Month: April 2011

Sean Carroll reminds us of how much:

In Germany they are currently debating rules on what data companies can keep and analyze, vs. what they must throw away. To make a point, Green Party politician Malte Spitz went to court to force Deutsche Telekom to share the data they had collected about him, just from his mobile phone. What is revealed, basically, is where he was essentially at every moment of the day. Spitz handed the information over to Zeit Online, who combined it with information he revealed himself via Twitter and his blog, to make a scarily detailed chronological map of his daily activities. …

People can decide for themselves whether this is intrusive or benign; more than a few people put nearly as much information online anyway, without thinking twice. But you should know that it’s out there.

Today on the Dish, Andrew envisioned the end, where infighting could occur if Qaddafi leaves, but trusted in Obama. Andrew sized up King Barack's reign, and kept digging into Gandhi's gay past. Douthat parsed the defections (we wondered about Bob Gates' resignation), Steve Coll advised us not to arm the rebels, and David Brooks toed the Obama line. Serwer wasn't letting Brooks get away with his Niebuhr Libyan war theory, Paul Woodward asked which revolutions we can trust, and the lines between civilians, rebels, and Qaddafi's forces all blurred. Bahrain quietly stamped out its own protests, Packer compared Ivory Coast rebels to Libyan rebels, and we still needed to get out of Afghanistan. An American in Syria disappeared and reappeared, while protests there continued despite government crackdowns.

Government shutdown loomed, and Andrew called out Obama birthers while still asking for Trig's birth certificate. We gathered the blogosphere's job reax, Mataconis signalled some sort of recovery, and Americans remained uninformed about our debt. Andrew Gelman tracked the Tea Party's work in Washington, Bachmann beat Romney in raising money, and Andrew contemplated demographics change. The dirt-eating continued, Alexis wanted to harness our failures, hockey was for homos too, and 2007 wanted its rickroll joke back. Andrew got punked by Arianna, readers cheered on the fat goalie thread, butterflies attacked, and Andrew wobbled on his Santa beard.

Home news about the Beast move here, view from your airplane here, chart of the day here, Yglesias award here, quotes for the day here and here, VFYW here, MHB here, and FOTD here.

Ubud, Bali, 12 pm

Thursday on the Dish, Andrew ripped apart Obama's blatant disregard for the War Powers Act, and then Obama accepted his transparency award. Andrew wasn't patting Hitch on the back for Iraq, resisted thinking of warfare as good welfare, and urged the boots to stay off the ground. Frum considered BP's stake, cracks appeared in Qaddafi's regime, and Ackerman mocked Qaddafi for resorting to mines on his own people. Koussa's defection could yield new revelations about the Lockerbie bombing, Paul D. Miller differentiated Libya from Rwanda, women in foreign policy wanted war, and Freddie considered the news cycle. Assad's car got rushed, Christopher A. Preble wasn't optimistic about defense spending cuts, and the anti-war movement was way too partisan. Rand Paul believed in Congress and Bob Gates spoke truth.

Ezra Klein blamed Congress for Obama's weak energy policy, jobs remained dismal, and Uncle Sam subsidized sugar. Reihan debated Rob Horning on capitalism, Fox followed Trump down the birther rabbit hole, cap and trade used to be right wing, and Giffords got shuffled towards candidacy in an uneasy way. Gays schooled Newt in respect for marriage, and service in the military, and beefy lady superheroes could scare little boys. TNC discovered King Lear, the Dish challenged VFYW maniacs to an encryption test, Tim Lee stood up for serious web journalism, and Dish readers gave us the dirt on eating Kenya's good soil.

Charts of the day here and here, fear the beard here, quotes for the day here and here, cool ad watch here, VFYW here, Yglesias award here, dissent of the day here, MHB here, FOTD here, and adventures in Arabic here.

Wednesday on the Dish, Andrew picked apart American Exceptionalism in the age of the empire. He also expressed total disbelief as our military intentions in Libya went deeper than we thought.

Meanwhile Qaddafi's regime may be collapsing in on him. Andrew recalled the Constitution that tried to make war hard to declare, Larison questioned a war based on Al Jazeera's coverage, and Benjamin H. Friedman encouraged the Pentagon to find the funding for wars in its own budget. We debated arming the rebels, tracked their ties to Al Qaeda, and they continued to suffer setbacks. Greg Scoblete wondered if we could walk away, Erik Voeten examined how foreign intervention increases chances of civil war, and Doug Mataconis likened the "right to protect" crowd to the new neoconservatives. Arab Spring arrived for Angry Birds, and belt buckles tested our fashion knowledge.

The dashed DOMA news crushed Andrew, and he battled deniers that Gandhi was gay. Bernstein looked forward to crowning 2012's King Crazy, while a sane Mitch Daniels would lose it either way. Frum frowned on the GOP's climate change stance, and Christians don't consider Mormons Christian. Richard Florida exposed the conservative states of America, Ezra Klein calculated the economic cost of a government shutdown, and we tracked the reax to Obama's half-assed energy policy.

Michelle Rhee pulled a Nixon on the test scores scandal, urban legends lived on, nuclear power is a Frankenstein for our time. David Brooks taught us the Pareto Principle for everyday use, Lux Alptraum feared the fate of famous boys, and more kids applied to colleges. Julian Sanchez considered how much we deserve from the un-copyrighted inheritance we've gotten, and international media piracy persisted. Readers tried out squirmish, loved the firehose, pregnant women eat dirt, and wedding dresses could be bought in bulk. Yann Arthus Bertrand captured the world from above while Matt Stopera compiled pictures from the world beyond.

Creepy ad watch here, quotes for the day here and here, view from your airplane windows here, VFYW here, MHB here, and FOTD here.

Dogboarding from DANIELS on Vimeo.

Tuesday on the Dish, Andrew asked conservativism to consider raising income tax rates, and bemoaned the slim pickings for 2012 since the GOP has gone fringe. Newt feared a secular socialist Islamist America, Romney's phoniness trumped all, and the Tea Party still tilted towards unbearably white. Andrew and Dan Savage gave the Obamaites credit for changing course on gay rights, TNC considered Ferraro's white populism, and Philip Greenspun questioned a $40 million paywall. Herman Cain played the black conservative victim card, Ezra Klein wanted to tweak Social Security to save them, and Alexis tracked the death of the first electric car (in 1900).

Rebel forces hadn't quite overtaken Qaddafi's hometown, bodies piled up, and recents victories were reversed. Douthat didn't think Obama owned up to his real choice in Libya, but the American public approved of the Goldilocks war. Exum and feared a stalemate, Marc Lynch put Arab opinion with Obama, Roger Cohen urged ruthlessness, and Andrew wondered if our intervention would ruin nascent rebellions in other countries. Freddie dismantled the metaphor of Libya as an old woman, Israel yawned, and Palin named the war a squirmish. Nick Kimbrell compiled a soundtrack the the Arab revolutions, Crowley stood by his disapproval of Manning's treatment, and the US challenged authoritarian regimes for who could kill the most prisoners. Matt Alt contrasted the Japanese coverage of the crisis, and Goldman Sachs ordered its employees to stay in Japan.

Andrew filtered his belief in God through his Catholicism, Linton Weeks assessed our kibbles and bits society, and readers got blasted by the Dish firehose. South Park seeped into Andrew's subconscious, a reader re-invented the Kinsey Gaffe, and beardage was still trending. Social networking could end bullying, love could save architecture, and sometimes incentives corrupt. Top teenage dirty words here, ultimate spoiler here, quotes for the day here, here and here, MHB here, FOTD here, VFYW here, and VFYW contest winner #43 here.

By Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images

Monday on the Dish, Andrew parsed Obama's speech on Libya and his undeniable belief in American exceptionalism, and we rounded up the rest of the reax. Andrew requested a budget for Libya, debated war without vital national interests at stake, and likened Obama to Angelina with an air force. Per Freddie's request, Andrew expressed relief at the massacre averted by the war, Goldblog questioned the vacuum being created, and Exum explored what winning in Libya would mean. Steve Negus decoded America's abstract mission in Libya, and Peter Feaver outlined advice for Obama. A statue fell in Dara'a, a woman protested her own rape by Qaddafi's forces, and we checked in on Benghazi. Some bristled at NATO's involvement, the pro-Qaddafi rhetoric fizzled, and John Lee Anderson still couldn't figure out who exactly leads the rebels. Demonstrations stirred in Iraq, Jackson Diehl shilled for Israel, and Greg Scoblete examined two bad options following Somalia's model.

More disturbing footage poured in from Japan, a kid from Wasilla pled guilty, and religion created political order in the world. A homosexual was stoned in Pennsylvania, while gay marriage in Holland celebrated ten years and a fraction of the divorce rate as their straight counterparts. Gingrich's favorables plummeted, Mark Blumenthal tracked the GOP's House, Nate Silver believed Romney could win, and Bachmann eyed Iowa. A Mormon seconded Andrew's review of "The Book Of Mormon," Andrew gaped at looniness on the right and Trump birthed it up with a false birth certificate of his own.

The Boomers kept trucking, goodwill wages don't last long, and the law school bubble burst. The slush pile sells well, royal weddings hurt tourism, and Roger Ebert peddled fares on Amazon. America had to get bigger buses, viruses represent a fourth domain of life, and the New York Times ignored DC's female bloggers (again). American teenagers were invented after war, information had a new lease on life, and the wall went up. Angry Birds went Hollywood, the future web on tablets beckoned, and a reader nominated TNC to replace Bob Herbert. Malkin award here, Yglesias award here, dissents of the day here, bucketload of creepy here, quotes for the day here, beard of the day here, VFYW here, MHB here, and FOTD here.

–Z.P.

Packer compares Ivory Coast rebels to Libyan rebels:

The key to [Ivorian rebels'] success is the legitimacy of their leader, Ouattara. I don’t know whether the rebels have developed into a more disciplined fighting force than they were eight years ago—there is evidence that they have. But they’ve become politically sophisticated. The regional support for Ouattara, the isolation of Gbagbo, the financial vise grip that kept his soldiers from getting paid, and the collapse of his military command all led to the demoralization and disintegration of the regime. These were the advantages of the Ivorian rebels over the Libyans: years of experience, political leadership, a fair election, a fatally weakened regime that lost the will to fight.

The only help the Ivorian rebels needed from the outside world was the stamp of legitimacy. The needs of the Libyan rebels seem bottomless.

A reader writes:

I once had the pleasure of hiking in Yellowstone National Park with USGS wildlife biologist Dave Mattson, a man who, thanks to his job, may have walked more of the nation's public lands than anyone else. He took us too a spot along the Yellowstone River where grizzly bears eat volcanic dirt, especially in the spring when they come out of hibernation. There are numerous theories as to why they do so, but, as with pregnant women, there is no surefire explanation. The soil they eat – and they seek out a specific type – is high in potassium. An abstract of a paper co-authored by Mattson is here. According to this grizzly bear blog:

The researchers concluded the soil consumption may have several functions. Like ungulates, grizzlies may eat earth to detoxify secondary compounds present in the foliage they consume and to supplement their diet with potassium. In the areas where grizzlies ingested soil, the earth has very high in potassium, magnesium and sulphur. The authors also suggest that that by consuming these soils, the bears may prevent diarrhea by helping to get rid of some parasites and bacteria in the alimentary tract.

The image of those bears seeking out and eating this special earth reminded me of human geophagy, most notably Rebeca in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "100 Years of Solitude and the pilgrims who eat the "holy dirt" at El Santuario de Chimayo in New Mexico. In reference to Chimayo, the CDC says:

Eating dirt, then, rather than being abnormal, may be an evolutionary adaptation acquired over millennia of productive and not-so-productive interactions with bacteria—an adaptation that enhances fetal immunity and increases calcium, eliminates gastric upset, detoxifies some plant and animal toxins, and perhaps boosts mothers’ immunity at times when the hormones of pregnancy (13), factors produced by the fetus (14), changes in the complement system, replacement of MHC class I antigens in the trophoblast (15), and who knows what else suppress the mother’s natural immunologic desire to destroy her fetus—a miracle, nearly.

Another reader sends in a passage from "One Hundred Years of Solitude":

On rainy afternoons, embroidering with a group of friends on the begonia porch, she would lose the thread of the conversation and a tear of nostalgia would salt her palate when she saw the strips of damp earth and the piles of mud that the earthworms had pushed up in the garden. Those secret tastes, defeated in the past by oranges and rhubarb, broke out into an irrepressible urge when she began to weep. She went back to eating earth.

The first time she did it almost out of curiosity, sure that the bad taste would be the best cure for the temptation. And, in fact, she could not bear the earth in her mouth. But she persevered, overcome by the growing anxiety, and little by little she was getting back her ancestral appetite, the taste of primary minerals, the unbridled satisfaction of what was the original food. She would put handfuls of earth in her pockets, and ate them in small bits without being seen, with a confused feeling of pleasure and rage, as she instructed her girl friends in the most difficult needlepoint and spoke about other men, who did not deserve the sacrifice of having one eat the whitewash on the walls because of them.

The handfuls of earth made the only man who deserved that show of degradation  less remote and more certain, as if the ground that he walked on with his fine patent leather boots in another part of the world were transmitting to her the weight and the temperature of his blood in a mineral savor that left a harsh aftertaste in her mouth and a sediment of peace in her heart.

Weigel considers the consequences of Trump questioning Obama's birthplace:

I tried to get at this in my piece about the "birther primary." The problem for Republicans, who are still slow-walking their entry into the race, is that they've got a media lightning rod who's reintroducing an issue that they'd hoped would either 1) go away or 2) come up only in town halls where they could dispatch it.

But the base believes this. And maybe Trump does too. Sometimes the people who cover politics assume more tactical and cynical calculations than, in reality, exist. I have no issue in principle with a public demand for a birth certificate. But once Obama provided the proof, the game is over.

And this is the key difference between "Birthers" and "Trig Truthers". There is evidentiary proof that the Birthers are completely wrong. We have no proof of the maternity of Trig Palin – and no journalist has ever asked her to explain the circumstances of her fifth alleged pregnancy. And it would be as easy to provide as a birth certificate.

Queen Elizabeth II arrives by jet at RAF Valley where Prince William is stationed as a search and rescue helicopter pilot on April 1, 2011 in Holyhead, United Kingdom. The Queen toured the airbase meeting staff and families and was given a guided tour of a Sea King search and rescue helicopter by Prince William. By Christopher Furlong – WPA Pool/Getty Images.

One thing that one can only respect among the British royals. The heir to the throne and his brother served in the military. And that tradition goes back an awfully long way.

A reader writes:

Oh man, Rickrolled on April 1st.  I've now reached a new low …

Another:

Damn you, Sullivan, I fall for it EVERY TIME.

Heh. Another:

I am so freaking gullible.

Not as gullible as this guy.

A reader writes:

Last night my favourite team, the Vancouver Canucks, clinched first place in regular season league play for the first time in their 40 year NHL history.  Check out this clip from the game last night, where the announcer discusses a couple of additions to the team this year that, uh, brought them over the hump. The dialog near the 30 second mark is too perfect.

A reader writes:

Gates has been planning to resign this year anyway. See this item from last August.

He has said he's resigning on many occasions. He's still there. But a resignation over a foolish piece of war-making would be a big and damaging story for Obama.