Month: September 2011

By Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

Today on the Dish, Andrew commended Obama for winning the war Bush kept losing, and Steve Benen wondered why Obama's impressive foreign policy record hasn't been at the forefront of his nascent campaign for reelection. We tackled the hairy legal questions surrounding al-Awlaki's death, and Andrew clarified his definition of Christianism. 

Euroskepticism reigned as the Eurozone bought time, and China's propaganda machine committed an amusing blunder. In our video feature, Andrew sized up Palin's nomination prospects as her "drop dead date" passed and filing deadlines quickly approached, and he harped on tax reform as sound policy and a way for Obama to charm independents. Chait outed Romney as a secret Keynesian, and the former Massachusetts governor is still taking Rick Perry to the cleaners over his in-state tuition policy for students whose parents came to Texas illegally. Kinsley saw Chris Christie's obesity as grounds for immediate disqualification, Andrew Sprung wants the hard right to spin off into a third party, and we braced for a double-dip recession. 

The Greater Israel lobby faces a generational dilemma, a Palestinian activist fought injustice with nonviolent protest, and the FBI takes its terrorist sting operations too far. Dustin Lance Black's new play remembers the Prop 8 trial, transgendered service members are stuck in the closet post-DADT, and regime change is often doomed to fail. Our capital punishment debate raged on as readers wondered if we should bring back firing squads, the culture wars absorbed salt, and readers came to the defense of the Wall Street protesters.

Scott Galupo eviscerated David Mamet, a reader offered a three-part plan to address our dollar woes, and we're inclined toward single-sex education even though we have no evidence that it works. Pay-for-performance skews incentives, gentrification isn't the only way to urban growth, and "the noble experiment" continues. Breeder and non-breeders hashed out permanent birth control, Scientology's posh boarding school employs some unusual methods, and our readers shared erotic stories of the not-necessarily-elusive yogasm. We delved into the history and politics of gardening in England and Andrew learned a new term from rugby's world cup. "Fuck" is quite versatile and fun, and design is the future of the Internet. 

VFYW here, Hathos alert here, MHB here, Cool ad watch here, and FOTD here. 

By Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images. 

Thursday on the Dish, Andrew despaired that Obama's attempt Israeli diplomacy couldn't achieve a Palestinian state, but reflected on the relative peace of modern times. Contra Corey Robin, Andrew contemplated why moderation can be conservative in the right time and place, and the National Review went cruising. Andrew praised the English garden in today's video feature and Saleh's return to Yemen didn't bode well for civil war there. Thomas P.M. Barnett wanted the US to ingratiate itself to other countries in the Mideast by disassociating with Pakistan, but mediation between India and Pakistan could help.

On the election front, we were still waiting for Perry's economic plan to materialize, while Perry's tuition policy for immigrants makes total economic sense, if he'd only defend it. David Brooks lost faith in Huntsman, we counted down the days till Palin's decision, and she revealed her insecurity by dissing the presidency. We weighedChris Christie's charisma and weight, pizza-man Cain pulled head-to-head with Perry and Romney in the race, and Tom Tancredo seized on Perry's Norquist relationship. Dan Amira argued for Florida's right to an early vote, and Perry-campaign hathos alert here. Teaparty.com didn't look like a good investment when you consider the bad Canadian rock that birthed it, at least McGinniss got a fair trial up north, and we examined the demands of the Wall Street protests.

Balko called the US out for sanitizing the death penalty by using unreliable injections rather than the firing squad and the jury is still out about the death penalty's ability to deter crime. Obamacare was headed for the Supreme Court, and Frum believed Romney is the only candidate with a reasonable approach to reforming the ACA. Suspect sketches mess with our images of the perpetrator, the DEA knocked on the wrong door, and you should treat the First Amendment like you treat your penis. Dental care remained a luxury for most Americans, and the US wins the honor of the only country without legally mandated vacation days. Readers lobbied for the best way to raise kids in either cities or suburbs and Reihan wanted the gas tax to work more like a metro card. Traffic congestion isn't cheap, Keith Boyea offered a Camus-view of DC bureaucracy, and gay gangs in DC fought back. Amazon, Google and Apple fought for the tablet market, Google caught itself in a win-win feedback loop of data, and opticians reconsidered the impact of lasers on airline pilots. Hanna Brooks Olsen defended the right of young women to get their tubes tied, and evangelical Christians weren't waiting for marriage to do the deed.

Email of the day here, VFYW here, MHB here, and FOTD here.

Mai Chau, Vietnam, 7.13 am

Wednesday on the Dish, Palin criticized the media for not vetting the 2008 candidates and insisted she wasn't in it for the "shackle-y" title. McGinniss defended his verified sources and Janet Maslin missed the mark in her review of The Rogue. Fundraisers got nervous about Perry, Bachmann connected some crazy dots from Hezbollah to Cuba, and neocons ignored Chris Christie's notion of American exceptionalism.

John Judis urged the US to do the right thing for Palestine like it did in 1947 for Israel, neocons aren't funny when they try to be, and Netanyahu swayed Spain and France to his side. Andrew reconsidered his stance on Libya after the fall of Qaddafi in today's Ask Andrew video, with more of your thoughts here. Getting rid of Assad isn't as easy as calling for him to go, the Arab Spring bloomed in Palestinians, and RtoP advocates needed to clarify whether they're after regime change or civilian protection. Dreher wanted to see European localism win somehow with the collapse of the Euro, even as William Hague's predictions proved true. We tracked Putin's "run" for the presidency, and pointing lasers at planes can blind a pilot.

Douthat drew a distinction about the decline of the death penalty about our incompetency in implementing it, the Supreme Court might be able to abolish it, and readers considered redemption. Bruce Bartlett reminded the GOP once again that lower tax rates on the wealthy doesn't spur growth, macroeconomics can't always make sense of a messy world, and killing the electoral college isn't a partisan matter. Jan-Werner Mueller defined populism as an unhealthy coalition between elites and marginal groups that don't belong, and James McBride nailed Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich as literary figures. It's not so easy for a Muslim American to join a Republicans' executive committee, and Jim Burroway disapproved of Lady Gaga's tribute to a gay suicide victim. Kevin Sessums found God in Helen Keller's situation, paper money screws blind people, and Machiavellian types make for good politicians.

Urban density mirrored free trade, the fertility rates for professional women plummeted, and snacks and alcohol are socially transmitted. Readers delighted in transcription errors, Amazon stepped up to Apple, and we contemplated our next short book venture. A college education remains a good investment for future jobs, and city kids defended their playgrounds from the 'burbs. Coffee averts depression for women, South Park starred on 60 Minutes, and Bart Simpson pranked the LA City Council. Doctors only accuse others of over-prescribing drugs for money, robots will steal our high-paying jobs too, and we yearned for the yogasm.

Happy Rosh Hashanah guide here, MHB here, FOTD here, VFYW here and the beautiful coincidences of yesterday's contest here.

By Punit Paranjpe/AFP/Getty Images.

Tuesday on the Dish, Palin threatened to sue McGinniss but realized she'd have to go under oath and take a DNA test about Trig. The left continued to cower rather than challenge McGinniss' claims, and a Canadian rock band considered sellingTeaParty.com for $1 million. Andrew's jaw dropped at the poisonous hate in the book Mearsheimer blurbed, and sadly prepared for the euro's collapse. On the election front, Andrew analyzed why Romney still struggled to win trust within his own party, opened fire on Perry's immigration stance, and tried to undermine Obama with his Believe In America slogan. Perry underwent lip-reading service to hilarious effect, we assessed his leadership weaknesses, and Dan Amira deflated the Chris Christie hype.

Readers poked Andrew about the new Ask him Anything feature, and he shared why P town is a sacred place for him. Readers challenged Hitchens and others on America's penchant for the death penalty, and readers defended Kevin Smith's independent tactics and connected Harvard's kindness pledge to Aristotle and Emerson. Our mission in Afghanistan was all but doomed to fail, and seven months after Egypt's revolution, the country was still waiting for its "free, democratic system." Global warming won't hit most of the countries guilty of giving off greenhouse gases, we debated why dictators last longer than democratic leaders, and dark-skinned Libyans weren't past the war.

Half of all American Jews doubt God's existence, we analyzed whether it's right to be prejudiced against someone for their accent, and Christianism persisted in politics. Obama ably handled a Christianist heckler, and Keith Hennessey complained about Mr. Suskind ability to quote him. Banks needed to be taken down a notch, and we tried to parse whether an insouciant trader was part of a hoax or just horribly real. Medicare fraud robs taxpayers of an estimated $48 billion, cul de sac living endearsitself to children playing in the street, and most service jobs aren't located downtown. For some gay servicemembers, the telling wasn't as important as the elimination of fear, and harassment can add up. Water balloons were no match for some faces, technology reconstructed the images that play in our minds, porn boosted Tumblr's numbers, and David Foster Wallace predicted the facial substitution feature.

Creepy ad watch here, FOTD here, MHB here, VFYW here, and VFYW contest winner #69 here.

Monday on the Dish, we launched a new Ask Andrew Anything feature. Obama took the gloves off, and when the truth conflicts with the propaganda on Fox, the propaganda always wins. Romney may appeal to the crazy GOP base, but without Andrew's blessing, since Romney's "apology tour" riff is as ugly as it is untrue. We assessed Perry's damage from the debates and had flashbacks to Palin's weak preparations. The web waited for the GOP to settle on Romney, or for any of the GOP candidates to address foreign policy substantively. The press glossed over Obama's Biblical faith, Norm Geras complicated Andrew's thoughts on religion, and Andrew assessed Obama's attack method: only after asking nicely.

Iranian prisons compared themselves to Guantanamo and we covered the dust-up over John Mearsheimer's endorsement of Gilad Atzmon's new book. We hailed Margaret Thatcher's punk roots, Ireland surprised everyone with its growth, and Saudi women got the right to vote but not the right to drive. In other national affairs, unemployment hurts Democrats more than Republicans, and if it stays at current levels, could raise the deficit by $2 trillion to $4 trillion. Readers contemplated the death penalty for those whose evil is fairly certain, and whether it can ever serve a practical purpose. The industrial food complex could die a similar death to big tobacco's thanks to Obamacare, and we pondered what jobs of the future will look like. 

The cul-de-sac doesn't make as much urban sense as the grid system, teenagers take on risk because their brains are different from adults, and we learned why humansassociate certain smells with childhood. Kevin Smith sabotaged his own film, Facebook's timeline feature could track babies across their entire lives, and we accidentally ruined someone's fake career. Diego Stocco made music at the drycleaner's, Apple's new HQ designs could ruin Steve Jobs' legacy, and our ability to remember the past influences our ability to imagine the future. Transcripts turneddada, bears got smeared by the Church, and Bloggingheads could use a dose of face substitutions.

Hathos alert here, map of the day here, VFYW here, MHB here, FOTD here, and the battle of butter vs margarine uncovered here.

— M.A.

A reader writes:

I don't see these protesters in the same dismissive way you seem to.  Compare them to the Tea Party-ers.  Yes, some of their tactics are theatrical, and their motive seems to be expression of rage without a whole lot of specific focus.  It's pretty juvenile stuff.  But at least they have identified an actual, real world object of well-deserved anger, not some misguided paranoid fantasy.  It has baffled me that there has been so very little anger expressed by folks towards Wall Street in the last three years.  I don't know what their end game is, but these protesters at least give me some hope that maybe the middle class is waking up and finding its voice.

Another writes:

I think the media are being willfully obtuse in interpreting the Occupy Wall Streeters intentions. They also have a huge list of greivances, found here. A simple and concise list:

1. Place fees on financial transactions and tax capital gains the same as income
2. End corporate personhood and overturn the flawed Citizens United decision
3. Get big money out of politics through substantive campaign finance reform
4. Jobs through investment in the public sector and infrastructure, not tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations

Another:

As a former Democratic Ward Chair, I can tell you that many of us are simply disgusted by the Democratic Party and now realize it is no more concerned with the fate of Working Americans as the biggest Corporate Whore in the Republican Party.  

Sorry for the language but I need to be clear and emphatic on this point.  In a very real sense the Democratic Party is much more disgusting than such a Republican because the Dems claim they care about the middle class when in fact they are just another arm of Wall Street and the Big Banks.  "We" have all realized that the politicians are just bit players in a long running Kabuki Theater whose goal is to keep our eyes from the real basis of our problems, those that own and run the system – Corporate America.

None of us, including the Wall Street Protestors, know what to do next but we are sure of one thing – more of the same isn't going to fix anything.  Both political parties are corrupt to their very core and the idea that they can solve any of our problems is beyond ludicrous.  Please note I am not saying Democracy has failed – rather our implementation of democracy is in the process of failing and until we identify the root cause of the problem, in our case that is clear – it is money and the process that has lead to the ownership of the US Political Class by Corporate America, no solution is possible.

Sadly I can't help the brave few that are taking the fight to the core of the problem because I live way out west in New Mexico.  But I deeply appreciate what they are doing since it is the first real step in the system's reform and finally is "Change we can believe in".  Perhaps that is why they are treated so horribly by the New York Police – the protestors have gone to the core of the problem and the establishment has reacted accordingly.  While the folks protesting on Wall Street haven't got a well-oiled PR machine behind them, they are a start.

Another impassioned reader digs deep:

I read Greenwald's criticisms. For the record, I love Glenn Greenwald. He basically represents my id in terms of the things that I believe within my heart vis a vis politics. If him and Paul Krugman had a baby, it would look a lot like my soul unfiltered by any sense of a need to be respected by the Cato institute.

That said, I disagreed expressly with the idea that this criticism is establishment criticism and petty. In the excerpt you quote, he's basically telling people to stop playing dumb. And in the article, he talks about professional left writers and the sort of criticism they're giving it comparing it to criticizing a three year old with the point being that it's still young and will still figure itself out.

It won't. My curiosity made me go to the website of Occupy Wall Street. Luckily, it's laid out like pretty much every other website in existence. So, I went  to the about section, at which point they have a line that says they are occupying land now under their sovereign control. It's unclear if it's just a metaphor. I mean, it could be argued that eminent domain, for example, has been used as an extension of government cronyism.

But that didn't answer my question. Then I went to the forums and the article pages to find out what they were about. And guess what? They are trying to figure out what they're about, and what they're about is f*cking EVERYTHING. One of the ideas thrown out was disbanding the Fed. Another was of incorporating a flat tax. A third was off the removal of the Republican and Democratic Parties.

So, I'm going to say what I've wanted to say since Bush took office. This sh*t is the problem! I'm tired of going to protests about everything that are essentially just direct-democracy spit-balling because being about everything is being about nothing. I'm tired of hearing guys recite Kant and say Herman Cain looks great. But most of all what I'm tired about is openness. You know who is saying that stuff on those boards? People that want to disrupt the protest and muzzle the message. You know what the response is? Well, let's flag them when we disagree but not censor them.

Bullsh*t! Censor them. All they're doing is trying to undercut you. They're not there for honest discussion. They're over there to f*ck with you and make you look bad and make actual progressives think you might not actually be progressive and don't know what you're talking about.

Here's my problem and I saw this in Portland and Seattle and all across the country for years. You have protestors and they have no sense of stopping. They want everyone to have input and be treated fairly. That's great on moral terms, but it sucks in terms of having a demonstration. It sucks in terms of gaining traction. It sucks in terms of beating the machine.

It's so disappointing to see the same people make the same mistakes. You know why we're not winning? Because we're not them. We're not bullies. We're not crazy. But at times, I do wonder if we're just a bunch of college kids trying to get laid, because we're not willing to be cut-throats. We're not willing to send messages the way they send messages. We're not willing to learn from them and beat them at their own game which is the only way we can win because they own everything.

Here are specific proposals: stop pressuring the NY attorney general to stop criminal and civil prosecution of bank and lenders, raise corporate tax rates, raise the top marginal income tax rate, put a moratorium on all foreclosures by US banks on American homes. You may agree with those or you may not. Those may be attainable or those may not. But I need to be able to go to your website and find out what you want. I need to hear you say what you stand for. I need to see a list of things you support.

I'm tired of "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore." Because that's not geared at anything. It never has been. And frankly, it's unconvincing. As soon as I saw Cornel West, I started seeing the reality. There's not going to be substance there. There's going to be talk of caring for the poor. There's going to be talk against war. There's going to be turns of phrase talking about how much we spend on one and how much we don't spend on the other. And most of all, there's going to be the same congratulatory back-patting and people saying "yeah, I've been reading a lot of books lately, and I've been preaching this gospel for the longest. I'm glad people are finally coming around."

Glenn, James Fallows, Coates and Paul Krugman make more difference in a day of putting forward their arguments than anything these protests will manage. The only chance they even have is if god forbid violence against them continues. All Wall Street and the cops literally have to do is nothing and they're fine. Fortunately for the protestors, cops and Wall street aren't exactly good at restraint. It's just disappointing. Glenn's error here is he assumes this is the beginning. This is an extension of what has been happening for years. It was happening since 2002. It's part of why the Iraq War protests weren't more successful.

When you can't answer what you're for and against and you want everyone else to fill in the blanks and you do nothing to keep your message from getting muddled by the very people you're opposing and it happens every time, then maybe you should get out of the protesting game altogether. Oh, and by the way, presentation matters. Nader's Raiders knew that. They knew you had to get your haircut, wear nice pants and a nice shirt. You needed to look sharp and respectable and unquestionable on issues of adult-hood. Guess what, wearing a camo-wife beater doesn't make you an individual. It makes you someone who won't make basic changes for a cause.

It's simple: dress better. Stop with cardboard signs. Have a specific message. Have goals both attainable and not. Refuse to move. Participate in active, targeted civil disobedience. Censor those from outside of the movement who are seeking to confuse it. I know you're uncomfortable with all of that, but I'm uncomfortable with having our dear corporate masters be able to point to white college kids with dread-locks, and sleeveless shirts as evidence of these 'godd*mn hippies.' We need to be unimpeachable in terms of character and approach. And we're not. We're just waiting to be co-opted by men like Cornel West who just want to be part of a moment.

But this isn't about moments. If you want something done, you can get something done. But you have to be willing to do that. You have to be willing to drop philosophy. You have to be willing to shave and cut your hair and wear a shirt and pants and shoes. If you want this to work, then a Midwestern mom has to look on her television and see young kids, nice kids and adults that aren't all too different from them in terms of attire or temper with a clear message. Every interview they give should be about a kid whose mom and dad lost their house to a bank foreclosure that was put forward illegally on a house that had a loan on it that was evaluated at sub-prime rates even though they qualified for something better. Every interview should be the saddest, most direct story and it should reinforce that these are people with families and a stake.

If that doesn't happen, then in two weeks this will be just like the protests in Portland and Seattle in the Bush years. Forgotten and pointless.

(Photo by Paul Stein)

Apropos of the English penchant for gardening, a new book charts its history:

Creating a garden could enhance your political future no matter the cost. Lord Dudley (Earl of Leicester) spent the modern equivalent of £1 million on his new garden at Kenilworth Castle in an attempt to gain favour with Elizabeth l, while Lord Cecil was spending an equivalent £250,000 a year on improving Theobalds in Hertfordshire.

Too bad it's also to thank for the insanity of the American lawn.

A reader writes:

Regarding the quote from Balko, the state of Utah executed a man in 2010 using a firing squad.  He was the third person killed in this manner by state employees since 1976.  Sooner or later, all of Utah's condemned will be killed by lethal injection.  But for now, some of the men on state's death row have the option of choosing death by firing squad.  Who knew Utah was pro-choice?

Another writes:

Yes, let's bring back the firing squad.  But have it made up of members randomly chosen from a group of the condemned's peers in a process exactly like that used to impanel a jury.  Execution duty.  What better way to drive home the point that a state execution is an execution by We the People and that we as individuals are responsible for this brutality?  Would our appetite for the death penalty begin to erode when individual citizens had to face this dreadful duty?

Amanda Knox attends her appeal hearing at Perugia's Court of Appeal on September 30, 2011 in Perugia, Italy. Knox and Raffaele Sollecito are awaiting the verdict of their appeal that could see their conviction for the murder of Meredith Kercher overturned. American student Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend Sollecito, who were convicted in 2009 of killing their British roommate Kercher in Perugia, Italy in 2007, have served nearly four years in jail after being sentenced to 26 and 25 years respectively. By Franco Origlia/Getty Images.

The door is closing:

The filing deadlines are one of the most important barriers to someone entering the race this late. Besides Florida and New Hampshire, South Carolina and Michigan’s deadlines are on November 1 and 15 respectively, and New Hampshire’s filing deadline may be moved earlier to accommodate an earlier primary date. There might still be enough time to meet those deadlines, but that assumes that new campaigns know what they’re doing. Even Perry’s campaign had a lot of catching up to do when he entered the race in August, and learning all the requirements is a time-consuming process

Warren Murray beholds the latest gaffe in Chinese propaganda-making:

To mark the launch [of the Tiangong-1 space lab], the Chinese space agency and China Central Television (CCTV) released a proud animation, set to rousing orchestral strains, of the "Heavenly Palace" thrusting skyward, lofting above the Earth and docking with a Shenzhou crew capsule. The only problem being that the backing music in question is America the Beautiful – more or less an unofficial national anthem of the United States. The Guardian spotted the blunder after picking up the video from the Reuters news agency while covering the launch.

(Hat tip: Fallows)

Dana Goldstein sees a big shift:

Polling of young American Jews shows that with the exception of the Orthodox, many of us feel less attached to Israel than do our baby boomer parents, who came of age during the era of the 1967 and 1973 wars, when Israel was less of an aggressor and more a victim. A 2007 poll by Steven Cohen of Hebrew Union College and Ari Kelman of the University of California at Davis found that although the majority of American Jews of all ages continue to identify as "pro-Israel," those under 35 are less likely to identify as "Zionist." Over 40% of American Jews under 35 believe that "Israel occupies land belonging to someone else," and over 30% report sometimes feeling "ashamed" of Israel's actions.

She follows up at her blog:

What I didn't have space to explain in the piece is that even organizations that have traditionally promoted an uncritical view of Israel are now accepting that the terms of the debate have changed. Hillel, for example, the most prominent Jewish organization on college campuses, last week launched "Talk Israel Tents" on 21 campuses, in which students were encouraged to openly debate Palestinian statehood and other issues.

Ezra Klein thinks the Eurozone is stalling:

The longer Europe spends under this cloud, the harder it is for them to grow. The harder it is for them to grow, the worse these debts become. And the worse these debts become, the harder they are to pay off. The cost of denying the problem is to make the problem worse. But for Europe's leaders, that is, at least for now, an easier price to pay. Actually fixing the problem might ultimately be cheaper, but it requires a wealth of political capital and continental unity that they simply don't have.