Month: November 2009

Eli Lake has a long article on Trita Parsi and NIAC. My previous defense of Parsi is here. NIAC's response to Eli is here. After all the hyper-ventilating about this piece, one's only real response is: pffft. This is a story?

Mike Konczal and Mary Kane ask why financial literacy isn't being taught to the public:

As Calculated Risk has repeatedly asked, why aren’t consumers being educated on the perils of not paying their credit card bills off in full every month? Probably because, in the absence of untainted financial literacy advice, a company like Visa is backing a high-profile financial literacy initiative. It seems unlikely advising people pay off their credit cards is the focus of that effort.

Dreamers: a photo series.

(Hat tip: Like Cool)

"We were talking in the greenroom about gay categories: bear, cubs and Levi asked what his type would be-we decided a twink, but older, so we anointed him a 'twunk'," – a Playgirl p.r. release, on the now-completed photo-spread of Levi Johnston, the father of Sarah Palin's grandson.

Fairbanks, Alaska, 1.05 pm

Maybe Michiko Kakutani is just "making things up" or reporting erroneously on the book she has just read, but this passage is striking for the level of scientific knowledge John McCain believed was needed for a potential president of the United States:

Elsewhere in this volume she talks about creationism, saying she “didn’t believe in the theory that human beings — thinking, loving beings — originated from fish that sprouted legs and crawled out of the sea” or from “monkeys who eventually swung down from the trees.”

So we have a national candidate whose views on natural selection, perhaps the most important theory in recent scientific history, reveal that the reality she lives in is not related in any serious way to the world she actually inhabits. Good going, Senator McCain.

A man eats a smoked fish besides the harbour at the annual Herring Festival on November 15, 2009 in Clovelly, England. Clovelly's sweet herring was once its staple economy and so for the past few years the historic Devon fishing village has been celebrating the fish, known as the 'silver darlings' in a annual festival which coincides with when they are in season. Built into a cliff, unusually, the village is privately owned by the same family since 1738 who keep it in the style of mid 19th century which involves maintenance using traditional materials and craftsmanship and keeping the streets cobbled and traffic-free.  By Matt Cardy/Getty Images.

Well, she has now thrown down a gauntlet that the Dish will be very eager to take up in the next few days.

Yesterday the AP ran a story describing some of the contents of the book, and arguing that many assertions in it are, like so much of what Palin has said, empirically untrue. And they provided some evidence from the real world to prove that.

This morning, Palin wrote the following in response:

"They're now erroneously reporting on the book's contents… "

The Dish did not include the AP story in our constantly expanding odd lies series because we don't have the book yet and would need it to see context, text, etc. in order to assess the AP's claims. But here we have a clear empirical assertion by Palin that we can subsequently check.

Did the AP erroneously report on the book's contents, as Palin claims?

Did they "make things up"? Well, we will soon find out.

And by the way, governor Palin, since you clearly read this blog: which of the 32 lies we have already documented can you rebut? We'd be delighted to give you a platform to clear up any factual inaccuracies or misunderstandings that we might have unwittingly published by merely relying on the public record. Presumably, you have more facts at your disposal that could disprove these odd untruths. Any time you want to make your case, we will happily publish your response in full with no edits so you can explain the vast discrepancy between observed reality and your version of it.

Or is this offer libelous as well?

Liz Cheney has become an almost comic echo of her war criminal father.

We are nine months into Obama's first term. He inherited two disastrous and failed wars, a recession steeper than any since the Great Depression, countless prisoners of war imprisoned in a gulag in Cuba and largely unprosecutable because of torture illegally authorized by the former president, $5 trillion of debt accrued in eight years by Dick "deficits don't matter" Cheney, alliances frayed to near-collapse, and a total failure in eight years to do anything about climate change.

And she actually says that a Republican in 2013 will have to cope with the damage Obama has done to the country! And she talks about America's "standing in the world"!

Yes, this is the world she inhabits, a world of shamelessness, cynicism and contempt for this country's stability and health. She is her father's daughter.

David Brooks assesses Sarah Palin's abilities.