Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Every single one
Today, Obama spoke to the American Legion’s annual conference. He found something good to say about every war every member of the Legion might have fought in. Here are his remarks about Vietnam:
When communist forces in Vietnam unleashed the Tet Offensive, it fueled the debate here at home that raged over that war. You, our Vietnam veterans, did not always receive the respect that you deserved —- which was a national shame. But let it be remembered that you won every major battle of that war. Every single one.So yay for our triumph in Vietnam.
Still Dick
On the Today show, Dick Cheney explains the continuing benefits of having invaded Iraq: “What would’ve happened this week if Moammar Gadhafi had still been in power with a nuclear weapon in Libya? Would he have fled? I doubt it.” The logic is impeccable. The logic also gives the credit for Qaddafi’s ouster to Bush ‘n Cheney rather than Obama or the Libyan people.
Invading Iraq was “sound policy” because Saddam Hussein was “a major source of proliferation” [of weapons to terrorists]. He still offers no proof of that. And the war did not damage the US’s reputation.
Asked whether the US, having waterboarded people, could complain when another nation waterboarded an American citizen it suspected of being a spy, Cheney said, “We probably would object to it on the ground that we have obligations to our citizens and we do everything we can to protect our citizens. I think we would object because we wouldn’t expect an American citizen to be operating that way.” This is not a double standard, he explained, because the people we tortured, well, “These are not American citizens.” Not sure why he thinks other countries would accept the proposition that Americans, and only Americans, are too good for waterboarding.
He added, “I would argue that it’s important for us not to get caught up in the notion that you can only have popular methods of interrogation if you want to run an effective counterterrorism program.” Yes, that’s the problem with waterboarding: it’s not “popular.”
Today -100: August 30, 1911: The hope of the negro
In a speech in Virginia, Taft says that “those of us who study the question at all know that the hope of the negro is in his white neighbor in the South. ... the negro ought to come, and is coming, more and more under the guardianship of the South.”
Las Vegas, “a town hitherto devoid of large fame,” is thinking about setting up a divorce colony to rival Reno’s.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Chip chip chip
The British government is following the lead of American anti-abortion states like South Dakota by stripping the funding for abortion counseling conducted by groups that also provide abortions and shifting the funding to counseling conducted by Catholic and other anti-abortion groups. Because the Tories are all about offering women “independent” advice and information. And eroding their rights incrementally.
Today -100: August 29, 1911: Of trusts and ’roos behaving badly
Headline of the Day -100: “BATHTUB TRUST KILLED.; Government Also Reaches an Agreement with the Electrical Trust.” I hope they didn’t fiddle with the electrical trust while they were in the bathtub trust, because that would just be dangerous.
The battleship Wisconsin has fired its mascot, a kangaroo named Murphy, for “bad behavior.”
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Today -100: August 28, 1911: Of Huckleberries and Hamburgers
Headline of the Day -100: “Huckleberries’ Pow-Wow.” There’s a Native American tribe called Huckleberries?
Mmm, Hamburgers: Headline: “Kaiser for More Navy. To Keep for Germany Her Due Place, He Tells Hamburgers.” In fact, the phrase he used is “the place in the sun that is our due.” We may be hearing more of that phrase from Germany in the future.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Today -100: August 27, 1911: Of real fires, fake fires, and non-existent canals
William Van Schaick, captain of the paddle steamer General Slocum when it caught fire in the East River in 1904, killing over 1,000 people on their way to a church picnic, is paroled after serving 2½ years for criminal negligence.
It really is a bad idea to shout fire in a crowded theatre. Some drunk does so in a movie theatre in Canonsburg, PA, and 28 people die in the stampede. There was no fire.
Interplanetary News of the Day -100: “Martians Build Two Immense Canals in Two Years.” According to astronomer Percival Lowell, who should know. Each of the canals is 1,000 miles long and 20 miles wide. Which certainly puts the Panama Canal into perspective.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Today -100: August 26, 1911: Of beards & bridges
When he was 21, Jonas Pendleton of Saybrook, CT, vowed never to shave his beard until there was a bridge over the Connecticut River linking Saybrook and Lyme. Now just such a bridge has opened, so Pendleton, now 81, marched off to the barber shop, but it was closed because everyone in town was watching the bridge-opening ceremonies. The next day, however, everyone in town was on hand to witness him being shaved.
The people of Saybrook, Connecticut really needed to get a life, is what I’m saying.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Today -100: August 25, 1911: Of lynchings, block-busting, and hoboes
A negro accused of attacking a white woman is burned to death by a mob in Purcell, Oklahoma. The twist: he was captured by three black guys and turned over to the mob.
There was a report a day or two ago about an apartment building in Harlem that displayed a red T in its “To Let” sign, a coded signal that only negroes would be rented to. At the same time, the building started evicting its white tenants. The NYT notes that “Race prejudice in this city is capitalized, and this is the way the colored folk reap the rewards of the prejudice.” The way race prejudice is “capitalized” is that the building’s owner is blackmailing neighboring landlords with the threat of letting blacks move into a previously white street. Either they buy his building from him for more than its market value, or they’ll wind up selling their own properties to negro speculators at a ¼ discount. The Times suggests fighting such tactics by voluntary agreements of property-holders in a neighborhood not to rent to blacks. Problem solved.
Hoboes plan a 2,000-bum march on Washington to demand free national employment bureaus. If they can get there, that is. The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad is refusing to provide transportation (free transportation in box cars, naturally).
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Quote of the Day, Sexology Division
From that NYT article about bisexuality being “real”: Ellyn Ruthstrom of the Bisexual Resource Center: “Researchers want to fit bi attraction into a little box”.
I’ll bet they do, I’ll bet they do.
Rat-cleansing
Japan’s prime minister will resign, after Japan’s debt is downgraded. Didn’t do it when caught repeatedly lying about exposure to radiation.
Qaddafi: “All youth, men and women should go out to cleanse their areas from the rats.” Seems like an odd time to be worried about rats.
Juan Cole has some helpful advice on “How to Avoid Bush’s Iraq Mistakes in Libya.” #3. “Some Libyans are complaining about the prospect of retaining the same police as in the old regime, and want local security committees instead. A compromise would be to establish a strong civilian oversight over police.” The old police were hired, and promoted, solely on their ability to keep the Qaddafi regime in power. That’s their skill set. But forgive and forget, I guess. #6. “Consult with Norway about how it is possible for an oil state to remain a democracy.” Yes, if only Qaddafi had consulted more with Norway, none of this unpleasantness would have arisen. And, of course, #9: “Recognize Berber as a national language.” Or possibly Norwegian. I don’t know how Libya has survived without Juan Cole’s advice up until now.
Today -100: August 24, 1911: Of lynch mobs, missing enigmatic smiles, pogroms, and bitter Bleases
The authorities in Pennsylvania have been quite serious about prosecuting not just members of the Coatesville lynch mob who burned Zack Walter alive earlier this month, but also the spectators who did nothing to stop the lynching.
Police are investigating the disappearance of the Mona Lisa. They’re searching every crevice of the Louvre (which is closed to the public for the duration) because they’re convinced the painting couldn’t have left the building, say, just to give a fer-instance, under an employee’s coat.
The anti-Jewish riots continue in south Wales. The Times correspondent helpfully explains the cause: “It is just the spirit of indiscipline run riot.” And it’s Socialism’s fault.
Headline of the Day -100: “Gov. Blease Feels Bitter.” That’s Gov. Coleman Blease of South Carolina, who recently ordered that a history book being used in SC schools be re-written. At a convention of Confederate veterans, he complains that “some of the newspapers said that I was trying to dictate to the writer. I insisted upon putting into your histories in your schools that that infamous scoundrel Sherman and his army burned Columbia.” (In fact, that was and is far from being an established historical fact.) Blease also criticized Sen. Heyburn (R-Idaho), who opposed federal funds being spent on a monument to the Confederate dead at Vicksburg. Blease said it was beyond his comprehension how a Southerner in Congress could hear the Confederacy called an “infamous cause” without rising and calling the speaker a liar.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Today -100: August 23, 1911: Of missing enigmatic smiles
The Mona Lisa has been stolen from the Louvre. This “has caused such a sensation that Parisians for the time being have forgotten the rumors of war.”
China, according to the LAT, “is planning to allow the office of Dalai Llama of Thibet to lapse by not authorizing the reincarnation of a successor”.
Headline of the Day -100: “Will Try to Force Grout to Testify.” That’s Edward M. Grout, former president of the Union Bank of Brooklyn.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Biden in Mongolia
Some snaps from Joe’s visit to Mongolia. Sadly, he does not seem to have put on any amusing native headwear, but rather made Prime Minister Sukhbaatar Batbold wear what appears to be a vice-presidential baseball cap. And did he actually ride that camel, for our entertainment? He did not.
Rick Perry is fed up, part 4
This is the fourth and final post on Rick Perry’s 2010 book Fed Up! (First post here, second post here, third post here).
Chapter 8 (“Standing Athwart History Not Doing a Damned Thing”) turns its attention to the Republicans, who aren’t fighting hard enough for tiny government. By merely trying to be less bad than Democrats, they are conceding. Other words Perry uses: capitulation, not standing up and fighting. He doesn’t see the job of politicians at the federal level as having anything to do with, you know, governing.
“Elected Democrats... simply no longer represent the values of the American people I know.” This is a bit awkward for Perry, because he has to explain that he was a D until 1989 (when he was nearly 40), and the historical chapters of this book have been dumping on everything the party has done since well before he was born. So he does that “I didn’t leave the party, the party left me” thing, but he says that it’s no longer the party of Andrew freaking Jackson, but has become the party of Roosevelt, Kennedy and Obama.
Bush’s “Compassionate Conservatism” sent the wrong signal that conservatism alone wasn’t sufficient or was somehow flawed. And Bush didn’t fight hard enough for fiscal conservatism.
Chapter 9 (“States Do the Work of the People”) argues that states do much better for the people than the federal government does. For example, dealing with the Katrina refugees? All Texas.
The feds stopped Gov Jindal responding to the BP oil spill with that stupid barrier idea. “Maybe Governor Jindal was right. Or maybe he was wrong... I don’t much care. Because as the guy on the ground trying to protect the people of his state, I tend to defer to Jindal’s judgment... It is his home, after all.” Perry doesn’t much care if Jindal actually knew what the hell he was doing.
Chapter 10 (“Retaking the Reins of Government: Freedom and Federalism for the Future”) is the conclusion, filled with every right-wing cliché he hasn’t already pounded into the ground: restore our founding principles, birthright as Americans, God-fearing people, last, best hope.
He wants a federal government “that focuses on the few things for which it is empowered and well suited – such as national defense, border enforcement, and foreign commerce” and wants Congress to meet a lot less often, just like the Texas Legislature.
WHAT HE SEES: “I see a people who can pray in their schools as they wish, and towns across America that can publicly celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, or nothing at all.”
I’M PRETTY SURE COURTS DON’T REALLY TELL FETUSES WHAT IS RIGHT AND WHAT IS WRONG: “I see a world in which the unborn are allowed a chance at life unfettered by an activist court telling them what is right and what is wrong.”
He’s against racism, by which he means affirmative action, “flawed incarnations of the Voting Rights Act,” or a “race-based Native Hawaiian government.”
The future of America depends on reversing Obamacare. “Now, some Republicans seem to be hung up on the notion that we must be ‘for’ something and must indicate so by saying that we will ‘repeal and replace’ the legislation. That is such inside-the-Beltway nonsense and only confuses the issue for voters.”
States have to stop blindly accepting money from Washington, and aren’t bound to enforce federal law. He brings up medical marijuana in California again. He brings it up a lot, and it’s always California, although... hey Google?... 16 states have it now.
WHEN HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A REPUBLICAN TELL YOU THEY FEEL GUILTY ABOUT ANYTHING? “politicians with power seek more of it. The difference between Republicans and Democrats is that Republicans will tell you they feel guilty about it.”
He wants a Constitutional amendment limiting spending, maybe a repeal of the 16th Amendment in favor of a national sales tax, term limits for judges, allowing Congress to override Supreme Court rulings on a 2/3 vote, and a series of “clarifying” amends, for example to restrict the meaning of the 14th Amendment. For someone who talks about the Founders and the original meaning of the Constitution, he sure wants to rewrite an awful lot of it.
Perry shares with Michele Bachmann the belief that all the policies he disagrees with are unconstitutional. Sorta leaves no room for negotiation.
The line that comes back to me is the one about how if you don’t want to be ruled by someone who shoots coyotes while jogging, you should just move out of Texas. I can’t wait to hear his answer when someone asks him – assuming someone other than me ever reads this book, and dear god why would they – what he suggests those people do if he becomes president.
Today -100: August 22, 1911: Of Welsh pogroms and concrete wars
Anti-Jewish rioting in Newport, Wales, with many shops destroyed. Unclear why.
Headline of the Day -100: “To War on Concrete.” The Greater New York Brickmakers’ Association of the Hudson Valley has declared war on concrete, claiming it’s not as fireproof as brick.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Rick Perry is fed up, part 3
This is the third post on Rick Perry’s 2010 book Fed Up! (First post here, second post here). Last post tomorrow.
Chapter 4 (“Washington is Bankrupting America”) is about debt debt debt, spending spending spending. It doesn’t say anything you haven’t heard from every Tea Bagger for the last umpteen months.
“Emboldened by the brazen [Perry’s use of adjectives is fun] abandonment of limited government under the New Deal and subsequent regimes [regimes!], from the Great Society to the current administration, Washington is steering America down a path to destruction.” Oh noes!
Social Security has “finally reached its tipping point. No more free lunch.” Did you know Social Security has been a free lunch up until now? Well it has, evidently. Perry likes to use the term “illegal Ponzi scheme” to describe it. “Deceptive accounting has hoodwinked the American public into thinking that Social Security is a retirement system and financially sound, when clearly it is not.” The Social Security Trust Fund “must be somewhere in Al Gore’s lockbox, right next to his notes from inventing the Internet and that global cooling data he doesn’t want anyone to see.”
Chapter 5 (“No American Left Alone: Health Care, Education, the Environment, and the Tyranny of the Modern Administrative State”) is about the evils of the feds telling states what to do.
CECI N’EST PAS HYPERBOLE: Obamacare “will make any current bureaucracy seem trivial and will destroy our nation’s health care system in the process.” He adds, “This is not hyperbole”.
And yes, he insists, there are death panels.
He doesn’t like No Child Left Behind. “The academic standards of Texas are not for sale. We will retain our sovereign authority to decide how to educate our children.” If, Rick, I think you meant to say if.
The EPA is “destroying federalism and individuals’ ability to make their own economic decisions.” Texas deals with air pollution just fine. Al Gore/global warming is “all one contrived phony mess that is falling apart under its own weight.” Weight, geddit? Cuz Al Gore is fat.
Chapter 6 (“Nine Unelected Judges Tell Us How to Live”) is about how the Supreme Court “arrogantly chooses to hide behind the Constitution while it implements its own policy choices” and forces Texas to “kiss the ring of the Court.” Which just sounds dirty.
If Perry sees a very, very limited legitimate role for the federal government, I’m not sure I saw any limits he accepts on the states “telling us how to live.” He complains that the Supreme Court forced on Texas legalized abortions, having to educate the children of illegal aliens, legalized sodomy, no prayers at football games, legalized contraception etc. And it has the nerve to tell Texas not to execute the people it wants to execute.
Perry’s not really saying that Texas should ban sodomy and contraception – that’s not the subject of the book – but he sure isn’t saying that it shouldn’t and thinks that these are things for the states, or as he puts it, “the people,” to determine.
AND WE WOULD HAVE GOTTEN AWAY WITH IT IF IT WEREN’T FOR YOU MEDDLING STATISTS: “We Texans like our guns. We don’t like meddlesome statists who want to infringe on our right to keep and bear them.”
Chapter 7 (“The Federal Government Fiddles: Ignoring National Security, Immigration, and the Enumerated Powers”) argues that the feds aren’t doing the few things Perry thinks they should do, especially their “unwillingness to secure our nation’s border.” Note the singular: Perry’s forgotten that the US has more than one border.
Mexican drug cartels are terrorists, terrorists I tell you!
THE WRONG KIND OF EXPLOSION, I GUESS: We’re not spending enough on the military, because of “the explosion of entitlement spending”
Obama’s 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review spent a full three pages on climate change. A full three pages!
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