:
So do you think, I ask, that President Obama would be satisfied saying, “We did a good job, we did good stuff,” and if he’s a one-term president, “That’s the verdict of history”?
“Nope, no, absolutely not!” Daley begins, shaking his head and then growing more outraged at the thought of a single term entering the president’s mind. “I think he’d be angry! Pissed! Unhappy! Frustrated! No, if somebody said yes to that, that would be crazy.
But the polls stink.
“Considering the debacle that he came in with, the tough choices he’s made and how there have been few, if any breaks, he says it himself all the time,” Daley says. “He doesn’t know why he’s as high as 44 percent.”
"Juggalos are traditionally fans of the musical group the Insane Clown Posse."
Says the FBI in its 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment. Jesse Walker at Hit & Run comments: "I'd love to learn more about those non-traditional Juggalos who are not fans of Insane Clown Posse."
"The continuing economic downturn has drastically altered the internal migration habits of Americans..."
"... turning the flood of migrants into the Sun Belt and out of states like New York, Massachusetts and California into a relative trickle..."
West nowhere, young man.
Essentially, millions of Americans have become frozen in place, researchers say, unable to sell their homes and unsure they would find jobs elsewhere anyway.Go
Person-based praise and process-based praise — are you praising your kids the best way?
"The parents who gave more process-praise had children who believe their intelligence and social qualities could be developed and they were more eager for challenges" — according to Stanford researcher Carol Dweck, quoted in this essay by Jenny Anderson.
I haven't delved through Dweck's study, but I wonder whether correlation is causation here. Maybe less intelligent parents are the ones who make "person-based" comments like "You're so smart!" and more intelligent parents figure out that it is better not to tell the child what he is but to talk about the specifics of the thing that he is attempting to do. If so, the difference in intelligence may be simply inborn.
I haven't delved through Dweck's study, but I wonder whether correlation is causation here. Maybe less intelligent parents are the ones who make "person-based" comments like "You're so smart!" and more intelligent parents figure out that it is better not to tell the child what he is but to talk about the specifics of the thing that he is attempting to do. If so, the difference in intelligence may be simply inborn.
"In the history of baseball, there have been a small collection of World Series games identified solely by the moniker 'Game 6.'"
So begins David Waldstein in his write-up of last night's World Series game. It's an exciting read. But there are 2 more new essays on the game in the NYT alone.
Tyler Kpner begins:
Tyler Kpner begins:
The two men, both in their 70’s, with decades in baseball and a fortune to their names, huddled together in the runway outside the home clubhouse at Busch Stadium early Friday morning. They could have been caffeinated Little Leaguers at a pizza parlor, celebrating the most thrilling game of their lives.Pat Borzi begins:
He guessed right on a changeup, and once the ball left David Freese’s bat, he saw everything. The soaring drive deep to center field. Josh Hamilton chasing it for a few steps, then giving up. And a solitary usher in the bleachers trying to stop joyous St. Louis Cardinals fans from jumping onto the grassy batter’s eye in pursuit of Freese’s game-winning home run.It's a sportswriters' contest. Fabulous raw material. As the teams compete to determine who's the best in the land, so do the sportswriters.
NY police union threatens to bring civil lawsuits against the protesters who assault police officers.
The NY Daily News reports:
[T]he president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association warned demonstrators that he will pursue civil suits against anyone who assaults any union member.A protester responds:
"New York's police officers are working around the clock as the already overburdened economy in New York is being drained by 'occupiers' who intentionally and maliciously instigate needless and violent confrontations with the police," SBA President Ed Mullins said in a statement....
Seventeen demonstrators were arrested and six officers were assaulted during a chaotic march to Union Square on Wednesday night, police said.
"We have been brutalized and mass-arrested by the NYPD. They can threaten us all they want - we've got lawyers, too."That's the classic informed citizen's response: You sue me, and I'll sue you.
"Four Reasons Keynesians Keep Getting It Wrong."
Allan H. Meltzer in the WSJ:
First, big increases in spending and government deficits raise the prospect of future tax increases...
Second, most of the government spending programs redistribute income from workers to the unemployed....
Third, Keynesian models totally ignore the negative effects of the stream of costly new regulations that pour out of the Obama bureaucracy....
Fourth, U.S. fiscal and monetary policies are mainly directed at getting a near-term result....
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Rangers about to win the World Series?
Are you watching?
ADDED: For some reason, Meade and I have fallen into rooting for different teams. I'm for Texas.
AND: The game continues.
PLUS: Freese! The series continues.
ADDED: For some reason, Meade and I have fallen into rooting for different teams. I'm for Texas.
AND: The game continues.
PLUS: Freese! The series continues.
"Why Don't More Law Schools Teach Reproductive Rights Classes?"
Asks Alexandra Harwin over at Slate's XXfactor. What a phony issue!
The subject is taught as part of Constitutional Law, which virtually every law student takes. In the Constitutional Law casebooks I've seen, it's the main subtopic under the Due Process Clause. Yes, a lawprof might decide to offer an upper-level seminar concentrating on reproductive rights, but the absence of a course like that scarcely means students walk away from law school without studying the key cases on birth control and abortion.
It would make more sense to complain about how much time is spent in Constitutional Law trying to comb through the multiple discordant opinions in these cases, considering the limited usefulness of the enlightenment to be derived.
The subject is taught as part of Constitutional Law, which virtually every law student takes. In the Constitutional Law casebooks I've seen, it's the main subtopic under the Due Process Clause. Yes, a lawprof might decide to offer an upper-level seminar concentrating on reproductive rights, but the absence of a course like that scarcely means students walk away from law school without studying the key cases on birth control and abortion.
It would make more sense to complain about how much time is spent in Constitutional Law trying to comb through the multiple discordant opinions in these cases, considering the limited usefulness of the enlightenment to be derived.
Occupy Wall Street food servers get sick of the "professional homeless people."
"They know what they’re doing."
For three days beginning tomorrow, the cooks will serve only brown rice and other spartan grub instead of the usual menu of organic chicken and vegetables, spaghetti bolognese, and roasted beet and sheep’s-milk-cheese salad.What if everyone suddenly got sick of freeloaders?
They will also provide directions to local soup kitchens for the vagrants, criminals and other freeloaders who have been descending on Zuccotti Park in increasing numbers every day.
Santorum ad goes after Herman Cain on abortion.
The ad uses video from Cain's interview with Piers Morgan, which I've blogged about here, and also this interview with John Stossel. A friend sent me that Stossel interview a couple days ago along with the comment that Cain is an idiot, and my response was:
I don't think he's being idiotic, actually. His position is much like Obama's position on marijuana. Keep it illegal, but don't enforce the law. Let people do what they want, but knowing that the community as a whole has stigmatized it as criminal.It seems to me that Herman Cain would like to take us back to the good/bad old days when abortion was not a right, there were criminal laws, but women got illegal abortions. In Herman Cain's dream scenario, abortions would be available, but no one would be prosecuted. What's the point? The point is, women would know they were doing something criminal, and maybe that would affect their choice, and the people as a polity would be able to express themselves through the criminal law saying that abortion is murder.
I don't like that use of law, but it's not incomprehensible. Cain states and restates the position clearly. It's just a decision to put the expression of disapproval in the criminal law and then do nothing about the violation.
Same thing as with marijuana possession (in small amounts or whatever the hell the policy is).
Is it a contradiction to allow guns in the Wisconsin Assembly gallery and to arrest people who use cameras?
Under the new law, guns will be allowed in most parts of the Wisconsin Capitol building but just this week "a dozen people were removed from the Assembly galleries and arrested for videotaping proceedings and holding up signs."
Rep. Robin Vos (R-Rochester) says there's no contradiction: "You can have a gun, but you can't shoot."
Rep. Robin Vos (R-Rochester) says there's no contradiction: "You can have a gun, but you can't shoot."
"I went to the bar and I ordered a Jack and coke and I turned around and locked eyes with Tania..."
"... and before I took the drink I set it down and I walked over and I asked her if she wanted to go and have a cup of coffee with me - and we haven't been apart since."
Don't you already know whether you want to believe the stories Glenn Beck tells?
Don't you already know whether you want to believe the stories Glenn Beck tells?
The woman who presented childbirth as performance art in a gallery "didn’t understand it was going to be in the news."
According to her husband. "She didn’t understand it was going to freak people out.’
So what are you saying? She's an idiot? No, he saying you're an idiot:
Let's think of some other "intelligence test" baby names. We'll call the baby Trojan so that if anyone says "so I guess the condom broke," we'll be able to say, "Gotcha! You're not familiar with Homer's Iliad!"
And by the way, Mr. Intelligence Test Man. Ajax was not a Greek god. See? Gotcha! You're not familiar with Homer's Iliad!
So what are you saying? She's an idiot? No, he saying you're an idiot:
Mr Bell said he chose the name Ajax as an ‘intelligence test’ to see if people how people would react: - if they said the detergent instead of the Greek God then he knew they an idiot.Wouldn't it be ironic if using your child into an intelligence test for other people made you an idiot?
Let's think of some other "intelligence test" baby names. We'll call the baby Trojan so that if anyone says "so I guess the condom broke," we'll be able to say, "Gotcha! You're not familiar with Homer's Iliad!"
And by the way, Mr. Intelligence Test Man. Ajax was not a Greek god. See? Gotcha! You're not familiar with Homer's Iliad!
What's gone wrong with The Daily Beast?
Kaus looks at the evidence. There's a theory that "Tina Brown has now decamped for Newsweek magazine with all her favorite hires, leaving the remnants at the Beast web site feeling abandoned like unwanted stepchildren." But even so... it's weird for page views to fall. Are the "unwanted stepchildren" really that bad?
Who gets to take advantage of Obama's new changes to the student loan program?
Not as many as you might think. The new rules only apply to federal loans, not loans from private banks, and...
This new income-based plan is not available to people who graduated in 2011 or earlier and have no plans to take out any new federal loans. Instead, you must have at least one federal loan from no earlier than 2008 and also take out one more in 2012 or later to qualify.If you're already in default, you're ineligible.
"If a child identifies as a girl and the child's family presents her as a girl..."
"... Girl Scouts of Colorado welcomes her as a Girl Scout."
But what if a child is presented as a boy who has a strong identification with things that are traditionally female? Here's Bobby Montoya, whose mother tried to get him into the Girl Scouts, but didn't claim he was female:
My problem with this is that the argument that he belongs in the Girl Scouts is premised on stereotyping girls. I think the better argument for kids like Bobby is: Let children choose their own toys, hairstyles, clothes and don't make a big deal about whether he or she has chosen things that are more often chosen by members of the opposite sex. Emphasize individual freedom!
Bobby's family put him in a situation where he was excluded because — as the troop leader allegedly put it — he has "boy parts." He has a real physical difference from the girls, and he was classified based on that, not his personal preferences and interests. Now, he's focused on genitalia-based limitations, as if his natural body parts are his problem!
AND: When is it appropriate to make your child a gender celebrity?
But what if a child is presented as a boy who has a strong identification with things that are traditionally female? Here's Bobby Montoya, whose mother tried to get him into the Girl Scouts, but didn't claim he was female:
My problem with this is that the argument that he belongs in the Girl Scouts is premised on stereotyping girls. I think the better argument for kids like Bobby is: Let children choose their own toys, hairstyles, clothes and don't make a big deal about whether he or she has chosen things that are more often chosen by members of the opposite sex. Emphasize individual freedom!
Bobby's family put him in a situation where he was excluded because — as the troop leader allegedly put it — he has "boy parts." He has a real physical difference from the girls, and he was classified based on that, not his personal preferences and interests. Now, he's focused on genitalia-based limitations, as if his natural body parts are his problem!
AND: When is it appropriate to make your child a gender celebrity?
Public masturbation at Occupy Madison?
Here's a paragraph in a UW student newspaper story about the Occupy Madison protesters:
A neighboring hotel's staff alleged voiced [sic] concerns about having to recently escort hotel employees to and from bus stops late at night due to inappropriate behavior, such as public masturbation, from street protesters.Imagine paying for an expensive hotel right next to Madison's glamorous convention center and then not being able to walk alone from the hotel to the convention center.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
"Be amazing."
Suggested by YouTube after watching this...
Which was suggested by Metafilter and really is similar amazingness... of the goatish kind.
At Occupy Wall Street, "children are becoming an increasing presence..."
"... as parents try to seize a 'teachable moment' to enlighten them on matters ranging from income inequality to the right to protest."
The NYT paints a pretty picture of the practice of taking little kids to protests. I think it's a terrible idea to bring children. I wouldn't expose a child to the various health hazards (including loud noise), and I don't think it's right to use children as props. If the child isn't old enough to understand what is going on and to choose to go, it's exploitation. Now, I know the parents who spoke to the Times portrayed themselves as teaching their children about the protest, but why do you have to go down there in person to talk about the various political and economic issues? Why overwhelm a child with crowds and passionate adult expression? Are you really developing the child's mind? Or are these justifications you've made up after you've decided, for your own reasons, to drag your child along to something that's important to you?
The NYT paints a pretty picture of the practice of taking little kids to protests. I think it's a terrible idea to bring children. I wouldn't expose a child to the various health hazards (including loud noise), and I don't think it's right to use children as props. If the child isn't old enough to understand what is going on and to choose to go, it's exploitation. Now, I know the parents who spoke to the Times portrayed themselves as teaching their children about the protest, but why do you have to go down there in person to talk about the various political and economic issues? Why overwhelm a child with crowds and passionate adult expression? Are you really developing the child's mind? Or are these justifications you've made up after you've decided, for your own reasons, to drag your child along to something that's important to you?
In 2008, Madoff and his wife "swallowed handfuls of sedatives before climbing into their chintz-draped canopy bed."
Like Madoff's Ponzi scheme, his suicide scheme did not work. The Madoffs woke up the next morning. In this botched suicide story, as told by Mrs. Madoff, she was "glad to wake up" but "not sure how I felt about him waking up."
A Democratic Party-affiliated poll reveals that it's unlikely any Democrat will succeed in a recall election against Scott Walker.
Public Policy Polling reports:
Walker's still not popular- 47% of voters approve of him, compared to 51% who disapprove. But those numbers represent continuing improvement over the course of the year. He hit his lowest point in PPP's polling in May at 43/54. By August he'd improved to 45/53, and now that improvement has continued over the last couple months. Republicans continue to stand pretty uniformly behind Walker, and Democrats pretty uniformly against him. Where the shift is occurring is with independents. In May only 40% approved of him with 56% disapproving. Now those numbers are almost flipped with 52% approving to 44% who disapprove.But Walker opponents will still sign that recall petition, I'll bet. It will set up an opportunity for the normally low-profile Walker to step into the light and defend himself. I predict he'll become quite a bit more popular as people pay direct attention to his policies (as opposed to picking up the demonization message from his antagonists).
Walker's not out of the woods by any means. 48% of voters in the state want to recall him, while 49% are opposed to such a move. But it's not clear if Democrats will have a candidate strong enough to unseat Walker. The only one who beats him in a hypothetical recall is Russ Feingold. But Feingold's already said he's probably not going to run, and his margin over Walker is just 3 points at 49-46. In May Feingold led Walker 52-42 and in August Feingold had a 52-45 advantage. So even with their strongest possible candidate Democrats' prospects against Walker are slipping.
"Marni Kotak, an artist whose plans to give birth in a New York gallery as an act of performance art provoked criticism and concern..."
"... delivered a healthy baby boy Tuesday. Kotak, 36, gave birth to baby Ajax, weighing nine pounds and two ounces at 21 inches at 10:17 a.m., before an audience in a home birthing center she constructed at the Microscope Gallery. The gallery did not disclose how many people were present for the birth."
ADDED: When your last name sounds like a sanitary napkin, why not have a first name that sounds like scouring powder? The dirty and the clean! And it's all commercial.
"The beautiful baby boy was wide-eyed, and as quiet as could be, staring blankly into the camera and video lenses that hovered above him."Get used to it, Ajax, old man. This is the future you've arrived into. Staring blankly into lenses that hover ever about.
ADDED: When your last name sounds like a sanitary napkin, why not have a first name that sounds like scouring powder? The dirty and the clean! And it's all commercial.
"The Steve Jobs' iPod Autopsy: Apple Innovator Stuck in the '60s."
Says Spin:
"His iPod selections were those of a kid from the '70s with his heart in the '60s"...What if your iPod contents were splattered across the headlines? Would you be embarrassed?
In fact, loaded on his iPod were a total of 21 Dylan albums, including all six volumes of the singer's bootleg series, but no studio recordings more recent than 1989's Oh Mercy, Isaacson writes. The artists appearing next most frequently on Jobs' iPod were the Beatles, with songs from seven of their albums, followed by the Rolling Stones, with six albums. Others making the cut: Aretha Franklin, B.B. King, Buddy Holly, Buffalo Springfield, Don McLean, Donovan, the Doors, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Cash, John Mellencamp, and Simon and Garfunkel, plus the Monkees' "I'm a Believer" and Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs' "Wooly Bully."
Police versus Occupy protesters in Oakland.
Lots of photos and video.
At around 9:30 p.m., there was a tense faceoff between protesters and police officers on Broadway at 14th Street. About 100 officers, some appearing to be sheriff’s deputies, stood behind a metal barricade in full riot gear and wearing gas masks, while on the other side people pressed against the barricade, waving peace signs and chanting slogans. A few protesters hurled objects — what looked like water bottles — at the police, while over a loud speaker, officers instructed people to disperse or risk “chemical agents.”The street-level video looks very chaotic and dramatic. It's pure emotion. Hard for the police to look good from this perspective:
"Education in this country is conducted on the model of a public utility owned by the government."
"It's a government monopoly, full of unionized workers, delivering a government-subsidized product to people who are required by the government to be there."
And — Kevin D. Williamson says — this is what the Occupy [Your City] folks want generally... for health care and so forth. Williamson wants the government out of all of it... including education.
And — Kevin D. Williamson says — this is what the Occupy [Your City] folks want generally... for health care and so forth. Williamson wants the government out of all of it... including education.
The dog poop trial.
The jury says: not guilty.
“This case wasn’t about whether I picked up after Baxter. It was about two women who wanted to harass me,” a teary [Kimberly] Zakrzewski...Cat fight about dog poop.
The enmity between Zakrzewski and the Cornell sisters was palpable. All three testified that they had feuded for years and felt unsafe in one another’s presence. Police were regularly called to their building over accusations of slashed tires, damaged doormats and more.
“Is that consistent with the stool Baxter creates?” Zakrzewski’s attorney, Kosa So, asked [Michelle Berman, Baxter’s owner], presenting a photograph that the defense had submitted as evidence.Creates. I love that.
Berman glanced over and answered definitively: “I’ve never seen something that big come out of my little dog.”The defense was lucky the photo was a closeup. Shit looks huge in a closeup.
"Readers can expect to learn more about some the world's craziest and nastiest animals."
"The animals in the book are all fabulously unusual in some way; my book sheds light on these creatures. Expect to be terrified of nature, yet in awe at the same time. And oh, laughs galore--apparently, my talent for wildlife narration has translated well to the printed page, love!"
"The Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger" is so inherently YouTube that it's hard to figure out how Randall will work as a book. Do you read it out loud in that voice?
But think about how bookselling works these days. The book is a media event, an occasion for appearances on various radio and TV shows. Remember, book is also a verb. And who wouldn't want to book Randall? And therefore it makes commercial sense to publish Randall's book, even if all people really want is to watch hisYouTube videos.
"The Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger" is so inherently YouTube that it's hard to figure out how Randall will work as a book. Do you read it out loud in that voice?
But think about how bookselling works these days. The book is a media event, an occasion for appearances on various radio and TV shows. Remember, book is also a verb. And who wouldn't want to book Randall? And therefore it makes commercial sense to publish Randall's book, even if all people really want is to watch hisYouTube videos.
"Are Law Schools and Bar Exams Necessary?"
A NYT op-ed by the Brookings Institution economist Clifford Winston, an economist and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. (His book is “First Thing We Do, Let’s Deregulate All the Lawyers.”)
Rather than improving quality, the barriers to entry exist simply to protect lawyers from competition with non-lawyers and firms that are not lawyer-owned — competition that could reduce legal costs and give the public greater access to legal assistance.By the way, if you want to become a lawyer without taking the bar exam, go to the University of Wisconsin Law School (or Marquette)... and stay in Wisconsin.
In fact, the existing legal licensing system doesn’t even do a great job at protecting clients from exploitation. In 2009, the state disciplinary agencies that cover the roughly one million lawyers practicing in the United States received more than 125,000 complaints, according to an A.B.A. survey. But only 800 of those complaints — a mere 0.6 percent — resulted in disbarment.
What if the barriers to entry were simply done away with?
"At the root of the reality distortion was Jobs’s belief that the rules didn’t apply to him."
"He had some evidence for this; in his childhood, he had often been able to bend reality to his desires. Rebelliousness and willfulness were ingrained in his character. He had the sense that he was special, a chosen one, an enlightened one. 'He thinks there are a few people who are special — people like Einstein and Gandhi and the gurus he met in India — and he’s one of them,' said [Andy] Hertzfeld. 'He told Chrisann this. Once he even hinted to me that he was enlightened. It’s almost like Nietzsche.' Jobs never studied Nietzsche, but the philosopher’s concept of the will to power and the special nature of the Überman came naturally to him. As Nietzsche wrote in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, 'The spirit now wills his own will, and he who had been lost to the world now conquers the world.' If reality did not comport with his will, he would ignore it, as he had done with the birth of his daughter and would do years later, when first diagnosed with cancer. Even in small everyday rebellions, such as not putting a license plate on his car and parking it in handicapped spaces, he acted as if he were not subject to the strictures around him."
A paragraph from Walter Isaacson's fabulous biography "Steve Jobs." I'm reading it and loving it. I'll share some more stuff as I go along.
I'd give you a page cite, but I'm reading it in the Kindle (the app, on iPad) so I can only give you "Kindle location 2242-2251." Is that how we will do cites in the future?
A paragraph from Walter Isaacson's fabulous biography "Steve Jobs." I'm reading it and loving it. I'll share some more stuff as I go along.
I'd give you a page cite, but I'm reading it in the Kindle (the app, on iPad) so I can only give you "Kindle location 2242-2251." Is that how we will do cites in the future?
"I don’t know whose bright idea is was to send Romney to Ohio, have him rally the troops at a call center..."
"... and then refuse to support the policy they’re fighting for, but one thing appears certain: this unforced error is going to leave a mark."
That's the thing. It's good for Romney to stand aloof from Ohio's overheated collective bargaining mess, especially if the side he'd have to take is about to acquire the stink of losing. But do that standing somewhere where aloofness looks prettier.
UPDATE: Romney clarifies:
That's the thing. It's good for Romney to stand aloof from Ohio's overheated collective bargaining mess, especially if the side he'd have to take is about to acquire the stink of losing. But do that standing somewhere where aloofness looks prettier.
UPDATE: Romney clarifies:
"I fully support Gov. Kasich's Question 2 in Ohio... I'm sorry if I created any confusion there."He claims he was being careful not to seem to be saying anything about some other issues also on the ballot which he wasn't familiar with.
SNL's Darrell Hammond "was a victim of systematic and lengthy brutality."
"My mom did some things which have cost me dearly."
The actor is well known as the funnyman who graced "SNL" to spoof celebrities like Al Gore, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump and Sean Connery. He said there was a darker side that played out in his life, before he became known for those roles, and then later on, backstage before he went out to perform....
Hammond says he was medicated almost all of the time he performed on "SNL" each week, but that wasn't all that was happening behind the stage doors.Here's an older clip of Hammond explaining how he worked out his impersonations of Bill Clinton and Al Gore and how he thought in terms of color, for example, picturing both Ted Koppel and Dick Cheney as — for some inexplicable reason — "plush blue." (Like this?)
"There was cutting backstage," he said, adding that one time, he was taken from the studio to a psychiatric ward because of his actions. "In fact, the week that I did the Gore debates, I believe I was taken away in a straitjacket."
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
NYT "Frugal Traveler" comes to Madison.
Concentrates on biking, eating burgers, and drinking Wisconsin beer (including Leinenkugel). Following some rule of frugal traveling, he stays in the outlying town of MacFarland, and then has to bike 10 miles to get back to his room at night — after tanking up with beer. I don't quite get that. He went to some of my favorite places — Olbrich Gardens, Picnic Point, the Capitol building. But he doesn't seem to notice any protesting. In fact, there's nothing about politics at all!
At the Sunset Café...
... I hope you had a beautiful day. Beautiful or not though... tell us about it.
"New Tricks for Old Malls... Gun Ranges, Aquariums, Go-Carts."
The WSJ reports:
Jin Dong, the manager of a Mattress Giant store that shares a wall with the Arms Room, is one of the gun range's happy neighbors. "People do come in here with guns, and that's kind of weird. But they have brought a lot of traffic. It's way better than nothing," he said. "I'll tell you one thing, I don't have to worry about getting robbed, that's for sure."
"I think you need to have a tax system that basically is flat, fair and simple."
"And that you can put on a postcard. Americans, I hope, aspire to be wealthy."
Rick Perry, answering — in the affirmative — the question whether he's against a progressive tax system.
Rick Perry, answering — in the affirmative — the question whether he's against a progressive tax system.
2-week-old baby rescued from collapsed building 2 days after the earthquake.
In Turkey. The baby, Azra Karaduman, was held in the arms of her mother, Semiha, who also survived. The mother was "pinned down next to a sofa," and freed 2 hours later. Imagine the relief you would feel, even while still trapped, to know that the baby was finally getting help beyond the heroic 2-day help you were able to give, by simply holding her.
(Video of the baby at the link.)
(Video of the baby at the link.)
"Bizarre denial" from the NYT? It depends on what the meaning of "fringe" is.
In the Twittersphere, James Taranto caught Andrew Rosenthal, editorial page editor of the NYT, taking a shot at Herman Cain, saying "McCain was fringe. Cain is fringe."
And even that isn't bizarre, since it's all a matter of perspective. What is the "fringe"? It depends on what you're looking at. If you're the NYT, looking only at the group of Republican candidates in 2008, everyone but McCain is way out there on the fringe. But if you're the NYT looking at a collection of Republicans and Democrats, all the Republicans, including McCain, are on the fringe.
Everything is utterly what you'd expect and not at all bizarre.
We tweeted back: "Says the editor whose page endorsed him [McCain] in the Republican primary." Which prompted a surprising reply from Rosenthal: "Was wondering where you were. Might read the editorial. We said he was best of BAD choices. No endorsement.""Fringe" is a key word at NYT. Taranto is making a big deal about what counts as endorsement, but the NYT wasn't really endorsing any Republicans over Hillary/Obama in '08. No one was fooled. The only potentially "bizarre" thing here is the fringe/not fringe characterization of McCain.
We did read the editorial, which appeared Jan. 25, 2008. Not only did it appear to us to be an endorsement--albeit a backhanded one--but it contradicted Rosenthal's assertion that "McCain is fringe": "Senator John McCain of Arizona is the only Republican who promises to end the George Bush style of governing from and on behalf of a small, angry fringe."
And even that isn't bizarre, since it's all a matter of perspective. What is the "fringe"? It depends on what you're looking at. If you're the NYT, looking only at the group of Republican candidates in 2008, everyone but McCain is way out there on the fringe. But if you're the NYT looking at a collection of Republicans and Democrats, all the Republicans, including McCain, are on the fringe.
Everything is utterly what you'd expect and not at all bizarre.
#1.
Lawprof blog rankings.
(Blogs without Site Meter aren't counted. That's why there's no Instapundit. Otherwise, Instapundit would be #1 by a wide margin.)
(Blogs without Site Meter aren't counted. That's why there's no Instapundit. Otherwise, Instapundit would be #1 by a wide margin.)
"Eat debt, screw you, Occupy UW" — the student debt wing of the Occupy [Your City] movement.
That was the chant yesterday as 20 students marched from Union South to the Memorial Union, here at the University of Wisconsin—Madison. 20 isn't very much, but it was Monday morning, that is, it was half past noon in a city where weekends are (perhaps) grueling (that Hail Mary pass!). 20 students when you expect — what? — 100. That's rough.
It reminded me of the old anti-war slogan: "Suppose they gave a war and no one came?” The phrase was used in the 1968 Monkees song "Zor and Zam," and their video of the song looks something like the protest marches I've seen in Madison this year.
Why aren't students more interested in protesting about student problems?
It reminded me of the old anti-war slogan: "Suppose they gave a war and no one came?” The phrase was used in the 1968 Monkees song "Zor and Zam," and their video of the song looks something like the protest marches I've seen in Madison this year.
Why aren't students more interested in protesting about student problems?
UW freshman Noah Phillips, who led the march, said it is difficult for most to attain a college degree without enormous debt in the current economic climate.Students are in a difficult bind. If you're hyper-aware of this problem and you're still here in school, racking up the debt, do you march around with signs or do you get much more serious and study as hard as you can? That is, do you visualize your plight as a something that aligns you with others and put your efforts into seeking political and social change, or do you get fired up about your individual cause and do what you can to win in what looks like a very tough fight for economic gain? (Or do you just drag on, avoiding politics and taking your studies and your career one step at a time, and hope for the best?)
Associated Students of Madison member Justin Bloesch said "What we were told … is that if we work hard, if we stay honest, if we shine by our merit then this society will take care of us; that's the American Dream"...Who told you that? This society will take care of you? Shine by your merit? How did the "American Dream" evolve into that message?
"But if that's ever how the game worked, that's not how it works now."Well, it's not really how the "game" ever worked. Bloesch seems to be thinking about those public-school games where everybody wins: if you play and don't cheat, you are a winner.
Phillips said the movement, which recruited demonstrators via Facebook, hopes to build student participation in upcoming weeks by passing out flyers and speaking in lectures....You might not even win at protesting. Even if you follow the rules of organizing: Facebook page, check... build momentum...
Once participation is higher, Phillips said the movement can take larger actions such as "occupying a building" or forming a teach in.Occupying a building... that really does sound like 1968.
Monday, October 24, 2011
"Is America built on a lie?"
That's #1 on the "Most Popular" list at bbc.com. The actual title of the article when you click on it is: "Is the US Declaration of Independence illegal?"
[A debate in Philadelphia], presented by the Temple American Inn of Court in conjunction with Gray's Inn, London, pitted British barristers against American lawyers to determine whether or not the American colonists had legal grounds to declare secession.That's all very interesting and relatively sedate compared to: Is America built on a lie?
For American lawyers, the answer is simple: "The English had used their own Declaration of Rights to depose James II and these acts were deemed completely lawful and justified," they say in their summary.
To the British, however, secession isn't the legal or proper tool by which to settle internal disputes. "What if Texas decided today it wanted to secede from the Union? Lincoln made the case against secession and he was right," they argue in their brief.
"Gov. Scott Walker has launched a new website touting the results of changes he pushed this year...
"... including his proposal taking away nearly all collective bargaining rights from most state workers.The website launched Monday comes less than a month before his opponents say they will start a petition drive to force a recall election next year. Democratic Party Chairman Mike Tate accuses Walker of using taxpayer money to launch what he calls a campaign website."
Reports Channel3000.
Here's the website.
Reports Channel3000.
Here's the website.
"The Constitutional Right to Insult Your Neighbors With Tombstone Displays."
Just one section of an article — PDF — in the New York State Bar Association Journal about Halloween-related lawsuits. (Via ABAJournal.)
The tombstones referenced the petitioning neighbors by name, and each contained a date of death based on that neighbor’s address. For example, one tombstone referencing a neighbor named Betty Gargarz stated:Bette wasn’t ready,But here she liesEver since that night she died,12 feet deep in this trench,Still wasn’t deep enoughFor that wenches stench!1690
The Seventh Circuit recognized the validity of the plaintiffs’ First Amendment claim. While the court noted that the tombstones were intended to elicit “an emotional response” from the neighbors, they were not “the sort of provocatively abusive speech that inherently tends to incite an immediate breach of the peace” such that they would be considered unprotected speech under the “fighting words” doctrine.
142 legal secretaries surveyed and not one preferred working with a woman partner.
Why? Lawprof Felice Batlan elicited these comments:
Obviously, the secretaries' perspectives are subjective, and they themselves are women (95% of those surveyed were) so whatever is true of women — they're emotional/they're victims of discrimination — would, presumably, also be true of them.
• “Females are harder on their female assistants, more detail oriented, and they have to try harder to prove themselves, so they put that on you. And they are passive aggressive where a guy will just tell you the task and not get emotionally involved and make it personal.”The most obvious theme there is: emotion. It's the old: Women are more emotional. A secondary theme is: Women display the effects of the discrimination they've experienced. It's a complex mix, apparently.
• “I just feel that men are a little more flexible and less emotional than women. This could be because the female partners feel more pressure to perform.”
• “Female attorneys have a tendency to downgrade a legal secretary.”
• “I am a female legal secretary, but I avoid working for women because [they are] such a pain in the ass! They are too emotional and demeaning.”
• “Female attorneys are either mean because they're trying to be like their male counterparts or too nice/too emotional because they can't handle the stress. Either way, their attitude/lack of maturity somehow involves you being a punching bag.”
• Women lawyers have “an air about them.”
Obviously, the secretaries' perspectives are subjective, and they themselves are women (95% of those surveyed were) so whatever is true of women — they're emotional/they're victims of discrimination — would, presumably, also be true of them.
"When I got the part, I thought, 'Dear God,' because she sings, 'island of tropic diseases'..."
"... and I thought, 'I can't say that about my beautiful little island'... island of tropic diseases? Whew!"
Rita Moreno won an Oscar for playing Anita in "West Side Story," but she felt bad about having to trash Puerto Rico — you ugly island.
Rita Moreno won an Oscar for playing Anita in "West Side Story," but she felt bad about having to trash Puerto Rico — you ugly island.
There were other issues, too. Co-directors Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins wanted a big contrast between the warring gangs, the Sharks and the Jets.Here that is on YouTube, from "The Ritz," which as a Broadway show won Rita Moreno a Tony. Of course, Moreno had to fight off the accusations that she herself, with this Googie Gomez character, was trading in offensive ethnic stereotypes. Her answer seems to be: No, because it was so funny and because it was an exaggeration of a particular type of person that people recognize. Make sure you understand how to distinguish and an actual offensive ethnic stereotypes.
"So the white kids had to have their hair bleached and have extra-pale makeup," Moreno recalls, "and we had to wear all one-color makeup, almost the color of mud — and it felt like it. We all had to have accents — many of us who were Hispanic did not have them. I asked the makeup artist, 'Why do we have to be one color? Because Hispanics are many different colors.'"....
During the filming of West Side Story, she created her own Puerto Rican character with an amusing, exaggerated accent: Googie Gomez. "One day I hiccupped her," Moreno says, before singing, a la Googie: "'I had a drean, a drean about chu, bebe.'"
"I have 17 kills throughout the Northeast United States."
"Perfect victims and well executed, controlled endeavors."
Lacking in "commitment and control" was the partner in murder he found after he "searched my whole life for someone who could embrace and had the capacity for evil as I possess."
Lacking in "commitment and control" was the partner in murder he found after he "searched my whole life for someone who could embrace and had the capacity for evil as I possess."
"Taxation is theft when you take money from one group to give it to another, when you transfer the wealth."
"Now, taxation could be accomplished with user fees and, you know, highway fees and gasoline taxes and import taxes. But the income tax is based on the assumption that the government owns you, owns all of your income and provides the conditions on which they allow you to keep a certain percentage. That, to me, is immoral, and the founders didn't like it. That's why the Constitution had to be amended in 1913."
Said Ron Paul on "Meet the Press."
In case you're wondering what David Gregory — NBC's Tim Russert replacement — did with that rich, ripe material: He did nothing, just read his next question on the next topic.
Said Ron Paul on "Meet the Press."
In case you're wondering what David Gregory — NBC's Tim Russert replacement — did with that rich, ripe material: He did nothing, just read his next question on the next topic.
Ron Paul, interviewed by William F. Buckley in 1988.
"The libertarian movement has come of age. We've been around for 15 years, and I think we're going to have a real impact...."
Via a reader who wanted me to know — after this — that Ron Paul's eyebrows are real.
And, by the way, I liked Ron Paul on yesterday's Meet the Press.
"Musician suing for age bias says his 88-year-old judge is too old to preside..."
Violinist Martin Stoner knows "it sounds kind of like hypocrisy," but Judge Robert Patterson is, he says, "slow-witted and unable to function." The federal judge is 88. Stoner, who is 60, is suing the Young Concert Artist for excluding him from a their competition which is for... young concert artists (apparently capped at age 20).
Patterson refused to comment, but his defenders claim he's sharp as a tack. When another judge fell ill two years ago, Patterson stepped in midtrial, ripped through a 2,282-page legal transcript in a single weekend and handled the case with aplomb, Manhattan Federal Court Chief Judge Loretta Preska told the New York Law Journal.Stoner — are you surprised to hear? — is representing himself in this lawsuit.
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