Political Animal - “Nobody Really Believes Mitt Romney”

Political Animal - “Nobody Really Believes Mitt Romney”:

(quote)The bottom line, of course, is that nobody — not his critics and not his allies — really believes Mitt Romney.(/quote)

And that’s among Republicans.

For all the differences in personality and background, that’s why I’ve always thought of Mitt as the New Nixon. He may succeed politically because people with money figure he’ll do what it takes for him—and them—to win, because he’s a safer bet than his opponents, and even because people are cynical enough about him to assume he won’t let principles get in the way of doing things the country obviously needs. But (with the obvious exception of LDS folk) he’s not going to inspire much of anybody, and can ascend to a victory over Barack Obama only on the dark wings of an exceptionally nasty negative campaign reinforced by disheartening external events.

The Age of Obama: What Went Wrong (and How to Fix It)

The Age of Obama: What Went Wrong (and How to Fix It): Let me speak personally: looking back, I do not think those of us who believed in the agenda of change had to get beaten as badly as we were, after Obama was sworn in. We did not have to leave millions of once-inspired people feeling lost, deceived, and abandoned. We did not have to let our movement die down to the level that it did.

The simple truth is this: we overestimated our achievement in 2008, and we underestimated our opponents in 2009.

Angry Birds, Farmville and Other Hyperaddictive ‘Stupid Games’ - NYTimes.com

Angry Birds, Farmville and Other Hyperaddictive ‘Stupid Games’ - NYTimes.com: Stupid games, on the other hand, are rarely occasions in themselves. They are designed to push their way through the cracks of other occasions. We play them incidentally, ambivalently, compulsively, almost accidentally. They’re less an activity in our day than a blank space in our day; less a pursuit than a distraction from other pursuits. You glance down to check your calendar and suddenly it’s 40 minutes later and there’s only one level left before you jump to the next stage, so you might as well just launch another bird.

Gray Area / Guernica / A Magazine of Art & Politics

Gray Area / Guernica / A Magazine of Art & Politics:


The Gates arrest and its fallout—the infamous beer summit—have turned out to be a lesson in understanding the concept of partial: partial as in incomplete; partial as in biased. Everyone overreacted. I overreacted because I generalized from personal experience. I’d once been pulled over for failing to dim my lights while leaving a parking lot. The deputy shone a flashlight in my face, then into my daughter’s. She was five, in a booster-seat in the back, crying. He said: “Whose kid is that?” I answered, “Mine.” During the next part of the interrogation, I was out of the car and saying the alphabet backward while touching my nose and walking a straight line. “Are you married?” he asked me. I wasn’t, I said, ceasing my recitation, holding my balance steady. “She’s adopted,” I added. I hated saying this. It meant I wasn’t challenging the stereotype—that if I’d once had sex with a black man, I was likelier to be drunk now. But I wanted to go home. The deputy asked where I worked and lived. He looked at my driver’s license a second time to verify my address. “Do you own or rent?” Once we established I was a professor, a homeowner and taxpayer, my daughter and I were on our way.

The Muslim Brotherhood's Presidential Gambit | Marc Lynch

The Muslim Brotherhood's Presidential Gambit | Marc Lynch: The next two months are going to be a wild period for Egyptian politics which will make or break its deeply troubled but still -- just barely -- viable transition. The constitution is supposedly to be drafted, the president elected, and power transferred from the SCAF to a civilian government within this short time frame. Meanwhile, the economy continues to badly struggle, frustrated activists continue to protest, and relations with the United States. are badly strained. Shater's entry into the presidential race just introduces one more wild card into this loaded deck. At least Egyptian politics won't be boring.

On Being Gay In Medicine: A Leading Harvard Pediatrician’s Story | CommonHealth

On Being Gay In Medicine: A Leading Harvard Pediatrician’s Story | CommonHealth: That was in 1972, and even mentioning the word homosexual, unless paired with an expletive or derogatory adjective, would have been unacceptable at my synagogue. It would have been unacceptable in my home, my school, or any place I knew. I could not have conceived of telling my doctor. I assumed that I would never say out loud that I am a homosexual. The idea that I would someday be able to stand in an auditorium, stand anywhere, just a few miles from where I live with my husband, our two sons, and our dog, with everything but the white picket fence, was not something I could imagine.

The Associated Press: Woman who became world's oldest doctor dies at 114

The Associated Press: Woman who became world's oldest doctor dies at 114: Denmark began her pediatrics practice in her home in Atlanta in 1931 and continued until her retirement in 2001. That year, she earned the distinction of being the world's oldest practicing physician, said Robert Young, senior consultant for gerontology for Guinness World Records. She was also the world's fourth-oldest living person when she died, Young said.

Throughout her career, she always kept her office in or near her home, where children and their parents would show up at all hours in need of care, family members said.

Schneier on Security: Harms of Post-9/11 Airline Security

Schneier on Security: Harms of Post-9/11 Airline Security: The goal of terrorism is not to crash planes, or even to kill people; the goal of terrorism is to cause terror. Liquid bombs, PETN, planes as missiles: these are all tactics designed to cause terror by killing innocents. But terrorists can only do so much. They cannot take away our freedoms. They cannot reduce our liberties. They cannot, by themselves, cause that much terror. It’s our reaction to terrorism that determines whether or not their actions are ultimately successful. That we allow governments to do these things to us—to effectively do the terrorists’ job for them—is the greatest harm of all.

How Millions Have Been Dying in the Congo by Neal Ascherson | The New York Review of Books

How Millions Have Been Dying in the Congo by Neal Ascherson | The New York Review of Books: To be fair, the Rwandans did not always see invasion as the only option. At first, they had demanded that the civilian refugees should be physically separated from their FAR soldiers and militias, who should be deported to new camps safely distant from the Rwandan frontier.

On paper, this made sense. Had it been done, the Congo wars might have been avoided. But the price proved too high for the Security Council. The separation could only be done by force, and it was reckoned that the cost of mustering 8,000 UN soldiers to shift 30,000 FAR members and their families across Congo/Zaire would be over $100 million.

How Millions Have Been Dying in the Congo by Neal Ascherson | The New York Review of Books

How Millions Have Been Dying in the Congo by Neal Ascherson | The New York Review of Books: To be fair, the Rwandans did not always see invasion as the only option. At first, they had demanded that the civilian refugees should be physically separated from their FAR soldiers and militias, who should be deported to new camps safely distant from the Rwandan frontier.

On paper, this made sense. Had it been done, the Congo wars might have been avoided. But the price proved too high for the Security Council. The separation could only be done by force, and it was reckoned that the cost of mustering 8,000 UN soldiers to shift 30,000 FAR members and their families across Congo/Zaire would be over $100 million.

Exclusive: The Complete Text of Bruce Springsteen's SXSW Keynote Address | Music News | Rolling Stone

Exclusive: The Complete Text of Bruce Springsteen's SXSW Keynote Address | Music News | Rolling Stone: Still, it's great to be in a town with ten thousand bands, or whatever . . . anybody know the actual number? Come on, a lot of them, right? Back in late '64 when I picked a guitar that would have seemed like some insane, teenage pipe dream, because first of all, it would have been numerically impossible. There just weren't that many guitars to go around in those days. They simply hadn't made that many yet. We would have all have to have been sharing.

A Quantum Theory of Mitt Romney - NYTimes.com

A Quantum Theory of Mitt Romney - NYTimes.com: The imagery may have been unfortunate, but Mr. Fehrnstrom’s impulse to analogize is understandable. Metaphors like these, inexact as they are, are the only way the layman can begin to grasp the strange phantom world that underpins the very fabric of not only the Romney campaign but also of Mitt Romney in general. For we have entered the age of quantum politics; and Mitt Romney is the first quantum politician.

France's future: A country in denial | The Economist

France's future: A country in denial | The Economist: Yet what is most striking about the French election is how little anybody is saying about the country’s dire economic straits (see article). The candidates dish out at least as many promises to spend more as to spend less. Nobody has a serious agenda for reducing France’s eye-watering taxes.

Welcome to Decatur CD: Help Us Re-Brand Decatur CD

Welcome to Decatur CD: Help Us Re-Brand Decatur CD

They say "change is good," and we're banking on the truth of that statement in these coming months. Times are tough, as you know, and we've been duking it out with the best of 'em these past eight years. But the music-buying public is not what it once was, and in order to survive as a doggedly independent, brick-and-mortar shop, we're going to have to adapt to those changes, while finding a feasible way to lower our day-to-day costs.

We can't move. Good ol' 356 W. Ponce is our home; relocation doesn't make sense. We can't cut back our staff, because three people is already pretty bare bones. Frankly, we could use an extra set of hands around here sometimes, but the money just isn't there. The only way we can feasibly save money would be to stop selling CDs.

Let that one sink in for a moment.

Jonah Lehrer on New Research About Autistics - WSJ.com

Jonah Lehrer on New Research About Autistics - WSJ.com: Those with dyslexia, meanwhile, are often better at peripheral perception and quickly grasping the gist of a scene, showing superior performance on a variety of visual tasks. This might explain the high number of artists and designers with the condition.

The larger lesson is that, according to the latest research, these "deficits" are actually trade-offs. What seems, at first glance, like a straightforward liability turns out to be a complex mixture of blessings and burdens.

For too long, we've assumed that there is a single template for human nature, which is why we diagnose most deviations as disorders. But the reality is that there are many different kinds of minds. And that's a very good thing.

Ann Romney: the 'dad stabilizer' - How much should she campaign separately in general? - George W. Bush not endorsing for now - Aung San Suu Kyi may seek presidency -- Dr. Jud Feldman, Brent Colburn - POLITICO Playbook - POLITICO.com

Ann Romney: the 'dad stabilizer' - How much should she campaign separately in general? - George W. Bush not endorsing for now - Aung San Suu Kyi may seek presidency -- Dr. Jud Feldman, Brent Colburn - POLITICO Playbook - POLITICO.com


ROMNEY STAFF PLAYS APRIL FOOL'S JOKE ON BOSS -before an event in Wauwatosa, Wis. -- Ginger Gibson: "He arrived at the Bluemound Gardens Restaurant and was waiting behind a black curtain with Rep. Paul Ryan and Sen. Ron Johnson. Ryan went into the banquet room and began introducing him. His staff then warned him that the crowd was less than was expected. 'My staff says to me, it's small, there's a small, we didn't get much turnout this morning, it's really small but it'll be okay, it'll be okay,' Romney explained [to a later crowd]. Ryan went through the whole introduction, including calling him and Johnson on to the stage. 'And so the two of us go out there and it's completely empty,' Romney recalled. 'There is nobody there, it's like, oh this is going to look really bad on the evening news.' Turns out the staff had set up in an empty banquet room while the real crowd waited upstairs for the pancake brunch. ... 'his is known as forgive but remember. I'll tell you we're going to remember this.'"

A reason for hope.

Officials: Death toll in March the lowest in Iraq since U.S. invasion - CNN.com: (CNN) -- Violence in Iraq killed 112 people in March, the lowest monthly death toll since the U.S-led invasion in 2003, officials said Monday.

President Obama Goes on Record Opposing Marbury v. Madison

President Obama Goes on Record Opposing Marbury v. Madison:

For a guy who graduated from Harvard Law, Barack Obama is not really very well versed on his law or his legal history. Speaking out today about the Supreme Court’s review of Obamacare, Obama offered this stunning and completely ahistorical nugget:

Ultimately, I’m confident that the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected congress.

Look, I’m not here to debate the finer points of Marbury v. Madison with anyone, but the fact remains that since that decision was handed down over 200 years ago, it has not exactly been “unprecedented and extraordinary” for the Supreme Court to overturn laws passed by Congress (no matter the size of the majority). In fact, it happens all the time. That is the entire point of the doctrine of judicial review, first announced in Marbury and affirmed without serious challenge ever since.

The Loneliest Superpower - By Minxin Pei | Foreign Policy

The Loneliest Superpower - By Minxin Pei | Foreign Policy: There are, however, two difficult but promising paths China can take. One is to resolve the remaining territorial disputes with its neighbors and then throw its weight behind a regional collective security system which, once in place, could alleviate its neighbors' fears, moderate the U.S.-China rivalry, and obviate the need for China to recruit allies. The other is to democratize its political system, a move that will once and for all eliminate the risks of a full-fledged U.S.-China strategic conflict and bring China "friends all over the world." The first may be a reach, too little, too late -- and don't hold your breath for the latter.

The Loneliest Superpower - By Minxin Pei | Foreign Policy

The Loneliest Superpower - By Minxin Pei | Foreign Policy:

The rare foreign visitor to China during the Cultural Revolution often saw a huge placard at the airport boasting the farcical claim, "We have friends all over the world." In truth, Maoist China -- a rogue state exporting revolution and armed struggle around the world, and a bitter foe of the West and the former Soviet bloc -- was extremely isolated. It had a few friendships with countries like Ceausescu's Romania and Pol Pot's Cambodia; for a few bleak years, China's only true ally was tiny Albania.

Forty years later, a powerful and assertive Beijing has a lot more friends. Its economic presence is warmly welcomed by many governments (though not necessarily people) in Africa; European countries regard China as a "strategic partner," and China has forged new bonds with leading emerging economies like Turkey, Brazil, and South Africa. Yet besides Pakistan, which depends on China for military and economic assistance, and which China supports mainly as a counterweight against India, Beijing has a shocking lack of real allies.