The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

‘Remain Calm! All Is Well!’

Posted on | March 14, 2011 | 27 Comments

The famous cinematic words of Chip Diller kept replaying in my mind Sunday night after I got an e-mail from a friend telling me that we’d all breathe a sigh of relief when, on Monday or Tuesday, we were told that the Japanese had the whole problem under control. It wasn’t clear whether my friend sent that e-mail before or after the news broke that there had been another hydrogen explosion at another reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Maybe, for all we know, this second explosion was the storm before the calm. Maybe the worst is now behind us (or actually, behind the Japanese, since those reactors aren’t in our backyard). Meanwhile, the brave citizen journalism must go on.

After having been Japan! Japan! Japan! all day Saturday, I gave it a rest Sunday, and was surprised when bloggers began choosing up sides over this story. Seems that coverage of the disaster-stricken Japanese reactors has become a political football: Conservatives are supposed to be completely sanguine about the meltdowns — or “possible partial meltdowns,” whatever — because liberals are in “environmental catastrophe” hysteria mode.

So, unless we want to join Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne for the next “No Nukes” nostalgia concert, we must pretend that the situation in Fukushima praefecture is both hunky and dory.

Meh.

Let’s ditch this false dilemma, shall we? Let’s try to get our minds around two ideas at once. It is possible that both of the following statements are true:

A. Nuclear power is a very important part of meeting America’s future energy needs;

and

B. The situation with these earthquake-damaged Japanese reactors is a total clusterfark.

Both ideas can occupy one brain — mine, to cite one obvious example — without any irreconcilable contradiction. In fact, despite the nuclear clusterfark in Japan, it may be that there will be no really dangerous radiation emissions, and that the precautionary evacuation of several thousand people living near the plants was unnecessary. Furthermore, lessons learned from the Fukushima nuclear clusterfark may help U.S. authorities find innovative ways to prevent future such crises.

And when I say “innovative ways,” I’m thinking of the coolant potential of aging left-wing folk rockers.

That’s why I’ve sent a letter to the the Atomic Energy Commission, suggesting that we send Neil Young to Japan, with instructions to dump him onto one of those troubled Fukushima reactors.

I mean, what the hell, it’s worth a try, right?

If that works (and I’m willing to apply a very flexible definition of “works” here) then we send David Crosby to Japan, and try it again on another reactor. Then we keep going down the list of all these hippy-dippy singers and guitar-strummers who are always having benefit concerts for “causes.” Ship ’em over and  — plop! plop! plop! — right onto those overheating reactor cores.

Just to emphasize that this is a global project, we could ask the Brits to send Bono and Bob Geldof.

“Folkies for Fukushima,” we’ll call it. Or maybe “Rockers for Reactors.”

But why stop there? Why limit this emergency effort to over-the-hill musicians who haven’t had a hit record in 20 or 30 years?

Let Hollywood do their part, too: Janeane Garofalo, Bill Maher, Sean Penn, Margaret Cho, Michael Moore — I bet lots of stars would be happy to “make a difference” by volunteering as human coolant for those Japanese reactors.

What’s important, really, is to be innovative in our approach to this disaster. Science is about exerimentation, after all, and as with human embryonic stem cells, we don’t yet know what wonderous things can be accomplished by the use of progressive entertainers as nuclear-reactor coolant. But we need to know, and this Japanese situation is the perfect opportunity to find out.

Never let a crisis go to waste, I say!

Category: Japan

LIVE AT FIVE – 03.14.11

Posted on | March 14, 2011 | 1 Comment

TOP NEWS
Japan Earthquake: Survivor Swept Ten Miles Out To Sea

Hiromitsu Shinkawa: Survivor

Rescued by Japanese destroyer after two days at sea on his roof
Tsunami warning canceled
New reactor blast unlikely to have caused radiation leak



PM Kan: Quake, Tsunami Worst Crisis Since WWII

State Department Spokesman Crowley Resigns
Called treatment of PFC Manning “ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid”

Analyst: Apple Sold Half A Million IPad 2s
Seventy percent sold to first-time buyers



POLITICS
Tim Pawlenty Campaigning As All
Things To All Republicans?

Tim Pawlenty and Mitt Romney

Former governor of Minnesota reaching out to all factions of the GOP to build support for Presidential run

Detroit To Convert Nearly A Third Of Public Schools Into Charter Schools




Oklahoma House Passes Arizona-Style Immigration Bill

President Urges Improved Background Checks For Gun Sales

NRC: No Danger To US From Japanese Reactor Leaks



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Japan’s Insurance Tab From Quake Could Reach $35 Billion
London Markets Poised For Sell-off After Japan Disaster
Brent Crude At Two-Week Low On Japan Pessimism, Mideast
Treasuries Slip On Japan Fears
Newest IPad Challenger: Amazon Kindle Android Tablet?
Users Complain IPhone Botches Time Change
Postcard From PAX



SPORTS
Top Sees Offer Interesting Tournament Mix

Kawhi Leonard and San Diego State - a worthy #2 pick?

#1 Seeds Mix Hoops Blue Bloods With Blue Collar Teams
The Killer B’s: Big East And Buckeyes
Handicapping Your NCAA Hoops Brackets

Sabres Win One For Martin

Watney’s Victory At Doral Epitomizes Rise Of Young Guns

Giants’ Rowand Moves To Left

Celtics Hold Bucks To Fewest Points In Team History

Critics Rip NCAA Selection Committee After Brackets Made Public



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Charlie Sheen Tour Sells Out In 18 Minutes

New holder of Ticketmaster record!

Misses kids’ birthday parties

Gyllenhaal Bathroom Scuffle Overshadows “Source Code” Release

Arrest Warrant Issued For “Kill Bill” Star Michael Madsen

“Celebrity Apprentice” Richard Hatch: Back To Jail

Kanye West To Perform At SXSW

Thornton, Baker Crowned “Let’s Dance” Winners



FOREIGNERS
Gaddhafi Loyalists Gain Ground in East Libya
Arab League Calls On UN To Impose Libya No-Fly Zone
Saudi Forces Prepare To Enter Bahrain After Day Of Clashes
Lebanese Rally To Call For Disarming Of Hezbollah
Ivory Coast Rebels Continue To Advance
South Sudan Breaks Off Talks With North, Accuses Khartoum Of Plotting Genocide



BLOGS & STUFF
Mark Steyn: Cosmopolistan
Legal Insurrection: The Great Tractorcade That Wasn’t
Maggie’s Farm: Let The Arabs Do It
Protein Wisdom: “And This Is What Democracy Actually Looks Like”
Power Line: Crowley Out Over Manning Outburst
Jawa Report: USS Ronald Reagan Crew Exposed To Japanese Reactor Radiation


— compiled by Wombat-socho

Category: Live at Five

Noonan On Rumsfeld: Really, Woman, Really?

Posted on | March 13, 2011 | 8 Comments

by Smitty

Newspapers like the WSJ on the Kindle are a surprise feature. Reading Peggy Noonan’s review/screed against Donald Rumsfeld should have come as no surprise. I did just finish reading “Known and Unknown”, so it’s a twofer both to mention what a valuable read it was and tell Peggy what to do with her peg.

He heard all the conversations. He was in on the decisions. You’d expect him to explain the overall, overarching strategic thinking that guided them. Since some of those decisions are in the process of turning out badly, and since he obviously loves his country, you’d expect him to critique and correct certain mindsets and assumptions so that later generations will learn. When he doesn’t do this, when he merely asserts, defends and quotes his memos, you feel overwhelmed, again, by the terrible thought that there was no overall, overarching strategic thinking. There were only second-rate minds busily, consequentially at work. 

Second-rateness marks the book, which is an extended effort at blame deflection.

In a way, the book serves as an index to the documentation on his web site. He offers summaries of events in the name of smooth narration and reasonable length. I thank the man for that.
He really isn’t out for scalps. The heavier criticism, like that aimed at Paul Bremmer, maintains some decorum. The only time he really seemed passionate was in hammering the bleeding hearts on the left who came after him over Gitmo. And rightfully so: they are about a misguided pack of twerps who created major distraction simply by not thinking things through. There is a reason why the Law of Armed Conflict is not Civil Law, and if you don’t know, hold your peace until you understand.
No, it’s as though Peggy is pitching a fit because Rumsfeld refused to write the book that would have gratified her cravings.
My theory is that she wanted some outburst of Knopflerism from Rumsfeld, some remorseful bit along the lines of:

Then you’ll find me in Madame Geneva’s
keeping the demons at bay
There’s nothing like gin
for drowning them in
but they’ll always be back
on a hanging day 

Unfortunately, while there is some remorse in the book about family matters and the toll the job took on him, Rumsfeld is as ready to stand and deliver now as he was at any point in his public service.  He fails to deliver the desired mea culpa, and Peggy is in a snit.
Rumsfeld worked for the President, and when the POTUS called for war, Rummy served up the details on how it would be done. A subtext to the book is that it shows a mind that knows how to be both a subordinate and a leader, and switch between those roles better than most. The reader is left to infer that the President could have, arguably, done a better job of deconflicting the NSC, DoD, and DoS, but Rummy deftly falls short of any swipes at W.
As I keep trying to tell people: if you don’t like what the US has done since the fall of the Soviet Union in terms of foreign policy, you really have to discuss how you’re altering the National Security Strategy. The overarching strategy of the US, across administrations has the US spending blood and treasure in various parts of the globe; Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan.
An old Cold Warrior like Rumsfeld isn’t going to see a problem with the US flexing in various theaters. The problems he had were keeping the bloated US bureaucracy somewhat coordinated and keeping the lawyers from making him a red tape Rummy Mummy. Noonan:

Osama bin Laden was not “one man on the run.” He is the man who did 9/11. He had just killed almost 3,000 people at the World Trade Center, at the Pentagon, in a field in Pennsylvania. He’s the reason people held hands and jumped off the buildings. He’s the reason the towers groaned to the ground.
It is the great scandal of the wars of the Bush era that the U.S. government failed to get him and bring him to justice. It is the shame of this book that Don Rumsfeld lacks the brains to see it, or the guts to admit it.

Noonan’s fascination with “getting Osama”, while interesting, focuses on something quite tangential to the real problem of where US national strategy should go. Hence the fact that Rumsfeld doesn’t focus on the guy.
Put aside the sophomoric demands on the kind of narrative that you feel he should deliver and give the book an honest read, Peggy.

Category: Uncategorized

James Wolcott: ‘Those Sort of People’

Posted on | March 13, 2011 | 21 Comments

When you turn over a rock, you expect to find creepy-crawly things, but still sometimes …

“I don’t think Felker had any way of knowing what was going to happen. Christgau, Goldstein … it was those sort of people who really formed the core of politicizing the Voice and really pushing its cultural coverage to the hard left.”
— James Wolcott, interviewed by Russ Smith and John Strausbaugh, New York Press, April 24, 2001

Music critics Robert Christau and Richard Goldstein are rather curious targets for Wolcott, now a washed-up TV critic moonlighting as … well, what, exactly?

Never mind. I’m genuinely perplexed by that Wolcott interview and his out-of-sync reference to legendary magazine editor Clay Felker. While Christgau was re-hired as music editor by Felker in 1974 — after Christgau’s two-year stint at Newsday — Goldstein had been writing continuously for the Voice since 1966. Wolcott joined the Voice in 1972, the same year Christgau left for Newsday, and when Goldstein had already been writing there for more than five years.

Yet, name-out-of-the-hat, Goldstein gets lumped in with Christgau in the “those sort of people” category, responsible for “politicizing” the Voice toward the hard Left.

A couple of music critics had such tremendous influence?

People more familiar with the era may be able to explain that. At any rate, Wolcott left the Voice in 1982 — ousted by the weekly’s “politburo,” we are told — and, if this Smith/Strausbaugh interview is any indication, he was in early 2001 somewhat pro-Bush, or at least not anti-Bush.

What happened to Wolcott? I only ask this because yesterday afternoon he lashed out at Little Miss Attila and invoked my name in the process. This didn’t even make a blip on my SiteMeter, however, and it wasn’t until Attila e-mailed me her reply to Wolcott that I even knew Wolcott had mentioned me. (Attila and I had been playing blogsopheric badminton with “feminism” for a shuttlecock.) And the really strange thing is that the seeming trigger of Wolcott’s lashing-out was a post in which Attila promoted Dan Collins’ fundraiser.

Whisky Tango Foxtrot? Read more

Category: James Wolcott, Journalism, Little Miss Attila, Piece of Work in Progress, Protein Wisdom

Who Needs Dope When You’ve Got Salon?

Posted on | March 13, 2011 | 8 Comments

by Smitty

Anyone wanting to feel a little vicariously stoned is encouraged to sample the world of Thomas Schaller.

Why Republicans should run in 2012 — to lose
For some ambitious Republicans, President Obama’s improving reelection prospects may not be bad news
The Ides of March are almost upon us, but few potential 2012 Republican presidential candidates seem to have their eyes fixed squarely on the White House. As Salon’s Steve Kornacki argued recently, the most obvious reason for the largely vacant GOP field — sorry, Herman Cain — is that the prospects of a Republican beating a once-again formidable Barack Obama seem rather bleak. The 2012 Republican nomination may be a prize not worth winning. 

Only a Lefty with his head firmly planted in a dark place could set about building an argument where it’s a good idea for someone to enter a contest with intent to lose, but Schaller does just that.

The first pattern is that the party of an incumbent president running for reelection to a second or even first full term wins about two-thirds of the time 

So?

another very powerful historical trend: the inability of either party to win the presidency thrice consecutively 

And?

The third pattern involves capturing the Republican nomination. With the exceptions of Bush 43 and the highly unusual case of Ford, every GOP nominee in the post-Barry Goldwater era has run at least once and lost before eventually gaining the party’s nod. 

The rest of the analysis remains completely backward looking, and mentions nothing of the vast debt crisis, or the Tea Party which the total loss in confidence in either Ruling Class party engendered. I guess Schaller is a Poli-Sci prof at UMBC. Maybe Stacy McCain can swing by and enlighten the gentleman, or at least help him sober up.

Category: Election 2012

For The Left, The Tenth Commandment Is As Meaningful As The Tenth Amendment

Posted on | March 13, 2011 | 7 Comments

by Smitty

Professor Jacobson:

Growing the pie is a concept the Democratic Party doesn’t understand. Instead, it is focused on slicing the pie we have. Which is why the Democratic Party and the Michael Moores of the world hold no promise for our future, they dwell on the past.

As Upton Sinclair noted:

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!”

We can vary that to note the Tenth Commandment:

Exodus 20:17 “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.”

The genius of Marx and every disciple following him was to note political power inherent in fueling the class warfare that starts when the 10th Commandment is ignored.
For this and a few other reasons like abortion, the fact that so many on the Left in America today label themselves Christian is a source of fascination to me. Or maybe they just use the Christian label for power, too. Temporal power.

Category: Legal Insurrection

Repeat After Me: Raaaaacism Is DNA-Based Decision Making

Posted on | March 13, 2011 | 3 Comments

by Smitty

I’m shocked, shocked! when I look at the latest doings of Holder’s DOJ while sticking a fork in an electric outlet.

The D.O.J. has forced other police departments across the country to lower testing standards, citing once again that not enough black candidates were passing. 

Really, Holder? It would be relatively less offensive if there was money set aside to, you know, educate anyone who demonstrated interest in the job, but had a weak suit or two academically. The notion that raaaaacist activity is somehow OK when the government undertakes it is among the more disgusting fallacies of the modern day. Holder seems like he is among the insane clown posse who believes in “our ability to use the rule of law as an instrument of human redemption“. Sorry, Holder: the unit of analysis on redemption is the individual, and the Almighty, not the government, is the dispenser. Raaaaacism was wrong in early American history, and raaaaacism is wrong today. The pandering is essentially an insult to all Americans, but especially those who will be hired as a result of lowered standards.
Doom on this hideous decision, and may the country soon have an Attorney General worthy of the title. Say, Ken Cuccinelli.
Professor Jacobson is at least finding a bit of humor amidst the disaster: “And In Other News, Eric Holder Is Suing The NBA To Lower Hoop Height. . .in order to achieve a racial and ethnic mix of players which looks more like America.”

Category: Blogging

Computer-Induced Tourette’s Syndrome: Concise Definition and Long Explanation

Posted on | March 13, 2011 | 30 Comments

Spontaneous outbursts of profane, vulgar and obscene epithets caused by a computer malfunction.

“Save early, save often” is a maxim I was taught when I first started writing on computers as a new-minted reporter a quarter-century ago. Improvements in technology, however, have made it increasingly easy to ignore that adage — at peril of that rare occasion when the technology decides to ruin my life. Read more

Category: How This Here Internet Thingy Works, Religion
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