The Politics of Nostalgia

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It turns out that “progress” involves a giant leap backward for a lot of progressives, including Paul Krugman.

This is the burden of Jim Manzi’s observations about Krugman’s nostalgia for the lost Golden Age of the 1950s and ’60s: It is Krugman’s idealized childhood that is the true destination of his allegedly progressive longings.

To the extent that I have anything to add, it is this: Blame LBJ.

In his effort to create “The Great Society,” Lyndon Johnson’s  policies ended up destroying a Pretty Good Society.

Say whatever you want about our problems today, or advocate whatever “solutions” you wish, but there can be no dispute that Johnson’s presidency was the Era of Error, the historic wrong turn from which we’ve spent nearly half a century trying to recover. That Johnson was himself a liberal, attempting to live up to the historic legend of his own youthful idol FDR, ought to tell us something — but it’s something Krugman probably doesn’t want to think too much about.

This all came to my attention, by the way, because Little Miss Attila sent me her post, which linked Megan McArdle, who linked Manzi.

I was briefly tempted to argue with Attila, but life is too short.

By Executive Fiat, Labor Department Adds ‘Gender Identity’ to Protected Categories

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Perhaps to be known as the Corporal Max Klinger Memorial Rule:

US Department of Labor announces renewed commitment to fair treatment and equal opportunity for all of its employees
New policy statements prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and pregnancy

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor today announced its full commitment to implementing equal employment opportunity policies for all department employees and applicants. The policies ensure equal protections for all employees and applicants regardless of race; color; religion; national origin; sex, including pregnancy and gender identity; age; disability, whether physical or mental; genetic information; status as a parent; sexual orientation; or other non-merit factor. New, robust statements signed by Secretary Solis include updated policies on prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex, including gender identity and pregnancy.
Secretary Solis strongly supports fair equal employment opportunity policies, and creating diversity and fairness in the workplace.
“I am expressing my personal commitment to ensure that the U.S. Department of Labor is a model workplace, free from unlawful discrimination and harassment, which fosters a work environment that fully utilizes the capabilities of every employee,” said Secretary Solis. “It is my goal that we achieve and maintain a high-quality, diverse workforce at all organizational levels throughout the department.”
The Labor Department is required to issue annual written policy statements expressing the secretary’s commitment to equal employment opportunity and a workplace free of discriminatory harassment, pursuant to 29 Code of Federal Regulations Part 1614, Federal Sector Equal Employment Opportunity, and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Management Directive 715. The EEOC’s directive identifies minimum requirements for the policy statements.
The statements issued by Secretary Solis articulate stronger protections and establish responsibilities to ensure meaningful adherence to equal employment opportunity throughout the department. They have been disseminated to all current employees and will be disseminated to new employees during orientation as well as to employees who are promoted into supervisory ranks.

So, if a guy works at the Department of Labor and decides to wear a mini-skirt to work Monday morning, his boss can’t say a word about it, under penalty of being accused of “unlawful discrimination and harassment.”

Note that this is deemed equivalent to pregnancy as a protected category — a guy in a dress and a pregnant woman are equally worthy victims.

BREAKING: Libya Spokesman Says NATO Strike Killed 3 of Qaddafi’s Grandsons UPDATE: Attack Also Reportedly Kills Qaddafi’s Youngest Son, Saif al-Arab, 29

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An urgent dispatch from Reuters but no details yet.

UPDATE: Al-Jazeera confirms and adds detail:

Saif al-Arab, the youngest son of the Libyan leader, has been killed in a NATO air strike, a Libyan government spokesman said.
The spokesman said Muammar Gaddafi was unharmed but three of his grandsons were also killed in the attack in Tripoli on Saturday. . . .
“The leader himself is in good health, he wasn’t harmed,” the spokesman said, adding that Muammar Gaddafi’s wife was also unharmed but other people in the house were injured.
“This was a direct attempt to assassinate the leader of the country”, he said. . . .
The 29-year-old Saif al-Arab Gaddafi is the most unknown of the Libyan leader’s children.

UPDATE II: Now Reuters has a write-through:

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi survived a NATO airstrike on Saturday night that killed his youngest son Saif al-Arab and three of his grandchildren, a Libyan government spokesman said.
Mussa Ibrahim said Saif al-Arab was a civilian and a student who had studied in Germany. He was 29 years old.
Libyan officials took journalists to the house, which had been hit by at least three missiles. The roof had completely caved in in some areas, leaving strings of reinforcing steel hanging down among chunks of concrete.
A table football machine stood outside in the garden of the house, which was in a wealthy residential area of Tripoli.

UPDATE III: BBC has video of the press announcement by spokesman Moussa Ibrahim, who said that Qaddafi was in the house when it was hit. 

UPDATE IV: From the Associated Press:

Gadhafi and his wife were in the Tripoli house of his 29-year-old son, Seif al-Arab Gadhafi, when it was hit by at least one bomb dropped from a NATO warplane, according to Libyan spokesman Moussa Ibrahim.
Seif al-Arab Gadhafi was the sixth son of Gadhafi and brother of the better known Seif al-Islam Gadhafi. . . .
“The attack resulted in the martyrdom of brother Seif al-Arab Gadhafi, 29 years old, and three of the leader’s grandchildren,” Ibrahim said. . . .
Seif al-Arab “was playing and talking with his father and mother and his nieces and nephews and other visitors when he was attacked for no crimes committed,” Ibrahim said.

UPDATE V: Via Mediaite, a video report from CNN:

Now a Memeorandum thread

UPDATE VI: Drew M. at AOSHQ notes that this attack points toward “mission creep” in Libya:

So, I’m still unclear if the purpose of the NATO mission is to topple the regime and/or kill Gaddafi or just protect civilians. I’m not a military expert but I’m not clear on how bombing someone’s home protects civilians hundreds of miles away. Actually, I do (no Gaddafi, no danger) but I was told by the President that killing Gaddafi wasn’t part of out military strategy. It’s almost like Obama and the rest of the NATO leaders are saying one thing but acting very differently.

How does the slogan “Obama lied, three little kids died” work for you guys? Nah, me neither. After Lockerbie, you can’t expect Americans to work up any sympathy for Qaddafi’s family, even if they are innocent civilians.

Still, it’s hard for the U.S. to pretend it’s not going for “regime change” after this. And that United Nations Security Council resolution doesn’t say jack about “regime change.”

NOTE: What was originally my first update to this breaking story confused the attack that killed Saif al-Arab with a different attack aimed at Qaddafi that also hit a school for Down Syndrome children:

It was unclear what the target of the strike was, though Libyan officials said it was Muammar Gaddafi himself, who was giving a live television address at the time.
“They maybe wanted to hit the television. This is a non-military, non-governmental building,” said Mohammed al-Mehdi, head of the civil societies council, which licenses and oversees civil groups in Libya.
The missile completely destroyed an adjoining office in the compound that houses the government’s commission for children.
The force of the blast blew in windows and doors in the parent-funded school for children with Down’s Syndrome and officials said it damaged an orphanage on the floor above.

BTW, thanks to Brittany Cohan on Twitter for the alert.

Three Cups of Scam

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I’ve previous blogged about how Greg Mortenson’s best-selling book, Three Cups of Tea, was exposed as fraudulent, casting doubts on Mortenson’s idea of peace through education. Now it seems that some donors are wising up to the too-good-to-be-true claims of Mortenson’s imitators:

Former Marine Capt. Rye Barcott heads up a grass-roots nonprofit to help slum dwellers in Kenya. Like other charismatic do-gooders with an interesting story to tell, he has written a memoir to promote his charity and the idea of grass-roots development work. Late last month, he kicked off a 26-city book tour, visiting stores, campuses, businesses and churches as the launch of an ambitious effort to expand the donor base for his group, Carolina for Kibera, which runs a health clinic, a soccer program and other community services in Nairobi . . .
Mr. Barcott is following a template fashioned by a man whom he once considered a hero, Greg Mortenson, author of the best-selling memoir “Three Cups of Tea” and the head of a $20 million-a-year charity for schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Mr. Barcott now considers Mr. Mortenson an unfortunate liability. . . .
Mr. Barcott finds himself questioned at many appearances about allegations that Mr. Mortenson’s memoir contains false passages and that Mr. Mortenson’s charity has mishandled millions in donations. Many people are scrutinizing Mr. Barcott’s organization as never before. He worries that potential funders will shy away.
“It alters the conversation in a way that is not helpful,” said Mr. Barcott. . . .

You can read the rest (h/t: Memeorandum). There appears to be no doubt about Barcott’s bona fides, but the problem is that there were no doubts about Mortenson, either, until “60 Minutes” started sniffing around the story. And by attempting to emulate Mortenson’s model — the “charismatic do-gooder” promoting his work with a memoir — Barcott naturally evokes comparisons.

It seems to me that the best system of helping poor people is capitalism. But rich liberals won’t give you a nickel to help spread that message.

So much, then, for my prospect of becoming a “charismatic do-gooder” with a best-selling memoir. But please go ahead and hit the tip jar — it’s for the children!

UPDATE: Bruce Bawer at Pajamas Media:

The fallout from the takedown made it clear that zillions of Mortenson’s fans around the world were shocked by the allegations.
I wasn’t. When I first heard Mortenson speak at a conference two years ago, I was unaware what a big deal he was. Indeed, as far as I can remember it was the first time I’d ever heard of him. I was immediately appalled. He was swaggering, slick, self-satisfied. . . .
[I]t was impossible to forget Greg Mortenson’s name. For he was the star of his own story. The whole point of his talk was how much one brave, selfless individual can accomplish in this world even against the most formidable of odds. And that individual was him. The premise of his spiel was that he’s a miracle worker, pacifying belligerent jihadist types by sitting down with them over three cups of tea and listening to their concerns. Yet the egomaniac I saw that day was somebody you couldn’t picture listening to anybody else for more than thirty seconds. . . .
[T]he whole dog-and-pony show wasn’t really about Afghani children; it was about Mortenson and his book.

Read the whole thing. Bawer wonders if 21st-century Americans are suffering from “bullsh*t detector” malfunction.

UPDATE II: You will perhaps not be surprised to learn that Mortenson’s second book, Stones Into Schools, was on the reading list at the University of Kentucky’s prestigious Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce.

You will, perhaps be surprised that UK professor Robert Farley has declared that Mortenson’s book will stay on the reading list “to indicate the difficulty of monitoring NGO behavior, as well as to familiarize students with the controversy over Mortenson’s work.”

Sure, professor. Whatever you say.

PREVIOUSLY:


Herman Cain Wins 2012 Presidential Forum in Manchester, New Hampshire

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Of course, that’s not the headline you’ll see in the biased liberal media reports about the Americans for Prosperity forum last night. No, no — they’re all about Mitt Romneycare and Tim Cap-and-Trade Pawlenty. But make no mistake about it: Herman Cain won.

Steve Foley at Citizens for Cain passes along this item from a major New Hampshire political blog: An AFP poll taken after Friday’s event found that 62% of 975 respondents rated Cain the most effective speaker at the Manchester forum. Pawlenty was a distant second, with 17%.

Watch the video:

Isn’t it time you joined the online grassroots army at Citizens for Cain?

UPDATE: Guess who ignored Herman Cain’s appearance in Manchester? To repeat what I said before: “The ‘smart’ pundits will keep on saying he can’t win, right up until the moment when they start saying he can’t be beat.”

UPDATE II: Linked by Matt Newman at Race for 2012 — thanks!

UPDATE III: I’d like to call your attention to how the Atlantic Monthly‘s Joshua Green described Cain’s performance:

Herman Cain upstaged him by specifically calling to lower the corporate income tax, the personal income tax, temporarily abolish the payroll tax (individual and employer), abolish the capital gains tax, repatriate profits from overseas (abolishing any taxes on those profits), and, the coup de grace, declaring that all this would pay for itself by spurring economic growth.

Now, this is the straight-out supply-sider position and Green, a liberal, obviously takes a dim view of this argument as policy, terming it an “outlandish conservative fantasy.” In term terms of politics, however, Green’s liberalism doesn’t prevent him from acknowledging that Cain “upstaged” Pawlenty.

Green’s larger point is that “Romney was off in just about every facet of his performance” in what was viewed as Mitt’s unofficial 2012 campaign debut. So Romney stunk it up and Cain scored a “coup de grace” against Pawlenty — as even a liberal reporter could see.

UPDATE IV: Via John LaRosa on Twitter, an Associated Press article in the Boston Herald says “Cain got the evening’s biggest laugh.” And there’s also this report from Julie Hirschfield Davis of Bloomberg News:

The most enthusiastic reception was given to fast-food magnate Herman Cain, the onetime chairman of Godfather’s Pizza, whose preacher-like delivery of his five-point plan of lowering taxes and reining in spending drew frequent laughs and applause.

So he got the “biggest laugh” and the “most enthusiastic reception,” in addition to his 62% showing in the AFP poll. What part of “Cain won” is so hard to see here?

UPDATE V: Welcome, Instapundit readers! Speaking of Instapundit, he is featured in the latest episode of Bill Whittle’s PJTV show, about which The Lonely Conservative has some thoughts. I’d love to stay and chat, but I’m busy trying to update the breaking news of the latest NATO attack against Moammar Qaddafi.


Albert Haynesworth, Victim

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He’s 6-foot-6, 335 pounds, a former first-round draft pick and two-time All-Pro. Yet the Washington Redskins’ defensive end is a victim of . . . err, discrimination:

Washington Redskins player Albert Haynesworth has been indicted on one charge of sexual abuse after a Feb. 13 incident at the W Hotel, in which he allegedly fondled a cocktail waitress’ breast. According to the indictment, Haynesworth told a security guard, “I didn’t touch her” and that the waitress was “a little black girl” and he “doesn’t even like black girls.” Later, according to the indictment, Hanyesworth told detectives “I know what this is about, she is just upset I have a white girlfriend. I couldn’t tell you the last time I dated a black girl. She was trying to get with me.”

As any feminist will tell you, women never lie about this kind of stuff. Continue reading Albert Haynesworth, Victim →

‘The Cetaceous-Like-Homunculus’

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It’s been a while — too long, really — since we’ve made fun of James Wolcott. I stumbled across the picturesque phrasing of Dan Collins at Piece of Work in Progress (quoted in the title), describing the author of this infamous expression of environmentalist misanthropy:

“I root for hurricanes. When, courtesy of the Weather Channel, I see one forming in the ocean off the coast of Africa, I find myself longing for it to become big and strong — Mother Nature’s fist of fury, Gaia’s stern rebuke.”
— James Wolcott, “An Ignoble Confession,” Sept. 2004

A year later, after Katrina hit New Orleans, Wolcott defended that post as the product of “a frivolous vacation mood,” but has subsequently deleted it. Yet with vast swaths of the country now devastated by tornados, Jeff Goldstein at Protein Wisdom decided to remind him of it.

Liberalism: Because People Who
Vote Republican Deserve to Die!