No Better in Europe

Der Spiegel this week gives us a piece on Europe's financial prospects for weathering the deepening financial crisis.

If the authors are correct, they are grim in the extreme.

Perhaps most dire is the possibility that Britain could become "a second Iceland," its economy overwhelmed by an even more severe housing crisis than the one that exists in the US. I can recall televisions shows running through a number of modest four bedroom houses (if you are picturing a British home in your head, that's probably what I'm talking about) in the 200k pound range, and then as a teaser cut to the 12 bedroom swimming pooled mansion that could be yours if only you moved to Spain or the US.

As interesting is the dilemma faced by the Eurozone, in which some of the weaker members face bankruptcy. Should the stronger members offer them bridge loans to prop up a fellow member and maintain the value of their shared currency, or does such a policy take away all incentive for governments to make the hard choices that might stave off insolvency in the first place?

Perhaps most striking, the concluding pages of the article range over European economic history going back to the 16th century, pointing out the relative frequency with which national governments had run out of money over the last half millennium. Setting aside the objection that this scope of time runs us all the way back into the declining days of mercantilism, national insolvencies have generally been associated with attempts to pay for wars using economic policies that lacked the sophistication to manage the resulting debt. Considering that we enjoy far more robust mechanisms for debt management today, the apocalyptic sweep of the piece is breathtaking. As is the idea that Europe stands on the brink of some sort of continental prisoner's dilemma with regard to the Euro.

"It's not dark yet, but it's getting there."

Because I Know How Deeply You Care

Wanted to let my reader(s) know that I'm working on the Sharon Bulova campaign for a special election in Fairfax County on Tuesday February 3rd. It's hard to describe how fun GOTV campaigns are for special elections, for Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, in February, at 8:00PM. Did in mention it's in NoVa? Really, I missed the suburbs, so it's all for the best.

Keynes is Our Co-Pilot

I've written in this blog about John Maynard Keynes before, indeed, TPBP was some months ahead of the general revival of Keynes in popular journalism.

This American Life has done a piece in which they interview prominent economists, some of whom are specifically applying Keynesian theory to Obama's bailout plan. As TAL often does, they compress into 7 minutes what I had to read some 1200 pages to get. The audio won't actually be available until 7pm Eastern.

Five Red States. That's right. Five.

Gallup released a poll yesterday looking to determine American's political affiliations. Apparently the first in a multi-part series, I encourage you to follow the link and marvel at the sea of blue states reporting Democratic majorities.

Here is a link to the NYT page where people are attempting to interpret this data.

While the meaning of this is obviously the source of much dispute, considering that this poll comes at the heels of Obama's inauguration it's less surprising than it would be had McCain won. I've weighed in against the "permanent majority" stuff before, but it's still a trend worth watching. We'll see where we are at the midterms.

Blago's Last Stand?

So Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich (hereafter, Blago) just put in an appearance at his own impeachment trial. Opting not to testify, as that would require him to, uh, answer questions related to his conduct, Blago instead opted to submit the Illinois legislature to a lengthy diatribe about how unfairly he's been treated. It hardly seems like the sort of thing that will make his impeachment less likely. Apparently they are preparing to vote, and you can watch for live updates here.

Blago's really quite successful effort to transform a slam-dunk federal wiretapping case into a public referendum having as little to do with the overwhelming evidence as possible has been a wonder to behold. Really, I can't think of a better executed example of this sort of thing.

I concede that the whole affair does point to the sometimes awkward relationship between the distribution of patronage and the receipt of campaign contributions- President Obama recently admitted that he'd be awarding at least some ambassadorships to BFD campaign contributors, an announcement which is only even notable in that Obama has worked so hard to bring unusual standards of integrity to his campaign and administration. If the line is a gray and fuzzy one, from what I've heard from the tapes there is little doubt that Blago wandered some distance past it. He probably deserves to get impeached. For that matter, he probably should have resigned some time ago. But that would require a sense of shame, the ability to tell right from wrong, and a belief that holding office is about more than just winning. It's about winning in a way that justifies the trust the public has shown in delegating the authority to address issues too big for them to address themselves. It's about giving them a public reflection of the values we are all meant to hold in common, in this case respect for the rule of law. My sense is that Blago doesn't have these things.

He does have amazing hair. Which I will miss, after he has been drubbed from public life. I bet he makes a great personal injury lawyer.

Extinct Blog of the Day

Today's (un)dead blog is focused on WoW (World or Warcraft). For those of you unfamiliar, WoW is the most popular of a class of on-line games that has ultimately ruined more lives than crack. I was reading something on Ta-Nehisi's blog about how a lot of companies intentionally screen out WoW players because they have haphazard sleeping paterns, tend to be less socially motivated, etc. I had a (relatively) normal friend of mine who WoWed an average of 50 hours a week over the course of a year, and subsequently sold his character (yes, you can do that) for an amount that literally turned out to be like 2 cents/hour.

Anyway...in this blog, whose author remains anonymous, you can find out these useful tips for beginning players, of which my favorite by far is number five which states:

5. Have an escape plan in mind when you get jumped

Words to live by.

The Folly of Obama

I should have turned my attention toward this long before, but I'd like to offer up my thoughts on Obama's strategy as it relates to passing a stimulus bill. I'd been willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on some level, until I saw this presser today.

Here's the problem: when he says we need to "put politics aside", I fear he actually means that was part of his approach to passing this bill. He says there are some "philosophical differences" between he and the Republicans, and that he wishes they had a better idea of what was in the bill. Watch the video. Am I the only one that feels like there's a glimmer of deer in the headlights about him, or at least the beginning of a realization that things aren't going the way he planned?

He thought in a time of national crisis he could assemble a broad coalition and that that coalition could subsequently create an agenda. And that, respectfully, is a fool's errand. You need to set an agenda and find a way - any way - to accomplish it. You never alter exactly what you want, never make a compromise from what you believe is best, unless not doing so threatens the agenda itself. Thus good governing boils down to the quality of the agenda itself and nothing else. Bush understood that. His failure was that his agenda was reckless and foolish; a failure of ideas, not accomplishment. When Obama says he wants to leave politics aside he's making a devastating miscalculation: it's all politics. Once you set it aside, there's nothing left. Josh Marshall hits the nail on the head in this post when he writes:

I hear a lot of talk about whether Obama's governing approach can be 'bipartisan' if a good number of Republicans don't vote for his Stimulus Bill. But that dubious point seems to be obscuring a more obvious and telling reality: the Republican leadership in both houses has decided that it's in their political interest to oppose the Stimulus Bill no matter what.

In the most cynical of evaluations, it's not clear to me that they're incorrect. If the stimulus is judged a success, their political gain from adding more votes to what will be seen as Obama's bill will not be that great. So they're figuring that only failure will work for them politically; and they judge that they want Obama to own it entirely.

What Obama inappropriately labels philosophical differences are actually political differences. And before Democrats get on their high horses about how cynical it is to play politics with policies that effect people's lives (and it is), remember that it was the Democrats that had a chance to halt funding in Iraq two years ago, but made the political decision to go ahead and fund it because they knew Republicans owned the misadventure and that it would probably continue to weigh them down come '08 (which it arguably did).

All that aside, it's almost incomprehensible that Obama believed that men the likes of John Boehner and Mitch McConnell would meet him halfway on anything that wasn't 100% in their political interests. Obama can bring science (back) to Washington. He can bring expertise, multilateralism, deliberation, transparency, accountability, and even the rule of law if he wants to. But he cannot bring decency. He can't bring personal or political sacrifice either. Not from his ruling party, and most certainly not from the opposition.

As I said in an earlier post, politics is the art of winning and nothing more. You make the tough choices about what to put on your flag, about who and what to fight for -- not by calling time out and trying to change the rules.

Hometown Update

The 60 Minutes piece about my hometown of Wilmington aired two days ago. Video's here. It was certainly emotional for me to watch, though I suppose I'm an easy target. You can see my mother playing bells in the sequence at the church, and if you're fast enough you can catch my girlfriend and I in the back corner of the small audience.

I'd love to label myself a prophet for having predicted the nature of the piece, but there's nothing prophetic about identifying the pain that emanates from certain and impending loss.

That loss, having mostly taken place, will be consummated in three days, when DHL operations in Wilmington cease. Watching the piece viscerally brought home the fact that my reason for coming to Washington has thus far been an abject failure. I've mentioned it before, and I've never said it as bluntly, perhaps even to myself, but I came here because of my hometown. I came here to help in the best way that I knew how. And because I knew what was happening in Wilmington wasn't an isolated incident. 70,000 jobs were lost yesterday. Yesterday. Almost ten times the number that were lost in Wilmington.

I was never so naive as to think that I'd come here and get a job that directly related to helping my hometown. I knew it would take years of hard work, compromise, and smart decision-making before I'd be in a position to do anything substantive.

Politics is an end unto itself, and is only loosely related to governing when it is at all. Politics is the art of winning. I came to Washington because I thought I knew how to win. Nothing in my life has ever made sense to me the way politics does. Like 60 Minutes, I thought I knew what sold, and how to sell it. I thought I'd come here, bust my ass, work twice as hard and learn twice as much as everyone else, and make myself an asset to a Congressional or Executive office. I thought somebody here had read Horatio Alger. I thought my time struggling to decide what I wanted to do with my life, living outside the U.S., traveling the world and accumulating friendships and experiences would be an asset and not a detriment. I thought...

Instead, I'm awash in a sea of Ivy league grads that have planned on working on the Hill since they were in utero. I'm 29 and feel like a dinosaur in an environment that's dominated by people fresh out of college getting the jobs that I'd donate a kidney for. I'm someone with almost no meaningful connections in an environment where who you know is more important than what you know, and what you can do never even comes up. I certainly know some people, but connections aren't really useful unless someone is willing to pull a string for you, and like Wilmington, even if you have heard of me, you sure as hell don't owe me any favors.

I've applied to 41 jobs on the Hill since my internship ended in December, and haven't even received a polite 'no thanks' from a single one. I've gone through 19 different cover letters, searching for the magic words that might land me an interview or chance, wondering all the time if they get read or not, if I should keep applying, keep setting up informational interviews, keep writing emails that rarely get answered.

Like everyone else, dreams or not, I've got to pay the rent, and that necessity has to be measured against why I came here in the first place. The reality is that I'll have to quit focusing on Hill positions soon.

I know my story's not special. There are lots of people in the same boat or worse. You can't be from Wilmington and not know that.

I've got to go now. I'm heading down to a Hill office. I heard the new Senator from Oregon is still staffing up and thought I'd drop off my resume. I could email it, but it's more likely to get looked at if I drop it off in person. It's snowing in Washington for the first time this winter, and being from Ohio I've missed the snow, so the walk should be nice.

Update: Ok, so upon reflection this was a ridiculously self indulgent post. If I didn't have a policy of never pulling posts (whether or not I subsequently regret them) I'd certainly axe it. Blah, blah, looking for jobs sucks. I officially apologize for taking up even a small part of your day with this sad sack shit.

Where Did That Naval Observatory Come From?

So amid the whirlwind of policies that have cascaded out of the Oval Office over the last week, I would like to draw attention to one of the little markers along the path back to sanity.

Without particular fanfare, the official residence of the Vice President, the Naval Observatory, which had been pixelated out of the satellite photos on Google Maps under Bush, has magically appeared. See the story in TPM.

It raises questions about how one goes about requesting something like this in the first place. It raises even bigger questions about why Google didn't tell whoever made the original request to take a hike. Either way, yet another indication that the country is once again in the hands of rational adults.

Financial Balance

Here is an excellent article from Foreign Policy, arguing that China's reliance on US dollars for the vast majority of its foreign currency holdings does not constitute the threat to domestic security that many suggest.

Bottom line: As with so very many things, China remains constrained by its own governing system.

Extinct Blog of the Day

Today's feckless blog belongs to the Ohio University Undergraduate Student Senate, with their "yOUr Undergraduate Student Senate Blog". It's unclear what purpose the blog was supposed to serve, though whatever it was it hasn't served it since May of '08. It was apparently designed to be, "Your source for Student Senate information". Alas, these days there seems to be no information to convey.

I checked the homepage of the organization to try to ascertain the fate of the blog (and with it the purpose of the organization). My favorite part was under the "About Undergraduate Student Senate" tab on the left. I implore you to click on the "What We Do" button, which brings you here. Good times. I hope they're one of those organizations that people join in order to put on a resume and get recommendations, and not advocacy based, or else those poor kids are screwed.

Text Message of the Day

"So my inaugural invitation arrived today"

Question of the Day

Would a bolt of lightening have still struck the clock tower given Marty's presence in 1945?

Update: Commenter db is correct when saying that it's actually 1955. I knew that. Don't know why I put '45. My apologies.

Overturned

Yesterday, by executive order, President Obama ended years of legal debate between a variety of historians and the White House by sweeping away President Bush's regulations that obstructed the release of a variety of documents from all branches of government, but most particularly the Oval Office.

What a difference a day makes.

NYT story on the accomplishments of the first 24 hours.

Episode IV

I am reasonably certain that among American historians, 20 January 2009 is going to compete with 11 September, 2001 as the real beginning of the 21st century.

Some have suggested that the long national nightmare is over. With Obama already moving to dismantle Gitmo by suspending military hearings, and freezing Bush's executive orders with an eye toward reversing them, I am prepared to entertain that idea. On the other hand, Justice John Roberts managed to flub the oath of office, which was still administered with the inclusion of the (possibly illegal) line "...so help me god" not actually found in the Constitution, and the Dow fell 4% yesterday, for those paying attention to such things.

Still, yesterday rings in my head. The speech was simply masterful- a certain justice that Bush et al had to sit feet away and listen to millions of Americans cheer the repudiation of their ideological foundations. The comparisons to JFK are becoming cliche, and are in my opinion also becoming obsolete. Obama is already beginning to stand in the light of his own reputation. In the space of less than a day.

I won't join the ranks of those who call this a new beginning- that redundancy doesn't really apply to the business of government. What we have this morning is rather a new hope. I will, happily and proudly, join the ranks of those who see this as yet another step toward a more perfect realization of the American idea. I look forward with eager anticipation to watching the next few hours, days, weeks, unfold.

Nature intervenes.

Well, I had planned on starting this post with some sort of story relating music and sanity, perhaps a metaphor illustrating the restorative powers of listening to a favorite album in troubled times. This would, of course, lead into reviews of a few records that hold that magical ability to make the world alright again for me.

Then a bat flew into my room. In the ensuing insanity of Scottie (guitarist for TPBP house band Skeletonwitch) and me fleeing the room, arms over our heads, screaming like babies, we failed to see exactly where said bat went.

So, I'll still talk about a few of my tried and true favorite records. I'll just do it 50% terrified, 30% repulsed and 20% ashamed, back to the corner cowering in fear. I mean, really, a bat...gross.

Grant Lee Buffalo - Mighty Joe Moon (1994 Slash/Reprise)

Grant Lee Buffalo were doomed from the outset. They were too slick and LA. for the alt-country crown and were too alt-country for the guitar driven alternative scene of the '90's. This album sounds as fresh today as it did 14 years ago. Sweepingly cinematic songs reflect on our place in and our personal relationship with the mythologies of American history, from the bombastic Lone Star Song to the nostalgic Sing Along. Alt-country with distortion, pop rock with banjos and an edge (tell me Mockingbirds isn't a pop song under all those shimmering guitars...), call them all of that. And more.

Hum- Downward is heavenward (1997 RCA)

Another record doomed to fail. Downward is Heavenward didn't sell at all, and they were subsequently dropped from there label and broke up shortly after. Way to ahead of there time. Hum wrote the book on densely layered space rock, and this album has since, very rightfully, become regarded as an underrated masterpiece of the '90's. It's difficult to describe Hum. A heavy guitar-driven rock band with pop hooks? A pop band that shreds? Majestic wall-of-sound riffrock? It's a soothing heavy, all thick guitars and propulsive drums. I can't even consider a world without this album. A tragic world that would be...

Six Organs Of Admittance - Dark Noontide (2002 Holy Mountain)

Six Organs is the name of one Ben Chasney's solo output. This album, Chasney's third, changed my way of thinking about music, both in the listening to and the performing of music. Chasney has a way of playing the Takoma styled, Fahey inspired vein of fingerpicked folk and not sounding like it. His melodies are his own, guitar lines turning in on themselves only to dissolve into a moaning drone of noise, then return agian. I know it sounds hokey to say, but Chasney achieves all of this while still sounding almost spiritual in the depth of his playing, without ever sounding like some new age hack peddling schmaltzy folk guitar. Dark Noontide is an incredible record, one that expands the possibilities of how affecting music can be while never straying to the obvious.

All three of these albums have been on heavy rotation for me lately. They've all transcended the moments in my life that they come from to mean something more to me. I hope you check them out and, moreso, that you enjoy them.

Me? I've got to find a bat. Not cool.

There's Something Happenin Here...

Barack Obama began his train ride to Washington today in a 1939 Pullman rail car. Read the story here. Spectators line the tracks to see him pass. People flood into Washington days in advance for the inauguration, not in hopes of seeing the event, but of standing out in the freezing cold watching it on giant televisions with other liked minded people.

I struggle for perspective on this weekend. It's been so long since there was anything ennobling about presidential politics, I'm not certain how much of what we are seeing is elation at the end of the Bush years, how much is just the hoopla that surrounds any coronation, and how much is the energy that flows through a moment of obvious historical significance.

For those interested in attempting to capture the zeitgeist, check out: Gail Collins, Bloomberg, Boy George, Reuters, and the man himself.

Did or Didn't, Doesn't Really Matter

In an update to something I blogged about in the fall, the Supreme Court has decided the case of an Alabama man arrested under a false warrant. As a recap, the issue at hand was not whether or not the search was legal or not – it wasn’t – but whether it’s reasonable to expect the government to keep up-to-date records and if convictions predicated on out-of-date or incorrect information can be upheld by the courts. According to a five-to-four decision by the Roberts Court, it can.

This man went to get his truck out of the impound lot. An investigator at the sheriff’s office knew of his criminal past and looked up his warrants in the county they were in: nothing. So, he had them looked up in the next county over, which did bring up a warrant. The problem is, that warrant had been withdrawn five months earlier. They went and arrested him for that (bogus) warrant and discovered meth amphetamines and a hand gun in his car. He was later convicted of drug charges and possessing a firearm. The Roberts Court decided that this was an inbounds use of federal power, even though the man was arrested initially for something that wasn’t real.

This case was once again decided with the conservative bloc pitted against the (somewhat) liberal bloc, with Anthony M. Kennedy casting the spoiler vote. While the next couple of justices to retire are likely to be from that liberal bloc, it reminds me once again of how pleased I am that we’re not going to face the prospect of a McCain Administration ramming a ramming another movement conservative onto the courts while screaming “No litmus tests, no litmus tests!” We will, of course, have to watch a solidly Democrat Congress and Administration slowly bow to conservative caterwauling, but hopefully we won’t end up with another Roberts or Alito.

Extinct Blog of the Day

Today's blog is hosted by Oakley C. Merideth (I insist you to follow that link and check out his bio), winner of the "2004 NM Culture Net Poetry WebSlam". Oakley has "always wanted to ride a horse while holding the severed head of a mythical behemoth while my father shouts “Callooh! Callay!” (and really, who hasn't)"

He hosted a poetry blog for "Santa Fe Arts and Culture" (I further insist that PW follow this link, for a reason that should become obvious). Though he has managed only one post in the last 2+ years, I think it's safe to say that his legend will never die. I actually tried to get someone to do a weekly or bi-weekly poetry post a while back, though they politely declined (I should try again, as they recently quit their job to move abroad).

Regardless, I would like to appoint Oakley C. Merideth the official Poet Laureate of TPBP, and I insist (my third insistence this post for those of you keeping track at home) that this honor feature prominently in Oakley C. Merideth's CV.

Selling the President

One product of Barack Obama's unprecedented internet campaign was that I found myself inundated with opportunities to buy overpriced t-shirts and stickers from him. I thought little of this at the time. After all, the man had a national campaign to win, and you don't do that without money by the trainload.

For some naive reason, I assumed that the opportunities to buy stuff from the Obama campaign would end, well, with the election. Instead, the Obama for America campaign site remains up and running. It continues to bill itself as somehow associated with the 2008 campaign, and most curiously, continues to offer to sell me $30 t-shirts. I got an email from it last night detailing my opportunity to purchase a modified Obama campaign poster, not really improved by the addition of what appear to be palm branches framing an announcement of the inauguration.

The most obvious question for me: where the heck is this money going? Is Obama literally planning to continue campaigning non-stop through 2012? And on a related note, does anyone over there at Obama for America believe that someone in my income bracket, who donated the amounts I did to their campaign, is unaware of the inauguration date and would need yet another garish campaign poster cluttering up my apartment to remind me?

I turn also to this story in HuffPo, detailing the degree to which Obama has inherited the mantle of Babe Ruth as a marketing opportunity for everything from commemorative plates to Ikea furniture. I realize that this sort of shameless marketing fits comfortably within the American tradition of working to transform our most fundamental hopes and aspirations into lucre. I do get that. But I remember attending a rally in Cincinnati last year at which I was assailed, for hours, by local vendors hawking bootleg t-shirts, buttons, stuffed animals, postors- pretty much anything. In fact, despite specific effort, I was unable to locate a vendor among the dozens selling legitimate Obama gear. I finally broke down, and bought my shirt off the website.

What are we to make of all this? It's almost cliche at this point to observe that Obama takes office more as a social movement than as a candidate, which I guess goes some way toward explaining the universal market appeal. But I can't help feeling that this cheapens the brand, in the larger sense. Clintonian wit to the contrary, Obama is not going to wave and bid the heavens open for him. As real-world decisions plant him ever more firmly to the face of the Earth, I have to believe that all the iconography is going to seem...misplaced. I don't have television and therefore cannot track these things, but if the late-night comics haven't turned to this yet, they soon will. I've suggested before that Obama, for all his obvious talent and preternatural self-assurance, is due for an unpleasant collision with the fiasco bequeathed to him by the Bush administration. All the...junk...is just going to make it harder to come to grips with reality.

Bush's Last Conference

George Bush gave his final press conference today, and you can watch all 47 minutes of misunderestimated glory on CSPAN.

Bush has famously hated press conferences, and it's been months since his last one. Hating the press really isn't a good trait for a national leader, but it's funny watching Bush come to terms with his impending departure- strangely, he's really never looked more presidential than he did today. With nothing left to prove, and with his policy opinions on the verge of becoming irrelevant, he has finally relaxed. You can see it in his shoulders. He actually knew everyone's name in the press room, and some of his off the cuff remarks were actually humorous.

On the other hand, he still can't speak English very well, and his insights seem a little underwhelming. "We haven't we got peace in the Middle East? Well, it's been a long time since we had peace in the Middle East." Hmm.

Of similar interest, Dana Perino was on The Daily Show a couple of days ago. She holds the company line, and gives some sense of what it's like in the bunker in these closing days of the administration.

Is it January 20th yet?

Endangered Species, Republican Moderate Edition

Interesting but not surprising development from George Voinovich. As the article states, Voinovich will be 74 in 2010, and that is pretty old for someone seeking another six year term. It’s far too early to use this as any sort of indicator of Republican fortunes in the next round of congressional elections, of course. The eight hundred pound bear in the room hasn’t decided exactly what’s going to happen, so it’ll be good to know if we have a wall to hang curtains on before we head down to Penney’s to look at fabric swatches.

Voinovich has long been one of the Senate’s main moderate Republicans. It seems likely from the early maneuverings that the Republican Party is reacting to its electoral drubbings in 2006 and 2008 not by tempering their tone, but by going out of their way to embrace a new Christian, Southern, anti-immigrant, pro-war, pro-torture orthodoxy. A seat like Voinovich’s, in a swing state that wanders all over electorally, could be a real test for the soul of the Republican Party. Who the various factions back, and who comes out the winner will be very telling for what we can expect from the future.

Which begs the question, who will run for Voinovich’s seat? The current Democratic Governor of Ohio, Ted Strickland, will be up for reelection in 2010. Perhaps he could be enticed to run, although he showed a real reticence to be dragged into national politics during the Democratic primary race. On the Republican side, I can’t think of anyone of a similar stature. Any suggestions?

Since I've Been Gone

It’s been a long time since I’ve checked in at TPBP, and for that I apologize. My schedule for the last month has been pretty crazy: being medically separated from the Peace Corps (nothing too serious, thankfully, but serious enough to end my service early, unfortunately), visiting friends and family and making a big move: to Jersey City, New Jersey and a new apartment with my special ladyfriend. Right now I’m on the hunt for a new job, and hopefully I’ll have time to drop some more science on you in the form of insightful commentary on the day’s events. But if you want to shut me up by giving me a job in the New York area and taking up my time, feel free to drop me a line.

It’s good to be back, though. I’ve missed things, and it’s good to see that we’ve still got a number of intelligent and thoughtful commentators lurking around. See you soon.

Justice, In This Instance

This morning, the President-Elect told George Stephanopolos that he was "leaving the door open" on the possibility of investigating the Bush administration for "potential crimes." Here's the full story.

The implications stemming from such an investigation deserve careful, public consideration.

On the one hand, we have the obvious list of potentially criminal things the Bush administration did, repeated so frequently even in this blog that I will not subject you to a printed retelling of it, allowing you to stop the list in your head when it has reached sufficient size to make the point.

On the other hand, in jobs where almost any mistake you make probably violates a law, this sort of after-the-fact prosecution is precisely why Dick Cheney is trying to withhold his records. That and he's a sneaky git, but this is a credible reason. The term "corrupt politician" can sometimes seem like a redundancy, and in general individuals who break the law while holding office should be held accountable for their actions. But the last eight years have seen a systematic, methodical effort to undermine the structure of the US government carried on not just at the highest levels, but across large areas of entire departments. Prosecuting the handful of individuals who might eventually be held to account for this seems inadequate to the scale of what has occurred.

In a nation ruled by laws, no person or office should be allowed to rise above them, but shouldn't our effort be focused on mapping out the degree to which Bush et al have violated the public trust, and then trying to ensure that their legion transgressions can't be repeated? I for one would take no solace in seeing an Alberto Gonzalez behind bars. I would be greatly heartened to learn that an oversight mechanism that would actually do its job had been created to keep someone else in his position from filling the justice department with lawyers who had passed an ideological litmus test. The President Elect is probably correct when he says, "We must avoid any temptation simply to move on." But we must equally avoid any temptation simply to punish for the sake of vengeance. I believe that justice, in this instance, is better served by the pursuit of improved government in the future than by an exact accounting for past crimes.

I'd Like to See It Before It Explodes

I saw a headline earlier in the week mentioning the thousands of little earthquakes that have occurred in Yellowstone Park since Monday, and immediately thought of the passage in one of Bill Bryson's fine books mentioning that Yellowstone's remarkable geology is a product of North America's largest volcano. Bryson is one of my favorite airplane authors, but I occasionally find myself wondering if he's just making stuff up.

In this case, he's not. The story here goes into some factual detail, but the general argument, that people who think THE END IS NEAR are idiots we should all point at and mock, seems dangerously childish. A volcanic eruption of that size, in that location, would be a disaster of near biblical proportions for those of us living in North America. It isn't keeping me up nights or anything, but it seems wrong to mock people who are pointing to an actual threat.

Gaza

While trolling around facebook the other day, I saw that a friend of mine had joined a group called "Let's collect 500000 signatures to support the Palestinians in Gaza".

I texted the friend: "Support the people of Palestine how?"

His reply: "By trying to spread awareness of what is actually going on in Gaza. You obviously know how biased our media is on this issue."

My response (via text) was: "I disagree on some level. Dissemination of what's going on in Gaza isn't the issue, though the combination of an Israeli media blockade and Hamas propaganda makes it hard. The real issue is the completely unsophisticated conversation we have here about the nature and strategy of the conflict and our role in it."

I'd like to expound on what I meant by that.

President's Bush's first public comments on the conflict contained the following statement:

"The situation now taking place in Gaza was caused by Hamas," Bush told reporters in the Oval Office, referring to the Islamist movement that rules Gaza and is deemed by Washington to be a terrorist group.

"Instead of caring about the people of Gaza, Hamas decided to use Gaza to launch rockets to kill innocent Israelis," Bush said. "Israel's obviously decided to protect herself and her people."

I don't want to quibble with the factual accuracy of Bush's statement, I'd only like to illustrate the degree to which it is part of an unending pattern, particularly the laying of sole blame at the feet of Hamas. There have been literally hundreds of separate incidents of violence between Israel and Palestine, and more than a few full-fledged conflicts, and our government (and in too many cases our media) have taken a nearly identical view of each one.

Statements like these require our focus for two reasons. We are not bystanders in this conflict. We supply Israel with billions in annual military aid, including recently purchased munitions currently being employed in this conflict. Secondly, these statements are concrete and binding policy guidelines. Official public statements like these don't always (or nearly always) equate to follow-through policies. We talk about carbon reduction and detail how "clean coal" is compatible with that goal. We talk about how important it is for Georgia to join NATO and stand up to Russian aggression in former Soviet states with no real intention of following through on either front. Harry Reid tells us that a Blago appointee will never be allowed to serve in the Senate.

But, in referencing this conflict we continually make the most dichotomous and simplistic statements imaginable, and then enact policy as though they were unequivocally true. Put simply, the statement, "The situation now taking place in Gaza was caused by Hamas" is a bad basis for policy over the short term, and exponentially worse as time goes on, as it allows us to intellectually disengage from a conflict over which we should have a large degree of agency.

I think the mistake many on the far left (and more increasingly in emerging Progressive circles) make is in trying to be some sort of a counterbalance to this destabilizing rhetoric by pointing out the asymmetric nature of the conflict -- such as the completely disproportionate casualty numbers and overall level of destruction. They try to attack the validity of Bush's first sentence, when in fact it's the nature of the conversation itself that's crippling us. It's worth noting that substituting the word "Israel" for "Hamas", probably leads us to an even less true, even more stupid and destabilizing policy perspective. What we need to do is find a way to expand the conversation. It's the only way we'll ever find the political and rhetorical space to maneuver outside the tiny, impotent box we've barricaded ourselves in.

Text Message Conversation of the Day

Friend: Did u know cats are more nutricious(sic) than dogs?

Me: To eat?

F: Yes

Me: Right...good to know.

F: I mean its not close

Me: Searching for a proper response...

F: Dog supposedly tastes better

Me: Dude, you're freaking me out a tiny bit.

F: I saw it on tv

Me: The pet eating channel again?

F: Nah spikes manswers

Thoughts on Offering Thoughts on Gaza

I've put a bit in a bit of thought recently concerning where this blog has gone (and is headed) and to what degree I should consider a somewhat tighter focus. In particular, when I read about and consider events as they unfold in Gaza I'm of two minds about how to approach them. One we will call the Ta-Nehisi corollary of "only blog(ging) about things I'm prepared to argue about". I'm not really prepared to argue about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict outside of the very broad outlines of what you might hear on NBC nightly news. Would I argue with Yglesias or Klein (among many, many others)? Probably not. Even on this blog, my foreign policy knowledge and synthesis lag behind posters PW and Aaron. There's also the consideration of whether anyone actually uses this blog as an outlet to catch up and discuss news events (somewhat doubtful).

But, what I've also learned from doing this over the past half year is that putting my opinions out into a public forum (even if they're not really critiqued or read by a large number of people) is valuable. Regardless of the prior paragraph, I desperately want to have something valuable to contribute on issues like these since, to employ a cliche, you gotta crawl before you can walk. So, to the entire TPBP community, thanks for reading as I try to take a few careening steps.

Translation: Expect a post on Gaza in a little bit.

Just Read This

Seriously.

Writing like this often makes me sad. Not for the obvious reason -- the subject matter, but because I can't write like this guy. Anybody else ever feel similarly? There's almost nothing I enjoy more than writing, but nearly everything I put to page sucks. Not that I need to tell any of you.

Extinct Blog of the Day

Today's sad blog belonged to "the dealio", and followed the Seattle Supersonics, who ripped the heart out of a great fan base and moved to Oklahoma City to become the Thunder this year. It's both funny and sad seeing dealio's final posts as the Sonics finally departed Seattle. Bill Simmons, a formerly great sportswriter, who's now just intermittently good and well on his way to being the next Rick Reilly, pretty much hit all the nails on the head detailing the Sonics demise. Despite the above swipe his stuff's actually worth checking out.

On a side note, after a lifetime of being a Cincinnati Bengals fan, I'm really giving some thought to following the Redskins now that I'm in DC. Anyone have any thoughts on this? It's a little on the pathetic side, as I'm not sure it'd be considering it minus the Bengals being so unlikable, but here I find myself...

Perhaps we could formulate some pros and cons.

Don't Worry, Be Happy

Hat tip to the pseudo girlfriend for pointing this out, but has anyone else noticed how amazingly normal people in anti-depressant medication commercials look? Oh, they're doing contemplative things like looking out windows and taking off their glasses to see things on the desk, i.e. things normal people do all the time. The only way in which they look depressed is by comparison; if you juxtapose them with the ridiculous, inordinate degree of smiles, joy, and good-lookingness that comprise all other commercials.

I generally avoid shit like this, but it's hard not to see the implicit message: depressed people look normal, which while it might be true on some level, still gives me the willies.

Update: I just received a text from my partner, dissatisfied at the "pseudo" moniker. Suffice to say that she is, in all things (amongst them displeasure it would seem) the real McCoy.

The Series of Tubes is Letting Me Down

Having some internet issues here at the Pseudo Mansion. Think they're mostly resolved, and will be giving you stuff on Blago, Gaza, and The Employee Free Choice Act as soon as things are back to normal. Hope all is well.

Still No Records

Some time ago, I posted about a lawsuit filed against the Bush administration to prevent it making off with vast amounts of records from the most sensitive periods in its administration. As Mr. Bush's final days in office tick past, he remains determined to restrict access to his records. Apparently, entire days of email are missing. Vice President Cheney continues to argue that he has no responsibility to hand over records at all.

As the NYT points out in this editorial, little has changed from the filing of the original lawsuits, and the ease of producing digital records will mean that even following its own dubious reporting standards, the Bush administration will hand over 50 times more documents than Bill Clinton did. That means it will be years before the archive can make sense of it all, and further years before historians can determine what is there, and what is not.

Any administration needs a certain amount of latitude with information in order to govern effectively, but as I've said before, the idea that no one will ever know what our leaders did is fundamentally undemocratic. But then, who knows how much more these guys have to lose.

On The Media in China

In the general blitz of China reporting earlier in the year, I completely missed this series of stories rebroadcast this afternoon by On The Media. I hate to think how many other stories of this quality I overlooked in the wider flood of material- this stuff is NPR at its finest. As the show title implies, the broadcast focuses on various aspects of the media, so these three pieces on the internal PR machine, investigative journalism, and publicity leave this listener wishing they'd been given wider scope.

Download to your ipod and enjoy!

That's No Moon...

Here is an interesting article detailing a conversation the Obama transition team is apparently having with NASA. In essence, they are considering integrating NASA and the Pentagon's space arm to save time in replacing the shuttle and accelerating the ability of the US to put people on the moon.

In part, dissolving the traditional firewall between the civilian space agency and the military would be a time- and cost- saving exercise. However, as the story details, it would also be a response to China's accelerating militarization of space. The Chinese have been working on technologies to disable the satellite network the US relies on to communicate, which the military would obviously prefer to avoid.

I don't have any first hand experience with NASA, or with the Pentagon for that matter, but it's difficult to believe that either entity would be entirely happy working with the other. It also suggests an interesting new dimension for the arms race between these two nations in the coming decades.

A Party of Whiners?

So Paul Krugman asserted this morning that the Republicans have become, "a party of whiners." He did that in his traditional venue, the NYT, hardly a podium likely to endear his message to its intended audience.

At least, I assume that the individuals he singles out in the article are in fact the intended audience. Otherwise, the column amounts to little more than throwing stones at people who continue to be utterly bewildered by their isolation. I don't disagree with a word of what Dr. Krugman writes, but whatever the audience, he should not have published this piece. If anyone was going to publish it, it should have been said by someone far, far further to the right. Atop the cresting tide Obama will ride into office in a few weeks, this sort of thing flirts with gloating, hubris, or both. Worse, it gives the Right something to focus on other than themselves, and that's the last thing anyone wants. The Right needs to come to grips with the idea that they cannot stand in opposition to science, balance of power, and arguably rule of law, and come up with some way to live with the results of ceding those points. We would all benefit from that. We've seen the disorder within the party in recent weeks as it tries to reconcile itself to the message of the last election. The last thing anyone should allow the debate to do is disintegrate back into name calling. That would be too easy, and these are not complacent times. Krugman himself concedes that eventually, the Republicans will set their house in order and return to political relevance. What do we want them to look like when they do that?

Extinct Blog of the Day

Today's blog belongs to "padutch" who founded the Amish Blog. Founded might be too strong a word, as the blog only contained one post -- about the killing of 10 children at an Amish school that occurred in 2006. This blog was apparently a resource for those curious about the Amish, though it's origins and purpose are a bit clouded, as you'll see if you check it out.

In what can now safely be called a pattern, despite the blog's singular post, there were 36 comments, and multiple front page ads, which would indicate a fair amount of traffic. It would seem that I continue to pick Extinct Blogs that had far more notoriety, sometimes even in death, than TPBP has in life. But fear not TPBP community, as our fame is quietly biding its time.

Just a Note

Just letting everyone know a couple of things. 1) I've had the opportunity to hang out with posters manfish and pw in the last two weeks, and can safely report that they are (what passes for) fine. I've also spoken with Aaron, who is back in the states, and promises to start posting again soon. 3) I'll be back on my normal, scratch that, new and improved blogging schedule starting today. My Hill internship is up, so I'm looking for a new, full-time staffing position. This should give me significantly more time to assail you with the warm glow of knowledge and witicism that emmanates from my posts. Keep your fingers crossed for me on the job front. Think that's it.

Happy New Year

So, it is officially a new year, and there is still a TPBP to post on. DP may have fueled his project through its early weeks with the infamous Bet That Shall Not Be Paid, and I have to admit, when I first heard about this blog, I didn't expect it to last very long either. Well, that isn't how things have worked out. My crystal ball has duly been returned to the shop.

I am not generally entertained by the "year in review" article in most of its many forms, so wont' subject you to one now, but it's fair to say that on a little reflection, 2009 has plenty of room for improvement. I'm certainly looking forward to January 20th.

From all of us here at TPBP, may you have a happy and productive 2009!