"Is Charles Barkley Blacker Than Snoop Dogg?"

This is just a wonderful piece of video (about three and a half minutes long):

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Hurrah for, as Senator Bulworth once called it, progressive racial deconstruction.

Tip of the hat of many colors to JonIrenicus for the link, and to Razib Khan and Eliezer Yudkowsky for mentioning it in this week's Science Saturday diavlog on Bloggingheads.tv. The latter bears a look or a download, if you've got an hour for some interesting speculation about the coming age of human gene manipulation. It is for sure the first time I've ever heard the phrase "recreational genetics." (Don't be scared -- it's probably not what you think.)

Philadelphians, commitment-phobes, and Chicagoans unite!

Kill Me Now Later?

What will be the appropriate emo reaction IF ...

(embiggen)

... this week's Storm Of Teh Century is as fierce as SOME say it will be?

(h/t: Arielle Fleisher | pic. source -- likely not to last, obvs.)

Oh, hey, what is this fancy new thing?

This just appeared (i.e., I just noticed this) on the toolbar while I was thinking about composing another post:

And clicking that exciting-looking link leads to a page that looks like this:

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Not that I'm dying to have an About Me page (I already have a whole blog for that), but being able to have a few pages that aren't post pages is a delight! They read my mind!

I must click that Learn more link tomorrow! Or later today!

Meantime, hurrah for Blogger! Thanks, y'all.

Well ...? We're Waiting ...

Will Sarah Palin call on Rush Limbaugh to apologize for saying liberal activists are ‘retards’?

(h/t: Riley Waggaman | title: vide | x-posted)

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[Update] In the Comments, Ruth passes along some entertaining follow-up links, here and here. The first illustrates well why we call the lardy one "Boss Limbaugh."

Deep Thought

Meh, cybersecurity is important, but ...

"Manhattan Project" is the new "Rosa Parks."

(?)

Writers Talking About Writing, On Your Teevee!

Or, more likely, on your computer or other electronic device, which is fine, because some of what they talk about is being an old-school writer and trying to deal with this newfangled digital age!

Exclamation points aside, I truly enjoyed listening to this conversation between Susan Orlean and Kurt Andersen. She writes for the New Yorker, he does Radio 360, and they both also write books. If you like to listen to smart people talk about their craft, this is a really good one -- way beyond the usual mindless chitchat one often hears when writers are interviewed.

(alt. video link)

As with all Bh.tv diavlogs, you can visit the "alt. video link" to download an audio or video file for your remote enjoyment, if you'd rather not sit here and stream.

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P.S. Just for the record, I went on -- enthused, even, to use a word some other writer (Elmore Leonard?) said never to use -- at some length about this diavlog in the Bh.tv forums. My comments included, you'll be shocked to hear, some bickering over minor points. This is a link you are even more than usual not obliged to click, but there it is, if you want it.

Ah, Good. It's Budget Silly Season.

Not that I have any patience for members of Congress who preen in front of cameras about how they "work hard" … nay, "fight" … to remove "pork" -- earmarks are, as anyone who's not completely innumerate knows, lost in the noise of government spending (vide) -- but this bit from Gail Collins, involving not just ol' Tax and Spend™ Ted, but key players from Teh Party of Fiscal Responsibility™, is pretty funny:

My own favorite target for extinction is a $9 million annual appropriation for museums and educational programs that highlight the “shared culture and tradition” of Alaskan Natives, Native Hawaiians and “children and families of Massachusetts.”

In other words, whaling.

This was originally the idea of Ted Kennedy and two colleagues from Alaska and Hawaii. Perhaps they had all just finished rereading “Moby-Dick” in a Senate book club. Or maybe somebody bet them they couldn’t think of an earmark that would apply to only their three states.

In 2006, Congress did vote to add a fourth beneficiary of the whaling museum money — the Choctaw Indians of Mississippi. No one seems to know why, but we’re pretty sure it has more to do with the state’s earmark-loving senior senator, Thad Cochran, than Mississippi’s rich whaling tradition.

Cochran happens to be vice chairman of the Appropriations Committee, and I’m betting he also has the answer to why the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation, which was established to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the discovery of America, is still in business 18 years after the fact. I am only saying this because the vice chairman of the foundation’s board of trustees is the former leader of the Mississippi Republican Party. The chairwoman is a Republican realtor from Arizona.

“I feel so terrible,” one budget maven told me. “I always secretly imagined it had something to do with Nancy Pelosi.”

"Microsoft’s Creative Destruction"

There's an op-ed in today's NYT, written by Dick Brass, a VP at Microsoft 1997 to 2004, that's worth a read. It won't be highly informative if you're already plugged in to the tech scene, but for me at least (semi-plugged), there were some new nuggets of dish, and more generally, I think it presents a perspective worth being aware of.

(h/t: KK)

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[Added] The article certainly works as a telling rebuke to those knee-jerk anti-government simpletons who chant the mantra, "Teh Private Sector = Innovation!"

Oh, Ambers

Sheesh:

As has been noted by virtually everyone now, John McCain in 2010 is not the John McCain of 2006.

I am shocked, shocked! And you know what else? The McCain of 2006 wasn't the McCain of 2008, or the McCain of 2004, and the McCain of 2004 wasn't the McCain of 2003, and McCain of 2003 wasn't the McCain of 2000. And the McCain of McCain-Feingold wasn't that McCain until some guy named Keating got busted. Etc.

You think the Villagers will ever remember this, all at once, or are we doomed to live with Zombie Maverick forever, and an equally brain-dead commentariat who faint in surprise every time he zigs for attention and then zags back to shore up his right flank? Or flips out at some petty personal peeve?

I see that about 119 Balloon Juicers find this no harder to understand than I do. What's up over at the Atlantic? Extra-thick bubble or something?

I Blockquote, You Decide

This will not be a startling revelation to anyone who reads this blog, but just for the record …

If you'd like to see an interesting contrast in how the NYT and Fox News cover the same story -- about the results of an investigation into part of the "Climategate" kerfuffle -- I posted them in full in the Bh.tv forum.

Prior to that, I posted in full the story as reported by New Scientist and the British tabloid, the Telegraph.

Hey, another Baker line

Emph. added:

Real objectivity would require not only hard work by news people to determine which report was accurate, but also a willingness to put up with the abuse certain to follow publication of an objectively formed judgment. To escape the hard work or the abuse, if one man says Hitler is an ogre, we instantly give you another to say Hitler is a prince. A man says the rockets won’t work? We give you another who says they will. The public may not learn much about these fairly sensitive matters, but neither does it get another excuse to denounce the media for unfairness and lack of objectivity. In brief, society is teeming with people who become furious if told what the score is.

Plus, one from Molly Ivins:

The very notion that on any given story all you have to do is report what both sides say and you’ve done a fine job of objective journalism debilitates the press. There is no such thing as objectivity, and the truth, that slippery little bugger, has the oddest habit of being way to hell off on one side or the other: it seldom nestles neatly halfway between any two opposing points of view. The smug complacency of much of the press—I have heard many an editor say, ‘Well, we’re being attacked by both sides so we must be right’—stems from the curious notion that if you get a quote from both sides, preferably in an official position, you’ve done the job. In the first place, most stories aren’t two-sided, they’re 17-sided at least. In the second place, it’s of no help to either the readers or the truth to quote one side saying, ‘Cat,’ and the other side saying ‘Dog,’ while the truth is there’s an elephant crashing around out there in the bushes.

Both of these are from a fine screed by Chris Hedges: "The Creed of Objectivity Killed the News." I don't agree with everything he has to say, but a lot of it mirrors my views, for sure. Worth a look, if you're a news nerd and would-be media critic.

(h/t: Tina Dupuy)

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("another?")

Honey, Did The Earth Move For You?

Just in case there's anyone out there who still thinks the Muslins have the market cornered on religiously-cloaked crazy-hate, here's this: The Christian Newswire is happily burbling that 1000 rabbis are warning that allowing Teh Gheys to serve openly in the US armed forces will cause more earthquakes and "further natural disasters."

And by "1000," we mean that in "their" press release, almost 2 are named.

Happily, yes: Gavin M. is all over it. And do not fail to read the footnotes, also too.

The Harsh Truth (as reported by a very important newspaper)

Apparently, the US Republican Party is no smarter than your average first grader. This is according to the Rupert Murdoch-owned New York Post.

Damn liberal media.

Actually, I had no idea the Republicans were that smart.

BOOM!

Willard's Laundry?

It looks like Trig Tagg, one of Willard "Mitt" Romney's crazy-eyes kids, has been installed as a "managing partner" at something called Solamere Capital, which I think is Magic-Underpants-speak for "this looks like a good place to hide money and give 'jobs' to my son, my campaign operatives, and problem children of my billionaire cronies."

Tagg and friends modestly, nay, parenthetically even, call themselves …

(the “Founders”)

Of course, this is all speculation, which as we are frequently told, is irresponsible NOT to do. But to be clear, I can't prove anyone's hands are dirty.

TBogg has much more.

(pic. sources: Tagg | Willard)

Generality

You always have to give your Wonkettes props for their words, but they dig up some mighty fine artwork, too. This happy bit about Colin Powell is the best decorated post since that Gawker dignity-on-teevee thing.

Bonus Awww!

Yeah, yeah, two in one day. Sue me. This is too cute not to pass along.

(previously)

What Are They Thinking?

Here is "The 2010 Comprehensive Daily Kos/Research 2000 Poll of Self-Identified Republicans," for your horrified rubber-necking pleasure.

You may want to start with DougJ's introductory observations: "Is the Taliban this crazy?"

CJ adds another pointed one:

73% think gay people should not be allowed to teach in public schools. This position puts the GOP base well to the right of none other than Ronald Reagan, who helped defeat the Briggs Initiative, a 1978 referendum in California that would have forbidden gays or people who advocated gay rights from teaching in public schools.

He's right (para. 4).

So, unhappy lefties: consider the alternative, is one of my points.

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BTW, the healthily skeptical among you may be saying, "Kos paid for the poll, yeah, right." Here's what I said in response to that question elsewhere:

... just for the record:

Methodology

DKOS REPUBLICAN POLL 2010

The Daily Kos Republican Poll was conducted by Research 2000 from January 20 through January 31, 2010. A total of 2003 self identified Republicans were interviewed nationally by telephone. Those interviewed were selected by the random variation of the last four digits of telephone numbers, nationally.

The margin for error, according to standards customarily used by statisticians, is no more than plus or minus 2% percentage points. This means that there is a 95 percent probability that the "true" figure would fall within that range if the entire self identified Republican population were sampled. The margin for error is higher for any demographic subgroup, such as for gender or region.

Now, I'm going to take that with a grain of salt, because I'm not convinced Research 2000's sampling methods are perfect, because of their record as I remember it from 2008. I think of them as about as good as Rasmussen*(-1), which means a slight house effect, as Nate Silver calls it, should probably be assumed.

Still, having said that, and even hypothesizing that some of those sampled told the pollsters whatever they thought would "most annoy liberals" rather than what they actually believed, the numbers are still pretty shocking; i.e., subtract 10 or 20 points from the crazy answer to just about any of the questions, and you've still got bad craziness.

(x-posted)

Your Moment of Awww

Here, click this link, wait a few seconds, and get the inside of your computer screen cleaned, for free! Pugnacious!

(h/t: Frannie, via email)

Angry Johnny Follow-up

Continuing from the end of that earlier post on DADT, we now have some more details on He Who Is Nervous About His Primary And So Is Fleeing To His Right (Episode DCLXXVIII): Wonkette has your snark, and Wonk Room has your details, with a bonus from that master of the videotaped historical record, Jed Lewison.*

I wonder if Steve Benen is still maintaining his McCain flip-flop list?

Maverick!

Let's all go dance on his lawn.

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* [Added] With an assist from AMERICAblog, it seems. Links and bigger video on Great Orange Satan TV.

One more like this, and they'll change their name to "Toyota"

Despite their recent happy news, there's a motor car company that can't be too happy about the coincidence in names.

For me, the worst part was that he was so unhip that he thought "the Colbert bump" meant "give me a terrorist fist jab," but TBogg and Jim Newell were creeped out (i.e., delighted) by other moments.

Deep Thought

When Sarah Palin finally stops using her youngest as a photo op prop, will we be allowed to say she threw him under the short bus?

(Inspired by Blame Juli Weiner).

Well, duh

A wingnut named John ChickenHawkins or some shit makes a bunch of sweeping statements about Teh Left (no one could have predicted!) but inadvertently manages to get one right:

The average liberal thinks that if we're nice enough, we can reach an understanding with Hugo Chavez or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck can't be reasoned with.

Sadly for him, he doesn't realize who he's really insulting.

(h/t: Thers | x-posted)

Yeah, it takes a long time to turn an aircraft carrier in another direction ...

... but maybe, just maybe, we're finally overcoming some inertia:

The nation’s top two Defense officials called on Tuesday for an end to the 16-year-old “don’t ask, don’t tell” law, a major step toward allowing openly gay men and women to serve in the United States military for the first time in its history.

That would be Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and SecDef Robert Gates. Of course they still claim to need "more time to review how to carry out the change in policy," but that's probably just codeword for "we need the weekend to shop for window treatments."

Or so it is to be hoped.

Another good sign:

In the interim, Mr. Gates announced that the military was moving toward enforcing the existing policy “in a fairer manner” — a reference to the possibility that the Pentagon would no longer take action to discharge service members whose sexual orientation is revealed by third parties or jilted partners, one of the most onerous aspects of the law.

Shoutout to Carl Levin, who "[a]s the hearing opened, … welcomed the abolition of the policy, saying it had never made sense to him." And another to Susan Collins, for asking a question she probably knew the answer to:

[She] asked the admiral on Tuesday if he was aware of whether the policies of many NATO allies in Afghanistan, allowing open service, had had any deleterious effect.

The admiral said that he had spoken to many of the NATO partners and that they had reported seeing “no impact” on military performance.

#shockedshocked: Angry Old Walnuts is against any changes in policy. MAVERICKY!

Aw, c'mon. What is this "Red Eye Crew" BS?

It's obvious who defaced all those Congressional websites. I mean, look at the screen shot:

(embiggen)

Hello? "m4V3RiCk?" How quickly they forget.

(pic. source | more info | h/t: Brian Krebs)

Just askin'

What would be the reaction in the wingnutosphere if Xtreme Ministries were not a church, but a mosque?

Anyway, this gives a whole new meaning to my favorite country music song title of all time: "Drop Kick Me, Jesus."

Also from the article:

“The man should be the overall leader of the household,” said Ryan Dobson, 39, a pastor and fan of mixed martial arts who is the son of James C. Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, a prominent evangelical group. “We’ve raised a generation of little boys.”

Not touching that one, except to wonder when, if ever, will the circle be unbroken?

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What, you thought I was making that up? Listen and weep:

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Antidote:

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Bow-tied Twerp Watch

The good Roger Ailes has the goods.

(previously)

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Oh, wait. You'd rather have the bad Roger Ailes? Tweet, tweet!

Shooting the Moon

As you may have heard, the President's proposed budget pretty much puts the kibosh on immediate plans for humans to return to the Moon, at least, on the American taxpayers' dime.

If you know me, you know this stabs me in my heart, even though I know in my head that there are plenty of good arguments to support this decision.

However, it might not yet be time for complete doom and gloom for us space-faring romantics. Buzz Aldrin (via Ocean) has made a short encouraging statement of support, and Bad Astronomer Phil Plait (via AemJeff) has a long post up that lays out a number of possible upsides.

I say "possible," of course, because no budget plan survives contact with the Congress.

Okay, still a little doom and gloom, but maybe there's yet room to hope.

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P.S. Interestingly enough, that NYT article (first link above) was originally headlined, "Obama Calls for End to NASA’s Moon Program," when I linked to it earlier today. It has since changed to "Billions for NASA, With a Push to Find New Ways Into Space."

Which, of course, can only mean one two things: LIBERAL BIAS AT NASA!!!1! THE NEW YORK SLIMES IS IN THE TANK FOR OBAMA!!!1!

I Know We All Like Pie ...

... but this is an even better chart:

In terms of conveying information, not happiness, I mean. This is your proposed 2011 US federal budget (i.e., from your preznit, before your Senators and Representatives have at it. Expect much fuming!). Click it to big it, but for a much more informative look, visit the original NYT interactive chart, where you can see the numbers associated with all those tiny little boxes.

(Also, the next time you hear Old Man McCain or some other Congressional coot grumbling patriotically about EARMARKS!!!1!, ask him to point to where they are on this chart.)

He's From Washington, and He's Here To Help! (Save Us From Our Pretend Preznit!)

In the ongoing saga of the GOP as utterly devoid of ideas, three words:

Luntz! Luntz! Luntz!

If you really want to be discouraged, follow Newell's link to Sam Stein's piece (this). I don't advise it, though. Better to spend our energy developing a drinking game involving Luntz's Latest List and the right-leaning mouthpieces coming to your teevee in the next couple of weeks.

But, an antidote perhaps, via graz: Michelle Cottle on Luntz's new book. (Love the acronym.)

(pic. source)