Saturday, June 7, 2008

07 Jun 2008 10:26 pm

Email Of The Day

A reader writes:

Damn you! Up until today my record of anticipating Rick Rolls was perfect. You RickRolled me, bro.

07 Jun 2008 10:21 pm

He Wouldn't Have Miss This For The World

Guess who:

Clearly the most eye-raising presence was that of Matt Drudge, the Internet gossip and avatar of the influential, “Drudge Report,” who drew heavy ire from the Clinton camp for what they viewed as his penchant for unflattering Clinton headlines, stories and photos.

Mr. Drudge stood against the wall, wearing a trademark fedora and dark glasses balanced on his forehead. He mixed mingling and people-watching, greeting several people who had no idea who he was until he uttered his name. “Hey, there’s Gloria Steinem,” he said as the feminist icon strode by.

07 Jun 2008 09:27 pm

When She Lost

If you had to pick one moment:

07 Jun 2008 07:58 pm

Dissent Of The Day II

A reader writes:

Maybe I don't know enough about David Frum, but I honestly didn't get the point of your post about his conversation w/ Perlstein. In fact I just watched the whole thing, and I thought it was really interesting (why else would I sit here watching two blogging heads for 45 minutes while holding out against kicking off the air conditioning season?). I would not say that Perlstein necessarily had the better of the whole thing, and I did think that Frum had a point about Nixon, though he had to backtrack and massively qualify it: his abuses of exec authority were, shall we say, an extension of precedent.   

Yes, Perlstein did an excellent job detailing the degree to which Nixon's abuses surpassed those of Johnson and Kennedy, and Frum conceded the point. But Frum is maybe also right that standards changed, and that the abuses and buildup of governmental power through the postwar era led both to Nixon and to the reaction/correction.

07 Jun 2008 07:41 pm

Face Of The Day

Chinese friends walk near their tent in a muddy refugee camp after rains soaked the area where thousands live in Mianzhu, Sichuan province, China. Tented camps are everywhere as the Chinese government focuses on temporary housing for the 5 million people affected by the earthquake. Caring for tens of thousands of people made homeless across the disaster zone have stretched thin the government's resources. More than 69,000 people are now known to have died in the quake and Chinese aid workers are struggling to find shelter for millions who lost their homes in China's worst quake in three decades. By Paula Bronstein/Getty Images.

07 Jun 2008 06:31 pm

Part Of The Landscape

An art project in Canada by artist Dan Bergeron. A quote from the artist:

"The buildings of Regent Park are in the process of being torn down and rebuilt, so the idea is supposed to make the residents literally become part of the physical landscape, challenge some of the pre-conceived notions that other Torontoian's have of these people and stoke the discussion surrounding the displacement of some of regent park's residents as they are kicked out of their homes for this re-build..."

07 Jun 2008 05:22 pm

Remembering What She Did

A useful recap at 538. Money quote:

I was already done with her when the Richard Mellon Scaife thing happened. But when that happened, I came to see her as purely amoral. Not immoral, as when George Bush and gang set out to do harm and then go do it, for reasons that are internally logical for them and bring about results they fully intend. Amoral, as in: not attached to any moral principle that isn't completely negotiable if there is an obstacle in the way of what is wanted.

Richard.  Mellon.  Scaife.

07 Jun 2008 05:02 pm

The Whitey Tape

John Cole finally tracked it down. Not what it's cracked up to be:

07 Jun 2008 04:46 pm

Your Government At Work

Telling you all they want you to know:

07 Jun 2008 04:28 pm

Pirate Attacks Up 75%

The seven seas are not safe. 

07 Jun 2008 03:55 pm

Dissent Of The Day

A reader writes:

She did it. You almost did it.  Your commentary on the speech showed balance, insight and, finally, some appreciation for what this woman is all about.  And then, having excoriated her for a lack of grace last Tuesday, you end on an entirely gratuitous, ungracious note.

Buh Bye indeed.

07 Jun 2008 03:50 pm

Beautiful Day

"But this I believe is the truth: America dodged a bullet... Mrs. Clinton would have been a disaster as president. Mr. Obama may prove a disaster, and John McCain may, but she would be. Mr. Obama may lie, and Mr. McCain may lie, but she would lie. And she would have brought the whole rattling caravan of Clintonism with her--the scandal-making that is compulsive, the drama that is unending, the sheer daily madness that is her, and him. We have been spared this. Those who did it deserve to be thanked. May I rise in a toast to the Democratic Party," - Peggy Noonan.

I feel an enormous sense of relief myself. The voters of the United States have said no to all the worst aspects of the current GOP and no to a Clinton restoration. With McCain and Obama, we have the best choice there is.

Democracy works. The worst did not happen. The psychodrama is over ... for a while. Maybe forever.

Rejoice.

07 Jun 2008 03:14 pm

Until The Day He Died

Jamie Livingston took a Polaroid a day, every day, from March 31st, 1979 until the day he died, October 25,1997. An example from the online collection of Livingston's photographs- dated April,18, 1985:

 

07 Jun 2008 02:35 pm

The Singularity

Spectrum Online has a special feature on the singularity, i.e. the point in the future when A.I. surpasses or merges with human intelligence. John Horgan's bottom line:

Let's face it. The singularity is a religious rather than a scientific vision. The science-fiction writer Ken MacLeod has dubbed it “the rapture for nerds,” an allusion to the end-time, when Jesus whisks the faithful to heaven and leaves us sinners behind.

Such yearning for transcendence, whether spiritual or technological, is all too understandable. Both as individuals and as a species, we face deadly serious problems, including terrorism, nuclear proliferation, overpopulation, poverty, famine, environmental degradation, climate change, resource depletion, and AIDS. Engineers and scientists should be helping us face the world's problems and find solutions to them, rather than indulging in escapist, pseudoscientific fantasies like the singularity.

07 Jun 2008 02:23 pm

Strange Patents

A website devoted to odd inventions.

(Hat tip: Core77)

07 Jun 2008 01:30 pm

Yes She Did

Senator Clinton did all she needed to do: thanked everyone and unequivocally endorsed and supported Barack Obama. One theme stuck out to me: she essentially said that even though she was careful to avoid ever saying that she was running because she was a woman and that people should vote for her because she is a woman, that's what she believes in private. That's the theme she spoke of most compellingly. She is Ellen Malcolm's spiritual sister. In the end, Clinton remains wedded to the identity politics of her generation and her time. It's a powerful message after so many long decades and centuries in which women have been denied full equality in law and society. It's a necessary message and a moral message. But it becomes circular and self-defeating when it becomes its own rationale.

I think history will show that she didn't quite have the talent to do it on her own steam, but that she made it much easier for another woman to become president one day. Her two biggest problems: She first married a man who was her political superior and was then defeated by one. She is a very talented politician but it was her fate to find her career hemmed in by two even more talented ones: Bill and Barack. She made up for it all with enormous hard work, diligence and ruthlessness. At any other moment, she would have won. But this is history and politics at the highest level. You cannot defeat such a moment if you are a Salieri. And she had to deal with two Mozarts.

Buh-bye.

(Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty.)

07 Jun 2008 12:35 pm

Debating David Frum

This speaks for itself:

More of the Perlstein-Frum dust-up here. Perlstein asks:

So, share with me your thoughts: David Frum. Is he lying, opportunistic, and/or stupid? Or am I just being churlish?

07 Jun 2008 12:21 pm

Waiting For Her

The interior of the National Building Museum looks like some kind of Vatican today. A reader notes:

I think my husband just nailed it. He said: "This is a real Baby Boomer way of going out. It's like The Who saying 'We'll never tour again.'"

07 Jun 2008 12:16 pm

Backmailing To Empire?

The real question in Iraq right now is not the pace and level of withdrawal under either successor to George W. Bush; it's the nature of the US presence going forward. A temporary presence to help Iraq move past the Saddam era? Or a permanent province of an open-ended Middle Eastern occupation? We know what the neocons want. But this is disturbing:

The US is holding hostage some $50bn (£25bn) of Iraq's money in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to pressure the Iraqi government into signing an agreement seen by many Iraqis as prolonging the US occupation indefinitely, according to information leaked to The Independent...

US negotiators are using the existence of $20bn in outstanding court judgments against Iraq in the US, to pressure their Iraqi counterparts into accepting the terms of the military deal, details of which were reported for the first time in this newspaper yesterday.

Obama needs to get this issue into the campaign. Where does McCain stand? And where do Americans?

07 Jun 2008 12:11 pm

Gay Marriage In 1953

The idea existed - and among its fiercest opponents were homosexuals. Here's a reproduction of the August 1953 issue of One Magazine dedicated to the subject.

07 Jun 2008 11:56 am

Google Pundit

Michael Moynihan tackles thinly sourced internet punditry.

07 Jun 2008 11:35 am

Judicial Activism In History

From Arthur Sutherland's 1954 article on segregation and the Supreme Court:

Man has never succeeded in defining justice, and this is well; any definition might exclude what he would later wish to preserve. But the Supreme Court had no trouble in deciding on what was not justice; it was not justice to exclude the Negro child from the school where the white children could go. And that judgment day was a great day. As I write, the papers are full of reports of governors calling together educational commissions to consider what shall be done; and in two or three states there are reported a few—surprisingly few—hurt and indignant utterances from public officials. This is not remarkable. For generations men have felt deeply and resentfully about this matter. People against whom any court decides are apt to be exasperated, and say things in immediate hurt which a little later they realize they do not wholly mean.

07 Jun 2008 10:52 am

Heaven As An Amusement Park

Not my idea of eternal bliss. 

07 Jun 2008 10:46 am

The View From Your Window

Houlton, Maine, 4.57 am.

07 Jun 2008 09:21 am

Kristol's Intent

Daniel Koffler on Kristol:

...it's true that throwing up a wall of bullshit to deflect attention from your candidate's deeply unpopular views is a potentially effective means of helping him creep to victory on the strength of contentless non-issues --- like, say, whether his opponent is an insufficiently patriotic crypto-Communist. But to conclude that's all Kristol is up to doesn't give him nearly enough credit for a long-term vision, at least when it comes to tactical moves in the Republican party's internal turf wars. Campaigning on xenophobia, guilt by association, and red-baiting has desperate and unintentionally self-parodic qualities this year that it didn't have as recently as 2004. The likelihood is that John McCain will lose; if and when he loses, the multilateral truce among neos, paleos, reformists, and GOP hacks --- which is about as fragile as the truce in Basra to begin with --- is going to shatter before Obama's victory speech ends.

Continue reading "Kristol's Intent" »

07 Jun 2008 09:18 am

Monster Blog

A new site devoted to screen captures of classic movie monsters.

07 Jun 2008 07:18 am

Al Qaeda Against Marriage Equality

In case you were wondering:

At his arraignment here Thursday, the alleged 9/11 mastermind said he would not accept any attorney, even a fellow Muslim, “who is sworn to your American constitution.” Displaying a surprising understanding of such concepts as federalism and dual sovereignty, Mohammed referenced recent decisions by state courts in California and Massachusetts under the powers reserved to them under the Tenth Amendment.

“I consider all American constitution” evil, he said, because it permits “same-sexual marriage and many other things that are very bad,” he told the military judge, Col. Ralph Kohlmann. “Do you understand?”

Friday, June 6, 2008

06 Jun 2008 10:29 pm

How Tech Logos Evolve

When Apple had a picture of Isaac Newton And Microsoft was hip: a guide to evolutionary design.

06 Jun 2008 09:16 pm

A Samaritan-Free Road Ctd.

A reader writes:

Actually, the scene in that video isn't too bad.  As a volunteer EMT for a few years I responded to exactly two pedestrians hit by cars, and both times well meaning bystanders pulled the patient our of the street and tried to prop up their heads - exactly what you don't want when your biggest concern is a head or neck injury.  Other than stopping traffic, keeping the patient's head and neck still, and talking to them to keep them calm, there really isn't anything to do until the ambulance gets there.

Continue reading "A Samaritan-Free Road Ctd. " »

06 Jun 2008 09:14 pm

Has Hewitt Finally Lost It?

Maybe I'm missing something, but Hugh Hewitt keeps posting images from TUCC's church bulletin as if they contained something scary or shocking or revelatory. I can't find anything in them even faintly remarkable. Donating a kidney to another member of the congregation? Instructions on how to get an EITC tax credit? Help for Katrina victims? Is Hewitt now muttering aimlessly in a dark room somewhere?

But there was this classic:

Even voters hostile to Israel ougth [sic] to wonder about Obama's naivete about the issue.

Wha?

06 Jun 2008 09:07 pm

Small Print

Oliver Stone's teaser poster for his movie about Bush has no images on it.

06 Jun 2008 09:04 pm

Karl Clinton Watch

"Frankly, I had a private conversation with a high-ranking person in the campaign ... that used a racial line of argument that I found very disconcerting. It was extremely disconcerting given the rank of this person. It was very disturbing," - Clinton supporter, Congressman Rob Andrews.

06 Jun 2008 07:34 pm

2000 On Steroids

Ambinder ponders the concequences of a popular vote and electoral college split decision. When you realize how big Obama's turnout might be, especially in big blue states, and factor in larger than usual Democratic turnouts in red states, it's a scarily credible scenario.

06 Jun 2008 06:41 pm

"We Do Not Torture" Update

From the WaPo, via Dana Goldstein:

Mohammed appeared to have equal disdain for the process, but he only briefly mentioned his "torturing" at the hands of U.S. officials, something he acknowledged he was warned not to mention in open court, lest a security official hit a button muting the audio to observers in the courtroom and at a media center nearby. That button was pushed at least a few times on Thursday when detainees appeared to discuss elements of their early captivity in secret facilities or the way they were treated.

"All of this has been taken under torturing," Mohammed said. "Then after torturing, they transfer us to Inquisition Land here at Guantanamo, and you tell everyone to sit down, sit down."

06 Jun 2008 06:05 pm

Style And Substance

Larison observes:

...in any contest between Obama and McCain, Obama is the substantive, policy-oriented candidate, while McCain is the one offering mostly pious bromides about victory, service and being American.  If style often beats substance, Obama is in trouble because, as his supporters tirelessly remind us, Obama does have a substantive policy agenda (even if he doesn’t spend as much time talking about it and a lot of his boosters don’t care what it is) and McCain’s entire campaign has been even more driven by biography and character than Obama’s.

Reihan concedes the point.

06 Jun 2008 05:05 pm

Obama and Kerry

538 has a new map. The blue states are where Obama is doing better than Kerry when he ran against Bush; the red states where McCain is doing better than Bush against Kerry.

06 Jun 2008 04:42 pm

Calm Down, For Pete's Sake

"I cried all night. I’m going to be crying for the next four years. What Barack Obama has accomplished is the single most extraordinary event that has occurred in the 232 years of the nation’s political history. ... The event itself is so extraordinary that another chapter could be added to the Bible to chronicle its significance," - Jesse Jackson, Jr.

06 Jun 2008 04:20 pm

Mental Health Break

Blob your way into summer:

06 Jun 2008 04:03 pm

The Assassination

Alistair Cooke's first-hand account:

It was about 18 minutes after midnight. A few of us strolled over to the swinging doors that gave on to the pantry. They had no glass peepholes but we'd soon hear the pleasant bustle of him coming through, as the waiters and the chef in his high hat and a busboy or two waited to see him. There was suddenly a banging repetition of a sound that I don't know how to describe: not at all like shots - like somebody dropping a rack of trays. Half a dozen of us were startled enough to charge through the door. And it had just happened.

Continue reading "The Assassination" »

06 Jun 2008 03:45 pm

The View From Your Window

Bellingham Bay, Washington, 11.15 am.

06 Jun 2008 03:32 pm

Obama Rumors And The Human Mind

Jonah Lehrer explains how we respond to rumors:

Not only are we persuaded by false rumors that get repeated, but we're persuaded even when the false rumors get repeated by one person. As Psy Blog notes, a recent study by Kimberlee Weaver and colleagues, found that "if one person in a group repeats the same opinion three times, it has 90% of the effect of three different people in that group expressing the same opinion."

That's why one popular and persistent blogger, or one partisan hack on CNN or Fox News, can do so much damage.

Continue reading "Obama Rumors And The Human Mind" »

06 Jun 2008 03:27 pm

Ellen Malcolm Can't Cope

A post-Clinton meltdown of sorts.

06 Jun 2008 03:18 pm

Fact-Checking DeMoss

Yes, as readers have pointed out, the Lewinsky saga happened well after Clinton's re-election. But the sexual harassment suit was in the works.

06 Jun 2008 03:17 pm

Dissent Of The Day

A reader writes:

I really think you're taking Hugh Hewitt's "Soviet national anthem" quote out of context.  He was referring to the Decembrists concert at the rally, who typically begin their shows with the Soviet national anthem. This isn't the unfounded mudslinging it appears to be when you quote the single line by itself. It's not the same as the talk radio idiots who constantly refer to Obama using his middle name to imply something sinister to their listeners.

That's the excuse. It clearly wasn't the intent.

06 Jun 2008 03:15 pm

That "Whitey Tape"

Jim Geraghty does some more debunking. Some lurid details were taken from a pulp novel no less.

06 Jun 2008 03:01 pm

A Samaritan-Free Road

A hit and run victim is left in the street for an awful long time:

06 Jun 2008 02:50 pm

The Seven Basic Blog Posts

A poster's guide.

06 Jun 2008 02:45 pm

Those Endless Subtitles

Gideon Haigh laments a wave of prolixity in the book industry.

06 Jun 2008 01:57 pm

Quote For The Day

"If one third of white evangelicals voted for Bill Clinton the second time, at the height of Monica Lewinsky mess--that's a statistic I didn't believe at first but I double and triple checked it--I would not be surprised if that many or more voted for Barack Obama in this election. You're seeing some movement among evangelicals as the term [evangelical] has become more pejorative. There's a reaction among some evangelicals to swing out to the left in an effort to prove that evangelicals are really not that right wing. There's some concern that maybe Republicans haven't done that well. And there's this fascination with Barack Obama. So I will not be surprised if he gets one third of the evangelical vote. I wouldn't be surprised if it was 40-percent," - Mark DeMoss, formerly Mitt Romney's outreach guy to evangelicals.

06 Jun 2008 01:45 pm

The Desperation Of Fox News

This is just sad.