Hi, all you Pennsylvania people. In case you missed the Philadelphia Daily News today, they had this to say:
Even if you live in one of the unimportant 49 other states, you really should read their endorsement. I tried to pick an excerpt, but I ended up wanting to copy the whole thing.
(h/t: John Cole)
Firefox has released version 2.0.0.14. The new version includes a patch to close one security hole, rated critical.
I just did the upgrade. No problems. Do Help -> Check for updates if you have automatic updates turned off.
Mozilla says the same patch is to be applied to Thunderbird and SeaMonkey as well. At this writing, the new version of Thunderbird is not yet available. I'll try to note, here, when it is. I don't use SeaMonkey, so I don't know about that.
Cindy McCain, the (second, so far) wife of presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, has been implicated in a plagiarism scandal that has many observers speculating that Sen. McCain's chances to win the presidency are doomed.
According to the New York Times, the story was broken on The Huffington Post by David Weiner, acting on a tip from concerned citizen and environmental defense lawyer, Lauren E. Handel. Handel discovered that a recipe posted on the official McCain campaign web site in a section purported to be a listing of Cindy McCain's "family recipes" was, in fact, copied verbatim from the Food Network website. Further investigations revealed that several other recipes had also been copied, word for word, from the Food Network's site, and posted as "Cindy's Recipes" without attribution or acknowledgment.
The McCain campaign acted quickly after the scandal emerged, blaming an irresponsible intern for the plagiarism. Tucker "Out of" Bounds, one of McCain's chief spokesman said, ominously, "The intern has been dealt with," according to the Times. The Times also reports that Bounds refused to provide any more details.
Questions were immediately raised, however. The website TMZ.com, run by respected political reporter Perez Hilton noted, with a heavy tone of irony, "Always blame the intern." It will be hard not to draw eerie parallels between the McCain campaign's attempt to place all the blame on one lowly staff member and the Bush Administration's attempt to paint individual low-ranking soldiers as solely responsible for the widespread torture at Abu Ghraib. "Can you say scapegoat?" one political commentator wondered aloud.
The recipes have since been removed from the campaign's website. Veteran observers note, however, that the response by the McCain campaign may have only worsened the problem, saying it changes the perception of what might have been passed off as a mistake into a scenario involving a conspiracy to defraud the American public and an ill-considered attempt to cover up the activites only after they had been exposed.
The McCain campaign is already reeling from revelations about other aspects of Cindy McCain's dubious history, including her admission that she maintained her drug habit by stealing medications meant for poor people, and documented reports that her vast fortune comes from a family business focused on dealing other controlled substances. Some of this fortune has been used to purchase eight houses, raising numerous eyebrows about the hypocrisy of the McCain campaign labeling its opponent as "elitist."
Whispers are growing into murmurs concerning the fitness of Cindy McCain to be First Lady. Some observers also wonder whether the scandal-plagued wife indicates a propensity for poor judgment by John McCain when it comes to selecting close advisors. "What did Sen. McCain know, and when did he know it?" is sure to be a question on many minds in the coming days.
Some wonder if this is the final blow to Sen. McCain's erstwhile reputation as a "straight talker," pointing also to the questions raised about the candidate's financial shenanigans in dealing with public campaign funds, his refusal, despite numerous promises, to release his medical records, his continued unwillingness to make public the tax returns filed by him and his wife, and his recent stealthy conversion from one religion to another.
So far, the other Republican candidates have not issued official statements concerning the latest blow to the McCain campaign. However, a source familiar with the Romney campaign, who was granted anonymity because of fear of repercussions, said, "The important thing to remember is, Mitt Romney never actually withdrew from the race. He only 'suspended his campaign.' He could jump right back in at any time." Numerous prominent political bloggers have also remarked upon the new website launched just yesterday by Mike Huckabee.
Neither Sen. McCain nor Mrs. McCain has contacted this reporter to comment on this, their latest scandal.
In case you haven't already figured it out, the above is my sense of how a typical "news" story would read, had the recipe kerfuffle been connected instead with Michelle Obama.
(pic. source 1, pic. source 2)
When one analyzes [post-modernist and deconstruction] writings, one often finds radical-sounding assertions whose meaning is ambiguous and that can be given two alternative readings: one as interesting, radical, and grossly false; the other as boring and trivially true.
-- Alan Sokal, via Massimo Pigliucci
Not exactly a news flash, I know. But Eve Fairbanks has a funny post on this evergreen. Part of it describes a National Review article whining about Wikipedia's "liberal bias."
Seriously.
Excerpt:
To prove the existence of an anti-conservative cabal on Wikipedia, Miller cites two pieces of evidence:
1. David Vitter's sex scandal is mentioned in an earlier sentence on his Wikipedia page than Eliot Spitzer's is.
2. Jon Henke, George Allen's "new-media coordinator" during his 2006 campaign, feels that "on Wikipedia, we got our brains beat out" while, as Miller writes, "the [page] on Allen's Democratic opponent, Jim Webb, didn't suffer the same kind of treatment. 'His profile was glowing,' says Henke. In the end," Miller notes ominously, "Webb narrowly defeated Allen."
The National Review article is behind a pay wall. Probably just as well.
This is just amazing: Waxy has a collection links pointing to "Every" montages; e.g., every utterance of "dude" in The Big Lebowski and every utterance of "fuck" in Casino (two that I particularly enjoyed, as you might have guessed).
If nothing else, it's always nice to be reminded that you aren't the most obsessive person on the planet.
(h/t: Alan Jacobs)
... one can’t help but notice that Michael Ledeen’s doctrine that “Every ten years or so, the United States needs to pick up some small crappy little country and throw it against the wall” is taking on rather a new meaning these days; just as every kid has to touch a hot stove and everyone with a computer has to lose their files before they learn to back up, every generation of policymakers appears to have to learn by doing, at someone else’s expense, the limits of offensive war as a tool of foreign policy.
-- Daniel Davies
From Aidan via email: All politics is talking down to people, at least I have the integrity to tell them that I'm doing it.
Count on Hillary and the rest of the GOP attack dogs to denounce Obama for this.
[Update 2008-10-20 13:38 EDT: Link fix]
Roy Edroso, who usually delivers the goods at alicublog, has elsewhere published a must-read: "A confederacy of dunces", a.k.a. "The Official Village Voice Election-Season Guide to the Right-Wing Blogosphere."
If you've never read any of the people he describes, you'll pat yourself on the back for your precognition.
If I had any criticism to offer about Roy's guide, I'd say he's perhaps a little too kind. Other than that, it's a delight. I especially like the "Stupid/Evil Ratio" given for each.
Warning: Clear mouth of all fluids before beginning to read.
(h/t to you-know-who for the inspiration of this post's title)
Today's NYT has a story about gun control legislation at the state level. The headline and the lede suggest that the pendulum is swinging in the other direction: after a decade in which gun advocacy seemed to dominate, 38 states are considering some bills that feature some measure of increased control. Most of the efforts are on the edges; e.g., cutting off access to those with criminal records or a history of mental illness, and enhancing measures that would help trace guns used in crimes.
I used to be fairly extreme in my anti-gun attitude, thinking that apart from hunting rifles, they should all be banned. In one version of my ideal world, I still feel this way. But back here in reality, I've softened my stance. Pragmatically, I think the cat's out of the bag on this one -- given the amount of guns out there and the strength of the pro-gun lobby, it strikes me as a lost cause, and I'd rather see efforts focused elsewhere. I remain in favor of more localized efforts, but nationally, pushing for sweeping gun control a waste of time and political capital. So, I'm happy about the thrust of the NYT story.
I have also softened my stance in less cynical ways. The truth is, I now buy a lot of the arguments that pro-gun people put forth. The tipping point for me came when I was reading one of John Sandford's Kidd novels. Kidd, if you don't already know, is a genius computer hacker who is a force for good, but who often operates outside the law. At one point, Kidd is ruminating on a situation in which Congress is getting all bent out of shape about federal computers being broken into. He frets that there will be an irrational overreaction, paraphrased as, "Mothers Against Computers marching on Washington, and politicians saying, 'Why do these kids need these powerful computers, anyway? Only engineers and architects need them.' " And like that. And then it occurs to him that the same arguments all apply to guns -- the large majority of people who own and use them responsibly get tarred by the few who don't.
It's a bit of a specious argument, to be sure. It's slightly harder to kill people with a computer than with a gun, for one thing. But nonetheless, it was the last piece required to get me to reconsider the whole issue.
However, there's a sidebar to this NYT story. In addition to the recent spate of bills in favor of control, nine states are considering legislation that would allow students, teachers, and visitors, or some subset of those, to carry guns on college campuses. This brings back my old kneejerk inclinations in a rush. This strikes me as an idea for which the term boneheaded was invented.
On a related note, nine states (some different from those above) are considering legislation that would disallow property owners and employers to prohibit guns being brought onto their property. Calcified cranium, op. cit.
If I really stretch, I can see an argument that says if I'm allowed to carry a gun everywhere else I go, why should I be hampered by having to check my gun when I go to school or work?
But really? No.
The latter seems a violation of the rights of private property -- a man's home is his castle and all that. More to the point, both ideas just seem to be asking for trouble. Despite the sturm und drang that explodes when guys like Seung-Hui Cho crack, I am unable to believe that any sane person thinks everyone else packing heat is the appropriate countermeasure to forestall future similar events. And when I consider how often tempers flare in class or the workplace … let's just say that I expect the body count to go up. Way up.
Adam L and I have argued about gun control before, so he might have something to say that will make me think about this in another light, but for the moment, I'm going to put on Jane's Addiction, and turn the volume all the way up, and play one track until I feel better: Idiots Rule.
... asks Dan Payne, who then goes on to explain how dumb you are if you say yes. Payne makes me glad I have (so far) resisted the temptation to pledge not to vote for Hillary Clinton, no matter how much I hate her. It could, as he reminds us, be much worse.
(h/t: Instaputz)
Brian Krebs has a nice post up. (He calls it a pop quiz, a clear sign that he needs editing help from me.) His checklist itemizes the latest versions of a dozen of the most popular software packages. All have recently been upgraded, and almost all have included patches to close potential security holes, so it's probably worth taking a look.
I give myself three geek points for scoring 100% up-to-date on all the applicable possibilities (I don't use every program he lists).
Krebs also points to a site called Secunia, where you can run a Java applet to verify the up-to-date status of a bunch of programs. Be aware that the site tries, mildly, to entice you into downloading other applications, which you may or may not want.
The application took a little over a minute to run for me, and it seems pretty good, as far as popular applications go. It incorrectly stated that I am behind the latest version on two applications, but noted farther down in the list of results that I do, in fact, have the latest versions. This is due to these applications -- Flash and the Java Runtime Edition -- not removing older versions when updating.
Krebs notes this exact result, and offers remedies which I just followed successfully:
Josh Marshall has a cool-headed reaction to the nonsense. I urge you to read the whole thing, but if you're pressed for time, here's his conclusion:
With the Wright business and now with this, the more nuanced version of the Clinton line has been that what 'we' think is not really the point. It's what Republicans will do with it in the fall. And that's a real concern that I definitely have. I won't deny it. I've never thought Obama was a perfect candidate. But as we get deeper into the primary calendar, increasingly so, this 'what the Republicans will do' line has become more of a simulacrum, or a license, if you will, to do what Republicans actually do do. That is to say, to grab for political advantage by peddling stereotypes about Democrats and liberals that are really no less offensive than the ones we're talking about about Americans from small town and rural America.
And seeing Hillary go on about how Obama has contempt for folks in small town America, how he's elitist, well ... no, it's not because I think she's either. I never have. But after seeing her hit unfairly with just the same stuff for years, it just encapsulates the last three-plus months of her campaign which I can only describe as a furious descent into nonsense and self-parody. Part of it makes me want to cry. But at this point all I can really do is laugh.
Looks like John McCain is still trying to keep the "elitist" meme alive.
I don't know whether I'm being part of the problem by responding to it, but I am unable to resist giving vent to my annoyance that the NY Times, as usual, blandly reports what McCain says about this, but fails to note that McCain is worth about $100 million, owns eight houses, dumped his first wife for a younger model, has based his recent self-promotion tour largely on his lineage ("the son and grandson of admirals!"), has been in the US Senate for two decades, and strongly favors Bush's tax cuts for the rich.
Even stenographers should know how to type incongruous.
Okay, we're done talking about how being bad at bowling means you hate people who go to church in small towns, right? It's time to return to …
Bruce Barclay, a Republican county commissioner in Pennsylvania, was exonerated of a charge of rape four days ago. The key to getting off (pun sort of intended)? Turns out he had secretly made a videotape showing himself having consensual sex with his 20-year-old accuser.
Unfortunately for his political career, he had also made other tapes of his other encounters with other partners. Hundreds of them. All filmed with surveillance cameras he had hidden in his home and office. Barclay admitted he had never obtained permission to film any of these encounters. And yeah, some of those were with prostitutes, for a while hired on a weekly basis.
In his defense, no women were filmed during the making of these films.
One of the greatest physicists you maybe never heard of, John Archibald Wheeler, died this morning. He was 96.
The NY Times has a good obit that, among other things, contains this fine measure of his worth:
In 1973, Dr. Wheeler and two former students, Dr. Misner and Kip Thorne, of the California Institute of Technology, published "Gravitation," a 1,279-page book whose witty style and accessibility -- it is chockablock with sidebars and personality sketches of physicists -- belies its heft and weighty subject. It has never been out of print.
Even better, however, is the remembrance by a former student, Daniel Holz.
Over the past couple days, I have watched no TV, listened to no radio, and done very little surfing. And still, I am unable to escape the latest in the Clinton-GOP campaign to destroy America.
Seriously, Obama remarked that some people are bitter about not having their concerns addressed by their own government, and this means he's "elitist?" And this means he's a bad candidate?
I don't want to comment any further on the amount of repugnance I feel for Hillary Clinton at this point. If you want a sense of my mood, head on over to Balloon Juice. John Cole feels about the same as I do, except he's being way more polite than I would. You can start with any of these.
[Added] More bitterness about "bitterness," by driftglass. A top-notch screed.
[Added] Robert Reich takes a calmer approach.
From the best story I've read in days, how one guy characterized his firm's response to a certain someone seeking a job:
"I wouldn’t say 'rebuffed.' I would say 'not taken up.' "
Frank Rich has a really good column in today's NYT. Fans like me need no prodding to read Frank Rich, but if you're disinclined to read him for some reason, I urge you to give this one a chance, anyway. The piece is not so much a hyperpartisan screed as it is a hard look at the inescapable truth of Americans' unwillingness to pay attention to what's going on.
Screen grab of an image of the back of Matthew Yglesias's new book. Click to enlarge, and note the first blurb:
What, you no know this phrase?
[Added] Bonus MattY line, from another post:
Certainly I look forward to when rescuing holders of Iraqi bonds from default becomes the rationale for why we can't leave Iraq.
In "explaining" the Bosnia "under sniper fire" misspeak, the husband of the woman who wants you to think she's the best one to be answering the phone at 3 a.m. says:
And some of them when they're 60 they'll forget something when they're tired at 11 o'clock at night, too.
Hard to believe that I ever thought this guy was a good politician. Even harder to believe: on reading the whole thing, I actually felt a pang of sympathy for Hillary. Momentary, nay, fleeting, but there it was.
And be sure to follow John's link to the post by Oliver Willis (or just click that one, which I swiped).
Oh, and via Instaputz, you might also see this.
The campaign has been too long, and there have been too many periods with nothing of substance for anyone to write about, and I get that Hillary knows what her base is, but seriously, the Clinton campaign has long been acting no better than, and no different from, what we seek to replace.
[Added] Further context, via Tim Dickinson:
Go read "Memo to Petraeus & Crocker: More Laughs, Please." You'll be glad you did.
... now there's a real reason to go to Washington, D.C.
I have one quibble with the reporter's reaction:
I doubt that I would have felt these transformations with the same force had I just tried to read the faded ink on Jefferson's rough draft of the Declaration of Independence, protected behind glass at the Library of Congress.
Glass or no glass, there is magic in the seeing the old works in the original. I still remember vividly trips to the National Archive and the Huntington Library, and one other place whose name I've forgotten, but which had a first printing of the Principia.*
Still, the new electronic displays sound like a lot of fun, and hyperlinking is always nice to have available.
I could not agree more with this:
I'm not keen on the name it has given its project: "The Library of Congress Experience."
Yes. That word should have been banned as a proper noun once Jimi departed.
* Which, careful long-time readers will know, I am now delighted to pronounce as prin-KIP-ee-uh. Hard Cs rule.
Greg Sargent has two posts up on TPM, describing yet another McCain Moment.
It seems the campaign just sent out a new fundraising letter based mostly on attacking George Soros. No surprise there -- the image of Soros is more of a bogeyman for the wingnuts than a hot tub full of Clintons and Hollywood elites.
However, it turns out that John McCain has a history of accepting Soros's money. So far, the count is up to $450,000.
The Dean of UC Berkeley's law school, Christopher Edley, Jr., has posted a statement arguing why he is not inclined to dismiss John Yoo from the faculty.
Viscerally, of course, I think John Yoo should be wrapped in manacles and a hood, flown around the world chained to the floor of a cargo plane, and subjected to a few years of the medicine he helped prescribe. But Edley makes a good case for there being insufficient grounds for firing Yoo according to official university policy. He also raises an emotional point which resonates with me: that rights like academic freedom mean nothing unless they also apply to unpopular points of view.
I'm still of the opinion that a larger "law" applies in this particular case, because I think Yoo failed to do his job as a counselor to the White House to a degree which I'd call criminally negligent, de facto if not de jure. It was not his job to act like a common criminal defense lawyer, looking for a technicality through which he could exonerate his client. It was his duty to represent the intention of United States law fairly, and he did the exact opposite. So, I'd still vote to dismiss Yoo* if it were up to me, but I do think Edley's argument is worth considering.
(h/t: Paul Kiel/TPM)
* I almost typed "to can Yoo," but that would have been silly. Besides, I couldn't figure out how to get "who" in there.
