Month: August 2012

Peter J. Boyer previews Citizens United's new film:

The Hope and the Change is a more sophisticated and potentially potent effort than the Hillary project was. Instead of featuring strident partisan voices such as Morris or Ann Coulter, the cast of 40 is composed entirely of registered Democrats and independents who voted for Obama in 2008. This reflects a political premise shared by Bossie and Stephen K. Bannon, the film’s director—that the 2012 election will be decided by that group of voters in key states whose enthusiasm for Obama has descended toward disillusion.

In other Republican "documentary" news, Dinesh D’Souza’s 2016: Obama’s America became the "the biggest conservative documentary opener of all time" this last weekend. Tim Cavanaugh reviews it:

If you believe the biggest problems with Obama are that he has not invaded Iran, attacked the Alawite regime in Syria and sufficiently supported the Queen’s dominion over the Falkland Islands, this is the movie for you. Although 2016 does treat Obama’s devastating fiscal legacy, D’Souza and Sullivan’s real passion is for crimes like Obama’s removal of a bust of Winston Churchill from the oval office.

More total insanity. Larison voices his problems with D’Souza.

Isaac doesn't appear to be a Republican, and not only because it presents on the weather map as a throbbing purple penis surrounded by a rainbow:

The Boston Globe reports that Romney's staff, while moving forward with plans for a three-day convention, "also realizes that Isaac's potentially horrid wrath could eclipse any bunting-draped imagery they generate inside the Tampa Bay Times Forum." And appearing callous could "render the whole convention exercise a net loss for their candidate, rather than a positive force propelling him into the fall campaign." Along with the optics of humanity, there are also practical matters to worry about, the Times reports, like media coverage: "even if the storm largely bypasses this region, it holds the risk of creating an uncomfortable split-screen image, especially if it continues barreling toward New Orleans" [near the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina].

So far the start of the convention is postponed until tomorrow night. The storm already rained on Ron Paul's parade. So why pick hurricane-prone Tampa to begin with?

First, Florida is the mother of all swing states with the most electoral votes (29) of any swing state. Tampa is in Hillsborough County, which gave Bush 53 percent in 2004 and Obama 53 percent in 2008, so it is a large (1.2 million people) swing county. Neighboring counties, including Hernando, Pasco, and Polk are reddish, and Romney needs to win big there to counter expected losses in South Florida. The area has also been hit hard economically, so an economic pitch is likely to resonate. All in all, the area is a big battleground. Showering attention on it is a smart move for the Republicans.

Be sure to check out his new book:

In Why Is the Penis Shaped Like That?, the research psychologist and award-winning columnist Jesse Bering features more than thirty of his most popular essays from Scientific American and Slate, as well as two new pieces, that take readers on a bold and captivating journey through some of the most taboo issues related to evolution and human behavior. Exploring the history of cannibalism, the neurology of people who are sexually attracted to animals, the evolution of human body fluids, the science of homosexuality, and serious questions about life and death, Bering astutely covers a generous expanse of our kaleidoscope of quirks and origins.

More videos of Jesse here, here, here, here, here, here and here. “Ask Anything” archive here.

A reader writes:

I am just so tired of these racist attacks on President Obama.  Mitt Romney's father,  George, was born in Mexico.  There are serious questions about whether George's parents were U.S. citizens. Mitt could be called an "anchor baby."  George's citizenship was questioned when he was considering his own run for the presidency, yet not nearly as much as Obama's today.

Well, he was white. Another:

I know Romney's not racist, but he basically said, "No one's ever accused ME of being a foreigner!  So vote for me!" He's not even accusing Obama of being a foreigner.  He's basically saying it's simply bad enough to have a funny name and black skin, because that's going to make some very nice Americans think you're a foreigner, and that's enough of a problem.  And who wants a president like this anyway?

It's also likely to empower fringe jokers such as these:

President Barack Obama is a socialist, was raised by communists, and wasn't born in the United States, according to the former Navy SEAL who founded the group Special Operations Speaks (SOS), which aims to portray Obama as anti-military in this election season.

Earlier this week, a different group of former Navy SEALS calling themselves the Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund rolled out its campaign to criticize Obama for leaking national security information and taking what it believes as undue credit for the killing of Osama bin Laden. That group claims to be non-political. But the founder of SOS, a similar group with the same mission and the same tactics, says he has no problem admitting that he is against Obama's politics, personality, and believes that America's current president is lying about his origins.

"I have to admit that I'm a Birther," said SOS founder Larry Bailey, a retired 27-year veteran of the Navy SEALs, in an interview. "If there were a jury of 12 good men and women and the evidence were placed before them, there would be absolutely no question Barack Obama was not born where he said he was and is not who he says he is."

Calling out the cultural attacks on Obama:

Good for Chris.

"When we make the blessing on the dates that ‘our enemies and haters should be ended’ we should have in mind the Iranian regime, those evil people who threaten Israel. Do good, God, wipe them out, kill them … Destroy them God, obliterate them from the face of the earth," – Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, after being briefed by Netanyahu's administration on the Iranian threat.

"Obliterate them from the face of the earth." Recall that the Shas party is an integral part of Neyanyahu's coalition, and the briefing was designed to put religious pressure on the Shas minister in the inner security candidate still sane enough to oppose a pre-emptive strike on Iran.

Let there be no mistake: this is an Israeli rabbi calling for another people to be obliterated from the face of the earth. The ironies seem lost. Update from a reader:

An important distinction: Rabbi Yosef specified the Iranian "regime", not the Iranian people. It's likely, yes, that he wants the individuals in the regime to be killed (by God, it should be noted, not by Israel), but this is not a call for genocide. That does not mean that it's helpful, however.

Ask Hanna Anything

[Re-posted from Friday with many questions added by readers]

Hanna Rosin has a new book out, The End Of Men:

At this unprecedented moment, women are no longer merely gaining on men; they have pulled decisively ahead by almost every measure. Already "the end of men"—the phrase Rosin coined—has entered the lexicon as indelibly as Betty Friedan’s "feminine mystique," Simone de Beauvoir’s "second sex," Susan Faludi’s "backlash," and Naomi Wolf’s "beauty myth" have. … Rosin reveals how the new world order came to be, and how it is dramatically shifting dynamics in every arena and at every level of society, with profound implications for marriage, sex, children, work, and more.

An excerpt from the book here. She also has a new Atlantic essay, "Boys On The Side." A snippet: 

[Single young women] are more likely to have a college degree and, in aggregate, they make more money [than men]. What makes this remarkable development possible is not just the pill or legal abortion but the whole new landscape of sexual freedom—the ability to delay marriage and have temporary relationships that don’t derail education or career. To put it crudely, feminist progress right now largely depends on the existence of the hookup culture. And to a surprising degree, it is women—not men—who are perpetuating the culture…

To submit a question for Hanna, simply enter it into the field at the top of the Urtak poll (ignore the "YES or NO question" aspect and simply enter any open-ended question). We primed the poll with questions you can vote on right away – click "Yes" if you have a strong interest in seeing Hanna answer the question or "No" if you don't particularly care. Urtak just went through a redesign, so don't get thrown off by the new look. Many thanks to everyone for submitting and answering questions, it helps a lot.

Here's Kathleen Parker still reeling from a party platform that reeks of fear – of women, gays, immigrants, racial minorities, foreigners, Muslims, Medicaid recipients … well the list goes on:

There is something wrong with the Republican Party, the survival of which demands more than a few moments of self-examination and reflection. I wouldn’t use the word "stupid," though it is tempting. Suicidal seems more apt. The GOP, through its platform, its purity tests, pledges, and its emphasis on social issues that divide rather than unite, has shot itself in the foot, eaten said foot, and still managed to stampede to the edge of the precipice. Is extinction in its DNA?

This is indeed a party more extreme than any other right-of-center party in the West, a party whose social policy is dictated by the Bible, whose foreign policy is directed by the furthest-right faction in a foreign country (Israel), and whose economic policy is based on the notion that if you cut taxes massively and boost defense spending and only cut entitlements in twenty years, we can best tackle the debt.

But its candidate – who has ensured there is no daylight between him and the more rabid parts of his party – is neck and neck with a president still in the world of reality. The GOP's degeneration is its own fault; but that such a degenerate, irresponsible, ideologically extreme party is now, I believe, the favorite to win this election is a reflection not on them, but on us.

(Photo: llustration by Dress Code. Source Photos: John Giustina, Rubberball; Fotosearch; Emmanuel Dunand, AFP, and John Adkisson – all of Getty Images.)

Selene Yeager gives advice on how to lose weight by biking. One of the keys? Wearing those horrible Spandex shorts:

Ditch the baggies and buy a Lycra cycling kit. It’ll keep you honest at your next all-you-can-eat buffet and prevent unwanted pounds. According to Cornell University weight loss researcher Brian Wansink, "signal clothes" like fitted pants help us track our weight gain and loss. Without snug clothes to sound the alarm, the needle on the scale inches up quickly. Wansink’s team found that prison inmates gained an average of 20 to 25 pounds six months into incarceration (despite abysmal food and plenty of time to exercise) without recognizing the gain because the baggy shapeless orange jumpsuits give no feedback. For active folks, there are no more unforgiving signal clothes than skin-tight Spandex cycling attire. Buy some with no room to spare and keep them in heavy rotation.

Gideon Rachmann unhooks himself.