February 28, 2010
False Consciousness
By Werther*
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers."
— Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow
There exists a widespread and mostly true perception that politics in America has become a relentlessly negative exercise in demonizing and defaming not only one's specific political opponent, but also any group, straw man, or bugaboo that campaign pollsters say it is profitable to attack. That, however, is not the sum of the political art as practiced by elected officials. One must also have a positive archetype to extol: a repository of virtue so far beyond reproach as to immediately engage the sentimental reflexes of the politician's audience.
February 27, 2010
A Tail of Two Cats
One of my two cats, Buster, a dark brown, good-sized more-or-less Maine Coon cat, has a bad ear. He's eleven, and his left ear has always given him problems. When he wants it cleaned out with a Q-tip, which is often, he'll saunter back and forth in front of my keyboard and, possibly, to make himself extra-clear, scratch his ear or twitch it. Being quite familiar with his grotty ear I was alarmed last year, right before Christmas, when I noticed for the first time ever some pus in the ear canal. Immediately I took him to the vet. But the veterinary hospital I've been going to for the last several decades isn't what it used to be: instead of being totally animal care oriented it's now more of a money machine such that the quality of care one gets from any of its dozen or so veterinarians is a crap-shoot.
February 20, 2010
Listening to Beijing
Mainstream news sources can't agree on how to assess China's dissatisfaction with Washington. The Washington Post seems to think it's business as usual despite Beijing's complaints about the Dalai Lama's visit to the White House and, separately, the U.S. sale to Taiwan of $6.4 billion in weapons. The New York Times sees rising tensions, while the Times of London notes that diplomatic footwork should appease Chinese feelings. Call me paranoid, but I'd make one fairly obvious connection that's not to be found in mainstream accounts: China recently sold about 5% of its U.S. bond holdings. If it has to talk any louder than that pretty soon it'll be swinging the proverbial two by four...
Extrajudicial Killings
Just because the President of the United States orders the extrajudicial killing of someone does not make it right. It wasn't right when George W. Bush did it. It wasn't right when Bill Clinton did it. It isn't right when Barack Obama does it. We've become too comfortable, accustomed to the outrage — granted, it's difficult to sustain a heightened sense of moral outrage when the outrages never cease — and complacent about the law.
Dropping difficult subjects down the memory hole, however, does not necessarily make them go away, nor does rationalizing the abnormal into normality. Indeed, it's precisely such efforts on the part of U.S. authorities that are likely to galvanize international lawyers outside the U.S. to take matters into their own hands.
February 16, 2010
Sauerbraten, American Style
The snowpocalypse continues to disrupt life in DC. Neighborhood streets remain single lane (an invitation to unhappy fender benders). Today I got my first US mail delivery in a week. Bills. Most of the snow hasn't melted. Temperatures are below freezing at night so there's an icing problem in the mornings. Life is hell.
And that's what kitchens are for. The other day as I was passing the meat counter at Whole Foods I noticed some very nice looking — unusually nice looking — chuck roasts. "Where are these from?," I ask. "Local," the butcher says. "Where local, exactly, could you tell me, please?," I say. She disappeared for a minute. "From Maine," she says. "But Maine," I say, "isn't local." She stares at me. Anyhow, they are exceptionally nice so I take one. Meanwhile, I've miscommunicated with Sharon about dinner so she's gotten her own provisions. 'What about Sauerbraten?' I think to myself. So I put the roast in a large plastic bag with two thirds of a bottle of Guigal Côtes du Rhone, for a day and a half.
February 15, 2010
Screwing Greece
Yes, it was a bad idea. More than bad, it's led to several national crises putting great swathes of people out of work and ruining the lives of countless others. So, says Paul Krugman, let's double down. This is exactly what infuriates me about establishment "liberals." Greece got into the jam it's in because joining Europe made it sucker bait. Krugman at least, faintly, acknowledges that. But Krugman fails to consider the implications of what he's saying. Unless and until Europe and the U.S. can police international capital markets at least two things will happen, and not just in Greece. International banks will conspire to set up smaller Eurozone countries to fail. And then the banks will use those smaller countries as speculative piñatas.
February 13, 2010
In Praise of Turner Classic Movies
It might just be the best channel on cable. Not all the films it shows are good but many are great. A few are worth watching many times repeatedly. I particularly enjoy early twentieth century films that are relatively unknown — and I don't much care whether they might be forgettable — for their lens on the culture of the time. I also enjoy good junk films from the fifties through the seventies. The thing is, irony hadn't yet become the default reaction to events: people could be passionate without being ridiculed. The culture, it seems to me, was more alive.
February 12, 2010
The Robin Hood Tax
February 9, 2010
Servile Surrealism in Celebration of Policy
Mr. Obama is revisiting his efforts to find a bipartisan consensus with Republicans on "best ideas" for health care... In other news, yesterday Mr. Obama traveled to the far side of the moon, where on an alien base he held a séance with Elvis. They mostly communed with the spirit of Natasha, a lyre player from ancient Rome, who instructed Mr. Obama in traditional techniques for fiddling at a bonfire. Mr. Obama seized the opportunity to practice tap-dancing his favorite rendition of the groovie walrus jitterbug, which he plans to perform for Senator Mitch McConnell just as soon as Senator McConnell will agree to see him. A complete report, including video, is expected shortly from Robert Gibbs...
February 8, 2010
A Former U.S. Ambassador Writes:
It's not that my opinions are of critical import, but I am energized by the recent upsurge in articulate written concerns about the rapid and worrisome growth in the militarization of the United States. A former diplomat with two wartime tours of active duty with the paratroops, I am honored to lecture at DOD schools, working with men and women who are part of the nation's defense, but not responsible for its huge costs, in terms of money as well as international standing.
At a recent presentation, I told them of my reaction to the 2/8/09 color photo in the Post (M-13) of the U.S. Marine Band. In uniforms reminiscent of a production of The Student Prince, there were 122 musicians! Memory tells me that John Phillips Sousa got along famously with only 26 when he led it.
February 7, 2010
"Security" Zaps Our DNA
In our headlong rush to secure air travel from terrorists we may pay the ultimate price: random corruption of our DNA. The manufacturers of mega-million dollar body scanners assure the public that they are safe. Craven government officials benefit from the money, or the fear, or both. Who will apply the brakes? Since 9/11 I've only flown once — as a matter of principle I refuse to be treated like a prisoner unless the trip is absolutely necessary — now I'm not so sure I'll ever want to fly again...
[This may not be new news, but for some reason the item showed up a couple days ago on my RSS news reader and I believe it's still worth thinking about.]
February 6, 2010
We Have A Crisis, Mr. Vice-President
By Richard Greener
Nearly 100 years ago President Woodrow Wilson pegged the Senate filibuster for exactly what it was. Wilson asserted that the filibuster served only to enable "a little group of willful men, representing no opinion but their own," to debase the Senate and turn it into "the only legislative body in the world which cannot act when its majority is ready for action."
February 5, 2010
DSL Woes
A near miss this morning for the podcast: my Verizon DSL connection is sputtering. On/off, on/off, every couple minutes. Which made it difficult both to upload the .mp3 file and to operate the blog interface. The trouble started yesterday afternoon — I've made two calls to Verizon's technical support — but I doubt that (due to snow) I'll see a service truck anytime before the middle of next week. Hopefully by next Friday everything will be fixed!
February 2, 2010
In Praise of Kathryn Bigelow
On Saturday, Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker won best direction award from the Directors Guild of America. This morning it got nine Oscar nominations. Kathryn Bigelow is an imaginative, extraordinarily talented director and she deserves the recognition. I haven't seen The Hurt Locker (yet), but I've been a fan of hers ever since her film Near Dark, released in 1987, which I saw at the time in a theater, in Hyde Park, in Chicago.
February 1, 2010
Whispering In the Wind
Another example of Mr. Obama's catastrophically flawed priorities: Wind power. I saw the news the other day that China was leapfrogging other nations to become a leader in the development of wind turbine technology, but almost missed Nancy Jackson's excellent comment at the Huffington Post re wind power in the budget. More specifically, how it's not noticeably funded in the budget. Worth reading! (The amount of money to be given over to subsidizing nuclear power is another huge outrage, but that's a story for another day.)
One Giant Leap Backwards
Interesting news today that our closest stellar neighbor, the binary star system of Alpha Centauri, may host earth sized planets. If it does, and if they were habitable, they might be make a good refuge once we've irreversibly wrecked this world. Except, of course, first we'd have to be able to get from here to there.
