P.J. O’Rourke gives commencement advice:
All politics stink. Even democracy stinks. Imagine if our clothes were selected by the majority of shoppers, which would be teenage girls. I’d be standing here with my bellybutton exposed. Imagine deciding the dinner menu by family secret ballot. I’ve got three kids and three dogs in my family. We’d be eating Froot Loops and rotten meat.
I can’t get my mind off P.J.’s belly-button.
It turns out they discriminate against healthy HIV-positive volunteers:
Mr. Johnson said the Ukraine country director for the Peace Corps told him that he had to return to Washington because Ukraine does not allow foreigners with HIV to work there.
But the Peace Corps also declared that the volunteer was "medically unable" to do his volunteer work. It’s staggering to me that an organization such as the Peace Corps would still have this kind of view of the capacities of people living with HIV. As for Ukraine, alas, its policy of discriminating against foreigners with HIV is exactly the same as that of the U.S. Both countries officially perpetuate stigmatizing HIV-positive people. The US may soon change that – at least that’s the hope.
The editor of the Washington Blade unendorses the Senator from New York:
As someone who endorsed Clinton early in the campaign (well before the mainstream media went ga-ga over Obama after his Iowa victory), I saw her as the party’s best chance to beat the GOP nominee and the candidate with the most relevant international experience to tackle the myriad crises inflicted on us by George Bush.
Unfortunately, all the talk of experience and competence was belied by a campaign rife with incompetence. From Bill Clinton’s ruinous (and arguably racist) campaign swing through South Carolina, to an obvious failure to craft a strategy past Super Tuesday, her campaign staff made so many miscalculations that Hillary went from a coronation to a shocking defeat…
The time has come for her supporters, gay and straight, to embrace Obama’s campaign for the White House. The stakes are too high to allow primary race disappointments to demoralize Democratic voters. And the stakes for gay voters are higher.
Know hope.
Poulos defends blogger collegiality:
…the big conspiracy here I think is one among people who like a good conversation, and have discovered a consistent set of conversation partners whose content and style best compare and contrast with their own. Professional bloggers are paid conversationalists — or should be, at least. And the good social art of collegiality well understood is an essential part of good conversation — especially good public conversation. People sometimes fear that the blogosphere will close itself off to new talent, but, based on the dynamic I’ve just outlined, that strikes me as impossible. The ‘gold rush’ is probably over, but blogging will probably take on the generational tempo of the music world, with big acts retiring for a while to pursue real lives and then making comeback tours after a suitable hiatus — and with lots and lots of new acts competing for attention. Sometimes attention is won by mere novelty, but more often it’s won by talent.
Peter Suderman agrees. Poulos is a bit of an Oakeshottian, of course. Hence the natural recourse to the conversation analogy.
Goldberg answers a critic:
Glick is representative of a certain strain of mainly-American Jewish thinking: She believes that all criticism of Israel is illegitimate; she believes Jews who disagree with her are traitors to her cause; and she conflates the settlement movement with the entire Zionist project. I believe that it is possible to stand against the settlements and stand for Israel at the same time. This is actually the position of millions of Israelis, including the "far-left" — in Glick’s estimation — David Grossman. Grossman has given a great deal to his country. I would hazard a guess that he’s given more to Israel than Caroline Glick has. Caroline Glick can take shots at me all she wants, but she’s on much shakier ground when she goes after Grossman.
A great idea, though we are too short on officers to make it work at the moment.
Not an atypical view, from what I can gather:
Your constant barrage of ‘probama’ rhetoric, has seriously changed my mind about him.
I think I’d have to steal Hayek’s line via, Burke – and say, I’m an Old (young) Whig. I’m skeptical about all this change business, but I’d have to say that every day, McCain is starting to look like an old poop. If America needed a break from being a bastard, then Obama is the only one to do it.
So now, I’m a probama.
The word "poop" in British English does not mean what it does in American English. Just for the record.
"Hillary Clinton’s advocacy of a gas-tax holiday, while it wasn’t good policy, didn’t rise to the level of a crime. Judging from last night’s results, however, it was worse than a crime: it was a mistake," – Paul Krugman.
A reader writes:
My dad’s been a hardcore Republican for decades. I grew up in a Mississippi household that worshipped Reagan in the 80’s and despised Clinton in the 90’s. I strayed from that pretty early on, but maybe not as far as I thought. I got this email from my dad last night:
"I have to say, Obama is a great speaker. He is extremely charismatic and likeable, and I like him so much I can almost forget he had the most liberal voting record in the Senate, is weak on national security, wants universal healthcare, will raise taxes and is pro choice. Other than that, I could vote for him. All kidding aside, I like him and won’t be upset if he beats McCain. Disappointed but not upset."
Was it her Waterloo?
