J.A.
Friday, January 26, 2007
Quotes of the Day
First up, Nancy Pelosi: "I asked him at the White House, 'Mr. President, why do you think this time it’s going to work?’ And he said, Because I told them it had to.' Pelosi then reportedly asked Bush, "Why didn’t you tell them that the other two times?"
On the list of brain-dead Bush quotes, you'd have to put "Because I told them it had to" right up there with Bush's response to Pelosi when she urged Bush to fire FEMA head Michael Brown after Katrina "because of all that didn't go right last week." Bush replied, "What didn't go right?"
(Late edit: Doonesbury has more of the same.)
Speaking of Katrina--Chicago Bears fans are notorious for taunting opposing fans well beyond the limits of sportsmanship. During last weekend's NFC championship game, they approached the limits of human decency, as some apparently thought it would be clever to taunt New Orleans fans with Hurricane Katrina. Somebody hung a banner in Soldier Field saying: "Bears Finishing What Katrina Started."--and that was only the beginning. Another candidate for Quote of the Day (actually Quote of a Couple of Days Ago, but I just saw it this morning) comes from a commenter to the post linked above who said of Bears fans, "They should all die in a giant fire started by a cow." posted by jabartlett 7:53 AM
Sunday, January 21, 2007
First up, Nancy Pelosi: "I asked him at the White House, 'Mr. President, why do you think this time it’s going to work?’ And he said, Because I told them it had to.' Pelosi then reportedly asked Bush, "Why didn’t you tell them that the other two times?"
On the list of brain-dead Bush quotes, you'd have to put "Because I told them it had to" right up there with Bush's response to Pelosi when she urged Bush to fire FEMA head Michael Brown after Katrina "because of all that didn't go right last week." Bush replied, "What didn't go right?"
(Late edit: Doonesbury has more of the same.)
Speaking of Katrina--Chicago Bears fans are notorious for taunting opposing fans well beyond the limits of sportsmanship. During last weekend's NFC championship game, they approached the limits of human decency, as some apparently thought it would be clever to taunt New Orleans fans with Hurricane Katrina. Somebody hung a banner in Soldier Field saying: "Bears Finishing What Katrina Started."--and that was only the beginning. Another candidate for Quote of the Day (actually Quote of a Couple of Days Ago, but I just saw it this morning) comes from a commenter to the post linked above who said of Bears fans, "They should all die in a giant fire started by a cow." posted by jabartlett 7:53 AM
Sunday, January 21, 2007
On the Merits
I read with interest our colleague John McCreery's post about blogging fatigue and the comments in response, because I know where he's coming from. I've cut down on my own blogging here in recent months for approximately the same reasons--outrage is a tough thing to maintain, now that the outrage is headed into its seventh year. For me, the urge to write never goes away--the desire to write about the same things all the time certainly can. (I've written much more at my other blog in the last several months, a blog that has virtually nothing to do with politics and, as such, doesn't provoke that little stress headache behind one eyeball.) For what it's worth, I'd echo what BDR said in response to John--the Bush gang has the tenacity of the cockroach, and it's betting its liberal opponents will give up give up just in time to save them from the righteous boot-stomping they so richly deserve. We dare not exchange our boots for fuzzy slippers just yet.
And yes, John, the international perspective is an extremely valuable one that I hope you will continue to contribute. Here in the States, we--and especially our media--swim in a bowl full of assumptions, but like fish, we don't know we're wet. How many times in the last several years have we read foreign press reports that cut through the illusions we cherish like a chainsaw through the phone book and show us things we didn't see before?
It's perhaps symptomatic of my personal political malaise that I've spent more time thinking about and blogging about football these last couple of weeks than about anything else. It's paid off, though--I've picked seven of the eight NFL playoff games correctly so far, missing only Indianapolis over Baltimore last week. So here's this week's plunge into the unknown:
New Orleans at Chicago (2pm Central, Fox): As a lifelong Packers fan, my hatred for the Bears is bone-deep, but I have been unafraid to pick them when the situation warrants. All week, however, I've been ready to pick the Saints--not on irrational hatred, but on the merits. But this morning, it's snowing to beat hell out my Wisconsin window, and the same snowstorm is falling on Chicago, which makes me a lot less confident in the Saints, a dome team. However: If this game comes down to running the football--which, in a snowstorm, you'd expect it to--I'll take Deuce McAllister and Reggie Bush versus the Bears' not-so-great-lately defense over Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson versus the Saints D. And in snow or sunshine, I'd take Drew Brees over Rex Grossman. Saints 21, Bears 20.
New England at Indianapolis (530pm Central, CBS): I truly have no idea how this is going to turn out. None whatsoever. You can construct a half-dozen rational arguments favoring each team. For much of the week, I have leaned toward New England based on my longstanding equation of Tom Brady with the man who's still my football hero, Bart Starr. However, from top to bottom this New England team doesn't have as many outstanding players as Indianapolis does, and several of the best guys they do have were down with the flu this week. Given the players Indy has and the way the stars have aligned for this game, the Colts may never have a better chance to make the Super Bowl. On a poetically just Vinatieri kick at the end, Indianapolis 29, New England 28. posted by jabartlett 11:11 AM
Friday, January 19, 2007
I read with interest our colleague John McCreery's post about blogging fatigue and the comments in response, because I know where he's coming from. I've cut down on my own blogging here in recent months for approximately the same reasons--outrage is a tough thing to maintain, now that the outrage is headed into its seventh year. For me, the urge to write never goes away--the desire to write about the same things all the time certainly can. (I've written much more at my other blog in the last several months, a blog that has virtually nothing to do with politics and, as such, doesn't provoke that little stress headache behind one eyeball.) For what it's worth, I'd echo what BDR said in response to John--the Bush gang has the tenacity of the cockroach, and it's betting its liberal opponents will give up give up just in time to save them from the righteous boot-stomping they so richly deserve. We dare not exchange our boots for fuzzy slippers just yet.
And yes, John, the international perspective is an extremely valuable one that I hope you will continue to contribute. Here in the States, we--and especially our media--swim in a bowl full of assumptions, but like fish, we don't know we're wet. How many times in the last several years have we read foreign press reports that cut through the illusions we cherish like a chainsaw through the phone book and show us things we didn't see before?
It's perhaps symptomatic of my personal political malaise that I've spent more time thinking about and blogging about football these last couple of weeks than about anything else. It's paid off, though--I've picked seven of the eight NFL playoff games correctly so far, missing only Indianapolis over Baltimore last week. So here's this week's plunge into the unknown:
New Orleans at Chicago (2pm Central, Fox): As a lifelong Packers fan, my hatred for the Bears is bone-deep, but I have been unafraid to pick them when the situation warrants. All week, however, I've been ready to pick the Saints--not on irrational hatred, but on the merits. But this morning, it's snowing to beat hell out my Wisconsin window, and the same snowstorm is falling on Chicago, which makes me a lot less confident in the Saints, a dome team. However: If this game comes down to running the football--which, in a snowstorm, you'd expect it to--I'll take Deuce McAllister and Reggie Bush versus the Bears' not-so-great-lately defense over Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson versus the Saints D. And in snow or sunshine, I'd take Drew Brees over Rex Grossman. Saints 21, Bears 20.
New England at Indianapolis (530pm Central, CBS): I truly have no idea how this is going to turn out. None whatsoever. You can construct a half-dozen rational arguments favoring each team. For much of the week, I have leaned toward New England based on my longstanding equation of Tom Brady with the man who's still my football hero, Bart Starr. However, from top to bottom this New England team doesn't have as many outstanding players as Indianapolis does, and several of the best guys they do have were down with the flu this week. Given the players Indy has and the way the stars have aligned for this game, the Colts may never have a better chance to make the Super Bowl. On a poetically just Vinatieri kick at the end, Indianapolis 29, New England 28. posted by jabartlett 11:11 AM
Friday, January 19, 2007
Another Loathsome Day in the USA
The Buffalo Beast is out with its annual list of the 50 Most Loathsome Americans for 2006--the very best year-in-review list of them all. For each entrant, the Beast provides charges, Exhibit A, and a sentence. It isn't quite as laugh-out-loud funny as it was last year, but it's still worth a look. A couple of examples:
#30, Rush Limbaugh: "It’s hard to believe this repulsive shit fountain is even human, until you remember that we share 70% of our DNA with pigs. . . . Sentence: Parkinson’s disease, of course, triggered by oxycontin abuse."
#24, Glenn Beck: "It’s like someone found a manic, doom-prophesying hobo in a sandwich board, shaved him, shot him full of Zoloft and gave him a show." (You read this week that he's gotten a commentary gig on Good Morning America, personally offered to him by Diane Sawyer, right?)
Also worth reading this morning: Glenn Greenwald on yesterday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing starring Abu Gonzalez and the usual supporting cast of bloviating senators, most of them useless except for Russ Feingold. And the Mighty Krugman (via Digby), who notes that the wholesale replacement of U.S. attorneys by the Bush gang indicates just how frightened they are of real oversight. A friend of mine e-mailed this week regarding the purge of attorneys and said, "This is what a dictatorship looks like." Krugman doesn't say it in so many words, but I doubt he'd disagree.
As hideous as the news has been over the last week or so, people seem a lot more interested in the recently rescued boys in Missouri than in stories of much greater import. But that's not a surprise--nobody buries their heads in the sand better than the average American. But it has its consequences, as the Beast noted in naming "You" as the 16th Most Loathsome American of 2006: "You have no idea what is going on in the world, and you’re fine with that. You are why democracy doesn’t work. Exhibit A: You’re Time magazine’s person of the year. So was Hitler. Sentence: More of the same."
The Buffalo Beast is out with its annual list of the 50 Most Loathsome Americans for 2006--the very best year-in-review list of them all. For each entrant, the Beast provides charges, Exhibit A, and a sentence. It isn't quite as laugh-out-loud funny as it was last year, but it's still worth a look. A couple of examples:
#30, Rush Limbaugh: "It’s hard to believe this repulsive shit fountain is even human, until you remember that we share 70% of our DNA with pigs. . . . Sentence: Parkinson’s disease, of course, triggered by oxycontin abuse."
#24, Glenn Beck: "It’s like someone found a manic, doom-prophesying hobo in a sandwich board, shaved him, shot him full of Zoloft and gave him a show." (You read this week that he's gotten a commentary gig on Good Morning America, personally offered to him by Diane Sawyer, right?)
Also worth reading this morning: Glenn Greenwald on yesterday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing starring Abu Gonzalez and the usual supporting cast of bloviating senators, most of them useless except for Russ Feingold. And the Mighty Krugman (via Digby), who notes that the wholesale replacement of U.S. attorneys by the Bush gang indicates just how frightened they are of real oversight. A friend of mine e-mailed this week regarding the purge of attorneys and said, "This is what a dictatorship looks like." Krugman doesn't say it in so many words, but I doubt he'd disagree.
As hideous as the news has been over the last week or so, people seem a lot more interested in the recently rescued boys in Missouri than in stories of much greater import. But that's not a surprise--nobody buries their heads in the sand better than the average American. But it has its consequences, as the Beast noted in naming "You" as the 16th Most Loathsome American of 2006: "You have no idea what is going on in the world, and you’re fine with that. You are why democracy doesn’t work. Exhibit A: You’re Time magazine’s person of the year. So was Hitler. Sentence: More of the same."
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