Month: September 2012

A disturbing descent into the uncanny valley:

(Hat tip: Neatorama)

Over the weekend, Paul Ryan talked to Eric Singer, a Colorado reporter, about medical marijuana:

I asked Congressman Ryan: “In Colorado we have medical marijuana. Under a Romney Ryan ticket, what happens?” Ryan: “It’s up to Coloradans to decide.” I said: “So even if federal law says marijuana is illegal, you’re saying?” Ryan: “My personal positions on this issue have been let the states decide what to do with these things. This is something that is not a high priority of ours as to whether or not we go down the road on this issue. What I’ve always believed is the states should decide. I personally don’t agree with it, but this is something Coloradans have to decide for themselves.”

A Romney spokesman later walked back this comment. Think Progress puts the episode in context:

Ryan woke up on Friday as a congressman with a firmly anti-marijuana voting record. He abandoned that view during a trip to a swing state where the marijuana issue is hot, and then backtracked the very next day. And he did this all in the very same weekend when he proclaimed that he did not vote for the defense cuts he recently voted for.

Kleiman sees “Ryan’s stance on medical pot is as strong a sign of change as Romney’s stance on pre-existing conditions”:

Mindless devotion to the War on Drugs is no longer a winner at the ballot box. Right-wing politicians aren’t getting any less stupid, but they seem to be getting (at least temporarily) less stubborn.

Kurt Eichenwald makes the case that the Bush-Cheney administration's intelligence on 9/11 throughout the same year was a lot more than we realize. The White House daily briefings hold the key, he says:

[T]he Aug. 6 document [the only briefing that the Bush administration declassified], for all of the controversy it provoked, is not nearly as shocking as the briefs that came before it. The direct warnings to Mr. Bush about the possibility of a Qaeda attack began in the spring of 2001. By May 1, the Central Intelligence Agency told the White House of a report that “a group presently in the United States” was planning a terrorist operation. Weeks later, on June 22, the daily brief reported that Qaeda strikes could be “imminent,” although intelligence suggested the time frame was flexible.

Frum tries to bat down this argument:

The worst failures of government occurred far away from the White House, and even before the Bush administration took office:

1) The failure of the CIA to share terrorist watch lists with the FBI so as to bar the lead 9/11 conspirators from the country; and

2) The failure of local police to cooperate with national immigration enforcement so as to remove the conspirators when they came into view inside the country.

Please. If the intelligence had been taken at face value, and acted upon, some of the mass murderers – two of whom had been arrested or stopped and released – would have been removed. And David doesn't acknowledge that many of his friends and allies were fixated on Saddam, rather than al Qaeda from the get-go:

An intelligence official and a member of the Bush administration both told me in interviews that the neoconservative leaders who had recently assumed power at the Pentagon were warning the White House that the C.I.A. had been fooled; according to this theory, Bin Laden was merely pretending to be planning an attack to distract the administration from Saddam Hussein, whom the neoconservatives saw as a greater threat. Intelligence officials, these sources said, protested that the idea of Bin Laden, an Islamic fundamentalist, conspiring with Mr. Hussein, an Iraqi secularist, was ridiculous, but the neoconservatives’ suspicions were nevertheless carrying the day.

If Romney is elected in November, these same, evidence-blind, war-mongers would be back running US foreign policy.

(Photo by Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images)

"It is becoming clear that if President Obama is reelected, it will be despite the economy and because of his campaign; if Mitt Romney wins, it will be because of the economy and despite his campaign," – Charlie Cook.

You probably recognize Hodgman from his appearances on The Daily Show and those ubiquitous Apple ads, but be sure to check out his book, That Is All, an audio and paperback version of which are being released October 2. Excerpts here:

That is All is predicated on the premise (ahem, CERTAIN KNOWLEDGE) that, starting quite soon, we will enter a pre-apocalyptic period leading up to the end of the world…. [The book] is basically tons of jokes, some of which are already somewhat dated (by 2015, how many people will know what Four Loko was?) and many of which will lead to some heavy Googling (for example, to learn more about George Plimpton or leetspeak or The Singularity). The writing is refreshingly bite-sized, such that you can literally open the book to any page, read something, have a chuckle, and move on. Also, like the previous volume, each page includes a page-a-day calendar at the top — except this one predicts the future, through the end of the world (it’s called TODAY IN RAGNAROK). You have roughly a year left; you might as well enjoy it, one page at a time.

John also wrote The Areas Of My Expertise and More Information Than You Require, collected as The Complete World Knowledge box set. Check out his podcast here. Previous video of John here. “Ask Anything” archive here.

The ABC/WaPo poll finds a very close, not-that-different race. All the others indicate a big shift. From the poll of polls:

I've removed Rasmussen as usual – but even they are now showing a clear Obama lead. And I've increased sensitivity to pick up small swings. But it isn't a small swing to go from 0.3 percent ahead to 3.5 percent ahead in less than a week. It will have to fade. But the first round of the fall campaign – especially if you include the money haul in August – goes to the incumbent.

Tomorrow the Dutch people head to the polls to decide whether coffee shops should only sell to local residents. Nate Berg examines the country’s move away from the marijuana industry:

For the past few years, a government plan has been hatching to ban the sales of marijuana and other “soft drugs” to foreign tourists. A court ruling in April paved the way for that ban to move ahead, putting a new system in place that would require locals to obtain a “weed pass” that essentially turns the coffee shops into clubs. It’s already rolled out in southern sections of the country, and could soon move on to the rest of the Netherlands, including tourist hotspot Amsterdam. Opponents of the ban are calling on voters to support politicians and parties in the September 12 election that would overturn the ban. Unless they’re successful, there could be a lot less people visiting the country to enjoy a smoke.

On a somewhat related note, Jimmy Stamp covers the capital city’s attempt to rebrand itself with the slogan, “I AMsterdam”:

Amsterdam is not just about sex, drugs and canals. It’s also a great place to live and work. … Previous city slogans such as “Amsterdam Has It” and “Capital of Sports” and “Small City, Big Business” were either too vague or too focused on one aspect of the city to the detriment of others. “I amsterdam,” however, as has the specific, instantly recognizable quality of Milton Glaser’s famous “I <3 NY logo”, from which it most certainly drew some inspiration. But instead of hearting its city, I amsterdam invites you to become a part of it: I amsterdam and you can be too.

(Photo: A picture taken on October 31, 2011 in Amsterdam shows cannabis seeds displayed in a tourist shop. Incensed by the “nuisance” caused by millions of people crossing its borders each year to visit one of 670 licensed coffee shops, the Netherlands plans to turn these cannabis-vending cafes into private club. The consumption and possession of small amounts of cannabis have been decriminalised since 1976. By Nathalie Magniez/AFP/Getty Images)