Today -100: November 22, 1911: Of broken windows, more aerial bombing, and lost feet

In Britain, suffragette protesters, turned back from Parliament by the police, smash windows. Lots of windows. “A visitor to London to-night, unaware of the previously announced plans of the suffragettes to storm the Houses of Parliament, might have imagined that the Germans had come at last.” 220 women and 3 men are arrested. In the meeting preceding the “deputation” to Parliament, Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence of the Women’s Social and Political Union said, “We who are on this deputation to-night are already outside our body. We know that our hands, our feet, and all that we have are being used by the great Spirit to carry out the great purpose of His will. It is that which destroys any possibility of anxiety or fear or consciousness of pain. We know that here we offer and present ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a living sacrifice for all those great sins of the world whose taproot is in sex domination.”

An Italian “airship fleet” (5 planes) bombs and supposedly destroys a Turkish camp in Libya (according to observers in, what else, a balloon).

Headline of the Day -100: “Loses Foot to See Taft.” 15-year-old Edward McMahon, hopping a train with a friend to go to the White House to talk with Taft – about what, we do not know – falls under a train. His left foot is crushed, but not his plucky, indomitable spirit, I’m guessing.

Oh well

I’ll do a write-up of Saturday’s I’m Not Holier Than Thou, I’m Holier Than You debate if, and only if, a transcript ever appears. If anybody sees one, please leave a link in comments.

Today -100: November 21, 1911: Of assassinations and moral protection

Santo Domingo’s president, Ramon Caceras, is assassinated. His coach was attacked, possibly by relatives of the former president, killed by Caceras in 1899.

British suffragette leader Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence of the Women’s Social and Political Union explains that they scheduled their demonstration today (see tomorrow’s post for coverage) for night time “for the express reason that decent, honest workingmen will be in the streets. We have found that their presence affords women moral protection against violence by the police and hooligans.”

Today -100: November 20, 1911: Of borders, demographics, and sugar

US troops will start patrolling the border with Mexico to prevent any more attempts to form revolutionary armies on the American side of the border.

In the first six months of 1911, the number of French deaths exceeded the number of births.

Dr. Alpheus Woodman of MIT says that people who eat lots of sugar are better-nourished, better-looking and more energetic.

Shouldn’t this be the day after Thanksgiving?

Today is World Toilet Day. All day. Celebrate accordingly.

This is the official World Toilet Day logo:


This is the official World Toilet Day song, bringing the WTF to WTD:

Today -100: November 19, 1911: Of ultimata, plots, and campaign hats

Russia is demanding that Persia fire its treasurer-general, the American William Morgan-Shuster, or else.

US Secret Service agents arrest Mexican Gen. Bernardo Reyes for plotting on US soil against Pres. Madero and planning to launch a military expedition against Mexico from the US. This may not stop a new revolution.

Headline and Hat of the Day -100: “Taft Orders Campaign Hat.” It will be a derby with a a crown 6 inches deep and a brim 2 3/8 inches wide, size 7 5/8. “It is no ordinary affair, and, according to local politicians, could not be meant for other than campaign purposes.”

Today -100: November 18, 1911: Of suffrage, rope, and old dudes

British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith receives a deputation of suffragists from several suffrage groups which are divided in tactics but uniformly believe that his maneuver of pushing a Liberal-favoring universal manhood suffrage bill to which Parliament might (or might not) accept a women’s suffrage amendment (he tells them that the government will be neutral on the subject and that it is up to them to persuade Parliament) is intended to scupper the chances of a non-party settlement of the women’s suffrage issue (a London Times editorial agrees). Christabel Pankhurst tells Asquith that he “can go.”

Headline of the Day -100: “Duel to the Death Over a Bit of Rope.” A dock watchman accused a guy of stealing some rope and shot him twice. The man returned fire and killed him. Both men, who were strangers and unrelated, were named William Scott.

One Abraham Kalinsky dies in Baltimore, supposedly 117 years old. He served in the Prussian army at Waterloo and helped burn Moscow.

Today -100: November 17, 1911: Of combinations doing mischief, Persia, and assassinations

Theodore Roosevelt writes an editorial criticizing the Taft administration policy towards trusts as inadequate, being overly reliant on the courts to punish bad corporations rather than, as TR advocates, based on regulation and oversight by an independent federal agency. As it is, there are no clear set rules for the behaviour of large corporations, just long court cases which might eventually result in them being declared trusts and dissolved.

Roosevelt is not opposed to huge corporations (combinations) per se, only to those that “do mischief,” and he attacks his Progressive buddies who are opposed to them on principle for their “rural toryism.” As long as we have steam, electricity, bit cities, etc, we can’t go back to the competitive climate of 60 years ago, he says.

One reason for TR criticizing his successor now is that the government case against US Steel claims that Roosevelt was “deceived” by US Steel over the monopolistic tendency of its acquisition of the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company in 1907. The dude does not take criticism well.

While some people view this article as a break with Taft, presaging an endorsement by Roosevelt of La Follette in 1912, the NYT thinks he won’t endorse La Follette or Taft, but will “keep as quiet as he can” until the convention, and then support the party nominee. And the Times strongly discounts the possibility of him running himself. They don’t know him very well, do they?

Russia is sending troops to occupy parts of Persia, as per its ultimatum.

Mexico arrests a Spanish dude who was allegedly going to assassinate President Madero for $10,000.

Not unlike the stuff twirling around in his toilet

Today -100: November 16, 1911: They want to burn him now

The Post Office is experimenting with delivering mail (in D.C. to start with) by newfangled automobiles.

There’s supposedly a reign of terror going on in Nanking, where any Chinese who have cut their queues (those pigtails) are being beheaded.

At an NAACP meeting in NYC to protest lynching, Rev. John Hanyes Holmes says that lynchings are getting more frequent and more cruel. “A few years ago, the mobs needed the excuse of an attack upon a woman. Now they do not wait for that excuse. It used to be considered enough to hang the negro. They want to burn him now.”

Today -100: November 15, 1911: Let us have white men in this country

NYC Mayor Gaynor addresses the annual convention of the State Federation of Women’s Clubs, and tells them that no more than 2% of women want the vote (he soon finds out that pretty much 100% of the women in the audience want the vote). He then goes on at length about the unity of man and woman. And he assumed they all had the permission of their husbands to be here. It was a rather odd speech, during which he kept saying that he was distracted by the ash & garbage can situation (there’s a strike going on).

The premier of British Columbia, Richard McBride, asks the Canadian PM to ban Asiatics (Japanese, Chinese, and Indians) from BC. Says BC Attorney General Bowser, “Let us have white men in this country.”

Obama at APEC: The United States is, and always will be, a Pacific nation

Obama held a press conference following the APEC summit in Hawaii.

OF COURSE THE STAMPS WILL BE MADE IN CHINA: “Ninety-five percent of the world’s consumers are beyond our borders. I want them to be buying goods with three words stamped on them: Made in America.”

DUDE OWNS A GLOBE: “As I’ve said, the United States is, and always will be, a Pacific nation.”

He said of sanctions on Iran, “And they’re having an impact. All our intelligence indicates that Iran’s economy is suffering as a consequence of this.” He’s applauding making the Iranian people suffer. Swell.

“TECHNICALLY”: “the recent IAEA report indicates what we already knew, which is, although Iran does not possess a nuclear weapon and is technically still allowing IAEA observers into their country...”

IT’S NOT A RACE – ISRAEL WON THE RACE 50 YEARS AGO: “all three of us [Hu & Medvedev] entirely agree on the objective, which is making sure that Iran does not weaponize nuclear power and that we don’t trigger a nuclear arms race in the region.”

IN WHICH ONE WORD EQUALS THE SAME WORD: On Chinese currency over-valuation: “But the United States and other countries, I think understandably, feel that enough is enough.”

MAKES YOU WONDER WHY WE HAVE MORE THAN ONE POLITICAL PARTY (NOW SOMEONE’S GOING TO WRITE IN COMMENTS THAT WE DON’T – AREN’T YOU, ELI?): “I’ve been very frank with Chinese leaders, though, in saying that the American people across the board -- left, right and center -- believe in trade, believe in competition.”

He calls on China to become “a responsible leader in the world economy.” Evidently being a responsible leader like Obama means getting to talk to everyone else like they’re unruly teenagers: “But that requires them to take responsibility, to understand that their role is different now than it might have been 20 years ago or 30 years ago, where if they were breaking some rules, it didn’t really matter, it did not have a significant impact. ... Now they’ve grown up, and so they’re going to have to help manage this process in a responsible way.”

ACT LIKE DICKS AND SCREW OVER THE POOR?: On the “super-committee” and the deficit: “I still hold out the prospect that there’s going to be a light-bulb moment where everybody says ‘Ah-ha! Here’s what we’ve got to do.’” If it’s a compact flourescent light-bulb, Michelle Bachmann is going to throw a fit, you know.

ACT LIKE DICKS AND SCREW OVER THE POOR?: “Do I anticipate that at some point they [Republicans] recognize that doing nothing is not an option? That’s my hope.”

On the Sarkozy-Obama open mic moment re Bibi “The Liar” Netanyahu: “I’m not going to comment on conversations that I have with individual leaders”.

Obama ditched the hallowed tradition of making APEC leaders dress up in funny “native” costumes, because he has no sense of whimsy.

Here was Ponchopallooza ‘04 in Chile:



Bar Girls in Hanoi, 2006:



(Click here for my favorite of my APEC pics posts.)

Whatever the fuck this was supposed to be in Australia 2007:


Ponchopalooza ‘08 in Mexico:


Chinese Restaurant Waiters in Singapore 2009:



Next year, Vladivostok. I wanna see some damn Cossack costumes.

Today -100: November 14, 1911: Of copyrights and transplants

The Supreme Court rules that movies based on copyrighted books infringe those copyrights (to wit, the 1907, 15-minute Ben Hur) (which you can watch on YouTube).

A kidney transplant is successfully performed in Philadelphia.

Republican foreign policy debate: If we reelect Barack Obama, Iran will have a nuclear weapon

Another debate, which CBS calls the Commander in Chief Debate, which would be appropriate if the subject were confined to military issues but is not because it was also about foreign policy.

Transcript part 1, part 2.

Twitt Romney said Iran’s nuclear program (which he calls “their nuclear folly”) is “of course, President Obama’s greatest failing, from a foreign policy standpoint”. He should have encouraged Iranian dissidents with covert aid and threatened military action against Iran. “Look, one thing you can know-- and that is if we reelect Barack Obama, Iran will have a nuclear weapon. And if we elect Mitt Romney... they will not have a nuclear weapon.”


Gingrich agrees that Obama “skipped all the ways to be smart” about Iran. Maybe Gingrich shouldn’t talk about skipping. In fact, I want everyone to close your eyes and picture Newt Gingrich skipping.

Anyway, Newton says that the smart thing to do is “maximum covert operations,” including murdering their scientists – Republicans just do not like science – “covertly, all of it deniable,” to team up with Israel, undermine Iran’s government and if it fails to collapse, go in militarily.

Ron Paul is against going to war with Iran.

They weren’t going to ask Perry about Iran, but he insisted on telling them anyway. He would “sanction the Iranian Central Bank right now and shut down that country’s economy.”

Santorum says we should work with Israel to let them bomb the nuclear program out of existence “before the next explosion we hear in Iran is a nuclear one and then the world changes.” Sounds familiar.

Huntsman wants to bring US troops home from Afghanistan, because we’ve won.


Romney says he would never negotiate with the Taliban.

Gingrich, playing the history professor, badly, says, “the Taliban survives for the... very same reason that historically we said guerillas always survive, which is they have a sanctuary. The sanctuary’s Pakistan. You’re never gonna stop the Taliban as long as they can sort of hide.” Which is why Nixon bombing Cambodia defeated the Viet Cong, right Newt?

Major Garrett, who is not a major, quotes Herman Cain that the US needs to be clear about who its friends and foes are. Are you clear about which one Pakistan is, Mr. Cain? No, Herman Cain is not. Because bin Laden and because Karzai said he would side with Pakistan in a US-Pakistan dispute (which actually raises questions about Karzai, not Pakistan, obviously). “Will they make commitments relative to the commitment of their military, if we have to make commitments?” I’m guessing Newt Gingrich squirmed each time Cain used the word commitment.

Asked about Afghanistan, Rick Perry talked about foreign aid instead. And “The foreign aid budget in my administration for every country is gonna start at zero dollars. Zero dollars. And then we’ll have a conversation. Then we’ll have a conversation in this country about whether or not a penny of our taxpayer dollar needs to go into those countries. And Pakistan is clearly sending us messages, Mitt.” Are you sure that’s not the voices in your head sending you messages? “It’s clearly sending us messages that they, they don’t deserve our foreign aid that we’re getting, because they’re not bein’ honest with us.”

Bachmann says Iran is plotting a “worldwide nuclear war” against Israel.


Gingrich agrees about starting foreign aid at zero “and say, ‘Explain to me why I should give you a penny.’” Clearly the problem with foreign aid is that foreign countries aren’t made to humiliatingly beg President Newt nearly enough. And Egypt should be cut off too, if “the Arab Spring become[s] an anti-Christian spring”.

Santorum says we have to give aid to Pakistan because they have nukes. Oddly, this statement is being treated as a sign of his relative sophistication. He is, admittedly, the only one willing to suggest that the US has to work at friendship with other nations, rather than seeing every other nation on earth as supplicants for our favor.

Gingrich says for the second time that he would “adopt the Reagan/John Paul II/Thatcher strategy towards Iran.” And towards North Korea.

Asked to demonstrate his famous outside-the-box thinking, Gingrich says he would repudiate Agenda 21 and apply Lean Six Sigma to the Pentagon. Okay then.

Asked when he would overrule his generals, Cain says he would surround himself with the right people. “You will know you’re makin’ the right decision when you consider all the facts and ask them for alternatives. It is up to the commander in chief to make that judgment call based upon all the facts. And because I’ll have mult-- a multiple group of people offering different recommendations, this gives me the best opportunity to select the one that makes the most amount of sense.” Isn’t a leader supposed to set the agenda, not tick a box?

Drink it in, ladies, drink it in.

Ah. Asked the same question, Santorum says he’d come with a clear agenda, just like I said, and, will only hire people who share his approach. Suddenly Cain listening to different recommendations and ticking a box sounds more appealing than the ideological bubble Santorum plans to live in. The American people, he says, would be “electing someone who’s gonna be very crystal clear.” Not just crystal clear. Very crystal clear.

Speaking of being very crystal clear, Santorum says about the murdered Iranian nuclear scientists: “I hope that the United States has been involved with that.”

Perry says being “commander in chief” of the Texas National Guard is just like being president. “I’ve dealt with generals.”


Cain: “I do not agree with torture, period.” Please no one tell Cain about his little tell until I get a chance to play poker with him. Cain: “Wow, look at these cards, I’ve got a really great hand here, period.” Me: “Raise.”

“However, I will trust the judgment of our military leaders to determine what is torture and what is not torture.” And waterboarding isn’t torture, it’s enhanced interrogation, and he’d bring it back.

Bachmann also loves her some waterboarding. She says “I think it was very effective.” And Obama “is allowing the ACLU to run the CIA,” adding “according to the voices in my head which are running my mouth.” Indeed, “when we interdict a terrorist on the battlefield, we have no jail for them.” Um, what? “It is as though we have decided we want to lose in the War on Terror under President Obama. That’s not my strategy. My strategy will be that the United States will be victorious in the War on Terror.” See, and you didn’t think she had a strategy.

Ron Paul says waterboarding is torture, illegal under international law, and immoral, and uncivilized, and doesn’t work. Huntsman agrees.

Can a president simply order the killing of an American citizen suspected of terrorism? Absolutely, says Romney. Then he says that “this century must be an American century where America has the strongest values, the strongest economy, and the strongest military.” Nice to invoke “strongest values” right after advocating lawless executions. And a couple of seconds after that he said, “And I will stand and use whatever means necessary within the law to make sure that we protect America’s citizens and Americans’ rights.” Law? Rights?


Gingrich denies that Awlaki was a “terrorist suspect. He’s a person who was found guilty under review of actively seeking the death of Americans. ... He was found guilty by a panel that looked at it and reported to the president.” He even says that that is the rule of law. “Waging war on the United States is outside criminal law.”

Perry says China needs “to change their virtues.”

Romney calls for a trade war against China, because there’s a trade war going on now.

Huntsman points out that Romney is wrong that we can take China to the WTO on currency manipulation charges.

A question for Perry from Twitter. Would Israel also start at zero? Yes, but they’d jew us up (as they say in Texas).

Cain says the Arab Spring has “gotten totally out of hand” because the protesters were really the Muslim Brotherhood in disguise. Obama “has been on the wrong side in nearly every situation in the Arab world”.

Gingrich complains that Mubarak “was dumped overnight by this administration”. He also says he would defeat Syria through covert means. You know, Newt, it’s not covert if you guys keep talking about it. He thinks getting rid of Bashar al-Assad is simply a matter of will: “if the United States and Europe communicated clearly that Assad was going to go, I think you would find Europe, there’s a very tiny faction. And I think you would find him likely to be replaced very rapidly.”


And then, the questioning is turned over to South Carolina’s senators Lindsay Graham and Jim DeMint, because the debate took place in South Carolina and they wanted to remind us why South Carolina is awful.

Graham (“Three-part question. I hope I can remember all three parts”) asks about torture and Guantanamo. Cain is in favor of both because “pampering terrorists isn’t something that we ought to do.” Ditto Santorum. Paul says “We’re pretending we’re at war. We haven’t declared the war, but we’re at war against a tactic. And therefore, there’s no limits to it.” Perry says “these techniques” help save American soldiers’ lives, and “that’s what happens in war” and “I will be for it until I die.”

DeMint asks what programs they’d cut. Bachmann says the entire Great Society: “If you look at China, they don’t have food stamps.” Well, sure, because an hour later you’d want food stamps again (sorry). “If you look at China, they’re in a very different situ-- they save for their own retirement security. They don’t have pay FDC. They don’t have the modern welfare state. And China’s growing. And so what I would do is look at the programs that LBJ gave us with The Great Society, and they’d be gone.” That’s why China built the Great Wall: to keep out Americans fleeing to China to escape from the Great Society.

Romney says we don’t need to invade Pakistan to clear the safe havens, because Pakistan is “comfortable” with our using drones. I’d make fun of that word choice if it weren’t sadly appropriate.

Today -100: November 13, 1911: Of lynchings

South Carolina Gov. Coleman Blease gives a speech to a bunch of farmers, but rather than the speech they expected about the falling price of cotton they got one about the lynching last month in Honea Path of a black man accused of attacking a white girl by a mob led by State Legislator Joshua Ashley and the editor of the local newspaper (the story didn’t make it into the NYT at the time). In his speech, Blease said the sheriff had warned him there might be a lynching in the offing and asked the governor to send the national guard. Instead, Blease wired back telling him to send a further report... the next morning. “Sheriff King received that telegram,” Blease said, “and he understood its meaning. Next morning I received his report, and it was exactly what I expected. As a matter of fact, if it had been any different I would have been greatly disappointed.” Indeed, he says, rather than using the power of his office to deter white men from “punishing that nigger brute” (who was hung upside down by his feet and shot repeatedly), he would have resigned and gone to Honea Path (motto: “The Little Town With a Big Heart”) to lead the mob himself. The NYT says that no one in the audience of 1,000 cheered Blease’s remarks. “Most of them thought the negro met a deserved fate, but they were not prepared for the Governor of the State to laud the work of lynchers in a public address.”

Today -100: November 12, 1911: Of child viceroys

Some Swiss are worried that when Italy is done absorbing Libya, it will come after the Swiss canton of Ticino.

The king and queen of the United Kingdom and also, lest we forget, emperor and empress of India, are on their way to India. During the long voyage, King George will be in constant wireless contact with London at all times, just in case they need him to make a vital decision about, I don’t know, table settings or something. George has hatched a plan to regain some relevancy and power for the monarchy by making members of the royal family viceroys of various colonies. The 11-year-old Prince Henry (son #3) would start training for the post of viceroy of India immediately (spoiler alert: that never happened, although he did become governor-general of Australia in 1945).

Today -100: November 11, 1911: Of massacres

Manchus slaughter thousands in Nanking.

Andrew Bonar Law is chosen as the new leader of the British Tory party, which will push that party further in the direction of opposition to free trade.

In my mind I was there to take the antlers off the deer

Quote of the Day: Staff Sgt. Calvin Briggs, convicted for running a “kill squad” that killed civilians in Afghanistan (other than the civilians they were ordered to kill, that is), said of cutting off fingers and other body parts of his victims as trophies: “In my mind I was there to take the antlers off the deer. You have to come to terms with what you’re doing. Shooting people is not an easy thing to do.” So he mutilated the dead in order to make it psychologically easier for him to kill people. So that’s okay then.

Republican Debate: Commerce, education and, uh.... Oops

Transcript.

Naturally, the questioning began with Herman Cain: how do we save Italy’s economy [insert stupid pizza joke here]. He tries not to say anything about Italy, but on a follow-up, says that Italy is too far gone to save. Sorry, Italy.

OH, I AM SO NOT TOUCHING THIS ONE: Cain: “This administration has done nothing but put stuff in the caboose, and it’s not moving this economy.”


Romney insists that Europe can take care of its own problems, in spite of the evidence of centuries of history to the contrary.

ROMNEY: “I’m a man of steadiness and constancy,” adding, “unless you don’t want me to be.” He offered as proof of this steadiness and constancy that he has been married to same woman for 42 years. Which is one year less than Herman Cain.


Perry: “The next president of the United States needs to send a powerful message not just to the people of this country, but around the world, that America is going to be America again”. He didn’t say what country America is now.

PERRY: “And it doesn’t make any difference whether it’s Wall Street or whether it’s some corporate entity or whether it’s some European country. If you are too big to fail, you are too big.” So should Italy be broken up and sold off? Oh wait, Berlusconi’s already pretty much done that.


Bachmann says we have to “legalize American energy.”

Cain: “The American people deserve better than someone being tried in the court of public opinion based on unfounded accusations.” Well, if you hadn’t made those settlements that kept the cases out of courts of law...

NONE OF THAT ACTIVITY: Cain: “And for every -- one person that comes forward with a false accusation, there are probably -- there are thousands who would say none of that sort of activity ever came from Herman Cain.”


Gingrich blames Occupy Wall Street on the media, which fails to explain how the economy works. For example, “I have yet to hear a single reporter ask a single Occupy Wall Street person a single rational question about the economy that would lead them to say, for example, ‘Who is going to pay for the park you are occupying if there are no businesses making a profit?’” Dude, you just blew my mind.

A minute before that, Romney had also laughed at how stoopid protesters are: “I remember asking someone, ‘Where do you think profits go? When you hear that a company is profitable, where do you think it goes?’ And they said, ‘Well, to pay the executives their big bonuses.’ I said, ‘No, actually, none of it goes to pay the executives. Profit is what is left over after they have all been paid.’” Well, I’m sure that made them feel very silly indeed.

Bachmann continues to insist that the problem with the tax code is that some people are considered too poor to pay taxes. “So even if it means paying the price of two Happy Meals a year, like $10, everyone can afford to pay at least that.” Maybe they could just mail two Happy Meals to the IRS. “And what it does is create a mentality in the United States that says that freedom is free. But freedom isn’t free. We all benefit. We all need to sacrifice. Everybody has to be a part of this tax code.”

Interestingly, the transcript CNBC provides leaves out the only part of the debate anyone will remember:



Dude remembers his own policies like Cain remembers the names of the women he groped.

Gingrich, asked what exactly Freddie Mac paid his firm $300,000 to do for them in 2006, says they asked for his advice as a historian. I assume they wanted him to explain the Peloponnesian War to them.

Cain complained that some health care bill (HR 3000) was killed by “Princess Nancy.” Oh he treats all women with respect, does Herman Cain.


Gingrich says it’s “absurd” to answer a question about health care in 30 seconds, since he’s been working on that since 1974 (and hasn’t accomplished anything), and that is why he wants seven Lincoln-Douglas debates with Obama, and also because he’s so very very lonely.

Finally, the moderator said, fine, the rules don’t apply to you, take aaall the time you want, Gingrich said: “One, you go back to a doctor-patient relationship and you involve the family in those periods where the patient by themselves can’t make key decisions. But you re-localize it.” Whatever the fuck that means. And he wants (as several others have already called for), Medicaid to be given to the states to “allow the states to really experiment” because what you really want to hear when people are talking about your health care is “Hey, let’s really experiment!”

BRAAAIIINNNNS! BRAAAAAAIIIIIINNNNSSSS!! “Three,” Gingrich went on, “you focus very intensely on a brand-new program on brain science because the fact is the largest single out-year set of costs we are faced with are Alzheimer’s, autism, Parkinson’s, mental health, and things which come directly from the brain.”


Bachmann explained that “The main problem with health care in the United States today is the issue of cost.” And Obama said Obamacare would cut our premiums and “we have Obamacare, but we didn’t have the savings.” Does she not know that it hasn’t come into effect? Sorry, of course she doesn’t.

Romney: “people have a responsibility to receive their own care, and the doctor-patient relationship is, of course, where that -- where that exists -- where that exists.”

Education. Ron Paul says college costs so much because governments inflate the currency.

IT MAKES SENSE BECAUSE THEY ALL START WITH “C”: But how, he is asked, should students pay for college? “The way you pay for cellphones and computers.”


Gingrich says every college should be like the College of the Ozarks (the Harvard of Missouri, as it is probably known). Because those students have to work 20 hours a week, because they’re poor.

Is it okay that California hired a Chinese company to build part of the replacement Bay Bridge? Cain says that the 999 plan would fix that. Romney says China is cheating on WTO rules and stealing intellectual property (that must have been what happened to Rick Perry). Gingrich says 2015 it’ll be cheaper to manufacture in South Carolina and Alabama than in China.

Cain says there are three things wrong with Dodd-Frank. First, insufficient oversight for Fannie & Freddie. Second and third, Dodd and Frank. (See what he did there?)

This was arguably the least coherent debate yet. While some candidates were obviously less informed than others, none gave the impression that they actually understand economics and finance or have actual plans to deal with banking, housing, health care, etc. And to a large extent, they don’t: let the states deal with it, let the market deal with it, let individuals deal with it, let the underpants gnomes deal with it.

Oh, by the way, Perry eventually remembered that it was the Department of Energy that he wants to destroy.

Remember when we were the goofballs in this bunch?

Today -100: November 10, 1911: Of NM

Not-quite-state New Mexico elects a Democrat as governor. The Legislature will probably (pending final results) be an alliance of Democrats and Progressive Republicans. I could swear everyone thought NM would be Republican.

Burning question

If there isn’t a question in tonight’s debate about what the candidates think about Ronald Reagan fucking Piper Laurie, CNBC will have failed America.

In fact, this calls for a CONTEST: How would any (or all) of the candidates answer that question?

Today -100: November 9, 1911: Of Tories and atrocities

A.J. Balfour resigns the leadership of the British Unionist (Conservative) party for “health reasons.”

The NYT counts as Socialist victories in the election in Ohio not only all those mayors but also the election of delegates to the constitutional convention committed to the initiative and referendum. All this is highly embarrassing to Taft, whose home state is Ohio (he too is round on the ends and high in the middle).

The State Dept plans to ignore Turkey’s appeal to it over Italian atrocities (the Italian embassy’s response: “The Arabs are the ones who are guilty of atrocities against our soldiers.”)

I have never acted inappropriately with anyone, period

Herman Cain had a press conference today, which I’m sure cleared up this whole sexual harassment/assault thing once and for all to everyone’s satisfaction. Video:

PERIOD: “I have never acted inappropriately with anyone, period.”

Line up behind the rope line, ladies.

He watched yesterday’s Sharon Bialek press conference in a hotel room with a couple of staffers. Way to step up your game, Herman!

HE FORGOT THAT HE FORGOT: “I tried to remember if I remembered that name — and I didn’t.”

HE’S MORE OF A BREAST MAN: “I didn’t recognize the face.”

WHAT HE WILL NOT BE DETERRED BY: “And I will not be deterred by false, anonymous, incorrect accusations.” They’re false AND incorrect. And anonymous.

I THOUGHT HE SAID IT WAS RICK PERRY?? “the Democrat machine in America has brought forth a troubled woman to make false statements.” Oh no, the Democrats have a machine for making troubled women now!


I trust people will have noted that word “troubled,” in which Cain suggested mental illness in a woman he claims never to have met. Echoes of “a little bit nutty and a little bit slutty.”

The accusations “exceed common sense.”


He quotes his wife, “and this is a direct quote.” Evidently he called up his wife yesterday to ask her what she thought of Bialek’s press conference – and he took notes on what she said. After assuring us that his family, none of whom is present, totally believes him, he hastily implores the media not to “drag my family into this.”

He would certainly submit to a polygraph, “But I’m not going to do that unless I have a good reason to do that.” He doesn’t explain what a good reason would be.


TURNED OFF: “It is natural that some voters will be turned off by the mere mention of the accusations.” Maybe with the right music and some wine...

NO FUCKING KIDDING: “In no way have I tried to minimize sexual harassment in the workplace.”

Actually, the question was about whether he’s ever seen sexual harassment, and what he says is that he’s seen instances that could be interpreted as sexual harassment.

He’s even seen women attempting to sexually harass men.

He goes on again about the pay-offs to his alleged victims being “agreements” rather than “settlements,” because a settlement would have legal implications. Er, doesn’t a non-disclosure agreement have “legal implications”?

There’s “a machine to keep a businessman out of the White House.” See, this is why unemployment is so high: the processes of bringing forth troubled women and keeping businessmen out of the White House have been mechanized, putting American workers out of good unionized jobs.


Asked to back up this conspiracy theory, he says he can only “infer” that there are dark forces arrayed against him. Then he says it’s “common sense” to suggest that because Sharon Bialek has had money problems in the past, she’s being paid off to make false accusations. It’s just common sense. Or, you know, slander.

Later in the day, or possibly earlier, he was interviewed by ABC.

He asked, very reasonably, “How can I defend charges when I don’t remember this person by name”? In fact, he doesn’t even remember “this person’s” name from seeing her on the tv yesterday, since he never uses it.

CAIN IS ALWAYS BRAGGING ABOUT HIS “BIG POINT”: “But the big point is, I have never acted inappropriately with anyone.”

DIDN’T CHASING THEM GET YOU INTO TROUBLE IN THE FIRST PLACE? “You know, to constantly be chasing anonymous accusers, baseless accusations, is a distraction from the big issues we oughta be talkin’ about.”

An “element” “really don’t want to see an unconventional candidate that is connecting with the people and putting bold solutions on the table.” Is that what the kids are calling it these days.


BY THE NUMBERS: His wife supports him 200%, his campaign does not have a cajillion dollars, his name recognition is now 99.9.

Reporters trying to get his relatives to comment on this “has no place in politics. It has no place in America.”

NYT: When Karen Kraushaar left the National Restaurant Association after filing charges against Cain, “some staff members were told that Ms. Kraushaar had suffered an injury after falling off a mule”.

Sign sign sign!

Please sign this White House petition at once.

(Update: the petition is now gone from the White House site. It said: We demand a vapid, condescending, meaningless, politically safe response to this petition.

Since these petitions are ignored apart from an occasional patronizing and inane political statement amounting to nothing more than a condescending pat on the head, we the signers would enjoy having the illusion of success. Since no other outcome to this process seems possible, we demand that the White House immediately assign a junior staffer to compose a tame and vapid response to this petition, and never attempt to take any meaningful action on this or any other issue. We would also like a cookie.)

Today -100: November 8, 1911: Of elections, boodle, campaigns, anti-Mormon silver services, lynchings, and Nobel prizes

The 1911 elections:
-Socialist mayors elected in 10 cities in Ohio, 2 in Pennsylvania, and Schenectady, NY. The Socialists also account for 10% of the vote in Chicago and Cook County.
-Republicans take control of the NY Assembly, reversing the D victory of 1910, and both houses of the NJ Legislature, seriously damaging Woodrow Wilson’s chances of ever becoming president (perhaps if he’d stayed in his own state instead of touring the country...).
-Massachusetts Gov. Eugene Foss (D) re-elected despite what he calls “the most scandalous boodle campaign ever waged in this state.”

Woodrow Wilson refuses to give his opinion on women’s suffrage.

The battle of the silver trays: A few months ago Mormons presented a silver service to the battleship Utah with images of Brigham Young, creating much dismay, presumably because there were too many tea cups for each saucer. Now, the National Anti-Mormon Committee has presented the same ship’s mess with an alternative silver service (122 pieces) which they hope will be used instead, featuring the image of a young girl who evidently symbolizes Utah.

British Prime Minister Asquith announces that instead of a women’s suffrage bill, his government will introduce one for universal male suffrage (no, they didn’t have that yet), which might be amended by Parliament to add women, if Parliament really wanted to do that. The suffragists are furious, rightly seeing this as a trick, and the Women’s Social and Political Union announces that it is resuming militancy.

“Judge” Moseley, a black man and therefore almost certainly not an actual judge, is lynched in Meridian, Mississippi, after hitting a white man with a stick.

Marie Curie wins the Nobel Prize for chemistry.

Misc

White House petition news: A petition asked Obama to acknowledge that extraterrestrials have visited the earth. The White House refuses. The cover-up continues.

Charles Pierce describes Twitt Romney as “a man who could be mugged for his wallet through the mail”.

Every day now I see stories about Berlusconi denying that he’s about to quit. This is ridiculous. Berlusconi’s whole strategy for staying out of prison is to hold onto political power and abuse it to distort the already distorted Italian criminal justice system. Of course he won’t leave power voluntarily.

Hugo Chavez calls Carlos the Jackal “a dignified bearer of the biggest struggles,” because if there’s one thing Hugo Chavez is an expert on, it’s dignity.

I’m always of two minds when “missing” film footage turns up, unless it’s from Greed or Metropolis. That said, 17 extra minutes of 2001: A Space Odyssey is one thing, the missing “flaming nipples” scene from Blue Velvet quite another.

Headline of the Day Not Involving Herman Cain (AP): “Peacocks, Prostitutes Found Inside Acapulco Prison.”

At various times today, AP headlines on Cain spoke of his “bold sexual advance” or more specifically “Woman Accuses Cain of Reaching for Genitals,” boldly. The Guardian daintily refers to “sexually inappropriate conduct.”

Herman Cain Accuser #4, Ms. Bialek, is white. NOW he’s over. #LikeYouWeren’tThinkingTheSameThing

Today -100: November 7, 1911: Of acquittals, prohibition, ultimata, women’s voters and women candidates

Back in March, Booker T. Washington was beaten up in NYC. Henry Ulrich, the man who did it, is acquitted, although he is immediately re-arrested on an outstanding desertion warrant. Ulrich, who found Dr. Washington in his apartment building looking at door plates, suggested he was a burglar, a pervert, or both. Washington said he was trying to locate a friend of his. The defense lawyer insisted, over the prosecutor’s objection, on asking whether that friend was white or black (he was white). One of the justices who acquitted Ulrich commented that Washington had no business in the building.

A recount of Maine’s September election decides that the state did vote for prohibition after all.

Russia sends an ultimatum to Persia. Something about an insult to its vice consul during the seizure of the house of the brother of the deposed shah (its guards were Cossacks). Russia wants an apology or it will occupy the provinces of Ghilan and Mazanderan.

Women’s suffrage came to California a little late for some of the 1912 elections, depending on local registration requirements, so that women will be barred from San Francisco’s municipal election tomorrow -100 but not LA’s election next month.

Taft goes to Ohio and votes early, including for a Miss Edith Campbell, running for the Cincinnati school board. This was the first time a president voted for a female candidate for public office. Campbell was elected. (She was also the first woman elected to a public office in Cincinnati.)

Today -100: November 6, 1911: Of Europeans and North Africa

The Ottoman Empire formally asks the US to intervene to stop Italian atrocities in Libya.

France is doing a victory lap over Morocco. Prime Minister Joseph Caillaux says it was puerile to suppose that such a vast country as Morocco, systematically closed to “civilization,” could continue to exist next door to French Algeria.

Today -100: November 5, 1911: Italy isn’t great at war; who’da guessed?

Italy, frustrated at the Turks’ failure to hand Libya over to them without a fight, are threatening to invade other parts of the Ottoman Empire, possibly the Dardanelles. The threat that this might destabilize the perennial “sick man of Europe” would force the Great Powers to slap Italy down, since no one wants the Empire to collapse, which would certainly result in a free-for-all in the Balkans and suchlike fun and games.

Obama and the Rebalancing Agenda of Doom

Obama gave a press conference today from the G20 meeting in Cannes (because nothing says “get used to the new age of austerity, suckers” like a bunch of world leaders partying in Cannes).

IT’S RAINING SO THERE PROBABLY WON’T BE ANY HOT TOPLESS CHICKS OUT: “we came to Cannes with no illusions.”


OBAMA DOESN’T WANT YOU TO MAKE A MISTAKE: “Make no mistake, there’s more hard work ahead and more difficult choices to make.”

THIS JUST STRUCK ME AS FUNNY: “All of us have an enormous interest in Europe’s success”.

IT INVOLVES BERLUSCONI AND THREE HOOKERS. YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW. “We also made progress here in Cannes on our rebalancing agenda.”


By the way, Berlusconi was due to release a CD of himself singing love songs this week, but decided to postpone because the timing might look bad, as opposed to everything else Berlusconi has ever done.


Asked how all this would affect his re-election prospects, Obama lied, “Jim, I have to tell you the least of my concerns at the moment is the politics of a year from now.”

NERVOUS: “And although the actions of Papandreou and the referendum issue over the last couple of days I think got a lot of people nervous...” Sadly, no follow-up question on why the Greek people’s opinion was not required.

He kept talking about the “firewall.” Greece has been downgraded from nation-state to computer virus.


WAIT, ISN’T THIS EXACTLY WHAT HE KEEPS SAYING ABOUT REPUBLICANS? “But I am confident that the key players in Europe -- the European political leadership -- understands how much of a stake they have in making sure that this crisis is resolved, that the eurozone remains intact, and I think that they are going to do what’s necessary in order to make that happen.”


I THINK YOU MEANT TO SAY “REPUBLICAN MEMBERS OF CONGRESS” RATHER THAN SIMPLY “CONGRESS.” “And as soon as I get some signal from Congress that they’re willing to take their responsibilities seriously, I think we can do more. But that’s going to require them to break out of the rigid ideological positions that they’ve been taking.” You know, calling the Republicans’ positions ideological is to give them far too much credit, implying that they’re adhering to some sort of principles.

Today -100: November 4, 1911: Have to change the damn maps again

China’s Yunan Province declares independence.

A German newspaper reports that the Italians have executed 4,000 Arabs in Libya.

The French-German accord over Morocco has been signed. Germany recognizes France’s right to establish a “protectorate” over Morocco (a right Morocco hasn’t recognized, but then it hasn’t been asked), and is compensated with 96,525 square miles of Northern French Congo (the 1 million or so Congolese weren’t asked if they wanted to be ruled by Germans). France gets a little bit of Togo.

Today -100: November 3, 1911: O Canada

Speaker of the House Champ Clark says “Nine-tenths of the people of this country favor the annexation of Canada, and I don’t care who hears me say it.” He seems to be planning to run for president in 1912 on this platform.

Francisco Madero is elected to fill out the remainder of former dictator Díaz’s presidential term.

The Portugese republic orders monarchists to return or have their properties seized.

Mrs. Roselyn Monze of Nowata, Oklahoma is granted a divorce on the sole ground that her husband is an infidel.

Irony is dead, or something

Cain, refusing to answer questions about the now three women he allegedly sexually harassed, yells at reporters, “What part of no do you not understand.”

Monday was Cain’s best fundraising day ever. Who knew that the Berlusconi model would work in America?

Some random news items:

San Francisco is banning nudity at restaurants (for customers, not staff, I guess). The ordinance was proposed by Supervisor Wiener, because of course it was.

Looking at the SF Chronic’s website for their version of that story, I stumbled across this headline: “Dolores Park’s Latest Controversy Involves Sausages.” A hot dog cart has been banned from the SF park. It’s called the Sausage Slinger, because of it course it is.

Japanese member of Parliament Yasuhiro Sonoda, asked by reporters to prove his repeated claims that the Fukushima nuclear plant is now safe, drank a glass of water collected from the reactor. He will be missed.

British headline: “Queen Victoria’s Giant Bloomers Expected to Fetch £3,000 at Auction.”


If someone buys them just to wear while eating at Hot ’n’ Hunky Burgers in the Castro, I don’t want to know (yes, I know Hot ’n’ Hunky is long gone).

(Follow-up: they sold for £9,375.)

Today -100: November 2, 1911: Generous and chivalrous civilization

In the Los Angeles mayoral election, Socialist candidate Job Harriman (Eugene Debs’ running mate in 1900 and currently one of the lawyers for the McNamara brothers in the LA Times bombing trial – which is currently dragging through jury selection) wins a plurality over Good Government candidate, incumbent and general asshole George Alexander, 20,157 to 16,790, not enough to avoid a run-off next month, or, as the LA Times puts it (Nov. 1 issue), “a final battle between the Good Government forces and Socialism”.

Italian Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti denies that Italian troops are killing Libyans and Turks indiscriminately. Why, if they are guilty of anything, it is an “excess of humanitarianism.” “He who asserts that the Italian soldier would offend woman or child shows ignorance of our country and race.” He also complained about the “treachery” of Arabs who declared loyalty to their new imperial rulers, then shot them in the back, and then knifed the wounded. He calls the invasion “an example of generous and chivalrous civilization.”

Speaking of examples of generous and chivalrous civilization, one Italian pilot drops four bombs on a Turkish encampment, the first ever aerial bombardment. Hurrah.

Headline of the Day

From the Guardian: “Al-Qaida Targets Somalia Drought Victims with Cash Handouts.” Oh noes, it’s “targeting” those poor, poor people with money, rice, milk, dates and clothes, “a Guardian investigation can reveal.” Haven’t they suffered enough? Will no one send in armed drones to stop the bastards?

By the way, Amazon is selling the complete Arrested Development for $29, today only.

Today -100: November 1, 1911: Of trusts

Taft defends the anti-trust laws: “I would cut my hand off before I would injure business. ... [But] Only one course is open. Either we will have individualism or we will have combinations in restraint of trade going to that point where the people will demand that the power of men engaged in such corporations be transferred to the Government. And then we will have State Socialism.”