Month: November 2009

Drum doesn't get it:

I don't quite get what the sanctions crowd is after.  We have no diplomatic relations with Iran.  Trade is embargoed and imports are prohibited.  (Except for Persian rugs!)  We sanction foreign companies who do business with Iran.  Investment in Iran is prohibited.  The Treasury Departments forbids banks from processing even indirect financial transactions with Iran.  There's a little more we could do, but not much.

He doesn't think Chinese and Russian sanctions are forthcoming, which is the general consensus.

Jessa Crispin recalls experiences with the mental health care, or the lack thereof:

Like any other human being living below the standards of your typical cable news commentator, I've had maddening run-ins with the American health care system. In my poorest (and uninsured) days, I used a drug trial to gain access to antidepressants and regular contact with health care professionals. Getting health insurance didn't actually improve matters all that much. Apparently going suddenly (if temporarily) deaf in both ears is not a legitimate reason to go to the emergency room, and my insurance company denied the claim. Everyone I know has a horror story, from a case of pneumonia while uninsured to being told their very real health condition was probably just a panic attack brought on by a husband's going out of town for the weekend. Best system in the world, my eye.

Conservatism has its own brand of identity politics and victimology. From a release from the conservative judicial group, Committee For Justice:

Does President Obama or his advisors believe that southern white men are likely to be bigoted, making them unfit to serve on the second most powerful court in the land? We hope not and readily concede that it is difficult to know if any such stereotype lurks in the White House. The absence of southern white male circuit nominees could, instead, be an innocent coincidence or the not-so-innocent byproduct of a judicial selection process dominated by racial and gender preferences.

Obama's a racist!

Brian Chase writes:

My great-grandmother was a wonderful woman. Her home was one of the warmest, most comforting places I have ever been, and many of my best memories as a child revolve around her kitchen. My great-grandmother was also a bigot. […]

Rod’s argument is also, frankly, unfair to bigots.  My great-grandmother didn’t have much of a chance to be anything but a bigot.  Her bigotry was an accident of history, and not in any real sense a choice.  Frankly, I do not blame her for what she was.  I blame the politicians and writers and preachers who actually had the chance to shape her environment and chose to do so in a way that inflamed bigotry.  I don’t know if those people were actually bigots.  I do know that they deliberately spread the evil of bigotry, which to my mind is far more immoral.

Today on the Dish we saw Karl Rove take his shamelessness to a whole new level. The GOP, on the other hand, actually offered some constructive criticism through its new healthcare proposal. (Now if we could only extend that to the military budget.)

In foreign coverage, a reader brought up the sort of change that Obama has brought to the image of the US – a country that is still #1 – but Marc Lynch warned that the change is beginning to wane. Ackerman updated us on sanctions toward Iran and we spotlighted a depressing tale of an Iranian journalist in jail.

Elsewhere, we tackled the death penalty, glimpsed at a new book on Palin, listened to Levi through Shatner, and watched bloggers go all Mystery Science Theater 3000 on some White House photos.

Today's MHB was incredibly heart-tugging, as evidenced by these tears. Andrew also delved into the emotional debate over children and gay couples, and readers chimed in. He also provided some parting thoughts on Maine and mused over the mission of the Daily Dish.

In case you missed it, Andrew was on Colbert last night (also, check out Stephen as a skinhead).

— C.B.

It's best to wait till tomorrow to discover exactly what we actually know about what happened today. I've now read so many conflicting reports and rumors and speculation about motives that I'm dizzy. We do know now though that the killer is alive, and so some greater understanding will be possible soon. And we also know, despite frenzied speculation, that there was one gunman.

As soon as we have some reliable facts to interpret we'll join the fray. Until then, some restraint. But please pray for all those murdered and their families.

An American soldier stationed in Iraq blogs an exchange he had with his wife in Fort Hood:

Around, midnight, local Iraq time, which was about 2 pm central time, I was just finishing up a late night at work when I decided to call my wife. But the phone didn't ring; I got a busy signal. So I tried email. My wife was already online.

Angela: We are on lock down, baby
me: What?
Angela: We have shooters
me: Lock Down?
Angela: on post schools and everyone
yea
multipule shooters on
me: according to who?
Angela: Clear Creek
The sirens
They're saying to lock all doors and windows
…
Angela: Soldiers?
Who is doing it?
me: They're not saying
Angela: ugh
me: This is ridiculous
I'm in the war zone
not you!
Angela: I know!

Now, I think I have an inkling of an idea of what it's like to be at home while your loved one is in a dangerous combat zone. Here I am in Iraq, worried my wife and son are in danger in their own backyard.

Jann Gumbiner thinks through minors' relationship to pot:

If pot is still illegal to anyone under 21, how will teens get it? I think the most likely scenario is the same as beer and cigarettes. Older brothers and sisters, with IDs, will legally buy packaged marijuana cigarettes at gas stations and share them with younger ones on Friday night parties. As a parent, I ask myself, “how do I feel about this?” And… after a little thought, I actually feel better knowing my child is with trusted friends, ingesting measured substances than on a corner at night buying an illegal substance from a stranger.

Scott Morgan chimes in:

As a teenager, I witnessed firsthand a world in which it was easier to get marijuana than alcohol. I don't just say this now because it suits my agenda; it's the truth. If my friends wanted booze for a party, they planned days ahead. If they wanted pot, they just made a phone call. The difference was that old, but very true, cliché that drug dealers don’t check ID. That's why research has repeatedly shown that teenagers have easier access to marijuana than beer. What can never be quantified, however, are all the other harms that go along with this vast underground, underage drug economy that continues to thrive thanks to marijuana prohibition.

Karl Rove and Michele Bachmann should not celebrate Tuesday too soon: