Friday, December 12, 2003

Some Musings on Today's Daily Dish The Last Plea for Donations When you add up the growing expenses of a blog that reaches well over 400,000 people a month and the time and energy spent putting it all together, it's not cheap. It's not cheap, eh?  Just how much COULD it cost to electronically reach a monthly readership of over 400,000?  (Or something like that; as Sadly, No! points out, numbers really aren't Andrew's strong suit).  Well, unless Andrew's bandwidth is made from gold, I'd guess his various technical expenses came to considerably less than the $80,000 he said he took in last year. Thus, the crux of the matter seems to be the charges for "time and energy."  So, what are these commodities going for these days?  (While "labor" usually accounts for the bulk of car repair or plumbing bills, at least mechanics and plumbers just charge you for their time and throw the energy in for free.)  I know my time and energy ARE cheap; when I add in my time and energy costs to what I have to spend for software and hosting, my blog costs me less than $50 a year.  But then, Andrew's time and energy are worth more than mine, because he's a professional.  In fact, it has largely displaced a large amount of my paid work. If you care about the site, the viability of blogging as a professional enterprise, and want to be a part of it, please throw a little change into the tip-jar.   See, Andrew isn't getting as much paid work these days, and it's because he spends all that expensive time and energy on the blog; he feels he should be compensated for the articles he didn't write.   [Note to my readers: I was so busy with this blog, I didn't write that script for The Cat in the Cat which would have paid me $6 million dollars (or something like that -- I'm not good with figures either).  You therefore owe me $6 million.  Pay up!] And if you want "professional blogging" to continue to be a viable career for Andrew, and want to be a part of it (in the capacity of "sucker'), you should give him money.  But if you care about the viability of blogging as a professional enterprise for YOU, and want to be part of this exciting new career field as a paid participant, then you're out of luck, because the viablility seems to be limited to Andrew and Mickey Kaus (who doesn't have to beg, since he's underwritten by Microsoft).  But since being a professional blogger seems to lead to laziness, slopiness, and fuzzy thinking, then you're better off becoming something honest, like a professional wrestler, or a paid escort.  Dean's Faith But what strikes me about this is not Dean's godlessness. I don't think that kind of thing should be a factor in presidential politics. What strikes me is how Waspy this whole thing is.  A certain type of Episcopalian is precisely likely to decide his denomination on the basis of a bike path.  If we have a contest between Dean and Bush, we'll have a choice between a WASP who's unashamed of his origins and a WASP who has abandoned them. Take it away, Tom Wolfe.  The story from which Sully is gleaning messages about Godless Dean's abandoned WASP origins is Jay Nordlinger's retelling of the incident where Dean leaves the Episcopal Church due to a dispute over a bike path.  Anyway, per Sullivan, your presidential choices might come down to Howard Dean, the kind of guy who would abandon God due to a bike path, or George Bush, who is unashamed of his WASP origins.  So, this is the kind of question which will only trouble you if you are really worried about your president being properly WASPy.  But let's look at that whole Episcopal story from the Woodruff transcripts because we don't really trust Sully (or Nordlinger): Judy Woodruff interview of Howard Dean WOODRUFF: At the same time, Governor, I'm sure you know the Republicans are already starting to talk about the fact that you -- I think by your own acknowledgment, left the Episcopal Church in some dispute over a bike path, and you switched to another denomination, the Congregationalist denomination. They're asking what does this say about the depth of your commitment to your own faith? DEAN: You know what it really says? It says the Republicans are talking like they're out of the Pharisees. Because if you're a Christian, you're a Christian. I don't believe it ought to matter what kind of a denomination you are. As a matter of fact, if you're a religious person, you're a religious person. I don't think it ought to matter what religion you are. So people who talk like that are what Jesus would call the Pharisees. And I think that's enough of that kind of stuff in the Republican Party. We are all in this together, whether you are a Christian, or a Jew or a Muslim or a Hindu. And there's plenty of all to go around in this country. WOODRUFF: Was it just over a bike path that you left the Episcopal Church? DEAN: Yes, as a matter of fact it was. I was fighting to have public access to the waterfront, and we were fighting very hard in the citizens group to allow the public to use it. And this particular diocese decided to join a property rights suit to close it down. I didn't think that was very public spirited. One thing I feel about religion, you have to be very careful not to be a hypocrite if you're a religious person. It is really tough to preach one thing and do something else. And I don't think you can do that. WOODRUFF: And you don't believe, Governor, the Republicans are going to have a field day with comments like these? DEAN: The Republicans always have a field day with things like this. That's the reason Democrats lose, is because they're so afraid of the Republicans having a field day with comments like this or like that, that they never make any comments. So, in reality your choices are Howard Dean, who was so committed to his community that he left his Episcopal diocese because he thought it was acting against public interests -- but who is hardly without religion, because he joined a Congregationalist denomination, which, while not exactly WASPish, doesn't promote atheism either.  Or you can vote for Righteous George, the guy who brags about his Texas upbringing and culture ("To understand my wife Laura and me, you must understand Midland.  All that we are, all the things we believe in, come from that one place), but who managed to stay true to his WASP roots by being a total screw-up while attending Phillips Academy, Yale, and Harvard (where he used drugs and drank like a fish, in proper WASP style).  While Righteous George also left the Episcopal Church of his WASP youth for another faith, um, at least he's not a Congregationalist! So, which one will YOU pick? Take it away, Pharisees. Boomers Respond Smart of me to insult a hefty section of my readership the week I'm begging for money, isn't it? Well, at least it proves I'm not corrupted by the process. Well, what it proves is that you're an idiot who doesn't think before he posts.  But that's why your time and energy are so valuable, right, Andrew?  Okay, I'm quitting now.  Even my cheap time and energy are worth more than reading more of this tripe. 7:29:22 AM     comment [] Operation Turkey Just Keeps Getting Better!   The Wash Post's Dana Milbank has a nice little article about how the President's visit to Iraq to serve dinner and take pictures keeps coming back to bite the White House on the butt, this time thanks to that commie rag, Stars and Stripes: The newspaper, quoting two officials with the Army's 1st Armored Division in an article last week, reported that "for security reasons, only those preselected got into the facility during Bush's visit. . . . The soldiers who dined while the president visited were selected by their chain of command, and were notified a short time before the visit." The paper also published a letter to the editor from Sgt. Loren Russell, who wrote of the heroism of his soldiers and then added: "[I]magine their dismay when they walked 15 minutes to the Bob Hope Dining Facility, only to find that they were turned away from their evening meal because they were in the wrong unit. . . . They understand that President Bush ate there and that upgraded security was required. But why were only certain units turned away?" Russell added that his soldiers "chose to complain amongst themselves and eat MREs, even after the chow hall was reopened for 'usual business' at 9 p.m. As a leader myself, I'd guess that other measures could have been taken to allow for proper security and still let the soldiers have their meal." The 1st Armored Division officials told Stars and Stripes that all soldiers had the opportunity to get a proper Thanksgiving meal -- possibly more than the newspaper's editors will get in Guantanamo next year. So, if you weren't one of the pre-selected "Probably won't go beserk and shoot the President" soldiers, you didn't get to eat Thanksgiving dinner until after 9:00 p.m.  It's nice to see Bush boost the soldiers' morale this way. Milibank also has some news about the British air traffic controllers' reaction to that "Let's file a false flight plan and take Air Force One on a super-cool secret trip to Iraq!" part of the mission. [A]ir traffic controllers in Britain are seething over the flight, in which the president's 747, falsely identified as a Gulfstream, traveled through British airspace.  Prospect, the controllers union in the United Kingdom, says the flight broke international regulations, posed a potential safety threat and exposed a weakness in the air defense system that could be exploited by terrorists. "The overriding concern is if the president's men who did this can dupe air traffic control, what's to stop a highly organized terrorist group from duping air traffic control?" asked David Luxton, Prospect's national secretary.  Luxton said the flight was in "breach" of regulations against filing false flight plans set by the International Civil Aviation Organization, which he said should apply to a military aircraft using civilian airspace. Luxton said that by identifying itself as a Gulfstream V instead of the much larger 747, Air Force One could have put itself and other airplanes in danger.  The Gulfstream can climb faster and maneuver more nimbly than a 747, which means controllers could have assumed the president's plane was capable of a collision-avoiding maneuver that it couldn't actually do.  And the "wake vortex" of a 747, much larger than a Gulfstream's, could jeopardize smaller planes that were told by unsuspecting controllers to follow in the mislabeled plane's wake. As it happens, Air Force One passed without incident. But Luxton said that's beside the point. "It's important air traffic control have an accurate picture of what's up there in the sky they're controlling," he said. The White House has declined to elaborate further on the flight plan and other security measures for the trip. Instead of feeding the press corps that anecdote about the British Air pilot who guessed their manly secret and could have scuttled the mission, the White House should have just mentioned how Air Force One could have knocked a smaller plane out of the air with its wake, because everybody thought they were a Gulfstream V.  That would have made a colorful story for the hacks to recount to the rubes! 5:24:49 AM     comment [] Thank God It's Friday's TownHall   And to celebrate Friday, here are a peck of pickled pundits.  The themes (or memes or screams) that seem to be bubbling up from the collective unconscious of the right are: "Democratic Rage" (as seen on such popular compaign websites as  BushGore2004);  "Help, I'm being repressed by the McCain-Feingold Act," "Bob Bartley is still dead," and "Al Gore's endorsement of Howard Dean is highly significant in that it means you shouldn't vote for any of the Democratic candidates."  We also have Ann Coulter demonstrating how to win friends and influence people, and Ollie North, this week's "Ann Coulter Runner-Up" (if Miss Congeniality is unable to fufill her duties, then Ollie will be tapped to take her place).  And the usual gang of idiots.    Brent Bozell NBC should not have rewarded a charlatan like Al Sharpton by letting him host "Saturday Night Live."  [NOTES: A. We thought SNL was dead; B.  We thought Al Sharpton was dead; and C. We consider hosting the current version of SNL more in the nature of a punishment than a reward.] For "Saturday Night Live" and most of the chuckle-head political culture, livening up dreadful Democratic debates absolves all the horror.   Charles Krauthammer As the ancient prophecy foretold, who'ere shall pull this sword from Al Gore is rightways born the Democratic nominee.   Also, Doc. Krauthammer sees some of that Democratic rage. But the special power of this endorsement is less structural than symbolic. The story of this campaign is the energy and anger of the Democratic base. It is the reason an unknown and undistinguished former governor of Vermont is now the front-runner. He bottled the anger. The anger appears odd, given that George W. Bush is fairly mild-mannered. He is no Richard Nixon. Democrats did not hate him in 2000. Yet many hate him now because of 2000, because they believe his entire presidency to be illegitimate. I don't hate George Bush because he's illegitimate (the sins of the father shouldn't necessarily be visited on the bastard, you know).  I don't actually hate him at all.  But around here, we believe that if you're going to steal the presidency, you have a duty to not suck at BEING the President.  That's what accounts for my, um, peevishness about George.   David Limbaugh The mainstream (and therefore, liberal) media cares more about ratings that enlightening its viewers!  They are, like, big phonies!  David also covers the "Democratic rage" meme. Yet these people (ABC) -- righteously dedicated to furthering the public's right to know -- embarked upon a course designed to stir controversy and ratings while doing nothing to contribute to the public's edification on the candidates' policy positions, or presidential abilities or character. (I realize I already said this above, but I like this wording better, so back off.) [snip] We are talking about a party mired in self-pity and anger here at a time when we desperately need to direct our energies toward facing the challenges we face. See, even though democracy WAS undermined, the social contract IS being shredded, international alliances ARE being shattered, the President DID lie, and the Bush administration DOES act with authoritarian impunity, the Dems are the jerks for being, you know, so negative.  America needs leadership that is FACING challenges, even though it's the same leadership that caused most of the challenges in the first place.   Jeff Jacoby As Jeff says, we might as well have elected Gore.  (Well, we did, but . . .) Elect Gore, the Republican predicted, and before you know it the federal government would be as bloated and malodorous as a beached whale under a hot sun.  "He is proposing the largest increase in federal spending . . . since the presidency of Lyndon Baines Johnson," Bush warned.    [snip] Even before signing a huge expansion of Medicare into law this week, Bush was presiding over record-busting levels of federal spending.  Brian Riedl, an analyst at the Heritage Foundation, points out in a new monograph that government outlays in 2003 -- a staggering $2.15 trillion -- came to more than $20,000 per household.  By that measure, government spending (in real dollars) is the highest it's been since World War II.   Jonah Goldberg The McCain-Feingold Act is the bad kind of censorship, in that it prohibits attack ads bought with "soft money" from being aired or published during the month before an election.  But keeping hardcore-porn off of network TV is the GOOD kind of censorship, in that it keeps the price of porn high, and allows porn kings to make a profit; just as keeping Nazis away from Career Day is good, because it gives the Young Republicans a monopoly on recruiting fascist youths. Let me back-up for a second: We're all in favor of censorship.  If you think it should be illegal for broadcast networks to program hardcore porn, you're in favor of censorship.  If you don't think neo-Nazis should be allowed to make presentations at your kid's public school's career day, you are pro-censorship.    Ollie North While it's difficult to find an overriding theme in Ollie's collection of lies, misstatements, and liberal bashing, I think his basic message is: Bill Clinton had sex!  (See, I TOLD you he was poaching on Ann Coulter's territory.) Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, either attempting to appear "hip" or increase voter turnout among gang members, gave a profanity-laced interview to Rolling Stone magazine, saying that President Bush has "f---ed up" the war in Iraq.   Sounding more like Mike Tyson than a U.S. senator, Kerry's trash talk proved only that his wife's ketchup fortune can buy him $200 haircuts, but not class.   I guess an article using one "F-word" can be considered "profanity-laced," but only by someone whose background is felony-laced.  And note the skill in which Ollie brings in Kerry's nice hair and rich wife (while also dissing Mike Tyson for no apparent reason), to make the point that people who use bad language are classless.  You know, like that guy, I mean, "that president" who said, "F--- Saddam" while a lady was trying to conduct a meeting, and who also called a reporter an "asshole." At a hastily scheduled Harlem endorsement rally last Tuesday -- just down the road from his philandering friend, William the Zipper -- Gore praised Dean for making "the correct judgment about the Iraq war." Though Gore has yet to set foot in liberated Iraq or talk to the people who no longer have to live in Saddam's bondage, he declares that President Bush made a "catastrophic mistake" in Iraq and has led our country into a "quagmire." Had Gore not been escorted through Vietnam by bodyguards, he might know what a "quagmire" is. I'm finding it hard to parse that last sentence, but I think Ollie is saying that since Al had "bodyguards" while serving in Vietnam, he is not qualified to call this quamire a "quagmire," just as Bush is not qualified to get us into one, since he was never in Vietnam at all. Setting aside his substance, Dean's style puts him in the running for the John Kerry Award for Vulgarity in Politics.  Dean pejoratively refers to the president as "this guy" and accuses the commander in chief, who has led us brilliantly in the war on terror, of not "understanding anything about defense."   So, kids, remember that referring to the president as "this guy" is a vulgar pejorative.  (Calling him "That Girl" is okay, though.)  And never say he doesn't understand defense!  He's led this war BRILLIANTLY, and his groupie Ollie will shred anyone who says differently.   Mona Charen "On Dec. 10, 2003, freedom took two body blows": the McCain-Feingold censoring act, and the death of Robert Bartley.  Will society ever recover?  And more importantly, where is Mona buying her metaphors? This is "Vote for Sam Smith" -- the beating heart of our democracy. [snip] . . .whose death at age 66 leaves the world of ideas a bit wobbly, like losing one leg of a four-legged chair.     Ann Coulter This week's column is one of Ann's typical screeds against almost everybody, but the gist of it seems to be: even though Howard Dean is a spineless coward and his supporters are "nosepickers," he will get 40% of the vote, because all of the lazy, grasping people on the "government payroll" (shiftless state and federal employees, incompetent teachers, the spongers getting food stamps, "greedy geezers" (i.e, members of the "Greatest Generation'), those parasites who get government contracts, etc.) will vote for the Democratic candidate.  But George Bush will still win the election, because the military will vote for him (which is why Bush "flew halfway around the globe to serve them turkey").  Their ballots will be augmented by those cast by Americans who vote against their own self-interests (these fine individuals, mostly Republicans, happen to think that voting for an idiot who acts against their interests is a noble act of self-sacrifice), and he'll capture 60% of the vote.  And then the liberal media will say that he didn't do as well as predicted. Oh, and liberals kill babies and hate Boy Scouts, while George Bush makes Ann get moist because he served his country in war time by "taking off in jets that fly at the speed of sound while training to be a fighter pilot in the Texas Air National Guard." Whenever liberals all start singing from the same hymnal, they are up to no good. (Or since we're talking about American liberals here, maybe I should say, "when they all start reading from the same Quran.")     Emmett Tyrell Bob Barlett is Emmett's most unforgettable character. Bob had a beatific smile. . . Debra Saunders Al Gore hurt Joe Lieberman's feelings, and so nobody should vote for the candidate he endorsed.   And Gore's rudeness shows why the court had to intervene in the 2000 election -- the damned peasants would have made an ungracious man like that our President! Al Gore's endorsement of Howard Dean illustrates why Americans should be very grateful for the electoral college, which put George W. Bush in the White House even though Gore won the raw popular vote in 2000.     Rich Lowry Those wacky Jews, Muslims, Hindus, etc., and their failure to celebrate Christmas! By the late 20th century, Holiday had evolved into something close to its current version, in which no religious affiliations, symbols or meanings are allowed to interfere with the enjoyment of the Holiday Spirit   Rich Tucker CAIR is denouncing fine Americans like Paul Harvey and Dr. Laura for bashing Islam, and yet they had a suspected terrorist who belonged to a group under investigation for possibly being terrorist within their very organization, and they never denounced him! Back in April 2002, CAIR posted an on-line poll asking if Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon should be charged with war crimes. 94 percent of some 500 voters said “Yes.” Until, that is, famed blogger Glenn Reynolds referred to the poll on his Instapundit Web site. Within hours, more than 10,000 people had voted in the poll, and 94 percent were against trying Sharon. Faced with such a public outcry, CAIR claimed its site had been hijacked, and took the poll down. Like too many pressure organizations, CAIR can dish it out, but can’t take it. Well, to be fair, not that many people CAN take Instapundit. And that concludes this edition of "TownHall's Greatest Hits From This Date in History."  We hope you have found it edifying, in that you will watch your language when referring to the President, and will be more upbeat and cheerful about his bungling, deception, and efforts to usher in Armageddon. 4:48:14 AM     comment []

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