The Kitchen Cabinet

Justice Carter?

2011-12-29T13:24:00.003-05:00

Gregg Easterbrook calls YLS prof Stephen Carter "the nation’s leading public intellectual" and says he's "a fine candidate for a Supreme Court opening."

Carter was one of my favorite professors at Yale, in part because he was one of the few who seemed to take his job as a teacher seriously. I don't agree with every policy position he's taken, and I think his novels, while well-crafted, are ultimately unsatisfying. But there's no denying that he'd bring to the bench a serious work ethic and deep regard for the rule of law.

No Lie

2011-12-27T21:41:00.003-05:00

Ramesh Ponnuru on PolitiFact:

The reason we have politics at all is that we disagree, sometimes deeply, about how to promote the common good, and we need a peaceful and productive way to resolve or at least manage these disagreements. We disagree about how to improve U.S. health care, and we disagree about how each other’s proposals to change it should be characterized. The pretense of PolitiFact, and other media “fact checkers,” is that many of our political disputes have obvious correct answers on which all reasonable people looking fairly at the evidence can agree -- and any other answer is “simply not true.”

This pretense really is false, and like dishonesty, it is corrosive.

Glenn Greenwald makes essentially the same point here.

"The Most Successful Cult in the World"

2011-12-20T15:49:00.003-05:00

Are North Koreans really mourning one of the vilest tyrants in history? Daniel Foster thinks so:

North Korea can be looked at as the most successful cult in the world, and after bribing the military and other key allies, the vast majority of the state’s resources were dedicated to (1) raising the Kims to divinity and (2) hermetically sealing the state to outside discourse. After nearly three-quarters of a century of wholesale brainwashing, it is highly likely that a huge swath of the population of North Korea is in the grips of a kind of mass psychosis.

High Stakes

2011-12-12T10:57:00.002-05:00

Daniel Foster on Mitt Romney and the $10k bet:

If Mitt walked around with a platinum scepter and a coat of Dodo feathers I could see calling that a gaffe, but things have gotten silly if one of the things we're looking for in a candidate is his ability to consistently condescend to us about the basic, verifiable facts of his existence, just to make us feel like he's "one of us."

Exactly.

"Don't Cry. Bill Kristol Says It's Still Not Too Late for Paul Ryan"

2011-12-10T20:35:00.003-05:00

This pretty much sums it up.

"Loopholes"

2011-07-10T19:42:00.003-04:00

Kevin Williamson on what is and what isn't a loophole:

While “new revenue” has triumphed as a euphemism for “tax hikes,” “loophole” has triumphed as a dysphemism for “intentional tax policy.”

Our tax code is not really all that riddled with loopholes. Loopholes, properly understood, are unintentional ambiguities in a system that can be exploited to undercut the intent of the system’s designers. What we’re talking about in the tax code is not, for the most part, a collection of loopholes. The mortgage-interest deduction is not a loophole; it is the product of intentionally (and stupidly) constructed public policy, an attempt at social engineering through the tax code. Likewise, most of what Democrats dishonestly describe as special breaks for oil companies are in fact tax subsidies designed to encourage domestic manufacturing, and available to any firm that engages in anything that can be defined under the law as manufacturing. This is not an accident, either: The geniuses in Washington think that they can politick good manufacturing jobs into existence.

Jack Shafer explained why journalists shouldn't use the term "loophole" in 2007.

Sanity

2011-06-27T13:31:00.004-04:00

I am pleased -- and honestly, a bit surprised -- to see the sane and humane attitudes of many National Review readers, as reflected in comments on some of the OMG-the-sky-is-falling posts in The Corner about same-sex marriage. The readership over there seems a lot wiser and more temperate than some of the writers.

The comments on this bizarre and creepy post are a good example. I like this response to it:

Didn't know that anecdotal stories had anything to do with the marriage debate, but I'll give mine. I woke up early on Sunday morning; took my 4 year old cocker spaniel for her walk; came home and got my 14 month old daughter ready for mass (you can find us every Sunday at 9:00 mass at a Jesuit church in Chelsea); went to breakfast where she had a waffle; went to Whole Foods for milk and fruit; and then took her to the parade where she was the joy of those gathered on the little street where she watched in awe of all of the people. My daughter has 2 daddies (well a dada and a daddy). She is a beautiful, independent (for a 14 month old), happy, young girl. She is being taught to respect others, be kind to her dog, share with others, love Jesus and say her prayers. And as she grows older she will be taught to vote Republican.

Yes. Lucky girl.

Good Morning

2010-11-29T06:28:00.000-05:00

Quote of the Day:
“Rivera will show absolutely anyone, including rivals, exactly how he throws the cutter. When I asked him why he was so unguarded, Rivera said, 'It’s a blessing from the Lord: when he gives you something, it’s yours.' It took me a moment to realize that he wasn’t saying that he had an obligation to share the blessing, but rather that no one without the blessing was going to throw his cutter. God had doled out his favors parsimoniously.”
~ James Traub, "Mariano Rivera, King of the Closers"

Song of the Day:
Kings of Leon, “Closer”

Happy Birthday:
Louisa May Alcott
Peter Bergman
Madeline L’Engle
C.S. Lewis
Mariano Rivera

Screening and Common Sense

2010-11-24T13:58:00.004-05:00

Shouldn't we be pleased, rather than outraged, that some government officials are able to skip the TSA security procedures?

John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi, whatever you think of them, are pretty obviously not likely to be plotting terrorist attacks on our nation's airlines. Isn't this kind of risk-assessment-based screening what we need more, not less, of?

Now, if only TSA could extend this logic to 3-year-olds and grandmothers . . . .

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-24T13:35:00.001-05:00

Reason.tv gives thanks for property rights.

"He's spending nonexistent money on helping people we think you might be sympathetic to"

2010-11-09T20:17:00.006-05:00

Reason on What the #$%^ Has Obama Done So Far?

Olbermania

2010-11-06T15:17:00.002-04:00

Here's an amusing ThinkProgress post on MSNBC's suspension of Keith Olbermann; it contains so many updates and walkbacks as to be nearly incomprehensible ("Oh, hold on -- Comcast doesn't actually own NBC yet. Our bad.")

I don't understand the theory that the knives were out for Olbermann at MSNBC. Isn't his show their highest-rated offering?

Reagan, Palin, and Noonan

2010-11-05T09:11:00.003-04:00

Sarah Palin refers to Ronald Reagan as "an actor," and Peggy Noonan responds . . . pointedly:

Excuse me, but this was ignorant even for Mrs. Palin. Reagan people quietly flipped their lids, but I'll voice their consternation to make a larger point. Ronald Reagan was an artist who willed himself into leadership as president of a major American labor union (Screen Actors Guild, seven terms, 1947-59.) He led that union successfully through major upheavals (the Hollywood communist wars, labor-management struggles); discovered and honed his ability to speak persuasively by talking to workers on the line at General Electric for eight years; was elected to and completed two full terms as governor of California; challenged and almost unseated an incumbent president of his own party; and went on to popularize modern conservative political philosophy without the help of a conservative infrastructure. Then he was elected president.

The point is not "He was a great man and you are a nincompoop," though that is true. The point is that Reagan's career is a guide, not only for the tea party but for all in politics.

Meow!

"A strident and self-justifying base-flatterer"

2010-11-04T20:31:00.004-04:00

Ross Douthat on Sarah Palin:

Cultural authenticity may be her bread and butter, but politically she’s established a consistent identity as a strident and self-justifying base-flatterer who rarely strays from her go-for-the-jugular talking points. There’s a narrow slice of the electorate that loves that kind of thing, and a broader population that doesn’t — and given the choice between saying the thing that broadens her appeal and the thing that plays best with the narrower group that already loves her, Palin always, always seems choose the latter. Conservative writers have been giving her advice on how to break out of this box for more than two years now (this week it was Kevin Williamson, imagining how she might boost her credibility as a presidential candidate), and I think at a certain point we all just need to stop playing make-believe and acknowledge that she isn’t interested.

I don't know if it's really much a choice on her part. From the little I've seen of her, it looks to me more like she's scared to death of departing from her talking points, lest she look even less intelligent than she already does.

I had not seen her in months until election night on Fox. She was in full talking-point, you-betcha mode. On the plus side, her hair and makeup looked fabulous.

Perriello Loses

2010-11-02T20:54:00.001-04:00

I suppose this question has been answered.

After Tuesday

2010-11-01T19:33:00.006-04:00

Amid the giddy predictions of a GOP tidal wave, Ross Douthat and Megan McArdle both offer some pre-election perspective on the post-election policy landscape. McArdle:

So I worry that if Republicans get in, we'll end up with a huge budget problem. And I also worry that if Democrats retain control, we'll end up with a huge budget problem. I see no evidence at this point that I should worry more about one than the other. We have a huge deficit problem. And I'm pretty sure that whatever batch of politicians we elect next Tuesday is going to make it worse, rather than better.

And it's not just the politicians who are to blame. Pundits on both sides love to talk about the wisdom of the "ordinary voters" (Michael Barone does it here), but I see no indication that the electorate, as a whole, has stopped demanding more government than it's willing to pay for. Many of the same voters who are mad as hell about the deficit this year will squawk indignantly the minute the budget cutters so much as look at Social Security, or even ask that nice teacher down the street to kick in 1% of her salary for her own health insurance.

The politicians may be hiding their heads in the sand on entitlements, but that's because the voters like it that way. The electorate is like a 23-year-old who sometimes feels really, really bad about her maxed-out credit cards but isn't remotely ready to face up to the kinds of lifestyle changes she'd have to make to get out of the hole; instead, she tells herself it'll work out somehow, and buys another pair of shoes on Zappos. Because after all, she urgently needs some gray peep-toes to match her new handbag.

There's a lot of this-time-it'll-be-different bluster out there on the right, but I'm not really buying it. Swing voters are mad at Obama because the economy is still a mess, and they sense that he's spent a bunch of money we don't have, and they feel a little uneasy about that. But the economy will improve, and Democrats will shriek in outrage about cuts to school lunch programs, and a few Republicans will act like clowns, and the deficit will seem far less urgent in a year. Swing voters — who seem to enjoy being angry — will find something else to be angry about. And then we'll all be too busy talking about 2012 to think about actual policy.

I say this as someone who will likely be fairly pleased, on a partisan level, with the results of tomorrow's elections. I hope the GOP does take the House. I'm ambivalent about the Senate, because Obama will have an easier road to reelection if he can spend the next two years running against the eeeeeevil Republican Congress, and he can't do that as easily if his party still controls one chamber.

So yes, I'll cheer if Nancy Pelosi loses her gavel, but I see no reason to expect that the next two years will be any different from the last decade in terms of fiscal sanity. For true progress on the budget, we'll need a lot more Paul Ryans, not just in Congress but in the electorate.

Cutting the Clichés

2010-10-29T16:04:00.004-04:00

A new rule of thumb that I predict will save me time in 2011: Whenever I come across a writer using the word "slash" to describe a reduction in government spending, I will immediately stop reading the piece.

Happy Halloween Weekend

2010-10-29T15:26:00.004-04:00

We have pumpkin-carving plans, but I'm actually loving these painted beauties. Maybe next year.

Image and instructions at Country Living via Censtational Girl.

2011 Calendars

2010-10-28T16:09:00.006-04:00

Decor8's annual calendar round-up starts here and continues here, here, and here.

There are lots and lots of lovely ones to choose from if you're sick of "America's National Parks" or "Adorable Puppies" from that tacky seasonal store in the mall.

For the past several years I've bought little desk calendars like this one. I love having something small and pretty close at hand. But for 2011 I bought a blank mini-calendar from Impress, and I'm going to embellish it myself (like they've done here and here.)

[Image from Decor8.]

Voting Irregulatiries

2010-10-28T15:26:00.000-04:00

In Falls Church?

"Think happy thoughts"

2010-10-26T13:28:00.005-04:00

David Brooks on the Democrats' healthy self-esteem:

Democrats and their media enablers have paid lavish attention to Christine O’Donnell and Carl Paladino, even though these two Republican candidates have almost no chance of winning. That’s because it feels so delicious to feel superior to opponents you consider to be feeble-minded wackos.
On the other hand, Democrats and their enablers have paid no attention to Republicans like Rob Portman, Dan Coats, John Boozman and Roy Blunt, who are likely to actually get elected. It doesn’t feel good when your opponents are experienced people who simply have different points of view. The existence of these impressive opponents introduces tension into the chi of your self-esteem.

I imagine there will be plenty of witch and masturbation jokes at this weekend's Stewart/Colbert rally, and not so much about Rob Portman.

Falls Church BJ's: Review

2010-10-26T13:26:00.002-04:00

The classic above (from PostSecret) pretty much sums up my feelings about large discount stores. But when a BJ's opened practically in our back yard, I thought I might as well check it out. Here's a review.

BJ's is offering two limited-time membership deals at the new store: $35 for a 15-month standard membership (normally it's $45 for 12 months) and $70 for a 15-month membership where you earn 2% cash back on most purchases (normally it's $90 for 12 months). I chose the $35 option. I signed up online and immediately got a printable page with a bar code that I could take to the store for my official membership card.

The tyke and I made our first trip the other day. The parking lot was easily navigable, with lots of carts available. I noticed immediately that the carts have seats for two kids in the front basket — apparently everything is bigger at BJ's.

We headed first to the customer service counter to get my card. There was a short wait, but once I got to the counter and presented my print-out it took about 15 seconds to get the card. The guy took my picture while I was standing at the counter, with what looked like a bar-code scanner (and oh, what a lovely picture).

Then we were off to explore the premises.

Main impression: Their merchandise is cheap. And big. I realize that this is the entire concept of these places, but somehow I was unprepared for the scale of some of the products. I would see a giant bottle of shampoo, for example, and think "Well, $7.99 — that's a decent deal." And then I'd realize that the price was actually for a case of three giant bottles.

So I kind of get why people are crazy for these stores. I just don't know where I would put all that stuff. My pantry is not set up to accommodate five-gallon drums of pickles, no matter how wondrously cheap they are.

My purchases:
- Enormous jar of Nutella. I mean, enormous. For $4.69. Insane.
- Giant box of frozen pumpkin ravioli. This was probably a mistake, as it takes up an entire shelf in our freezer. But it's October, and I've got pumpkin on the brain.
- Package of six Brita water filters for $28.99.
- Four-pack of Secret deodorant for $7.49. My deodorant needs are taken care of until roughly 2015.
- One home decorating magazine (regular size, but 20% off the cover price).

Check-out was quick and easy. Apparently they don't provide bags, which is weird but I suppose makes sense given the scale of much of the merchandise. I could have used a bag, though.

The store has a Verizon Wireless kiosk, an eyeglasses center, an auto service center, and a small cafe. I didn't look closely at the electronics section, but I saw lots of TVs and iPods. I would definitely check out the BJ's prices if I was in the market for a TV. There were plenty of DVDs and a smallish books section.

Oh, and now I know the answer to the question I ask the universe every December: "Who is selling our neighbors these giant inflatable snow-globe lawn ornaments?"

The place was clean, neat, and not overly crowded. The employees were helpful and reasonably friendly.

Bottom line: BJ's will not replace my regular grocery store (Safeway) for routine grocery purchases. At this point in our family life, it doesn't make sense for us to buy a lot of our food in bulk. But for some non-perishables — diapers, batteries, detergent, toiletries — we can definitely save money at BJ's. I just need to keep in mind that we don't have unlimited space at home to store those items.

If we had five ravenous teenagers and a McMansion, I'd be there once a week. Since we don't, it'll likely be more of a once-every-six-weeks stop.

Amy Butler Bag

2010-10-26T12:48:00.004-04:00

Any of my various acquaintances who sew should feel free to make me this bag.

Anyone?

Free pattern here.

Deep Enough?

2010-10-26T12:44:00.004-04:00

Chevrolet's new slogan is apparently "Chevy runs deep."

Huh?

Mickey Kaus: "What is there about Chevy that runs deep? Red ink? Work rules? Influence in the Obama administration?"

UPDATE: The slogan also reminds me of the Live song "Deep Enough," part of the time-honored driving-is-like-sex genre (it's in The Fast and the Furious). Sample lyric: "Does he run it deep enough / to take you there?"

Retaliation Against Whistle-Blowing Cops

2010-10-18T21:02:00.000-04:00

"Isn't the Blue Wall of Silence really just the most successful Stop Snitchin' campaign in history?"

Chair Seats

2010-10-18T19:41:00.005-04:00

Here's a nice tutorial on recovering chair seats from Southern Hospitality. I love the fabric she used.

Doesn't that make you want to run out to a yard sale and find some old chairs?

[Photo from Southern Hospitality.]

God and Government

2010-10-17T19:56:00.002-04:00

Nice rant from Nick Gillespie on conservatives who don't really seem to want government out of our lives:

Why oh why does it seem that everyone who wants to save a nickel in federal spending has to also have a fixation on gay- and single-woman sex when she is not calling for drug testing for losing your job in the worst recession in years? Is there a necessary connection between wanting to cut Washington spending and hating on the gays (even or especially when your argument is that the federal government shouldn't be concerned with the places said gays may be working)?
What the hell is wrong with this country - and the Republican Party - that it can't generate more pols like Gary Johnson, who is actually libertarian as opposed to playing one on TV? Is it that hard, or that off-putting to simply admit that getting the government out of the boardroom and the bedroom (and the classroom!) is part of the same process?

Apparently it is off-putting to a lot of people, unfortunately. Witness the attempts to make the Tea Party all about religious revival.

"And the country's scared"

2010-10-17T19:52:00.003-04:00

Mickey Kaus on Obama and those "scared" voters who are about to show that they reject "facts and science and argument" by voting against his agenda: "A little humility is in order. If true humility is unavailable, false humility will do."

"Democrats peddle an unproven claim"

2010-10-12T08:49:00.002-04:00

Factcheck.org on Democrats' foreign-money accusations about the US Chamber of Commerce: "Accusing anybody of violating the law is a serious matter requiring serious evidence to back it up. So far Democrats have produced none."

"The Chief Water Bug Departs"

2010-10-02T21:25:00.003-04:00

Bill Kristol sums up Rahm Emanuel's tenure at the White House:

Emanuel reinforced rather than tempered Obama’s oversized self-confidence and self-referential arrogance. This is clear from the only memorable comment from Emanuel’s tenure, the one he made right after being selected: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” This may well go down in history as the most foolish and damaging pseudo-clever statement ever made by a chief of staff.

Well, it's possible that he didn't mean it quite the way it sounded. But it certainly sounded bad.

Priorities

2010-10-01T21:09:00.001-04:00

Peggy Noonan: "People don't really expect high character from their political figures anymore. 'Congressman Smith cheated on his wife.' That's her problem. Cut my taxes."

Hard-Hitting

2010-09-28T15:35:00.001-04:00

The first two questions in Rolling Stone's Obama interview:

When you came into office, you felt you would be able to work with the other side. When did you realize that the Republicans had abandoned any real effort to work with you and create bipartisan policy?
How do you feel about the fact that day after day, there's this really destructive attack on whatever you propose? Does that bother you? Has it shocked you?

Via Matt Welch.

The Education Crisis

2010-09-28T15:07:00.003-04:00

This pretty much nails it, in my opinion:

Amidst all of this talk about education this week, there’s an omission that drives me crazy. Yes, yes, the horrid state of American education is an American problem, and to that extent we’re all to blame in some abstract sort of way. But is there another major area of American public policy that is more screwed up and more completely the fault of one ideological side? Which party do the teachers’ unions support overwhelmingly? What is the ideological outlook of the bureaucrats at the Department of Education? Which party claims it “cares” more about education and demagogues any attempt by the other party to reform it? Who has controlled the large inner city school systems for generations? What is the ideological orientation of the ed school racket? Whose preferred teaching methods have been funded and whose have been ridiculed?

You know the answer to all of these questions. And yet to listen to the debate this week, you would think this is all a bipartisan problem because Republicans share the blame for refusing to fund schools enough.

There are two problems with this canard. 1) Bush and the GOP congress massively increased education spending and 2) the problems with our education system have almost nothing to do with how much money we spend.

On a related note, I'm hearing nothing but raves about Waiting For Superman.

Ganging Up

2010-09-27T19:46:00.001-04:00

"Do I wish my children were part of a street gang . . . ? I kind of do . . . ."

"A Pattern of 'Serious, Glaring Misconduct.'"

2010-09-27T19:33:00.003-04:00

Radley Balko on prosecutorial misconduct:

There’s a presumption that because they’re public servants, prosecutors should be given the benefit of the doubt, that even grievous mistakes should be assumed to have been unintentional, or that because they’re pursuing a goal most of us consider to be in the public interest—putting bad guys behind bars—even intentional infractions should be lightly sanctioned, or overlooked entirely.
But public choice theory teaches us that public servants act in their own interest in the same way private sector workers do. There’s nothing transformative about working in a DA’s office as opposed to, say, a white shoe law firm. You don’t shed self-interest to become purely noble and altruistic once you’re sworn into office. If anything, prosecutors should be given more scrutiny and oversight than other members of the legal profession. Private lawyers at best can influence courts and government officials to move money around. Prosecutors put people in prison and, in some cases, send defendants to their deaths. When they cheat, there ought to be consequences.

Check out USA Today's six-month investigation into misconduct by federal prosecutors here.

Purple Reign

2010-09-25T19:26:00.003-04:00

This gorgeous spray-paint job makes me wish I hadn't thrown out that hideous brass chandelier we replaced last year....

From Nonpareil magazine. See the before picture at Design*Sponge.

Doings at Duke

2010-09-24T20:09:00.003-04:00

What do black people have against Duke Law School?

Possibly related: Is Duke undergrad full of homophobic Republicans?

The future of the College Republicans at Duke University remains unclear after allegations that the club’s executive board removed a member because he is gay.

For now, despite a series of votes by the Duke Student Government, the Duke College Republicans still have student funding and their campus charter. But lawsuits are looming.

Last spring, the chairman of the chapter, Justin Robinette, was impeached and removed from office -- he says it's because he's gay, the College Republicans say he misused funds.

What stuns me is that the school's College Republicans chapter is large enough to have an executive board, and meetings, and real activities. I was briefly a member of the chapter at some point in the mid-late '90s, and my recollection is that the entire group could have met comfortably in a galley kitchen. I think our main -- perhaps only -- activity was halfheartedly passing out leaflets for the local Congressional candidate. Anything as structured as an impeachment would have been unthinkable.

The Pledge and Medicare

2010-09-24T19:16:00.001-04:00

Peter Suderman on the Republican pledge to avoid talking about Medicare: "The GOP clearly wants to be the party of fiscal responsibility. But if it hopes to claim that title, it's first going to have to introduce a plan to be fiscally responsible."

The Pledge

2010-09-23T15:07:00.003-04:00

Douthat on the GOP's new "Pledge to America":

[T]here’s no evidence in this document that the G.O.P. is serious about dealing with the real roots of America’s long-term fiscal imbalance, as opposed to simply posturing about spending discipline in the hopes of making the Democrats look bad.

And ugh, they're using that awful pandery language again: spending will be cut, but “with common-sense exceptions for seniors, veterans, and our troops.”

More: Peter Suderman on how the Pledge is like Obamacare.

[I]f the GOP was hoping to distance itself from President Obama’s health care overhaul, it’s gone about it in an awfully odd fashion: The Pledge includes a number of promises to follow-through on some of the most problematic ideas in ObamaCare. Here’s a key passage:

Health care should be accessible for all, regardless of pre-existing conditions or past illnesses. We will expand state high-risk pools, reinsurance programs and reduce the cost of coverage. We will make it illegal for an insurance company to deny coverage to someone with prior coverage on the basis of a pre-existing condition, eliminate annual and lifetime spending caps, and prevent insurers from dropping your coverage just because you get sick. We will incentivize states to develop innovative programs that lower premiums and reduce the number of uninsured Americans. [bold added]

Consult Suderman if it's not obvious to you how guaranteed issue creates an "insurance death spiral" by "turn[ing] an insurance premium into an all-you-can-eat health care buffet that you only have to pay for when you want it."

Ugh. Just ugh.

"Do-nothing-but-demagogue"

2010-09-23T10:24:00.001-04:00

Nice response by Paul Ryan to Senator Casey's criticism of his deficit-reduction plan.

O'Donnell and the Media

2010-09-23T10:12:00.004-04:00

I largely agree with John Podhoretz's take on Christine O'Donnell. He finds in her "little evidence of seriousness of purpose" and notes that for all the the carping she and her supporters have done -- and will do -- about the media's treatment of her, she wouldn't be the nominee for Senate without them:

[T]here would be no Christine O'Donnell without the mainstream media, and it will be to their precincts she will in all likelihood decamp in the wake of her sudden fame, turning the ideas she claims to embody into a dismissible caricature, just as she did in her youth. The same, by the way, will be true if she wins; she will be the first new senator liberal reporters turn to for a quote on something controversial, in hopes that she will step in it. The problem is not the ideas, or the Tea Party. The problem is O'Donnell and her path to the spotlight.

I wouldn't terribly mind seeing her win in November, but she'd be a one-termer, and I've no doubt she'd "step in it" frequently, to the great delight of many.

Not Photoshopped

2010-09-21T20:49:00.003-04:00

Story here.

Douthat on Same-Sex Marriage

2010-09-20T16:25:00.002-04:00

Ross Douthat has a very thoughtful post (actually it's the second of two -- part I is here, and he also wrote a column on the subject) detailing his reservations about same-sex marriage.

Douthat's concerns are fair, reasonable, and temperately and eloquently expressed, and for those reasons I commend his piece to your attention.

Ultimately, though, I come down on the other side,* based in part on a truth that Douthat acknowledges:

I suspect that the formal shift away from any legal association between marriage and fertility will eventually lead to further declines in the marriage rate and a further rise in the out-of-wedlock birth rate (though not necessarily the divorce rate, because if few enough people are getting married to begin with, the resulting unions will presumably be somewhat more stable). But these shifts will probably happen anyway, to some extent, because of what straights have already made of marriage.

Douthat's post is long, but well worth your time.

* My support for same-sex marriage as a policy matter should not be taken to mean that I believe the United States Constitution requires it.

From Radley Balko

2010-09-20T15:30:00.000-04:00

How to record the police. "The dizzying advancements in personal technology during the last decade have slipped a powerful government accountability tool into our pockets."

Nice Jugs

2010-09-20T13:33:00.005-04:00

Paging Catalog Living . . . .

[Image from Pottery Barn.]

Robo-Polled

2010-09-16T19:11:00.006-04:00

Earlier this evening I was robo-polled by an organization identifying itself as "DNC Services" -- which I assume is affiliated with the Democratic Party. (This may have been the same poll that David Bernstein received recently.) A few observations:

1.) I absolutely love answering political polls! This probably makes me a non-optimal responder, from a pollster's point of view.

2.) The questions centered around how likely I am to vote in the November 2 election, whether I'm likely to vote for Democrats or Republicans for Congress, and how I feel about the President. The only politician specifically mentioned was Barack Obama.

3.) One of the questions asked which national issue most concerned me. There was a list of five or six choices, none of which was "government spending" or "deficits." The closest choice to those was "the economy and jobs," but that's not really the same thing, is it?

By leaving spending off the list, this poll is going to miss -- or misidentify -- a major source of voter discontent. For the record, I chose health care, but I would have picked spending/deficits if that had been a choice.

4.) There were a bunch of demographic questions at the end -- age, gender, race -- that the recording kept stressing were "for statistical purposes only," So . . . the other questions have nothing to do with statistics?

Good Morning

2010-09-16T06:18:00.000-04:00

TV Quote of the Day:
"This never happened. It will shock you how much it never happened."
~ Don Draper, Mad Men

Song of the Day:
Three Doors Down, "Kryptonite"

Happy Birthday:
Lauren Bacall
Nadia Boulanger
Dennis Connor
Henry V
B.B. King
J.C. Penney

Good Evening

2010-09-15T20:12:00.004-04:00

Quote of the Day:
"The worst is so often true."
~ Agatha Christie, They Do It with Mirrors

Song of the Day:
U2, "Mysterious Ways"

Happy Birthday:
Agatha Christie
Prince Harry
Tommy Lee Jones
Dan Marino
Oliver Stone
William Howard Taft

Good Morning

2010-09-14T06:57:00.000-04:00

Movie Quote of the Day:
Sir Alexander Dane: Could they be the miners?
Fred Kwan: Sure, they're like three years old.
Sir Alexander Dane: MINERS, not MINORS.
Fred Kwan: You lost me.
~ Galaxy Quest

Song of the Day:
The Belle Stars, "Iko Iko"

Happy Birthday:
Larry Brown
Tyler Perry
Kimberly Williams
Amy Winehouse

Good Morning

2010-09-13T06:49:00.000-04:00

Quote of the Day:
"A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer."
~ Robert Frost

Song of the Day:
The Beatles, "Penny Lane"

Happy Birthday:
Fiona Apple
Roald Dahl
Bela Karolyi
Jean Smart

Good Morning

2010-09-12T07:04:00.000-04:00

Quote of the Day:
"To be once in doubt
Is once to be resolved."
~ Shakespeare, Othello

Song of the Day:
Weezer, "Island in the Sun"

Happy Birthday:
Maurice Chevalier
Jennifer Hudson
Yao Ming
Barry White

Good Morning

2010-09-11T06:52:00.000-04:00

Quote of the Day:
"Sadness flies away on the wings of time."
~Jean de La Fontaine

Song of the Day:
Beth Nielsen Chapman, "Beyond the Blue"

Happy Birthday:
Maria Bartiromo
Harry Connick, Jr.
Mickey Hart
O. Henry
D.H. Lawrence

"Every Man for Himself"

2010-09-10T20:45:00.005-04:00

Everybody's linking to this, because it's really, really good: Michael Lewis in Vanity Fair on the Greek debt crisis:

In just the past decade the wage bill of the Greek public sector has doubled, in real terms—and that number doesn’t take into account the bribes collected by public officials. The average government job pays almost three times the average private-sector job. The national railroad has annual revenues of 100 million euros against an annual wage bill of 400 million, plus 300 million euros in other expenses. The average state railroad employee earns 65,000 euros a year. Twenty years ago a successful businessman turned minister of finance named Stefanos Manos pointed out that it would be cheaper to put all Greece’s rail passengers into taxicabs: it's still true. "We have a railroad company which is bankrupt beyond comprehension," Manos put it to me. "And yet there isn't a single private company in Greece with that kind of average pay." The Greek public-school system is the site of breathtaking inefficiency: one of the lowest-ranked systems in Europe, it nonetheless employs four times as many teachers per pupil as the highest-ranked, Finland's. Greeks who send their children to public schools simply assume that they will need to hire private tutors to make sure they actually learn something.

Also, this: "The structure of the Greek economy is collectivist, but the country, in spirit, is the opposite of a collective. Its real structure is every man for himself."

Votes and Consequences

2010-09-08T13:24:00.005-04:00

David Corn and Jim Pinkerton discuss the bleak electoral prospects of Virginia Congressman Tom Perriello:

Perriello beat the Republican incumbent, Virgil Goode, in 2008 by 727 votes -- the narrowest margin of victory in any House race that year. And even in that overwhelmingly Democratic year, Perriello's district, the 5th, voted narrowly for McCain.

So I would argue that Perriello's re-election prospects were grim from the day he took office. To put it mildly, he did not help those prospects by voting for the stimulus, cap and trade, and Obamacare.

He's a Democrat, of course, and there's arguably not much point in being a Democratic Congressman if re-election concerns prevent you from voting for much of your party's agenda. Perriello gave Nancy Pelosi his vote when it mattered, and good for him. His constituents seem poised to vote him out of office because of those votes, and good for them.

A recent issue of the Yale Alumni Magazine ran a cover story entitled The Virginia Experiment: Is Tom Perriello ’96, ’01JD, a new kind of congressman? Or just the kind who doesn’t get reelected? As much as I'm sure the liberal readership of the Yale Alumni Magazine wishes Democrats could cast vote after vote for deeply controversial liberal legislation and yet be re-elected in landslides by their conservative-leaning constituents, I'm pretty sure the answer is going to be (b).

Enough with the Plans

2010-09-08T12:03:00.002-04:00

How nice to learn that Gregg Easterbrook, one of my favorite writers, has a blog.

Here, he boldly proposes a moratorium on bold new economic recovery plans:

Left-wing plans to incur more debt and spend, and right-wing plans to keep taxes very low, share this in common – both borrow from the future. When you borrow from the future, you make the future less valuable.
This is a core reason constant Washington “bold” economic plans don’t inspire the economy – the plans deplete the country’s future. If you believe the future will be worth less than the present then why hire, why build, why feel optimism? Investment spending can make a future more valuable. But neither party proposes merits-based investing – both just propose panicky new handouts to their constituencies and donors. Do these possible additional plans make you feel confidence — or dismay?

The best and smartest action Washington could take about the economy would be to stop declaring new plans. There are plenty of programs in place. Letting the situation stabilize is what the economy most needs – and a surer path to job growth.

And remember, you can still catch Easterbrook's hugely entertaining Tuesday Morning Quarterbacking on espn.com.

GOP Gets a Little Specific

2010-09-08T11:50:00.004-04:00

Well, it's not a full-fledged plan, but at least it's something specific. From the office of House GOP leader John Boehner:

House Republicans are calling on Congress to take the following two actions this month:

1. Pass a bill that cuts non-security related government spending for the next year back to FY 2008 levels – before all of the bailouts, government takeovers, and 'stimulus' spending sprees began. On Monday, President Obama proposed another round of the same failed 'stimulus' spending that has led to fewer jobs and more debt. The legislation House Republicans are proposing would provide the fiscal discipline economists say is needed to promote private-sector job creation and prevent a lame-duck Congress from writing another bloated omnibus spending bill after the November elections. Exceptions should be made for programs affecting seniors, veterans, and national security.

2. Enact a two-year freeze on all current tax rates to stop job-killing tax hikes on families and small businesses. This would help ease the uncertainty employers and entrepreneurs are facing so they can get back to creating jobs. While President Obama intends to move forward with his plan to raise taxes on half of small business income in America, House Republicans will continue to fight to permanently stop job-killing tax hikes.

Emphasis on the pander-y parts is mine. Ah, "families and small businesses" -- because tax hikes on individuals and large businesses have no job-killing effects and are generally just peachy.

And seriously, why do "programs affecting seniors" get a pass on the spending cutbacks? Aside from that being an exception you could drive a truck through, this reads like just another signal that the GOP has no intention of getting on the wrong side of the AARP -- something somebody is going to have to do, sometime, if we're ever going to reform entitlements.

Gingrich on a Budget

2010-09-03T19:30:00.002-04:00

Via Matt Welch, an excerpt from a recent Newt Gingrich interview:

[MATT] LAUER: Let's talk about cutting, cutting the deficit here. You've said, you're thinking more seriously now than ever about running for president. Let's say I make you president right now. Congratulations. And I give you what a lot of people are predicting - a Republican-controlled House and Senate. That means you've got to make some really tough choices in terms of cutting this deficit. What are you willing to say? And name it by name, that you would be willing to cut right now to cut deficits.
GINGRICH: First of all, you just may, create a nightmare for virtually every Democrat watching the show, so I apologize to them. But to, but to work out your scenario, in the four years I was Speaker of the House, the average rate of increase was 2.9 percent a year including all the entitlements. That is the lowest rate of increase since Calvin Coolidge in the 1920s. We did it by carefully setting priorities.

LAUER: But-

GINGRICH: Now, now just let me finish.

LAUER: Okay, go ahead.

GINGRICH: So, so we doubled, for example, investment in national health research at the National Institutes of Health while we were being very tough on other spending. I would start and I'd go through this budget pretty dramatically and I would eliminate a great deal of federal bureaucracy. I would reform unemployment compensation. I would reform workman's comp at the state level. I would have a very pro-jobs, very pro-savings, very pro-take-home pay policy. When we reformed welfare, 65 percent of people on welfare either went to work or went to school and we saved billions and billions of dollars. That's part of how we managed to balance the budget. Remember Matt...

LAUER: Would, would you make cuts in Social Security and Medicare?

GINGRICH: No, no.

This is what I find truly depressing about the prospect of a GOP takeover of Congress. Gingrich is supposed to be one of the wonkiest Republicans out there, and his solution to the yawning budget gap appears to consist of: welfare reform (didn't we already do this?), reforming unemployment compensation and workers' comp at the state level (!), and of course, "eliminat[ing] a great deal of federal bureaucracy."

But cuts to the entitlement programs that are threatening to drive us off a fiscal cliff? No, no, by God, no!

Good Morning

2010-09-03T07:00:00.001-04:00

Quote of the Day:
"Young people are in a condition like permanent intoxication, because youth is sweet and they are growing."
~ Aristotle

Song of the Day:
The Archies, "Honey, Honey"

Happy Birthday:
Alan Ladd
Charlie Sheen
Shaun White

Facing a Tough Decision?

2010-09-02T21:18:00.003-04:00

Gretchen Rubin has five questions for you.

When I’m reluctant to take a risk or face something uncomfortable, I ask myself these five questions which, in melodramatic form, I call the "Five Fateful Questions." They help me think clearly about a situation.

Rubin asked herself these questions when she was pondering a career switch from law to writing.

Legal Eagle Wedding Watch

2010-09-02T21:15:00.000-04:00

My latest post at Above the Law.

Paint It White

2010-09-01T19:31:00.003-04:00

Nicole Balch on why she's painting the wood trim in her home.

This is where my family actually lives, not a historical time capsule. I've decorated around the wood and the more I look at it, the more I can't get over the crazy grain and the stain that has seen better days. Painting the trim white will make me so much happier with the look of my home, and what good is preserving a home's features if those features don't actually make you happy?

I couldn't agree more. I waffled a bit over painting our brick fireplace, but ultimately I made the same decision for the same reason.

Interesting discussion in the comments, by the way.

"Police Officers Don't Check Their Civil Rights at the Station House Door"

2010-08-12T15:44:00.002-04:00

Mindblowing obtuseness, recorded by Radley Balko, from law enforcement officials regarding citizens recording police in public.

Says one official:

"They may have problems with some bad police officers in some of your urban areas. But we don't have those problems around here. All of our cops around here are good cops. This is a small town. Everyone knows everyone. If we had a bad police officer here, we'd know about it, I'd know about it, and he'd be out. There's just no reason for anyone to feel they need to record police officers in Crawford County."

As one commenter puts it: "I'm not sure how to react to that in a way that doesn't involve screaming at the top of my lungs."

Michael Birmbaum, Tendentious Paraphraser

2010-05-23T11:29:00.004-04:00

Excellent takedown by Ann Althouse of a WaPo piece on the new social studies curriculum adopted by the Texas Board of Education.

If you're going to criticize [it] . . . you'd better quote it. Or at least link to the text. And if you choose to paraphrase and not even link, and I have to look up the text myself, and your paraphrase is not accurate, it is my job to embarrass you by pointing that out.

Great work. Read the whole thing.

More Than "Categorical Balancing"

2010-04-22T09:59:00.003-04:00

Heartening stuff from SCOTUS on the First Amendment in yesterday's 8-1 decision striking down federal ban on commercial depictions of animal cruelty. Here's Chief Justice Roberts:

[T]he Government points to Congress's " 'legislative judgment that ... depictions of animals being intentionally tortured and killed [are] of such minimal redeeming value as to render [them] unworthy of First Amendment protection,' " Brief for United States 23 (quoting 533 F. 3d, at 243 (Cowen, J., dissenting)), and asks the Court to uphold the ban on the same basis. The Government thus proposes that a claim of categorical exclusion should be considered under a simple balancing test: "Whether a given category of speech enjoys First Amendment protection depends upon a categorical balancing of the value of the speech against its societal costs." Brief for United States 8; see also id., at 12.

As a free-floating test for First Amendment coverage, that sentence is startling and dangerous. The First Amendment's guarantee of free speech does not extend only to categories of speech that survive an ad hoc balancing of relative social costs and benefits. The First Amendment itself reflects a judgment by the American people that the benefits of its restrictions on the Government outweigh the costs. Our Constitution forecloses any attempt to revise that judgment simply on the basis that some speech is not worth it.

Whole thing here, including Justice Alito's dissent.

Are You a "Difficult" Person?

2010-04-21T11:43:00.001-04:00

Take the quiz.

This Makes Me Want To Redecorate

2010-04-20T12:52:00.003-04:00

Le Creuset cast iron, now available in "Cassis."

Un-Four-Gettable

2010-04-06T10:29:00.004-04:00

Pure awesomeness.

(Photo from the Raleigh N&O's excellent slideshow.)

"Real People, Real Reviews"?

2010-03-11T12:37:00.003-05:00

Suddenly I'm not such a big fan of Yelp:

This wasn't your average sales pitch. At least, not the kind that John, an East Bay restaurateur, was used to. He was familiar with Yelp.com, the popular San Francisco-based web site in which any person can write a review about nearly any business. John's restaurant has more than one hundred reviews, and averages a healthy 3.5-star rating. But when John asked Mike what he could do about his bad reviews, he recalls the sales rep responding: "We can move them. Well, for $299 a month."

Story here.

Kaus Files

2010-03-02T13:13:00.003-05:00

This, my friends, is big enough news to make me break my blogging silence: Mickey Kaus to challenge Barbara Boxer in the Democratic primary for California Senate!

Test Post

2010-02-21T20:53:00.000-05:00

Testing new template.

2009-09-01T20:34:00.002-04:00

OUCH: Instapundit on Duke: "Why would anyone pay a fortune to send their kid to a place that has demonstrated this degree of incompetence — and sheer meanness?"

Durham in Wonderland has the background.

2009-08-10T17:54:00.002-04:00

A NICE COLUMN by Jonathan Rauch movingly illustrates how gay-marriage opponents are increasingly out of step with life as it's lived by millions of Americans:

If cultural conservatism continues to treat same-sex couples as outside the social covenant, the currents of history will flow right around it, and future generations of conservatives will wonder how their predecessors could ever have made such a callous and politically costly mistake.

Whole thing here.

2009-07-27T15:05:00.003-04:00

I COULD NOT agree more with Radley Balko's take on the Gates arrest. The whole piece is worth reading, but I particularly like Balko's explanation of why deference to police authority isn't necessarily productive or warranted. New technologies have allowed citizens to record cops abusing their authority -- and then cops further abuse their authority by trying to confiscate the evidence:

Just days before Gates was arrested, Philadelphia newspapers reported on a local cop who was captured by a convenience store's security video brutally assaulting a woman who had been in a car accident with his son. He then arrested her and charged her with assaulting him. The officer then demanded the store clerk turn over surveillance video of his attack. The clerk says other officers made subsequent demands to turn over or destroy the video. To his credit, the clerk refused. The video vindicated the woman. The officer has since been suspended.

After Oakland police officer Johannes Mehserle shot and killed subway passenger Oscar Grant at point blank range last New Year's Day, police attempted to confiscate cell phone photos and videos of the shooting. Fortunately, not everyone complied. Mehserle will now be tried for murder.

In the last few years we've seen numerous other incidents where cell phone videos and photographs, surveillance video, or handheld video cameras have both exposed police misconduct and shown officers to have falsified police reports. In most of these cases, the police at various points attempted to confiscate, alter, or destroy the photographic evidence.

Yes, many cops are selfless, noble, heroic, etc. But can anyone seriously deny that many are maladjusted bullies who signed up for the job because they get to carry a gun and boss people around? Balko neatly sums up the problem I have with many conservatives' attitudes about law enforcement:

Put a government worker behind a desk and give him the power to regulate, and conservatives will wax at length about public choice theory, bureaucratic pettiness, and the trappings of power. And rightly so. But put a government worker behind a badge, strap a gun to his waist, and give him the power to detain, use force, and kill, and those lessons somehow no longer apply.

Again, read the whole thing.

2009-07-23T13:20:00.003-04:00

ON GATESGATE, I agree 100 percent with both Jim Geraghty and Jacob Sullum. The real issue isn't whether Gates was a victim of racial profiling, or whether he acted like a jerk (I suspect the answer is yes on both counts). The issue is whether mouthing off to a cop is criminal behavior. Sullum:

Let's say Gates did initially refuse to show his ID (an unsurprising response from an innocent man confronted by police in his own home). Let's say he immediately accused Crowley of racism, raised his voice, and behaved in a "tumultuous" fashion. Let's say he overreacted. So what? By Crowley's own account, he arrested Gates for dissing him. That's not a crime, or at least it shouldn't be. Instead of admitting that he "acted stupidly" (as Obama put it) in the heat of the moment by deciding to punish Gates for hurting his feelings, Crowley continues to defend his conduct, refusing to apologize.

I've read a lot of worldly-wise people expressing some variant of, "Yes, but Gates should have known better. You're just asking for it when you antagonize cops in these situations. I always behave obsequiously when interacting with law enforcement, because I know that will result a better outcome for me."

Fine. But then the problem is a thin-skinned, swaggering law-enforcement culture that treats disrespect of its authority as a criminal matter. And it isn't obvious to me that the solution is for everybody to just shut up and be more respectful.

2009-07-21T19:23:00.001-04:00

DAVID BROOKS on the "liberal suicide march":

Nancy Pelosi has lower approval ratings than Dick Cheney and far lower approval ratings than Sarah Palin. And yet Democrats have allowed her policy values to carry the day — this in an era in which independents dominate the electoral landscape.

Read the whole thing.

2009-07-20T14:43:00.002-04:00

AS THE RIGHT gets all jazzed up about Obama's falling approval ratings, Daniel Finkelstein reminds us that that the Republican Party has problems of its own. For example, this is a party that didn't have room for Jon Huntsman.

So Mr Huntsman's name had just started to be bandied about as a possible candidate for the Republican nomination in 2012. Here was a man with real appeal outside the base, the only candidate from the centre. And the governor began to accept a few out-of-state invitations. In May, for instance, he was down to address Republicans in Kent County, Michigan. Nothing big time, a toe in the water, that was all.

And then, a few days before the event, Kent County Republicans announced very publicly that they were withdrawing the invitation. They had discovered that Governor Huntsman favoured civil partnerships between homosexuals. They did not want to be addressed by such a man. Two weeks later Barack Obama announced that he had offered Governor Huntsman an appointment as Ambassador to China. And he had accepted.

Mr Huntsman's decision is a tragedy for the Right in America. But it is the right decision for him. Because he correctly divined that there was no point him seeking the leadership of the Republican Party. For the Republican Party already has a leader. It is Sarah Palin.

Finkelstein continues:

The maths of politics aren't very complicated. If you want to win and you don't have enough votes from people who agree with you, you have to win support from people who don't by accommodating their views. You cannot win elections by getting the same people to vote for you by pulling the lever harder. This, however, is the strategy the Republicans seem to be embarking upon.

Whole article here.

2009-07-14T20:32:00.004-04:00

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: When no dinner will do but the ultimate carby, cheesy, comfort food, I pull out a box of San Giorgio macaroni (my mother's brand, and therefore mine) and follow the basic macaroni and cheese recipe on the back.

This routine hit a snag one night this spring when I got a box of macaroni out of the pantry and discovered that San Giorgio had replaced the recipe with some kind of DVD cross-promotion. Crisis! I tried to find the recipe on the web but wasn't successful. So I improvised, with only so-so results.

This week, I was happy to find that the cross-promotion is over and the recipe is back. I'm recording it here for my own benefit and that of the world:

Macaroni and Cheese
(From the San Giorgio macaroni box)

1 package (1 lb.) elbow macaroni, uncooked
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
5 cups milk
4 cups (16 oz.) shredded cheddar cheese

Heat oven to 350. Cook pasta according to package directions. [This part isn't in the recipe, but it's crucial: RINSE the pasta.]

In large saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Whisk in flour, salt and pepper; gradually stir in milk. Cook, stirring constantly, until sauce thickens and mixture begins to boil. Add cheese; stir until cheese is melted.

In 3-quart casserole dish, stir together pasta and cheese sauce. Bake 30 minutes or until bubbly. 8-10 servings.

[Obviously, you can jazz it up with ham, veggies, or whatever. I usually top it with some buttered bread crumbs for a little crunch.]

2009-07-03T14:33:00.001-04:00

A MUST-READ open letter to Sarah Palin regarding her public persona of late: "[I]t's not presidential. It's not even gubernatorial."

2009-07-02T13:32:00.001-04:00

"'THEY HAVE other men on the team,' the boy said to Hemingway's old man.

'Naturally,' the old man said. 'But he makes the difference.'"

2009-06-23T18:34:00.002-04:00

RICHARD NIXON, the gift that never stops giving:

Nixon worried that greater access to abortions would foster "permissiveness," and said that "it breaks the family." But he also saw a need for abortion in some cases, such as interracial pregnancies.

"There are times when an abortion is necessary. I know that. When you have a black and a white," he told an aide, before adding: "Or a rape."

Oy.

2009-06-22T16:14:00.002-04:00

WELL, HOORAY: Linda Greenhouse can finally say what she really thinks.

Some might argue that that's exactly what she did for many years as the NYT's ostensibly straight-news SCOTUS reporter.

2009-06-18T18:38:00.001-04:00

A SELF-IMPORTANT office manager on Capitol Hill gets a well-deserved and very public comeuppance.

2009-06-18T12:58:00.002-04:00

KAUS ON John Edwards: "smugger and phonier than ever!"

2009-06-15T14:47:00.001-04:00

YOUR DAILY LUDICROUS PREDICTION: "Four years from now, Mitt Romney will be president of the United States."

I'm not sure whether to chuckle or weep.

2009-06-04T19:11:00.000-04:00

TIANANMEN, twenty years ago.

2009-06-02T11:42:00.006-04:00

THE WP HAS A two-parter on the puzzling Robert Wone case. (Part one here. Part two here. Transcript of live chat with the reporter, Paul Duggan, here.) Wone, a 32-year-old Washington attorney, was murdered in August 2006 in the Dupont Circle home of three male friends. Authorities have alleged that Wone was killed by one or all of the three men in connection with a sexual assault; all three housemates have been charged with conspiracy, obstruction of justice and tampering with evidence.

There's so much about this case that is bizarre, but what's most striking to me is the implausibility of both the prosecution's theory and the defense's. Is it plausible that, in the 79 minutes between Wone's entering the townhouse and the defendants' call to 911 (or 42 minutes, if you trust certain other evidence), the housemates managed to drug him, sexually assault him, stab him, clean both his body and the crime scene, doctor a phony murder weapon, get rid of the real one, take showers, and concoct a story that they've managed to maintain for nearly three years?

Is it any more plausible that an intruder entered the house through a door that just happened to be unlocked, grabbed a knife from the kitchen, came up uncarpeted stairs and down an uncarpeted hallway without being heard, randomly chose Wone's room to enter, killed Wone, and left silently, leaving Wone's wallet, watch, and other valuables that were in plain sight in the home?

Neither scenario is very satisfying.

A few other points:

- What's known about the handling of the forensic evidence in the case does not inspire tremendous confidence in the DC investigators. We know they botched their analysis of possible bloodstains in the house, and that they mishandled a BlackBerry that could have held valuable evidence about the time of death. Should we have 100% confidence in the autopsy results, which showed that Wone died from his stab wounds and not from asphyxiation or poisoning? What about the analysis of the wounds themselves, which suggests that they were made with a different knife than the one found by Wone's body? What about fiber evidence that supposedly suggests the same thing? What about the "expert in blood-splatter patterns" -- how reliable are his conclusions? You can bet that the defense will aggressively challenge the forensic basis for the prosecution's theory.

- If the housemates supposedly got rid of the knife that served as the real murder weapon, plus sheets and/or towels that were soaked with Wone's blood, why were those items never found? Remember that the men would have had only minutes to dispose of them. They also would have had to dispose of whatever substance they allegedly injected Wone with -- a substance that has never been identified.

- The three men living in the house had what many people would consider an unconventional family arrangement. Two of them (the owners of the house) were in a long-term relationship. The third man was, according to authorities, involved in a "dominant-submissive sexual relationship" with one of the long-term partners. The third man also kept "a wide array of esoteric sexual implements" in his bedroom, "many of them designed to inflict pain." (The WP evidently found all this too outré for its print edition; the full articles appear only online.) It's probably fair to wonder if the housemates' lifestyles affected how they were treated by authorities. It's certainly fair to wonder how it will play in front of a jury.

- What about the possibility that Wone was killed by an intruder, but not in a random attack? Who else might have had a motive for killing him? (One assumes, of course, that this angle has been vigorously pursued, but has something been missed?)

- If these three men are innocent, they are living a nightmare. Wone's widow Kathy certainly is, regardless.

An excellent blog, Who Murdered Robert Wone, is covering the case. I'll be following it closely.

2009-05-28T18:17:00.002-04:00

EUGENE VOLOKH has an excellent series of posts on the California Supreme Court decision upholding Proposition 8. Start here.

To me, it looks like the court got it right, and I say that as someone who doesn't like Proposition 8 and wouldn't have voted for it.

But then, I'm one of a small minority of Americans who can wrap my mind around the fact that not everything I find unpleasant or silly is unconstitutional.

2009-05-28T18:09:00.002-04:00

A HIGHER EDUCATION bubble? "Tuition, room, and board at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill cost about half what they cost at nearby Duke. Is a Duke education really twice as valuable as one from UNC?"

Easy answer: You get what you pay for.

2009-05-24T08:21:00.000-04:00

Quote of the Day:
"Cheerfulness, it would appear, is a matter which depends fully as much on the state of things within, as on the state of things without and around us."
~ Charlotte Bronte

Song of the Day:
Sarah McLachlan, "Ordinary Miracle"

Happy Birthday:
Rosanne Cash
Bob Dylan
Patti LaBelle
Priscilla Presley

2009-05-23T08:02:00.000-04:00

Quote of the Day:
"Put your hand on a stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with that special girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. That's relativity."
~ Albert Einstein

Song of the Day:
James Taylor, "Handy Man"

Happy Birthday:
Joan Collins
Rosemary Clooney
Carolus Linnaeus

2009-05-22T08:15:00.000-04:00

Quote of the Day:
"Look not mournfully into the past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future, without fear."
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Song of the Day:
The Rolling Stones, "She's a Rainbow"

Happy Birthday:
Mary Cassatt
Arthur Conan Doyle
Laurence Olivier
Richard Wagner

2009-05-21T07:18:00.000-04:00

Quote of the Day:
"I had an epiphany a few years ago where I was out at a celebrity party and it suddenly dawned on me that I had yet to meet a celebrity who is as smart and interesting as any of my friends."
~ Moby

Song of the Day:

Happy Birthday:
Raymond Burr
Mary Robinson
Henri Rousseau

2009-05-19T12:48:00.008-04:00

DEAR CONGRESS: The New York Times informs me that thanks to legislation you are passing that prevents the credit card industry from charging its riskiest customers more, I can expect American Express to try to make up the difference out of my pocket:

Banks are expected to look at reviving annual fees, curtailing cash-back and other rewards programs and charging interest immediately on a purchase instead of allowing a grace period of weeks, according to bank officials and trade groups.

Be assured that if American Express attempts to charge me interest (I'm one of the millions of Americans who pay their balance in full every month), charges me an annual fee, or attempts in any way to make more money off of me than they already do from charging merchants service fees on my transactions, I will immediately cancel my American Express card.

You see, I have a debit card. And a checkbook. And absolutely no intention of subsidizing other Americans' poor decision-making more than I already do (my tax bill is a subject for another letter).

So after I and millions of other responsible, fed-up Americans cancel our credit cards, and the card companies are left with only the least-reliable customers (whom they're not allowed to profit from), and using a credit card becomes a signifier of low status (because the responsible, upper-income people all have canceled theirs), and stores stop accepting them (because the card companies, with their smaller, low-income customer base, suddenly have no leverage over the merchants), it'll be up to you to bail the card issuers out. With more of my money.

Apparently that's the way the world works now.

Best,
Me

2009-05-18T13:12:00.003-04:00

SUMMER ASSOCIATES with bigger paychecks than some 4th-year associates? Apparently it's happening at at least one firm.

Still, don't envy the summer associates. Perks are already being cut dramatically, and offers of permanent employment are no longer an almost-sure thing.

2009-05-18T13:08:00.000-04:00

"JUST HOW MUCH government debt does a president have to endorse before he's labeled 'irresponsible'?" asks Robert Samuelson.

2009-05-08T15:02:00.001-04:00

"I THINK that there is probably a special place in hell reserved for politicians who betray our nation's most helpless children for the benefit of a sullen and recalcitrant teacher's union."

2009-05-05T16:40:00.003-04:00

OBAMA and the DC voucher program:

The woman in the video has a simple question for the President: "Why, sir? Why?"

It's simple: "Kids don't have a union."

2009-05-04T15:58:00.004-04:00

SLATE'S "DEAR PRUDENCE" addresses the habit of automatically assigning everyone in one's orbit to one's own ideological team: "What would be nice [is] if people stopped assuming everyone who seems 'like a normal person' agrees with them politically."

I'll hasten to add that the offense occurs on both sides of the spectrum, and it's annoying whether it comes from the left or the right. Suffice it to say that "a normal person" means one thing in Washington, DC, and quite another thing in Birmingham, Alabama. And apparently I'm not quite normal in either place.

2009-05-04T15:40:00.003-04:00

LOVE AT Yale Law School: Gretchen Rubin's post touches on a topic close to my own heart. The library, the courtyard, the stairs in front of the stained-glass windows — I didn't particularly like law school, but I love those places because I associate them with meeting and falling in love with my husband.

But Gretchen's post is about so much more than YLS. Read it.

2009-05-04T13:41:00.002-04:00

BYE, BYE, Boston Globe?

The New York Times Co. said last night that it is notifying federal authorities of its plans to shut down the Boston Globe, raising the possibility that New England's most storied newspaper could cease to exist within weeks.
After down-to-the-wire negotiations did not produce millions of dollars in union concessions, the Times Co. said that it will file today a required 60-day notice of the planned shutdown under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification law.

The move could amount to a negotiating ploy to extract further concessions from the Globe's unions, since the notice does not require the Times Co. to close the paper after 60 days. The deadline, however, would put the unions under fierce pressure to produce additional savings, and the Boston Newspaper Guild promptly called the step a "bullying" tactic by the company.
"From the moment the Times Co. purchased The Globe in 1993, it has treated New England's largest newspaper like a cheap whore," former Globe columnist Eileen McNamara wrote last month in the Herald.

But The Globe is expected to lose $85 million this year. So whatever it is, it's certainly not "cheap."