First Draft

Saturday Night Music

A.

One of the Few Times I Will Ever Say This Without Irony

AMERICA. FUCK YEAH.

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Weekend Question Thread

Ganked from Melissa:

If you could have any animal, real or fictional, as a pet, what would it be?

I want an ice bear:

Though I think at that point technically it would have me as a pet.

A.

Saturday Blogwhoring Thread

Post away.

A.

The Cop Who Can't Stop (and the journalist who didn't want him to...)

It's late in the day, but I couldn't let this one go. The police chief here in Milwaukee, where I'm spending a few days, has admitted to having an affair with a journalist for Milwaukee Magazine. 

Where to even begin with this…

Start maybe with the fact that Jessica McBride and Chief Ed Flynn are both married, she to a former district attorney and he to a woman who didn’t want to come to Milwaukee in the first place.

Not a fan of the “moralizing” angle? How about the ethics? McBride wrote a huge article on Flynn for Milwaukee Magazine, under the truly ironic title “The Cop Who Can’t Stop.” McBride gushed on for about 5,000 words, giving Flynn a glowing review including this tidbit:

Flynn is also a compelling physical presence: tall, iron-haired, fit (he once rode a bicycle 233 miles) and energetic. He has what one observer calls “command bearing.”

According to Dan Bice’s story in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Bice received an anonymous package of letters and emails between the two, outlining the situation:

No Quarter first became aware of Flynn's relationship with McBride this month when someone anonymously sent a letter and e-mails purportedly written by the pair to one another.

"Perceived you instantly - knew you were a good person who does things for the right reason," reads one signed Jessica. "As a result, I began to struggle with the story - having to give time to vitriolic baseless attacks."

Uh… you mean you didn’t want to be mean to a guy you wanted to sleep with? Yeah, that’s fine. It’s like when you tell the guy at the bar he totally looks like George Clooney, I guess.

Bice, by his own account, hounded the chief for a comment on this, which finally came in the form of a statement of admission, without mentioning McBride by name. In fact, in a case of the “they don’t get it," Bice noted he was barred from a press conference earlier this month due to the chief’s fear that he’d bring up the affair. The chief and his people apparently know nothing about investigative journalism, because when you’ve got pocket aces like Bice did, you never show your hand to the table. A press conference is the last place a savvy guy like Dan Bice would stand up and make an accusation.

Bice also tried everything from calls and emails to Facebooking McBride to get a comment. McBride finally emerged from the cave she apparently was sharing with Osama bin Laden today after the story broke and issued a brief, pointless and terse statement noting that this isn’t really news:

It is because the relationship with Police Chief Flynn has unfortunately become public that this statement is released. This was a deeply personal matter between two adults who have addressed the relationship with those who need to know the details.

(snip)

I ask that the media now respect the privacy of all of the parties involved.

In other words, there’s nothing to see here, people. Move along, nothing to see here. You, the media scum, move along…

The statement, which smacks of being written by a ham-handed PR student in one of her classes at UW-Milwaukee, has the pretense of someone being unfairly attacked by a group of vultures. The sad part is that if there was anyone who should understand how this IS news it should be a journalist of McBride's pedigree. Later in the statement, McBride explains she didn’t start sleeping with the guy until long after the profile had gone to bed (sorry, I couldn’t pass it up…). However, the letter Bice obtained reveals a different story:

The handwritten note discussed her writing process.

"Just felt a little protective. Knew I didn't want to do you wrong," the letter says.

OK, once you’re done laughing at the double meaning there, come back to visit me here and follow along on the mission to see how deep this journo-fail goes. Beyond the general issue of not sleeping with people you cover, there's more: McBride moonlights at UW-Milwaukee as a journalism instructor. One of her subjects? ETHICS. Of course… The head of the UWM journalism program declined to comment as did the mayor until after a day in which everyone involved in this had been skewered on local TV and talk radio. He then released a pretty basic, “Chief’s a good guy” statement that reminds me of the one Art Modell released about Bernie Kosar, calling him “my son” just before cutting his ass.

According to her UWM Web page, McBride researches the coverage of crime, oversees a student media Web site that covers the city (including the police, Bice notes) and has worked in almost every aspect of media in the city. She spent 10 years at the Journal-Sentinel, worked as a talk-show host at WTMJ radio and has been on Channel 4’s Sunday Insight panel. She’s also running the aforementioned Web site and is an active political blogger (see, it’s the Internet’s fault…). According to her personal site, she’s a third-generation newspaper reporter and the 2008 winner of a faculty-teaching award. To say she should have known better is an understatement of epic proportion.

This was not the case of a young, gullible journalist making a mistake due to naiveté. She’s a 39-year-old married woman with a master’s degree, more than a decade in the business and a head for news. (If you feel so inclined, you might note the "she's young enough to be his daughter" thing, as Flynn is 61. I could care less, but if it helps add to your indignation, go for it.) She worked for the very paper that rooted out her indiscretion and she should have known it was going to come out. The chief isn’t blameless in this either. McBride was a journalist and he was a source. There’s a line that any student who ever took a class from McBride and any cop who ever served under Flynn knows enough not to cross.

In the end, they became what we at the university level tend to call “a teachable moment.” It remains to be seen if they’ve learned anything from this.

Quitting Time Booster Shot

Welcome to the QTBS, The Birthday Boy Edition...

- It’s my birthday this week and that has led to reflection. In dog years, I’m dead. Personality-wise, I’m a crusty 75 or whatever Clint Eastwood was in Gran Torino, minus the racism. Maturity-wise, I’m 12. My body feels like it’s 112 after sanding furniture in the garage for an hour. In dealing with the college kids, I feel like I must be old enough to have double-dated with George Washington. When surrounded by other adults, I feel like I’m 18. Actual age, well, let’s put it this way: I’m probably making the turn for the back nine holes.

- My man-cred took a serious hit this week. I might have noted somewhere along the way that I spent a good portion of high school and college working as an apprentice mechanic, so I like to think I can deal with cars on some level. At least, I know enough not to get screwed. In any case, the “service engine soon” light came on in the truck after an extended drive, so I was a bit concerned. I took it to the local garage, figuring on this being a huge bill, as there’s a lot that can go wrong after 110,000 miles. The guy hooked it up to the computer and found that the engine code noted a massive evaporation leak. He opened the gas hatch and found I’d left the cap off the tank. He put it on and ran the program again and the light went off. All it cost me for that was $35 labor and a great deal of pride.

- I redeemed myself yesterday by heading out to a place called “Wally’s U-Pull It” and digging through a junkyard for repair parts. The Civic has had a crack in the power steering fluid reservoir for about a year or two and I finally got around to calling repair shops. They wanted $120 for the part plus $70 for labor. The good folks at Wally’s had two junked Civics and if I were willing to walk the lot and pull my own replacement part, I could have it for $10. Twenty minutes after I got home, I fixed the car, good as new. Man-cred restored. All I need is a T-shirt that says “I pulled my own part at Wally’s” I wonder why they don’t sell those…

- From the “I am Ted FUCKING Williams” file: Apparently Jim Bunning is still throwing that little shit slider of his, only this time, he’s throwing it to the press. He decided the Courier-Journal’s reporter can’t get in on his weekly press call because he has an “agenda.” You mean because he asks questions you don’t like to answer? Is that what’s passing for an agenda these days?

- If ever a post typified why Ms. A hates the “y’know what you guys should do” culture of academic toadies and pseudo-intellectual journalists, this has to be it.

- From the “Happy Mother’s Day!” department…

- It’s gotta be the shoes… It’s also nice to know that Katie’s cool with having a hermaphrodite following. Just in case any hermaphrodites are out there and were wondering, “Would Katie be upset if she knew I and my two sets of goodies were watching her tonight?” you can relax now. Katie’s cool with you…

- Apparently this is to give them time to line up Dane Cook to edit the next issue…

- Then there’s this story on how Zicam apparently has damaged the sense of smell of some of its users. I used the stuff for a cold and judging by the Missus’ reaction after I pass gas that doesn’t seem bad to me, I might be in line for a paycheck.

- And finally, a Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there. For Mother’s Day this year, we all got dressed up for a fancy dinner, bought the ladies flowers that cost more than my running shoes, found tasteful gifts and enjoyed $12 cocktails. For Father’s Day? The Missus and Mom will be out of town, Dad and I have the Midget and we’re planning to go to a giant outdoor flea market. Totally perfect… I hope you’re able to enjoy a day with dads or kids like I will be.

Thanks for letting me share your air. Be back next week.

Doc

They Don't Really Want This

Oliver:

We didn’t win the White House, House and Senate to ask Chuck Grassley for permission to do stuff.

Reading this, my first reaction was to get really, really, really tired, because we have done this before. We asked these assholes to do something very simple for us in exchange for getting them elected and they fucked it up in an effort to appear nice to Republicans for no reason at all. Nothing will change, except that people will be forced to pay for something that doesn't work, will cost them in the long run, and might even kill them, either directly through denial of care or indirectly through poverty.

Wait. I think I just became a Libertarian.

Kidding.

With this, I had much the same reaction:

WASHINGTON – Early work on the ambitious health care overhaul the Obama administration is seeking has exposed the kinds of in-house fights that typify just how hard it will be to get meaningful legislation this year.

IT'S ACTUALLY NOT THAT HARD YOU HAVE 51 + VOTES.

This reminds me of the journalism debate, it really does, where the national conversation is premised on something that is patently dishonest (the Internet is killing newspapers!) but so widely accepted that arguing the point makes you sound like a lunatic insisting the earth is flat. That's kind of how I feel about this. Start from the point everybody starts from in this argument (the bill needs to be bipartisan! Democrats need Republican votes!) and you're already down for half the count. Argue that Democrats don't need Republican votes for this stuff and you'll get the kind of look people give the guy on the corner with the "THE END IS NEAR" sign.

It is a question of will here. The president is wildly popular. A "public option," which most people seem to take to mean government-run scary-ass socialist health care, is wildly popular. As to how we'll pay for it, well, let's take the approach we took to the war and say we'll figure it out. People say they're worried about the deficit the way they say kids should eat their vegetables and candidates should stop negative campaigning, now pass the Doritos and my opponent is an America-hating traitor. These things are very much supported and wanted. Everywhere but on Capitol Hill.

And to be honest, a lot of the bellyaching lately from the Senate Democrats about how hard it is for us all to get along is starting to fucking piss me off. This isn't hard. Trying to get health care is hard. You can't just make some phone calls to your friends and convince them of something and then you get to see a doctor for your longstanding, chronic problem that is uncovered by your rapacious carrier. But you can just make some phone calls to your friends and convince them of something to help those people. Nobody in the Senate will die if people disagree and are mad at each other.

Plenty of people, though, plenty of poor people, plenty of middle-class people, plenty of sick people, will die if disagreement is more important to prevent than their deaths. Suck it up, and figure it out, and quit bitching to us that it's hard, because we're not that stupid. We can count. Fifty-one gets you what we told you we need. That's your job. Go do it.

A.

Pack Rage

(Few things make me more irate than general scumbaggery, so I hope you’ll pardon an out-of-the-ordinary screed from me.)

I spent a glorious Saturday at the Vince Lombardi Golf Classic, an event that over the past 39 years has been used to raise money for cancer research. It’s a great chance for the general public to rally for a good cause and meet some local celebrities and former Green Bay Packer players.

The rules are pretty simple: You can go wherever you want on the course, talk to anyone you’d like and ask for autographs. However, they ask that you buy the program, which costs $5 and goes toward the cause, and they say it’s up to the celebrities what they’ll sign or if they’ll sign. They ask you not to truck in memorabilia, but they’re pretty lax about that aspect of it if you’re just trying to stock your rec room. What they don’t want is people selling the stuff, which leads me to my general anger about the event.

The big name in the event is always Bart Starr. He was a 17th-round draft pick of the Packers back in 1956 and he blossomed under Lombardi to become a Hall-of-Fame quarterback. He was the MVP of both of the first two Super Bowls and although he spent nine unremarkable seasons as the coach of the Packers, he remains a legend in Wisconsin.

In 1965, Starr and his wife, Cherry, affiliated themselves with the Rawhide Boys Ranch, a program that gives troubled and at-risk teenage boys work and academic experience. According to Rawhide’s Web site, Starr offered to raffle off the Corvette he received as the MVP of the second Super Bowl to complete the down payment for the program’s property. The Starrs also established an endowment for the group in the memory of their son Bret, who died prematurely. The money from the fund goes to help young men who have completed the program and need assistance getting started in their new life. The profits from Starr’s autograph sessions are often used to help build the fund.

 In 1970, after Lombardi died of cancer, plans were in the works for the creation of a celebrity golf tournament to raise funds for cancer research. The Starrs agreed to serve as honorary chairpersons for the event and have maintained their roles every year since. They have been amazingly decent about this and have done all they can to keep this rolling as a fantastic event.

The problem is the scumbags who see the event as an opportunity to profit off of Starr.

Yes, I’m talking about you, the asshole with the hand tattoo, who wouldn’t know Bart Starr from Maurice Starr, Ringo Starr or Brenda K. Starr, but still followed him from hole to hole getting as many autographs as you could.

Yes, I’m talking about you, the jerk-off who cut in front of a kid in a Packer jersey who looked all of about 12 years old for what you later admitted was your EIGHTH autograph of the day.

Yes, I’m talking about you, the douche bag who was behind me in line at the 17th hole talking to your friend about getting your jersey signed, noting that “I don’t want him to fucking personalize it!”

Yes, I’m talking about you, the pseudo-dad who either went through the same experience as Kate Gosselin or who co-opted all of your neighbors’ kids, lining them up so you could get more shit signed. 

Yes, I’m talking about you two pricks who were sitting near the clubhouse exchanging tips on how to remove the personalization Starr put on your mini-helmet without damaging the signature or the helmet.

Starr is 75 years old. He’s had major back surgery in the past couple years after getting injured in a car wreck. He is surrounded at this event by four handlers who have to deal with these base-level dickheads 18 times over 18 holes. He has a good heart and is involved in charities throughout the state, but very little of that matters to the scummy weasels who see him as a paycheck.

A quick glance at eBay shows that a signed Starr photo goes from anywhere from $80 to $200. A mini-helmet commands $200 to $400. A football goes for almost $600. The list goes on and on. Of course, Starr doesn’t want to turn his name into a cottage industry for these guys, so he personalizes stuff or refuses to sign stuff. Unfortunately, that’s only feeding the desire for his signature.

If Starr really wanted to kill off the market for this kind of thing, he’d take the approach that Bob Feller has. The former Cleveland Indians great appears bound and determined to make sure that every man, woman and child has a copy of his autograph, whether they want it or not. Feller signs thousands of autographs each year for free. I remember getting one for free and buying another for about $3 one year. On eBay, baseballs bearing his signature are drawing less than what you would expect to pay for the ball itself. Instead, Starr signs few signatures that don’t include a personal inscription and he signs a more limited number of items, thus leading to the merry band of assholes who follow him around trying to make a buck.

Dad has been going to the Lombardi for years and has often regaled me with tales of meeting Starr and a lot of the other former Packers. This was my first year there and it was everything I could have hoped for. The only downside was the bloodsuckers out there stalking Starr. Still, I was grateful to meet him and shake his hand. I took my signature and was thrilled that he personalized it to me. Anyone can buy an autograph if they have the money, but to meet the man who pulled the Packers through the Ice Bowl, led them to Super Bowl victories and helped solidify Green Bay as "Titletown," just gave me the greatest kick I could have asked for.

So to say thanks to Starr and his family, I sent a signature to the Rawhide Boys Ranch that’s pretty worthless on eBay, but good for a small chunk of change at the bottom of a check.

Mine.

Friday Ferretblogging

Two-fer:

A.

Because Obama's 63 Percent Approval Needed a Boost

The former president has decided to open his yap and remind us all how grateful we are that he's no longer in charge.

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On Twits and Twitter

From 2Millionth Web Log

Sad, but on a certain level, these clowns are so egocentric they probably DO think they're being oppressed...'just like the Iranians.'

And they get away with this nonsense because the collective memory of the institutional press only applies...to the left, to libruls, and even not-so-librul Democrats, e.g., Hillary Clinton's will go to her grave having to explain and re-explain 'vast right-wing conspiracy;' in constrast, pretty much every rhetorical hand grenade lobbed by Newt Gingrich (or John McCain) has a half life measured in nanoeseconds, no matter how puerile and/or embarrassing. And so it goes.

Bob Dole Put His Ambitions Above People's Lives

Which proves that Bob Dole is now worth listening to. No, really. David Broder, ladies and lolcats:

When I did an interview with the two of them this week, Dole remarked that "we started out working together, and then it fell apart" -- the victim of a massive lobbying campaign, a bunch of tactical errors by the president and first lady, and Dole's presidential ambitions, which moved him into the camp of the Republican naysayers.

Now Daschle and Dole, along with another former Republican leader, Howard Baker, have come together with a report outlining the provisions of a possible bipartisan health bill and strong recommendations on how to pass it. (The fourth original member of this Bipartisan Policy Center board, former Senate Democratic leader George Mitchell, dropped out to become President Obama's special envoy to the Middle East.)

In a phone conversation the day before their report was released, Daschle and Dole agreed that prospects for enactment of major reform are far better now than in 1994 -- and better than they would have been even two years ago. "The situation is far more dire on costs and quality and access to care," Daschle said. Added Dole: "You have business, labor and a whole cross section of people saying, 'We have to have reform.' "

So basically, Bob Dole could have helped stop the massive flood of stupid that drowned health care reform in 1994, which would have given us 15 years of decent care in this country and saved countless lives, but because he wanted to be preznit, he said fuck it and chose to yowl about Hillarycare on the Sunday shows. And to Broder, this is proof not that he should be put in the public stocks but that he should be courted once again, lest we miss out on giving Bob Dole the chance to fuck us over twice in two decades.

Yay?

Acknowledging that there is little chance for bipartisanship in the House, Dole urged Senate Republicans to give up any thought of filibustering the health bill. "We need a group of Republicans who will give an early demonstration that bipartisanship is possible," he said.

Daschle, in turn, said he thinks the Democrats should not attempt to ram a health bill through the Senate by using the budget reconciliation device to pass it with 51 votes, rather than the 60 votes most legislation requires.

Democrats should pledge to pass the bill with votes they don't have, and Republicans should pledge not to filibuster it, which they wouldn't need to do. Got that? Okay, just making sure.

It is significant that the Daschle-Dole plan sidesteps the raging controversy over whether there should be a government-sponsored plan to compete with private insurers.

It's totally significant that their plan does nothing to actually change things, yes. How cool is that? It's a plan we can all agree on, and that's what's really important! So more sick people will die, so what? The dinner party guest list can remain undisturbed!

This man is sick in the head.

It was damned hard for Dole and Daschle, neither of whom faces the voters or the lobbyists, to agree.

The HELL?

It was damned hard for me to eat this giant Snickers bar, given that it has no calories, chocolate magically doesn't make me break out into teenage acne anymore, and it gives me all the nutrients I need for my daily life! It was damned hard to do that.

It will be much harder to extract a bipartisan bill from Congress.

Probably. But to extract a bill that reforms health care? Not that hard when you have the votes.

A.

Others Getting Into the Act

Now North Decoder is helping to kill journalism.

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TV News Anchors Discuss Reality Programming: Tonight on Channel 3000 Works for YOU!

I wonder if TV news twinks ever watch this stuff and realize they're being made fun of:


In The Know: Are Reality Shows Setting Unrealistic Standards For Skanks?

To wit:



A.

Not nothing, but not enough

I used to have this great therapist. She asked me to name the core beliefs, principles, feelings that I was totally, without a doubt, completely committed to, that meant the most to me, that I was certain of. As sessions went on, she would, fairly frequently, point out when my words, thoughts or actions seemed to be at odds with my commitment to those things. Indeed, some of these things, it turned out, I routinely equivocated about, betrayed, doubted. My point, and I do have one, should be fairly obvious: sooner or later, it doesn't really matter what you say, it's what you do, how you are in the world, that shows your true commitment. 

And the truth will always come out. It will be especially obvious to those who have a stake in what you say you care about. For example, oh, let's just say, you tell me you are a "fierce advocate" for GLBT civil rights, a subject that does in fact mean a great deal to me as well.  If you are bullshitting me, sooner or later, I'm going to know it. 

And I do, and so do we all, Mr. President:

For civil service employees, domestic partners of federal employees can be added to the long-term care insurance program; supervisors can also be required to allow employees to use their sick leave to take care of domestic partners and non-biological, non-adopted children.  For foreign service employees, a number of benefits were identified, including the use of medical facilities at posts abroad, medical evacuation from posts abroad, and inclusion in family size for housing allocations.

Well, it's not nothing, but it's not enough, Mr. President. 

Not enough to keep me, us, someone, from losing custody of a son we've raised and supported since our partner conceived him.  Not enough to keep us tens of thousands of non-federal employees from losing a job we've worked at for 20 years because of our gender identity is objectionable to the conservatives on the board of directors. Not enough that if something happens to us, our non-resident partner will be deported, even though we live in one of the states that let us get "legally" married. Not enough for us not to worry about whether there's going to be enough money to cover the legal bills we have to pay to get a little bit of the security straight couples get for nothing. 

I shouldn't have to tell you that civil rights are inherently an all or nothing thing, Mr. President, but here we are. When you tell me you are a fierce advocate, then alternately ignore or compromise that promise, or ask me to keep waiting a few more years, or till your next term, you have my life in your hands. Advocacy is action, not words or promises, or even beliefs. 

Every day when I turn onto the campus where I work, I drive past an unremarkable plaque. Most of the college kids rushing past that plaque have never read it. Ironic, since the event it memorializes, the signing of the Higher Education Act of 1965, is the reason at least half of them are on a college campus. The plaque isn't important, whether LBJ was a visionary or an opportunistic honky or a bit of both isn't important. The kids hurrying past on their way to class are. They are in college, they grew up with at least the possibility of going to college, something unheard of for a lot of poor families (including mine) 40 years ago. They grew up with the hope of that opportunity as a real tangible thing in their life.  

When you reassure us queers, throw us table scraps, and ask us to hang on for another four, six, eight years, you're stranding another generation of kids in a place without that kind of hope. The viable opportunity, not just a snowball's chance in hell, that they'll be able to be who they are, love who they want to, do what they want for a living, without the extra burdens and dangers that too often come part and parcel with being outside the dominant, yet completely illusory, hetero-normative binary. 

Did LBJ pay for the Great Society, FDR for the New Deal? Of course, a staggering mountain of political capital. Democrats are still paying for those things and I'm not talking about money. Change costs and while you're trying to nickle and dime it on the installment plan, DOMA still stands, DADT still stands, ENDA isn't fully inclusive.  

But what's that? You say if I get beat up and left on a fence to die, you say you've got a little something in the works that will get those motherfuckers this time.  And it's Christmas in June today! You're going to give some rights to partners of federal employees. Some, not all. Not health insurance, not Social Security benefits, sure, but what should I expect, given that your people threw this together on short notice and all...

But administration officials said the timing of the announcement was intended to help contain the growing furor among gay rights groups. Several gay donors withdrew their sponsorship of the Democratic National Committee fund-raising event next week, where Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.is scheduled to speak. 

And so, after all, we still DO have our inalienable privilege of being part of the great Gay ATM, to give you and the DNC our time and money and watch you spend it on staying in office.

Change costs, Mr. President, and so does not having the courage to change.

On Meaningful Distinctions

Okay. Via the Crack Den, this:

If folks didn't see this clip from Monday night, it's a beaut. Not only does the reliable O'Reilly backstop Juan Williams eagerly assure the host that he was right to attack Salon editor Joan Walsh for having "blood on her hands" for defending murdered abortion provider Dr. George Tiller (don't ask), but Williams also managed to liken anti-abortion crusaders with civil rights protesters from the 1950's. (Because how many civil rights marchers were ever charged with murdering their political opponents Juan?)

In fact, this is precisely why NPR bosses informed Williams in February that he was not allowed to be identified as an NPR contributor when making his O'Reilly appearances. They did it because Williams was embarrassing NPR, plain and simple.

But that's bullshit and half a loaf, and maybe I should have raised this in February but I was busy with important LOLCAT-related program activities or eating Indian food or something BUT: Would Juan Williams be on O'Reilly to offer his opinions on politics if he hadn't become a political source in connection with his work on NPR? That's what makes him someone worth talking to. Without his NPR job he's Juan Williams, Dude With An Opinion, so telling him he can't say three letters of the alphabet doesn't really make any sense.

Better to say, "Bitch, you already HAVE a job, and it is on NPR, and if you feel the need to mouth off on O'Reilly's show (or even Rachel Maddow's) you should go get paid for doing that and take your salary off our books because in case you haven't noticed we're hurting for money along with the rest of the world. You want to be on right-wing gasbag TV? Go be on that TV. But don't come around all pretending to be a serious journalist Monday, Wednesday and Friday and then pull this shit Tuesday and Thursday. It's classless. Do you not earn enough money working for us? Would you like a raise? How about you stop sucking so much and we'll talk."

A.

Ah, Memories

Of 1968:

The violent clashes between police and protesters during the 1968 Democratic National Convention aren't typically considered proud moments in Chicago history.

But some members of the Fraternal Order of Police want to change that. On June 26, the Chicago police union will hold a "Chicago Riot Cops Reunion" at its hall to set straight "what really happened," according to the reunion's Web site.

"The only thing that stood between Marxist street thugs and public order was a thin blue line of dedicated, tough Chicago police officers," the Web site says. "Chicago police officers who participated in the riots continue to endure unending criticism -- all of which is unwarranted, inaccurate and wrong."

[snip]

"It's just a get-together for guys who worked together 40 years ago," he said. "Nothing more."

A.

Ross Douthat

U. S. President Barack Obama is a liberal extremist in the same way psycho TV personalities Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly are conservative extremists. But his liberalism is okay, because it's about helping people, and Beck and O'Reilly's luancy is okay, because nobody major's gotten shot yet!

No, really:

But nothing of the sort is happening. Barack Obama is pushing the United States leftward, but his wish list — universal health care, a green industrial policy — has been pinned to the Democratic National Committee’s bulletin board since the 1970s. Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly do not, in fact, command an army of gun-toting vigilantes, the crimes of a few lunatics notwithstanding.

Newspapers. With rigorous standards of editing and fact-checking and a lack of opininating not based in reality!

A.

Can't Stop the Signal

People under duress have always found ways to get information out. Always. When you want something to be known, badly enough, when you have something you must say to the world, you'll do whatever you have to do with the voice you possess. All day I've been reading stories and tweets about Iran cracking down on text messaging, cell phone videos, but the pictures are getting out anyway.

People who deplore "citizen journalism" and talk about how awful it is that anyone with a cell phone camera can be a journalist should be paying attention right now, because at its most basic, this is what journalism is: getting the signal out, any way you have to, any way you can.



A.

Suburbia

I generally enjoy reading Atrios's take on better urban planning.  I'm a big fan of urban mass transit, especially now that I'm in a place where it is available only minimally.  (We only just got bus service that connects the town where I live to the one where I work, and between the transfers from one system to another and the normal vagaries of bus schedules, it'd take me almost an hour and a half to get to work every morning.  Given my post-work schedule, that just doesn't work for me.)  I got to experience just about the best version of urban living I can imagine--I lived in London for the better part of a year.  I loved the Tube, even after commuting a half an hour to and from work every day for six months.  I got to where I really enjoyed the commute time as a chance to separate my work and private lives.  (And no, driving commutes don't have the same effect--they're just annoying and stressful.)

I find it amazing that so many people seem to take it for granted that Americans want the picket-fence  suburbia version of the American Dream.  I've had that for the last six years, and frankly, I'd much rather be living in a high-rise condo or above a storefront or something.  The fact is, I hate yardwork.  Hate it.  Having experienced both, I much prefer the idea of urbia to suburbia.  If I could get out of the house we're in without losing an arm and a leg (and if I could overcome my own natural inertia), I'd be in a condo right now.

So all that leads me to conduct this very unscientific survey (sort of a follow-on to the country mouse/city mouse post A did a few Saturday's back):  If you could choose, free from constraints such as job availability/commuting issues/family issues/pet issues, would you prefer the house with yard, or the urban condo/loft/whatever?  What are the things about either option that lead you to that choice?  How would mass transit factor into your thinking?

p.s.  One of the wierd factors I consider is the fact that an upstairs apartment means far fewer bug encounters.  I'm not phobic or anything, but I do see that as a plus.

My Washington Post Chat Will Be Next Week

Howie Kurtz, whose entire column is full of dumbassery today:

Delmar, N.Y.: Why is the Post giving a forum to Glenn Beck? I am certainly against censorship, and Mr. Beck has the First Amendment right to say anything he wants, but not everyone has the right to have a platform on The Washington Post and the degree of legitimacy that such a forum confers. Mr. Beck is not a person to be taken seriously. I know Mr. Beck has a large audience on his Fox show and has the means to have his views widely disseminated. Is the Post that desperate to appease Mr. Beck's followers? I can understand the Washington Times doing this but the Post?

Howard Kurtz: Beck is doing a one-hour chat online, as many other folks have done. That hardly constitutes a major platform.

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Trivializing Serious Journalism

The Internet strikes again.

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Power

I look forward to howls of Republican outrage over this:

The Obama administration is fighting to block access to names of visitors to the White House, taking up the Bush administration argument that a president doesn't have to reveal who comes calling to influence policy decisions.

Despite President Barack Obama's pledge to introduce a new era of transparency to Washington, and despite two rulings by a federal judge that the records are public, the Secret Service has denied msnbc.com's request for the names of all White House visitors from Jan. 20 to the present. It also denied a narrower request by the nonpartisan watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which sought logs of visits by executives of coal companies.

CREW says it will file a lawsuit Tuesday against the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Secret Service.

You know, all along during arguments with wingnuts they kept assuming this was all Bush Derangement Syndrome, that the only reason anybody wanted to know anything was to mess with Bush. Well, now it's turned back around, because what we said then is coming true: these weren't just powers we didn't want Bush to have. They're powers we didn't want ANYBODY to have. Too bad it's going to take a Democrat screwing this up to get 'em on board with that idea.

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"And I Can Act Like An Imbecile..."

 Okay, so the other day, this story was on Kos:

Steele told the audience that "no one knows what the hell it means" when the GOP refers to itself as a "big tent." So he offered another analogy: The GOP is a hat. Some people wear a hat frontwards, others cocked to the left, he explained. Some wear it backwards, he added, echoing a past statement, "because that’s how they roll." But "the strength of the party is in this: ... the fact that you’re willing to put the damn thing on... The problem we’ve had as a party is: too many of our friends, neighbors, colleagues are taking the hat off, because we’ve decided we don’t like the way they wear it... The GOP is not about how you wear the hat, but the fact that you want to wear the hat."

I was reminded of one of my favorite quotes from a classic show, Designing Women. I spent the weekend trying to find the clip on YouTube, to no avail, so you'll have to settle for just the quote:

"I believe that you will find as years go by, and you get older and wiser, traversing life's little ups and downs, that underwear probably really doesn't make all that good of a hat."

--Julia Sugarbaker (my emphasis)

Michael Steele:  The gift that keeps on giving.

For those who need the title fix.

What if We Stop Having a Ball?

I so badly want these people to find out what it is in life they're meant to do:

Maybe I’m being overly cynical about the American warblogger coverage. I had a conversation with one person who noted that at least this time, unlike 2003, bloggers aren’t cheering on a war, they are cheering on fair elections. I can get that, but some of it just seems so over the top on our end, and we have nothing personally at stake while the folks over there have everything at stake.

I think what is happening in Iran is amazing and the way the media coverage is playing out is fascinating and the actions of individuals standing up to power in a country where that does tend to get you pretty decisively dead are inspiring, but the people of Iran are not my proxies on the world stage and I have no claim of ownership over their acts, good or bad. I do not achieve greatness through their actions any more than I pass for 300 yards after watching Brett Favre do it. And I think that's what keeps getting on my nerves about stuff like this, to be fair, all over the blogosphere, the idea that we are somehow a part of it because we're all Twittering about it.

I get wanting to be supportive of the people protesting but it does remind me not of 2003 but of 2001, how people went around saying 9/11 would make them love their families and go back to church and they baked cupcakes in red white and blue to show they really love America and fuck you if you don't want to do that, too. The idea that this is their moment, their blinding flash of light, the excuse they use to Stand Up and Become Great, when in reality, what the fuck is wrong with you it takes fraud, human rights abuses, murders in the streets and tear gas thick in the air for you to cheer on free elections?

This feels in some ways like the next bandwagon for bullies to jump on and ride around gleefully pounding anybody who isn't sufficiently amped up about FORCING the results of what's happening Iran to conform to what American warbloggers in need of a hobby want to talk about in tortured, Dickensian prose. The problem with that is never that the bandwagon's on its way somewhere you wouldn't want to go. It's that eventually everybody who jumped on will jump off again, and move on to the next Big Excuse to Sing the Marseillaise or whatever, and you'll be left alone.

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Someone Please Take the Internet Away From Him

Jesus, Grassley:

The Senate's most notorious tweeter, Chuck Grassley, stood by a recent post he made in which he harshly rebuked Barack Obama. The Iowa Republican argued on Sunday that it was the president who had taken the "cheap shot" at him and his congressional colleagues.

During an appearance on Fox News Sunday, Grassley was asked to explain why he whacked Obama in a tweet during the president's recent trip to Paris.

"Pres Obama while u sightseeing in Paris u said 'time to delivr on healthcare' When you are a 'hammer' u think evrything is NAIL I'm no NAIL," read Grassley's post.

Was that, host Chris Wallace wanted to know, "senatorial?"

"Very senatorial," replied Grassley. "Because you know why? We've had dialogue with this president since January 20 on a program to get a bill to the floor for July. And we're still on that timetable. And the president, to say that we ought to deliver it, made it look like Congress wasn't working, the very weekend that we were working Saturday and Sunday in Washington to keep on schedule while he was sightseeing. He didn't need to say that. It didn't contribute to it. It was a cheap shot."

You know, every time I hear that we need greater measures to protect children online, I think we also need the same protections for folks at the other end of the age spectrum. For every dumbass 15-year-old who posts sexy photos on her MySpace there's some older adult dipshit who gets a new toy and blows his hand off with it. A lot of the truly spectacular Internet fail lately has come from supposed grown-ups.

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This is How It's Supposed to Work

New and old media on Iran:

The screenshots tell a tale more nuanced than the provocative “new media beats old media” narrative. Rather, they show that while Twitter (), Flickr (), YouTube () and other social media sites are both a source of unfiltered information and a venue for public discussion, we still look to CNN, the BBC and their ilk to add context and meaning to this flood of data. And when they fail us, we demand more of them.

This is actually an example, not of the Internet killing journalism, but of people using the Internet's tools and traditional media working out to create a picture. You know, I go nuts every time somebody opines that new technology makes us lazy because if anything I think it makes us work twice as hard for our info. Instead of me sitting back and opening the paper and trusting that it's going to give me all the info I could ever need on Iran, I now read the paper, surf around the blogs, check actual Tehran-area Twitter feeds, look at Flickr photos, and watch the BBC America newscast on cable, all in order to attempt to understand what the unholy blue fuck is going on over there.

A lot of people probably resent that, and wish the newspaper was all they needed, or that they could learn everything they needed to know from the local news. A lot of people probably think they can learn everything they need to know from the local news, which in Chicago particularly scares the living shit out of me. Granted, it can seem sometimes like there's too much to keep up with, but on balance, I'd much rather too much information than too little.

Via Gawker.

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Today on Tommy T's Obsession With The Freeperati - Republicans Eating Their Own edition

Good Monday morning everyone - we've get an assload of Freeper insanity to get to, so everyone suit up and follow me. And no smoking in your iso suits, please - if freaks me out a little when we're in there to turn around and see no face in the helmet behind me.  Yeesh!

First up - How can we miss you if you don't go away??

Gingrich Calls For Inclusive GOP ["I am also happy that Colin Powell is a Republican"]
AP / CBS ^ | 2009-06-09
Posted on Tuesday, June 09, 2009 9:46:32 AM by rabscuttle385
Former House Speaker And Potential 2012 GOP Candidate Rallies Party Loyalists At Fundraiser In Washington.

(AP) Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich on Monday urged some 2,000 Republican party loyalists to stand up for GOP principles but to be inclusive as the party tries to retake the majority.

“I am happy that Dick Cheney is a Republican,” Gingrich said at the annual Senate-House fundraising dinner. “I am also happy that Colin Powell is a Republican.”

Cheney, the former vice president under President George W. Bush, and Powell, who was Bush's secretary of state, have feuded recently over the approach of the party, with Powell calling for more moderation and Cheney arguing against that.

“A majority Republican party will have lots of debates within the party,” Gingrich, the former Georgia congressman, said. “That is the nature of majority parties.”

Standing in as the party's de facto leader, Gingrich was filling a speaking role that Bush held in recent years and that was initially offered to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican nominee for vice president, this year. He headlined a series of speakers who gave the crowd a blistering review of President Barack Obama and Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill.

Despite the rallying cry, the GOP faithful still weren't opening their wallets as they have in recent past. The event took in a relatively small fundraising haul of $14.5 million, the lowest total in at least five years. Last year, it raised $21.5 million, compared with $15.4 million in 2007 and $27 million in 2006.

To: All

Screw you, Newt.

2 posted on Tuesday, June 09, 2009 9:47:16 AM by rabscuttle385 ("If this be treason, then make the most of it!" —Patrick Henry)

To: rabscuttle385

Successful parties look for potential converts, unsuccessful parties try to root out heretics.

3 posted on Tuesday, June 09, 2009 9:47:46 AM by babble-on

To: babble-on

And REALLY stupid parties root out their base.

9 posted on Tuesday, June 09, 2009 9:48:55 AM by cripplecreek (The poor bastards have us surrounded.)

To: rabscuttle385

Newt lost me when he embraced global warming.

4 posted on Tuesday, June 09, 2009 9:48:12 AM by Ikemeister

To: rabscuttle385

“I am also happy that Colin Powell is a Republican.”
Colin Powell will be a Republican when Barack Obama is a honky.

23 posted on Tuesday, June 09, 2009 9:56:22 AM by Niteranger68 (Have you punished an 0bama supporter today?)

To: Niteranger68

He’s “Halfonky”...

24 posted on Tuesday, June 09, 2009 9:56:48 AM by MrB (Go Galt now, save Bowman for later)

(a little later on, we have Freepers whining about people calling them racists - stay tuned!)

To: rabscuttle385

Newt, on this issue you have it WRONG
MOST american are clueless what it really means to be democraps. All they see are EVIL republicans in every TV show, movie, and newscast (except FOx)
So they think we are Evil.

You forgot "incompetent".

If MOST american sheeple knew they truth they would NOT be democraps. I was a democrap for years only because my parents were kennedy democrats.
Then I grew up and made a CHOICE to be Republican

13 posted on Tuesday, June 09, 2009 9:50:34 AM by Mr. K (physically unabel to proofreed (<---oops))

I'm sure your parents are so very proud of how you turned out.
In spite of all their efforts to make you inclusive, respectful of others, and giving, you became tribal, venal, hackneyed, and greedy.

To: rabscuttle385

Every time this man speaks he does damage to conservatism and the republican party in general. I watched his remarks at that love-fest and was embarrassed that he’s affiliated with the republican party.
I wish Voight (sp) would’ve ended the meeting by calling out the RINOs that visited the stage, reminding them that constitutionally bound government doesn’t do 90% of what Newt was calling for.

18 posted on Tuesday, June 09, 2009 9:53:47 AM by TheZMan ("I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.")

I can beat that - I wish Powell had been there and Voight (sp) had called him out.
Can you imagine it? A pudgy old white actor calling out a greying black warrior/veteran?
I can - there wouldn't have been enough of the Midnight Cowboy left to butter your toast with.

Well, more after the jump, chillens.....
Jumping in five...four...two..(Three, sir!!)....three...two....one...

Kip's Another One

Dear Jeffrey Goldberg,

Welcome to the Internet. This is known as concern trolling:

The attacks in Arkansas and Washington are both manifestations of a radical type of intolerance, and they are linked in very deep ways. The left, generally speaking, doesn’t want to acknowledge Muslim intolerance, and the right, generally speaking, doesn’t want to acknowledge white, Christian intolerance. But they both exist, and they should both be acknowledged.

First of all, not going batshit crazy does not equal refusing to acknowledge intolerance. It's liberal groups like Amnesty International, after all, who've been on about human rights violations in totalitarian regimes for years, but I suppose that just means Teh Left is full of pussies. If we REALLY acknowledged Muslim intolerance we'd get behind blowing some Muslims up, instead of writing letters and making phone calls and trying to actually improve conditions for the desperate and impoverished. After all, Iraq is a monument to tolerance today, thanks to our glorious intervention. Jesus bugfuck Elvis CHRIST.

Second, I so hate this fucking nonsense, you guys. Like you can't look at the Tiller murder and the Arkansas murders and the Washington murder and conclude, "Basically the world is burning down, which, WTF? and shut up, Hannity." and leave it at that. In Goldberg's world, I guess you have to Sister Souljah somebody before you earn your street cred, but out here we just talk about the stuff we care about without worrying that it doesn't rack up Conservative Points that we can redeem for a little plastic frog at the skeeball ticket counter.

Third, the right is perfectly happy to acknowledge Christian intolerance. They call it their base.

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On the General Sucktardedness of Late-Night 'Comedy'

What Chet said. I've never found these shows to be anything but cringe-inducing even on their best nights, when I was shamefacedly enjoying their mockery of people I dislike. Old joke is old, for the most part. Once it hits Conan and like a mall somewhere, it's pretty much over.

Plus, you know, so long as we're on unfunny late-night, regarding Letterman and Palin. I'm not particularly crazy about her dragging her kids around to every political event on the planet and shoving them in front of the cameras. But they are HER kids, and why they don't feel free to tell her to shove it once they come of age is on them and on her.

Letterman, on the other hand. I'm not particularly crazy about what he said, either. Mostly because I feel we should leave politicians' kids, no matter their ages, the hell alone. And yes, I said this about the Bush twins, too, in that if every stupid thing I did in my twenties was on CNN I'd be in jail or grounded until I was 53. Sarah Palin is a target-rich environment all on her own, there's no need to extend it to the children.

My larger problem with this is twofold. 1. Whether the joke was about Bristol or Willow it still wasn't funny. If you're going to be offensive, make it count. Don't make some cheap joke about how Sarah Palin's daughter's a skank, because first of all, we've been hearing that all over the Internets for nearly a solid year now. And wow, Alex Rodriguez is a manwhore? I never would have thought. For God's sake, you have a staff of writers, Dave, try to come up with something that hasn't been on Wonkette for eight months.

2. The amount of attention given two celebrities having a bitchy little slapfight that will harm or impoverish no one far eclipses that given the Iranian elections, health care reform, any number of pressing political concerns, etc. The outrage I feel at that is much greater than whatever I might feel about Letterman, Palin or anyone else who won't be missing a meal anytime soon.

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