Month: July 2009

Conor Friedersdorf argues that Obama picked the wrong battle in Gates:

[S]ix months into his tenure, President Obama offered his most prominent statement on race and criminal justice on behalf of a wealthy Ivy League buddy. Were that all, the president might have avoided burnishing his reputation for elitism. Last week, I defended him against that charge, noting that he was asked about the Gates incident. Notably "stupid" is his deliberately prolonging the controversy—beyond even a second press conference—for a round of beers and several more news cycles.

There are literally hundreds of cases where innocent, disproportionally black prisoners would benefit from a presidential mention, never mind two press conferences and a happy hour.

World-famous stoner, Michael Phelps, proves just how helpful marijuana is for advancing your career in all sorts of venues, even swimming:

A reader writes:

One of the Persian women I am fortunate to have as family introduced me to the art of Feeroozeh Golmohammadi.  A very highly regarded painter in Iran and elsewhere,  she is credited with modernizing Persian miniature painting. She draws from Persian mythology and literature for her art.  A primary theme is women. They are imbued with the strength, beauty and vibrancy of her culture.

A second reader highlights the work of another Iranian painter, realist Iman Maleki.

Goldblog deeply grasps the essential truth of the blogosphere. And Ann Althouse. As for men in shorts: I say. Which men? And what kind of shorts? See? We're intellectuals here at the Atlantic.

Dahlia Lithwick transformed the Senate judiciary committee's Sotomayor arguments into haiku form. Here's one:

(Hat tip: Goldblog)

From Factcheck:

FactCheck.org staffers have now seen, touched, examined and photographed the original birth certificate. We conclude that it meets all of the requirements from the State Department for proving U.S. citizenship. Claims that the document lacks a raised seal or a signature are false. We have posted high-resolution photographs of the document as "supporting documents" to this article. Our conclusion: Obama was born in the U.S.A. just as he has always said.

Here's where they say it is:

FactCheck representatives got a chance to spend some time with the birth certificate, and we can attest to the fact that it is real and three-dimensional and resides at the Obama headquarters in Chicago. We can assure readers that the certificate does bear a raised seal, and that it's stamped on the back by Hawaii state registrar Alvin T. Onaka (who uses a signature stamp rather than signing individual birth certificates).

So the Obama campaign has the original, has allowed factcheck.org to look at it, but won't let anyone else? Or am I missing something?

A reader writes:

I want Obama to instruct the Hawaii officials to release the official original document they say they have in their hands. Why not?

Long exposures of bugs under street lamps:

flight patterns from Charlie McCarthy on Vimeo.

An update here. He is – surprise! – African-American. The cops knew that he was deaf and disabled before they charged him with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and failure to obey a police officer. His own account of what happened – written in language typical for a ten-year-old – is heart-breaking. The police made sure he was humiliated as much as possible. There's an investigation into the incident.