August 22, 2008
Cuteness, rendered vicious.
Zombie panda? Bamboo-deprived panda? Tweaker panda?
Heroic #35 at samuelsdesign.com, via The American Caliban.
In lieu of a cute animal this morning:
Via Kos.
August 21, 2008
"A whispering campaign might be better."
Over at HuffPost, Susan Isaacs calls out the credulous and fearful among a traditionally Democratic-leaning group where it comes to Barack Obama:
My eighty five-year-old cousin tried to deck a guy at his senior citizen center who announced "I'm never going to vote for a shvartzer," though unfortunately he was slowed by his emphysema and held back by his wife. Yesterday, at lunch, a friend confided how shaken she'd been at a recent wedding when she discovered everyone at her table -- all Jews who had voted for Clinton, Gore and Kerry -- felt compelled to explain they were going for McCain because he when push comes to shove, you just cannot trust a black to do right by us. Saddest of all, another pal -- successful, lively, chic, overtly Jewish three days a year -- announced, "I wish I could bring myself to vote for him, but I can't." Her brow would have furrowed in distress but for the Botox..."He really is a Muslim with a hidden agenda that will lead to the destruction of the State of Israel" has the same moral worth as Henry Ford's accusation in The International Jew of a secret conspiracy among Jews to achieve world dominance. (Ford quotes the "protocols," fictitious memoranda from purported Zionist conspiracy meetings: "To destroy Gentile industry, we shall... encourage among the Gentiles a strong demand for luxuries, all-enticing luxuries...," as if without Jews the ladies from Grosse Pointe would have chosen Sears Roebuck over Paul Poiret.)
"Shvartzer" = "kike." When challenged, the Jews who use the word say no, no, shvartz is the Yiddish word for black; so it's descriptive. But in its entire history of usage, I venture that no one has ever used "shvartzer" as an honorific.
And sadly, my super-hip pal's "I wish I could bring myself to vote for him, but I can't" is nothing more than a twenty-first century's version of the early twentieth's pusillanimous "I personally would not mind having Jewish lawyers in the firm, but they wouldn't feel comfortable here."
When that curtain is drawn in the voting booth, are some Jews going to abandon their remembrance of cruelties large and small and pull a lever because of the heady power rush of having permission to believe lies because they are Jewish lies ? Are we going to let our neshumas, our souls, shrivel in fear of the new ? Will we accept any dreck we read in an e-mail, any falsehood we hear, just because it comes from a fellow Jew?
November fourth is an important test for us. We will get to see if we are mensches or if have turned into the people we most despise.
"The Shmegege Vote: 2008" (Huffington Post)
More of anything? More of everything!
Can someone please pony up $2 million to run this during the Republican convention?
Watch it the second time with the sound off, by the way—you'll think David Lynch has crossed over to political advertising.
Going on the attack.
The turnaround time on attack ads this political season is quickly approaching zero.
Yesterday, asked by writers from Politico how many houses he owns, John McCain answered:
"I think — I'll have my staff get to you...It's condominiums where — I'll have them get to you."
Added to BarackObamadotcom on YouTube sometime very early this morning:
The harshest and most effective part of this ad is the slo-mo shot of McCain staring vacantly as mournful piano music plays and the narrator sadly explains, "McCain lost track. He couldn't remember."
Consider the age card played, and played well.
Sadly, this is the level to which we've descended, and it's only August. So much for a new kind of campaign. But McCain went there first, and it appears that attacks are still far more effective than ideals. So cheers to the Obama attack team for taking off the gloves when the time came.
Over at TPM, Theda Skocpol was prescient yesterday:
For weeks, Obama has ignored or wheedled when McCain and Lieberman attacked his patriotism and judgement. He has repeatedly begged them to stop because, supposedly, they are more honorable than that. He has asked them to discuss the issues dispassionately. What an insipid approach! McCain has NOT been honorable or honest, and Obama and his surrogates need to hammer on that incessantly. Use words like "lying" and "losing himself" or " (better) "forgetting what he is supposed to stand for." Stop focusing on decades ago in the POW camp. Talk about now, about the last years and months. Make the really obvious point that no candidate for President at this time can really be putting country first if he runs a dirty, lying campaign of false smears. That betrays the public trust. Tell it like it is, Obama!Politics is not just about issues, it is a metaphorical test of strength. If a man will not get immediately -- if quietly -- angry and fight back when his patriotism is attacked, why should we trust him to defend the country? And if he won't punch back by explaining clearly why his approach to foreign policy is actually tougher and smarter, why McCain's is thoughtless and reckless, why would we think he is better to be Commander in Chief?...
Obama is lucky he is not further behind already. And he is going to fade fast if he just runs a feel-good, bland convention about abstract "hope" and "change." In addition to getting gritty and colorfully clear about his recipe for making Americans' lives better -- AND about his approach to make this nation safer and stronger in the world -- Obama needs to signal all the major speakers at next week's convention to go after McCain in a key part of each speech. We need to hear why McCain is wrong and dangerous and no longer so honest and honorable. It needs repeating with force and humor and passion.
Otherwise, the Convention will be wasted, and this historic turning point for our country will be lost.
Someone got the message.
I think McCain will come to regret letting his team of Bush-era attack dogs go after Obama the way they have. There's so much about McCain that's old, unappealing and wrong—and easy to fire at him, to use an unfortunate metaphor—that this isn't even a fair fight.
Prepare to be entertained.
August 20, 2008
Charity, Unity, Fraternity, Bigotry.
The L.A. Times' L.A. Now blog reports that the Knights of Columbus have donated $1.25 million to support California's Proposition 8, which would revoke the right of gay couples to marry in the state.
Best comment on the blog so far:
Let's see, an all male organization that likes to march in parades dressed in feathery hats and gaudy uniforms wants to ban gay marriage?If that isn't denial, I don't know what is.
As of 4 p.m. yesterday, the anti-marriage crusaders had taken the lead in contributions.
If you're interested in validating your geographical stereotypes, you can see a graphical breakdown of contributions within the state (both for and against the initiative) broken down by county, or search a nationwide database of contributors.
Now, it's pretty unlikely that this loathsome initiative will pass (thanks partly to state attorney general Jerry Brown's decision to clarify the ballot language), but why not donate against it anyway?
Quiver full o' Jesus.
Today's NY Times has a story about Kisik Lee, coach of the U.S. Olympic archery team and super-devout Christian. How devout? Well...
Two weeks before leaving to compete in the Olympics, the archer Brady Ellison waded into a pool not far from the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif., and was baptized in the Christian faith.In the water with him was Kisik Lee, the head coach of the United States archery team and a Christian who has become a spiritual guide for Ellison, 19, and the larger group of athletes who train and live full time at the Olympic Training Center. He has also served as a sponsor in the baptism of three other resident archers.
“I give him six tasks a day, including reading the Bible and education,” Lee said. “And he’s doing it.”
Can you imagine the shitstorm of protest if Mr. Lee happened to be a similarly devout Muslim? Teaching archery?
Of course, were he a Muslim, he'd probably never have passed the job interview when the U.S. Olympic Committee went shopping for an archery coach:
Lee, 51, came to the United States two years ago as part of an effort to revamp the archery program after Americans failed to take home any medals in the 2004 Athens Games. His arrival was greeted with excitement because Lee served in the 1980s and ’90s as the national coach of his native South Korea, helping the team win eight gold medals. In 1997, he moved to Australia and was that team’s coach for the Sydney Games when Simon Fairweather won a gold medal.
Setting aside the issue of whether it's unseemly to recruit Olympic coaches from other countries, Mr. Lee's behavior is creepily reminiscent of the stories coming out of the U.S. Air Force Academy in the past few years. And just like at the Academy, the guy selling the religion also wields real power:
As the national coach, Lee helps distribute grants for high-level archers and select resident athletes, as well as those named to the junior development team. For athletes who live at the center, Lee evaluates their progress and helps decide whether they can continue in the program.
Is it really much of a mystery that his prayer group is so well-attended?
Unfortunately for anyone expecting supernatural results from Mr. Lee's hiring, the gods apparently want him to wander in the wilderness for a while:
None of the American archers won a medal in Beijing. Khatuna Lorig had the strongest finish, placing fifth in women’s individual.
But my favorite quote of the story (which the writer saved for the end, clearly loving it as well) has to do with the mental calm that Mr. Lee claims his athletes can find in the religion he sells so hard:
To be an effective archer, Lee said, athletes must learn to clear their heads and focus. “If you are Christian,” he said, “then people can have that kind of empty mind.”
