Month: January 2011

"[If I could change one thing about the GOP] I would make it so that every time we are tempted to talk about the size of government we talk also (and more so) about the purpose of government. This would make us more focused on policy particulars than on vague abstractions, better able to offer an alternative to the left’s agenda rather than just slowing the pace of its implementation, and better able to speak to the aspirations of the larger public,"- Yuval Levin, Conservative Home.

Today on the Dish, Andrew exposed Paul Ryan for a fraud, the GOP's healthcare repeal law would increase the deficit by $230 billion, and Douthat called the GOP on their spending illusions. An Irish Catholic sportswriter came out, and readers challenged Andrew on his claim that Catholics approve. We got some historical perspective on calling a horserace this early, and the GOP was reliving 1994 again. Issa's attack on Obama backfired, and Sullum weighed the president's options for vetoing military spending on Gitmo. We covered the Daley decision, and Ezra tried to unpack it, with Sargent's help. Palin's public records get the special treatment, and Ann Coulter baited her. Andrew stuck to his guns on Will's support for Palin for president, Victor Davis Hanson accused the wrong person of sophistry on bogus grounds, and the government takeover of healthcare has already happened.

Andrew cleared up Grover Norquist's "boring white bread Methodist" faith, and Heritage bowed out of CPAC. The Grand Mufti of Egypt and Muslim moderates shut Marty's argument down, and Joe Klein tried to unravel the Afghan endgame from his last conversation with Holbrooke. Marc Lynch worried about the stirrings of an Arab uprising, and Iraq had lots and lots of public employees. Brits loved America for British reasons, and some Israelis could make fun of themselves. Clay Shirky documented the shifting of the international tides with Assange and Wikileaks, and the NYT couldn't hold a candle to Dish VFYW readers. Conservatives centered their crosshairs on invincible Jane Mayer, Andrew Wakefield's lies may have killed children, and Francine Prose helped Andrew see why the difference between slave and nigger matters in Huck Finn.

Lego ads used to be great, we heard more reader stories of international and racially diverse adoptions, and asshole parents make Keanu sad. Jeffrey Leonard proposed cutting off all energy subsidies to save green tech, and the world's four riches citizens control more wealth than the world's poorest 57 countries. Comments are sexist but people are racists, and the American anti-contraceptive culture effects teenage pregnancy.  Danny McBride fused powers with James Franco, and self-deception sells jewelry. Love poured in for the Birds, even while children were vomitting. Men laughed with fruit salad, this coach hated losers, and Phillip S. Smith reviewed the Cannabis Closet. Quote for the day here, VFYW here, MHB here, FOTD here, and Von Hoffmann award here.

–Z.P.

More readers respond to this controversial post:

“Unadulterated crap” indeed. This cute video went viral last spring. The family is on a road trip and the little Korean toddler starts wailing because his African-American dad tells him he can’t be a “single lady” while his white and South-Asian sisters are singing to Beyonce’s “Single Ladies”. CBS then interviewed the family and they talked about adopting the kid from South Korea. They seem pretty alright to me.

Another writes:

The couple waiting to be able to adopt a child whose racial profile matches theirs is waiting for the illusion of control.  I can hardly fault them for it as my partner and I did the same thing.

We read books and attended classes. We spent three hours discussing whether two white woman could ever give a black child what they needed to thrive with my African-American ex-husband.  We studied the complications from drug use during pregnancy and pondered what we would and wouldn’t be able to deal with.  We decided to wait for a white infant with no drug exposure. 

When we received the call in the middle of the night, we flew across the country.  We arrived to discover that our adoption facilitator lied to us. (We didn’t know it at the time but this happens frequently.)  We found ourselves faced with a two months premature, African-American, jaundiced, drug-addicted baby attached to a frightening array of tubes and wires.  When the social worker, who was waiting to whisk him away into foster care, asked if we wanted him, we said yes.  Without hesitation, without question, just yes.  We made the most momentous decision of our lives on not enough sleep and counter to all our carefully laid plans.  Do I think that the facilitator should have lied to us?  Absolutely not.  Are there challenges stemming from our choice?  Of course.  Do we have any regrets?  None.

You can wait for control of all the details.  That doesn’t mean you’ll get it.  You might get something better.

"Thanks to … David Burtka, my better half. You're a phenomenal man and even better dad. And to our two kids, Gideon and Harper," – Neil Patrick Harris, receiving the People's Choice Award for Favorite TV Comedy Actor.

"It’s hard for me to be dispassionate about people who abuse the trust people give physicians; I get even more riled up when someone violates the rules of ethical science.  I think it’s likely that children have not been given the MMR because of Andrew Wakefield’s fraud.  I think it’s likely children have gotten sick because of Andrew Wakefield’s fraud. I think it’s likely children have died. I hope in some way, he feels it," – Aaron Carroll.

Joel Wing notes that "Iraq has more public employees in proportion to its population than any other country its size":

The government’s leading role in employment means that it sets wages and controls the labor market. Many of these workers have no real position, and exist to maintain support for political parties, and keep people off the streets in an attempt to control social unrest. This is similar to many developing countries, especially ones based upon oil since the industry is not labor intensive, so the government ends up creating jobs with the profits. The problem with Iraq is that the number of public employees keeps on increasing each year. That will eventually drain the budget unless priorities are changed. Unfortunately, Baghdad doesn’t seem to have any urge to do so, and will likely continue on with the current path as petroleum revenues are expected to rise with the added production from deals made with foreign companies.

Cane toad Agathe sits on a toy balance during an inventory at the zoo in Hanover, central Germany, on January 5, 2011. All habitants of the zoo are to be counted, weighed and measured during the week long inventory. Agathe weighs 1850 grams. By Holger Hollemann/AFP/Getty Images.

Marc Lynch is troubled by protests in Tunisia, Jordan, Kuwait, Egypt, and Algeria:

I don't expect these protests to bring down any regimes, but really who knows?  It's an unpredictable moment.  Many of these regimes are led by aging, fading leaders such as Hosni Mubarak and Zine el-Abedine Ben Ali who could pass from the scene in a heartbeat — literally.  Nor do I particularly know what to recommend that the Obama administration do. The traditional calls to "promote democracy" are largely irrelevant to this situation, except in the longer-term.  What we are now seeing is the fruit of the failure to promote meaningful reform in the past, but that doesn't mean that doing so now would meet the challenge.   

If these protests continue to spread, both inside of countries and across to other Arab countries, then we really could talk about this being Obama's "Arab Spring"….

A reader writes:

Which parent gets the extra vote? Kinsley's proposal is modest, so to speak.

I vote for Mommy. Another writes:

From a cynical, strategic, political point of view – the possibility of explicit repudiation of retiree debt is an issue worth considering.

Right now, the GOP suffers from a demographic problem – their "base" consists mainly of older white voters; a demographic that is politically powerful due to a propensity to actually vote, but one which is slowly dying off. But what if, at some point, the GOP (or the Dems for that matter) were to replace the culture wars with generational warfare as their political cudgel – openly advocating repudiation of pension debt as a means of deficit-reduction-without-tax-increases?  We've already seen Alan Simpson making snide remarks about the "greediest generation"; but most of the GOP establishment still panders to the elderly with dire warnings about "death panels" and such, hoping Obama will be the one to touch the third rail of US politics.   

But as time passes and the Baby Boomers start to die and more Millennials come of age, I could see such lines of argument ("Grandpa didn't prepare for his own retirement – why should we pay for it?") becoming part of the political mainstream.  We could easily see the social contract which underlies Social Security unravel, with both sides pointing fingers of blame at each other.  And some really nasty demagogues (ones that make the brainless Sarah Palin look tame) could show up at any time to ride the strife to political power.