Reason Morning Links: Oil, Water, Tea, and Coke

• Oil is disappearing more quickly than expected from the surface of the Gulf of Mexico.
• The White House wants the FBI to have easier access to records of online activity.
• The Feds declare themselves exempt from Washington's water fees.
• Tea Party activists get mad at a Tea Party congresswoman.
• The House passes a bill reducing the crack/powder disparity.
• K Street lends a hand to Charlie Rangel.
• Goldman Sachs: now rated G.

Comments

[Rich]

Under the [old] law, a person convicted of crack cocaine possession got the same mandatory prison term as someone with 100 times the same amount of powder cocaine. The new legislation reduces that ratio to about 18 to 1.

Oh, what the hell -- make it *7* to 1!

[BakedPenguin]

Just out of curiousity, I wonder how they classify cocaine base powder. (Assuming that it's still possible to obtain such a thing).

[Joel]

The article that caught my eye is the one about the Tea Party getting mad at the congresswoman for supporting Blunt. That just proves how racist they really are!!

[Fatty Bolger]

I don't get it.

[The Libertarian Guy]

Blunt is about as white as Edgar Winter. There is no racist element at work here, Joel.

However, Blunt has no business being in public office one more day. Trust me, I live in his district. I have never voted for the man, much less supported him, and can't see why anyone would.

[Billy]

The Feds declare themselves exempt from Washington's water fees

The District of Columbia water and sewer authority should just shut off the water to federal buildings if they don't pay.

[Lost_In_Translation]

Nah, just the capital building. Bureaucrats needn't suffer, but congressmen and senators definitely should.

[Congress]

No problemo!

[Jordan Elliot]

Good thinking.

[#]

"Bureaucrats needn't suffer"

You sure about that? You have to work with agency staff?

[#]

you ever have to work with agency staff?

[jtuf]

I support your motion, Billy.

[Stretchy]

This "fee" is actually a "tax"

[Rich]

Government lawyers say this category of information includes the addresses to which an Internet user sends e-mail; the times and dates e-mail was sent and received; and possibly a user's browser history.

FTFY

[Elena Kagan]

It does not include, the lawyers hasten to point out, the "content" of e-mail or other Internet communication.

Many people ask me, "What is 'content'?"

[Chony MNGtom]

The White House wants the FBI to have easier access to records of online activity.

OMG! WHAT A HORRIBLE INVASION OF PRIVACY... oh... what? Obama's doing it? OK, I'll be quiet now.

[CoyoteBlue]

See, he has to earn that little toothbrush moustache.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I originally read that headline as being something about the White House wanting citizens to have better online access to records of FBI activities.

I have no idea why I would think that, even for a split second.

[Mainer]

"Stewart A. Baker, a former senior Bush administration Homeland Security official, said the proposed change would broaden the bureau's authority. "It'll be faster and easier to get the data," said Baker.."

..and that's a good thing, obviously.

[Virginia]

any posters on here work for Homeland Security? seriously is that place as utterly worthless as it seems? it's 100% a jobs program, right?

[John]

I do. And the components do a lot of good work. We do need customers and border enforcement and a Secret Service. I wouldn't call the people who are patroling the borders or making sure the currency isn't counterfeited are a "jobs program". The idea of the department was a good one. Someone ought to make those organizations work together and make the intelligence community actually give up the intel it has.

But in practice is a complete waste of time. All of our components hate headquarters and each other. The only time they work with each other is to thwart headquarters. And the Intel community would still rather see something blow up than give any information to someone who could actually act on it.

All of the bad things about the department have gotten worse since Obama won. And that is not a slam on Obama. It is just a problem with having a one party government and media. Without Congress or the media to take them to the carpet on things, no bureaucracy ever acts in an emergency. That is what happened in the Gulf spill. Things that could have and should have been done in days were done in months because no one had any worry of Congress or the media calling them on anything. That is just how Washington works.

[mad libertarian guy]

But we had ALL of those things, customs, border patrol and the secret service way before we had DMS. All it is is redundant bureaucracy expanding the size of government.

Yes. DMS is just a jobs program.

[John]

We did but they were in different departments and never worked together and hated each other. By your logic, commerce was a jobs program since there were people above customs enforcement.

If Libertarians are going to effectively criticize government, they need to understand government beyond sloganeering.

[zoltan]

We did but they were in different departments and never worked together and hated each other.

By what you said above you still don't work together and still hate each other. The response to Hurricane Katrina is a prime example of how useless and bureaucratically stilted the DHS is.

[Warty]

Israeli prog-metal of the day

Sputtering rage of the day

[dbcooper]

"video-game-violent, rave-rapey"

Oooooookay.

[John]

As for the band at hand: if Die Antwoord's video-game-violent, rave-rapey schtick is - as a smart and trusty African friend of mine argued - some next-level art form born of a South African state of mind that I don't understand, well, it's safe to say you don't understand it either. For sure your little DIY Antwoord shirt isn't going to make anyone else "get it." And if the band is a joke, it's a bloody sick one.

Read more: http://jezebel.com/5597937/die.....z0v4ne0nhn

Then why was she at their concert? I don't think not much of Insane Clown Posse. But I don't go to their concerts just so I can bitch about them.

[JW]

Who, or what, will she rage against unless she deliberately places herself in situations where she can "accidently" become outraged?

[affenkopf]

That's almost like libertarians reading feminist blogs so the can become outraged...

[Warty]

I can't speak for everyone here, but I read feminist blogs to laugh at them and feel better about myself. I don't particularly like being outraged.

[JW]

You seem to be confused over the concepts of mockery and outrage.

[Brett L]

You also don't inhabit an irony-free universe, so it may be hard to relate.

[CoyoteBlue]

John, it's she's a rageaholic - she seeks out places and things to "trigger" her rage. [then she writes about it on an internet rage site and makes a living off her self-destructive pathology]

[Subsidize Me!]

Everything I never wanted to learn about causeheads, I learned from PCU.

[SugarFree]

"I'm addicted to rageahol!"

Feminism is pretty much nothing but finding stuff to complain about at this point.

And besides... compare the effort is takes to whine on a website about a t-shirt you saw over teaching a rape defense course or raising money for victims of FGM.

[Warty]

And besides... compare the effort is takes to whine on a website about a t-shirt you saw over teaching a rape defense course or raising money for victims of FGM.

Putting your money where your mouth is is patriarchal and oppressive, SugarFree.

By the way, do you have any idea if feminists give a shit about MGM? I'm guessing not really.

[Brett L]

FGM? Not their problem. The white patriarchy doesn't do it.

[SugarFree]

They do care about MGM, but in just sort of a distant way. But I do see less defense of it on feminists boards than I do when it's brought up around here.

Feminists are better about certain forms of consent and notions of irreparable harm than some of our putative libertarians.

[Joe M]

Damn straight. Don't get me riled up about that again.

[Rocket Surgeon]

If I believe that men and women should be treated equally by the gubmint, does that make me a feminist?

But if I also believe that male circumcision is just as abhorrent and horrifying as FGM (or maybe even more so-we mutilate our sons because the doctors say it's so healthy and clean!So it's goooood!)does that make me not a feminist?

I see the point, but we aren't all "feminazi's" warty 🙁

She was enraged for sure, but why shouldn't she be? For most of the history of the world, NO meant nothing. And know what? A lot of the time, after everything, it still means nothing. And if it has ever happened to you, where you said NO, said that you want to go home, asked yourself how you got lulled in to feeling safe in the first place, seeing another girl with something like that on her shirt can be pretty infuriating. Because it just reinforces that No means nothing.

[zoltan]

Actually it just means no means nothing to the girl wearing the t-shirt. How her philosophy somehow represents every other woman around her is a case of Wow, girls suck at math.

Take your concern trolling elsewhere or steel those ovaries/testicles of yours.

[Rocket Surgeon]

Not trolling, just saying. I'm never gonna say that the girl shouldn't wear the shirt. But why jump on someone else for being disgusted by it?

[BakedPenguin]

I don't think [much] of Insane Clown Posse.

I used to have a friend who was a juggalo (yes, I know, but look at the tense used). On one of their CD's, they have a song where they rap about beating the crap out of a guy because he slapped a woman around. The very next song, they rapped about murdering a woman by cutting her up.

The stupid is strong with them.

[John]

That is the act isn't it? To be as stupid an offensive as possible?

[BakedPenguin]

I think the act is to be as offensive as possible. I don't think they have to make any effort to be stupid.

[T]

Unless that whole "fucking magnets, how do they work" bit was some kind of meta post-modern irony the rest of us just aren't grasping, they're borderline retarded.

[Jordan Elliot]

"I know rape statistics would be cooler if they fit on a wife-beater."

That is a great shirt idea. Even sell it pre-stained with a hole or two.

[Tim]

More prog

[wtp]

Where?

[Butts Wagner]

Die Antwoord endorsement

[Amakudari]

I figured it was Orphaned Land. Mabool is their only awesome album, unfortunately, but stuff like Ocean Land is great.

[Amakudari]

Argh, the posting system killed the rest of my post:

heart bouzouki

Also, amazing band photo.

[Warty]

Mabool is really a quite excellent album.

[MIkey]

Stripped, Raped and Strangled

[JW]

Oil is disappearing more quickly than expected from the surface of the Gulf of Mexico.

I wonder if any of the people who expressed outrage at my cynicism and lack of sharing their hyperventilating panic at the oil spill, will have a sheepish apology for me for their over the top overreaction?

Yeah, me neither.

[Brett L]

Please. They've already begun to spin for excuses about how this is even worse. Meanwhile, they're digging up another 40 turtle nests on the Florida Gulf Coast because the oil was still going to be killing them by October. Fucking do-gooders. Deliver us from their good intentions.

[Suki]

They won't be apologizing to Rush Limbaugh either. He was right about this ever since it started.

[John]

If the media would bother to do their jobs they would have talked about the difference between this and the Exon Valdez spill beyond just the size. The Valdez spill was on the surface and in an enclosed bay. It just obliterated the wildlife and fish stocks in that small area. The oil had nowhere to go. This was 4000 feet down in the middle of the Gulf. It is to be expected that it would disperse over a wider area and do less damage. But, why bother with the facts when you have a good narrative?

[JEP]

http://www.xkcd.com/748/

[JEP]

http://www.xkcd.com/748/

[The Gobbler]

"A roiling alligator-filled wall of flame."

Hee hee hee!

[mad libertarian guy]

What they should have mentioned, at one point or another, is that crude oil is every bit as natural and organic as the granola greentards buy at the local co-op, and that there is a highly evolved mechanism for dealing with crude oil in the form of shit that eat crude oil, and that it evolved because of millions of years of oil seeping naturally (even if not in such large amounts).

I'm sure there are a shit load of very disappointed envirotards that the effects of the spill won't last for decades; how else can they take advantage of hyperbolic spill coverage so they can vilify teh big oil?

[prolefeed]

One of the other differences is the shortage of natural oil-eating bacteria in AK, which exist in the Gulf due to the natural leaks.

[Johnny Longtorso]

Sex Boosts Brain Growth, Study Suggests

[Rea Surchur]

Sexually experienced rodents also proved less anxious than virgins, in that they were quicker to chomp down on food in unfamiliar environs.

I wanna extend the study to humans!

[Leroy]

Please inform me when you are holding signups to participate.

I'd be willing to sacrafice... in the name of science and all.

[Johnny Longtorso]

Political operatives on Journolist worked to shape news coverage

Yglesias took some pains to couch his advocacy in the language of journalism. Jeff Hauser, a professional political operative, didn't bother. During key moments in the presidential campaign, Hauser dropped the pretense entirely, becoming nakedly political. In the days before the first McCain-Obama debate, he straightforwardly asked working journalists on the list to skew their coverage in order to help the Democratic candidate:

The single biggest thing journolist can do is to lay the analytical framework within the media elite necessary for an actual Obama debate win to be viewed as such by a sufficient proportion of media elites that voters know it was a win.

Of course, this only works if Obama does as we expect (and McCain is a terrible debater, btw).

But even Gore's uneven Debate 1 performance in 2000 was deemed a win initially by a viewership that was demographically to the right of the electorate (lower minority viewership in 2000 of debates, more male, more GOP, etc?)? but Bush was winning on several media narratives and thus got the benefit from the intense 72 hours of post-debate coverage.

Journolist's greatest challenge is to make sure an actual win by Obama translates into winning the battle for political impact.

[John]

Those motherfuckers ought to have to spend the rest of their lives paying for lying to get Obama in there.

[Pro Libertate]

Winning media narratives. What the fuck does that even mean? It's this navel-gazing bullshit that's made the media so useless in political coverage.

[John]

"Winning media narratives."

It means interpreting every event in a way which supports your over arching narrative. The media has been doing this for years. To give some examples, the narrative was Gerald Ford was an amiable dunce. So when he fell down the stairs it wasn't "Oh my God is he okay" it was "that guy is so stupid and clumsy he can't even walk". The truth that Ford was an all American athlete is lost to the narrative.

It is a way of taking what should be small and insignificant actions by a politician and blowing them up into symbols for the larger narrative. So the narative is Sarah Palin is stupid. So if she were to say "I speak Austrian" it is a huge deal and a symbol of the larger narrative that she is stupid. When Obama says it, it is just an insignificant mistake anyone could make. His narrative isn't that he is stupid.

So what they do is create good narratives about Democrats and bad narratives about Republicans. And everything they report is reported in the light of supporting those narratives. Pick any politician and you can see the narrative that they try to construct around them.

[MNG]

What made Palin seem stupid was that she made a bunch of stupid statements and then hid from the media for weeks and weeks. A person who talks all the time is going to make flubs every now and then. A person who rarely talks and flubs most of the time...

[John]

And for every stupid statement Palin has made I can name you an equally stupid statement Obama or Biden has made. Obama is a disaster whenever they let him speak off of a teleprompter. But none of those things are ever interpreted to mean anything larger. If you just go by the facts, there is pretty good evidence that Obama isn't particularly bright or good at extemporaneous speaking. You could construct a really compelling narrative that he isn't. And you could do the same thing about Biden.

But no Democratic politician no matter how many dumb things they say is ever called stupid. Why? Because the media is filled with people like you.

[#]

i good example of this too was the MA special senate election. Coakley was always descrobed as the cerebral one and thoughtful and technical. Her lack of electoral success was always due to tthe fact she was just too smart. Compare that to coverage of Brown and his success was just cause of looks and a red meat passion... no thought process involved.

[Suki]

The funniest thing about her "stupid statements" is the people calling them stupid don't know they were from Saturday Night Live skits.

[Ramsey]

Some of those skits were just repeating her statements verbatim...

Those were he most entertaining. Her gubernatorial resignation speech is comedy gold.

[Tim]

The Dumb Republican role has been with us for a while, they occassionly recast the star
Ford, Reagan, Dan Quayle, W Bush and now Palin.
The mantle will pass when Palin is eclipsed by some new GOP threat.

[Suki]

Quayle always struck me as a dope without anybody pointing it out.

[Mainer]

My brother worked for the law firm in Indianapolis that Marilyn Quayle went to. Dan went to a competing firm. The joke at my brother's firm was, we got the smart one, they got the pretty one.

[John]

Poor Marilyn Quayle is a handsome woman in all the wrong ways. Oh well, she managed to catch herself a dumb, rich pretty boy. So she must have something going for her.

[The Gobbler]

He wasn't rich and he wasn't dumb. I used to watch CSPAN 2 before he was nominated for VP. He was actually a pretty smart guy. Put himself through law school. I liked him.

So when he received the nomination I thought, now there's a pretty good choice. But immediately, the MSM began to berate him incessantly.

It was then that I realized where their biases lay and what they were willing to do in order to get a Dem elected.

BTW, who was the Dem candidate in '88? Was it Dukakis?

[WTF]

Well there was the whole potato/potatoe thing.

[SukieTawdry]

Quayle wasn't so dumb. Far from it actually. And I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to put an "e" at the end of potato.

[MNG]

"And for every stupid statement Palin has made I can name you an equally stupid statement Obama or Biden has made."

Given that the latter two talk with the media all the time and Palin carefully cherrypicks her interviews that would bode ill for Palin.

Any person who talks will misspeak. If a person talks a lot and everything they say is scrutinized they will have many examples of misspeaking on record.

Palin's problem is that she talks rarely but often misspeaks. It makes one conclude she's not a very good talker period, not that she's been the victim of selective use of examples. It's her hiding that makes people suspect of her.

[mad libertarian guy]

Because every word from Palin at various tea parties isn't combed through by thousands looking specifically to discredit her and call her a racist/non-feminist.

[John]

"It's her hiding that makes people suspect of her."

So I guess you suspect of Obama since he goes months between press conferences and spends most of his time on private golf course.

God MNG, you are dumber than Joe was. Obama is the least accessible to the press President in my life time. He almost never answers questions and when he does that are in front of a totally fawning press corps.

There is no "fault" that Palin has that Obama doesn't have to at least as high or in some cases higher degrees. And as I said above, Palin is supposed to be stupid and Obama smart. But, Obama has signed and supported any number of horrible bills that even admit are terrible and a complete disaster.

Just admit it. Obama is not very smart.

[hmm]

SO what's Joe's excuse. He talks 24/7 and flubs constantly. Obama speaks constantly and while it is all scripted he gets caught in his own lies and conflicting statements all the time.

[hmm]

Is the difference that they don't hide for weeks and keep doing it?

[Fatty Bolger]

The difference is that they don't have to hide, because only bloggers will call them on it.

[Suki]

Twitters, Corpsmen. He has no shortage of flubs even with notes.

[James Ard]

They were pretty effective convincing most Democrats that Newt Gingrich is the devil himself.

[John]

Most of the time the narrative is "Republicans are stupid". But sometimes there is a Republican like Gingrich or Rand Paul that even they can't claim with a straight face is stupid. So there the narrative is that they are either evil or some crazy radical.

Paul gets called a radical all the time. But Democrats like Barney Frank or Russ Feingold or Tom Harken who have views just as or more out of the mainstream as Paul are never called such.

There is never a bad narrative about a Democrat.

[Citizen Nothing]

Here's an oldie but goodie teleprompter fail that I got from a liberal friend of mine who is fed up. Imagine if Palin (who is also a blithering idiot) had been speaking.

[John]

It is funny. It is such an article of faith among liberals that Palin is an idiot and Obama is smart. Yet, it wasn't Palin who thought that the stimulus was going to keep unemployment below 8%. It wasn't Palin who thought that cash for clunkers was a way to create wealth. It wasn't Palin who thought giving the Queen of England DVDs as a protocol gift was a good idea. It wasn't Palin who thought that giving the President of Russia a "reset" button with mistranslated Russian was a good idea.

Stupid is as stupid does. The media because they themselves are shallow idiots whose only intellectual gift is cleverness confuse cleverness in conversation for wisdom and intelligence. And I am not even sure Obama meets that low standard.

[James Ard]

Thanks for the laugh.

[Joel]

Yes, that's a good one. The other You tubes that pop up to the right look like they could be equally good.

[Bill]

There are bad narratives about democrats. Some by FOX or other media outlets that are on the other side. And some due to the candidates being an adulterer or a crook but I guess those are actually true so not good examples. The best example is when their favored candidate is up against another Dem. they don't like then they will have narratives like "Hilary is a bitch" (oops, another bad example) Or the Howard Dean incident where showing some enthusiasm to a crowd is somehow turned into "he's a violent psychopath"

[John]

Those are good examples. They will do in someone on their own side in the primaries. Anyone in 1992 who said Hillary was a bitch was dismissed as a sexist miltia member. But in 2008, her being a bitch somehow was conventional wisdom.

[Suki]

Howard Dean is a ranting lunatic and he proved it again on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace just a few days ago.

[hmm]

If by "ranting lunatic" you mean blithering idiot. Then I agree.

[Suki]

You can include that under the ranting lunatic umbrella. Go watch the video of him trying to shout down Chris Wallace while Chris Wallace tries to correct his lying, shouting, rabid rant accusing the FOX network of "racism". Every example Dean used was false and his solution was to yell the same lies some more.

[#]

which is also funny because Bush at the same time was as dumb as dirt but also an evil genious master mind who created all these conspiracies.

[Citizen Nothing]

Just like the libertarians!

[John]

Like Tony says, Libertarians are a fringe wacko movement that is totally insignificant and adhered to by a few nuts in their mom's basement that somehow manages to ensure the failure of every liberal policy.

[JEP]

that somehow manages to ensure the failure of every liberal policy.

Damn, we're better than I thought.

[Brett L]

It's the monocles, old boy; they act as multipliers.

[Nephilium]

What about the top hats?

[Brett L]

Actually giant cooling towers to allow us to run at full power for longer stretches.

[MNG]

The people who called Paul a radical and tried to marginalize him the most were his fellow GOP primary candidates...

[capitol l]

Minge, you are going to totally fuck up this circle jerk with your "facts".

[Bill]

No. That one is true!

[Pro Libertate]

Understood. My point was that the "narrative" is strictly a media construct, which usually does nothing to communicate facts or useful information to consumers.

Shoot, I've done the same thing in Urkobold posts. For instance, I offered up a narrative suggesting that George Takei is a Nazi, simply by cherry-picking a few facts and ignoring the fact that he merely has the same birthday as Hitler.

[John]

Exactly. If you cherry pick the facts properly, you can construct a facially convincing case for about anything.

[Fatty Bolger]

The genius is in the omission.

[The Gobbler]

"His narrative isn't that he is stupid."

But he is. That's why they won't release his college transcripts. He's really just Ron Burgundy.

[John]

He got good grades at Harvard Law School but who doesn't? He was editor of the Harvard Law Review but that is a political position. Beyond that he has never done anything. How pathetic is it that you are still living on your college resume in your early 50s? Contrast Obama with Bill Clinton or Bush I. Did anyone ever talk about what those guys did in college when they ran? Clinton played the Rhodes Scholar card some, but that is a much bigger deal than being editor of Harvard Law Review. But that was it. Both those guys had actually done something in life unlike Obama who seems to have done nothing besides con guilty white people into voting for him.

[Suki]

You forgot Obama's Community Organizer experience. During the campaign I heard it was just like being a Governor, or better.

[Mike M.]

And of course, the other dominant media narrative that was created by American journolists during the election was this absurd idea that Obama is a racial uniter, and that his election would usher in America's "post-racial" era and help everyone get along better.

Everyone can now see that this flapdoodle turned out to be even more absurd than the phony narrative of Obama as a supremely competent genius.

[Pro Libertate]

Clinton was an instructor or a professor for a while, I believe. Don't recall much hay being made out of that, since he could fall back on multiple terms as governor.

I don't recall him pushing too hard on the Rhodes Scholar business, though it wasn't kept secret, either. Of course, by that token, we should have President Kristofferson.

[JW]

I don't recall him pushing too hard on the Rhodes Scholar business, though it wasn't kept secret, either.

Bubba didn't push it too hard, but his slobbering fan base dropped it at every opportunity.

I think what got me the most during the Clinton years, and well into Gore's AGW circle-jerk, was how so many young women found them "sexy" and "good looking" and were a bit too preoccupied with Bubba's underwear.

Give me a fucking break. If either of these middle-aged clowns weren't who they were and came up to them in a bar, they'd be posting on Facebook about how this creepy old guy was hitting on them last night.

Proving, once again, Kissenger's Theorem: Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.

[John]

Or the Obamas being "glamorous". I fucking hate that to.

[Pro Libertate]

The media covering politics would be so much more valuable if they'd dispense with trying to force everything into a chosen "narrative" and with interjecting their political opinions when talking about what are purportedly fact-based stories. Present us the truth as best you can, and let your consumers determine what they should think.

This is not to say that there is no role for opinion media, but most of the problem comes from actual news coverage rather than editorials.

[John]

They might make a little more money to if they would stop pissing on their customers and telling them that it is raining.

[Pro Libertate]

Screw them. If some media companies cannot learn from all of these mistakes, they deserve to die.

[Jonas]

John... please learn to spell "too" with two o's. I don't think I've ever seen you do it. Yesterday (or the day before?) you misspelled it twice within something like 6 to 8 words. I usually don't pick on people for stuff like this but... whoa doggies it's a pet peeve of mine.

[Fatty Bolger]

Remember, Obama himself said that the proof that he could run things was in his running of his campaign for President:

ANDERSON COOPER: And, Senator Obama, my final question ? some of your Republican critics have said you don't have the experience to handle a situation like this. [A major hurricane in the Gulf] They in fact have said that Governor Palin has more executive experience, as mayor of a small town and as governor of a big state of Alaska. What's your response?

BARACK OBAMA: Well, you know, my understanding is, is that Governor Palin's town of Wasilla has, I think, 50 employees. We have got 2,500 in this campaign. I think their budget is maybe $12 million a year. You know, we have a budget of about three times that just for the month. So, I think that our ability to manage large systems and to execute, I think, has been made clear over the last couple of years. And, certainly, in terms of the legislation that I passed just dealing with this issue post-Katrina of how we handle emergency management, the fact that many of my recommendations were adopted and are being put in place as we speak, I think, indicates the degree to which we can provide the kinds of support and good service that the American people expect

[MNG]

I can think of several Presidents who had no "executive experience."

[T]

So can I. They sucked almost as bad as some of the presidents who had executive experience.

[Pro Libertate]

That's like me applying for a job and saying during the interview that my resume-drafting and job-searching experience alone make me qualified for the position.

It amazes me that the fact that he was constantly talking about how he was more experienced than Palin, a short-term governor, didn't totally kill him in the election. He was clearly less experienced than the VP candidate for the GOP, which is pretty pathetic, when you think about it.

Experience is largely important in giving us something to gauge the candidate on. Voting for ciphers has proven a very bad idea in the past, and it proved to be totally stupid this time around. Even dumbass McCain would've been better.

[Mainer]

....kinda late here, but another narrative that always bugged me was George H. W. Bush was a "wimp". The man left Yale to volunteer for military service, flew bomber missions, and survived being shot down.

[Cyto]

A quick google failed to turn up a link, but one of the best political cartoons I ever saw showed Dukakis in the oversized tank helmet standing next to a much taller Bush wearing aviator glasses and a CIA badge on his military ribboned leather aviator jacket. Dukakis is thumbing us in the direction of Bush with the tag line "Get a load of the wimp!"

[Brett L]

They're (mostly) a bunch of young men who graduated from liberal arts programs that have heavily post-modern influences. Facts are incidental to Good, and truth is not the highest Good. Thus the narrative that achieves the Good is something that may be manipulated, with only passing regard to what acutally happens.

This is at the heart of many media critiques, and I don't think unfair. If the media's job is presenting what happened, they should do that in the least opinionated way possible.

[Citizen Nothing]

I thought J-schools teach that truth is the highest good. At least that's what I've heard. (I've never set foot in a J-school myself.)

[Suki]

I think you mean truthieness.

[NoVAHockey]

I had two types of professors in j-school. One set pushed the social justice aspect (all femenist types) and other pushed a healthy distrust of authority (mostly former beat reporters and a very grizzled war correspondent). It was "serve those who can't fight for themselves" vs. "don't let them BS you."

[John]

To not let them BS you, you have to know something about what they are talking about. And most journalists don't. They are stupid lefty kids who have done nothing but go to college. And thus they get completely BSed by the government and the military in particular. I am sorry but if you have never been in the military, you have no business covering them. Because if you have never been in the military, you have no idea how to tell if they are BSing you or not.

[Citizen Nothing]

It's simple: Are they speaking? Do they work for the government? Then they're BSing you. (Although the same applies to corporate "spokespeople" as well.)

[Citizen Nothing]

I fear I'm slowly turning into Lou Grant.

[The Gobbler]

My favorite Mary Tyler Moore show was the episode where Lou babysat Phillis's daughter She wanted Lou to help her to make cookies. He was not into the idea at all until he learned that cookies are usally eaten with a beverage and that scotch would be an acceptable choice.

[JW]

Lou Grant is da man, Red Ed Asner notwithstanding.

[NoVAHockey]

I think their larger point was don't let yourself be used to push someone elses agenda -- doesn't matter who that is.

this is why the I can't stand this who journolist thing. the last thing i would do would be to turn to like-minded colleages to research an issue/story.

[The Gobbler]

Well I'll never be no caddy,
Carryin' another man's bag.
No I'll never be no caddy, oh no,
Waivin' another man's flag.

- Loudon Wainwright

[MNG]

A "professional political operative" became "nakedly political" "During key moments in the presidential campaign?" NOOOO!

[JW]

A "professional political operative" went behind the scenery became "nakedly political" on a listserve inhabited by key members of the media "During key moments in the presidential campaign?" and proposed that they carry his water under the imprint of objective journalism and, from all appearences, did, NOOOO!

Fixed that for ya, chief.

[MNG]

Yawn. Even with your facts a liberal political professional went on a listserve that seems to have been dominated by liberal activists and opinion columnists and suggested they spin things in favor of his candidate. The horror!

[MNG]

ARFFARFFARFFARFFARFF!!!

[JW]

A previous version of this article described the site where BP's gushing well was capped as being a mile beneath the gulf sea floor. The well was capped a mile below the ocean surface.

So, the NYT doesn't know its ass from a hole in the ground, after all.

[Zeb]

I didn't know newspapers had asses.

[Citizen Nothing]

I can see several from my desk.

[Mike Laursen]

Thread win!

[JEP]

Where did you think Paul Krugman came from?

[Almanian, FBI Guy]

One senior administration government official, who would discuss the proposed change only on condition of anonymity...

Seize Request his email records. Immediately!!!

[Rahm Emanuel]

Already have them.

[Winter Soldier]

Just because it is not on the surface, or not as much of it is, does not mean it has disappeared altogether . . .
and it certainly does not mean the Gulf is back to the condition it was pre-leakage.

[Brett L]

But the scientists whose authority we depended on were wrong in their predictions. At this point we're arguing about what you "feel" the oil damage will be versus what I "feel" the oil damage is going to be. There is not enough information to support either. In absence of enough information to take good action on, we might at least refrain from taking action for the sake of soothing our feelings with no clear direction of the harms or benefits we might be doing.

[Joel]

The media narrative on these kinds of things is already set so I don't expect anyone to learn anything or for it to be covered better the next time. If it bleeds, it leads. And if it ain't bleeding, they stab it.

[The Gobbler]

There was a woman on The News Hour last night, a Dr. Nancy Kinner from the University of New Hampshire. She did an exceptional job explaining the reasons that the oil is disappearing more quickly than expected. Here's a link (it's really very informative):

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb.....07-28.html

[Brett L]

That is a pretty fair assessment. It goes to the point that this is a great opportunity to collect data we don't possess, but prediction window is "months to years", call it 1 year plus or minus 10 months. That's too broad to be making pronouncements about the short or long term effects on the Gulf.

[James Ard]

Leher seems incredulous that this might not be the disaster he thinks it is.

[Brett L]

And that bacteria tend to be microscopic.

[The Gobbler]

I found that odd too, but sometimes an intervier asks questions like that for the benefit of their audience., so I cut him some slack.

[Geotech]

He had to have evaporation explained to him. Come on...

[Chinny Chin Chin]

I liked the fact that he managed to work "ecosystem" into the end of the convo. Makes him sound all scientificky and stuff.

[Suki]

I wonder how many government grants were ladled out to study this problem, based on the disaster predictions?

[James Ard]

Oil floats. Those plumes can't stay underwater for long. And anyway the fish can just swim around them.

[Scooby]

Not every bit of the oil floats. As the lighter fractions evaporate off, the heavier tar balls can be denser than water. They are also very sticky and will adhere to sediments, which further increases the net density of the tar ball (making it even less buoyant).

Some of the oil will be there for years/decades. That doesn't mean that it will be a problem for years/decades, just that it will be there on the sea floor.

[Subsidize Me!]

...but it does mean that (as always) the condescending pseudoscientists in the media expert pool have lost all credibility.

[mad libertarian guy]

They never had any. But that doesn't mean people won't watch.

[JEP]

I really think ecosystems, and the environment in general, is a lot more robust than we give it credit for. Most of that is probably due to green movement paranoia.

When the volcano erupted in Iceland, I don't remember everyone going berserk about the ash clouds destroying the environment.

Certainly, the oil leak was stupid, ignorant mistake that needs to be fixed and people need to be held accountable. But the environment seems to be a pretty tough customer and may not need as much help as we think it does to recover.

[Geoff]

"When the volcano erupted in Iceland, I don't remember everyone going berserk about the ash clouds destroying the environment."

Exactly, because the oil leak was caused by evil, greedy capitalists (who were raping Mother Earth, don't forget), whereas the volcano was simply Mother Earth acting in her own natural beauty and wonder and we should all be in awe.

[Brett L]

From Wikipedia regarding the 1991 Mt. Pinatubo eruption:

"This very large stratospheric injection resulted in a reduction in the normal amount of sunlight reaching the Earth's surface by roughly 10% (see figure). This led to a decrease in northern hemisphere average temperatures of 0.5?0.6 ?C (0.9?1.1 ?F), and a global fall of about 0.4 ?C (0.7 ?F).[17][18] At the same time, the temperature in the stratosphere rose to several degrees higher than normal, due to absorption of radiation by the aerosols. The stratospheric cloud from the eruption persisted in the atmosphere for three years after the eruption."

Volcanos cause climate change in one fell swoop equal to the entire predicted total increase of the 21st century. We obviously need a volcano tax and mitigation plan.

[Jason]

If the earth's ecosystem were really fragile, life on earth would have died out millions of years ago...

[WTF]

It did - all of this is just a product of your overactive and fevered imagination - including your own very existence.

[The Gobbler]

The Paul McCartney concert at the Whitehouse aired on PBS last night. Boy is that fucker's voice shot. Sounded like a back alley cat fight.

[Subsidize Me!]

Was it as bad as the Who at the super bowl? They sounded like a back-alley abortion.

[WTF]

Best part about the Who show was Pete Townsend's flabby white belly flopping out of his shirt as he danced around the stage.

[Ska]

Beat the hell out of Roger Daltry's old lesbian costume.

[?]

I don't think much of Insane Clown Posse. But I don't go to their concerts just so I can bitch about them.

That's not how that works. You would go to gather bits of scummy detail to use to mock the socially unacceptable artist's audience, not the artist.

For example, behind the makeup, ICP is rich white people just like you?if you're the type to write such a thing (no one else does)?so they might be doing something ironic that you don't want to get caught having taken at mask value.

Their audience, however, is trash, because they just is, so if what they're enjoying is irony, they don't know it is, even if they say they do, and if they say it is, it isn't, even if it is.

So that's who you mock. Poor people. No exceptions, unless they're Republicans. Who are all poor inside.

Got it?
PS: rape rape rape

[John]

So I guess thinking that the people who listen to ICP have a right to do so and their doing so is their business not mine is not an option?

[waffles]

that's not very progressive of you

[The Angry Optimist]

yeah, I am not really buying this whole "ICP is one giant in-joke" thing. I definitely knew full-on real-live trash who took that stuff seriously.

[John]

People like having an outlet to indulge their worst instincts.

[Ragin Cajun]

Well, that would certainly explain Dan T.

[Fucking magnets]

How do they work?

[Spartacus]

Filaments of force are projected through the mediation of the aether, which serve to bind and attract opposite poles.

Or something.

[Shitty Friend]

http://www.philly.com/inquirer.....z0v3jI2lah

There's a morning link from my home town. 🙁

[Andrew S.]

At least the "whack millions of dollars in police overtime" part and the not hiring the 200 extra police officers part are good things.

[Amakudari]

Not really. They're arithmetic necessities for keeping public servants who are already part of the club overpaid and underworked. It comes at the expense of everyone who's not currently cheating the system.

[mr simple]

My City Paper investigation of DROP included a pro bono analysis by an actuary, Joe Boyle, who pored over more than a thousand pages of financial reports and concluded that DROP is a "runaway freight train."

So that's where he's been.

[Harry Castle]

Hmmm, an Ice Cold Coca Cola sounds real good right about now.

http://www.anonymous-surfing.es.tc

[Jason]

The AnonBot has a good idea... the only question is what to mix it with.

[TallDave]

Oil is disappearing more quickly than expected from the surface of the Gulf of Mexico.

Peak Oil strikes again!

[John]

http://thehill.com/capital-liv.....eshow-2010

Some of the women are hot. The men unsurprisingly all look like beta male douschbags.

[Sidd Finch]

"Hudson Hollister" Good Lord, the ridiculous names I use for reservations are more believable.

[T]

I can find better looking people than that by going to my local sports bar. Hollywood for ugly people indeed.

[Nooge]

It gives the first woman's age as 24. She looks like she's 39 in that picture. 39, and 92 pounds of stick arms and pointy hip bones.

It might have something to do with her environment corroding her soul.

[zoltan]

It's her raw foods diet. Woman needs some naturals fats and animal products in her eating plan.

[Butts Wagner]

Alexis Lefiti?

[Butts Wagner]

The Fresno State University grad says she has all the prerequisite qualifications to thrive on Capitol Hill ? ambition, idealism

Mom and Dad's genes, good grooming, CrossFit workouts, and "lots" of moisturizing are his health and beauty secrets.

I feel sick

[zoltan]

John, just because a guy is hot and threatens your old ass self doesn't make him a beta male.

[Nooge]

I like John (or at least the online version of himself he shows here at H&R), but I've wondered what he means by an "alpha male," and from what he infers beta male status. I hope to God he doesn't mean chest-thumping retards who grew beards in 8th grade and make a career playing the one-up game with fellow men.

Nah, I'm sure it's not that. I hardly pay attention to other men unless they piss me off and I've never bothered classifying them, though. Maybe Ezra Klein is his idea of a beta male?

My wife considers me alpha to the core, but I admit I am pretty gruff most of the time. I'm definitely not a very warm person. Women seem to find me appealing (I work in a field dominated by women, and I WILL tell them to shut the fuck up about Grey's Anatomy and shoes, so hell if I know why.)

Shit, I dunno. John says alpha male, I picture low-IQ gorilla tards or type-A assholes.

[Citizen Nothing]

What they won't tell you is that #51 is Nancy Pelosi.

[P Brooks]

All those lobbyists are giving money to Charlie Rangel because they like him, and know what an honest, public-spirited guy he is.

It's definitely not because they fear retribution if he somehow contrives to beat the rap. That's preposterous.

[P Brooks]

PS: rape rape rape

Needs moar rapes.

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

"Rape, murder, arson, and rape."

"You said 'rape' twice."

"I like rape!"

[Pope Jimbo]

What's the media narrative on this going to be?

Target gives money to the local GOP candidate for governor here in MN and all hell breaks loose in its customer/employee base because the candidate has some socially conservative opinions. How did that happen? Aren't giant corporations unstoppable forces of evil?

It is especially delicious because Target is always doing the PC things that liberals demand. In the past progressives have wholeheartedly endorsed Target as the way a company should be run (as opposed to Walmart). Looks like the honeymoon is over.

[John]

And they probably gave the money because they were buying protection against either side winning. And why did they need to buy protection? Because of the very policies that progressives love so much.

[The Gobbler]

Emmer has 2 DUI's. One DUI indicates a person made a mistake. A second DUI indicates the person is an idiot. PLUS, he favors chemical castration of rapists.

The guy is an idiot and Target SHOULD be embarrassed for giving him anything more than a ten dollar Target gift card.

[The Gobbler]

He's GOP, BTW.

[John]

He favors chemical mutilation of rapists. But two time DUI is just a youthful indiscretion. Sorry but you can't be a hard ass law and order guy unless you actually refrain from committing crimes yourself.

Politics really does self select for the craven doesn't it?

[P Brooks]

What's the media narrative on this going to be?

"Corporations are evil and heartless and they hate you. And they operate by grinding up puppies and kitties and bunnies and turning them into filthy lucre."

[R C Dean]

I'm interested in investing in your venture. Could you forward a prospectus?

[J sub D]

The White House wants the FBI to have easier access to records of online activity.

I thought Obama would be an improvement on the civil liberties front.

I'm man enough to admit my mistakes. He doesn't give a shit about your privacy or your fourth and fifth amendment rights.

All of the folks who were screaming about Bushitler and illegal wiretaps are ginning up op-ed pieces decryng this as we converse.

Or not.

[Fatty Bolger]

They'll get on that right after the article about how Gitmo still isn't closed.

[Federal Bureaucrat]

Utility bills are for the peasants. We, the philosopher-kings of America, should be above such petty concerns.