Random Nothing Blah Blah Blah

by hilzoy

Sorry to have vanished: I was up in Boston, celebrating my brother-in-law's 50th birthday, and wondering what on earth I did to deserve not just a wonderful family, but uniformly wonderful in-laws as well. A complete mystery. Much merriment, many toasts and speeches, and a lot of catching up with old friends -- I even ran into someone whom I turned out to have met in my first ever Presidential campaign, when I was 16.

Meanwhile, poor Mr. Nils has some sort of hurt on his tail. I took him to the vet, who not only prescribed antibiotics and something I am supposed to apply to the affected area to induce healing, but also gave him one of those recovery collars that makes him look as though he's wearing a sort of fiber satellite dish around his neck. Theoretically, this horrid indignity prevents him from licking his tail, pulling out more of its hair, etc., but I have my doubts about its effectiveness.

Poor Mr. Nils. He is not a happy cat right now. He'll be even less happy in a few minutes, when I throw an antibiotic down his throat. Luckily, he doesn't know that yet.

Still, his tail is a lot better than it was. Poor Mr. Nils.

-- I think there's something about flying that just sucks a person's brains out, leaving her a mindless zombie for 24 hours or so. People who actually manage to work on planes never cease to amaze me; I've never been able to do anything more taxing than sudoku on them. In any case, since I am, in fact, a mindless zombie, consider this an open thread.

PS: Dadzoy!

Comments

[Josh]

I find that earplugs or something similar help tremendously on planes. I have a pair of earbuds that have foam plugs surrounding the speakers, so that I can hear the music without cranking the volume way up. Makes all the difference.

[rilkefan]

"since I am, in fact, a mindless zombie"

Not a zimboe ("a philosophical zombie that has second-order beliefs")?

[Ara]

Open thread, and all I can talk is politics. But this gauche move is fascinating me.

First, *why* is the Australian PM getting involved in an American presidential election and, at that, nearly a year before any primaries?

Second, when are people going to start to feel ashamed of themselves for insinuating that the party that holds a majority in both houses of Congress is somehow in league with enemies and terrorists?

Third, how do you argue that the consequences of loss are cataclysmic while committing only 1400 (mostly non-combat) troops without being a hypocrite?

Fourth, how stupid is this politically?? First, it validates Obama, because it means foreign PMs are taking notice of his run, as if suddenly it's the Obama policy that they should be responding to rather than the Bush policy. Second, it plays right into Obama's hands, giving him a whipping boy (a foreign PM) to defiantly assert American moral exceptionalism over.

[Debbie (aussie)]

Isn't it wonderful. I hope it makes more people realise what a truly abhorrent little man our PM is.
I think the reason/s for his little outburst is the upcoming (some time this year)federal election. Why he thinks this might help him is beyond me. A majority of Aussies want our troops out of Iraq. Not sure, but I think similar numbers are for ending the war.
We have an opposition leader (Kevin Rudd) who is very capable and very knowledgeable re foreign affairs.
It isn't any of John Howard's business, but he is a Bush sycophant. He is also a hypocrite, during our last election (or the one before) he critisied a US politician (democrat) for sticking his nose in our affairs.

[kryptyk]

Are we all living inside a huge schizoid brain in a higher dimensional universe?

[Slartibartfast]

Open thread?

My niece qualified for the Colorado state swimming meet in league prelims last weekend; meet is next weekend.

She's a freshman. I've watched her swim, and she's not so much a chip off the old block as maybe the much larger block the old block was chipped from, if she keeps it up.

Proud I am, although I had nothing to do with it. Her goal is to beat my time at state by her senior year; I support that enthusiastically, if for no other reason than it'll mean she can get a full ride at the college of her choice, pretty much.

In other news, Michelle McKeehan broke the week-old national high school 200 IM record and also set a new state record in the 100 breaststroke. As a junior. Her third straight double-gold at state, tying Olympian Lindsay Benko. Unless she goes pro or something next year, she's going to make it four years of double-gold.

[Slartibartfast]

Since we're posting family photos:

Happy, victorious Meg (on the right).

[Kendall]

Ara & Debbie: but did you hear Obama's response to Australia's PM? I can't find the link, but I heard him on NPR yesterday, saying this: "Australia has 1400 troops on the ground in Iraq, so if the PM is that eager to support the effort, let's see him put another 20,000 Australians in the line of fire. Otherwise, it's all just empty rhetoric." It was slammin!

[Jesurgislac]

Yay Meg!

Being an aunt (or uncle) is one of the great pleasures of life. My sister points out to me occasionally that while she has provided me with a nephew who is the best nephew an aunt could want, I have lamentably failed to provide her with a nibling to spoil and be proud of in auntillary fashion.

[Jay C]

Sorry to hear about Mr. Nils and his his poor tail: no, he will not be a happy kitty for a while: the "lampshade" collar will not only keep him from licking his tail; but any other cat-sections as well. Oh, and a hint about the pills: be as quick as possible with the grab-and-toss; and sneak up on the little darling at irregular intervals: cats have, usually, little long-term memory, but will learn "regular" (like pill-time) events quickly - about as quickly as they will learn where the inacessible (to humans) parts of your furniture are!

[KCinDC]

John Quiggin's post on John Howard's smear of Obama and the Democrats (and mine, which makes no claim to great insight).

[KCinDC]

OCSteve wouldn't agree, but I'm surprised at the level of skepticism and downright cynicism on NPR right now about the accusations of Iran "meddling" in Iraq (talk about pots and kettles!) and why it's becoming a big story now. It makes a nice change from the White House press releases in the Washington Post.

[liberal japonicus]

While there is a lot more skepticism, it always seems to be expressed at the end of the story rather than the beginning. Perhaps I've been radicalized, but I think it should be made much clearer, though most of what I have seen is at CNN and perhaps NPR isn't burying the lede.

[Dantheman]

Debbie answered ara's first question, so I'll answer the second:

"Second, when are people going to start to feel ashamed of themselves for insinuating that the party that holds a majority in both houses of Congress is somehow in league with enemies and terrorists?"

Feeling ashamed -- never. It is part of being a politican that the process of making the sausage never offends you. On the other hand, it will not cease until it stops working. The track record of this happening has been too good to stop now.

[Slartibartfast]

"auntillary". I like it.

Meg not only qualified for state in prelims, lowering her time by three and a half to four seconds, but she chopped off another half-second in finals, for third place.

League is what Colorado evidently has in place of sectionals or conference meets. Tom-ay-toe, tom-ah-toe.

I'm weighing the potential frivolity of dropping a few hundred bucks in air fair and possibly a few hundred more on transportation and lodging against how much we're considering un-frivolously spending on private school next year. That's if we put the younger kid in the same school as Em will be going to; Em's going free of charge. Abby we'd put in the same school for a) convenience, and b) their ability to adjust education to Abby's capacity to learn, which is pretty remarkable. Not in that order, either.

Abby's the only kindergartner in her school that's on a reading plan, and even that concession doesn't begin to respond to how fast she could (and, as importantly, wants to) be learning.

[KCinDC]

LJ, I was really only talking about the bit that was on at that very moment, with Steve Inskeep talking to Jamie Tarabay (looks like it's here). I have heard some coverage since then that's a little more like what I'd expect.

[lily]

Somehow slams on Obama seem to boomerang back at the slammer, leaving Obama better off. just in the last week there's been Tuckerr Carlson's attack on Obama's church, some rightwinger, I forgett which one, trying get mileage out of Obama's appreciation of Malcolm X's message of self-respect, and the crack from thhe Aussie PM...and none of it turn has turned in to a Noise Machine success.

[Kendall]

I found a link to the Obama comeback to John Howard: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-02/12/content_5731022.htm

Funny, I can't find the NPR link I actually heard myself. Anyway, yes, what Lily said. Obama is terrific with the comeback, and it makes sense. I'm starting to get scared somebody will do him in, he's so good. I hope he has some really fine bodyguards.

[lily]

Well i just noticec that Salon has a hit peice on him with a narative that might stick with some Democratic primary voters: he's supposedly an "uppity", which they just changed to "smug", black guy who is trying to be white.
There is a little of the smugness herre and thherre in his seconnd book, but accusinng a politician of having a strong, positive self image is like accusinng an elephant of being large. Nethertheless negative narratives stick for irrational reasonns, so thhere isnn't anny point for arging rationally about thhem. Thsi particular narative only matters in the primary and probably comes from jealousy.

[Ugh]

Can someone explain to me why the administration is pushing the "Iran is supplying weapons used to kill U.S. troops" if not to serve as a justification for a later attack on that country? See Post and Times stories.

[Donald Johnson]

What was the Tucker Carlson attack on Obama's church? I'm mainly curious because I don't like Tucker, so if the attack backfired I will take some pleasure in hearing about it.

We've put those cat dishes on one of our cats. I can't leave it on--she goes running around the apartment, backwards and forwards, trying to get it off. Better, if one is home, just to stop her from licking her butt. (Which is normally fine with us, but there had been a swollen gland.)

[Gromit]

Media Matters: Tucker Carlson on Obama's church: "[I]t's hard to call that Christianity".

[OCSteve]

OCSteve wouldn't agree, but I'm surprised at the level of skepticism and downright cynicism on NPR right now about the accusations of Iran "meddling" in Iraq

Assuming you mean I would not agree that Iran is not meddling in Iraq, you are correct. What I do not understand is why the reporting of this has been so low key.

Three coalition officials met international and Iraqi journalists to point the finger at the Al-Qods brigade of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, Tehran's elite forces.
They spoke on condition of anonymity and cameras and recording devices were barred from the briefing, at which an array of mortar shells and booby traps were laid out for inspection.

Why anonymous and why no cameras? We either have the evidence or we do not, I don’t understand why this is being soft-peddled. If we don’t have solid evidence then what is this soft sell supposed to accomplish. If we have solid evidence that Iranian supplied weapons are directly responsible for up to 170 coalition deaths that should be pretty big news.

[Bernard Yomtov]

I have the same problem with planes. It's hard to concentrate on anything substantial, and I'm always worn out after even a short flight.

I wonder if it's some sort of low-level motion sickness.

[OCSteve]

This is the best argument for capital punishment I have seen in a long time.

[KCinDC]

No, OCSteve, I meant you'd be astounded that anyone would expect NPR to be anything but skeptical of the administration's claims.

If we don't have solid evidence then what is this soft sell supposed to accomplish.

The same thing this sort of propaganda accomplished in 2002 and 2003 -- getting the media to whip people up sufficiently that a war is possible? And judging by the headlines they're getting, it's working pretty well.

Even if some of the administration's claims aren't lies (and there's probably a few truths buried in among the BS), attacking Iran would be insane and would cause a far greater disaster than anything it might prevent. Andrew has a good post on the subject.

[Slartibartfast]

Media Matters: Tucker Carlson on Obama's church: "[I]t's hard to call that Christianity".

Well, it's not, really. It's a fairly areligious statement, in fact, other than a cursory (no pun or slur, I swear) mention of "God".

If one were to wander around their website a bit, one might encounter some references to Christ, Christianity, etc that might give one pause when considering whether to declare a given organization as something other than Christian, if one were looking for pause.

I'd want to do something like attend a few services there if I were wanting to assess whether the church were Christian or something else in Christian guise, but I suspect that I'd be in the extreme minority, as far as skin tone goes.

As for the "Black Value System" itself, well, it's got some things that I think are good and admirable, and some things that appear exclusionary and ethnocentric, if that's the right word. It's likely, though, that the "Black Value System" is meant to appeal widely outside the church, so it's been secularized. Or more accurately, aimed at aspects of the lives of black Americans that lie outside of the church, and for which there's no real Biblical context.

[KCinDC]

OCSteve, what makes it an argument for capital punishment rather than an argument for not releasing unrepentant people sentenced to life in prison?

[OCSteve]

what makes it an argument for capital punishment rather than an argument for not releasing unrepentant people sentenced to life in prison?

It kind of takes the option off the table :)

[Donald Johnson]

Thanks for the Obama/Tucker church link, Gromit. It does look like Tucker is making a big deal out of very little. Preaching against middle class superficiality goes back to Kierkegaard, I think--no, on second thought it probably goes back to the Old Testament prophets, or at least to the time of Jesus, depending on what class label you'd stick on the materialists that the Bible condemns.

[KCinDC]

Scott "Big Trunk" Johnson thinks Obama's response to Howard's smear is "a major international blunder".

[KCinDC]

Speaking of Power Line, why do they have an ad in their sidebar that seems to depict Bush pledging allegiance to the Israeli flag?

[matttbastard]

Carlson is an Obama groupie compared to William Kristol.

[Francis]

hey, how about a no-politics open thread, just for once? [i know, hopeless.]

the most Hallmark of holidays, Valentine's Day, is tomorrow. As the lovely and talented Mrs. Francis (hat tip to Tbogg) will be busy defending an accused criminal and will likely be grumpy, I'm making dinner at home.

Duck breast, I think. Maybe with an orange sauce and wild rice on the side. But I'm open to suggestions.

[KCinDC]

Well, the analogy is offensive, but Kristol's criticism of Obama's emphasis on unity is similar to Ezra Klein's (and that was my main concern after hearing Obama's speech Saturday as well).

[KCinDC]

Tomorrow? Where are you, Francis?

Oh, and by "the analogy" I meant Kristol's, not mine, though I imagine Ezra might find it offensive to be compared to Kristol.

[Sebastian Holsclaw]

Isn't Valentine's Day the 14th? I try not to notice, but I didn't think I was that far off. :)

[matttbastard]

Well, the analogy is offensive, but Kristol's criticism of Obama's emphasis on unity is similar to Ezra Klein's (and that was my main concern after hearing Obama's speech Saturday as well).

KC: that's what I found most offensive: the fact that Kristol was so unnecessarily hyperbolic in making a valid point.

Makes one wonder what analogy he'd use if Obama were Jewish...

;)

[KCinDC]

I don't know, matttbastard. Maybe he'd have compared him to Charles Lindbergh?

[Francis]

saved by the commentariat! i have an extra day.

so what's for dinner?

[trilobite]

I think there's something about flying that just sucks a person's brains out, leaving her a mindless zombie for 24 hours or so.

Spider Robinson claims that when smoking was prohibited on planes, the airlines took the opportunity to save power, scrubber lifetime, etc., by decreasing the rate of air circulation (since they didn't need to clear the smoke anymore), with the result that everybody onboard suffers mild oxygen deprivation.

I dunno. Robinson is a little hyper on the subject of anti-smoking laws, his source was employee gossip, and if what he said were true, I can't see how the pilots' and stewards' unions would abide it. Does anybody have solid information on this point?

Whatever the airlines may be doing to the air, they are certainly doing their best to make the seats less comfortable. I don't think it's just that I'm getting older; I remember airline seats used to be fairly soft, but these days they feel like rocks.

[Nell]

Ugh: Can someone explain to me why the administration is pushing the "Iran is supplying weapons used to kill U.S. troops" if not to serve as a justification for a later attack on that country?

Josh Marshall says as a distraction. From the debacle in Iraq, and as a scapegoat for same.

[Larv]

KC, I know I shouldn't be, but I'm honestly shocked at the disingenuousness of that Powerline post. In Powerline-land, it's Obama that made a "major international blunder" by not respecting that "politics stops at the waters edge." No criticism whatsoever of Howard for also doing so, and doing so first and unprovoked. Obama's observation that the Aussie involvement in Iraq is considerably less than our own is "belittling" the Aussies and engaging in intellectual thuggery. I'd say that was the pot calling the kettle black, but there's nothing particularly intellectual about Powerline's thuggery.

[KCinDC]

That's why we call it Bizarro World, Larv. Well, okay, we don't, actually -- that's a different site -- but the idea's the same. Maybe it can be Bizarro Land.

[Gary Farber]

Dr. Faust is obviously a relation of Felix Faust, and will clearly be revealed as a super-villian, sooner or later.

It had to be noted.

[Gary Farber]

Larv: "I know I shouldn't be, but I'm honestly shocked at the disingenuousness of that Powerline post."

Unfamiliar with them, are you?

[Dantheman]

And here I thought Dr. Faust just got herself a new gig.

[Dantheman]

And nevermind if that was what Gary was referring to.

[Gary Farber]

"And nevermind if that was what Gary was referring to."

Not quite. More a thing for those few of us who have followed Dr. Faust, the comics version, for decades.

Different meaning of "Bizarro World," too. Proper usage requires Bizarro. Not an analogy or metaphor, but the actual guy.

[Larv]

Gary,

Yeah, I know, that's why I said that I shouldn't be shocked. But I still can't quite grasp how someone could write that post without their brain freezing up or fritzing out from the abuse inflicted upon it. I suppose it's not even really the disingenuousness I really find shocking, it's the shamelessness with he wields it. The ease with which he just brushes aside the original remarks by Major to criticize Obama for the exactly parallel alleged error is truly breathtaking.

[Ahab]

I actually have no problem concentrating on airplanes or after flights. But maybe that's because I grew up in Guam rather than as a scion of privilege.

[lily (I am changing my name to wonkie)]

The Black Value System, as I understand it from brief converations about it with African American students, isn't Christian in and of itself--it's a selfhelp, self respect program--but churches use it as part of their mission to the parishoners. Obama goes to a Trinity United Chhurch of Christ (which certainly sounds Christian to me!)which uses the Black Value System in its ministry. Carlson semed to think that it was unChrstian and "separatist" for a predominately black church to have a program of selfhelp designed to meet the needs of black church members.
What a twit.

[Warbo]

Somehow slams on Obama seem to boomerang back at the slammer

Very appropriate, in the circumstances.

The ease with which he just brushes aside the original remarks by Major to criticize Obama for the exactly parallel alleged error is truly breathtaking.

That would be Howard, not Major. Though I hope the former is headed in the same direction as the latter.

[dutchmarbel]

Since we are going to Australia this summer holiday - flying approximately 30 hours with three little boys age 4, 7 & 8 - I might opt for a bit of zombie...

[Slartibartfast]

Carlson semed to think that it was unChrstian and "separatist" for a predominately black church to have a program of selfhelp designed to meet the needs of black church members.

I don't know if I would interpret it that way, unless I was already convinced that Carlson is a twit and was already convinced that this was just another twitty episode.

I'd instead look at it like this: just looking at the church website, there's a much, much more lip service paid to the Black Value System than there is to Christianity. Not to denigrate the BVS, but normally churches are first and foremost about the religion, and about the religious mission.

That aside, where I see Carlson tumbling off the Cliffs of Insanity is where he decides that means the church itself isn't Christian. It's roughly akin to looking at my church's rummage sale flier and deciding that my church is really about rummage sales.

Which would be stupid. Understandable, though, if my church had a website and all that was there was a rummage sale ad, but still stupid.

The problem with political pundits is that most or all of them treat punditry as if it were just like political "debates". Make whatever claims or insinuations you please; there's no opportunity for cleanup afterward, anyway.

[lily (I am changing my name to wonkie)]

I'm not familiar with Carslson since I don't watch TV. I followed a link to a transcript of his show which is how I came to conclude that he is a twit. I mean here's this well-off white guy who decides that it is separatist and possibly unChristian for an ethnic minority group that has had problems historically and currently to address those problems with its members through the values of selfhelp and selfdetermination. Would he prefer thhat thhe church run a soup kitchen for whhite bums and referits own members to DSHS?
I also remember him being in a twit about the rejectionn of middleclassness (god forbid that any Chritians reject the worship of money!).
I don't wnat to overstate my familiarity withh the Balck Value Syystem--I really hhave no familiarity. What I have is thhe mmemory of a connverrstion withh a female student annd hher mom. The mom had gotten her daughter involved in what I think was BVS through a mostly black chhurch and was pleased with thhe results (the daughhter was, too). She was trying to keep her daughhter focused on school, the righht kinnd of young men, and a career, not gang guys, pregnancy, drugs, all of which hher daughhter had experiennced.
The rejectionn of middleclassnnes, as I understand it, was a rejecgtion of thhe pursuit of money rather than character. For example, thhe mom in my conversationn was a refugee from an abusive relationship, worked two jobs, annd was strugglig to parent herr kids. By ordinary stanndards of our society she was a failure because she was poor, divorced, andhher daughter had been in trouble. On the otther hand she was brave, determined, and selfsacrificing--and aren't those more truly Christian attributes than the worship of the new car and the latest clothes?
So Tuckerr was way out of his depth and judging where he had no basis for judging. Hence, twit. I really wanted to use the Britishism for thhe c-word but I've been in polite mode lately.

[lily (I am changing my name to wonkie)]

Anyway I think it wouuld be interesting to find out more about BVS. Just for fun I went all over Obama's chhurch's website, and boy, talk about one-stop shoppinng! A member of thhat church can get just about everthing they'd need in the way of community support and social activities.

[liberaljaponicus]

Slarti,
I would suggest that a website might not be the place to preach to the converted, but a place to try and bring in new people. Emphasizing BVS makes it clear who the congregation is, and makes a lot more sense than simply being religious.

[LizardBreath]

Spider Robinson claims that when smoking was prohibited on planes, the airlines took the opportunity to save power, scrubber lifetime, etc., by decreasing the rate of air circulation (since they didn't need to clear the smoke anymore), with the result that everybody onboard suffers mild oxygen deprivation.

I dunno. Robinson is a little hyper on the subject of anti-smoking laws, his source was employee gossip, and if what he said were true, I can't see how the pilots' and stewards' unions would abide it. Does anybody have solid information on this point?

My mother was a flight attendant (retired now) and while she doesn't link it to the smoking ban, does agree that air circulation on planes is limited to save fuel costs. (My understanding from her is that the air inside the plane is recirculated at a fixed rate -- what they do is fail to take in fresh air from outside, because that costs in terms of fuel.) The air exchange is controlled directly from the cockpit, and she used to tell stories of going up front to ask the pilots to turn the circulation up because people were getting sick on long flights.

It's not a problem for the pilots' unions, because cockpit air circulation is a separate system, and flight attendants' unions are pretty much powerless and broken.

[Slartibartfast]

No argument, LJ. I don't know much about the BVS, but I think it sounds just about right, even if a bit exclusionary for my tastes. If that's what it takes, Godspeed.

[Anarch]

Congrats on your niecely accomplishments there, Slarti!

[Slartibartfast]

Thanks, Anarch. In the event that I tell her "niecely done!", I'll send you some pittance for royalty 8)

[hilzoy]

Slarti -- yeah; I missed that while I was away, but: yay!