GOP Fears the Metric System

Oh horrors! Al Franken gives the Democrats control of the Senate, and at least one Republican, Frank Feehery, knows just what that means, that the Democrats will force us all to count using base ten. Woe is us. Hide the women and children, bring the dog in for the night, and careful that Aunt Lily is taking her medicine. Yawn! From Feehery’s commentary at CNN:

The metric system is the kind of thing that you can expect from the 60-vote filibuster-proof majority Democrats now have in the United States Senate.

After the Watergate scandal in 1974, Democrats trounced Republicans in the mid-term elections, getting 61 seats in the Senate and 291 in the House.

In the Senate, they adjusted the rules to make it harder for Republicans to filibuster (reducing the magic number from 67 to 60 to invoke cloture, which ends debate). In the House, they passed all kinds of reforms to take power away from senior members and give it to junior members. And Congress mandated that the American people embrace the metric system.

The only thing worse would be gay men fencing with meter length measuring sticks on Broadway while singing about grams and liters. But I do understand the Republican fear of the metric system. It would bring them into the 18th century, and that was certainly a scary place to be. Why, there was a revolution back then, with real live tea parties that didn’t involve Republicans sucking on balls! The fine, fine thing about Feehery’s column is that he agrees that the Republicans suck, and that they are ultimately responsible for the Democrats getting 60 Senate seats:

This is a good time for such self-reflection. Republicans lost three top-notch senators in the last election — Norm Coleman, Gordon Smith and John Sununu — who lost not because they were bad senators, or because they had scandals, or because they had lost touch with constituents. All three lost because they were Republicans.

In other words, the brand killed them. And if you look at the latest polls, the GOP brand hasn’t gotten any better in the last six months. In fact, according to Gallup, even 38 percent of Republicans have a negative view of the Republican Party.

OK, Feehery is a bit loony to think Coleman was a top-notch Senator. But he is right that the Republican brand is suffering, and further that there seems no recovery in sight. Not with “just say no” ruling the Republicans on the national level and scandals plaguing them out beyond the bletway. Feehery cites 38% of Republicans who are dissatisfied with their own party. That just isn’t a small number.

Meanwhile, Happy Independence Day to Al Franken and to all of us who are tired of Republicans and their fears. This weekend my family will be down the shore. Young Jack will take part in a small ceremony of conversion to the Jewish faith. Alas, we will not be using a traditional mikvah for his immersion, but the Atlantic ocean. Well, as you can see, the boy likes the beach enough, so he should like the ocean as well. We’ll see.

Hmm, we could start a War on Independence Day, couldn’t we? I mean, it is the wrong time of year for a War on Christmas, but the Republicans always want a war on something. Maybe just a Duel on Independence Day would do, sparklers at ten paces and all that. Hmm, I’ll have to check into it.

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Why We Are STILL Fighting Over the Capitalization
of the "B" in "Black People"

Whites believe the history of the treatment of Blacks one hundred years ago is old news, but the history of the derivation of the word "idiot" is worth following with painstaking certitude back to the 14th century. Why so much interest in the latter and so much simultaneous insistence that the former is so old as to have become absolutely irrellevant? The only explanation is color-aroused ideation, emotion and behavioral hypocrisy.

This post was initially a response to a comment posted here today by white-hoodedly anonymous "Anonymous" regarding the capitalization of the word Black and our discussion of why virtually all if not all late night talk show hosts are white men.

However, my response has turned into an essay in and of itself and is therefore published as such:

First, and with respect to Bill Cosby, suppose hypothetically that Cosby were quoted as saying, "I was not offered the host position on the Tonight Show because I am Black." Would that hypothetical statement make you believe it was true? Absolutely not, because NOTHING will make you acknowledge that the absolute monopoly of ANY profession results from white men's determined efforts to maintain an absolute white male monopoly of those professions.

In any case, no one is going to tell Bill Cosby to his face, "I'm sorry, Bill, but we're looking for a white man for this part." So, the only reason you ask me whether Bill Cosby reported that conversation is that you know that white people never acknowledge those cases where they have an unwritten but steadfast rule against having anyone but a white male in certain positions. As such, your question is a rhetorical and not really asked for the purpose of receiving information.
Even if Bill Cosby reported such a conversation, you would say that there was no proof the conversation occurred other than Bill Cosby's assertion, and you would be right. Can we agree on that?

When I was a law student, I interned at the Massashusetts Commission Against Discrimination, which is a state agency. One of the first things that they told us is there is rarely "direct evidence", like a recorded quote, that proves discriminatory intent. Such direct evidence is almost never available. No white person is going to say, "We can't hire you to be a late night comedian because we only hire white men for that position," because that would be an admission of an intent to violate antidiscrimination laws, and people usually try to violate laws without confessing to the violation.

As a result, you have to look at the statistics and circumstantial evidence and see what they tell you. (Since the Reagan years, the US Supreme Court and lower courts have said they don't want to be confused by statistical evidence and aren't interested in circumstantial evidence, regardless of how strong it is. If you can't produce a signed statement of intent to discrimation, AND proof that the discrimination occurred, then many cases will not make it to a jury. Look at the recent decision in the case of the Hartford firefighters, where Hartford may now be forced to promote an all-white group because they cannot prove how intentional discrimination led to the descriminatory result.)

If you look at late night talk show hosts, the statistics tell a story that is obvious and unquestionable. There aren't any late night talk show hosts who aren't white men and there has only be one (Arsenio Hall) in the history of television.

Oops, there was one more: The first host and creator of the Tonight Show (and of the format and genre) was a white woman back in the 1950's. (White Hollywood directors probably thought putting her on at that time of night instead of prime time was like giving her garbage to eat. Instead she turned it into a powerful franchise. Within a few short years (four or five) she was replaced with a white man, and since then ONLY WHITE MEN have been permitted to participate in that franchise. Since the first host, there has never, ever been an instance of anyone other than a white man being the permanent host of the tonight show.

If that evidence doesn't satisfy you that there is a policy of hiring white men for that post, then you can go f . . . umingate yourself. It's not worth arguing with you. You are impervious to evidence and cannot EVER be convinced to see that which is statitically obvious. Just like the Reagan/Bush US Supreme Court.

Now, the history of what Blacks are called in America is just as relevant today as are the etymology discussions in Merriam's Dictionary - the ones that explain to us that the word "idiot" orginated in the 14th Century. Had it not originated in the 14th Century as it did, we might not have the word at all, and that's why EVERY word in Merriam's dictionary has a discussion of where it came from and when and why, if it is at all possible to provide such an etymological explanation.

Why is it that the same white people who include millenia old etymology in their dictionaries nonetheless insist that what happened two hundred years ago in American history is irrelevant to language usage today? It's because those white people are FUCKING IDIOTIC HYPOCRITES.

If you explained this problem to dear "Dear Abby" and asked her whether you should acqiesce and spell your friend's name with an initial capital letter, like "Bob", I'm sure she would tell you that, regardless of your ability to understand why your friend thinks this is important, it's not worth fighting about and you should accede to your friend's wishes.

The problem is that the people who want to spell Black with a lower-case "B" are NOT the friends of Blacks; they are typically angry white males who in another age would have joined the Klu Klux Klan. Maybe they are STILL members of the Klan, since the Klan's membership rolls are secret.

What is certain is that many white male blogs and newspapers operate as online and printed versions of the Klan, giving voice to white's resentment and seeking passive-aggressive or anonymous ways to express their resentments. THAT is why we are fighting over the capitalization of the word Black 144 years after the Emancipation Proclamation.

Some color-aroused and resentful covert Klan whites are determined to take Blacks down a notch, particularly after the election of the first Black president of the United States, when President Obama ended the 43 consecutive term white male monopoly of the presidency.

Color-aroused and resentful whites are scared of losing their white privileged status, they're angry at the prospect of losing their white privileged status; they are indignant at the prospect of losing their white privileged status, and while some of them send mail bombs to Blacks officials, others express their rage passive-aggressively in their white blogs and white newspaper editorial pages, e.g. by refusing to spell "Black" with a capital "B" or insisting that "white", like Klu Klux Klan, be spelled with a capital "W".

Read The Full Article:
http://francislholland.blogspot.com/2009/07/why-we-are-still-fighting-over.html

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Why We Are Still Fighting Over the Capitalization
of the "B" in "Black People"

Whites believe the history of the treatment of Blacks one hundred years ago is old news, but the history of the derivation of the word "idiot" is worth following with painstaking certitude back to the 14th century. Why so much interest in the latter and so much simultaneous insistence that the former is so old as to have become absolutely irrellevant? The only explanation is color-aroused ideation, emotion and behavioral hypocrisy.

This post was initially a response to a comment posted here today by white-hoodedly anonymous "Anonymous" regarding the capitalization of the word Black and our discussion of why virtually all if not all late night talk show hosts are white men.

However, my response has turned into an essay in and of itself and is therefore published as such:

First, and with respect to Bill Cosby, suppose hypothetically that Cosby were quoted as saying, "I was not offered the host position on the Tonight Show because I am Black." Would that hypothetical statement make you believe it was true? Absolutely not, because NOTHING will make you acknowledge that the absolute monopoly of ANY profession results from white men's determined efforts to maintain an absolute white male monopoly of those professions.

In any case, no one is going to tell Bill Cosby to his face, "I'm sorry, Bill, but we're looking for a white man for this part." So, the only reason you ask me whether Bill Cosby reported that conversation is that you know that white people never acknowledge those cases where they have an unwritten but steadfast rule against having anyone but a white male in certain positions. As such, your question is a rhetorical and not really asked for the purpose of receiving information.
Even if Bill Cosby reported such a conversation, you would say that there was no proof the conversation occurred other than Bill Cosby's assertion, and you would be right. Can we agree on that?

When I was a law student, I interned at the Massashusetts Commission Against Discrimination, which is a state agency. One of the first things that they told us is there is rarely "direct evidence", like a recorded quote, that proves discriminatory intent. Such direct evidence is almost never available. No white person is going to say, "We can't hire you to be a late night comedian because we only hire white men for that position," because that would be an admission of an intent to violate antidiscrimination laws, and people usually try to violate laws without confessing to the violation.

As a result, you have to look at the statistics and circumstantial evidence and see what they tell you. (Since the Reagan years, the US Supreme Court and lower courts have said they don't want to be confused by statistical evidence and aren't interested in circumstantial evidence, regardless of how strong it is. If you can't produce a signed statement of intent to discrimation, AND proof that the discrimination occurred, then many cases will not make it to a jury. Look at the recent decision in the case of the Hartford firefighters, where Hartford may now be forced to promote an all-white group because they cannot prove how intentional discrimination led to the descriminatory result.)

If you look at late night talk show hosts, the statistics tell a story that is obvious and unquestionable. There aren't any late night talk show hosts who aren't white men and there has only be one (Arsenio Hall) in the history of television.

Oops, there was one more: The first host and creator of the Tonight Show (and of the format and genre) was a white woman back in the 1950's. (White Hollywood directors probably thought putting her on at that time of night instead of prime time was like giving her garbage to eat. Instead she turned it into a powerful franchise. Within a few short years (four or five) she was replaced with a white man, and since then ONLY WHITE MEN have been permitted to participate in that franchise. Since the first host, there has never, ever been an instance of anyone other than a white man being the permanent host of the tonight show.

If that evidence doesn't satisfy you that there is a policy of hiring white men for that post, then you can go f . . . umingate yourself. It's not worth arguing with you. You are impervious to evidence and cannot EVER be convinced to see that which is statitically obvious. Just like the Reagan/Bush US Supreme Court.

Now, the history of what Blacks are called in America is just as relevant today as are the etymology discussions in Merriam's Dictionary - the ones that explain to us that the word "idiot" orginated in the 14th Century. Had it not originated in the 14th Century as it did, we might not have the word at all, and that's why EVERY word in Merriam's dictionary has a discussion of where it came from and when and why, if it is at all possible to provide such an etymological explanation.

The word "Blacks" is the word that replaced the word "Negroes" and since "Negroes" was capitalized and the word "Blacks" has the same grammatical function as the word "Negroes", it ought to be obvious, just based on historical precedent, that "Blacks" must be capitalized. Yes, African-American must be capitalized, but "Black" must surely be capitalized whenever it is used as a synonym or imprecise alternative to for "African American".

Let's look at an analogy. If your son's name is William but you choose call him "Billy", you must capitalize "Billy" for the same reason that you capitalize "William": it's his NAME and names always receive initial caps. "Blacks" is the name of the sociological ethnic group name wherein all people who have one or more African ancestors from Africa are conflated. Sometime working by analogy is a quick, effective and efficient way to arrive at a logical result that would otherwise require years of cogitation. (Which is why stare decisis is a fundamental principal of our judicial system. We decide cases as we have decided them in the past, unless some convincing argument is offered for changing what we have done.)

Why is it that the same white people who include millenia-old etymology in their dictionaries (e.g. the etymology of the word "idiot" above) nonetheless insist that what happened two hundred years ago in American with respect to Blacks is irrelevant to the linguistics and politics of today? It's because those white people are FUCKING IDIOTIC HYPOCRITES.

If you explained this problem to dear "Dear Abby" and asked her whether you should acqiesce and spell your friend's name with an initial capital letter, like "Bob", I'm sure she would tell you that, regardless of your ability to understand why your friend thinks this is important, it's not worth fighting about and you should accede to your friend's wishes.

The problem is that the people who want to spell Black with a lower-case "B" are NOT the friends of Blacks; they are typically angry white males who in another age would have joined the Klu Klux Klan. Maybe they are STILL members of the Klan, since the Klan's membership rolls are secret.

What is certain is that many white male blogs and newspapers operate as online and printed versions of the Klan, giving voice to white's resentment and seeking passive-aggressive or anonymous ways to express their resentments. THAT is why we are fighting over the capitalization of the word Black 144 years after the Emancipation Proclamation.

Some color-aroused and resentful covert Klan whites are determined to take Blacks down a notch, particularly after the election of the first Black president of the United States, when President Obama ended the 43 consecutive term white male monopoly of the presidency.

Color-aroused and resentful whites are scared of losing their white privileged status, they're angry at the prospect of losing their white privileged status; they are indignant at the prospect of losing their white privileged status, and while some of them send mail bombs to Blacks officials, others express their rage passive-aggressively in their white blogs and white newspaper editorial pages, e.g. by refusing to spell "Black" with a capital "B" or insisting that "white", like Klu Klux Klan, be spelled with a capital "W".

If the whites who refuse to spell "Black" with a capital "B" form a poltical party called the "Idiot Party" to advocate for this position, I will always spell "Idiot Party" with initial caps, because the names of political parties are always spelled with initial caps, regardless of the skin colors of the party's members.

Read The Full Article:
http://francislholland.blogspot.com/2009/07/why-we-are-still-fighting-over.html

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Cornucopia Thursday

SEPARATED at BIRTH #1 - after seeing a photo of the newly-deposed Honduran president Manuel Zelaya .....

.... for all the world, all I could think of was El Exigente - the old Savarin Coffee pitchman (who, as it turns out, was portrayed by Ricardo Montalban's brother Carlos).
                         

Such is life. Before I go off-the-deep-end - and it may be too late for that - why not stop in for a look at news items outside the headlines, in the arts and sciences; foreign news that generates little notice in the US media and ....well, just plain whimsy.....    
ART NOTES #1 - a look at Newfoundland art sixty years after it became Canada's 10th province is at the The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery in St. Johns, Newfoundland through September 13.
                                         

SADNESS that the US men's national soccer team couldn't hold on in last Sunday's match against Brazil. Had they done so, it would have been their biggest win ..... well, since a game 59 years ago this past Monday (June 29th, 1950) when ....

Joe Gaetjens (pictured below) scored a goal for the US World Cup team of 1950 that defeated England 1-0 - one of the greatest upsets in the tournament's history, but which came before television and so is practically unknown in the US. Walter Bahr (who assisted on the goal) became the father of future NFL Super Bowl champion placekickers Chris Bahr (Raiders) and Matt Bahr (Steelers and Giants).
                                   

A recent film entitled The Miracle Match of the story was good, but it left out the climax that made this story transcendent.

Fourteen years later, Joe Gaetjens returned to his native Haiti and - although apolitical himself - his family had opposed dictator Francois (Papa Doc) Duvalier's bid to become a President-for-Life. Joe was arrested by Duvalier's brownshirt-like secret police, Les TonTon Macoutes (which translates from Creole as "Uncle Boogeyman") and he was murdered in prison around July 10th of 1964. Mercifully, after the overthrow of Duvalier's son Jean-Claude (Baby Doc) years later, the new Haitian government issued a postage stamp in Joe Gaetjens' honor.

THURSDAY's CHILD #1 is Smokey Joe the Cat - a Bay Area pootie up for adoption.
                                             

DEBAUCHERY CENTRAL - a peer-reviewed study concludes that vibrators are "nearly as common an appliance in American households as the drip coffee maker or toaster oven".

ART NOTES #2 - an exhibition entitled Painting Under Attack is at the Seattle Art Museum through September 7th.
                             

IN a NICE PROFILE - of  Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal - Cynthia Gorney notes a fan website "frequented mostly by enamored and effusive women" and quite disappointed over his newer, less-revealing tennis outfits.

SPORTING NOTES - a soccer referee in Turkey was fired - for what he is certain was for being gay.

THURSDAY's CHILDREN #2 are a group of orange tabbies in Pasadena, California who are hoping for adoption.
                               

ENERGY NOTES - Canada is opting out of nuclear power after problems within existing plants.

LANGUAGE NOTES - while the use of the language has grown rather slowly there, China can now be said to be the world's largest English-speaking country.

SEPARATED at BIRTH #2 - TV star Eric Dane ("Grey's Anatomy") and film star Leonardo DiCaprio.
                                   

LEGAL NOTES - the Supreme Court of Croatia unanimously declared a law banning Sunday shopping unconstitutional.

FILM NOTES - Entertainment Weekly looks at the "best comic duos" in films.

ART NOTES #3 - a collection of royal armor and portraits from Imperial Spain is at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. through November 1st.
                             

POLITICAL NOTES #1 - the mayor of Almu?ecar, Spain was sentenced to 28 months in prison .. for changing the locks and cutting the power to the local television station.

ART NOTES #4 - the works of Japanese artist Jun Kaneko are at the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock through August 2nd.
                             

POLITICAL NOTES #2 - G?rald Tremblay - the mayor of Montr?al, Canada - is under fire as kickback allegations are made about some former aides.

THURSDAY's CHILD #3 is Mojo the Cat - a North Carlina pootie up for adoption.
                               

AFTER 900 YEARS of all male employees, Giorgia Boscolo will be the first female gondolier for the city of Venice, Italy.

HAVING COME-OF-AGE in the 1970's, I feel a bit wistful over the passing of so many iconic figures (Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Fred Travalena and now Karl Malden) from that era.

THURSDAY's CHILD #4 is Snag L. Tooth the Cat - an Oregon pootie featured in an article about cat names.
                                       

FILM NOTES #2 - Der Spiegel considers "The Most Absurd Horror Movie Posters Ever".

DIRECT DESCENDANTS? - financial analyst Jim Cramer and Soviet leader Lenin.
                                 

....... and finally, for a song of the week ..................................another landmark album from fifty years ago was Mingus Ah Um ....

...by the legendary musician Charles Mingus whose passing thirty years ago ended one of the most brilliant (and stormy) careers by an American musician in the 20th Century. In the field of jazz, there were several great bassists, several great bandleaders and several great composers - but only Charles Mingus had all three traits. He stated that his abilities on bass were the result of hard work, but that his composing "was a gift" - which he put to good use.

He was born in 1922 in a Nogales, Arizona army camp but came-of-age in the Watts section of Los Angeles. His stepmother forbade all music except church music, but he heard Duke Ellington on his father's crystal radio, and the rest is history. An excellent music student, at age 18 he wrote a score (Half-Mast Inhibition) that was semi-classical in nature and which he finally recorded in 1960.

He went on the road at age 20 and played in many big bands of the day: Louis Armstrong, Lionel Hampton and notably Duke Ellington (his original idol). Even more notably - Charles Mingus became the only bandmember ever fired personally by Duke Ellington. Mingus went on to perform in Red Norvo's trio (with guitarist Tal Farlow) where Mingus first stood out as a soloist, leading to his beginning his own bands.

But first: he played in the legendary 1953 Jazz at Massey Hall concert in Toronto, Canada that many critics consider the best post-war jazz concert ever. In no small part since it also features Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell and Max Roach as well: some of the founding fathers of modern jazz.

From 1956 through 1966, Charles Mingus released a total of thirty albums - and although his sidemen often changed, and going on to noted careers (Eric Dolphy, Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Jackie McLean among them) the one constant was his drummer Dannie Richmond, who stayed with him almost continuously from 1957 on. His music ranged from good-time blues (Better Git It in your Soul) among others ....

... to elegies (Goodbye Pork Pie Hat being his most famous tune, and the subject of a future essay) ...

.... to his Third Stream (blends of jazz and classical music) ....

... such as his magnum opus Epitaph - that was never successfully performed in his lifetime.  

The album Mingus Ah Um includes some of the aforementioned tunes ...

.... as well as his ode to the segregationist governor of Arkansas, Fables of (Orville) Faubus as
Charles Mingus was quite outspoken for the day about racism.

As well as injustice of any kind: Remember Rockefeller at Attica a more recent example. At this time, Mingus also sought to create collective workshops and artists guilds - and while many did not last, they created almost a university-like atmosphere in his bands.

That is, unless you crossed Charles Mingus. He was known to upbraid inattentive audiences, and to fire musicians on-stage who weren't up-to-snuff. In his autobiography, Miles Davis (no slouch in having a temper) was even surprised at some of the latent anger inside Mingus. Mingus once punched out trombonist Jimmy Knepper, whose playing was never quite the same after the injury. Over the years, his fiery personality mellowed but it remained part of his aura (along with his inventive music).

His career peaked in the early 1960's, despite an infamous 1962 Town Hall rehearsal session (billed as a "concert") in which "Epitaph" did not come off successfully.

He recovered with his 1963 Black Saint and the Sinner Lady album, which also makes it into his top albums list.

But by 1966 (unable to find a publisher for his Beneath the Underdog autobiography) he largely left the music business, tired and frustrated.

He returned in the early 1970's, revived not only by the publishing of his autobiography and the re-release of several old works: but also by a Guggenheim Fellowship for composition. More secure, he sought out younger musicians and began to produce some innovative music that once again endeared him to audiences and critics (Cumbia and Jazz Fusion adding Colombian music to his mix) - and his old mercurial temper days were behind him.

Sadly, he contracted ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) and became more of a producer than performer. Still releasing some fine recordings, he was honored by President Jimmy Carter at a 1978 White House concert.

He produced Joni Mitchell's album Mingus though he did not live to see its release.

Charles Mingus died from ALS in January, 1979 at only age 56, and his ashes were spread in the Ganges River. His widow Sue oversees his estate, and the Mingus Big Band performs his works to this day.

The legacy of Mingus is extensive, and not only in the jazz community. Besides being a favorite of Joni Mitchell, a 1992 tribute album Weird Nightmare features the likes of Elvis Costello, Keith Richards/Charlie Watts, Dr. John, Henry Rollins, Robbie Robertson and Chuck D. - in addition to jazz and even bluegrass performers. Recorded a full thirteen years after his death, somehow I think Mingus would have been impressed.

Years after his death, a jumbled-up score for Epitaph was discovered.

Noted Third Stream conductor Gunther Schuller (who had worked with Mingus) was hired to (first) decipher it and then bring it to life.

Which he did in 1989 at Alice Tully Hall in New York (with six of the original 1962 Town Hall musicians able to help perform it).

It was also performed in 2007, with a Walt Disney Concert Hall recording made.

And while much of the music of Charles Mingus is instrumental, one song in "Epitaph" was recorded by itself in 1963: "Freedom" (fair-use extract below). And at this link you can listen to it.

This mule ain't from Moscow
This mule ain't from the South
But this mule has something in him:
Mostly mouth-to-mouth

This mule could be called stubborn and lazy
But in a clever sort of way
this mule could be working, waiting, learning and planning
For a sacred kind of day
A day when burning sticks and crosses
is not mere child's play
But a madman in his most incandescent bloom
Whose lover's soul is imperfection
and its most lustrous groom

So stand fast there, young mule
Soothe in contemplation
That burning whole and aching thigh
Your stubbornness is ever living
And cool anxiety is about to die

Freedom for your daddy
Freedom for your momma
Freedom for your brothers and sisters
But no freedom for me

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Your Abbreviated Pundit Round-up

Thursday opinionating, with style, class and panache. Sometimes.

Rosanne Leipzig: Doctors in medical school training should be required to learn geriatric care, just like they rotate through pediatrics.

James Pethokoukis: In a range of articles here, here and here, I point out where Obama went wrong on the economy.

Nicholas Kristof:

Evidence is accumulating that the human brain systematically misjudges certain kinds of risks. In effect, evolution has programmed us to be alert for snakes and enemies with clubs, but we aren’t well prepared to respond to dangers that require forethought.

Like climate change. Like pandemics.

Jay Ambrose: Liberal tree-hugging save-the-earth Democrats are ruining the U.S. economy. Not that global warming is an issue for the next few years. Maybe the problem will go sway, so there. What was Kristof saying?

EJ Dionne:

Hours before the House passed its cap-and-trade bill last week, freshman Democrats Tom Perriello and Frank Kratovil were pondering the political fallout of the votes they were about to cast in favor of a plan Republicans were denouncing as "cap-and-tax."

Gail Collins:

Before everyone finishes piling on Gov. Mark Sanford, let me say that all of us in New York were happy to learn that he has been scheduling his assignations in our state.

Really, times are tough, and we need all the business we can get. Although it is true that our hotels can be somewhat pricey, there are lots of discounts, and the airfare to New York is way, way cheaper than it is to Argentina.

Plus, you can see "South Pacific."

David Broder: Hmm.... maybe we're not post-racial, after all. Or maybe we are. Or something.

Ian Reifowitz (added):

Intentional discrimination has long been illegal, but gray areas remain. How race-conscious should the law be? Beyond the law, what impact do anti-discrimination policies have on race relations?

Ian is leading discussion in this diary.

BBC:

The city and province of Buenos Aires have announced a health emergency to fight a swine flu outbreak that has killed at least 26 people in Argentina.

CNN:

CNN has learned that the Obama administration is planning to convene a "flu summit" next week to make preparations for the fall, as officials in Argentina declare a health emergency because 35 people have died in the Latin American nation from swine flu.

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Daily Forex Commentary for July 2, 2009

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/jutiagroup/~3/GEP7gn35e70/

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Mike Allen: He Shut His Mouth and When You're Al
Franken That's Not Easy to Do

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PLAYS: (262)

h/t Media Matters

The Politico's Mike Allen seems to think that if you're a comedian, you can't stop yourself from making a fool of yourself in public. I get so tired of this sort of rhetoric about Franken because it completely ignores the rest of Franken's biography. Al Franken is a comedian, but he has accomplished a lot of other things during his life as well which I'm sure the likes of Mike Allen are aware of, but do their best to ignore, and instead decide to belittle him as Allen did here.

The other thing that bears noting is that most successful comedians are also wicked smart, as is the case with Franken. Those in the beltway bubble would do well not to challenge or mock professional comedians. They'll find themselves on the wrong end of a punch line and regretting it if they do. Personally I'd be happier if the Drudge Report, tabloid reporters from The Politico STFU and quit making asses out of themselves on television rather than our newest Senator Al Franken being quiet.

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Daily Futures Commentary July 2, 2009

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/jutiagroup/~3/ceOyafZgeyg/

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Hannity repeats earmark falsehood to smear Obama

On the July 1 edition of his Fox News show, Sean Hannity again falsely claimed that Obama made a campaign promise of "no earmarks." Fox News contributor Karl Rove responded: "And, again, he broke that one." In fact, as Media Matters for America has noted, during his presidential campaign, Obama actually promised to reform the earmark process and cut wasteful spending, not to end all earmarks.

Hannity has repeatedly made the false claim that Obama promised to ban all earmarks. On March 6, for instance, Hannity aired a clip of Obama stating, "We are going to ban all earmarks, the process by which individual members insert pet projects without review." However, in those comments, which were taken from a January 6 media availability -- not during the presidential campaign, as Hannity suggested -- Obama was actually referring to his desire to "ban all earmarks" from his "recovery and reinvestment plan," which he specifically distinguished from "the overall budget process."

Numerous other media figures have also misrepresented Obama's statements regarding earmarks to accuse Obama of breaking a promise.

From theJuly 1 edition of Fox News' Hannity:

ROVE: How many times have we in the,like, last couple of months, have we seen him break these solemn promises thathe made in the campaign? Now some of the promises I'm glad he broke. You know,I'm -- you know, his thing about "I'm not going to hold terrorists indefinitely inGitmo."

Well, he broke that just literally last Friday by having anexecutive order that said he would hold them indefinitely. But we're going tosee on a whole wide range of fronts that he's going to break his promises.Remember, he had --

HANNITY: All right. But let's go through this. He said he wouldn't --

ROVE: Yeah.

HANNITY: He said he wouldn't Mirandize. He's doing it. Theone you just mentioned.

ROVE: Doing it.

HANNITY: He said no lobbyists in my administration. He brokethat early.

ROVE: Lobbyists in the administration.

HANNITY: He said no earmarks, right? That was another one ofhis.

ROVE: And, again, he broke that one.

HANNITY: All right. So,well, these seem like major promises. What does that tell us about him? Is hedishonest?

ROVE: Well, look, he's a cold, calculating, ambitiouspolitician who feels very comfortable saying one thing in the campaign anddoing something entirely different. Whatever was necessary in order to getelected he was willing to say it.

-- L.Y.

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Updating my report on my friend Peter's descent
into Chase's version of Bankster Hell

by Ken
My friends Peter and Gail, you may recall, received a post card from Chase notifying them that the minimum payment on their credit card balances, which they locked in at low promotional rates as part of their way of getting their son through college, from 2 to 5 percent.

Yesterday WNBC-TV reporter Lynda Baquero also interviewed Peter, and her report includes this piece of information, bits of which may already be unfortunately known to you:

Turns out, he's not alone. According to Credit.com, 19% of credit card holders have seen their interest rates go up in the last couple of months. About 14% have had their credit limits lowered, and 12% have been told their minimum payments are rising.

John Ulzheimer, of Credit.com, says for one thing: credit card issuers are "hemorrhaging money" and feel the need to bring in more cash. But these changes are also in advance of the Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights, which will restrict future policy changes by credit card issuers. That law won't take effect though, until February 2010

#

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