Absolutely Fantastic

Dan Withrow reviews Wes Anderson's newest flick, Fantastic Mr. Fox.  If you haven't seen it yet, go pay the money to see this one in theaters - you won't be disappointed.

The Adults in the Room

Before he went on his break, Andrew Sullivan put up a great post looking at Obama's Nobel acceptance speech from this past week.  Check it out, and give yourself plenty of time to digest - like Thanksgiving with words.

For those with less time, Jon Stewart has you covered as usual.  Via TPM:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Obama's Nobel Speech
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

For all my iPhone junkies...

Via Partick Appel in for Andrew Sullivan, Scott Adams of Dilbert fame roasts our dependence on iPhones, Blackberrys, Droids, and mobile technology today in general. 

Adams mentions a video from the TED conference from this past summer, which I'm pretty sure is this one which was a "Video of the Day" a few months ago.

As cool at I thought this prototype was six months ago (and still do), one always needs to remember that technology itself isn't scary but what people do with it that defines it.  I make fun of "our machine overlords" frequently on this blog, but until someone can replicate human free will and choice and reason in a robot it really is a question of ethics rather than the question of "can we?"

I'll have to write another post about this sometime soon, because I think it deserves more exploration than the few words I've said here.

Until then, Mr. Anderson...

The Yearly Stagecoach Robbery that is the BCS

I'm not a big college football fan.  Maybe it's because my high school didn't have a football team of our own (we shared a program with a neighboring town who kept the rights to not hyphenating), maybe it's because I went to college at school that didn't have a football team (BU tragically cut their squad in 1997, but has led to some great t-shirts), maybe it's because I work at a college now that got rid of their football team earlier this decade.  I don't know what it is.  I love pro ball, and I do understand the game.  When I do watch college football, I root for underdogs or teams I just feel I should root for.  For the diehards out there, I'm a passive college football loser.

But let me make clear - this in no way makes me unknowledgeable about the politics of the sport.  On the contrary: I wrote a persuasive essay in 10th grade about why college football should change to a playoff format and how it could be done.  I got an A on that paper.  And Mrs. Farmer was a college football fan so I couldn't just make it up, I had to know my stuff.  That was a good paper, damnit!

Leading me to this: the BCS sucks.  You know how I know?  Because they make two undefeated, small conference teams play each other in a meaningless BCS bowl game (Fiesta) rather than play against the two other large conference teams who are vying for the DI National Championship.

In no other sport in no other division in the NCAA is this allowed happen.  Every year, the BCS committee is allowed to anoint two teams to play for the collegiate national football championship.  Every year, teams like TCU and Boise State get snubbed in favor of corporate college football programs.  And every year, people are pissed.

Hell, the BCS even hired a spokesman this year to try and do positive PR for it (which was an EPIC fail, considering they chose former Bush spokesman Ari Fleisher to be their mouthpiece).  But no one with a sense of fair play (or empty football trophy cases, for that matter) finds this ridiculous, unsportsman-like system acceptable.  Remember, the BCS without a "Championship" is just a whole lot of B.S.

I'm with Yglesias - it's time for Obama to get involved.  Where's "Big Government" when we need it?!

And go Tide.

UPDATE: This video was sent to me, and I think it relates to the topic at hand.  Via Newsy:

Two-Faced

Via Yglesias, apparently the major health insurance corporations like Blue Cross Blue Shield are playing the game - publicly appearing to cooperate and favor health care reform while simultaneously supporting far-right efforts to ban reform as unconstitutional.

I don't know why this kinda surprises me, but it shouldn't.  As Oscar Wilde once said, "Consistency is the last resort of the unimaginative," and who could be more unimaginative than the heads of corporations who are focused on taking as much money from people before they die and definitely don't want the status quo to change, even at the detriment of the people they serve as a whole.  And to put their lot in with those on the right who are just looking to score political points rather than fix what is wrong with our country is just shameful.

It's funny how the mind relates things together, but when I heard how "two-faced" these insurance companies are being and who they're hedging their bets on to come out on top in this struggle, my mind flashed to this exchange from The Dark Knight:

Bruce Wayne: Targeting me won't get their money back. I knew the mob wouldn't go down without a fight, but this is different. They crossed the line.

Alfred Pennyworth: You crossed the line first, sir. You squeezed them, you hammered them to the point of desperation. And in their desperation they turned to a man they didn't fully understand.

Like I said, funny how the mind relates things.

Told you...

Via Andrew Sullivan, Slate more or less beats us to the punch to make mad money.

Obama to Zombie Reagan: "Bite Me"

Via Andrew Sullivan:


Zombie Reagan Raised From Grave To Lead GOP

Qualifications

Question for examination:

People say all of the time that Politician X is more qualified to hold Elected Office Y than Politician Z. Or that because of a Reason X, Politician Z is not qualified to hold Elected Office Y.

What do people expect those they elect to office to be? What set of qualities/experience/etc. should a person have in order for one to deem them "qualified" for an office?

And then more importantly, why don't the people demand that there be candidates reflective of those qualifications rather, than voting for the lesser of evils or letting candidates define what their expectaions should be?

One of those moments I really wish we had a vibrant following and comments section, like TNC.

Thanksgiving Meditations

Some thoughts of much wiser and wittier individuals than I. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all the other virtues. ~Cicero

O Lord that lends me life,
Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness.
~William Shakespeare

Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds. ~Theodore Roosevelt

Stand up, on this Thanksgiving Day, stand upon your feet. Believe in man. Soberly and with clear eyes, believe in your own time and place. There is not, and there never has been a better time, or a better place to live in. ~Phillips Brooks

For, after all, put it as we may to ourselves, we are all of us from birth to death guests at a table which we did not spread. The sun, the earth, love, friends, our very breath are parts of the banquet.... Shall we think of the day as a chance to come nearer to our Host, and to find out something of Him who has fed us so long? ~Rebecca Harding Davis

I love Thanksgiving turkey. It's the only time in Los Angeles that you see natural breasts. ~Arnold Schwarzenegger

Sound of the Day

Really folks, if this isn't enough proof that it's time for another iteration of The Muppet Show, I don't know what is.

Video of the Day

(Hat Tip: Andrew Sullivan)

Where History and Obechi Collide

Via Andrew Sullivan:



UPDATE: It has been noted that this video is kinda boring. But I think if it were slightly faster and put to the tune of The 1812 Overture, this would be quite the blockbuster.

Colbert FTW

Via TPM:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word - Grand Old Pity Party
http://www.colbertnation.com/
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor U.S. Speedskating

Moneymaker

I need to get this down before someone steals it.

So this little blurb served as my Muse. My friend Elysse's G-chat status:

"If God had not intended us to eat animals, why did He make them out of meat?"
page 133 in Sarah Palin's new book

I want to create a website where people submit just absolutely absurd and ridiculous statements, which we on our site will then publish attributing it randomly to some page in Sarah Palin's new book, Going Rogue.

I think this is a cash-cow for the tapping, like FML and Texts From Last Night.

Any ideas for a site name?

Fearing the Myth of the Supermen

Alex Whalen does a great job collecting the thoughts of those across the web reacting to the news that the 9/11 plotters will face trial in NYC, and the fear-mongering the American Right thrives off of.

They're deranged men. That's all. They can't psychically attack us, they can't warp their metal cell bars with their minds, they don't have super-strength, they can't fly. If nothing else, they have an even weaker power of reasoning than we think because they believe the conspiratorial lies propagated to them to brainwash them into hating the United States and all those who don't agree with their perverted version of a beautiful, peaceful Islam. KSM is no bigger or better a man than Timothy McVeigh, the Virginia Tech killer, Nadil Malik Hasan, or Charles Manson.

Killing is a sign of weakness, not strength. KSM is a murderer. He should be forced to face what he's done. If he has no remorse, then fine - lock him away and let him be forgotten in the annals of time. But we are Americans, and we should act and represent what is good and orderly in this world. This man represents is Chaos, and there is nothing solid in Chaos but fear. If people want to be afraid of him, it is their right. But it is they who have let this terrorist win.

Thoughts you should keep to yourself.

Courtesy of correspondent for The Atlantic, Wendy Kaminer.

And to put it simply (and realizing such simplicity will result in great distortion, opening me up to ridicule):

I'd rather have them inside me than vice versa.

"Humorous" Health Care

It is rare that I will ever have any pity for Glenn Beck. But having no appendix of my own anymore, I sympathize. It's hard enough to take a licking form Jon Stewart in good health, but to kick Beck when he's down...

Kick harder Jon. Kick harder.

Via Andrew Sullivan:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The 11/3 Project
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

Sign of the ESPN-ocolypse

Listen, I'm a big fan of ESPN's website devoted purely to Boston/New England sports. And I like that they are trying to integrate into the new media that relies upon niche news coverage. The new media is tough to transition to, but they're trying and I like it so far.

But not this.

Really, ESPN? You're gonna give me a game summary and box score for a CPU vs. CPU Madden game? I know it's a fun little simulation, but a SUMMARY and BOX SCORE? Like it matters? Football teams play once a week. I've gotten used to it. You don't need to try and supplement for me. Maybe you were trying to go for the World of Warcraft/lost in cyberspace crowd. But really, don't. You aren't being hip. Or cool. Stop whoring yourself out like you aren't the most dominant sports information institution out there. It's okay to just stick to giving me real sports highlights. Really.

The Zen of Rings and Dots

Via Andrew Sullivan, your procrastination tool for the rest of the day. Obechi.

The Cunning Beauty of "Opt-Out"

Via TPM, Senator Jay Rockafeller (D-WV):

"I'm looking very much now at this opt out public option," he said, "not opt in but opt out--so you start out with a public option, and if you don't like it you can opt out....that has a sense of freedom."

For those who don't follow (Like I haven't been for two weeks. Womp womp. Sorry loyal readers), let's just put it this way: the health care reform bill creates a national public option. Once in place, if a state chooses to do so it may "opt-out" of public option provision and do whatever works best for their citizenry.

It's a compromise, somewhat like the trigger option that was presented a month or so ago. But the flaw with the trigger was that we had to wait and see. If the insurance companies actually did cut costs before the trigger went into effect (and the whole process was lined with animated baby deer, bunnies, and blue birds), then it would be a good deal for the American people. Yet a sneaking suspicion leads me to believe that the insurance companies' executives and health care CEOs would go Enron on us, sucking as many profits from people as they could before the deadline, and then let the system flail around in far worse shape than it is now, passing their responsibility to make health care more affordable on to the U.S. government because they know they never really really have been providing "the best, most affordable health care in the world."

But so here's the genius of the opt-out: we aren't rolling the rigged dice the insurance companies want us to use in waiting to see if we get caught with snake-eyes. We're fixing the problem now - and the United States gets to join the rest of the modern industrialized world in the 21st century. And then down the line, if states find that their people are not benefited by the availability of the public option, the people will demand that their state governments remove themselves from the program. And as the good Senator of West Virginia told TPM [with liberty to paraphrase], it'll be a lot of fun watching pols try to convince people that their newly-earned free health care sucks. I mean a lot of fun. Like town hall meeting fun.

And this whole thing reminds me of one of my experiences while working at the Massachusetts State House. The Rep's office had been inundated with correspondence about how it was wrong of Massachusetts lawmakers to determine the curriculum on sexual education for public school students. "It's parents' duty and choice to expose their child to such ideas," they'd claim, "the state has no right to do this without parental consent." Wrong simply on that point, but we in the office found a much more persuasive solution in advocating for an opt-out option for parents. If you don't want your child to receive sexual education in public school that's fine, but you as parents have no right to deny that opportunity to another family who does. I'm sure the anti-sex ed people weren't happy about it, but there wasn't much they could argue - they got what they were so worried about and their kid would not have to attend sexual education if they signed a form excusing them from it. It was a compromise, and it's hard to complain about "opt-out" when you get what you're whining about.

I like the opt-out's chances. And after hearing about health care and the ridiculousness that has accompanied it for the past four or so months all I can say is it's about damn time.

Norwegian Nuking of the Fridge

Honorary ASU degree > Nobel Peace Prize

Wow, that was deep.

xkcd with a very appropriate post-birthday post. Make sure to let your cursor sit over the comic afterwards and read the text box that appears. Just tragic.

Geek Reaccreditation

Via Ecocomics, this is the most interesting and thought provoking paper I've read in awhile. Yes, that's pretty sad, but we all need to get reaccredited from time to time. I was due.

(Image Credit: DC Comics)

UPDATE: Also, this theory somewhat helps to explain the ridiculousness that was Superman Blue back in the late 90s. Not so much the loss of Superman's powers, but his subsequent "energy based" powers would seem to jive with what the paper presents. For those of you who have no clue what I'm referring to, background here.

"Nut Up or Shut Up"

This past weekend, my housemates convinced me to go see Zombieland. I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this flick, but I was incredibly glad I went. One of the best comedies I've seen in a while, with a great cast and a great cameo that I had no clue was coming. It's rare that a movie will make me laugh out loud, but I did quite a few times during the course of this one. If you have ten bucks to spend, definitely go check this Zombieland out in the next couple weeks.

The IOC Mob

Rather than express my disappointment at Chicago losing its bid for the 2016 Olympics, or celebrate that South America will finally host an Olympics (though congrats to Rio), or go off at the right-wing jerks who are trying to impress that this is a sign of the world turning on Obama, I'm just going to link to Nate Silver who with his breakdown of the International Olympic Committee as an sports cartel.

"Old and Busted; New Hotness"

Via Andrew Sullivan, The Agitator comes across a YouTube it feels perfectly demonstrates why the old media just can't compete with the new:

Wow... Really?

Via TPM, John Perry's new column for Newsmax.com, a prominent conservative news site. The site has since pulled the article, but Media Matters has been kind enough to store a copy for our viewing pleasure. I mean, I'm all for free speech, but you need some real cajones to write a piece suggesting the military overthrow of the President of the United States. And to be a really dumb editor to run it.

Remember when the GOP and the right used to decry those who simply argued against the President's views as treasonous? I don't see any hypocrisy here. None at all.

Video(s) of the Day

I've heard about these dust storms in Australia the past week or so, but this is absolutely surreal:



To all my Aussie friends, stay safe mates.

(Hat Tip: Andrew Sullivan)

UPDATE: This one is from a couple years back, but is even more chill-inducing than the one above. I've always wanted to go to Australia...

The Jig is Up

Via Sullivan, a new New York Times poll shows the good people of these United States figuring out who the good guys and bad guys are in the health care debate:

76 percent said Republicans had not even laid out a clear health care plan. And by a lopsided margin, respondents said that Mr. Obama and not Republicans had made an effort to cross party lines and strike a deal that has the support of both parties. ... Nearly two-thirds of respondents said they believed Republicans in Congress were opposing Mr. Obama’s bill only for political gain, rather than because they believed it was bad for the country; just over half said Democrats in Congress backed the bill for political reasons.

Just 30 percent said they had a favorable view of Republicans in Congress. By contrast, 47 percent said they had a favorable view of Congressional Democrats.

How're those 2010 midterms looking now?

"Mr. Anderson" Watch

CNN interviews Microsoft researcher Gordon Bell, who is essentially downloading his life and memories onto a hard drive. He finds it "freeing" to not have to remember things anymore. And thinks that most of us will too by 2020.

And our machine overlords are snickering.

Blackout

For all of you sports fans who came to Boston for college and attempted to articulate to me how much it sucked being somewhere where you couldn't watch or listen to the teams you loved growing up on a regular basis, I now understand. And you're so right - this shit blows.

The Texas Board of Education and Understanding History

The good people at TPM, led by Josh Marshall, have found some real gems of video coming out of the Texas Board of Education meeting discussing changes to be made to their social studies, history, and government curriculum. The absurdity of some of the statements made by these people are astounding:











For more, The Dallas Morning News has a good article looking at the proposed changes and the people trying to put them in place.

I understand what part of their point is - they want to include a greater representation of conservative leaders and thinkers in 20th century history. Kids should be taught about them alongside liberal and progressive politicians, and allowed to discover through research and analysis of what they are learning who has made lasting contributions to the course of American historical events. Despite what is told to you about "liberal brainwashing institutions of higher education," that's how it happens in college - you're given exposure and allowed to think for yourself.

But on the other hand, facts don't change -

+ There are times that isolationist tendencies have prevented America from preventing mass genocide.
+ We imprisoned innocent Americans for xenophobic reasons.
+ Racism is not a historical tendency of only one party.
+ Nixon lied, and so did Clinton.
+ McCarthy was a vengeful, power-mad senator who governed with fear.
+ Vietnam was the brainchild of liberal presidents.
+ Reagan wasn't a fool, and neither was George W. Bush.
+ Newt Gingrich created a powerful voting block that sustained the conservative legacy of Reagan.
+ America created Osama bin Laden.
+ 9/11 was preventable.
+ The information that led to support of the War in Iraq was a lie.
+ America tortured POWs at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, and Bagram.

We have expanded the face and power of the United States by exploiting others, by abusing others, by ignoring others, by destroying others. And nothing any panel determines is ever going to change that. Changing textbooks does not change facts, but it does limit the presentation of the truth. If the Board wants to include conservative leaders and thought in textbooks, then they need to not be hypocritical and present the facts of American history to its students. And that includes both the good, the bad, and the ugly.

To remove the negative of what the United States has done is not teaching kids to hate America. On the contrary, it teaches them our flaws, and our ability to recognize and grow from them, is our greatest strength. It teaches them that even something that is less than perfect, as all things created under God are, that despite that they can still be an incredible force for good in this world. Kids need to be able to see that in the country that grow up in, and maybe they'll be able to see it in each other as well.

The story of America is not about being infallible. It's about penance, tolerance, and redemption. And that's something we should be proud of.

The Twilight Zone

"I want, not for personally for me, but for working Americans, to have a option, that if they don’t like their health insurance, if it’s too expensive, they can’t afford it, if the government can cobble together a cheaper insurance policy that gives the same benefits, I see that as a plus for the folks."

Via Andrew, I almost couldn't believe it when I saw who said the above quote. And it's totally out of left field. Obviously some of the liberal elitist academics must have rubbed off on him when he attended Alma Mater olde BU, but still this is really surprising. So who said the aforementioned quote?

You're traveling through another dimension -- a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind...

Killing their Dream

TNC has Limbaugh, Malkin, and the radical right all figured out as to why they can't stand Barack Obama as President of the United States - because he won't be who they want him to be. Money quote:

But Barack Obama, bourgeois in every way that bourgeois is right and just, will not dance.He tells kids to study--and they seethe. He accepts an apology for an immature act of rudeness--and they go hysterical. He takes his wife out for a date--and their veins bulge. His humanity, his ordinary blackness, is killing them. Dig the audio of his response to Kanye West--the way he says, "He's a jackass." He sounds like one of my brothers. And that's the point, because that's what he is. Barack Obama refuses to be their nigger. And it's driving them crazy.

The Talented Mr. Izzard

Via Andrew Sullivan, an article in The London Times about the Eddie Izzard doing something I can honestly say I really never really thought possible by an every-man, much less a middle-aged, crossdressing British comedian. But it's really, really awesome.

And if you don't know who Eddie Izzard is, you're really missing out.

Sound of the Day

It's football season, baby! HERE WE GO, PATRIOTS! HERE WE GO!

The Power of You and The Power of People

Two posts via Andrew Sullivan that I just thought go well together. First, from Jonah Lehrer's blog:

This computational efficiency is the single most astonishing fact of the mammalian brain. Here you are, reading these words, daydreaming about lunch, processing the richness of reality, thinking about tomorrow, and your brain requires less energy than a low wattage light bulb. Evolution is an impressive engineer.

Makes you feel kind of impressed with yourself, right? "I'm the most efficient, complex, powerful machination this world has ever known." And then there's this from Norman Gates' blog:

Suppose you read four books a week every week for 70 years. Allowing for a day here and there where you're unable to read, we can call that 200 books a year, and 14,000 books over the whole three score years and ten. It's a lot of books. But relative to all the books there are, it's a tiny, tiny fraction. According to the guy who manages the Google Books metadata team, at the latest count the books in the world now total 168,178,719. Your 14,000 books are just 0.008324477724 per cent of that.

You want a reason why people, in joining together, change the world? Because you, in all of your glory, can read eight-thousandths of the worlds collective knowledge in your lifetime. And there is too much with the short time you're given than to just sit there reading.

How Small We Are

More of NASA's recently released Hubble photos thanks to TPM.

Boldly Go.

Post of Shame

Alright, here it is. The post of shame. I've been really bad about blogging for, say the past three-plus weeks. So let's talk about what's been going on.

So I got a job. I cannot begin to describe the feelings that accompany such news after you've spent way more money than you probably should have on a collegiate education, so I honestly hope that everyone out there that is still trapped in that seemingly endless mental cyclone of doubt and second-guessing and fear of failure, I hope that you all will get to experience the joy and relief and anxiety and nervous anticipation that comes with being offered a job that you've put so much time into courting for yourself. And it will come. Patience, grasshopper - you will snatch the stone from the hand soon enough.

And so began the transition to move. If it's a job away from where your current living arrangements, there is definitely a return to that nervous freshmen in college mode that you thought you outgrew. For me, it was somewhat multiplied by the fact that I didn't really know what my living arrangements were going to be. I kind of had a place lined up, but it wasn't at all a sure thing. And then the night before I moved I found another place of promise - and then it's always nice to be able to shop a little. Turns out the last minute find was a way better living situation at a way better cost.

It's funny, you always here about how things work out in the end - that the problems and concerns seem to work themselves out. There is definitely a huge element of luck in that. And the normally least lucky guy hit a streak for five days, and everything worked itself out. Housing, check. No insurance and didn't suffer some catastrophic incident, check. My parents, who helped me move down here, and I not killing each other, check.

I think there's a difference between luck and being fortunate. Luck, to me, is things just swinging your way - that cosmic forces just align to pull things in line with what you want to do. The whole move down here was luck. But there is something to be said about being fortunate, to have the safety and security to be able to wait on luck to make your move. It took me a long time to realize how fortunate I was after graduation to be able to move home and not have my parents looking to drive me out. They knew I was trying my darnedest to get out of there. Nothing against Sutton, but it's a static place that fails, despite the best efforts of those looking to help it grow, to change substantially. After living for four years in the ever-shifting world of Boston, in constant dynamics that are the only thing you can be sure of, to stop moving for the months that I was home was painful. You grew past it - it took me a few months but I was finally able to embrace the one beautiful, note-worthy thing about being there. My family.

And leaving, it hurt a little, more than I think it would have if I had found a job after being there for a month or so. Sitting over dinner with my dad, I told him how I realized how fortunate I had been to have their safety net and willingness to let me flail around there until I could get off and stand up again to move forward. I'm extraordinarily grateful to my parents, my grandmother, and my friends at home for reminding me that there are things that are constant regardless of the passing endless landscape of changes that line the road of life. It was something I think I may have forgotten in Boston a little, where people can change in the time it takes to wait for a Green Line trolley to show up. I was getting a little choked up, telling my father this as we waited for my mother to leave the restaurant after dinner the night I arrived in Media. I felt like it needed to be said, after all the grief I put them through at home as the summer slipped towards autumn. I needed him to know that I was so thankful.

It hadn't needed to be said though. He already knew.

There are parts of Boston I'm going to miss tremendously - namely, the people. I got a picture text last night of my good friend, teammate, and fellow blogger Dan Withrow wolfing down a burger at BU's annual welcome-back barbecue for the athletics department with the caption, "WHOSE'S HUNGRY?" It was sent by a now-sophomore who I affectionately referred to as Rook all last spring, so I forgave the grammatical incorrectness of his use of "WHOSE'S" to let him know that, "Damn, I miss that shit." It's funny how you can feel nostalgia for something that is only a short time gone from your reality, but it comes with moving on to the next thing. That wasn't my place anymore, as much as I love so many of the people and places that are there. Even if someday my road led back there, it wouldn't be the same place. Sure, many of the buildings and trees and benches that I would linger on and around would be there, and maybe even some of those people. But it will never be the same place it was, just as I will never be who I was there again. Everything is moving, everything is changing, and while your piece of a place may have been swept onward, it all becomes anew.

All the same, when Rook messaged me back with, "It missed you too," I knew no matter how strange or funny it seemed, it was what's right. It's how the world works.

And so, it's time to move on. I started writing this as a post of shame, to explain my pathetic absence of blogging. Looking back at it though, I failed to really do that. I'm not ashamed, it's just how my life has been these past few weeks. I can't change it, but it's not something I'm prepared to really feel any shame for - dare I say it's a matter of pride.

So I'm gonna try to get better about the blogging again. Before I used this space to highlight some of the things I was seeing around me in the world and cast my opinion on them. And I'll still try to do some of that. But just like, as Paul sings with the Wings, the "ever-changing world in which we live in," I'm gonna try to let this place grow and be a little less bent on perspective of what's out there, and maybe have a few more posts like this with a little more introspection. A little more self-inspired thought to see where it takes us.

One of my favorite shows is "The West Wing." It's what helped get me so interested in Political Science in school, and maybe even to some degree Philosophy as well. When I was home over the summer, Bravo would show two episodes every morning, from 8 til 10. It's what got me up and started my day. For those of you who know of the show, you'll know where I'm about to steal how I'm gonna close this. But I'm late for work, so fuck it - it's time to move on.

What's next.

Jocks v. Nerds - Space Edition

I've been meaning to write about this for awhile, ever since NASA announced a month or so ago that they were implementing a three-stage program of space exploration in the 21st century. The program, Constellation, goes a little something like this:

1. Incorporate new technology into equipment to be tested during extended space flights.

2. Return man to the Moon and create a "Moon base."

3. Send human beings to land on Mars.

It's a cool, carefully calculated plan following the scientific method. Baby steps into the final frontier, testing equipment and strategies for each following stage until we land on the Red Planet. But not everyone with space cred is excited by this plan.

Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the Moon, wants to forgo the return to the Moon and just go for the big prize of landing on Mars. Essentially, his thinking is "we already did this - let's go after the unknown again and 'Boldly Go'." As Robert Zubrin, president of The Mars Society quipped in a CNN article about the 40th anniversary of the first Moon landing:

"This idea that you have to know how to do it before you can commit yourself to the program is completely false...We didn't know that we could do Lewis and Clark successfully before we set them out."

And so here we see one of nature's timeless struggles played out - The Jocks v. The Nerds. The Nerds want to follow the scientific method and play it by the book, learning and growing to the eventual goal. Learn all the information, make a plan, enact - classic Scientific Method. The Jocks want the ball - they want to explore space, not study collect data, waiting and waiting until it's deemed perfectly safe (or as close as one can get strapping oneself to a missile) to proceed.

Now, while I like to think of myself as a "child of both worlds," I'm with the Space Jocks on this one. Look at the Constellation program's modeling - it's a higher tech Apollo program, and as noble as its aims may be...that's really lame. It's been 40 years since we landed on the Moon, and the best we can come up with is the same thing as before, but with airbags and cupholders? I like the idea of a "Moon base," but you're telling me we can't do both at once, sending humans to colonize the Moon while sending others our beyond her orbit? This slow and steady crap isn't cool anymore - if it ever was. President Kennedy set a deadline and pushed us to the lunar body. That's the spirit we need to move forward in.

We've known the geography of our own planet for so long now, I wonder if we as a species have gotten so bogged down in the science and study and safe comfort of our desk chairs that we have forgotten how to explore in the tradition of Polo, Columbus and Magellan, of Lewis and Clark, of Glenn, Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin. Get out of the labs boys and girls, it's time to be heroes for a generation again. It's not just about going - of course we'll get there someday. It's about the unknown and feeling the rush, the excitement of not knowing what will or could happen. It's about time we rediscover our need to "Boldly Go."

UPDATE: Lane Wallace over at The Atlantic has another take on NASA, the Moon and Mars, and space exploration, and asks why it needs to be exciting. I started about it earlier, but let me elaborate.

We want our heroes - people who seem courageous because of their actions. The greatest source of fear is in that of the Unknown, and the conquering of that fear is where Man can most greatly shine - our love of adventure, our passion to understand and accomplish what before we could not, our mortality. And that is why it automated robots and drones won't cut it, there isn't that in sitting behind a computer watching a streaming feed. For some that is enough, but for the Alphas, the Gamers, the Jocks - it will never replace "doing." Society idolizes those who go to the limit at risk of their own mortal lives and live to tell the tale. It inspires us and brings us hope. And that's why space exploration needs to be "exciting" - not because of money, or that people are sheep - but because this is one of the few things left that can be romanticized. We want or stories, our history, our legends. We need figures to inspire a new generation to continue what three men did walking on a dusty rock did 40 years ago after an incredible, uncertain journey. We need heroes.

Hiatus

I apologize for not having blogged at all in the past week, but I'm moving to just outside Philadelphia later today and needless to say it's kinda hectic. So consider this brief hiatus vacation time or go read the links - the world stops for no man.

A Thought For Edward Kennedy

"Lay your hands on my mane so that I can feel you are there and let us walk like that.” ~ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe – Chapter 14

Bolt Strikes Twice - 19.19

Just unbelievable. Broke both of his own world records by the same margin too. The guys at PTI on ESPN believe he's the best athlete in the world right now, a combination of charisma, the pure love and joy he takes in his sport, his incredible talent and ability to perform on the big stage.



Also, if you want some great analysis of Bolt's runs (and other incredible feats in sport), head on over to The Science of Sport. As they note, Bolt has now won 5 golds in 5 major competitions in the past year, and had the opportunity to win a sixth in the relay later this week.

Good thing he has these:

Public Option Spark Notes

Via Yglesias, Nicholas Beaudrot explains the public option by doing what Team Obama should have done in the first place. If I were the President, I would be sending this out to every talking head I know. Granted, right now that includes only Whalen and AJJ, but dream big. Bigger version here.

My Quick and my Fast had a baby named BOLT

Unbelievable. Much love to Tyson Gay though, who ran the best race he's ever had and broke the American record. Also, it's great to see Asafa Powell place on this stage, after so many have labelled him as one who can't perform when it matters on the big stage.

Fries with that, Commissioner?

Via Ecocomics, a genius post about superhero brand franchising, But more importantly, I felt like this was just too good not to show to others:

Oedipus Bush

Via The Daily Dish, Patrick Appel highlights Barton Gellman's revelation in the Washington Post about Cheney and Bush's relationship during Act II:

“In the second term, he felt Bush was moving away from him,” said a participant in the recent gathering, describing Cheney’s reply. “He said Bush was shackled by the public reaction and the criticism he took. Bush was more malleable to that. The implication was that Bush had gone soft on him, or rather Bush had hardened against Cheney’s advice. He’d showed an independence that Cheney didn’t see coming. It was clear that Cheney’s doctrine was cast-iron strength at all times — never apologize, never explain — and Bush moved toward the conciliatory.”

While I will never go as far as to say that none of the past eight years was his fault, I think some day we will find that George W. Bush was the unlikely king who was used as a front for the far more insidious motives of his most trusted friends and advisors.

Not quite Disney movie worthy, but I think the ancient Greeks would have enjoyed it.

"Gotcha" Journalism, Lies, and "The List"

It's this kind of fear-mongering by Fox and other conservative mouthpieces that lead to the Nazi/SS/Socialism/Red Scare stuff showing up at the health care town halls. Not only that, it's presupposed by "gotcha" journalism tactics, which of course always paint such a clear picture of the complexity of truth for viewers. Of course the White House doesn't delete or alter the e-mails (unlike some) because, oh yeah, IT'S ILLEGAL! But that doesn't necessarily imply that they're collecting names to stalk you with.

I mean maybe they are, and when someone shows me some evidence that I should suspect people are being targeted, then I'll jump right on board. But it's the hypocrisy of those who claim to be these big "free speech/Constitution/Bill of Rights advocates" making such a fuss now when a certain former administration was doing it before covertly and illegally (unless of course you consider Executive Orders of such things to make them legal - because "Because I Said So" makes me feel so much more confident about my government).

I wish people upset about this would stop and think about it. How many of them regularly receive emails from some member of African or Middle Eastern royalty asking them to hold said royalty's fortunes in exchange for their bank info and Social Security codes? How do you think this "royal member" got your email address? And you're worried about the government knowing your email address so that, despite any real proof of them doing so, can stalk you and limit your free speech as an enemy of the state? What is more disturbing to you: the fact the government knows how to contact you, or that anyone who feels like posing as a Saudi prince to extort money from you has the ability to?

In the words of the great 21st-century post-modernist poet and philosopher Sarah Palin:

"Stop making stuff up!"

(Hat Tip: Patrick Appel at The Daily Dish)

Video of the Day

On Air Travel

I don't fly much. But yesterday I had an interview outside Philly, so I flew down in the morning for it and back up in the evening. A few thoughts:

+ Manchester Airport is definitely a good alternative to Logan in Boston. I recommend it.

+ I'm pretty sure treating people like cattle is how Southwest Airlines got it's name.

+ I have never once had flight plans that involve passing through/flying from Philadelphia and not had delays. I think this is what Barack Obama would describe as a "teachable moment."

+ The back of my boarding pass said something along the lines of "Southwest Airlines offers so many non-stop flights to multiple locations, you could consider it your own corporate jet." People who fly corporate jets don't wait for delayed connecting flights to show up to take them to Manchester. I'm just saying.

+ As my return flight row-mates (including the very witty salesman at the aisle and incredibly pretty doctoral student between us) I think will agree, alcohol definitely makes people friendlier. Obama knew what he was doing with the "Beer Summit."

+Albany sucks as much to fly over as it does in person.

All I Ever Learned In School...

I can pretty accurately say that anything I learned about U.S. health care policy (or health care policy in general) I learned from Alex Whalen at BU. I can also say that anything I learned about how politics and media interact I learned from Alex Whalen. Therefore, you should read this post at Alex's recently renamed website, Crack Brain Zealot For Democracy.

Dr. Health Care or: How I Learned to Stop Hating MSNBC and Love Rachel Maddow

I've been wondering who would take up the mantle of Walter Cronkite and real journalism. Looks like we found our girl:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

(Big Hat Tip: Alex Whalen)

Health Care and the Generational War

Josh Marshall at TPM has a very interesting observation about the CNN poll from this morning that 50% of those polled supported health care reform, with 45% in opposition. The money quote:

There's a generational divide hovering around the age of 50, with most people younger than 50 supporting the president and those over 50 opposing him.

It's an interesting number since -- not to put too fine a point on it -- people over 50 are disproportionately people who already have guaranteed single-payer government health care. Why that would be is a whole other question in itself.But my sense is that this is less a matter of experiences with health care per se than it is a 'mapping' onto the health care debate of the generational divide that characterized the 2008 election.

Video of the Day

I've been sitting on this one for awhile, but here it is.

SUPER RECAP BLOG POWER POST - GO!!!

I've been bad about keeping up with things here as of late, and there has been a lot going on. So what to do?

SUPER RECAP BLOG POWER POST - GO!!!

+ The health care reform thing is getting messy, and from what I gather both sides are to blame. The GOP has called in the Fox/Tea Party crowd to disrupt town hall meetings held by congressional members, and while it is creating the media exposure they wanted I'm pretty sure this one will come back to bite them in the ass. The tighter they tie themselves to the radical right, the tougher its gonna be to swing back to the center when elections roll around. As for Obama and the Dems, I think they have done a pretty lame job about framing this whole thing, which is weird considering how well they played "narrative-over-news-cycle" during the election. Also, they really haven't utilized their Obama for America tool until now so I think Barack may be willing to break out the big gun on this one. The MSM seems to worry he might not pull this off, but I think this Chuck Todd interview (Hat Tip: TPM) shows where Obama's head is at. There will be reform before the end of the year.

+BTW, the local Worcester Telegram & Gazette made it to TPM's frontpage for all the wrong reasons. Haha, any of you that thought Massachusetts is a "liberal bastion" obviously have never been to where I grew up.

+ President Clinton still has his mojo, even though former UN Ambassador John Bolton thinks he just mortgaged the ranch to North Korea. No matter who's right, this video seems to make it all better for me.

+ Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight has a great post up about the inconvenient truth of claiming to be from the party of fiscal conservatism but still being a neo-con Republican.

+ Ahmadinejad was sworn in as Iran's president, but as Robert Gibbs can tell you, that doesn't mean he was elected.

+ The Birther Queen is crazy. Really.

And lastly, my favorite story of the past 24 hours.

+ I saw this last night as I went to bed, and even in my booze-induced weariness I could tell this girl is an idiot. Andrew and friends agree.

Listen honey: it sucks for all of us recently-graduated-unemployment-"victims" right now, but this is how life works. I've been where you are - it took me a few months to get myself used to the fact that this "finding a job" thing works on its own time and not mine. I was mad at BU because I felt like they did nothing to help me out of this spot it dumped me into after graduation. I lived in a constant state of frustration. Heck, even now i still get frustrated and nervous. But it goes away with time, and you're doing a disservice to yourself and the rest of our generation by throwing this legal temper tantrum. You didn't pay Monroe College to get you a job, you paid them for a degree. That degree is now yours to do with as you please, and my advice: this lawsuit is not the best use of it.

The Constitution says "the pursuit of happiness," not that happiness itself is guaranteed for you. That's up for you to find, and you won't find it where you're looking right now.

The Defining Moment of the Obama Presidency

The MSM is killing me - did every cable news station need to broadcast the "Beer Summit" yesterday between the President, VP, Crowley, and Gates? The press couldn't get within listening or shouting distance. So we get this for the world to see:



Thanks, MSM. That was enlightening.

On the other hand, James Fallows of The Atlantic gets to what should be the real story of this kegger.

Spygate, now Steroids

I'm waiting for someone to tell me Paul Pierce used the ball from Space Jam to steal the powers of former NBA greats and give them to the Celtics in 2008.

"A Teachable Moment"

What can we learn, as a nation, from the Gates incident? Larry Wilmore of The Daily Show:

"Don't forget your fucking keys."

Into the crystal ball

Two scenarios:

The Republican Party breaks into factionalized pieces, spends its time in the wilderness while the Democrats rule the agenda, and then comes back as a rational group with thoughts for discussion to challenge for dominance. The waxing and waning of the two party system continues.

OR

The Blue Dog Democrats' membership grows by attracting centrist and rational Republicans and shifts to the right, while the main Democratic agenda becomes more progrssive sliding to the left and the main Republican agenda follows its current dominance by its far-right wing. Ultimately, the U.S. shifts to a three party system.

Which of these scenarios is more likely to occur?

When we all lose

The end of this post by Eric Tarloff of The Atlantic is dead on:

I'd much rather be governed by a party the policies of which I deplore but one that governs responsibly, competently, and with respect for the Constitution, than by a theocratic cabal dictated to by its own most rabid supporters, mistrustful of facts, demonizing of its opponents, and scornfully dismissive of all points of view that diverge from its own. You can argue with the former, you can debate it, you can contest elections with it. Sometimes you will win and sometimes you will lose, but the victories and the defeats will be over matters of real consequence. When, instead, political battles are deliberately waged by one side over red-herrings that arouse passion and irrational anger, when they are fought over the contrived question of whether one candidate personally freed a convicted rapist for a weekend furlough, or went to Moscow as a student in order to enlist as a Soviet spy, or somehow faked his heroism in Vietnam, or is a Muslim or a socialist or an illegal alien, then we have ventured into the realms of pig-fucking. It debases all public discourse. No one finally benefits from that, not even the victors.

This is why I despise the Palins, Hannitys, Limbaughs, and ilk of the wing of the Republican party - because they are weakening my government by not actually playing the role the minority is supposed to. The Democrats failed to do this duty well during the early part of the Bush administration, and we all suffered for it. Rather than winning on issues and policy through debate, we get the Birthers getting consideration by the representatives in government as a legitimate concern. We get the Blue Dog Democrats having to play the role of Republican party that can't make a legitimate point about issues. And we get a weakened democracy because of it. I would love to see the Republican party win again on a platform of thought and reasoned ideas and policy. But they need to trim the waste first, and until then we're all the worse for it.

"A patriot is one who has a lovers' quarrel with his country." When can we get back to that? Or have we ever even really had it to begin with in this modern age?

Win Ben Stein's Credibility

Via The Daily Dish, Nixonian speechwriter and close friend of Shaq Ben Stein uses his "clear eyes" to give us some insight as to how Barack Obama is leading the U.S. to hell in a hand basket. Just sad to see what happens when people lose it, that's all.

Video of the Day

(Hat Tip: Andrew Sullivan)

Gotcha

Yglesias highlights what impeccable timing the Blue Dog Democrats and House Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner have in slowing down the health care reform debate to coincide with their re-election fundraising.

And not to lower the level of discourse on this blog, but just say "Boehner Beach Party" out loud a couple times and try not giggling.

Poor Old Starscream

Yglesias talks about the death of the F-22 program, which was supposed to be the next generation of versatile American flying fighters. Though, I'm sure if they had made this jet capable of transforming into a sentient fighting robot as Michael Bay envisioned, it would have been a keeper, no questions asked.

The Gates Presser

Yeah, Obama's presser last night was about health care reform. He talked about it for nearly fifty minutes. But you wouldn't know that this morning, because the final question asked the President what his thoughts were on the arrest-of-then-apology-to African-American Harvard professor Skip Gates by the Cambridge police. He admitted his bias as a friend of Gates, and thought the Cambridge police acted "stupidly." That seems to be the talk of the town this morning, but of course not just my town but the entire cable news circuit. Cable news - we know drama.

From what has been reported, Gates came home, found himself locked out of his house and broke in. A neighbor saw someone was trying to break in to Gates' house and called the police who responded to the scene. Once the police arrived, the police were presented with identification that he was who he said he was and owned the house. Apparently then words are exchanged. Gates is taken from his house in handcuffs for "disorderly conduct" towards the officers. Later, the charges are dropped and the Cambridge PD apologize to Gates. Should be over.

Of course, it isn't. Gates has said he's not going to let the issue drop because he claims it was a racially charged affair. Obama says that the Cambridge police were stupid to further. The officer says that he acted appropriately regarding the circumstances, and didn't do anything wrong. And now every Tom and Jane on T.V. wants to know why Obama isn't acting more post-racial for a black dude siding with another black dude.

Gates was right to object to any further police involvement once he proved he owned the place. The officers were doing their job, however, and when Gates started giving them push-back for investigating to find out the facts of the situation, they had it within their authority to arrest him for disorderly conduct. And Obama's right too - they were stupid for doing so. A more level-headed, smarter cop would have just left when he was being resisted, but Gates had a right to do so as it was the police coming into his house. The Cambridge PD apologized for this, and that really should be the end of it.

At the same time, Obama should have just shut up and stayed out of it. I imagine he's probably gonna have to walk back a little from the language he used last night, and he deserves it. I would have belittled the reporter (Lynn Sweet) for asking about it when the past fifty minutes of discussion has been about the health care crisis our nation is facing. Please, hack journalists, could we please, for once, try and focus the attention of the American people on the task at hand. Do it for Walter.

Listen, racial profiling goes on in our country, and it's wrong. My family has been stopped at the airport more than we care to remember because of our last name, and it is ridiculous. My mother works for the government and is Irish and French-Canadian, at least three generations removed from entering the country, and she has gotten stopped. But we need to move past trying to play thought-police with the police every time someone gets arrested and claims it was because of police bias. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. Let the Cambridge PD deal with trying to find out.

Having lived in Boston, I've met my fair share of Boston-area cops. Most are very good guys just trying to do their job well. But there is always a few who have something to prove and like to strut around reminding folks he has some power. But just because you have power and authority doesn't mean you have to use it. I've also met professors who act in the same way regardless of being outside their academic setting. And I think Gates may fall into this category too.

So what we have here are some people who unfortunately ran into each other doing very innocent things, one getting into his house and the other doing his job to follow a lead. And then let their egos take over. And then some lame-ass journalist has to ask the President of the United States about it. And the President said something he's going to have to clarify.

And meanwhile, our country's health care system goes "tick...tick...tick..."

UPDATE: As I said earlier, CNN reports the accused racist Officer Jim Crowley has refused to apologize for the incident with Gates. To his defense, Crowley cites that he was one of the security guards who helped to try and tragically save African-American and former Celtics player Reggie Lewis. So like I said, maybe it's a little hasty to be calling him a racist.

Not to say there wasn't a racial element in this - the neighbor who called the police reported that there were "two black males with backpacks" trying to wedge the door on Gates' front porch according to the police report. I mean, obviously the report is biased from the perspective of the officers on the scene, but it notes that Gates played the race card as soon as Crowley approached the front door and seemed very uncooperative. It doesn't matter if you're black, white, Asian, Latino, or whatever but it's a pretty simple rule of thumb to not go out of your way to be a dick to a cop.

UPDATE II: Chris Bodenner, filling in for Andrew Sullivan at The Daily Dish, allows some readers with law knowledge to help the rest of us with the concept of "disorderly conduct." From what they say, it looks like the cop Crowley didn't really need to go at Gates for this except to save face for his ego (like I said earlier up top). But as one lawyer in Nevada notes:

In theory, you're free to say all manner of unpleasant things to civil servants, such as police officers. In practice, not so much.

UPDATE III: TNC (twice), Ambinder, and Yglesias all make some really good points about this whole ordeal.