June 2009
Injustice and Civil War
Civil war is an awful thing. Whether it’s our civil war, with the Battle of Cold Harbor and Sherman’s March to the Sea or a civil war in Somalia or the Congo, the consequences can be devastating. President Lincoln’s first priority, as passionately as he hated slavery, was avoiding civil war. Casualties are measured in millions. A country is torn asunder, and it could take decades...
“[T]he majority of Americans have no reason to be familiar with the armed...”
– Kyle Bingman
Turning the Sky Green
The protests in Iran have changed. As far as I can tell, the increased violence by and against protestors have decreased those willing to protest on the street. The protestors are looking for safer ways to keep their message alive.
Today’s method involved releasing green balloons at 1:00 over Tehran, hoping to turn the sky green. It can be done quickly and anonymously—but it’s...
Prioritizing Politics
One of my least favorite aspects of politics is the tendency of politicians (and worse, pundits) to see everything in terms of political gain or loss. I think some things are too important to be a political footballs. I think dissent is always okay—if you have something to dissent about. But at some point, if you don’t a real alternative proposal, it’s time to either shut up or...
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Cheating
I’ve seen a lot of heat surroundingan article from The Frisky, titled, Why Men Cheat. Evidently, it’s sexist. (With the Frisky, I can’t always tell. I find everything written there self-indulgent, infantile, unhelpful, and generally regressive. It’s like identifying a distant sewer treatment plant or rendering plant by smell from the highway). The article asked, “Why...
Healthcare choices
Jeff Miller quotes an ABC News Forum article, Prescription for America Questions for the President to suggest that Obama doesn’t have individuals best interests in mind.
“President Obama struggled to explain today whether his health care reform proposals would force normal Americans to make sacrifices that wealthier, more powerful people — like the president himself — wouldn’t face.”
I...
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How would your view on the Iran situation change...
South Carolina Gov. Sanford admits extramarital... →
Well, we can rule out one frequently tossed about name for the 2012 Republican Presidential Primaries. Also, do we have an award for politicians doing stupid things? Sanford vanished unexpectedly, spurring a storm of media speculation. Apparently he was having an affair in Argentina? Isn’t there a slightly more discreet way to do that sort of thing?
“Here is the one immutable fact of President Barack Obama’s foreign policy...”
– Jona Goldberg - Obama’s Iran Policy is Dead
Jonah Goldberg, who I often think would rather be provocative than right, is accurate on this one. At least, mostly accurate. Obama’s plan called for cautious engagement. If the reformers carry the day, he could emphasize the engagement rather...
Where's the authority for federal laws aimed at...
(via sds, and Reason Magazine)
Check out U.S. Const. Amend. 14 Clause 5.
“Embolden”
– (v). to take any action that might that might inadvertently communicate a modicum of sanity to an acknowledged enemy.
“Of course this policy is ridiculous and ineffective—but if we change it now, we might embolden the terrorists.”
Presumably, emboldening an enemy would be harmful...
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” — the most terrible revenge...”
– Review: ‘Transformers’ lands with giant thud - CNN.com
Apparently Tom Charity really didn’t like Transformers II or it’s director Michael Bay.
Memo to Michael: It’s a toy movie. Your audience is predominantly teen and pre-teen. My kids don’t need to see your...
Assuaging fears about public option
Jeff Miller is still unpersuaded by my resonse to his concerns about a public healthcare option. He writes:
If they are going to do a public option, I’d love for them to do it your way, but sadly there is simply no chance that the government will ever “cut off its supply of money.” Coercive power is the only competitive advantage that the state has over the private sector. A government plan...
Is public option a threat to private insurance?
jeffmiller writes:
How could a public option drive private options out of business? Simple: The Government has the ability to tax citizens to obtain money to subsidize a public option. Private business do not have a similar coercive way to raise money. This provides the Government with a significant competitive advantage. Sadly, this advantage has nothing to do with the quality of care.
...
“That would be like life without tabbed browsing!”
– Carolyn
Translation: It would be very productive but probably not worth it.
“Why would it drive private insurance out of business? If private insurers say...”
– Obama responds to the question: Wouldn’t a public option drive private insurance out of business? (via southpol)
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On Greek Life
Robot-heart, Love of Dog, and a few others have been discussing sororities and how greek life in general meshes with feminism and other progressive ideals. Praise or criticism of the Greek system is sort of like praise or criticism of the military. Both are big—and in both cases, you’ll find positive anecdotes and horror stories. The real question is what systemic forces are in play....
“…if they are even citizens….”
– SDS in The Phantom Uninsured
It might (but shouldn’t) come as a surprise to a few people that there are many, many noncitizens who are here legally. In our country citizenship has very little bearing on anything. Noncitizens work hard, pay taxes, and are active in their communities.
I think...
“Agencies that want to compete on quality struggle to remain in business, the...”
– Atul Gawande - The Cost Conundrum, The New Yorker
This whole article is worth reading if you’re interested in why the cost of healthcare is expanding. The article profiles McAllen, Texas, which has about highest per capita medicare costs in the country. It’s higher than the average...
WatchJohn Stewart and Mike Huckabee discuss abortion on The Daily Show (Part 1). It’s a good discussion.
Part 2:
And part 3:
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“God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent — it says so right here on the...”
– Robert A. Heinlein (via vruz)
Heinlein’s objection is serious, common, and ancient. Theologians even gave it its own word. It’s the theodicy question. If God is all he’s cracked up to be, how can he allow such horrible things to happen? Over the centuries, people have given a slew...
Abusing math
I earlier posted a link to this very cool article that suggests that the final digits in the official numbers in the Iranian election lack the random distribution you would expect and tilt heavily toward what you would expect if a human made up numbers trying to look random. Mimitakestheleftturn pulled out this quote from the same article:
Each of these two tests provides strong evidence that...
“I believe that, when my daughters grow up, barriers to marriage equality for...”
– Senator Christopher Dodd, adopting a fully inclusive position on marriage.
Obama Must Make Insurers Compete | Jonathan Alter... →
Jonathan Alter persuasively argues that a public option, which would require insurers to innovate and dramatically lower overhead costs is the only real way to balooning costs. Digitizing records and comparative effectiveness treatment could certainly help—but they can’t get anywhere near the cost savings.
But why would we want more Medicare? Isn’t Medicare a mess? Well, yes...
“The appropriate analogy is actually to George H.W. Bush’s cautious...”
– Fareed Zakaria - Theocracy and Its Discontents | Newsweek
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An irresponsible (and likely inflammatory)...
A number of people (mosly on the right) have noted that it doesn’t seem to be going particularly well for the Islamists. In Iraq, the religious parties didn’t do particularly well in the last election. In Lebbanon Hezbollah lost fairly heavily. The hardliners are under serious assault in Iran as well. It’s tempting to try to connect the dots.
But how far can we extend this? Does...
Very cool math on the Iranian election
Humans are bad at coming up with random numbers. In order to make things look random, we choose a lot of sevens and not a lot of fives. We really like adjacent digits (45 or 76) but don’t repeat numbers often enough (77).
Knowing this, we could predict that a set numbers somebody made up to look random would differ measurably from a truly random set of numbers. Bernd Beber and Alexandra...
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“Two provinces show a turnout of over 100% and four more show a turnout of over...”
– from “Preliminary Analysis of the Voting Figures in Iran’s 2009 Presidential Election” by Ali Ansari, Daniel Berman and Thomas Rintoul. The article makes the numbers look highly, highly improbable. The alleged margin of victory was so wide that normal fraud, abuse, and irregularity...
“Iran’s election authority has rejected claims of voting irregularities by...”
– CNN.com
So … that’s not an irregularity?
“You don’t want to give people an excuse to think they’re fighting...”
– - Somebody, on NPR, talking about Obama’s measured response to the situation in Iran.
Previously, I’d supported a measured response because I thought we can’t afford to get involved in any way that would help the protestors more than it would hurt them. This is a more compelling...
“The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching. We mourn each...”
– The White House - Press Office - Statement from the President on Iran
Notably, Obama does not call for the protesters to behave with restraint.
Saturday in Iran
Today is the turning point in Iran. It’s not clear which way things will go—but a line has been crossed. On Friday, Iran’s Supreme Leader told the protestors to stand down or face the consequences. Some did. Others did not. It’s not clear right now how many fall into each group.
The protests are no longer peaceful.
“I will participate in the demonstrations tomorrow. Maybe they will turn...”
– An Iranian blogger (via Andrew Sullivan, kylebingman)
“I wouldn’t know a Twitter from a tweeter, but apparently, it is very important.”
– Hillary Clinton
Safeway's Healthcare Experiment
SDS quoted a Wall Street Journal article, Mr. Burd Goes to Washington, discussing the efforts Safeway has made to reduce its healthcare premiums.
Safeway demolished the traditional PPOs and HMOs that encourage consumers to be cavalier about costs. The company today fully pays for an array of primary and preventive visits and tests. But beyond that, employees have skin in the game. The...
“And yes, we’re also introducing another vocabulary word with Pizza Hut, which is...”
– Pizza Hut’s possible rebranding to “The Hut” (via Lee)
Marco asks, “Did anyone at Pizza Hut consider the possibility that fewer people are eating there because the food isn’t very good and is incredibly unhealthy, which people are finally starting to care about a little more, rather than the...
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On (or, rather, against) hooking up
Rachel Hills linked to an NPR story about dating, sex, and hooking up.
The story (which is an intersting read) argues that the increasingly popular (and theoretically committment-free) hookup has largely supplanted dating among single twenty-somethings. The hookup is supposed to be a about self-indulgent fun. Dating, presumably, would focus on a relationship and eventually marriage.
Rachel...
Don't crack down on the press
It looks like Iran’s regime has just shown the world that allowing robust freedom to the national and international press is both the right thing to do and the smart thing to do. Iran has placed serious restrictions on the traditional international press, but it’s failed to stop information from getting out. The international press is still reporting on Iran—it just can’t...
The Ideological History of the Supreme Court →
AZspot linked to this brilliant site that shows where the Supreme Court has stood ideologically over time. Even more useful, it tracks where individual justices have stood during any particular year. Two things stand out.
Kennedy, the median justice on the current current court is slightly to the right. On average, the court is pretty conservative—but Thomas is breaking new ground on the...
PETA miffed at President Obama's fly 'execution' →
(From Politico, not The Onion.)
On Direct Action
Robot Heart (politics) and The Death of True Spirit have been discussing the relative merits of protest and direct action. Protest, of course, is generally a speech-based way of trying to make a political point. Direct action (in addition to being a hip, left-wing buzz word) tends to be more disruptive. It might be a sit-in or a strike. It could also involve chaining yourself to something,...
