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October 10, 2009

John Long — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 05:47:00 +0000

For some people, Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize will never be as good as the one Bush deserved after invading Iraq.
There was an incredible amount of commentary on the event in the punditocracy today. Look at Memorandum and be amazed. Josh Marshall gathered up the sleaziest and Andrew Sullivan looked for the most witty.
I Twittered a little bit about it, as you can read on the right hand column of my feed.
I had a personal reaction to news he won the prize: I felt like all of us had won it by turning our backs on the past four years of the neocons. It’s a big reason why I voted for him.
You had to know that his election with his proletarian background and Muslim name would make the world see us as more grown up and less like trigger happy cowboys. People who care about peace worldwide must have breathed a sigh of relief at his election. Think about it. He may not yet have ended the two wars he was handled, but he’s darn less likely to start any elective wars and that must seem like a blessing from Norway’s point of view.

cosmic hand of god

The congnitive dissonence of being a patriotic Republican who thinks America losing the Olympics is a good thing and an American president selected as Nobel Peace Laureate is a bad thing. My country, right or wrong. My country over party. Boom! Heads explode.
Watching little internet snippits of Fox commentators has amused the hell out of me.
But, I couldn’t help but notice that the putative grown ups in the GOP, the elected officials, kept it short and gracious.
And, last week, Bob Dole and Bill Frist endorsed Obamacare.
I think someone is starting to read the right polling.
I think the American people have lost their taste for abortion, gays and guns because they think war, the economy and health care is more important. I don’t think most of us have time to worry about the birthers and racist blather from the fringes.
I’m proud of us and I hope we do more and more to earn the honor, it’s a task that can’t be completed, as it should be.
Blogblah

P.S. I loved this from the Obama State Department. Don’t mess with Hillary.

10.09.09 — 6:37PM

Snarking It Up In Foggy Bottom
A State Department spokesperson, commenting on the Obama’s Nobel:

Certainly from our standpoint, this gives us a sense of momentum — when the United States has accolades tossed its way, rather than shoes.

Rimshot, please.

–David Kurtz

June 16, 2009

John Long — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 01:15:19 +0000

Solidarity

Both William Kristol’s Weekly Standard on the right and David Corn’s The Nation on the left seem to have similar positions about the events in Iran. A couple of weeks ago, I’d have bet the farm those two mags couldn’t have agreed on Mom and Apple or Cherry Pie. Astounding. I suppose even highly improbable events seem to happen on a quantum level and, thus, chaos in the macro and random events will happen, no matter how unlikely.
Meanwhile, I’m glued to my computer. The internet has been far and away the best source of news out of Tehran compared with television, radio and newspapers — with very few exceptions (I’m thinking NPR, Fareed Zakaria at Newsweek and CNN, the NY Times blog, TheLede) — and those exceptions are vacuumed up instantaneously. It’s a one-way line, it appears. You would think those journalism outlets would try to link up when nobody can be “on the ground” under the present circumstances.

In all events, it is a signal event that the situation in Iran, even in its smaller cities, is being provided by private individuals telling what they saw and heard and felt in real time. Photos are not far behind and there are rare bits of video that have escaped. This one from the storming of the Basiji militia barracks yesterday is amazing.

My friend, the Ultimate Webmaster, used to preach that “information wants to be free” is proving more correct than I believe he imagined.

shut up, he explained

One lesson I’ve learned is that I tend to think of Iran as a 2d level nation; not a “first-world” nation like the US or Europe. However, it’s obvious that the infrastructure for wireless communications are available even in small towns in Iran and that’s impressive to me. These events couldn’t happen this way in North Korea or the Sudan because no one has cellphones and the nations don’t have the infrastructure to make them work. Satellite phones, yes, but that’s a king’s ransom in those countries.
Meanwhile, nearby, about 15,000 American troops are deploying out of Kabul south towards the Pakistani border as the Pakistanis prepare to strike into Waziristan, part of their loosely controlled territories, making one big pincer movement against the Taliban and AlQaeda. Some of the top people in AQ are reported fleeing to Sudan and Yemen when they can get out. As far as I know, bin Lauden remains in Waziristan, but no one knows north or south and that’s two different Imam/Tribal Warlords. However, Waziristan is Pashtun and the Taliban are Pashtun and they don’t pay all that much attention to the borders. It is a very isolated part of the world.

Enough of my lecturing my friends about boring shit. I had a pretty good day. Saw Mom and spent a good hour with her. Sinatra stayed out all night and has been quite snuggly today. If I didn’t know he’d been cut, I say he acted all shagged out. I loaded 44 CDs into this computer and I’m playing through them randomized cut at a time. My Rose of Sharon is blooming outside my window. Life is still shit, but today wasn’t my day to bite that sandwich.
Blogblah

February 24, 2009 (updated)

John Long — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 02:43:42 +0000

THE TWITTER FEED WAS LUNATIC!

An Obama Speech Live Blog by Andrew Sullivan

LiveBlog of speech by Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo

“Progressives” LiveBlog Obama’s speech at Daily Kos

ABC.com LiveBlogs the speech with Twitter Twist

I didn’t bother to watch — I don’t have TV at home now, and I didn’t want to go out — but that doesn’t matter as much as the blogosphere and CW reax in tomorrow’s papers, for which I am not going to wait up. If I have anything of substance to say, I’ll do it after digesting some likely bloated pontificating by pundits of all stripes.

DID TUESDAY MAKE ME LOOK FAT?

Historically Carnival has been a last hurrah before the Christian season of Lent40 days of fasting and penitence beginning on Ash Wednesday. But its roots reach at least as far back as ancient Rome’s Saturnalia, a hedonistic winter celebration of Saturn, god of the harvest.

National Geographic

A Saturnalian Moment in Brazil

I haven’t heard from my son, who lives in New Orleans, about his experiences, but I’ll give him a couple days rest before I make him talk to me on the phone. I did notice a tweet from him about missing the Vieux Crew ball, but I’m not all that sure I want to know what goes on at the Vieux Crew ball. Compared to my children, I’m not nearly as mature. In fact, compared to most people, I may not be that mature, but that’s another matter.

Blogblah

I didn’t celebrate Fat Tuesday this year. Something about me being a recovering alcoholic and knowing better than to go to slippery places if you don’t want to slip, but that’s 12-Step insidery stuff that I hate to foist on you Earthlings (AA term for non alcoholics). I really don’t ever remember being all that worked up about the start of Lent because I never really observed Lent. Advent also escapes me, among other things. Lent is kind of like Ramadan, isn’t it? A long period of fasting and penitential character building? Sorry, I’m already a character and it’s something of a ramshackle building, but I rather feel comfortable in it. I put my feet on the table and eat over the sink and no one complains as long as there’s plenty of wet cat food available. And “penitential”? Me? Whifff. Besides, I can resist anything but temptation. Why would I deliberately set myself up to fail before the Almighty? So, this year for Lent, I’m giving up ritual and cant. How’s that?

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we can solve them.

ISAAC ASIMOV

I READ THE NEWS TODAY, OH BOY

Minnesota Still Without Senator

Former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, R-MN, has strung out last year’s election and is still going and we’re not yet to the appeal level. I don’t think most people believe he has a chance of being successful in this challenge to Al Franken, but that’s not the immediate point. If he strings it out, as he’s done so far, it is one less vote for the next big bill, the budget resolution, universal health care, whatever, and one more Republican that’s needed to break the filibuster deadlock at 60-40 in the U.S. Senate. Meanwhile, his legal position becomes more and more attenuated and ludicrus, as this day’s entry in the soap opera demonstrates.

This is about topical politics, but I’m not linking to any one particular headline, but I must admit to being puzzled by GOP decisions to oppose Obama as a bloc. Let’s take U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin, R-OKC, who voted against the stimulus bill along with her caucus. Trouble is that the stim bill includes beaucoup money for Oklahoma, including a HSR system that will go from Tulsa through Oklahoma City down to Dallas and from there to either San Antonio or Houston. Seems like this will create 100s of Oklahoma jobs and pour millions into the local economy. Unemployment is rising and those with jobs are crazy afraid and she votes against funding unemployment checks? She voted against a tax cut for 97.36% of her constituents? What’s next? Put Tinker up for closing? What the hell is she thinking? I mean, really? (The link in this paragraph will take you to her constituent access page where you can send her an email asking such questions, if you’d like)

Chairman of the Bored

SINATRA SPEAKS!
Muffy, he says there’s a lots of cool cats in Minnesota, but I still think I smelled a rat. I watched a robin and a mockingbird fight for nesting space in my back yard today. I think I like the jay fledglings the best, but you enjoy what you can and endure the rest, I suppose. I think something’s wrong with him, Muffy. He’s been waking up too early and getting up even when I cuddle in. That’s just not right. I’m pretty sure the boy’s just not right, but that’s what makes cats the rulers of the universe, isn’t it?
Mel Brooks had it right: it’s good to be king.

February 6, 2009 (UPDATED)

John Long — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 01:52:08 +0000

Wind Song 402-08

Joy Reed Belt’s gallery will be showing the work of Michi Susan Friday evening at the Art at the Elms First Friday gallery opening on the Paseo. The thumbnail photo here is of a 40″X30″ mixed media piece, “Wind Song 402-08″, that was in the online invitation to the event. With the weather expected to be very mild for February, I hope to see you all there. I don’t know what else is going on Friday night, but if I stumble upon who is playing at VZDs, Red Cup, Galileo’s or some other place I’m likely to go, I’ll update. I’m too lazy to search their sites right now. If someone else already knows, leave a comment with a link, will ya?

TWITTER

OK, if you are already on Twitter, as I am, then you’ll understand this video and I hope you’ll look up Blogblah and follow me or something. If you aren’t on Twitter, you won’t understand that it can be fun but it’s also annoying as hell. Anyway, here’s this tech blogger ranting:

TODAY’S THOUGHT

Enjoy what you can, endure what you must

Goethe

I READ THE NEWS TODAY, OH BOY

Galactic Intelligent Life Abounds?

(Maybe just not here, you think? Ed.)

MORE TWITTER HATE