April 30, 2005

Oh, Shit.

Jeff G and Lair are at it again.

I'm staying home, scared to death that one of them will get mad at me.

I've been sitting at my desk for two hours straight, hair standing on end, eyebrows raised and eyes wide open.

I may still be here tomorrow morning—in the same position. Terrified someone will think I took sides, and I'll end up in his laser-like sights.

The saving grace? Laurence is unlikely to respond to a post that refers to him as "Larry."

And me?—I kind of hope that when Attila the Hub gets home from the party he's attending tonight he'll coax me gently off to bed.

UPDATE: Jeff insists that the "Sudden Fiction" about a guy named Larry who lives in Houston, works in a cubicle and likes food wasn't about Laurence. So we have to take him at his word, because not doing so amounts to a sort of mind-reading. I'm not a mind-reader, and I therefore retract my assertion that the post was about Laurence.

After all, if it were about Laurence, there would have been cats.

Of course, it's too late now.

If Jeff and Lair were women this would be regarded as a "cat fight," but instead we'll have to call it a "brilliant, verbal domestically oriented warbloggers fight" or something like that.

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April 29, 2005

This Blog is Really Full of Crap

This entry at the newly resurrected Suburban Blight reminded me of a conversation I had with my mother about a year ago.

Me: By the way, I've always wanted to thank you for not being one of those mothers who apparently obsess about their children's shit.

Mom: You're welcome.

Me: I've heard some weird stuff about parents in the 60s and 70s who had very specific ideas about how often their kids should take a crap, and when. Eek.

Mom: It was even worse in the 30s and 40s—believe me. They used to give kids enemas if they didn't shit at the right intervals.

Me: How did you cope?

Mom: I learned to lie.

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It's Official

There is nothing worse than estrogen withdrawal. I'm ready to drive to south-central and see if I can score some happy hormones. In another eight days life will be good, but I'm in the middle of the two-week dearth.

The night before last I ate six Krispy Kreme doughnuts before bed. Okay: I ate three, and then an hour later I ate another three. So I've stopped buying them, until I start again.

Whaddya think: good time to make life-changing decisions? Or shall I wait a bit?

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Is It Just Me, Or

. . . does Lair seem a bit irritated by Sully?

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April 28, 2005

Michele

. . . doesn't think The Wall (the album) quite lived up to its hype. I haven't heard it all the way through in over a decade, but there are a handful of tracks on it that are truly amazing.

It is worth noting, however, that when it was time for me to buy Floyd CDs, I started with Dark Side, and then I acquired Wish You Were Here. I'm now ready for The Wall again; I hope absence has made the heart grow even more fond.

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April 27, 2005

Jeff Percifield

. . . marvels at the success of Air America, and offers the network some suggestions to continue its momentum.

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Energy Bar

John Carey, writing in Business Week, blasts Bush's energy proposals for being potentially popular. He includes this nugget of wisdom:

Want to increase supplies of oil and gas? Instead of drilling in the ANWR or adding a few LNG ports, Bush could open up areas like the Gulf coast of Florida or the Rocky Mountains, which has a 60-year supply of natural gas, to exploration and drilling. But that wouldn't be popular in Florida, where his brother Jeb is governor, or in some of the Western states that are strong Bush country.

To say that is to implicitly admit that the people of Colorado and Florida probably don't want this drilling to happen. Maybe they're right; maybe they aren't. But the interesting thing about drilling in ANWR is that Alaskans—for the most part—want it. It's being hung up by general misconceptions about what it would mean for wildlife, and by northeastern liberals who've never been to that part of Alaska and don't even know what the terrain looks like.

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Asocial Security

Over at Power Line, Hinderaker talks about a Democrat-led protest in the Capitol against social security reform:

Children would be better off saving than hoping to someday receive government checks. But the Social Security program makes it impossible for many millions of Americans to save, by sucking up the 15% of their incomes that otherwise could be available for saving. By making saving impossible, it relegates millions of Americans to retirement on the dole, at the whim of Congress. This doesn't apply to wealthy or prosperous Americans, who save through 401(k) programs and other vehicles, and essentially ignore the Social Security system, but Social Security destroys the potential for a secure, independent retirement for many millions of blue collar and middle-income Americans. The Democratic Party's cynical exploitation of these people is one of the scandals of the current political era.


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April 26, 2005

Annie Jacobsen

. . . entertained several agents from the Department of Homeland Security a few days before she delivered her second son. The details were typical: she got a call beforehand on her cell phone (the number for which was unlisted), and all four agents were on the line. There's something to be said for these "Men in Black" flourishes, of course.

The upshot: Jacobsen was right to be concerned about the security protocol associated with her flight last summer, and it appears likely that the DHS feels it could well have been a probe of some sort, a la the infamous James Woods flight.

In fact, Malkin sees the main significance of the latest in Jacobsen's "Terror in the Skies" series as confirmation by Federal agents that Mohammed Atta was on the same flight as James Woods some weeks before 9/11. Woods has publicly stated that two other participants in the 9/11 attacks are people he positively ID'd as having been on the flight. That gives us an idea that at least three of the four guys Woods saw were 9/11 terrorists. Clearly, it was some kind of dry run. Woods is of course not saying much these days, as he could be required to testify in the Zacarias Moussaoui trial, but we can infer from his observation that the "teams" that worked the evil of 9/11 were not discrete "cells"—rather, part of a more deeply interconnected group.

Joe Gandelman, writing in Dean's World, discusses one of the main implications of Jacobsen's latest article:

It seems from her piece that there are two government attitudes on this. The security-types, law enforcement at Homeland Security who seemingly do suspect there was something happening on that plane versus the more diplomatic types who want to take the official Syrian explanation and move on or downplay it.

There is also tension between two different approaches to security: those who would like to do their jobs as discreetly as possible, telling the public only as much as it needs to know—so as not to "tip off" the terrorist planners—and those who would like to convince the media and public that they really aren't asleep at the switch.

I'd really prefer the former approach. However, in a post-9/11 world we cannot simply sit back and assume that the people we hired to protect us are doing their jobs properly without any sort of scrutiny whatsoever. Whatever ambivalence I've felt about Jacobsen's series has not had to do with any sort of suspicion that she's a "racist." That's just nonsense. It has simply been that I wish the work of keeping the nation safe could go on under the radar.

But we cannot trust that this will happen: not when agents of the FBI field offices were unable to get their concerns addressed until thousands of Americans were dead and the U.S. economy had taken a direct hit it has yet to recover from.

The penultimate article in Jacobsen's series discusses an incident on British Air in which someone was removed from a flight departing from London—at gunpoint. Yet there have been nearly no media accounts of this occurrence. Naturally, I'd like to think that the authorities in the UK are "handling" it, and that the media blackout is part of an attempt to enhance safety through discretion. This particular event is complicated by its international character, but the principle remains the same: neither Britons nor Americans are in a position to utterly trust those who are obligate to protect them. And that's scary.

In this country, our assurance that public officials do their job lies in monitoring their efforts. It's tragic that this is so, but for right now that's the way it is.

Previous entries on Jacobsen's work:

My discussion of the "is this significant?" debate, after the original "Terror in the Skies, Again" story broke.

And some other updates.

UPDATE: Joyner has more.

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Scott Kirwin

. . . discusses the fact that we've very nearly cured the disease of "being a little boy."

Thank goodness.

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In Tech Central Station

. . . Sandy Szwarc writes an intriguing summary of what we've all seen lately while scanning headlines: the health risks of obesity have been drastically overstated, and it isn't a health crisis after all. Whew.

Beyond that, though, she explains that in most cases being somewhat overweight can actually enhance human health. Up to a certain point, biomass is good. Certainly, the risks of being underweight are much greater than the risks of being overweight.

So eat up. But, you know: I'd still take a walk now and again. It never hurts to hedge your bets.

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April 25, 2005

James

thinks we should just ditch the silly Food Guide Pyramid—even in its new "programmable" form—and let people feed themselves. After all, we couldn't be doing a worse job, even with all this Federal "help."

Reminds me of Michele's Food Guide Pentagram, which is, um, slightly more appealing than the Feds' version. Oddly enough.

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April 24, 2005

The Fascination of What's Difficult

I was at L.A. Times/UCLA Festival of Books yesterday (yes: Angelenos just call it "the book fair"). What a great time. It's always a little grueling, and we usually come home with those "day at the beach" headaches that tell us we have micro-mini cases of sunstroke. Yesterday, though, it was a little overcast, so we were able to stay a little later in the day without danger of our parched bones being found outside Royce Hall.

As usual I saw a few panels on crime writers, and was excited to sit in on one that featured both T. Jeff Parker and Roger L. Simon. (But where, Roger, was the fedora? You were wearing a baseball cap.)

Roger was blunt about his politics, and actually announced in a small lecture hall of about 300 people that he'd voted for G.W. Bush. He discussed 9/11 as a pivotal moment in his political evolution, and Tod Goldberg, as moderator, was able to joke about the fact that this made Simon a minority in that crowd: Goldberg struck just the right note, defusing the tension in a way that was respectful of both Simon and the left-leaning audience.

But the impressive acts of courage were undertaken by Hugh Hewitt. To a much-larger audience in a lecture hall that sat over a thousand, Hewitt discussed the media with a crowd of people that included Arianna Huffington. At first I was confused when Hewitt didn't garner as much applause as Arianna; later, it became clear that even a panel featuring Hugh hadn't attracted a centrist crowd. Not in this town, Baby.

The audience was completely outraged by a few observations of Hugh's, including a statement to the effect that the L.A. Times leans to the left. (I'm serious: it seems so self-evident that even my lefty friends cheerfully agree it is so, despite the Times featuring a few righty columns and one neocon cartoonist. Yet the boos Hugh was subjected to lasted over five seconds, and the two women on either side of me each glanced in my direction, as if to ask, "can you believe the amazing thing he just said?" Well, you know—I could.)

I kept a polite, chilly smile on my face. I didn't give these people any reason to think I agreed with them, but I also didn't clap at the end of Hugh's statement, and this was a failure. I think the handful of us in that room who support the war were truly scared and surprised by the sheer level of lefty adrenaline in that huge space, and just didn't know what would happen if we let those around us know how we felt.

Later, Hugh referred to Fox News as "center-right." More booing and hissing. The woman on my left (figuratively and literally) nearly bounced out of her seat once more. Again, I was chilly and unresponsive to those around me. But I failed to support Hugh as audibly as I would have liked.

I keep thinking about Malcolm Gladwell's amazing book, The Tipping Point. It was a great read, and I'm ready to buy it and hand it out on the street: what a fabulous set of observations about human nature. One of the fascinating discussions within it has to do with how we behave differently in groups than we do when we're alone. I was disappointed in my inability to stand up for what I believe in from the midst of a crowd of people who were upset about the war in Iraq.

This inner resistence we feel is the hardest thing in the world to counter, because no one wants to be the nail that sticks up and gets pounded back down. I'll have to try harder, though: because what matters is not who wins the debate. What matters is that we keep having it.

Next time, I'll clap for Hugh. I have to.

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April 22, 2005

I Refuse

. . . to write anything worth reading until someone links me.

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Matzoh!

Jibjab has a new video going, about the Tribe.

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April 21, 2005

Blogging Will Continue To Be Light

. . . for the next several days. I'm scrambling around trying to get some healthy revenue streams going (for, let's face it: blogging is unlikely to turn into one anytime soon) and this weekend is the UCLA/L.A. Times Festival of Books. In the past, I've always gone for only one day, but it looks like Attila the Hub and I will be there both days this year.

And I'm running three businesses other than this blog, so it's a bit hectic right now.

Just know that I dearly love you, O My Readers, and that I'll be back.

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April 19, 2005

American Catholicism?

Scott Kirwin discusses the tension between Rome and American Catholics, and some of the commenters at Dean's World (where he posted) predicts that American Catholics will split with Rome within 50-100 years.

I don't see it, primarily because there is already an alternative to Roman Catholicism: it's called the Episcopal Church (or Anglo-Catholicism, if you like). A lot of the rituals are the same, yet it's more liberal on a lot of the issues that have served as a sticking point.

Also, when the world is unstable, there is a visceral human need for constancy, and that's what the Roman Catholic Church provides.

One can argue about Vatican II all day long (and my husband and I have), but the fact is, these reforms were very ill-timed. At a time of social unrest, it's critical that people feel their religious institutions are holding steady, and providing moral leadership. The 1960s were a bad time to make sweeping changes. As is the present day.

(I do not feel that this applies to the issue of married priests, because that is not a core doctrinal issue: the Roman Catholic Church is in full communion with Eastern Orthodox sects that include married priests. So the Church has already conceded the point: it simply hasn't yet done the practical thing.)

UPDATE: More from The Corner.

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So Now We Have the Enforcer.

It'll be interesting to see how Benedict XVI behaves differently as Pope vs. as a cardinal. On the one hand, he has been very vocal in the past about seeing other Christian churches as "deficient." On the other hand, he was John Paul's right-hand man, and John Paul was aggressive about intra-Christian and interfaith dialogues. Given the state the world is in right now, it'll be interesting to see if he follows in John Paul's foosteps, or begins once more to isolate the Church.

In any event, he won't be Pope for a terribly long time, and it might be that the Church wants to "catch its breath" for a few years, while thinking about what course should be charted in the future.

He was, in a handful of ways, the "safe" choice.

I won't be upset if the Church continues its policies regarding married priests—though it's becoming impractical—or continues to hate on condoms. I will be upset if the dialogues don't continue with Protestants, Jews, and Muslims.

UPDATE: The BBC has a handful of quotations from leaders around the world reacting to the new Pope.

UPDATE 2: Outside the Beltway has a nice synthesis.

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April 17, 2005

Lebanon—Oh, Lebanon

Fascinating piece on the hold Hezbollah has over the Lebanese people, and how the area it controls in Beirut is a classic cult-of-death Islamic neighborhood, not too far from where Christians and moderate Muslims are celebrating their new unity.

It's said that Hezbollah out-guns the Lebanese army, but this is one cancer that badly needs some chemotherapy; and maybe a little surgery.

A little Fallujah treatment might hit the spot, if it were done right.


Via Beautiful Atrocities.

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April 16, 2005

Ilyka

. . . has found her true calling.

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