Tuesday
A change is gonna come/ Like Sam Cooke sang in '63
I don't have any content for this title yet.
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Thursday
Did something else happen tonight?
Historian Howard Zinn, best known for writing A People's History of the United States died on Tuesday. He was a very influential activist for a number of important and worthy causes, and inspired untold others to work for these causes as well. Here's why most people should not read his book.
Link due to: Eric.
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Link due to: Eric.
Friday
Wipeout
Remember two days ago when I was praising engaging the arguments of others instead of just making snarky comments? I lied.
Yglesias, “My plan, I suppose, is that the Obama administration should threaten corporations with indefinite detention without trial if he doesn’t like their political contributions. That would presumably get the Supreme Court engaged with this civil liberties problem.”
While it's not the main topic Yglesias is talking about in that linked post, I should say something about Citizens United now, I suppose. It's not a big deal. The role money plays in elections and access to political power is a big deal, but I've been convinced of the hydraulic theory of money, which says that like water, it finds its way through. In which case the argument for Citizens United being a disaster rests on drastically overstating the effectiveness of the previous regulatory regime under BCRA.
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Yglesias, “My plan, I suppose, is that the Obama administration should threaten corporations with indefinite detention without trial if he doesn’t like their political contributions. That would presumably get the Supreme Court engaged with this civil liberties problem.”
While it's not the main topic Yglesias is talking about in that linked post, I should say something about Citizens United now, I suppose. It's not a big deal. The role money plays in elections and access to political power is a big deal, but I've been convinced of the hydraulic theory of money, which says that like water, it finds its way through. In which case the argument for Citizens United being a disaster rests on drastically overstating the effectiveness of the previous regulatory regime under BCRA.
Wednesday
Down in parade, people running like a masquerade
Scott Brown beat Martha Coakley and will become the junior Senator from Massachusetts in the next two to three weeks; here's what that means. Jon Chait said a bunch of true things this morning about what Brown's likely victory meant in terms of Obama's popularity and how Democrats in Congress should react. Most importantly he discussed why this does not mean they should give up on health care reform; the short version is that they've already paid whatever unpopularity costs exist, and that not passing it just means they lose the benefits, not get back the costs. Unfortunately, it's not clear that Democrats see things this way, as I'm going to be explaining in just a few sentences. If you care about health care reform, or the future of the Democratic Party (and, while it's not the same thing, the chances for liberal policies to be passed) over the next couple of years, it's a good time to contact your Congressional representative. One unhelpful thing Chait did is title his piece “PANIC!!!” In this situation telling people not to panic, or making jokes about how they're panicking, or pretty much any other use of the actual word panic seems more likely cause panic than alleviate it.
Anyway, after Brown won, Barney Frank and Jim Webb, two people whom I have positive feelings towards, put out statements which strongly imply that health care is dead. Carolyn Maloney also said earlier in the day that a Brown win meant reform was dead.
Which brings me to my final point. I really don't care about, or put much stock in, speeches. But Barack Obama needs to give a major policy address, and he needs to do it as soon as possible. And in that speech he has to take a risk, by publicly recommitting himself, and the Democratic party which he leads, to passing a health care bill as soon as possible. He has to do this because the main thing House Democrats need to understand is that not passing health care legislation will only decrease their chance of holding their seat this coming November, and Obama giving such a speech will actually tie the Democratic party's fortunes more closely to the passage of the health care bill, and should thereby prevent defections from the voting coalition. Josh Marshall makes the same point, but other than drawing a clever analogy between Bush doubling down with the surge in Iraq after the Democrats took control of Congress in 2006 and a potential Obama move now, I don't think there's much to take away from his post.
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Anyway, after Brown won, Barney Frank and Jim Webb, two people whom I have positive feelings towards, put out statements which strongly imply that health care is dead. Carolyn Maloney also said earlier in the day that a Brown win meant reform was dead.
Which brings me to my final point. I really don't care about, or put much stock in, speeches. But Barack Obama needs to give a major policy address, and he needs to do it as soon as possible. And in that speech he has to take a risk, by publicly recommitting himself, and the Democratic party which he leads, to passing a health care bill as soon as possible. He has to do this because the main thing House Democrats need to understand is that not passing health care legislation will only decrease their chance of holding their seat this coming November, and Obama giving such a speech will actually tie the Democratic party's fortunes more closely to the passage of the health care bill, and should thereby prevent defections from the voting coalition. Josh Marshall makes the same point, but other than drawing a clever analogy between Bush doubling down with the surge in Iraq after the Democrats took control of Congress in 2006 and a potential Obama move now, I don't think there's much to take away from his post.
Tuesday
On sharing
I just used Google Reader's share feature for these three posts; I don't believe I've ever used it to suggest that other people read an entry before, but plan to start. Those three are all good reads in their own right, and I liked the way that O'Hare brought up a classic of academic literature (which I wasn't familiar with at all) but then didn't just use it as shorthand for the ideas in it, but actually explained them and their relevance. But even more so, I linked them because they reminded me of what blogs used to be like, back before the left- and right- blogging communities had so solidified and people engaged the arguments of the other side people they disagreed with about U.S. politics instead of, or in addition to, making snarky remarks and attributing stupidity/malice/bad faith or some combination of those to their opponents. Which I do too, in real life, and would do if I blogged, but I'm feeling nostalgic. And the debate I'm linking is intra-blog, rather than inter-blog, and not explicitly about a political issue under debate, which is a nice symbol of how things have changed.
One point of disagreement with O'Hare's second post, where he writes:
Back on the sort of unifying topic for this post, I suppose Jim Manzi v. Jon Chait and Paul Krugman (with a large supporting cast on each side) on growth rates and wealth in Europe compared to America was reasonably similar to the days I'm nostalgic for, so maybe I'm just complaining it's own sake.
Posted while I try to ignore Scott Brown's impending election and the attending chaos (doom?) it will bring for health care reform in the United States.
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One point of disagreement with O'Hare's second post, where he writes:
“White man’s burden” movies like the Indiana Jones series play this message out: the cookie-cutter plot is that a bunch of brown people are having a terrible time and can’t do anything about it until a white guy comes into town and saves them (I haven’t seen it, but have the impression Avatar follows this template).It's exceedingly strange to use the Indiana Jones series as your example of white man's burden movies, he accurately describes part of the plot of Temple of Doom, but nothing in Raiders or Last Crusade resembles that, and I don't think Crystal Skull does either, though I haven't seen it. I don't know enough to take a side in the debate on culture as a determinant of growth, but I'll be damned if I let a confused film reference by me.
Back on the sort of unifying topic for this post, I suppose Jim Manzi v. Jon Chait and Paul Krugman (with a large supporting cast on each side) on growth rates and wealth in Europe compared to America was reasonably similar to the days I'm nostalgic for, so maybe I'm just complaining it's own sake.
Posted while I try to ignore Scott Brown's impending election and the attending chaos (doom?) it will bring for health care reform in the United States.
A Brave New Post
Natalie Angier argues in the NY Times that omnivores should not “cede the entire moral penthouse” to vegetarians and vegans. As someone who wrote a humor article proposing creating a “Better than Vegans” movement while in High School (permissible foods for those in the movement were salt and twinkies), let me say that she is very, very confused. For instance, neither the words ‘consciousness’ nor ‘pain’ appear in her article. Instead, she lists various ways that plants respond to stimuli which indicate that they react to threats and try to stay alive. These are interesting, but have literally nothing to do with whether it's wrong to kill them in order to eat them. Standard arguments for vegeterianism note that animals, like humans, can feel pain and struggle to avoid it, and/or that whichever features of humans make it wrong to kill us are features we share with many, many animals, and that it's therefore wrong to kill them. But this means that the article doesn't deal with the reasons anyone has for holding their view, so it's not clear who she thinks she's arguing with.
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RSVP
True or false: I should start blogging again.
Also potentially of interest: Yankees/D-Backs/Tigers trade evaluated.
A quiz on U.S. Presidents by V.P.
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Also potentially of interest: Yankees/D-Backs/Tigers trade evaluated.
A quiz on U.S. Presidents by V.P.
Friday
C'est la vie, you never can tell what will motivate me to post
Henry Farrell writes about the surprising success of public in door smoking bans in changing social norms on where and when smoking is permitted, as opposed to generating the massive disobedience to the law which seemed likely to some. I like discussions of social norms, maybe you do too. The comments, particularly comment three on the malleability of smell and six on what else New York City / the Bloomberg* administration have done to reduce smoking besides the ban, are also good.
* Unrelatedly, though not surprisingly if you've read this site, I'm a single issue anti-Bloomberg voter for term limit extension reasons. It'd be almost impossible for Thompson to lose my vote or Bloomberg to gain it.
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* Unrelatedly, though not surprisingly if you've read this site, I'm a single issue anti-Bloomberg voter for term limit extension reasons. It'd be almost impossible for Thompson to lose my vote or Bloomberg to gain it.
The Magnifecent Seven Year Itch
Every summer, a number of different venues in New York show free outdoor movies. For my own convenience, and yours, I've complied a calendar of all of them.
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Monday
Seriously, American culture is increasingly food-focused
Read Henley on omnivores, vegans, the different ways in which they sometimes upset each other, and especially the last paragraph about the value of marginal changes in individual food consumption patterns, which is a point I've made before, at least in person, and I think on this blog as well.
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Thursday
Food culture
More meat related content, because I was surprised by the coincidence of seeing this article soon after posting on the hot-button medium-rare issue. Personally, my trust in the Burger of the Month Club's judgment started waning with the very first anecdote, talking about how important it was that everyone tried the half pound burger, with bacon and cheddar. A half pound is generally too large to maintain proper ratios between the meat patty, bun, and any cheese, vegetable, condiment, additional meat, or other extra touch. Further, while cheddar isn't generally a strong cheese, and I'm a fan of bleu cheese burgers myself, if you're trying to accurately judge the burger then layering bacon and cheddar on top of it is just going to get in the way of discerning the quality of the burger itself.
Also, I hold it against them that they're part of the backlash against Shake Shack's popularity. Yes, the line is obviously annoying, and the fact that the line is one reason people go there (seeing that it's popular and wanting to be part of the popularity) is even more so. But the burger is actually excellent, and I don't know why they'd pretend otherwise. The real mistake is to think it's name is making a stronger claim than it is and go there just for a shake, which is not worth braving the line for.
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Also, I hold it against them that they're part of the backlash against Shake Shack's popularity. Yes, the line is obviously annoying, and the fact that the line is one reason people go there (seeing that it's popular and wanting to be part of the popularity) is even more so. But the burger is actually excellent, and I don't know why they'd pretend otherwise. The real mistake is to think it's name is making a stronger claim than it is and go there just for a shake, which is not worth braving the line for.
Wednesday
I'll gladly pay you tomorrow
My practice is universally to order steaks, hamburgers, and most any other product on which the option is available medium-rare without giving any thought to the particular circumstances the cow which became my meat was raised in (grass-fed, organic, not) which cut or cuts are being used to assemble the burger, or any facts about the manner in which the meat is being cooked (on burgers, largely grill versus griddle, on steaks, other concerns). This has worked pretty well for me, in the sense that my food tastes good, and I've avoided mockery from friends and wait-staff who think it's a waste to order good steak cooked any more than that. And it looks like I've been ordering correctly, but if I want to be a real epicure (and I do!), I need to put a lot more thought into the whys of my order.
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Friday
Remember when I totally ducked John Fund?
Over a week after it was timely, but I just read David Silbey's This Day in History for April 21st, relating what current Senator, then Second Lieutenant, Daniel Inouye, was doing on 4/21/45, and wanted to recommend that everyone else do likewise.
Referents in that sentence could probably be a little clearer, I guess.
And, while I'm frequently deliberately obscure with the connection between a post and its title, or even have no connection in mind, here's the reference for this post title, and why I'm thinking about that post while writing this one.
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Referents in that sentence could probably be a little clearer, I guess.
And, while I'm frequently deliberately obscure with the connection between a post and its title, or even have no connection in mind, here's the reference for this post title, and why I'm thinking about that post while writing this one.
Tuesday
The guarantee, iv. Or, a tonal mis-mash.
Krugman:
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Let’s say this slowly: the Bush administration wanted to use 9/11 as a pretext to invade Iraq, even though Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. So it tortured people to make them confess to the nonexistent link.True, and very serious. I have nothing serious to add, but in the spirit of not publishing posts in which I just quote other people, I'll note that “it's evil” is not one word and that his post is therefore mis-punctuated. It should either not include the “it's” after the colon, or not use a colon there at all.
There’s a word for this: it’s evil.
Wednesday
All About the Hamiltons
I originally considered writing a post about Judge David Hamilton when the New York Times wrote an editorial praising his nomination as a welcome return to qualified judicial nominees after years of poor Bush nominations. My plan was to write a post saying that I didn't really like the Hamilton nomination because, while the ABA has rated him Well Qualified (.pdf link) for this circuit court position, I was worried they had done that just because they didn't want to make the Obama administration look bad early on, and that his Not Qualified rating (.pdf link) from when he was nominated to the district court was still worrisome. But it turns out that it was just because of a perceived lack of experience, and his time on the district court really does seem like a reasonable fix for that, so I stopped having worries on that count, and lost my reason for writing this post.
But then I read this Michael Tomasky post about how Hamilton is being smeared for having written things he didn't write, favoring worshiping Allah over worshiping Jesus Christ, in an opinion on Indiana state legislative prayer, which I thought was a pretty interesting story, including this update, and worth passing on.
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But then I read this Michael Tomasky post about how Hamilton is being smeared for having written things he didn't write, favoring worshiping Allah over worshiping Jesus Christ, in an opinion on Indiana state legislative prayer, which I thought was a pretty interesting story, including this update, and worth passing on.
Saturday
I read the penal code, part ii; Or: Don't jostle me, man
Four years later.
Jostling
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Jostling
A person is guilty of jostling when, in a public place, he intentionally and unnecessarily:
1. Places his hand in the proximity of a person's pocket or handbag; or
2. Jostles or crowds another person at a time when a third person's hand is in the proximity of such person's pocket or handbag.
Jostling is a class A misdemeanor.
Friday
Elections Matter
1. Glad you made the right choice, Mr. President.
2. Paragraph 3 of this inauguration day post is hereby incorporated by reference, specifically with regard to the portion of the memos excerpted by Hilzoy.
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2. Paragraph 3 of this inauguration day post is hereby incorporated by reference, specifically with regard to the portion of the memos excerpted by Hilzoy.
Wednesday
A Tax Day Present
I don't know if this visual tone matrix toy is already the most popular web-thingy in the world and I've just fallen behind the times, but I have a feeling it might not be, and there's definitely nothing better I can do with this post than further the cause of recommending it. The matrix really makes me want to take up an instrument.
On a totally separate topic, but because I just heard it happen, if Yankees announcer Michael Kay never describes as “jeterian” again it'll be much too soon.
UPDATE: I don't think I was emphatic enough about how much I like the tone matrix. It's not just some web-thingy (seriously, that's the best description of the category it's in) that I'm doing a blog post about, it's the best web-thingy ever, I just wish there was a better way to avoid the problem of it getting repetitive than clearing the one you've made and making a new one.
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On a totally separate topic, but because I just heard it happen, if Yankees announcer Michael Kay never describes as “jeterian” again it'll be much too soon.
UPDATE: I don't think I was emphatic enough about how much I like the tone matrix. It's not just some web-thingy (seriously, that's the best description of the category it's in) that I'm doing a blog post about, it's the best web-thingy ever, I just wish there was a better way to avoid the problem of it getting repetitive than clearing the one you've made and making a new one.
Tuesday
Does Spielberg think Lawrence of Arabia is monstrous?
I'm not sure, but in a featurette on the DVD of it he says that when he saw it, living in Phoenix as a teenager, he “couldn't really comprehend the enormity of the experience.” Yeah, this is just one of those posts where I complain about people using enormity to mean that something is merely (metaphorically) large in size.
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The telegraph wires are humming
I want to link, without any commentary of my own, to two Yglesias posts from last Friday, which I'd missed until now because Yglesias posts too damn much to keep up with. The first is on the under-considered topic of what we should be doing right now to respond to future problems likely to crop associated with the high oil prices of such long ago times as last summer. It's really good.
The second is on how he learned a lot of real world lessons about dealing with piracy by playing some video game I've never heard of from Civilization creator Sid Meier. It's, what're the words I'm looking for, really good.
On the topic of Yglesias writing too much, Jim Henley's April 1 post was awesome, and I agree with every word he says on the topic of Yglesias in it.
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The second is on how he learned a lot of real world lessons about dealing with piracy by playing some video game I've never heard of from Civilization creator Sid Meier. It's, what're the words I'm looking for, really good.
On the topic of Yglesias writing too much, Jim Henley's April 1 post was awesome, and I agree with every word he says on the topic of Yglesias in it.
Monday
Monday grammar blogging
Prof. Geoff Pullum commemorates the rapidly approaching 50th anniversary of Strunk and White's The Elements of Style by explaining that much of the manuals's advice is bad, Strunk and White didn't understand grammar well enough to write about it (which differs from understanding it well enough to use it, as E.B. White could and did), and the influence of the book has been on the whole harmful. One thing to keep in mind with regard to that last point is to note that Pullum's arguments support both the claims that it has generally been harmful compared to a better grammar manual, and that it would be easy to create a better grammar manual, but not the claim that the book has had a malign influence compared to a complete lack of training in grammar, which might be the most relevant alternative. I previously wrote about The Elements of Style a little bit in this post, and wrote about writing about it in a couple of others from around the same time.
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Thursday
The Cult of the Lizard King
I'm a fan of: the above video of Knicks forward-center David Lee and an animated reptile. No human being has yet explained to my satisfaction why it exists (David Lee having signed a deal of some sort with The Electric Company is barely even the beginning of an explanation), but what ever the reason for it, it's pretty great.
I'm not a fan of: Obama and his Department of Justice's continued reliance on the state secrets privilege to block law suits investigating Bush administration illegal surveillance, which is essentially a way of both taking political ownership of the surveillance program and promising to make the same illegitimate claim of a privilege to block entire cases on the President's say-so when actions of his administration are the one's being investigated.
