Welcome To The Depression

Time to start a new series, this one chronicling the nascent depression.

Here is the link and video I've already posted on Facebook:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

And a cheerful post from The Moderate Voice.

Choice cut:

Longtime readers know that I have long thought a depression was inevitable for the US and the world in general because of the enormity of our debt.
…
Meanwhile, the country is seeing record home vacancies. “More than 14 million housing units are vacant. That number does not include an estimated 4.8 million seasonal or vacation homes, most of which are occupied part of the year.” This is completely insane.

And the financial system? It’s still as close to complete collapse as ever for the United States, and in worse shape in developing countries and Europe. I would be very surprised if we didn’t see sovereign bankruptcies (even Ireland and Spain are increasingly at risk) of rather important countries in the next year, bankruptcies that could potentially lock up the European and hence global financial system to the extent it was for a few days last fall — but this time for much longer. I have a feeling the tent cities are going to get a lot larger.

A little something from The UK's Daily Mail:

With America's economy in freefall and its housing market in crisis, California's state capital has become home to a tented city for the dispossessed.

Those who have lost their jobs and homes and have nowhere else to go are constructing makeshift shelters on the site, which covers several acres.
As many as 50 people a week are turning up and the authorities estimate that the tent city is now home to more than 1,200 people.
…
Foreclosure rates last year rocketed by 327 per cent, with up to 500 people a day losing their home.

And a slideshow from MSNBC.

Strap yourselves in, folks, it's going to be a bumpy-ass ride.

Good News?

The whole Kellogg's/Phelps fiasco has spawned new slang. 

We're All Pisces, Now!

Screw Christmas and Thanksgiving, we should have a major holiday honoring these newfound "ancestors":

Prehistoric Fish Pioneered Sex
LONDON, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Sex has been a fact of life for at least 380 million years, longer than previously thought.

Sex has been a fact of life for at least 380 million years.Internal fertilisation was widespread among prehistoric fish living on ancient tropical coral reefs in the Devonian period, research published in the journal Nature on Wednesday showed.

The discovery sheds new light on the reproductive history of all jawed vertebrates, including humans.

"It shifts how we think about how reproduction evolved. You're a jawed vertebrate and I'm a jawed vertebrate, so this is our own history," said Zerina Johanson, a palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum in London.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Throwing Limbaugh Under The Bus

Could we be witnessing the beginning of a new trend? For the good of the country, let's hope so.

Sanford Implies Rush Limbaugh Is An "Idiot"
ThinkProgress flags this line from an interview Real Clear Politics did with Republican Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina in which he calls Rush Limbaugh an idiot, albeit indirectly. Asked for his reaction to the idea that some conservatives, most notably Limbaugh, are hoping that Obama's presidency fails, Sanford replies (bold font is mine):

I don't want him to fail. Anybody who wants him to fail is an idiot, because it means we're all in trouble. But I do think, in that same vein, if you've looked at the pages of history, if you've looked at the pages of economic data that I've looked at over a long period of time -- I've got a masters in business from the University of Virginia, I've worked up in New York in finance -- if you've looked at that kind of stuff and you legitimately think that something ain't going to work, you'd be cheating him and cheating yourself if you didn't lay it out and call an ace an ace in terms of where you're coming from.

Sanford makes the distinction between legitimately believing a plan is not going to work and explaining your reasons why, and just openly rooting for a presidency to fail, as Limbaugh has, no matter what the cost to the nation.

It's too early to tell, of course. But wouldn't it be sweet if Limbaugh went the way of his role model Father Coughlin?

For That Porn Star Finish

Stumbled across this page from a men's health site:

Because, you know, we all need a bigger money shot.

Best News Of The Day

Kelloggs is feeling some pain from their inane, venal punishment of Michael Phelps.

Kelloggs Suffers
Good news, everyone! In an admittedly algorithmic-driven survey of positive and negative stories about the company, their handling of the Phelps issue did the brand some damage:

Out of the 5,600 company reputations Vanno monitors, Kellogg ranked ninth before it booted Phelps. Now it's ranked 83. Not even an industry-wide peanut scare inflicted as much damage on the food company's reputation.

The peanut scare was much less toxic for them. One step at a time ...

Anyone else smell an opening for General Foods or Post? 

Holy Shit!

I knew this was coming, but still, now that it's here...damn!

1.5 million books in your pocket
One of the great things about an iPhone or Android phone is being able to play Pacman while stuck in line at the post office. Sometimes though, we yearn for something more than just playing games or watching videos.

What if you could also access literature's greatest works, such as Emma and The Jungle Book, right from your phone? Or, some of the more obscure gems such as Mark Twain's hilarious travelogue, Roughing It? Today we are excited to announce the launch of a mobile version of Google Book Search, opening up over 1.5 million … public domain books in the US (and over half a million outside the US) for you to browse while buying your postage.

Wow.

A Doll's Sacrifice

watch more at aniBoom

Good Riddance

To bad rubbish. Apparently, someone still cares what our former vice-president has to say about the world. Interview courtesy of Politico.com.

Chioce cut:

Cheney warns of new attacks
Former Vice President Dick Cheney warned that there is a “high probability” that terrorists will attempt a catastrophic nuclear or biological attack in coming years, and said he fears the Obama administration’s policies will make it more likely the attempt will succeed.
…
The choice, he alleged, reflects a naive mindset among the new team in Washington: “The United States needs to be not so much loved as it needs to be respected. Sometimes, that requires us to take actions that generate controversy. I’m not at all sure that that’s what the Obama administration believes.” 

Thank god—really thank fucking god, allah, goddess, et al. and all that is right in the universe—that this tool is nowhere near the White House anymore. What a cretinous man.

Wet Dream, XI

Well, this is quickly becoming a regular feature. The way things look now, I'll be posting so many Wet Dreams that it may finally dawn on me that it's not a dream at all and that I'm actually having sex. (And, right there for all to see, is the moment when a metaphor gets stretched to its breaking point and twangs in the writer's face.)

Anyway...here's a very good analysis of the rise of the modern conservative era post-WWII and its concomitant 21st-century demise. It's a good, long read. Grab your cuppa and enjoy.

Choice cut: 

Conservatism Is Dead
An intellectual autopsy of the movement.
In the tumultuous history of postwar American conservatism, defeats have often contained the seeds of future victory. In 1954, the movement's first national tribune, Senator Joseph McCarthy, was checkmated by the Eisenhower administration and then "condemned" by his Senate colleagues. But the episode, and the passions it aroused, led to the founding of National Review, the movement's first serious political journal. Ten years later, the right's next leader, Barry Goldwater, suffered one of the most lopsided losses in election history. Yet the "draft Goldwater" campaign secured control of the GOP for movement conservatives. In 1976, the insurgent challenge by Goldwater's heir, Ronald Reagan, to incumbent president Gerald Ford was thwarted. But Reagan's crusade positioned him to win the presidency four years later and initiate the conservative "revolution" that remade our politics over the next quarter-century. In each instance, crushing defeat gave the movement new strength and pushed it further along the route to ultimate victory.

Today, the situation is much bleaker. After George W. Bush's two terms, conservatives must reckon with the consequences of a presidency that failed, in large part, because of its fervent commitment to movement ideology: the aggressively unilateralist foreign policy; the blind faith in a deregulated, Wall Street-centric market; the harshly punitive "culture war" waged against liberal "elites." That these precepts should have found their final, hapless defender in John McCain, who had resisted them for most of his long career, only confirms that movement doctrine retains an inflexible and suffocating grip on the GOP.

Wet Dream, X

The Wet Dream continues:

Poll: Republicans Want Party To Be Like Palin
A new Rasmussen poll further demonstrates that the GOP could be in for a long stretch in the wilderness: A majority of GOP voters now say that the party should be more like Sarah Palin.

The numbers: 55% of Republicans say the party should be like Palin, compared to 24% who say they should be like John McCain.

As I've previously noted, poll data like this could indicate that the Republican Party is getting ready to relive the classic cycle of ruling parties who get turned out of power in a landslide: With the party base itself shrunk down, the people who are still around are the most hard-line members, and are really the least fit people to fix the situation.

May they spend countless generations in the wilderness.

Uncut Travesty

Despite his better judgement, some jackass writing in The Daily Beast accedes to circumsizing his newborn son…because his wife is grossed out by uncut cocks. Then he's stupid enough to write about it. 

When my wife insisted we circumcise our son, I wondered why the little guy couldn’t just look like me. Then I began to re-evaluate our entire relationship with half the self-esteem and twice the paranoia.

I am an uncircumcised man.

This has never bothered my wife, Nicole. Or so I thought. “It’s like your penis is wearing a turtleneck,” she’d sometimes say, seemingly benignly.
As such, there was never any doubt in my mind that, should my wife and I ever produce a miniature me, he would also go uncircumcised. We would leave his little thing alone. No snip-snip, just like daddy.

Until, that is, the late-September day when we brought our newborn son home from the hospital. It was chilly, and the tightly wrapped baked potato of a boy felt warm in the crook of my arm.

“We’re getting Dalton circumcised,” my wife said as she fastened the potato into his car seat.

“What?” I said. “Since when does he need that?”

“Ever since uncircumcised penises are weird.”

She paused before adding, a little backpedally, “Except yours, of course. Yours is OK.”

This is how I learned my wife’s true feelings about the type of penis I have—by comparing it to our infant son’s. She thinks—has always thought—“OK.” I knew what “OK” meant, of course. “OK” meant weird, just like she’d said.

The author continues to paint a picture of two exceedingly superficial dolts who really had no business breeding. Sadly, their boy has  already paid his price for entry into their house. 

I tell you, in my perfect world, that couple would be frog marched down to the local mohel for a taste of their own medicine. Both of them. 

InauguPorn IX

InauguPorn VIII

InauguPorn VII

InauguPorn VI

InauguPorn V

InauguPorn IV

InauguPorn III

Team Obama

A pretty cool slideshow of the new power players in Washington, courtesy of New York Times Magazine. 

InauguPorn II

A satellite pic of the inauguration. Those swarms of ants are people gathered around jumbotrons. Click here for full size and better res.

InauguPorn I

A collection of front pages from around the world. 

A Fitting Send Off

B's Got The Biggest Of Them All

Bummed that you're not at the inaugural parties in DC like I am? AC/DC is here to ameliorate our disappointment. So in honor of the president's balls…

President Obama

He's in!

12 Hours And Counting…

The Team

Track the status of the new cabinet-to-be here.

Imminent Front

"The American Revolution did not end when British guns fell silent. It remains an ongoing struggle in the minds and hearts of the American people, to live up to our creed." —President-Elect Barack Obama

I Have A Dream Today

It's nearly impossible to be unmoved by this almost unbearably eloquent speech.

A sampling of the lesser known passages:

Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
…
Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.
…
With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And, of course, the climax:

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

Making Racists Squirm

Contra the spirit of unity which is pulsing through the country in anticipation of tomorrow's swearing in, I offer this little vignette courtesy of Ta-Nehisi and his wife. Enjoy the schadenfreude: 

From the annals of Ultra-Racial America
When I was kid, I always thought it was weird how much white racism, basically, revolved around keeping white women from having sex with black men. I'd be reading some book on black history, where people would be devoting [sic], say, the right of black people to vote. And, inevitably, some white segregationists would say something like "If we let them vote, they'll be marrying your daughters!!! And they'll take over the country!!!" And I think, "Whaaa??" Talk about your non-sequitur.

But then I was talking about this with Kenyatta this morning, and it all suddenly made sense. She nodded to Barack Obama and laughingly noted, "They were right."

President-Elect Obama

My god, I can't get enough of that phrase. Sends the tingle right up my leg… 

So, I'm sitting here on the couch skimming articles with the tv on in the background. A stupid show comes on, so I start surfing and come across a CSpan2/BookTV rerun of Obama speaking about his memoir in Nov. 2004. 

I start watching and notice that while his cadence is the same, his timbre is slightly different, less dramatic. 

Then I get hooked into what he saying. He's describing the overall themes of his book at great length in these long sentences with subordinate clauses and parenthetical asides. Suddenly, he shifts gears and starts talking about the basics of the book: his father, his upbringing, the story's structure. And I realize, here's this guy, a politician(!), who's just discussed his book on multiple levels and from different angles. And it was interesting. 

He then starts talking politics and his views on policy, our poisonous political discourse and assorted other things. Again multi-layered thinking, thoughtful language, long sentences. Surprisingly interesting content. 

During the Q & A, he gives equally thoughtful, and often funny, answers. His humor, by the way, is even drier than it is now. 

While he's signing books he takes the time to ask book owners their names and what they do, where are they from, etc. He looks them in the eyes and thanks them for being there. And there's not a trace of insincerity about the guy. He's respectful (especially of the elderly ones), kind, and unbelievably gracious. 

***

More times than I can count, he spoke of ideas and issues in such a way that had me wanting to video tape them and show everyone. I mean, he not only oozes authenticity, he has the right takes on things, and speaks our language.  I'm shaking my head wondering who the fuck is this guy? I mean, politicians don't speak and act this way. It's like he's one of us (but smarter)! Is this dude for real? 

And I'm thinking, how did this happen? How the hell did this country just elect this guy? How did a country that values thuggishness, watches American Idol, and elects Bush find the good sense or luck to elect a smart, caring, thoughtful, funny, liberal former law professor? 

What the fuck?!?

All I know is, I feel lucky, relieved, and proud that this guy is going to be our president. It's ridiculous, I know, but I am filled with joy at the prospect. 

Goodbye, Tara

We're two days away from the big day—the finest transfer of power in our lifetimes. In all likelihood, it's an event on the magnitude of Buchanan-to-Lincoln or Hoover-to-FDR. (Even as I read that last sentence I find myself torn between my sense of excitement and possibility and my wariness of grandiose pronouncements. And yet I leave it there because this is, by any objective measure, a big historical moment.) But before the celebrations end and the heavy lifting begins I thought I'd take some time to share a few thoughts about what's happening from my narrow historical perspective. 

We're about to be led as a nation by a man who is, among other things:

• African American (yes, we can stop right here, but I'll go on)

• an intellectual / constitutional scholar

• rooted in the liberal political tradition (albeit with a moderate/conservative temperament)

• a writer

• an urban dweller (the first non-"rural" president in nearly a century)

• isn't not afraid to speak extemporaneously and in complete sentences

• is politically shrewd 

• is emotionally intelligent

• is from the midwest / is not from the South/West

Think about that for a second. Just let it sink in. 

Now, all of that is great enough. And I don't want to take anything away from Obama and his/our victory. But we've had a smart, kinda liberal guy in the White House before. And we remember how that went. (In fairness, Clinton probably did the best he could given we were still in the thick of a conservative political era—not to mention his lack of discipline and sabotage-inducing appetites.)

What makes this moment doubly exciting is what else has gone on. This most recent conservative era that we've lived through—suffered under—has clearly come to an end and we're on the cusp of a new era in American politics (a period Michael Lind posits will be a Fourth Republic). 

In addition to being exciting for its own sake as a large historical event, it's amazing to me as a) a liberal, b) a coastal dweller from the midwest, c) a sane person. For the first time since I was a zygote, this country will not be dominated by Jacksonian, Southern culture and its retrograde mores. For the past 40 years or so Jacksonian politicians have controlled the levers of federal power and dominated the political playing field (even as they lost ground in popular culture, thank you, Hollywood*). Delay, Gingrich, Bush, Cheney, et al were merely the apotheosis (nadir?) of this virulent political strain. It's as if they took the old confederate mantra "the South will rise again" as a prime directive. 

And rise it did. But instead of a civil war they got elected (or not) and waged a culture war. We've lived with the repercussions since. 

And it has finally, finally played out. Ding, dong. The goddamn witch is dead.

****

All of which isn't to say we're entering a golden era of butterflies and rainbows and kumbaya. It's merely an opportunity. An opportunity to remake the country according to our highest visions, instead of complaining about the injustices caused by the other guys. Whether the opportunity is squandered or utilized remains to be seen.

Because power will be fought over as it always is. Nasty, evil shit will still happen in the country and the world. New factions and new divisions will form. Liberals will have to hold Obama's feet to the fire, lest countervailing pressures push him backwards. There will be failures alongside the wins.

We don't know what this new era will be called or what it will bring. But the emphasis and overall direction is shifting—has already shifted. And all of the energy and momentum right now is with progressive ideas and proposals. This is our moment. Let's enjoy it.

* Never thought I'd write those words.

Arrivederci, Toadies!

He's president until Tuesday, but the flunkies are gone as of today. Buh- bye.

It's over: Bush staffers make exits
The president will be the president until 12 noon Tuesday, but most of his employees will be gone by the close of business Friday.

They’ll turn in their BlackBerrys, laptops, building passes and gym keys.

And by the time the weekend is out — before the new administration can reverse course on waterboarding or SCHIP or anything else — teams of painters and carpet cleaners will have wiped away any hint that they ever set foot in the White House.

Oscar Grant RIP, II

Much cleaner video of the Oscar Grant shooting. Put that rent-a-cop in jail. 

Oscar Grant RIP

If you haven't seen this disturbing footage yet, you're sure to dozens of time in the next couple of days. Let's hope the offending cop gets sentenced with more than a slap on the wrist.

Hat tip: Ta-Nehisi over at The Atlantic

Arrogance + Corruption + Victim Mentality = Today's GOP

Example 15,786. I'd like to think he's kidding...

Three Stooges (or Not One Iota Of Taint)

So, it's not bad enough that the corrupt and unfortunately-named Gov. Blagojevich gets busted in a colossally arrogant and monumentally stupid game of pay to play. Now he decides to stick his finger in the eye of his fellow Dems by naming a successor to Obama's senate seat. This is obnoxious (and just dick-y) on many levels, but leave those aside for a second and chew on the amateurish quality of yesterday's announcement presser:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

I had to double check to make sure this wasn't an SNL skit, it was so bad. How in the world did these bumbling clowns get elected in the first place? I'm embarrassed for their constituents.

Now, put aside their clumsy performance and ponder just what you heard: A corrupt, inept governor cloaking himself with the constitution and insisting we take his appointee seriously (as well as insisting on his innocence). His appointee stumbling and bumbling his way through non-answers to serious questions, and a colleague invoking god and playing the race card so blatantly, so brazenly, that one wonders about the old goat's medication.

I mean, can you believe that this guy Rush is actually daring senators to not accept Burris because he's black? In this, of all, years? That he still thinks that kind of shit will fly is evidence not only that the guy is shameless beyond measure, but that he's utterly out of touch. It's fucking disgusting.

This is embarrassing as hell to Democrats and is one reason why I change my party affiliation to Independent when they are in power. I'm proud to be a liberal (with libertarian leanings), but not interested in being in a party that's either supine or stupid (or both) depending on the hour. I'm hopeful that Obama's statement against Blago's action provides enough political cover for other Dems to ignore Rush's statement. But I'm not betting the farm.

Update: On a less serious note, if I were them, I wouldn't be flying the word "taint" around as much as they do.

Update II: Jeez, it just keeps going...

Well, as HuffPo's Jason Linkin writes: "That's the question that Roland Burris is raising, anyway!"

But wait, there's more from Congressman Rush:

A higher principle indeed.

Update III: The sweet, bumbling Burris has a fairly high opinion of himself. Cheesy with extra cheese on top.

Update IV: In the span of two weeks, Burris comes to see the higher principle that Rush brought to light:

Country In Flames

Incredible shots from the Greek riots, including one of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos, the teenager whose fatal shooting by Athens policemen started it all. 

The Arrogant, Entitlement-Riddled, Undemocratic Stench Of Dynastic Politics

Back to politics already. I haven't had much to say lately, so forgive my sudden plunge back in the shark infested waters of national politics, but this whole Caroline Kennedy thing has me irked. Despite thinking of her exactly...never, before this year, I appreciated that she came out for Obama back in February and persuaded Teddy to endorse him as well. And I'm sure she's done plenty of good in her life. But why, why, should she be considered for appointment to a newly vacant senate seat? If she wants the seat, run for it, just like Hillary did. But to get it as an appointment?

This is nepotistic, dynastic politics taken to an absurd level. It's undemocratic, feels vaguely un-American, and sends a terrible message. I can't for the life of me understand why anyone thinks this is a good idea. 

I mean, okay, I understand that there is a mystique around the Kennedys that sways people, but still...c'mon. I just don't get it. 

Firstly, the clan just doesn't move me. I am just so over the Kennedys and the insufferable Boomer mythology around them, that I can barely stand to hear the name. I get that JFK was a huge figure and that Teddy has been an incredible lawmaker and stalwart liberal voice. But unless one of them is getting their hands dirty as public servants, I don't care about them. (And why would I, right?) Secondly, even if I was moved by their je ne sais quoi, I'd think this is a bad idea. It smacks of the entitlement—no, it is entitlement…in action. There are far more qualified pols (like Nita Lowry for one example) who have been in the trenches busting ass to get shit done. They have paid their dues and they have the legislative experience. Caroline has star power (apparently), but can she legislate? What does she bring to the table other than her family's name and the celebrity that comes along with it?

This is not a sign of a healthy republic and if it weren't for Obama's election, I'd be more worried than irritated. We've just had a once in a generation election—one which restored both a sense of possibility and confidence in the meritocratic ideals that are woven into the fabric of our collective story. Caroline Kennedy's appointment to Hilary's seat would fly in the face of both. It would undercut the raison d'etre of the campaign chosen by the American people, as well as the country's founding ideals. 

Whether Bushes, Kennedys, or any of the other political families out there, a pox on all their houses as long as they keep squeezing other, lesser-known, higher-qualified people out of the process. 

Their arrogance makes me sick.

Adventures In Baby Swinging

Getting off to a young start in alternative lifestyles? Nope. A weird new Internet phenom.

Oh Shit!

I'm responsible for a lot of dead kittens.

Silversun Pickups

I don't remember how, but I discovered this band earlier this year and fell in love with their song (and its cute, nostalgia-inducing video), "Lazy Eye." The band is from L.A. and has a sort of low-fi, indy sound. Lots of fuzzy guitars and distorted vocals. 

With a female bass player who shares vocals with a male front man, and the soft-loud-soft thing, they obviously invite comparisons to the Pixies. But they remind me more of Smashing Pumpkins or a poppier, more structured Sonic Youth. But never mind comparisons, they stand on their own. 

Anyway, if you're into that sort of thing, go to their website and check them out. I especially recommend the "Lazy Eye" video, but the video for "Kissing Families" is pretty cool, too. (I'd embed them, but they don't offer the option.)

Oh, Snap!

The inimitable Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) on the transition:

"[Obama's] going to have to be more assertive than he's been. At a time of great crisis with mortgage foreclosures and autos, he says we only have one president at a time. I'm afraid that overstates the number of presidents we have."

Pot Meet Kettle. Kettle, Pot.

This is rich: Disney accused by Catholic cleric of corrupting children's minds

Ahem.

Vote For My Big Daddy

Ewwwwwwwwwww!



Dude, watch where you put that hand!

Best. Phone. Ever.

It's hard to believe but someone's built a better all-in-one phone+ device than Apple. Go check out the Pomegranate…and be prepared to be impressed.

Some Blunt Advice

Screw Lonely Planet, here's the guide you really need when traveling abroad.

Guide to Smoking Pot Around the World
Despite the popularity of weed and hash, most governments in the world have deemed it harmful to the individual and society as a whole.

There are only 11 nations in the world where weed and hash have been decriminalized. A handful of countries impose mandatory prison sentences and other harsh punishments for the possession or sale of any form of weed and hash. Another handful look the other way when dealing with cannabis.

Some places that are easy on weed heads can be broken up by region:

Click here for the low down.

Change We Can Believe In

I've been itching for a while now to give the blog a facelift and decided it's finally time. Hope you don't hate it too much.

Comeuppance

One almost feels badly for our failed boy king.

Back To The Future

A funny and serious encomium to our First Lady-to-be's booty.

First Lady Got Back

But what really thrills me, what really feels liberating in a very personal way, is the official new prominence of Michelle Obama. Barack's better half not only has stature but is statuesque. She has coruscating intelligence, beauty, style and -- drumroll, please -- a butt. (Yes, you read that right: I'm going to talk about the first lady's butt.)
…
As America fretted about Obama's exoticism and he sought to calm the waters with speeches about unity and common experience, Michelle's body was sending a different message: To hell with biracialism! Compromise, bipartisanship? Don't think so. Here was one clear signifier of blackness that couldn't be tamed, muted or otherwise made invisible. It emerged right before our eyes, in the midst of our growing uncertainty about everything, and we were too bogged down in the daily campaign madness to notice. The one clear predictor of success that the pundits, despite all their fancy maps, charts and holograms, missed completely? Michelle's butt.

Lord knows, it's time the butt got some respect. Ever since slavery, it's been both vilified and fetishized as the most singular of all black female features, more unsettling than dark skin and full lips, the thing that marked black women as uncouth and not quite ready for civilization (of course, it also made them mighty attractive to white men, which further stoked fears of miscegenation that lay at the heart of legal and social segregation). In modern times, the butt has demarcated class and stature among black society itself. Emphasizing it or not separates dignified black women from ho's, party girls from professionals, hip-hop from serious. (Black women are not the only ones with protruding behinds, by the way, but they're certainly considered its source. How many gluteally endowed nonblack women have been derided for having a black ass? Well, Hillary, for one.)

But Michelle is bringing those two falsely divided minds together in a single presentation -- finally, unity for the real world! Talk about a power base. Thanks to Michelle, looking professional and provocative in a distinctly black way will become not only acceptable but also part of a whole presidential look that's more, well, inclusive.

P.S. Bonus points killer use of coruscating.

That's A Relief!

Cute. 

Life

Google has archived Life magazine pics from the 1860s onward. Enjoy. 

h/t: Daily Dish

Sarah, Plain And Small

Vanity Fair's James Wolcott bemoans the never-ending soap opera of Bible Spice:

Que Sera, Sarah
It isn't that I loathe or fear Sarah Palin. It's that she grates. If she were any more grating, she could cut cheddar.…

Sarah Palin isn't pursuing mere transient fame but actual power, a pursuit driven by a brassy assurance shielding an apparent lack of knowledge about nearly everything and a breathtaking complacency about that voluminous lack. She doesn't seem to care about what she doesn't know, it doesn't seem to register that what she doesn't know might matter and might be worth knowing even if it didn't. Her sentences seem to be missing vital ligaments when she speaks, yielding a concrete poetry similar to Rumsfeld's musings but with nil intellectual content (Rumsfeld's known unknowns and unknown unknowns at least had an ontological coherence).

 Now we're stuck with her twangy shtick and her family soap opera, which makes the former Clinton saga look like Les Sylphides. Just as Al Gore must live with the shame of elevating Joe Lieberman to the national stage, no act of contrition John McCain can perform will be penance enough for foisting Sarah Palin on us, subjecting us to her supreme sense of entitlement.

I love Wolcott. He's an adult version of Christopher Hitchens—what Hitch could be if he'd outgrow his adolescence. Rapier wit, dry sense of humor, and none of the bilious qualities.

A Real Leader

From Obama's 60 Minutes interview:

Kroft: Does doing something about energy is it less important now than...

Mr. Obama: It's more important. It may be a little harder politically, but it's more important.

Kroft: Why?

Mr. Obama: Well, because this has been our pattern. We go from shock to trance. You know, oil prices go up, gas prices at the pump go up, everybody goes into a flurry of activity. And then the prices go back down and suddenly we act like it's not important, and we start, you know filling up our SUVs again.

And, as a consequence, we never make any progress. It's part of the addiction, all right. That has to be broken. Now is the time to break it.

Emphasis added. Can you believe we now have a president (elect) that speaks like this? My skin is bruised from pinching myself.

In Like A Lion

On to more harmonious topics. Here's Ron Suskind on the beginnings and ends of political eras:

CHANGE

Eras end with a whisper, with reflection and the quiet drift preceding sleep. They start with a roar, the declaration that a particular dawn is different from all its predecessors — a case made, day by day, over years of sunrises.
…
Across the country, a wave was gathering force. But it was diffuse, difficult to measure and seemed to be coming from many directions, many sources at once.

And a bit about the man who grabbed the moment:

Obama sat quietly for a moment, and everyone waited. “This I know: When I raise my hand and take that oath of office, I think the world will look at us differently,” he said. “And millions of kids across this country will look at themselves differently.”

Obama understood, through his own search for identity, how America’s seminal struggle over race was part of a wider story, of a search for dignity and hope that defined the lives of countless people throughout the world. A battered America, he felt, was ready, even anxious, to prove the truth of its sacred oaths — liberty, justice and equality. To show the world. If, through his own ambitions, he could offer his country a chance to step forward, it might rise to the occasion.

And it did, with astonishing speed. You could see it so clearly that night, the last night of a historic 21-month campaign, that last rally, in Manassas, Va. By 10 p.m., there were 90,000 people gathered in the Prince William County Fairgrounds. They’d been gathering since midafternoon. And it was America. Make no mistake. This was border territory, where the edge of Washington’s Northern Virginia suburbs meets the true Old Dominion. Starbucks gives way to gun shops, whole grains to grits and whatever liquid can get you drunk fast.

Prop 8 Push Back

So, now conservatives are whining because of the push back on Prop 8? All I can muster is a big, Waaa. Politics ain't beanbag kiddos. You want to go around disenfranchising fellow countrymen and creating second-class citizens you'd better be prepared to take some hits. 

Here's TBogg from Firedoglake's commentary:  

Blowback is a bitch
The kind of person who contributes money to deny their fellow citizens their civil rights are not someday magically going to be part of the solution: they're the problem. These are not people to be reasoned with; they're ignorant, they're haters and they're bigots and the only thing people like that understand is power.

So when they stick their noses in other people's affairs, they forfeit the right to be considered just another "ordinary person". They're involved and they would be foolish to expect that those other people in whose private affairs they have meddled wouldn't return the favor. As they say: you pays your money and you takes your chances.

Couldn't have said it better.

Click here for a list of those who contributed to Prop 8.

And By Their Fruit, Ye Shall Know Them

While America's favorite child-abusing, polygamist cult is responsible for tipping the balance, it looks like it was one of the world's oldest child-abusing cults that invited them into the mix. Via NYT:

Mormons Tipped Scale in Ban on Gay Marriage

First approached by the Roman Catholic archbishop of San Francisco a few weeks after the California Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in May, the Mormons were the last major religious group to join the campaign, and the final spice in an unusual stew that included Catholics, evangelical Christians, conservative black and Latino pastors, and myriad smaller ethnic groups with strong religious ties.

Shortly after receiving the invitation from the San Francisco Archdiocese, the Mormon leadership in Salt Lake City issued a four-paragraph decree to be read to congregations, saying “the formation of families is central to the Creator’s plan,” and urging members to become involved with the cause.

“And they sure did,” Mr. Schubert said.

Lovely people, these.

I Can Haz Blog Post?

Via Salon, an interesting take on the bizarre lolcat phenomenon.

Choice cut:

What makes lolcats different from the cat porn of the past -- the motivational posters of the '70s and '80s featuring furry kittens hanging from tree limbs, covered in toilet paper or in some other kind of adorable predicament -- is that lolcats aren't trying to be cute. In the cat-based imagery of ages past, cats retain their iconic traits: curiosity, skittishness, the tendency to curl up in a ball and just lie there. Even the YouTube cats of today perform characteristically catlike actions, repeatedly flushing toilets, dragging their paws along piano keys or getting flung off the ends of treadmills.

Lolcats are different in that the characters they portray -- and yes, they are portraying characters -- don't represent cats at all. They're a completely different kind of beast, mischievous (if incompetent) rascals, scheming for cheeseburgers and stopping at nothing to get them.

Take the lolcat that started it all, created by a Hawaiian blogger named Eric Nakagawa, who posted it in January 2007. The image features a cat with a crazed look of pure animal hunger, its eyes maniacal with desire, asking, "I can has cheezburger?" Underneath is the comment: "The Internet's piece de resistance, the website's raison d'etre."

This ur-lolcat created such a sensation that Nakagawa turned it into a blog, spawning not only the eponymous Web site but also a whole mythology. The cheezburger has become the Philosopher's Stone of the lolcats mythos -- the most prized, cherished and elusive object in their universe.

Girls Will Be Boys And Boys Will Be Girls

In this thoughtful, even-handed essay, The Atlantic's Hanna Rosin leads us through the heart-wrenching mine field of gender dysphoria in kids. 

In my few months of meeting transgender children, I talked to parents from many different backgrounds, who had made very different decisions about how to handle their children. Many accepted the “new normalcy” line, and some did not. But they all had one thing in common: in such a loaded situation, with their children’s future at stake, doubt about their choices did not serve them well. In Brandon’s case, for example, doubt would force Tina to consider that if she began letting him dress as a girl, she would be defying the conventions of her small town, and the majority of psychiatric experts, who advise strongly against the practice. It would force her to consider that she would have to begin making serious medical decisions for Brandon in only a couple of years, and that even with the blockers, he would face a lifetime of hormone injections and possibly major surgery. At the conference, Tina struggled with these doubts. But her new friends had already moved past them.

“Yeah, it is fixable,” piped up another mom, who’d been on the 20/20 special. “We call it the disorder we cured with a skirt.”

Schadenfreude X

Okay, just for old times' sake, one last post on the friction between McCranky and Bible Spice:

And this from Washington Monthly:

'WASILLA HILLBILLIES LOOTING NEIMAN MARCUS'.... There's plenty of time for the Republican recriminations to get completely out of hand, but in the meantime, would you believe McCain campaign aides are still fighting over Sarah Palin's wardrobe?

NEWSWEEK has also learned that Palin's shopping spree at high-end department stores was more extensive than previously reported. While publicly supporting Palin, McCain's top advisers privately fumed at what they regarded as her outrageous profligacy. One senior aide said that Nicolle Wallace had told Palin to buy three suits for the convention and hire a stylist. But instead, the vice presidential nominee began buying for herself and her family -- clothes and accessories from top stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. According to two knowledgeable sources, a vast majority of the clothes were bought by a wealthy donor, who was shocked when he got the bill. Palin also used low-level staffers to buy some of the clothes on their credit cards.

The McCain campaign found out last week when the aides sought reimbursement. One aide estimated that she spent "tens of thousands" more than the reported $150,000, and that $20,000 to $40,000 went to buy clothes for her husband. Some articles of clothing have apparently been lost. An angry aide characterized the shopping spree as "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast," and said the truth will eventually come out when the Republican Party audits its books.

Also yesterday, Steve Schmidt refused to say that adding Palin to the ticket was a good idea, and someone dished to Newsweek that McCain "rarely spoke to Palin during the campaign."

The point here isn't whether the Palin family behaved like "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus"; the point is that these reports suggest Palin will get the blame for much of what went wrong.

It started with McCain aides calling her a "diva," and progressed to at least one aide calling her a "whack job." Now she's a "Wasilla hillbilly"?

McCain's team couldn't destroy Obama, but they can certainly ruin Palin's future.

And with that, I bid adieu.

The Terrible Aftermath Of Obama's Victory

Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are

Beam Me Down

The goofiest moment of the election yesterday:

California Non Grata

As gleeful as I was last night, I'm pissed and irritated today. I failed to manage my expectations and assumed we'd see a rout. Instead I awake today to find out that Alaskan senator Ted Stevens will likely hang onto his seat, the Smith-Merkley race is too close to call, Franken will probably lose in Minnesota, and worse, much worse, disgustingly worse, California has voted Yes on Prop 8. 

California. 

Let that sink in.

A state which has for years symbolized progressive ideas, a state which has offered port in the storm for us freaks who couldn't bear life in the sad hamlets of the midwest, south and plains states, a state which is home to San Francisco and Los Angeles, voted to deny a portion of the populace the right to marry the loves of their lives. They voted to create a second class of citizens. 

This is sickening to me. 

I'm angry at myself for inflated expectations. I'm angry at the corrupt crazies of the LDS church who butted their Salt Lake-encrusted noses into their neighboring state's business. But mostly I'm angry at California for acceding to such a petty and vindictive proposition. 

Shame on you. (And say goodbye to my tourist dollars.)

New York Celebrates

East Village:



St. Marks & Ave. A, NYC:

h/t: Daily Dish

Bizarro World

This morning Bush follows McCain's lead. Defying generations' worth of expectations, graciousness appears to be breaking out among Republicans. Welcome to the Obama era.

The Long, Strange Trip

A look back in six minutes:

Our Stories Are Singular…

But our destiny is shared.

President Obama

Just let it roll off the tongue.

Woo Hoo!

Never has a song been so perfect for a moment:



h/t: Daily Dish

We Fucking Did It!

Wow. I'm sitting here in my freshly-empty living room processing the night. I'm dying to go to news sites and other blogs to catch their coverage, but feel the need to post unadulterated, unfiltered. thoughts first.

I'm seriously overcome with emotion and I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm writing this through tears. We did it, people! We did it. We helped elect the 44th president of the United States of America. And not just any president, but a a smart president, a president with a unique blend of brains, heart, and gut to lead this country through one of its darkest hours. 

Oh, yes we can. Fuck, yeah, we can. We just did!

First impressions of the candidates:

John McCain was as gracious in defeat as I'd hoped he'd be on the trail. I'm pretty sure he showed his true colors tonight, not only conceding, but doing so with grace and asking his supporters to do the same. I teared up watching his speech, not only because I can imagine how difficult it must have been for him and his supporters, but also because we live in a country where such a thing is possible. 

Really. There are still many places in the world where such a thing could never happen. I'm proud and I'm grateful.

So thank you Senator McCain for a beautiful, gracious, honorable concession speech. 

As for President-Elect Obama, his speech was gorgeous as well. Perfect for the moment. As eloquent and magnanimous as we've come to expect. I admit I can't remember much of it since the moment of its delivery was so beautifully surreal, but I can recall the way that his words resonated through the spirits of those of us here tonight. 

Thank you, sir, for taking a chance on this country. For recognizing that the moment was ripe. For striking while the iron was hot. For putting yourself and your family through the ringer to help move this country forward. 

I'm so fucking proud and so fucking happy for myself, my friends, and my country right now, I can hardly speak. 

It's a new day, America. 

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

The Audacity Of Hope

It's funny, I can remember sitting in my tiny, second-floor office at the BRI in late 2003 reading about this guy in Illinois, this hyper-eloquent state senator—a black man living in Chicago—who was winning over largely-white crowds in rural southern Illinois during his race for Illinois' U.S. Senate seat. I remember thinking this is a guy to keep an eye on. Not long after that, in the fall of 2004, someone in the Democratic party had the good sense to give him the keynote speech slot, and Barack Obama was introduced to a national audience.

I think it's worth reviewing the video of that speech today:

It's remarkable how thematically consistent he has been throughout his career. (That bit about about there being no red and blue America—starting around 13:30 or so—gets me every fucking time.)

Y'All Fired Up?

The story behind Obama's famous call and response chant:

h/t John Javna

Dwellers On The Threshold

A strange calm hangs over most regions of the political blogosphere today. I'm feeling it myself. I'd expected to feel excited on this election eve—anxious, nervous—something. Instead, I just feel…something between numbness and calm. 

We are on a precipice of history—the threshold of a new and potentially uplifting era. Tomorrow will be one of the more important dates in American electoral history, probably the most important one of our lives. We, as a country, stand on the edge of a cliff—in less than 24 hours we'll know whether we've decided to plunge further into darkness or take flight into the bright light of a new world. 

Sleep well, my friends. Carry hope into your dreams. Can we move another step closer to fulfilling the promise of our collective birthright? 

Yes. We. Can. 

*****

P.S. Yeah, the prose is a little purple, but, hey, how often does a moment like this one come along in a man's life? 

What Hil Fans Couldn't See

And McCain apparently never got either:

Obama Has What It Takes (and It's Not What You Think It Is)

To me at least, Barack Obama doesn’t do that convincing an impression of Major General Siad Barre the scientific socialist, or any other kind of socialist—or, as Obama’s enjoying saying lately, a Communist who shared his toys in kindergarten. He’s much more convincing as Machiavelli.

Which, if you’re a Democrat, you like about him. You like that he’s ruthless and cunning. You like that he can answer the rhetorical question floated by Richard Ben Cramer’s campaign classic, What It Takes: It takes amorality. If you’re an Obama supporter, you’ve been saying to yourself, “It’s about time we had a Democrat who can beat the Republicans at their own game. Who’ll grin like Reagan while brawling like Nixon.” Niccolo Machiavelli—he was all about the happy warrior, and that’s Obama, and that’s a good thing, isn’t it?

Anyone who really paid attention to the guy knew that he could play a cutthroat game with the best of them. It's a big part of my early support. Heart in the right place and willing to pull out the sword to defend it. 

Another Day, Another Obamacon Endorsement

Paleocon Daniel Larison ponders the Obamacon phenomenon:

Everyone who is voting Obama to punish the GOP thinks that there is some small chance that the GOP might change its ways. The diversity of views among Obamacons reflects how many different future directions are expected, guaranteeing that many will be disappointed, but it also reflects how badly the GOP has failed on multiple fronts that it is simultaneously losing so many prominent and obscure Catholic pro-lifers, libertarians, foreign policy realists, moderates and small-government conservatives, among others, to a Democratic nominee who genuinely is the most liberal of any they have had since 1972.  

Under normal circumstances, a vote for Obama ought to be unthinkable for almost all of the people on the right who have endorsed him, but the GOP has failed so badly that it has made the unthinkable mundane and ordinary. It’s reaching a point where the report of another Obamacon endorsement is no more remarkable than when the leaves start falling in autumn. Far more important in the aftermath than coming up with new and amusing ways to mock the Obama endorsers is an effort to understand and remedy the profound failures that made this phenomenon possible before a major realignment does occur.

I feel for him, I really do.