Monday, November 23, 2009

23 Nov 2009 07:57 am

A World Of Reflex?

Razib Khan ponders the similarities between Islam and orthodox westerners:

On issues such as abortion and the marriage of homosexuals the orthodox will part ways with the conservative. The orthodox Westerner may see in the Muslim a closer adherent to the true tradition. This is one reason why the Traditionalist philosopher Rene Guenon converted to Islam. But, I believe that the orthodox underestimate the implicit cultural commonalities which are unspoken and unelucidated, and which bind societies and civilizations together even more than adherence to a metaphysic. “My Country, Right or Wrong” is at once a profoundly unintellectual idea, but at the same time so is the assumption that one would sacrifice one’s own life for one’s child. Instincts have their limits, but at some point human flourishing is contingent upon [admitting] that life depends on implicit instincts for proper functioning, and that reflection is an exceptional avocation, islands in a sea of reflex.

23 Nov 2009 07:31 am

Denialism

23 Nov 2009 07:04 am

Palin: Not A Liar, A Bullshitter

A reader writes:

About Sarah Palin, you've written that "All we know for sure is that whatever she says isn't true. It never is."

I'd argue that what she says has no relation whatsoever to the truth - you can't count on it to be false anymore than you can count on it to be true. What you can generally count on is that it will be hastily conceived and self serving. I know you've invested a great deal of time proving her to be a liar, but to my mind Palin's a bullshitter, as defined by Harry G. Frankfurt in his book, On Bullshit.

Continue reading "Palin: Not A Liar, A Bullshitter" »

Sunday, November 22, 2009

22 Nov 2009 06:50 pm

Wonderwoman

My column plumbs the amazing powers of a certain someone:

Palin is indeed a feisty Alaskan and a genuine triumph of red-state feminism. But her narrative is embellished and embroidered to such an extent, it resembles not so much a memoir as a work of magical realism.

If you treat it as a factual narrative you will soon falter. Among the few early reactions were those of Nicolle Wallace — a McCain campaign staffer — who said of one passage: “It is pure fiction. No such discussion took place.” A reporter Palin says targeted her daughter Piper after a press conference was never at the press conference cited. Palin’s claim that she was personally billed $50,000 for vetting is point blank denied by the McCain campaign. Palin’s account of her record in the Exxon Valdez lawsuit was described last week by the chief lawyer for the case as “the most cockamamie bullshit”. I could go on.

None of this is particularly surprising. Palin has a long and documented record of saying things that are empirically untrue but asserting them as if her own imagination is the only source of objective reality. So you simply read the book as if it is fiction and enjoy it. Or you read it as non-fiction and believe that Palin is a magical mythical figure who defies the laws of time and space and normal human nature.

Take one story that every mother will relate to: the drama of her delivery of her fifth child, Trig.

Continue reading "Wonderwoman" »

22 Nov 2009 06:13 pm

Beyond Intuition

Razib Khan builds off the arguments in Michael Specter's new book:

[S]erious problems emerge when our intuitive prejudices push themselves into the scientific domain. Natural science has over the past few centuries has proven itself to be a marvel not by extension of our intuition, but contravention of that intuition resulting in an even closer fit to reality (contrast Newtonian physics with "folk physics").** Humans have always had engineering in the form of tinkering with technology. But the last two centuries of productivity growth through mechanical improvements have been based in part on the rise of science as a theoretical framework which allows for more than trial & error experimentation guided by intuition. Science allows us to stand on the shoulders of giants, no matter how bizarre or counterintuitive their theories are, because they are judged not on plausibility but predictivity.

22 Nov 2009 05:46 pm

The Decline Of Empires

A fascinating way to look at it:

No visualization of American power yet. But look how quickly empires tend to implode. Neo-empires can too.

(Hat tip: 3QD)

22 Nov 2009 05:18 pm

A Long-term Suggestion

John McWhorter asks Obama to end the drug war:

[P]erhaps the unemployment crisis, the real estate crisis, the health care crisis, and even global warming are more urgent matters in the grand scheme of things just now.

Now, that is. However, how about in 2014, when Obama has just two years to go and other things are presumably taken care of to the extent that they can be (and assuming that John Thune, Tim Pawlenty and Sarah Palin will not turn out to be the GOP’s secret weapons three years from now)? By then Obama will not be facing re-election, nor will he likely be mired in a sex scandal to distract him from real work.

For now, maybe we have to face things like what happened in the Bronx Monday as a weekly kind of event. But what kind of a nation are we to treat episodes like that one as business as usual? The War on Drugs stands as an obstacle to people becoming the best that they can be. It is, in its way, un-American.

22 Nov 2009 04:48 pm

In Whom We Trust?

Clay Shirky ponders trust on the web:

Authority...performs a dual function; looking to authorities is a way of increasing the likelihood of being right, and of reducing the penalty for being wrong. An authoritative source isn’t just a source you trust; it’s a source you and other members of your reference group trust together. This is the non-lawyer’s version of “due diligence”; it’s impossible to be right all the time, but it’s much better to be wrong on good authority than otherwise, because if you’re wrong on good authority, it’s not your fault.

22 Nov 2009 04:20 pm

Mental Health Break

The really cool parts begin at the 1:00 mark:

22 Nov 2009 03:49 pm

Document Of The Day

"There is a virus of disrespect and hate spreading here very rapidly. And unless one lives right here with it, day in and day out, it is unbelievable how quickly and subtly it infects reasonably intelligent persons. This is not too hard to understand only if one recognizes the unremitting, deep, bitter religious and racial prejudice existing today in this section of our land — I don’t know if any of them are similarly infected in other sections, but I know personally of what I speak as regards East Texas.

Continue reading "Document Of The Day" »

22 Nov 2009 03:28 pm

For How Long Will Unemployment Keep Rising?

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A reader said the current counter-recession policies felt like "Mission Accomplished" all over again. Mark Thoma explains why:

The most recent employment report shows the unemployment rate rising past 10 percent even though it appears output may have already turned the corner, while new claims for unemployment insurance are still over 500,000, a number that indicates the economy is still losing jobs overall. In fact, I am worried that the peak in unemployment could lag even further behind the recovery than it did in the last two recessions.

Continue reading "For How Long Will Unemployment Keep Rising?" »

22 Nov 2009 02:02 pm

The Neuroscience Of Reading

Stanislas Dehaene, chair of Experimental Cognitive Psychology at the Collège de France, gives his view of the brain:

What I am proposing is that the human brain is a much more constrained organ than we think, and that it places strong limits on the range of possible cultural forms. Essentially, the brain did not evolve for culture, but culture evolved to be learnable by the brain. Through its cultural inventions, humanity constantly searched for specific niches in the brain, wherever there is a space of plasticity that can be exploited to “recycle” a brain area and put it to a novel use. Reading, mathematics, tool use, music, religious systems -- all might be viewed as instances of cortical recycling.

On how the brain processes letters:

Continue reading "The Neuroscience Of Reading" »

22 Nov 2009 01:31 pm

The Uncanny

Davidmaisel_10

Joe Kloc examines why we get creeped out by lifelike robots and lifeless bodies:

Disturbing experiences that feel both familiar and strange are instances of the “uncanny,” an intuitive concept, yet one that has defied simple explanation for more than a century. Interest in the particular occurrences of the uncanny, in which humans are bothered by interaction with human-like models, began as a psychological curiosity. But as our ability to design artificial life has increased—along with our dependence on it—getting to the heart of why people respond negatively to realistic models of themselves has taken on a new importance. Attempts to understand the origins of this reaction, known since the 1970s as the “uncanny valley response,” have drawn on everything from repressed fears of castration to an evolutionary mechanism for mate selection, but there has been little empirical evidence to assess the validity of these ideas.

Image by artist David Maisel. (Hat tip: acidolatte)

22 Nov 2009 01:05 pm

Nietzsche's Piety

Stephen Williams reviews the latest work by Bruce Ellis Benson:

The argument in this volume is that Nietzsche retained his native Pietism. He was brought up in a Pietist home and broke away from the beliefs which it housed, but he did not thereby cease to be religious or pious. He aspired to become a disciple of Dionysus, a devotee of Life, of which Dionysus is the symbol. This determination to pursue a way of life is rightly called "piety" when we observe the continuities between Nietzsche's background Pietism and his later quest. His Pietism was a way of life rather than a set of doctrines.

Continue reading "Nietzsche's Piety" »

22 Nov 2009 12:01 pm

Egyptians, Soccer and Fireworks

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Graeme Wood gets caught up in the frenzy:

After and during the Saturday victory, fans set me on fire twice. They were harmless conflagrations, but they reminded me what a blessing it is, in so many ways, not to be the type who wears polyester and flammable hairspray. A man ignited a sparkler next to me, in an area packed so tight we were pressed together, chest to back. By the time he realized his folly, sparks had sizzled through my shirt and lightly scorched my skin. At Tahrir Square, which is Cairo's Times Square, fans shut the place down to traffic and began lighting aerosol cans ablaze. One burnt off the fringe of my hair.

22 Nov 2009 11:19 am

Counting Cavemen

Carl Zimmer reports:

Despite the late appearance of higher mathematics, there is growing evidence that numbers are not really a recent invention - not even remotely. Cantlon and others are showing that our species seems to have an innate skill for math, a skill that may have been shared by our ancestors going back least 30 million years.

(Hat tip: 3QD)

22 Nov 2009 10:51 am

Atheism And Morality

Heather MacDonald doesn't appreciate how the faithful connect religion to ethics:

Would someone please provide an example of

a. someone actually claiming that murder, say, (or theft) is fine at all times and places, or

b. someone claiming that murder (or theft) is fine at all times and places because there is  no God, or

c. someone claiming that murder (or theft) is fine at all times and places because there is  no God, and then being recalled to sanity by an invocation of the Sixth (or Eighth) Commandment?

Continue reading "Atheism And Morality" »

22 Nov 2009 10:22 am

The Devil's Workshop

Michael Fitzgerald sorts through a number of studies on the economic effects of religion:

Among the most provocative findings have come from Robert Barro, a renowned economist at Harvard, and his wife, Rachel McCleary, a researcher at Harvard’s Taubman Center. [...] The two collected data from 59 countries where a majority of the population followed one of the four major religions, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, or Buddhism. They ran this data - which covered slices of years from 1981 to 2000, measuring things like levels of belief in God, afterlife beliefs, and worship attendance - through statistical models. Their results show a strong correlation between economic growth and certain shifts in beliefs, though only in developing countries.

Most strikingly, if belief in hell jumps up sharply while actual church attendance stays flat, it correlates with economic growth. Belief in heaven also has a similar effect, though less pronounced. Mere belief in God has no effect one way or the other. Meanwhile, if church attendance actually rises, it slows growth in developing economies.

22 Nov 2009 09:55 am

The View From Your Window

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Denver, Colorado, 7.18 am

22 Nov 2009 08:27 am

Postmodern Conservatism: In A Person

David Benjamin:

There are no lies in Sarah's book; nor in her life, nor in her heart. Utterances that seem untrue are not lies, because Sarah believes them true. If she says one thing, then later forgets what she said and says the opposite, Sarah Palin is neither lying nor mistaken, nor forgetful, because at each moment, she believes what she has said. And a minute later, she will believe something else, if she says it. Whatever she says, if she says it, will be true. But if it's not, so what? It's words, only words.

Sooner or later, words fail everyone. This goes double for Sarah and her faithful. Sarah Palin is the voice - and the embodiment - of the inarticulate.

22 Nov 2009 08:13 am

Modernity Advances, Even On The Right

Douthat applauds the pro-life movement's gradual acceptance of women in the workplace:

During the ‘08 election, you’d often hear media types buzzing about how Palin was a bad mother for putting her political ambitions ahead of her family; you’d almost never hear that from pro-lifers. Some of this reflects partisan biases, obviously — but some of it reflects a real sea change in how religious conservatives view women in the workplace.

Indeed, you might say that the pro-life movement has done an impressive job of embracing, albeit slowly, the positive achievements of the feminist revolution, while remaining steadfast in its opposition to that revolution’s darker consequences. (Well, O.K., you might not say that, but I probably would.)

Saturday, November 21, 2009

21 Nov 2009 09:14 pm

Palin: The Fumes Of Culture War Hell

Matt Taibbi shares the Dish's desire to have politics be about arguments about solutions to emergent problems. He's not unaware that the culture war has helped prevent this, which is the core reason I supported Obama in 2007. But Taibbi sees Palin as a kind of anti-matter to Obama's matter. And he's dead on:

Rush [Limbaugh] is no Einstein, but the man does research. It may be fallacious and completely dishonest research, but he does it all the same. His battlefield is world politics and most of the time the relevant action is taking place in Washington. As good as he is at what he does, he still has to travel to the action; he himself isn’t the action.

Sarah Palin’s battlefield, on the other hand, is whatever is happening five feet in front of her face. She is building a political career around the little interpersonal wars in the immediate airspace surrounding her sawdust-filled head. 

Continue reading "Palin: The Fumes Of Culture War Hell" »

21 Nov 2009 07:50 pm

Still Trashing Levi

SARAHTRIGBillPugliano:Getty

A People reader asks Palin, "How is your daughter Bristol doing as a young mother?" She replies:

She's spectacular. She's amazing. Still doesn't get a lot of sleep because Tripp is a light sleeper through the night and Bristol's got him all the time. But she's going to college, she's working and taking care of the baby. She's got her hands full. But very, very strong, very optimistic. She teaches me good lessons through all of this, too. She keeps things in perspective. She is realizing that her good decisions today will bear fruit, perhaps years down the road, but she's seeing now that it's worth it to take the high road when it comes to the [custody] controversy with Levi [Johnston] and him doing his porn stuff [posing for Playgirl]. It's all about the baby, it's all about what he is going to grow up with, and she knows she has to pull even more weight to make sure Tripp has a good upbringing.

More unprompted attacks on the father of her grandson - "doing his porn stuff". And more inconsistency:

Continue reading "Still Trashing Levi" »

21 Nov 2009 07:12 pm

Bad Sex In Fiction Awards

The finalists are in. Few literary hounds are surprised by this entry:

The Pulitzer prize-winning [Philip] Roth makes the line-up for The Humbling, in which the ageing actor Simon converts Pegeen, a lesbian, to heterosexuality. The Literary Review singled out a scene in which Simon and Pegeen pick up a girl from a bar and convince her to take part in a threesome. Simon looks on as Pegeen uses her green dildo to great effect.

"This was not soft porn. This was no longer two unclothed women caressing and kissing on a bed. There was something primitive about it now, this woman-on-woman violence, as though in the room filled with shadows, Pegeen were a magical composite of shaman, acrobat, and animal. It was as if she were wearing a mask on her genitals, a weird totem mask, that made her into what she was not and was not supposed to be."

Hitch reviewed Roth's Exit Ghost a few years back and similarly gagged.

21 Nov 2009 06:52 pm

A Special Kind Of Liar

Bella DePaulo gets it too:

From my post as an outside observer, it seems to me that Sarah Palin doesn't care much about the truth. In that way, she is a very special liar. Instead, Palin seems to love the effect her disingenuous pronouncements have on her audiences and so she just runs with them. Her fans adore her claims about "death panels" and about Obama supposedly "palling around with terrorists" and all the rest. Look at how they roar with approval and fervor when she tosses that red, bloody moose meat to them - how can the mere (non) truth-value of what she is saying ever compete with that? Plus, the fact that her taunts drive her detractors over the edge - well, that just adds to the fun!

Sarah Palin seems to relish the reaction she gets to her claims and complaints. Among her core fan base, the theme that the mean media and the full-of-themselves campaign staffers were unfair to noble, authentic, small-town Sarah seems to be a winner. Whether it is really true is almost irrelevant.

I do love the irony of Palin flaunting her authenticity with lies.

21 Nov 2009 06:22 pm

For Superfans Of Mad Men

All the best one-liners from Roger Sterling.

21 Nov 2009 05:58 pm

For Superfans Of The Wire

The 100 greatest quotes from the show (NSFW and spoilers).

21 Nov 2009 05:37 pm

Brain Chips

Researchers are trying to create microchips that function like neurons:

“Energy efficiency isn’t just a matter of elegance. It fundamentally limits what we can do with computers,” [Kwabena Boahen, a Stanford scientist] says. Despite the amazing progress in electronics technology—today’s transistors are 1/100,000 the size that they were a half century ago, and computer chips are 10 million times faster—we still have not made meaningful progress on the energy front. And if we do not, we can forget about truly intelligent humanlike machines and all the other dreams of radically more powerful computers...Most modern supercomputers are the size of a refrigerator and devour $100,000 to $1 million of electricity per year. Boahen’s Neurogrid will fit in a briefcase, run on the equivalent of a few D batteries, and yet, if all goes well, come close to keeping up with these Goliaths.

21 Nov 2009 05:11 pm

What To Do About The Deficit

Inside-The-Tube

The Economist looks at the politics and economics of reducing the deficit:

Historically, politicians are most likely to tackle deficits when prodded by markets. Denmark in 1982, Ireland in 1987 and Canada in 1995 all embarked on ambitious programmes after spiralling debts had driven up interest rates. In the same way, American deficit-reduction deals in 1985, 1990 and 1993 were nudged along by nervous markets. Such concerns are notably absent now. “Until the bond-market vigilantes form a posse again, it’s just too easy to ignore this issue,” says Alan Blinder, a Princeton University professor and former adviser to Bill Clinton.

(Photo by Clark Little. More incredible images here.)

21 Nov 2009 04:49 pm

The View From Your Recession

A reader writes:

I'm a college grad who has been unemployed for several months now.  I'm scraping by living and doing volunteer work at a hostel while searching for work, and living off a bare-bones unemployment check (which pays for food, that's about it) that is about to expire.  In applying to several entry-level positions in recent months in fields that are strong (social media and video game production), in the area that they are strongest (i.e., the Bay Area), I've noticed a disturbing trend:  In places I applied to, rather than being rejected outright or just not hearing from them, I'm getting responses saying that the job is "on hold," or that the position was "closed" without any hires.  They often note that I was certainly qualified for the position, they just can't afford to hire anyone right now.

I think the question has to be asked now, concerning unemployment:  If our economy is in "recovery," then what is preventing companies from actually hiring people?  I hate saying this, but this is feeling like another "Mission Accomplished" to people, especially me.

21 Nov 2009 04:20 pm

Mental Health Break

"100 dancers led by one of Australia's most famous drag queens surprised bathers on Bondi Beach with a medley of hot jams. It starts with “Love Shack” and only gets better from there…"

21 Nov 2009 03:59 pm

How Cute Is A Domesticated Baby Otter?

This cute.

21 Nov 2009 03:53 pm

This Blogging Life

Andy Towle and Rex Wockner capture the minute-by-minute insistence of running any kind of blog:

Rex: How many hours a day do you work?

Andy: Generally from like 6:15 in the morning till 7, 8, 9 at night.

Rex: Is your boyfriend OK with that?

Andy: Not really. He'd like me to work probably about six hours less than that but, you know, it pays the rent and it's what I need to do to sort of keep the site going, so, you know, he understands.

Rex: How do we keep up with the flow of information? You and I have similar kinds of jobs. I feel overwhelmed regularly. Do you?

Andy: I feel overwhelmed right now because I'm not reading and I'm doing this interview instead, but, you know, it's how I regularly feel if I'm out or whatever.

Continue reading "This Blogging Life" »

21 Nov 2009 03:38 pm

Boy Meets Lobster

"Wow!"

21 Nov 2009 03:09 pm

"Most Educated Alaskans Are Aware Of All This"

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History professor and Alaskan David Noon corrects Palin for repeating the myth of "Seward's Folly" - the purchase of Alaska in 1867 by Secretary of State William Seward. From Going Rogue:

Critics ridiculed Seward for spending so much on a remote chunk of earth that some thought of as just a frozen, inhospitable wilderness that was dark half the year. The $7.2 million purchase became known as “Seward’s Folly” or “Seward’ Icebox.” Seward withstood the mocking and disdain because of his vision for Alaska. He knew her potential to help secure the nation with her resources and strategic position on the globe. . . . [D]ecades later, he was posthumously vindicated, as purveyors of unpopular common sense often are.

From the historian:

So far as public opinion was concerned, most newspapers actually supported the purchase. The major exception was the New York Tribune, which was owned by Horace Greeley, a Republican who was nevertheless one of William Seward’s avowed enemies.  (Greeley believed Seward had been too radical on the slavery issue, among other things).  Even Democratically-aligned papers in the North — while not missing the opportunity to crack wise about polar bears and walruses — tended to support the purchase, mainly because there was no compelling reason to oppose it.  And at the end of the day, the treaty with Russia passed the US Senate by a vote of 37-2, with no significant expressions of opposition during the floor debate.

Continue reading ""Most Educated Alaskans Are Aware Of All This"" »

21 Nov 2009 02:44 pm

Face Of The Day

WOLFJohnMoore:Getty

Phil Wolf, owner of Wolf Automotive used car dealership, stands in front of a billboard on his auto lot on November 21, 2009 in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Wolf paid $2,500 to have the billboard painted, and it has sparked controversy since it was put up the day before. Wolf, 57, said the dealership received more than a thousand calls from throughout the U.S. and Canada in a single day, both in support and against the sign. 'We've had death threats. We had people call and say they were going to firebomb the place last night,' he said, adding that local police provided overnight security outside the dealership because of the threats. Wolf, a supporter of the 'birther' movement, questions President Obama's citizenship. 'We've got to recall our country, the election,' he said. This guy (Obama), is illegal.' He also blamed the President for the massacre at Ft. Hood. 'The cavalier attitude taken by Mr. Obama towards the enemy within us is absolutely horrible. If I had a snake in the house, I would kill it,' Wolf said. Several left-leaning advocacy groups have called on the public to boycott the auto dealership. By John Moore/Getty Images.

Detail of the cartoons of Obama as Muslim terrorist after the jump:

Continue reading "Face Of The Day" »

21 Nov 2009 02:40 pm

Document Of The Day

Lincoln-note

Ed Pilkington tells the story:

George Patten, aged eight, [...] boasted at school about having met Abraham Lincoln, having been introduced to the then presidential candidate with his journalist father. The boy's friends thought he had made the story up, and bullied him. To settle the matter, Patten's teacher wrote to the White House asking for clarification about whether there was any truth to the anecdote. On 19 March 1861, two weeks after his inauguration and despite being preoccupied with forming an administration and the early slide into civil war, Lincoln took the trouble to reply: "To whom it may concern: I did see and talk with Master George Evans Patten, last May, at Springfield, Illinois. Respectfully, A. Lincoln."

21 Nov 2009 02:17 pm

Following The Evidence

Jonah Lehrer posits:

[T]he only way we're ever going to reduce medical costs is to restrict procedures that haven't passed evidence-based efficacy tests. Maybe that means 40 year old women don't get mammograms, or that we treat prostrate cancer less aggressively, or that we stop performing spinal fusion surgeries. Although there's solid evidence to question all of these medical options, such changes provoke intense debate. Why? Because our emotions don't understand statistics. Because when we have back pain we want an MRI. Because when it's our father with prostate cancer we want the most aggressive possible treatments. And so on. The point is that there's often an indefatigable gap between the rigors of cost-benefit analyses and the emotional hunches that drive our decisions. We say we want to follow the evidence, but then the evidence rubs against a bias like loss aversion, and so we make an exception. We'll follow the evidence next time.

21 Nov 2009 02:16 pm

Levi's Mom: Sentenced To Three Years

The grandmother of Tripp Johnston, Bristol Palin's infant and Sarah Palin's grandson, is headed to jail for three years plus three years of probation:

Johnston made a deal with prosecutors to plead to a single felony count in exchange for dropping five other felony drug dealing charges against her. The deal called for the 42-year-old Wasilla woman to be sentenced to three years of prison time plus three years of probation, which is what the judge gave her.

Johnston received less time than the normal five to eight years for a second-degree felony drug charge because the amount she was dealing was so small.

What impact this could have on the Palin-Johnston feud requires inside knowledge of those families that the Dish simply doesn't have. But I imagine it must be painful for Levi. I wonder if Palin will comment.

21 Nov 2009 01:59 pm

Kick-Ass

An amateur's moment of glory in rugby: a $400,000 prize is awarded to any of a group of rugby fans to kick the ball and hit the crossbar. First up, Steve Tinner:

21 Nov 2009 01:49 pm

Beyond The Business Of Books

Clay Shirky tries to figure out how to save the bookstore as a social space.

21 Nov 2009 01:46 pm

The Passion To Be Reckoned On Is Fear

Liz Cheney's terror-mongering advocacy group releases an ominous short documentary about how the citizens of Standish, Michigan, are supposedly dead set against the transfer of detainees to a nearby prison. Greg Sargent cuts through the deception:

But Standish’s City Manager tells us that local leaders and residents want the facility, and dismissed Cheney’s efforts as “fearmongering.” Cheney is “certainly not representing the views of our community,” the City Manager, Michael Moran, told our reporter, Amanda Erickson. While some local residents do appear to have expressed mixed feelings or opposition to the plan, Moran says that they’re an isolated minority that Ms. Cheney’s video elevates out of proportion in a way that’s “off base.” What’s more, the Standish city council recently passed a unanimous resolution expressing support for bringing Gitmo detainees, citing job losses in the wake of the closing of the facility.

Under-blogger Bodenner profiled the town for TNR last month and found the same findings. Noam Scheiber this week suggests that the scare tactics in Standish are working, and that similar tactics are showing up in Thompson, Illinois - the latest potential destination for detainees.

Continue reading "The Passion To Be Reckoned On Is Fear" »

21 Nov 2009 01:43 pm

Leaving Faux News For Fake News

Suzanne Sena, former anchor for the Fox News Channel, joins the Onion News Network. Her starring in this particular segment is apt - and very funny:

21 Nov 2009 01:18 pm

For Horserace Addicts

Douthat's read on 2010:

Right now, I think a lot of Democrats would take a 1982-style result — the halving of their House majority — and consider themselves lucky to escape. Whether they’ll feel the same way in a year’s time will depend on where the unemployment numbers go from here. But I doubt that anyone on the Democratic side of the aisle was encouraged to hear the Obama administration’s Jared Bernstein — the co-author of the over-optimistic chart that I tweaked in today’s column — telling CBS last week that job growth won’t return until the second half of next year. He may be erring on side of pessimism, but that’s an awfully long way off — especially if unemployment goes higher still in the meantime — and much too close to November for comfort.

21 Nov 2009 01:13 pm

The View From Your Window

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Bratislava, Slovakia, 9.36 am

21 Nov 2009 01:00 pm

The "Show Trial" Meme Spreads

Charles Krauthammer gets in on the act. They never disappoint. My prior thoughts here.

21 Nov 2009 12:51 pm

A Computer Smarter Than A Cat

The IBM achievement poses some complications:

In a nutshell, when a simulation of a complex phenomenon (brains, weather systems) reaches a certain level of fidelity, it becomes just as difficult to figure out what's actually going on in the model—how it's organized, or how it will respond to a set of inputs—as it is to answer the same questions about a live version of the phenomenon that the simulation is modeling.

Continue reading "A Computer Smarter Than A Cat" »

21 Nov 2009 12:42 pm

The Rot In American Journalism

Jim Fallows is deeply depressed by the moronic horse-race coverage of Obama's recent trip to Asia. He is not the only person staggered that the cable-news 24-hour spin-cycle is now the main prism through which to analyze complex long-term diplomacy. Money quote:

We're all familiar with one "crisis of the press," the business collapse. This is a different kind of crisis, though it makes the business crisis worse: the distortion of reality by compressing every complex issue into the narrative of the DC-based "horse race."

21 Nov 2009 12:26 pm

The Palin Message

As told to Bill O'Reilly, whose interview was a class above anyone else on Fox:

I believe that I am [qualified to be president] because I have common sense, and I have, I believe, the values that are reflective of so many other American values. And I believe that what Americans are seeking is not the elitism, the kind of a spinelessness that perhaps is made up for that with some kind of elite Ivy League education and a fact resume that's based on anything but hard work and private sector, free enterprise principles.

21 Nov 2009 12:15 pm

Michelle Goldberg Gets It

The lies of Sarah Palin are different from any other politicians'. They are different because they assert things that are demonstrably, empirically untrue; and they are different because once they have been demonstrated to the entire world that they are untrue, Palin keeps repeating them as if they still were true or refuses to acknowledge that she was wrong.

Ann Althouse has rightly figured out how dumb Palin is; she has not yet figured out how disturbed she is. And once again, for Ann's sake, here are the lies I mean. Go through them. See if you think they are Clintonian type parsings of the truth or artful political hedging or anything like what we find in most pols. They really are not. They are functions of delusion and a worldview that wants things to be a certain way and cannot absorb that they are not. If you find the slightest error or come across a fact that we should add to this list of current lies, please let us know. We want this list to be as accurate as Palin is delusional. We want to create some template of easily-accessible reality as some kind of guard against the fantasies and fabulisms of our post-modern and fundamentalist age.

Palin lied when she said the dismissal of her public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, had nothing to do with his refusal to fire state trooper Mike Wooten; in fact, the Branchflower Report concluded that she repeatedly abused her power when dealing with both men.

Palin lied when she repeatedly claimed to have said, "Thanks, but no thanks" to the Bridge to Nowhere; in fact, she openly campaigned for the federal project when running for governor.

Palin lied when she denied that Wasilla's police chief and librarian had been fired; in fact, both were given letters of termination the previous day.

Palin lied when she wrote in the NYT that a comprehensive review by Alaska wildlife officials showed that polar bears were not endangered; in fact, email correspondence between those scientists showed the opposite.

Palin lied when she claimed in her convention speech that an oil gas pipeline "began" under her guidance; in fact, the pipeline was years from breaking ground, if at all.

Palin lied when she told Charlie Gibson that she does not pass judgment on gay people; in fact, she opposes all rights between gay spouses and belongs to a church that promotes conversion therapy.

Palin lied when she denied having said that humans do not contribute to climate change; in fact, she had previously proclaimed that human activity was not to blame.

Palin lied when she claimed that Alaska produces 20 percent of the country's domestic energy supply; in fact, the actual figures, based on any interpretation of her words, are much, much lower.

Palin lied when she told voters she improvised her convention speech when her teleprompter stopped working properly; in fact, all reports showed that the machine had functioned perfectly and that her speech had closely followed the script.

Palin lied when she recalled asking her daughters to vote on whether she should accept the VP offer; in fact, her story contradicts details given by her husband, the McCain campaign, and even Palin herself. (She later added another version.)

Palin lied when she claimed to have taken a voluntary pay cut as mayor; in fact, as councilmember she had voted against a raise for the mayor, but subsequent raises had taken effect by the time she was mayor.

Palin lied when she insisted that Wooten's divorce proceedings had caused his confidential records to become public; in fact, court officials confirmed they released no such records.

Palin lied when she suggested to Katie Couric that she was involved in trade missions with Russia; in fact, she has never even met with Russian officials.

Palin lied when she told Shimon Peres that the only flag in her office was the Israeli flag; in fact, she has several flags.

Palin lied when she claimed to have tried to divest government funds from Sudan; in fact, her administration openly opposed a bill that would have done just that.

Palin lied when she repeatedly claimed that troop levels in Iraq were back to pre-surge levels; in fact, even she acknowledged her "misstatements," though she refused to retract or apologize.

Palin lied when she insisted that the Branchflower Report "showed there was no unlawful or unethical activity on my part"; in fact, that report prominently stated, "Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act."

Palin lied when she claimed to have voiced concerns over Wooten fearing he would harm her family; in fact, she actually decreased her security detail during that period.

Palin lied when asked about the $150,000 worth of clothes provided by the RNC; in fact, solid reporting contradicted several parts of her statement.

Palin lied when she suggested that she had offered the media proof of her pregnancy with Trig to "correct the record"; in fact, no reports of her medical records were ever published; and the letter from her doctor testifying to her good health only emerged hours before polling ended on election day, even though there was nothing in it that couldn't have been released two months earlier.

Palin lied when she said that "reported" allegations of her banning Harry Potter as mayor was easily refutable because it had not even been written yet; in fact, the first book in that series was published in 1998 - two years into her first term - and such rumors were never reported by the media, only circulated as emails.

Palin lied when she denied having participated in a clothes audit with campaign laywers; in fact, the Washington Times later confirmed those details.

Palin lied when asked about Couric's question regarding her reading habits; in fact, Couric's words were not, "What do you read up there in Alaska?" or anything close to condescension.

Palin lied when she mischaracterized the "$1200 check" given to Alaskans as the permanent fund dividend check; in fact, that fund had yielded $2,069 per person, and she claimed otherwise to obscure the fact that Alaskans also received a $1200 rebate check from a windfall profits tax on oil companies - a tax widely criticized by Republicans.

Palin lied when she claimed to be unaware of a turkey being slaughtered behind her during a filmed interview; in fact, the cameraman said she had picked the spot herself, while the slaughter was underway.

Palin lied when she denied having rejected federal stimulus money; in fact, she continued to accept and reject the funds several times.

Palin lied when she claimed that legislative leaders had canceled a meeting with her to hold their own press conference; in fact, they only canceled it after being told she would not participate, and the purpose of the press conference was very different from the meeting's.

Palin lied when she announced on the news that she never holds closed-door meetings; in fact, she had just attended a closed-door meeting with the legislature earlier that day.

Palin lied when she said that former aide John Bitney's "amicable" departure was for "personal" reasons; in fact, Bitney said he was fired because of his relationship with the wife of Palin's friend, plus a Palin spokesperson later claimed "poor job performance" for his firing - without elaborating.

Palin lied when she said she kept her running injury a secret on the campaign trail; in fact, her bandaged hand was clearly visible in photographs and the story was widely talked about.

Palin lied when she claimed that Alaska has spent "millions of dollars" on litigation related to her ethics complaints; in fact, that figure is much, much lower, and she had initiated the most expensive inquiry.

Palin lied when she denied that the Alaska Independence Party supports secession and denied that her husband had been a member; in fact, even the McCain campaign noted that the party's very existence is based on secession and that Todd was a member for seven years.

Palin lied when she told Oprah that she desperately wanted to go on Saturday Night Live because it would be "fun" and could push back on the Tina Fey impression Palin says she hated but never actually listened to. Contemporaneous emails show that Palin resisted going on SNL and was therefore lying to Oprah.

Palin lied when she told Oprah Winfrey that she gaffed on the campaign trail in saying that the McCain campaign shouldn't quit Michigan. She said she had been unaware at the time that the decision to withdraw had already been taken. Contemporaneous emails show she was lying, and had already been told.

Palin lied in "Going Rogue: in accusing two journalists she recognized from a press conference as ambushing her daughter Piper on the street. One of those journalists had never attended the press conference cited by Palin, but Palin has never withdrawn the charge.