gone fishin'

I am here this week...


And quite mysteriously, don't feel like blogging.

Go figure?

no news is good news?

From Steven Pearlstein in the Washington Post, who just won the Pulitzer, on newspapers —

To begin with, people are becoming better educated, more sophisticated and more global in their orientation, not less. The days are long gone when daily newspapers could satisfy readers -- particularly the younger and more affluent readers that advertisers crave -- by hiring inexperienced young reporters to write desultory stories about city council and planning board meetings or by filling much of the news hole with bowling scores, school lunch menus and bad photographs of high school sporting event

The rest, here.

Whaddaya gonna do?

ronald mcdonald sighting on nyc rooftop

I don't quite understand it either, but maybe this will clear things up.

Whaddaya gonna do?

and now, a word from our protesters

It was funny that in all the fuss about whether or not we should meet with Cuban leaders now that Fidel's brother is in charge, nobody seemed to mention that we regularly meet and trade with a Communist country with a truly terrible human rights record. I'm talking China.

With the Beijing Summer Olympics protesters have a spotlight to point at China's terrible human rights record in regards to its citizens and its actions in Darfur, Tibet, Burma and towards the Uighurs.

The irony is that if the Olympics were not in Beijing, we wouldn't have all this talk about Tibet et al. So, do you engage abusive states while continuing to criticize their human rights record?

Maybe. It's worth thinking about. Chinese leaders have embraced elements of capitalism but not democracy, yet its people seem to be enamored of ideas brought over by the West like a free press or being able to search for the Dalia Lama on Google.

I think to completely isolate a country is only good for anti-democratic leaders in two ways.

First, it gives the people the sense that they are under siege and when that occurs people tend to rally around the flag, whatever flag it happens to be.

Second, the sense of isolation doesn't give people anything to compare their society to, creating a self-reinforcing vacuum about their great leaders.

Yet, we don't want to be seen as endorsing a country that does terrible things. So, it's a fine line that we often step over on one side or the other, depending on the country's economic importance to us. Oh yeah, money's in the mix, let's not forget about it.

The U.S. government's official position on Tibet isn't all that different from China's position. This has never been a fight we've been willing to take on.

The same imperfect mix might work with Cuba as well. Cuba, however, is less important economically and it's more important in regards to domestic politics to appear tough with Cuba.

And, oh yeah, let's not forget Cuba was willing to let the Russians points nukes at us from its shore. But that was a while ago, before I was born, in fact, and the world has changed.

Perhaps the solution with the Summer Olympics is not to boycott, yet not to actively discourage peaceful protest either. Perhaps the imperfect mix of engagement, protest, and economic relations is the only mix available and it's just a matter of fine tuning it.

Whaddaya gonna do?

one primary, with a dash of bitters, please

This is the funniest take on Barack Obama now infamous comment about some voters being bitter, read it here.

No, really, click on it, it's funny...it's laugh-out-loud funny.

Journalist George Packer has a more serious take over on his blog, here.

My take?

On the face of it it's an innocuous remark. Yeah, some people are bitter, particularly about politics.

But does this remark signal a contempt for people who "cling" to guns, religion etc. as some suggest?

You'll have to decide for yourself. But if it is, that is not characteristic the type of campaign that Obama has run so far, whose strength has been to appeal to unifying themes beyond the blue state/red state divide. He would do well to read Packer's remarks and take them to heart.

Obama's appeal is about overcoming obstacles, whether it's a funny name or race or the Democratic establishment that backed Hillary Clinton. For him or his supporters to indulge in self-pity via the What's the Matter With Kansas argument is self-defeating.

But as they say on the Ginsu Knives commercials, that's not all. Race is thrown into the mix under the code of "antipathy towards people who are different."

I'm not covering the campaign, nor am I endorsing on this blog (with the exception of Uno) but people have said to me point blank that they won't vote for Obama because he's black.

That is simply wrong and we know it exist. But it is also completely unfair to characterize all of Obama's opponents as racist.

The hopeful thing about the Obama campaign is the color of his skin has been an ancillary issue that has little impact on his electability. Whether you're a supporter or opponent, let's keep it that way.

Here is a clip from the Charlie Rose show from 2004 where Obama talks about What's the Matter With Kansas thesis.

truth in advertising

New York magazine (not to be confused with the New Yorker) has perhaps the most truthful headline ever right here — Absolutely, Positively the Worst Team in the History of Professional Sports — about Isiah Thomas's Knicks.

But...How about 'dem Gaints, huh?


Whaddaya gonna do?

new york city's next mayor?

My favorite NYC politician is Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz for the sure exuberance he brings to this incredibly goofball ideas — like the signs that say "Forgetabutit" as you're leaving Brooklyn — that somehow manage to work.

Marty's father was a waiter at Sid's kosher delicatessen and died when Marty was only 9 years old. After that his mother had to move the family from Crown Heights to public housing in Sheepshead Bay.

He is a graduate of Brooklyn College and was elected to the New York State Senate in 1978, where he become known not for legislation but for organizing concerts.

The New Yorker did a big piece on him in 2005, here. More on Marty at Wikipedia, here.

Who else could get away with this type of political ad? I think only our Marty —

montana: where blue is the new red

You gotta love a quote like this—

In Montana, we like our guns. We like big guns. We like little guns. We like shotguns. We like pistols. Most of us own two or three guns. Gun control is hitting what you shoot at. So, I’d be a little careful about blowing smoke up our...

Thanks for the warning, Democratic...yes, Democratic...Gov. Brian Schweitzer.

In Montana the Democratic primary is being fought in a different vernacular, see here.

More gems —

When you go to a horse race, you like to go into the barn and look ’em over as late as possible before you place your bets,” said the governor. Note to candidates: keep your gums clean. And no, Hillary, you can’t say: “You had me at giddyup."

I so want to visit Montana.

cost of living

I was alerted to the graphics below from the excellent blog, What I Learned Today, which by the way has a great tagline — a curious girl in a curious world — to wit.

This shows the rise of costs (inflation!) in the New York region. There's an article from New York Newsday to go with the graphics, here.

I think the graph prompts the question — Dude, where's gas? Well, I'm not sure why gas wasn't included.

According to Newsday a gas tank that cost $50 to fill last year (when gas prices had risen) now costs $60 to fill. And one of the reasons I think many people are much better off renting (heat is usually included) is the jump in heating oil, which according to Newsday went from $743.80 to fill a standard 275-gallon oil tank last year to $1,100 this year.

The New York Region Consumer Price Index measures the average price of consumer goods and services and that saw a 3.6 percent increase over the last year, according to our curious girl, who seems to know what she's talking about.

I'm sure for some the lessons is — don't move to the Northeast. But this is a national problem as prices are going up everywhere and the Northeast has traditionally been a more expensive region to live but also offers higher salaries.

Conclusion: People everywhere are paying more for necessities. Problem: The Feds traditional methods of curbing inflation, raising interest rates and putting the breaks on the economy, isn't available because we are also experiences a credit crisis.

At least that's my rudimentary understanding. Nevertheless, the Fed is saying that they expect inflationary pressures to ease later in 2008, here.

So, there's that.

Whaddaya gonna do?

Remember if you get worried there's always cute puppies to think about —

uneasy lies the head that wears a crown

What would Shakespeare say if he had a chance to meet the presidential candidates? He'd probably warn them.

Here, from Henry the IV, Part II.

Canst thou, O partial sleep, give thy repose
To the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude,
And in the calmest and most stillest night,
With all appliances and means to boot,
Deny it to a king? Then happy low, lie down!
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

The rest of the speech, here.