Okay, so we're a few days early. But these are good, and the article they came from -- about new findings in paternal behavior in a variety of species -- is well worth a look, and it's not just monkey business, either.
Click 'em to big 'em.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Better a half a loaf repost than no loaf post at all
Following is something I posted over in the Bh.tv forums.
The first three blockquotes are excerpts from previous posts I had put up elsewhere in that thread, while arguing against both righties and lefties who are bent on bashing Obama. As with my Bh.tv post, I included the excerpts for context, and as a lead-in for the real meat, from Jim Newell, which follows.
__________
Originally Posted by bjkeefe
It is also true that some of us, at least, who remain in the "approval" column have never thought a president got handed a magic wand on Inauguration Day. Some of us were and continue to be realistic about the checks and balances, to coin a phrase, that exist in our system. Some of us are more inclined to be pissed at the Congress and/or certain Dems and "Independents" in the Congress than we are at the President when it comes to passing legislation.
Originally Posted by bjkeefe
And of course, our media environment being what it is, we tend to see and hear those most willing to scream the loudest. It's not much of a news story to report on someone like me -- kinda phlegmatic, reasonably satisfied, willing to give him four years before passing final judgment -- as it is to report on someone howling that he is JUST LIKE BUSH!!!1! No, worse!!!1!
Originally Posted by bjkeefe
So, at the end of the day, I still consider him far better than the thought of McCain/Palin, and I still can't imagine voting against him in 2012, given any even remotely plausible options.
damn it all, i agree with that too.
Yep. It does kind of suck, in some ways, doesn't it?
Tying the above, and more, together, Newell get serious for a while, and as is usually the case in these situations, his post deserves to be stolen reposted in full.
C'mon, Give Barack Obama Some Credit For Making BP Pay
The weak, spineless worst president ever, whose abysmal speech yesterday eliminated any hope for American prosperity for countless generations, is such an evil corporatist that he's... found a way to make BP pay claims. Will he ever "show leadership"?
The reaction to Barack Obama's mediocre speech last night revealed one of the more annoying trends in parts of the Left: you're less vulnerable bashing the shit out of him at all times than trying to defend him, or even consider his motives.
It was disappointing that he didn't acknowledge the environmental need or the economic merits of pricing carbon in the wishy-washy second half of his speech, absolutely. The public has, sadly, grown more skeptical if not outright dismissive of the need to address climate change and the transition to an advanced, high-tech, clean energy economy — something only achievable through carbon pricing, be it a cap-and-trade system or a carbon tax. This is understandable — most people are too busy worrying about unemployment right now — but the president can't let our carbon problem disappear entirely from the public arena. A line or two would've been nice!
But there are not and will not be enough votes in the Senate this year to pass an energy bill with a strong carbon pricing mechanism, and that's why he didn't bring it up or "set markers." This was the takeaway from his speech. You can ask him to "lead" more, but the votes will not show up in the Senate. They're not there. He cannot twist enough arms. It would go down in flames and ultimately be a major misread of the public mood, in an election year. The same people would be calling him "weak." This is the situation.
So if Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, Howard Fineman and pretty much every other liberal pundit who freaked the fuck out over the quality or modesty of the president's 20-minute television speech last night would like to help the situation, they should direct more ire at the Senate. That is where people write laws. And they don't have the collective will or numbers right now to write a good law pricing carbon.
But what of today's White House agreement with BP for it to set up a $20 billion, independent escrow fund to pay claims, cancel its dividends for at least the rest of 2010, and set up another fund compensating oil workers for lost wages? (And that $20 billion is not a cap, either — it can, and probably will, go up.) Those seem like pretty strong results and displays of leadership! BP probably wouldn't have conceded its hand like this, either, if it thought the White House wouldn't try more aggressive legal ways of getting them to pay up were they to refuse.
This fund is going to help many, many people along the Gulf Coast, immediately. That doesn't change the fact that Barack Obama doesn't "act angrily," like a clown, for the personal amusement of pundits, but it's something.
And look at how crazy Minnesota GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann is reacting!
The president just called for creating a fund that would be administered by outsiders, which would be more of a redistribution-of-wealth fund. And now it appears like we'll be looking at one more gateway for more government control, more money to government
Thanks for the confirmation, Michele. Now we're making progress.
Have I mentioned how much I think this guy looks like Oliver North?
(cf.)
Hard as it may be to believe, this may actually be an insult to Ollie.
Anyway, Mr. Blackwater-CEO, if the story (via Newell) about your fleeing is true, don't let the door hit you on the ass, and so forth.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Announcing! Porn Site That Goes Deeper, Shows More Than Anyplace Else On The Web!!!
Sample:
(embiggen)
More!!! Too hot for the US!!! And no AdultCheckID or credit card required!!!
#hopeIdontgetbannedbyBlogger
(h/t: @kyklopsjp)
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Who wants to play "Doctor?"
Evidently, GOP candidate for Senator Ayn "Rand" Paul does!
Dr. Paul: Not board-certified, but self-certified
Asked by a Louisville reporter when he would explain his dubious certification, Rand Paul said: "Uh ... never"
Libertarian ideology rejects most of the modern regulatory systems that protect consumers, because everyone should be responsible for determining whether the hamburger contains E. coli on his own. But does that do-it-yourself dogma apply to the regulation of medicine, too? If you're Dr. Rand Paul, practicing ophthalmologist, the answer is emphatically yes.
According to an amusing story in today's Louisville Courier-Journal, the Kentucky Republican Senate candidate bills himself as a "board-certified" physician even though he is not actually certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology -- the only recognized body that certifies doctors in his specialty.
Paul's only certification was provided instead by something called the National Board of Ophthalmology, which is very convenient because he operates that organization himself. As the Courier-Journal explains drily, the American Board of Ophthalmology, which maintains a fully staffed headquarters in Philadelphia, has existed for roughly a century and currently lists about 16,000 doctors on its rolls. (Most hospitals and insurance companies strongly prefer doctors who are board-certified because certification indicates that they have kept up with changes in technology, best practices and so on.) The National Board of Ophthalmology has existed since 1999, when Paul "founded" it, lists no more than seven doctors, and its address is a post-office box in Bowling Green, Ky. He had claimed to be certified by both boards, but Courier-Journal reporter Joseph Gerth quickly discovered that claim was false.
(x-posted)
Line of the Day: 2010-06-15
After noting that Oklahoma has just passed a state law prohibiting judges from referring to sharia law (all judges, and not just teh Muslin ones, so it's not bigoted!!!1!), Charles Johnson concludes:
Thank you, Republican State Rep. Rex Duncan. We really dodged a bullet this time.
When last seen, Oklahoma Republicans were trying to pass a law that would force women who have abortions to undergo an invasive ultrasound procedure.
So they obviously know a misogynistic, repressive legal system when they see one.
Flowchart, please!
Entire Internet Pauses to Make a "May God Strike Me Down If ..." Joke
Seen below: The statue near I-75 in Ohio known as "Touchdown Jesus," from some time ago, last night, and this morning.
This proves that:
- God is a Nebraska fan
- God is a baseball fan
- Due to Texas, God thinks atheists need help lightening up
- God is an iconoclast
- God has no problem with depictions of His Son, but c'mon, people, please: something less tacky than sixty-plus feet of plastic foam
Or, maybe something else?
“I can’t believe Jesus was struck,” said his brother, who noted the giant Hustler Hollywood sign for the adult store across the street was untouched.
Actually, the answer most likely to be offered in the following days is is shown below:
(h/t: KK, via email | add'l pic. sources: TJ before, final answer)
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Reality Distortion Field Watch
Steve Jobs on the Kindle, 15 January 2008:
“It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore,” he said. “Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.”
Steve Jobs on the iPad, 9 June 2010:
“Amazon has done a great job” with the Kindle, he said. “We’re going to stand on their shoulders and go a little bit further.”
I for one look forward to Steve Jobs explaining how he has never considered himself a maverick.
(title: cf. | also | pic. source: Cult of Mac)
Ah, at last. Here is that confounded bridge!
I had that question from Led Zep running through my mind most of yesterday, because what else are you going to think while you're waiting to go over the GWB? (Except to realize, as I also did, that GWB is now an OTLA.)
And yes, the watchdog was 100% effective, thanks.
Anyway, while searching on an unrelated-to-any-of-the-above hashtag on the Twitter, I came across this lovely picture from Wlcm2Dance101, the phrase came back to mind, and I thought I'd share it.
Friday, June 11, 2010
AFK
I am heading south to attend the celebration of my favorite nephew's completion of rehab graduation from high school, so I will be off the grid for a bit.
Those who see this as an opportunity to do a little B&E should know that I have borrowed TBogg's watchdog.
Click his pic to see just how big and fierce he is.
__________
[Added] Whoops. Did I put the whammy on something?
Enjoy your vakay, TBogg. I'll bring the dog back to watch your house asap.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Advanced Agnotology?!
As an antidote to the previous post, let us turn to the sure-fire cure that is Michael Bérubé. Here he is, reacting to some group calling itself the National Association of Scholars, who in addition to their tireless work combating the ravages of Librul Bias!!!1! on college campuses, has joined in with the global warming denialist crowd in seeking to harass atmospheric scientists by tying them up in red tape and nuisance "investigations:"
I have four responses to this. First and foremost, public accountability in matters of science is crucial. Somewhere in that pile of grant applications, letters, and emails, surely, is “smoking gun” proof of Michael Mann’s wrongdoing; indeed, I suspect that Attorney General Cuccinelli is looking for, and will find, the legendary “bwah hah hah” diary entry in which Mann writes, “Today! Today is the day that I will perform the ‘trick’ that hides the decline! And then the entire planet will kneel before Zod as I institute ‘cap and trade’ socialism around the world.” There is also a rumor that the files contain a valuable photograph of Mann and colleague Phil Jones rubbing their hands together in glee, as well as a LOLcat captioned, “IM IN UR NATUR / HIDIN TEH DECLINE.” Finally, and most importantly, if the files turn out to weigh the same as a duck, they must be made of wood, and I’m sure you can all draw the obvious conclusion from that. So yes, the public needs to know.
Also, his remark about bow-tied twerp Tucker Carlson KC Johnson (cf.), a little later on in the post, is a masterpiece of subtlety.
For a more extensive look at agnotology, be sure to follow Michael's links (repeated here, here, and here) to John Quiggin's three posts, which start with the Oregon Petition and then move on to take a more general look at this phenomenon. (Agnotology is the new epistemic closure!) Well worth the time of anyone who wonders how the far right manages to sustain its pride in its willful ignorance.
(x-posted)
Your Moment of Despair
In her latest column, Gail Collins mentions as an aside:
(A recent ad in Alabama attacking a gubernatorial candidate for supporting the teaching of evolution was financed by the True Republican PAC, whose big donor was actually the state teachers’ union.)
This seems to be true, sadly. See TPM, via Carl Zimmer, for confirmation.
And, unsurprisingly, but still discouragingly, the attacked candidate, Bradley Byrne, immediately rushed to "defend" himself from this horrific thought, saying, in part:
"As a member of the Alabama Board of Education, the record clearly shows that I fought to ensure the teaching of creationism in our school text books."
It may not be quite that straightforward. Thomas Spencer of The Birmingham News has a longish inside baseball piece that while not addressing this particular issue, does make clear how this is likely due to the swirling of money from one PAC to another, plus the teachers' union, like every other special interest group, looking to hedge its bets.
But still. That anyone, regardless of political affiliation, would think that this would be a good thing to use as an attack, that the candidate would respond as he did, and worst, that it evidently is an effective tactic here in the twenty-first century, is just discouraging as hell.
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
Grab This
I don't know if this link will work for you, but if not, hunt around on Amazon's site for their free MP3s. Because you most definitely want to own a copy of Mem Shannon's "Don't Talk About My Mama."
IIRC, you'll need to have an Amazon account (basically, just give them an email address) and if you've never downloaded music from them before, you'll have to deal with installing the Amazon MP3 Downloader (not a pain, as I recall). Worth it just for this song, and of course, once you jump through these one-time hoops, you'll have just gobs of other free stuff to choose from. They'll even send you a newsletter, letting you know what's new and free, if you want it.
__________
[Added] Here is a video of a live version of "Don't Talk About My Mama," shot and uploaded by tombone98. Good, not great, sound, but the guitar comes through nicely. This happened at Teddy's Juke Joint, Zachary, LA, Feb 3, 2007, it says. Looks like it was a fun night. Thanks, tombone98! I'll be lurking on your YouTube channel for a while.
And if you liked that, "Let's Go Get Stoned." A serious solo near the end.
More Mem: on Amazon, MySpace (free full-length songs to stream -- this man can purely play), and of course, see the Great Gazoogle for more.
The full name of the band is Mem Shannon & The Membership. He stands as proof that contra Travis Bickle, being a taxi driver doesn't have to end badly.
Now you know as much as I do. (Probably you know more, but never mind that.)
[Added2] Heh. From "No Such Thing" (on the MySpace page):
You couldn't stop Kenneth Starr
From going too damn far ...
[Added3] "Phunkville." Wow. And LOL @ "fool around with time." Just sayin. That you should be on that MySpace page already.
The Non-Angry Black Man
Jonathan Capeheart, and earlier, Betty Cracker, make good points about President Obama being his usual calm, cool, and collected self during this whole BP leak mess. (You may have heard some grousing about this.)
There are some things in both of those posts to think about and keep in mind, even if you don't -- as I don't, and as the authors don't -- want to try to make this the complete explanation for a complex human being.
Reminder to MoDo, Carville, and the rest of the usual suspects:
P.S. Here's what I said over at Rumproast, where I came across the above links:
Capeheart’s correspondent, Doug Graham, makes a good point about the sports angle. I have of course been glued to the NBA playoffs, and it frequently occurs to me to marvel that with all the banging under the boards—cf. Rule 1: “No layups in the playoffs”—not to mention the pressure and the stakes, how rarely one sees a fight.
And then I think about hockey.
Congratulations, and Best Wishes, to Rosa Brooks
Rosa has also been one of my favorite columnists and Bloggingheads. (More bio here.) If you're ever jonesing for a schadenfreude fix, her November 2007 pantsing of The Pantload is primo.
I agree with Matt's take: we should be skeptical about the new department, but it's hard not to be hopeful, and a big part of the hope is due to who they chose to run it. Knock 'em dead, Rosa!
Okay, there was probably a better sendoff than that.
(h/t: uncle ebeneezer | pic source)
And posted three tweets!!! You forgot about Poland Twitter!!!1!
Now that there's no brush left to cut pose in front of, man's gotta do somethin' while waitin' fur them ghostwritin' fellers to giddyap on his memoirs.
Not sure why he's suddenly taken to calling himself George Bush Support Check, but I can probably hazard a pretty good guess …
(title: cf. | h/t: Attaturk, and yeah, that other tab is not by coincidence)
Monday, June 07, 2010
Facebook Users: Be Careful
I just got an email which looked like it was from Facebook, with the subject line "You have deactivated your Facebook account." Gmail was able to detect it as spam, and furthermore, as a likely phishing attack, but absent this help, I'm not entirely sure I wouldn't have fallen for it. It's a very good imitation of the email real Facebook sends.
Here's a screen shot of how it appeared. The red warning stripe was added by Gmail, so you're not going to see that using some other way to read your mail, although some of the other email programs may have similar ways to warn you. Click image to enlarge it. (Don't worry, it's just a screen shot. You're not going to be clicking any unsafe links.)
If you get one of these, and you somehow can't stand not to check that your Facebook account is still active, please go to a new browser window or a new browser tab and type, by hand, facebook.com into your browser's location bar and press Enter. Don't click any links in this email.
__________
And now, to help you be less bummed out, about the Internet, here is a picture via Thoreau of a snow leopard kitten (left). Click to maximize awww-factor. (Don't worry, she won't bite. Hard.)
Many more where that came from.
Beat this, for incentive to get out and vote
Special to Carlyfornians:
Remember that one fringe benefit to the "hard work" of dragging your butts down to the polls tomorrow will be a chance to pile on in the landslide that will be Mickey Kaus's defeat. Yes, of course you already knew that, and that's the only reason you're going.
But!
There is someone else running, to give you even more of a reward for fulfilling your civic duty, and here's the pitch:
"It'd be a disaster for the Republican party," says James Lacy, a conservative GOP operative in the state.
Orly Taitz for Secretary of State!
DISCLAIMER: I don't think you'll actually get to vote for both, unless the primaries are more open than I think. But! You'll get to vote against him or for her!
Newell Posts
Your favorite ex-Wonkette editor has finally ended his literally dozens of hours-long vacation and is now "working" at Gawker. Here is the page where all of Jim Newell's Gawker posts are listed.
This link will be added to the Bigger Fish section of my blogroll as soon as I fix all of the typos in this post.
(Which isn't to say you shouldn't read other people who write for that web site, maybe also too.)
Jim's debut post is here.
(title: Ha. He probably never heard that joke before. Could be worse -- he could be named Jim Balusters. What? Don't stair at me like that.)
Turns Out That Guy Was Off By a Factor of Three
Former vice-president of North Carolina, John Hunter (?) -- who can remember these things -- should have a look at this new report from the Center for American Progress: Six Americas.
Actually, jokes I make up to amuse myself aside, this report has nothing to do with income disparity. It has to do with secession!!!1! Okay, not really that, either.
What it's really about is a detailed look at Americans' attitudes about global warming -- degrees of belief and concern, what we think should be done, etc. It's mildly encouraging, I'd say, in light of some other news that the denialist crowd has been plumping lately, about supposed declining rates of belief and/or concern. In any case, it's pretty interesting stuff.
The link takes you to a blog post, and if you're interested in really getting into some demographic weeds, you'll find a link there to a PDF of the whole report, as well.
Here is their opening chart. Click it to big it.
Therefore, the strong denialists = Pluto. And that's not even a real planet! (You can't argue with Science.)
"Backward, Into The Future"
Timothy Egan's latest column in the NYT is worth a look. He discusses the recent fondness some of the teabaggers have for overturning the 17th Amendment (noted earlier), and adds discussion of the wish by the same sort of people -- notably, Ayn Rand Paul -- to overturn the 14th Amendment (!).
(x-posted)
Just keep rereading the first seven words:
Claiming she's tarnishing the financial industry's reputation, ex-Citibanker Debrahlee Lorenzana's current employer, JPMorgan Chase, now threatens to fire her for speaking to the press, the Voice learned today.
You will never beat that for cluelessness. The banksters are threatening to make the wingnuts look self-aware.
Saturday, June 05, 2010
Faster Than Glacial
Charles Blow has some good news in his latest column: attitudes about gays and lesbians are, fairly rapidly, heading in the right direction.
We're not where we want to be yet, of course, but the signs of progress are encouraging.
Nice line from one of his sources, sociology prof Michael Kimmel:
“The dire predictions for diversity have not only not come true, but, in fact, they’ve been proved the other way."
Blair, Which Follow-Up
The latest development concerning Steve Blair, whom I blogged about yesterday, is that he has been fired by the radio station that hosted his talk show. More here, including audio of an interview with Blair.
Also, if you're going to be in the area on Saturday 5 June, you might want to have a look at this Facebook page, "Protest Racism in Prescott, AZ!" Could be that more info will be added to that page, so you might have a look in any case.
(x-posted)
Yeah, that's a pretty lame title, isn't it?
Friday, June 04, 2010
Late to the Dance. Again. (But We Make Up For It, With Longwindedness.)
Before we get started, a Shalizi of sorts: What follows is an exceedingly long diatribe responding to a post that is ancient in blogospheric time, and in any case, will almost certainly be of no interest to non-denizens.
[Update] Or a Sterling, as the case may be.
__________
I was away from the blogosphere at the time, so I could not chime in with the one or two brave and lonely voices of protest in that thread. And though it does not really matter, since no one at Balloon Juice is compelled to like a site that I very much do, or even to give it a fair shot before opining on it (this being the blogosphere, and we being humans), I am going to try to make late better than never and rebut a few specifics. And then make a pitch in favor of reconsideration.
To begin with, a concession. Does Bh.tv give entirely too much air time to utterly useless gasbags, like Jonah Goldberg, Megan McArdle, Jim Pinkerton, Byron York, and Ann Althouse? Yes. No argument there. It's a complaint I myself have made many times, and if you haven't seen any of them posted lately, it is due only to my recent grudging acknowledgment that this battle is lost, that people such as these, for reasons passing my understanding, draw a lot of traffic to the site. So be it. It's easy enough to skip those diavlogs.
Another of the most frequent justifications given by the Juicers for hating on the site, if memory serves, is The Mickey Connection. At least one commenter even went to the trouble of visiting the site's About page, to "prove" that Bh.tv exists, evidently, as little more than an additional outlet for the blatherings one might politely call Kausfiles. [Added: more accurately, as is pointed out in comments responding to this post over at Balloon Juice, the commenter who referred to the About page was not solely or even primarily responsible for the claim, in the original thread, that Bh.tv exists primarily as an outlet for Kaus's views.]
In fact, Kaus has almost nothing to do with the site anymore, though it's true that he was a co-founder. He used to appear weekly, then went to biweekly, then irregularly and even less frequently. (I apologize if this sounds like I'm talking about his bowel movements.) He now shows up only every few months or so, and maybe only once since he started his lookit-me-I'm-gonna-be-a-Senator! thing.
As I understand it, Kaus cut formal ties with the site quite some time ago, due partly to worries about conflicts of interest, when he was still blogging at Slate, and partly, it would seem, to some combination of time constraints, laziness, and dwindling interest. If I had to guess, I would say the About page retains mention of him as a founder because Bob Wright, the current sole HMFIC, once thought that featuring his name would add appeal (balance?) to potential investors (many of whom seem to thrive on the same sort of Third Way, Broderish, faux-Democratic attitude Mickey likes to promulgate). Maybe Bob still thinks this, or thinks that the recognized name is still worth something for other reasons. Or more likely, I suspect, it has most to do with Bob having a few thousand other things higher on his priority list than updating the site's About page.
Anyway, you'll get little argument from me if you want to harsh on Mickey, except that he genuinely seems like the kind of guy I'd like to have a beer with, but don't think he has anything to do with Bh.tv anymore. He doesn't.
__________
One last bit to rebut: If I recall correctly, another of the complaints in the Balloon Juice thread was along the lines of "Who wants to sit in front of a computer for an hour, watching low-res video, that in any case is just two heads, talking?" If that complaint wasn't raised there, it certainly has been elsewhere, so let me just say that if that is your main objection to giving Bh.tv a shot, set it aside. Every diavlog is available for download, as audio (MP3) or video (WMV and MP4). There are also various podcast-y-type options, again both audio or video, including through the iTunes store, for free. Point is, you don't have to be chained to your computer.
I'd add that I rarely actually watch the diavlogs. I usually stream them, with the video box off to the corner of my computer screen, while I'm doing other things. Then, as the audio provokes me, I'll glance over, or stop what I'm doing, and really watch for a few minutes.
Onward.
__________
To the content of the site: As the two commenters noted above suggested in the Balloon Juice comment thread, and as I have said several other places elsewhere online, Bh.tv is a rare bird indeed on these Internets. It is a place where a real and ongoing effort is made to present a wide range of views, and not just in that annoying MSM check-the-"both sides"-box kind of way. Further, the selection of guests has sustained a comments forum that also displays continued diversity. And rarer still for this Web of ours, sometimes the participants -- in the diavlogs and forums both -- can even have meaningful and civil disagreements. These perspective-ranges, I'd add, refer not only to political matters, although that's most often the genre of the site, but also to hardcore wonkery, philosophy, science, and cultural affairs.
And contra DougJ's misapprehension, it is quite unlike the Crossfire-style shoutfests of cable teevee. While there are of course diavlogs that are nothing more than a hurling back and forth of the usual talking points, and a few of the guests (beyond the Furious Five listed above) are too ideologically hidebound ever to admit their partners may have a point, it is much more often the case that the format -- hour-long discussions -- permits real detail and nuance to be presented. Complex ideas aren't given short shrift. If common ground is not always achieved, and Kumbaya is almost never the closing number, at least arguments are given the room they need to be hashed out. And again, to say this is largely to ignore the non-political discussions, many of which are not calcified into Left Versus Right, and so are even more likely to be instructive, not to mention entertaining.
By the way, not every last diavlog is structured as a debate. A decent amount of them are more along the lines of an in-depth interview, a la Fresh Air or BookTV.
__________
Is Bh.tv perfect? Of course not. There are execrable regulars, as noted above. There are a few too many Villagers-in-Training. There have been one-off moments of sheer disgrace; e.g., Jerome Corsi, Rick Arndt, Paul A. Nelson, and Michael Behe. There is too much squishy tolerance given to religion and worse, to faitheists. There aren't enough real lefties -- it is fair to say, I think, that the spectrum of political views all too often ranges from moderate left to infinitely far right, and that of the lefties who do appear, virtually every one of them is allergic to making a full-throated defense of Obama, his policies, or liberalism writ large without littering his or her words with a whole mess of "to be sure"s and "of course, some will see this as"es. However, impatient-making though this can be, this characteristic of pretty much every lefty of any prominence is really more a feature than a bug, when all is said and done.
In any case, to acknowledge that the site is not perfect does not support a claim that that it's worthless. I challenge anybody to name a site that's even close to as good as Bh.tv at what it does.
__________
Now, some of the Juicers, some of whom may have even given the site a bit of a look, will howl about the likes of David Frum making regular appearances. Or Eli Lake. Or Peter Beinart. Or Ramesh Ponnuru. Or whomever one might identify as Exactly The Sort Of Person Who Is Ruining This Country And Why Is He On My Teevee AGAIN???, but whom I would classify as worth my time, at least once in a while, and at least on some topics. (Frum on Israel, for example, is the epitome of been-there-heard-that-got-the-T-shirt, readily conceded.)
As to objections to specific individuals, I will say only, if you don't like someone, fine. Skip that diavlog. But to base a dislike for Bh.tv on the once-a-month appearance of some individual is like refusing to watch ESPN, ever, because once in a while, they show the Steelers. (ducks)
As a general matter, though, it is to my mind worth listening to smart people with whom you do not agree, with whom you might even violently disagree. You could say that it's good to stretch your brain, and challenge your own beliefs. You could say that it's good exercise to see how strong a rebuttal you can post to a skilled proponent from the proverbial other side. Worse comes to worst, you could say it's worth it in the spirit of Know Thine Enemy.
I mentioned above that the diversity of views in the diavlogs helps sustain a forum with the same characteristic. I like this, a lot. I don't spend a lot of time reading the comments at a place like Balloon Juice, or any other lefty blog that gets more than, say, ten per post, even though I read virtually every one of the blog posts, because for every funny line, I have to wade through twenty me-toos. Granted, that's an over-simplification, and not universally true, and I know I'm missing some good stuff. (Also granted: How would YOU know if you don't read them? I'm just sketching out my impression from past experience, and regular toe-dipping to this day.)
And to be clear: no diss intended to the regulars, at Balloon Juice or anywhere else -- if that is where you like to hang out, go for it. It's just that it happens that my ears grow weary in echo chambers. Or, in some cases (more common on other liberal blogs), with battles over another's insufficient purity. I like to discuss and debate (and admittedly, flat-out argue with, and sometimes even try purely to zing, for lulz) people who are more like diametrically opposed to my point of view. Sure, it's fun and even restorative, every now and again, to get together with a bunch of like-minded people and group-bash the wingnuts, but just as I love chocolate chip cookies, I can't live on nothing but them. Gotta have some meat and potatoes and broccoli, too, and not just because it's good for me, but because I actually like the taste.
So, is Bh.tv for everyone? No, of course not. No reason to feel bad if listening to long discussions, much less continuing them, is not to your taste. It's completely legitimate to want to go online only to catch up on the news, have a few quick laughs, and say hello to friends, for example. However, it really does burn me up to see a bunch of otherwise intelligent people mouthing off in a thoroughly uninformed way. I think a lot of DougJ, and the rest of the co-bloggers, including John Cole, of course, and the whole Juicer community, and that is precisely why that post and its comments really put me off. (If this had taken place on RedState, for example, I would have forgotten about it the next day.) Bh.tv is a lot more than the superficial views presented in that thread would suggest. One day on that site is very often not at all like the next. It's got a whole lot to offer.
End vent.
No, one last admission. Truth is, my lobbying on behalf of the site is driven not only by embarrassment at my side sounding as dumb as a bunch of wingnut parrots squawking about Teh Liberal Media. It is also driven by self-interest: I would always like some fresh blood in the Bh.tv forums. There are a lot of smart and funny people who hang out at Balloon Juice, and I wouldn't mind seeing some of them posting at Bh.tv, too.
End bleg.
Finally, a disclaimer, just in case: I have absolutely no monetary interest, or any other material interest, in Bh.tv. I'm just a fanboy.
(I'm on Soros's and Sunstein's payrolls, of course, and a fully brainwashed O-bot, to boot, but who among us isn't, in our new totalitarian paradise?)
Thanks for reading.
__________
(pic. sources: wrong, althouse, kaus and friend, listening, dog and cat, cat and dog, Balloon Juice commenter furious baby, yummy, exhausted marathoner)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
