Obsidian Wings

Mukasey Collapses

by hilzoy

From TPM:

"Attorney General Michael Mukasey collapsed this evening while giving a speech to Federalist Society in Washington, DC. (...)

As best we can tell no news service has any new substantive information about the AG's health, other than the initial news that he began slurring his speech and then shaking and then collapsed. There seems to be no solid information about whether he regained consciousness."

I hope he's OK; my thoughts are with him and his family.

***

UPDATE: From a DoJ statement (via TPM):

"The Attorney General is conscious, conversant and alert. His vital statistics are strong and he is in good spirits. He is receiving excellent care and appreciates all of the good wishes and prayers he has received. The doctors will keep him overnight for further observations."

TPM also has an eyewitness account of his collapse here.

Ashley Todd

by hilzoy

I didn't write about Ashley Todd last night, when I first read her story. It didn't make sense to me, but then again, lots of things don't, and some of those things are true. All that was clear to me then was that one way or another, it would turn out to be a horrible story involving someone with very serious problems, and that I did not want to leap to conclusions.

Now that she has recanted, I'm torn. On the one hand, I think that anyone who would do something like this must have real psychiatric problems. (I don't think this about all crimes -- I think someone could rob a bank and be perfectly sane.) And I can almost think my way into the mindset of someone who is completely convinced that if Barack Obama is elected, something unspeakably bad will happen to this country, and who is frustrated that she can't make people see what is so evident to her. You can see this kind of desperate conviction in some of the tapes of McCain supporters outside his rallies, and you can read it on some of the right-wing blogs: the sense that this country is about to make an incalculable mistake, and no one seems to care. It would not take much, I think, for someone who felt this way, and who had serious psychiatric problems, to decide, in a moment of absolute boneheadedness, to show the world what seemed so obvious to her.

(Note: being able to understand something like this does not in any way imply thinking it's not an appalling thing to do. There are appalling things that I can understand, and some of the things I can understand are more appalling than some of the things I can't. Second note: I don't mean to suggest that this is something to which McCain supporters are particularly prone, except insofar as this is the sort of thing you do when your candidate is about to lose, and Obama is not losing. Nuttiness does not follow political boundaries, and no one should think that either side is immune to it.)

But what I can't think my way into is her saying that the person who did it was black. No kind of desperation that I can think of would have required that detail. That's just gratuitous, and very, very ugly.

I'd like to give a shout-out to the Pittsburgh police. I know nothing about the officers who worked this case, but it seems unlikely that they are all Democrats, all Republicans, or all any political anything. They are professionals, and they did their jobs. If they hadn't, some tall black man who was just going to the store or taking a walk could have ended up in jail.

Because the police did their jobs, some innocent man, somewhere, will get to enjoy the rest of his life. No one will ever know which tall black man would ever have been wrongfully arrested, or whose life might have been ruined, not even the man himself. But he's out there somewhere, and while he owes his close call to Ashley Todd's racism, he owes his escape to the Pittsburgh police. Had it not been for them, ten years from now the Pittsburgh papers might have had occasion to write a story like this:

"A decade after he was cleared as a suspect in one of Boston's most notorious crimes, William Bennett is still very angry.

In autumn of 1989, the ex-convict was named a suspect in the killing of Carol DiMaiti Stuart, a pregnant, suburban white woman shot, allegedly by a black man, in what looked like a random street robbery. Bennett's arrest seemed to solve a high-profile murder case, quieting an outraged city whose leaders promised swift justice. But when suspicion shifted to the husband, Charles Stuart, Bennett went from cold-blooded murder suspect to a symbol of police abuse and Boston's lingering racial divide.

Yesterday, in a rare interview, Bennett told the Globe the case still haunts him. He blames it for his mother's premature death and frayed family ties. And he refuses to hide his frustration.

"I don't trust anybody. I barely trust myself," said Bennett, now 50. "The police falsely pinned a crime on me once and they can do it again.

"I have no faith in the law enforcement and I don't like cops," said Bennett, who does kitchen work on Newbury Street for a food service company. "Nothing has changed. You still have those same racist cops on the police force."" (Boston Globe, 4/6/2000.)

I'd also like to give a shout-out to all the people who held off on this, and to Michelle Malkin, who did a lot to keep this story from getting completely out of hand. To the people who jumped on the bandwagon: think about the responsibilities that come with having an audience. When a story like this hits, you can try to convince people to withhold judgment until the facts are in, or you can lose your head along with everyone else. It seems like a pretty clear choice to me.

And to McCain's Pennsylvania communications director: now would be a good time to decide to spend more time with your family.

Rumors of My Death ... Not So Exaggerated

by publius

Internet restored last night — I haven’t had home access since Hurricane Ike, though it seems the Masters of the Universe have kept themselves busy in the meantime. Before I jump back in though, please note that I get a one-week grace period on saying something ignorant or already-exhaustively-blogged-about. In a slower news period, I’ll explain what life without Internet access is like. But first, the bailout. Post to come later tonight — and grace period lenity applies.

Oh yeah, and this:

Passports

by hilzoy

Most of Sarah Palin's interview with Katie Couric just made me alternately laugh and wince. One bit, however, really bothered me. When she was asked why she had only recently gotten a passport, she said:

"I'm not one of those who maybe came from a background of, you know, kids who perhaps graduate from college. Their parents get them a passport and give them a backpack and say, "go off and travel the world." No, I've worked all my life. In fact I've had two jobs all my life until I had kids. I was not a part of, I guess, that culture."

I didn't write about it, largely because I wanted to stick up for the people I know who are from small towns, but I thought my own background might interfere. (I was a part of, I guess, that culture.) Luckily, Charles Brown at Undiplomatic did, and better than I would have. He starts by going over his own background:

"I’m not that different from Sarah Palin. Except for one small thing. I was curious about the world. I really really wanted to see it. I was dying to learn what it had to offer. But even after I started working, I remained too poor to travel. That didn’t stop me from dreaming. (...)

So I don’t object to the fact that Sarah Palin didn’t have a passport until last year. Maybe, as she said, she didn’t have the money. She was a mother of four (Trig was not yet born), and had a family to raise. What bothers me about her answer is that she thinks only rich people want to travel, that only elites are interested in the rest of the world.

I’m reminded of that scene in Breaking Away where Dave (the main character) has seen his dreams shattered when a visiting Italian cycling team sabotages his bike. His mother, while consoling him, goes to her purse and pulls out a passport. Dave, surprised, asks why she has it. And his mother says something like, well, I always wanted to see the world, and who knows — I might. Every once in a while, when they ask me for i.d. when I write a check at the grocery store, I pull it out and remind myself of my dream. It’s a lovely moment, one that captures the dreams of many folks.

But apparently not those of Sarah Palin. She never talks about wanting to see the Pyramids, or the Taj Mahal, or the Great Wall of China, or the Wailing Wall, or the Sydney Opera House, or Big Ben, or Rio de Janiero, or the Eiffel Tower, or even the parts of Russia she can see from her house. Such desires aren’t a sign of elitism, but rather curiosity. (...)

Remember “Wherethehellis” Matt, the guy who had himself filmed dancing all around the world and then put it online? He never went to college. Before he found a corporate sponsor (which occurred only after his first online video was a hit), he paid his own way, doing odd jobs.

Is he an elitist? What about all the fine young men and women in the Peace Corps? Mormon (and other) missionaries? Doctors and nurses who travel to help in crises and operate on children with cleft palates? Volunteers for MercyCorps, Christian Children’s Fund, Catholic Charities, Lutheran World Relief, American Jewish World Service and other faith-based charities? Little old ladies who go on group tours to Europe?

To paraphrase John McCain, I guess we’re all elitists now.

I’m no saint. I don’t claim to be one. But I know I have one quality that Sarah Palin never will: curiosity about what exists beyond my corner of the planet.

And I know that when it comes to the rest of the world, Sarah Palin is one thing I’ll never be: a snob."

Read the rest: it's worth it.

What I mind about Sarah Palin is not, and has never been, her small town. It's her small and incurious mind.

***

NOTE: I just saw that I posted this as Moe by mistake, having been dealing with spam. This is not by Moe. It is by me, hilzoy. I apologize for the error.

Gack! And Bleg!

by hilzoy

School started a couple of weeks ago, and all that that entails. For the past couple of days, it has entailed a lot. I'm just getting out from under a mountain of stuff, but I wanted to say hi, throw up an open thread, and while I'm doing so, ask: do any of you speak Spanish? If so, what do you make of this story? What little Spanish I have does not work for interviews that are (a) rapid-fire, and (b) in Spanish laid on top of English, which is too distracting to those of us who would struggle to understand it without the English underlay. But my utterly feeble and inadequate take on the interview is the same as Josh's:

"In the interview, McCain is asked about Hugo Chavez, the situation in Bolivia and then about Raul Castro. He responds to each of these with expected answers about standing up to America's enemies, etc. Then the interviewer switches gears and asks about Zapatero, the Spanish Prime Minister. And McCain replies -- very loose translation -- that he'll establish close relations with our friends and stand up to those who want to do us harm. The interviewer has a double take and seems to think McCain might be confused. So she asks it again. But McCain sticks to the same evasive answer."

But if anyone with a better grasp of Spanish would care to listen to it and correct, translate, chime in, or whatever, that would be wonderful. The interview itself is here; the relevant bit is at the end.

Josh again:

"And the way it's being interpreted in the Spanish press is that McCain got confused about the fact that Spain is a country in Europe, rather than a rogue state in Latin America."

This is one of the things that isn't clear to me. It could be that he's confused about who Zapatero is, and which country he's the head Prime Minister of. [UPDATE: No disrespect meant to Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias, whose name I adore. END UPDATE.] The interviewer does say something about Spain at the beginning of her question about Zapatero, but possibly McCain just wasn't sure who he might be committing himself to meet with. This seems to be the interviewer's take: my rough translation of the bit in Josh's screen shot is: "I had the feeling McCain didn't know who I was talking about." Here, I'd love to hear from someone who speaks the language well, as the nuances are lost on me.

In any case, however, this is a big gaffe. It's not like Bush's not knowing who the head of Pakistan was in 2000. In that case, Bush was asked a surprise question. In this case, McCain was being interviewed by Spanish media. If he wasn't briefed on Spain, including the name of its Prime Minister, before he sat down for that interview, then he has completely incompetent staff, who should be fired on the spot. (Avoiding mistakes like this is part of what they're paid for.) If he was briefed on that, then it's not just that he forgot, in the sense of not being able to recall the name when asked. That happens sometimes, but it's not what happened here. Here, he didn't recognize the name when someone else said it.

In my experience, that's a lot harder to do, if you know the name to start with, especially if you're in a context in which that person might be brought up in conversation. -- It sometimes happens to me that I fail to place someone when they appear in a completely unexpected context: when one of my students (in Baltimore) appears at the wedding of an old family friend (in Boston), for instance. But, again, this is not a context in which mentioning the Prime Minister of Spain is in any way unexpected.

If my understanding of the interview is correct, and if McCain was briefed on this, then I think it's very worrying.

So: anyone want to help me out with the first "if"? (If any of our readers can tell me whether or not McCain was briefed on this before the interview, that would, of course, be nice too. But somehow, I don't expect any McCain staffers to turn up in comments...)

Thoughts Going Out

by hilzoy

Publius told us he'd probably be without power after Hurricane Ike, and that we probably wouldn't hear from him for a couple of days. I haven't heard from him (in answer to several questions), but I don't plan to worry about that fact for a couple of days: it would be fruitless, and besides, in his shoes, I'd probably want to focus on things like making sure my kids weren't too scared, distracting them with fun games involving candles and forts, and so forth, rather than thinking: OMG I must get to the blog. [UPDATE: he's fine. END UPDATE.]

On the other hand, this is worrying:

"A little after midnight this past Thursday night / Friday morning, Teresa and I were talking—about how to code an image in a Making Light post, no less—when she suddenly experienced an unfamiliar and intense pain in her chest, rapidly radiating up into her neck and lower jaw, accompanied by a sensation of powerful pressure deep inside. After a brief discussion we called 911. Impressively well-equipped paramedics arrived in about seven minutes and performed tests on the spot. We were then taken in an ambulance to Brooklyn’s Lutheran Medical Center. As of this morning, Teresa is still there, having graduated from the ER to an actual hospital bed. Further tests have been performed and more are to come. She is not considered to be in critical condition.

Teresa has had odd and hard-to-classify cardio/circulatory events before; among her other health problems, she’s occasionally prone to vaso-vagal spasm. So was this really an Infarction, Class Myocardial? The answer is: it seems probable from everything we’ve been able to find out. It appears to be what the medics assume when they’re not using careful diagnostic-speak. The speed with which the symptoms receded as soon as she was given nitroglycerin (in the ambulance, on the way over) is suggestive. Obviously, we’ll see what Big Medicine has to say when they finally finish all their tests.

Meanwhile, is she okay? Sure; mostly bored."

My thoughts are with Teresa and Patrick, and, of course, with publius, his family, and anyone else in the Galveston/Houston area. (That's the nice thing about having many thoughts: I can spread them around.)

Cakes In Trouble

by hilzoy

Andrew Sullivan linked to a blog devoted to cakes gone wrong. It's hysterical. There are more horribly misfiring cakes than I could have imagined. Some are the result of an inadequate grasp of the use/mention distinction:

Some from an apparently total lack of aesthetics:

Some are just plain inexplicable:

And some just make you wonder how anyone thought that a cake like that could possibly be eaten without shuddering:

Still, that beats this baby shower cake:

However, the best of all is one I'm just going to link to. The place that sells them claims that they are supposed to be watermelons. You must click this link, and its even stranger sibling, which the Cake Wrecks proprietor has entitled: Gee, Kermit, I think I'd get that looked at... You may never be able to look at a watermelon with a straight face again.

Enjoy!

Stephanie Tubbs-Jones

by hilzoy

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

"U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones' family and officials at Huron Hospital have announced that the five-term congresswoman has died.

She was 58."

My thoughts are with her family and friends.

Nicht Ein Berliner

by publius

Patrick Ruffini’s been catching some justified criticism for complaining about the audacity of communicating to Germans in Germany in German. It was a silly post, but Ruffini generally writes good stuff – so I’m inclined to give him a pass.

The real benefit of Ruffini’s post is that it gives me a flimsy pretext for telling my hilarrrrious Berlin bar story. Soon after I arrived in Berlin, I hit the town and decided to show off my quite impressive German skillz. With two years of college-level German whipping at my back, I confidently approached the bartender to ask him a question – in German of course. I proceeded to mutter some sputtering preschool-level German in wretchedly broken accents.

The bartender just stared at me like I was a complete idiot. And then – in perfect English – he said in a weary, yet slightly disgusted tone, “Just f***ing tell me what you want.” I did, sheepishly, and walked away a broken man.

The point of all this is that Obama probably could have communicated in English and it would have been fine. From what I gathered, every German under the age of 40 speaks English – most of them fluently. (Why is that by the way?) It would have been extremely obnoxious of course – and could have even had diplomatic repercussions. But the crowd probably could have read the material.

I’d add that the whole thing is also a sad reflection on our own inability to speak other languages, but I’m told pointing that out is un-American and amnesty-loving or something.

History Lane - The First Macintosh 1984

by publius

So last night I watched all three parts of the old 1996 PBS special "Triumph of the Nerds." Hosted by Robert Cringely, it's basically a history of the computer from early 70s up through 1996. It's fascinating - and I'm planning on writing a couple of posts on it.

But for now, you should check out Steve Jobs' 1984 introduction of the Macintosh. First, notice the hair. Second, understand that this was the first time people were seeing a computer with a graphical interface (i.e., one that showed graphics and pictures rather than the old DOS words-on-a-screen -- we take that for granted now). In short, it was truly revolutionary -- Jobs even appears to get choked up at the end. More later.