On 30 Rock, Alec Baldwin's character explains why he had to break up with Condi Rice.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
My Gift to Rupert Murdoch
Some Judith Regan flashbacks from various appearances:
REGAN: Absolutely. I don't think there's any question. I mean, here's Hillary who's been standing by her man all these years and allowing him to behave in this reprehensible fashion.
REGAN: You know, look at Monica Lewinsky talking about being suicidal, being on antidepressants, you know, gaining this huge amount of weight. This is clearly a woman who has suffered and is suffering inside because she has no depth of feeling and no morality whatsoever. And so, I decided, after being involved in this ugly negotiation, which I found morally reprehensible, that we should make fun of the whole thing, and we should make a comment about the amorality of everybody.
REGAN: I would never tell. Unlike Monica Lewinsky, I keep my secrets and take them to the grave.
REGAN: I don't know. I mean, I think that they're going to move forward here, and I think it's alarming to me that the country is not concerned about having an amoral man in the White House.
REGAN: I said, "You know what? There's a really great morality tale here with a great, great moral lesson," and nobody's really said that.
REGAN: Well, partially, but it's also an "amorality tale" because the one thing that's missing from "Monica's Story" is, you know, deep thinking about her own amorality, which we saw -- was in ample evidence during the Barbara Walters love fest the other night. I mean, here's a woman who clearly knows a lot about sex, but knows nothing about right and wrong.
REGAN: You know, the amorality tale, "Monica's Untold Story," is about her amorality, and the amorality of all of the people in this ugly story. But one of the things that was remarkable about her two hours is her utter lack of sincere remorse. And in that case, I would say she is a true soulmate of Bill Clinton because the two of them -- she learned a lot about spinning. She learned a lot about publicity. You know, she learned a lot about changing her image. And she tried to do another Barbara Walters show, but I don't know if America's buying it. I'm sure not.
Ms. REGAN: Well, I think that the social fabric of this country has become completely unraveled. I think the sexual revolution had a lot to do with that. I think that we are in terrible shape. I think we have a country where half the kids are being raised by single mothers. A lot of that has to do with male behavior. We look at the men in this country who do not want to be accountable to their wives, do not want to be accountable to their children and we have as a president a man who could be a symbol of everything that is good; he could be a wonderful husband, he could be a wonderful father. He is in a position of great authority to show this country and to lead this country in a way that is much more important than economically.
Ms. REGAN: ...to this kind of fame, don't grow up thinking, You know, what I really want to do is to be a good citizen, to be loyal to my friends, to care about my neighbors, to get married, to be faithful to my husband, to have a family.' These are not the things that we're teaching.
Ms. REGAN: We can conquer others with force but to conquer ourselves we need strength.' And this is really what we need in America today. We need to conquer our own impulses. We need to understand that we can't act on them all the time because it feels good for us. We have to care about the other.
Ms. REGAN: Let me tell you something, my father has never cheated on my mother, my brothers have never treated cheated on their wives. I come from a big Italian Irish Catholic family and I have to say that for the most part, they have not cheated on each other. My brothers were virile...
Freedom
Smell it. Smells like ass.
American guards arrived at the man’s cell periodically over the next several days, shackled his hands and feet, blindfolded him and took him to a padded room for interrogation, the detainee said. After an hour or two, he was returned to his cell, fatigued but unable to sleep.
The fluorescent lights in his cell were never turned off, he said. At most hours, heavy metal or country music blared in the corridor. He said he was rousted at random times without explanation and made to stand in his cell. Even lying down, he said, he was kept from covering his face to block out the light, noise and cold. And when he was released after 97 days he was exhausted, depressed and scared.
Detainee 200343 was among thousands of people who have been held and released by the American military in Iraq, and his account of his ordeal has provided one of the few detailed views of the Pentagon’s detention operations since the abuse scandals at Abu Ghraib. Yet in many respects his case is unusual.
The detainee was Donald Vance, a 29-year-old Navy veteran from Chicago who went to Iraq as a security contractor. He wound up as a whistle-blower, passing information to the F.B.I. about suspicious activities at the Iraqi security firm where he worked, including what he said was possible illegal weapons trading.
But when American soldiers raided the company at his urging, Mr. Vance and another American who worked there were detained as suspects by the military, which was unaware that Mr. Vance was an informer, according to officials and military documents.
Late Night
Oh I was going to post about New Labour successfully triangulating against itself when Blair took power, and why that isn't really possible here, but that sounds like too much work.
Instead I'll just tell you to rock on.
Instead I'll just tell you to rock on.
Whistling Past Dixie
Late in the conversation, but discussion with Tom Schaller over at Firedoglake is interesting.
Obama Etc.
Responding to this post and the rather long comments thread which was ALL ABOUT ME ME ME here's what I put in comments over there. If you actually care to know everything I'm responding to you'll have to read through the entire comments thread over there.
Wow, wondered why my ears were burning.
Anyway, to clarify - Obama's triangulation is more rhetorical than real. One can triangulate by picking a Third Way position, or one can triangulate by picking a position and calling it the Third Way and that's what Obama tends to do. See Tomasky's review of his book in the NYRB. It may be dishonest or he may genuinely mean it, and I don't much care. Dishonesty has an honorable place in politics. My problem with triangulation has nothing to do with dishonesty or personal affront - I don't expect politicians to cater to me in their speeches. My problem with triangulation is that it's a way for a man to win an election, but not a way to build a party's brand. It's a short term strategy to benefit an individual, not a long term strategy to increase the size of the tribe.
As for me hating religion, I really don't. I'd certainly say so if I did. Either as belief systems or institutions religions in general terms don't bother me. I'm sure my contempt for the Christian conservative political movement at times comes across as being anti-religious, but the fact is I'm really not. I don't know why my failure to aggressively promote or link to explicitly religious bloggers should surprise anybody. I'm a secular person, it's not my role to pick the "right Christians" over the "wrong" ones. That's a theological debate they can have with each other. If religious people support a policy agenda which I agree with, great, but I'm not interested in reading religious justifications for those positions. Amazingly, good things on the internets can find an audience even if I don't link to them.
Reid on Iraq
People seem to be upset that Reid sorta-endorsed the McCain/Lieberman plan to increase the number of troops in the short run. I don't really see it that way - no Senator can expect to micromanage troop levels in Iraq. Reid basically said that he's fine with any strategy which has the goal of getting the troops out by about next Spring. That, of course, isn't the McCain/Lieberman strategy.
Meanwhile
The McCain/Lieberman war continues.
And:
BAGHDAD - Iraqi police said they had found around 53 bodies in Baghdad in the last 24 hours, 9 of them apparently killed execution-style.
And:
A roadside bomb killed three U.S. soldiers and wounded one north of Baghdad on Saturday, the U.S. military said on Sunday in a statement.
Sunday Bobbleheads
Document the atrocities:
ABC's "This Week" — Incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.; retired Army Gen. Jack Keane; Rep.-elect Joe Sestak, D-Pa.; actor and activist Isaiah Washington.
CBS' "Face the Nation" — Former Secretary of State Colin Powell.
NBC's "Meet the Press" — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
CNN's "Late Edition" — Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi; Sens. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and Jack Reed, D-R.I.; Shibley Telhami, Brookings Institution; retired Army Gen. Daniel Christman; Vali Nasr, Council on Foreign Relations; John Podesta, Center for American Progress; Danielle Pletka, American Enterprise Institute.
"Fox News Sunday" — Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.; FedEx Corp. CEO Frederick Smith; retired Marine Corps Commandant Gen. P.X. Kelley, co-chairman of the Energy Security Leadership Council; Morrill Worcester, president of Worcester Wreath.
ME!
This is the first picture I've seen in a long time which roughly matches how I see myself. Of course, that doesn't mean it matches how others generally see me.
And, coincidentally, Amanda has a new gig.
And, coincidentally, Amanda has a new gig.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Everybody Gets a Trophy Day
I'm not without any sympathy for the thought processes behind Time's choice, but I nonetheless basically agree with August.
It's a truly wonderful thing that the internets lets everyone self-publish for free and potentially have an influence. But, you know, most people don't actually do any of that. And fewer of those who try have any success.
Usually with these types of things they choose someone or something which is somehow representative of the underlying phenomenon, like when Jeff Bezos was their pick. Along those lines "the youtube guys" or maybe, as Salon chose, S.R. Sidarth, would've been appropriate.
Keeping with my "it should have gone to the dirty fucking hippie" position, the fundamental political shift in 2006 was on the Iraq war so it could've, say, gone to Murtha or maybe people who got it right to begin with (ha ha, just kidding).
I'm still clueless why Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was even on the notional "short list." The dude really hasn't actually been of any real significance.
It's a truly wonderful thing that the internets lets everyone self-publish for free and potentially have an influence. But, you know, most people don't actually do any of that. And fewer of those who try have any success.
Usually with these types of things they choose someone or something which is somehow representative of the underlying phenomenon, like when Jeff Bezos was their pick. Along those lines "the youtube guys" or maybe, as Salon chose, S.R. Sidarth, would've been appropriate.
Keeping with my "it should have gone to the dirty fucking hippie" position, the fundamental political shift in 2006 was on the Iraq war so it could've, say, gone to Murtha or maybe people who got it right to begin with (ha ha, just kidding).
I'm still clueless why Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was even on the notional "short list." The dude really hasn't actually been of any real significance.
Place Your Bets
Time's Person of the Year announced in a few. For some reason I expect this year's one is going to be about 180 degrees from something appropriate.
Stay Away From Teh Funny, Wingnuts
The inability of conservatives to grasp basic concepts of humor is an endless source of amusement.
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