Month: June 2011

Thomas Denby has mixed feelings about the new Wii console and controller:

Simplicity is the greatest strength of Angry Birds and Wii Sports, but these probably aren’t the height of touch-screen or motion-sensor gaming. And they can’t replace the satisfaction of using all your digits in perfect concert to release a vicious flying uppercut or flash-freeze a nearby vehicle. Humans have evolved to use more complex tools. A generation raised with traditional controllers already finds them pretty intuitive. Just because a baby can use an iPad, does that mean the rest of us have to?

Peter Beinart advocates getting out of Afghanistan:

In truth, what is powering our war in Afghanistan is less logic than inertia. The military brass wants to show that its counterinsurgency theories work—and they are impressive theories developed by impressive men. But it makes no sense to pursue them, at massive financial and human cost, when the threat is modest, and when the United States risks defaulting on its debt.

The Obama White House clearly wants to leave Afghanistan, but it wants to do so without alienating the generals. And it can afford to move slowly because Afghanistan barely makes the news. Americans may no longer believe in the mission, but more important, they rarely think about it. That’s what happens when you outsource war to a small subset of Americans who are extremely patriotic and restricted by law from publicly agitating against the government they serve. How many more of our fellow citizens must die before the rest of us start agitating on their behalf?

A Syrian refugee boy flashes the victory sign as he stands behind a fence at the Turkish Red Crescent camp in the Altinozu district of Hatay, 30 kilometers from the Syrian border, on June 10, 2011. The Syrian army Friday launched an operation against 'armed gangs' in the flashpoint town of Jisr al-Shughur, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the Turkish border, where authorities say 120 police and troops were massacred, according to Syrian state television. The Syria turmoil has forced more than 3,000 people to seek refuge across the border in Turkey. By Mustafa Ozer/AFP/Getty Images.

Frum asks:

If Romney does win, how do we make sense of the media narrative of the past 2 1/2 years? Does it mean that the Tea Party was overhyped from the start? Or that Tea Party candidates somehow canceled each other out? Or was the problem one of followership — that Tea Party voters were drawn to candidates so fatally flawed that they failed before they had properly begun?

Ackerman explains:

NATO officials conducting air strikes on forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi don’t have soldiers on the ground to spot for the warplanes and armed drones overhead. (Well, at least not officially.) But they do have a barrage of tweets about Gadhafi’s troop movements in beleaguered cities like Benghazi and Tripoli, all of which come in handy when picking out targets.

A reader sends the above photo and writes:

I have to say, Andrew, that years ago I felt the same way about Pride; I've never felt a part of any gay scene, per se – whether drag, leather, twink, bear, whatever. But for the last nine years, I've been producing a music stage at the San Francisco Pride celebration – first the Shadowplay Stage, and now the Indie Oasis stage. And it gives me hope for our society's future, a feeling I can't get from television portrayals or blog debates on LGBT issues.

Our stage is mobbed by young people eager to dance in the streets. It's clear that their sexuality (and gender expression) is mixed, and mostly irrelevant.

I see gay, lesbian, genderqueer kids dancing in the streets with their straight friends – something that would not have happened when I was young. They come not just from San Francisco, but from the suburbs, and further away. The queer context of the day and of the festival means that the straight kids who come are choosing to embrace their queer friends' orientations – not just to tolerate it, but to embrace it. And every year, also we get numerous LGBT couples with their children, and lots of other folks besides the drag queens and leatherfolks featured by the media – though we welcome the outrageous folks, too. It's a party!

A week later, there is another massive gathering of people, on the waterfront for the 4th of July fireworks. But for me, Pride Sunday is when I feel proud of my country.

Another writes:

What brings people together in a Gay Pride March is not necessarily "shared psychological traits," but a shared, deeply personal experience of the effects of homophobia. (There are some outliers that don't share, or perhaps recognize that they share, this experience, but most do.) Straight people, of course, can be ardently opposed to homophobia and fight it with great ferocity – and God love 'em for it! – but they don't have the same, you'll excuse the expression, "skin in the game." They haven't had the same conflict between homophobia and their innermost feelings.

There are, of course, multiple reasons to go to a Pride Parade: the spectacle (seeing it and/or being a part of it), the fun, the social aspects, "getting dates!" (as my father observed), providing support for "for those just coming to terms with being out." But at the heart of it is a group of people standing publicly against the pervasiveness of homophobia – not standing against it by giving a speech that says "I oppose homophobia," but standing against it by standing there, openly, together.

"Richard Nixon, if he were alive today, might take bittersweet satisfaction to know that he was not the last smart president to prolong unjustifiably a senseless, unwinnable war, at great cost in human life.  … He would probably also feel vindicated (and envious) that ALL the crimes he committed against me–which forced his resignation facing impeachment–are now legal," – Daniel Ellsberg.

Mark Bluementhal thinks economic fundamentals currently trump foreign policy victories:

The bin Laden breakthrough did alter perceptions of Obama on his handling on [foreign affairs, terrorism and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq]. Data from the USA Today/Gallup survey conducted in mid-May showed a big spike in Obama's ratings on terrorism (+15 percentage points), the situation in Afghanistan (+6) and foreign affairs (+5) but slight declines on the economy (-2) and the federal budget deficit (-1). And since news about the bin Laden story remained on the minds of Americans during much of the month of May, these shifts probably helped fuel the momentary bump in Obama's overall rating.

A reader writes:

off on Willingham's execution – carried out in 2004 – for a crime that Willingham was likely innocent of.  In 2009, the Texas Forensic Science Commission looked into his trial, but a few days before they were to discuss a report on the flawed evidence, Perry replaced the chairman and some members. The Perry-appointed chair immediately canceled the hearing and spent the next couple years delaying the work and pushing for a finding of no misconduct.  That chair wasn't confirmed, and his term ended about a week ago.

There is likely to be some increased publicity around the Willingham case over the next year. (More background here.) And it's unlikely to make Perry look presidential.

Scott Keyes compiles nine other "Things Texas Gov. Rick Perry Doesn’t Want You To Know About Him".

(Photo of Cameron Todd Willingham via The Houston Chronicle)

Nilay Patel wants to break free:

I hate phone numbers. They’re a relic of an outmoded system that both wireless and wireline carriers use to keep people trapped on their services — a false technological prison built of nothing but laziness and hostility to consumers. … Why can’t I open a desktop app and use my wireless minutes to make VoIP calls? Why can’t I check and respond to my text messages online? Why can’t I pick up any phone from any carrier, enter my phone service information, and be on my way, just as with email or IM or Skype? Why are we still pretending that phone service is at all different from any other type of data?