Month: June 2011

Julia Felsenthal searches for other countries' version of the American Dream:

U.K. Labour Party leader Ed Miliband coined the phrase "the British Promise", meaning that each generation can and will do better than the last, but it hasn't caught on. After the fall of the Soviet Union, both Boris Yeltsin, in 1996, and Vladimir Putin, in 1999, asked advisers to think up a "national idea" or a "Russian idea" to replace the outdated Soviet/Communist ideologies. But the search eventually turned into a bit of a joke, and the phrase never came to embody one particular notion.

Matt Steinglass offers an older example, the "Russian idea" from the 19th and early 20th centuries:

It was a fuzzy mixture of philosophical, moral, political and aesthetic notions, along with a certain vision of what "the good life" looked like—much like the American dream. … Though, unfortunately, the disastrous political and economic system Russia settled on in the 20th century pretty much ended that attraction.

John Sides sizes it up:

I’ve heard commentators opine on whether people’s attitudes toward the ACA will grow more favorable with time, once they see that it helps them in various ways.  This presupposes that people’s attitudes about health care reform are predicated on self-interest. … Health care opinions are really based on things that don’t change very much: partisanship, ideology, values. …

This comports with an argument I’ve made previously: public opinion about health care reform derives from cues provided by political elites.  Thus, the sharp division between Democratic and Republican leaders produced polarized attitudes among Democrats and Republicans in the public.

The financial kind, that is. Jonah Lehrer explains:

[Read Montague, a neuroscientist at Virginia Tech] argues that the urge to speculate is rooted in our mental software. In particular, bubbles seem to depend on a unique human talent called “fictive learning,” which is the ability to learn from hypothetical scenarios and counterfactual questions. In other words, people don’t just learn from mistakes they’ve actually made – they’re able to learn from mistakes they might have made, if only they’d done something different.

Unfortunately, fictive learning can also lead us astray, which is what happens during financial bubbles. Investors, after all, are constantly engaging in fictive learning, as they compare their actual returns against the returns that might have been, if only they’d sold their shares before the crash or bought Google stock when the company first went public.

(Photo: Janek Skarzynski/AFP/Getty Images)

Maria Bustillos implores you to at least pay attention:

What a candidate says during debates and in the last months of a campaign will unfortunately give you little to no idea of what he or she actually believes or how he or she would behave in office. Each candidate, particularly as things heat up at the end, will be tailoring his every syllable to the dictates of pollsters and campaign strategists, or "lying varmints" as they are also known, who don't give one one-thousandth of a damn about anything but winning the election. There's no law against lying in campaigns or in campaign advertising. You can't sue anyone afterward for having misled you. However, if you start now, you can learn a ton and not be completely bamboozled by all the hype and pundits and bullshit that surrounds this thing, which was already an epic amount …

Tim De Chant analyzes the above chart (click to enlarge) on population density to understand how high-speed rail might work in the US:

Ohio and Florida—both of which unfortunately rejected rail funding—are about as dense as France, a world leader in high-speed rail. Illinois, Virginia, and North Carolina sit one density level down, but are on par with Spain and Austria, both of which host high-speed rail.

Chris Mooney summarizes a recent paper (pdf) on the heritability of political ideology and how specific genes are associated with certain political views. Razib Khan analyzes how this applies to the real world:

The disposition toward conservatism and liberalism does not manifest in absolute tendencies, but attitudes and actions comprehensible only against a reference which allows for one’s own bias to come to the fore. This is why heritabilities of being conservative and liberal can remain the same over time and across cultures, even though conservative and liberal can mean very different things in different contexts. Some natural genetic variance in the traits which allow for political ideological difference may also suggest to us there is little possibility of a “end of politics,” where there is total unanimity on all topics.

By Rich Lam/Getty Images

Today on the Dish, the GOP finally stepped up to restrict the president's unchecked power with signing statements, and Amy Davidson belittled Obama's vision for one-way war. PM Carpenter compared Andrew's true conservatism to his own conservative progressivism, and Razib Khan analyzed how genetics impacts whether we lean liberal or conservative. Perry's Texas relied on the minimum wage, and his outlandish threats to have Texas secede won't help his election bid. Educated women select male children over females more than their poor counterparts, and talk radio took money from GOP think tanks to promote their world view. Palin wondered what her next big announcment will be, and Weiner's penis wasn't too big to fail his brain.

Rationing isn't a dirty word, and Andrew's broken pinky opened his eyes to the archaic systems of private sector healthcare. One reader's story gave us hope for marriage equality in New York, but delays kept it from happening today. Obama doesn't bully Israel, women got behind the wheel in Saudi Arabia, and we welcomed dropping "Internet in a Suitcase" to aid the Arab Spring, rather than bombs. Solar edged ahead of steel, but that all depends on how you count the employment numbers. Badges endanger off-duty cops, tomatoes are the new blood diamonds, and don't worry, Google didn't ruin the VFYW contest. Better biofuels could make for better fuel and algae icecream, technology helped create jobs, and science invented poop meat.

Andrew treasured how magic mushrooms enhanced his faith, and we toured the best church floats in America. TNC enlightened Louis C.K. about why Tracy Morgan's comments actually did damage, and a hard knock to the head could jolt the brain out of depression. Fiction appealed to our sense of possibility, working hard pays off until it doesn't, and this man's act of forgiveness and love saved us all. Santorumism of the day here, poseur alert generator here, cool ad watch here, quote for the day here, VFYW here, MHB here, and FOTD here.

Thursday on the Dish, Andrew reiterated the truths that conservatism used to stand for, and feared Obama's illegal drone wars. Huntsman paved the way for a Republican isolationist, readers picked on Perry's successful Texas and compared it to Massachusetts, and Nate Silver measured governors' advantage. Romney appealed to voters for being electable, Gore embraced him, but his jokes still fell flat. Bachmann struggled to secure the elites' support, Cain remained blind to his islamophobia, al Qaeda found a new boss, and Joe Klein got misanthropic.

Weiner resigned for not having sex, but he wasn't the first and Cardiff Garcia reminded us that cracking down on all immigration isn't good. Bush's CIA went after academics, Obama was still running against Bush, and readers argued swiftboating is when we became Rome. Art schooled history as a more practical career, willpower comes easy after a good night's rest, and the internet allowed all of us to disappear into our fantasies. Photographs tracked the past, and readers remained suspicious of a universal, happy Facebook. ATMs didn't steal our jobs, a eunuch shared Andrew's vision of masculinity and testosterone, and Timberlake exited the cannabis closet. Readers counseled our depressed reader (some with tough love), and Douthat still feared a prescription for suicide.

Beardage watch here, app of the day here, quote for the day here, modernized book quotes here, correction here, home news here, creepy ad watch here, MHB here, FOTD here, VFYW here and the view from your airplane window here.

Monknash, South Wales, 12 pm

Wednesday on the Dish, Andrew weighed in on Tracy Morgan's homophobic rant and Romney's inability to say Afghans, while Republicans may have turned the page for peace. Bjorn Lomborg still believed innovation could solve climate change, Andrew challenged Pareene on why we shouldn't always out gay politicians, and we unpacked the Judge Vaughn Walker ruling, which showed that everyone benefits from equal treatment under the law.

Texas offered Rick Perry a success story, Michelle Goldberg exposed Bachmann's extreme, religious roots, and Romney offered a reliable empty shell candidacy. Bush's tax cuts paled in comparison to Pawlenty's, America failed miserably in global healthcare ratings, and retirement funds and social security remained the third rail of American politics. Robert Gates called out NATO, Stephen Walt and Joyner picked sides, and Coburn bested Norquist on tax cuts and we looked for a trend. Marc Lynch advised Obama to exercise prudence in Syria, whistleblowers won, and drones bucked oversight under the CIA.

Facebook peaked, only those without internet remained, and Mike Masnick promoted letting old companies expire. Tea Party kids learned the meaning of liberty at summer camp, Google threatened the VFYW contest, and not all sex offenders are created equal. A journalist tried to tell a joke to the Dalai Lama, readers comforted the troubled author of a depressed confession and shared stories of their own. Map of the day here, quotes for the day here and here, Ygesias award here, VFYW here, MHB here, and FOTD here.

By Donald Weber

Tuesday on the Dish, Douthat corralled Weiner in with Spitzer and Schwarzenegger, Andrew argued that nude photos don't constitute a fringe activity or a crime, and explained why play (even silly or unsafe play) is essential to human civilization. Andrew responded to readers on Palin's prescient pregnancy, and even Trignostic Joe McGinniss wavered.

The GOP candidates still couldn't acknowledge gays (or immigrants) as part of the American family, and outed themselves as more of a church than a party. We sized up the Bachmann bubble, dusted off the crystal ball for 2012, channeled the donor mindset, and remembered the beginning of the end with the Terri Schiavo case. A better budget deficit helps the investment market, tort reform couldn't solve the healthcare conundrum, and you can calculate the cost of your vacation (in money, time and carbon) here. Chuck Klosterman disapproved of DVR'd sports, The Voice welcomed the gays more than American Idol, headline news gave us headaches, Conan advised the graduates, and this post on suicide and depression broke our hearts.

The male "gay girl in Damascus" flirted with another male posing as a lesbian online, the US couldn't do much more for Syria, and accountability may be on the horizon for war crimes at Abu Ghraib. Americans supported Obama's take on Israel, but his unchecked use of drone warfare in Yemen doesn't bode well for curbing future war powers. Afghanistan's economy remained vulnerable as we prepare to pull out, the US stood tall as the only country still armed for the Cold War, and Don Gomez urged us to reserve the title "Hero" for those who actually earn it.

Quotes for the day here, here and here, dissents of the day here, MHB here, FOTD here, VFYW here and contest winner #54 here.

Maras, Peru, 12 pm

Monday on the Dish, we live-blogged the first GOP debate, with the full web reax here. Andrew scrutinized the super-relaxed emails Palin sent on the day Trig was born, and decoded the divine prescience of Sarah Palin, who wrote in the voice of God. A Palin loyalist abandoned ship, a reader nominated her as the defining moment our politics became decadent, and Michelle Bachmann schooled her in political maneuvering. Herman Cain appeased white tea partiers on race, Pawlenty's (economics) and jokes bombed, the GOP excluded Gary Johnson from the debate, and Romney as the frontrunner still lagged behind.

Readers reacted to the bearded man behind the "gay" "girl" in "Damascus," and we parsed the implications for real gay bloggers in the Middle East. Libyan revolutionaries just wanted bureaucracy, Egypt didn't want elections, and as troops come home, the number of contractors will likely increase.

Laura Kipnis psychoanalyzed Weiner, we loved to kick the powerful when they're down, and Andrew chalked it up to "texting while male." We crossed our fingers for marriage equality in New York, Virginia Postrel tackled the lightbulb ban, and Ezra Klein asked what it would take to end the war on drugs. We pondered how keeping bodies alive has become the default mode of end of life care in America, and assessed the power of preschool. David Sirota popped the Groupon bubble, over-fishing messed with the oceans beyond repair, and old people hijacked jobs from young people. We took a bad trip down memory lane, and a star was born.

Chart of the day here, hathos alert here, email of the day here, Matt and Trey bait here, Malkin award here, Yglesias award here, quotes for the day here, here and here, VFYW here, MHB here, and FOTD here.

–Z.P.

"In the subconsciousness of haters there slumbers a perverse feeling that they alone possess the truth, that they are some kind of superhumans or even gods, and thus deserve the world’s complete recognition, even its complete submissiveness and loyalty, if not its blind obedience. They want to be the centre of the world and are constantly frustrated and irritated because the world does not accept and recognize them as such; indeed, it may not even pay any attention to them, and perhaps it even ridicules them," – Vaclav Havel. Pete Wehner associates this with Keith Olbermann. To me, it summons up Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter. But Olbermann isn't far behind.

In this handout photo provided by ISAF Regional Command (South), U.S. Army Pfc. Shawn Williams of the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division based in Fort Wainwright, Alaska, is treated by flight medic U.S. Army Sgt. Daniel Sherwin en route to the Role 3 military hospital at Kandahar Airfield for additional treatment after he was injured by a roadside bomb June 17, 2011 in the Kandahar Province of Afghanistan. Sherwin is assigned to the Charlie Company, 1-52 Aviation Regiment, also based in Fort Wainwright. By U.S. Navy Lt. j.g. Haraz N. Ghanbari/U.S. Navy via Getty Images.