I love my webhost. Here is their statement on SOPA.

Jon Stewart, World of Class Warfare. Love his reaction to calling Warren Buffett a socialist.

Fascinating Planet Money podcast on why the Tappan Zee Bridge in NYC is built in the wrong place (over one of the widest points on the Hudson River, at much greater expense than narrower points a few miles south, and to the detriment of the long-term health of the bridge).

By now, everybody has seen the Policy Changes Under Two Presidents chart, but I also like James Fallows’ comments on it.

Great, politically interesting Fresh Air interview with Fareed Zakaria, What Does A ‘Post-American World’ Look Like?

Prison Without Walls: "Compared with incarceration, the cost of such surveillance is minuscule—mere dollars per day—and monitoring has few of the hardening effects of time behind bars. Nor do all the innovations being developed depend on technology. Similar efforts to control criminals in the wild are under way in pilot programs that demand adherence to onerous parole guidelines, such as frequent, random drug testing, and that provide for immediate punishment if the parolees fail. The result is the same: convicts who might once have been in prison now walk among us unrecognized—like pod people, or Canadians."

Dirty Medicine: Infuriating account of stifled innovation, waste, and corruption. Incidentally, I did not know this little factoid about bloodstream infections: "while most people rarely think about them, these are the most dangerous of the hospital-acquired bugs that afflict one in ten patients in the United States. Their spread has helped to make contact with our health care system the fifth leading cause of death in this country."

Always excellent, always brutal, The Beast’s 2010 edition of their 50 Most Loathsome People In America list is up. “You” has made the list every year, but this is the first time at #1:

• 2002 (#3)
• 2004 (#3)
• 2005 (#4)
• 2006 (#16)
• 2007 (#9)
• 2008 (#43)
• 2009 (#26)
• 2010 (#1)

Here’s a sample, chosen not really at random at all, Jenny McCarthy at #19:

OK. Dr. Andrew Wakefield’s been revealed as a fraud and conman, and his study linking autism to the MMR vaccine was fully retracted by The Lancet. The “debate” is done, but this former Playboy Bunny is not. She initially believed her son Evan was an “Indigo child“ (a creepy, Aryan wunderkind with telepathic powers), but after that didn’t pan out, she needed another equally plausible explanation for his condition and desperately latched onto the vaccine conspiracy. By convincing easily-duped moms that vaccines aren’t safe, she’s endangered their kids, compromised herd immunity and killed more Americans than terrorists have in the last nine years. And that’s not hyperbole.

Great piece by Bruce Schneier on terrorism and fear: Close the Washington Monument:

An empty Washington Monument would serve as a constant reminder to those on Capitol Hill that they are afraid of the terrorists and what they could do. They’re afraid that by speaking honestly about the impossibility of attaining absolute security or the inevitability of terrorism — or that some American ideals are worth maintaining even in the face of adversity — they will be branded as “soft on terror.” And they’re afraid that Americans would vote them out of office if another attack occurred. Perhaps they’re right, but what has happened to leaders who aren’t afraid? What has happened to “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”?

An empty Washington Monument would symbolize our lawmakers’ inability to take that kind of stand — and their inability to truly lead.

This is too good: Get Your War On (slideshow).

Wow, everybody hates the TSA and who can blame them? In case you haven’t been watching the slow-motion train wreck unfold, here are a few lowlights:

• TSA pats down a 3-year-old.
• Accounts vary, but somehow a boy who must be what, five or six, ended up shirtless for his TSA pat-down.
• TSA made a breast cancer survivor remove her prosthetic breast.
• TSA must hate cancer survivors, because they also patted down a bladder cancer survivor and he ended up covered in his own urine from his urostomy bag.

There have been some excellent resistance stories though:

• John Tyner refused, “if you touch my junk, I’ll have you arrested.”
• So did this fellow, “I understand what the pat-down entails, but I wanted to let you know that I do not give you permission to touch my genitals or the surrounding area. If you do, I will consider it assault.”
• Finally, blast from the past, Penn Jillette was groped by airport security in 2002 and insisted they call the police.

I ended up in the backscatter machine on a recent trip to Florida a bit before this really started to hit the fan. Didn’t realize what it was until I was in there, I just assumed it was that puffer machine.

I’m a little late with this, but just got around to reading it in full, Imagine if the Tea Party was Black:

Imagine that hundreds of black protesters were to descend upon Washington DC and Northern Virginia, just a few miles from the Capitol and White House, armed with AK-47s, assorted handguns, and ammunition. And imagine that some of these protesters —the black protesters — spoke of the need for political revolution, and possibly even armed conflict in the event that laws they didn’t like were enforced by the government? Would these protester — these black protesters with guns — be seen as brave defenders of the Second Amendment, or would they be viewed by most whites as a danger to the republic? What if they were Arab-Americans? Because, after all, that’s what happened recently when white gun enthusiasts descended upon the nation’s capital, arms in hand, and verbally announced their readiness to make war on the country’s political leaders if the need arose.

Imagine that white members of Congress, while walking to work, were surrounded by thousands of angry black people, one of whom proceeded to spit on one of those congressmen for not voting the way the black demonstrators desired. Would the protesters be seen as merely patriotic Americans voicing their opinions, or as an angry, potentially violent, and even insurrectionary mob? After all, this is what white Tea Party protesters did recently in Washington.

Really interesting article on Steve Jobs’ liver transplant and subsequent push to pass a law in California that will require the DMV to ask you if you’d like to become an organ donor (which may double the number of transplant organs available there):

But something about his whole experience still bothered Steve.

What bothered him was that while he, a very wealthy man, was surviving his liver’s failure, others were not so lucky. Specifically, he was upset because, while he was able to afford the costs of multiple-listing and a private jet that could ferry him to any hospital in the country at a moment’s notice, others in California could not; they had to stay in California and hope. He knew that 400 people died hoping.

And so, in a departure from a largely apolitical career, Steve decided to do something about it.

A remix of will.i.am’s Yes We Can video with John Boehner stepping up to provide the standard Republican contribution:

Builds nicely, and the end is the best part. Found it via this Frank Rich op-ed, The Rage Is Not About Health Care.

Great stuff from Roger Ebert that’s not a movie review: The Gathering Storm.

Here’s a great Slowpoke strip from 2006 that is painfully relevant today.

Fantastic post on terrorism, which opens with a band-beating metaphor:

I’m quite sure I could beat LeBron James in a game of one on one basketball. The game merely needs to feature two special rules: It lasts until I score, and as soon as I score I win. Such a game might last several hours, or even a week or two, and James would probably score hundreds and possibly thousands of points before my ultimate victory, but eventually I’m going to find a way to put the ball in the basket.

So, so good. Read now.

This one might be the graphic of the year for me. National Geographic has a brilliant visualization of healthcare spending, life expectancy, and doctor visits per country. Here’s a taste, but you gotta click through to the full version to find the US on there (the red line below should give you some idea):

Sigh!

Update: Here’s Andrew Gelman’s version.

Jon Stewart on the self-dumb-downing of Gretchen Carlson:

Lin-Manuel Miranda performs his Alexander Hamilton rap (as if sung by Aaron Burr) at the White House Poetry Jam:

The Beast has posted the 2008 edition of their 50 Most Loathsome People In America series. Brutal. “You” have made the list every year:

• 2002 (#3)
• 2004 (#3)
• 2005 (#4)
• 2006 (#16)
• 2007 (#9)

… and finally, 2008 (#43):

Charges: You think it’s your patriotic duty to spend money you don’t have on crap you don’t need. You think Hillary lost because of sexism, when it’s actually because she’s just a bad liar. You think Iraq is better off now than before we invaded, and don’t understand why they’re so ungrateful. You think Tim Russert was a great journalist. You’re hopping mad about an auto industry bailout that cost a squirt of piss compared to a Wall Street heist of galactic dimensions, due to a housing crash you somehow have blamed on minorities. It took you six years to figure out what a tool Bush is, but you think Obama will make it all better. You deem it hunky dory that we conduct national policy debates via 8-second clips from “The View.” You think God zapped humans into existence a few thousand years ago, although your appendix and wisdom teeth disagree. You like watching vicious assholes insult each other on TV. You support gun rights, because firing one gives you a chubby. You cuddle falsehoods and resent enlightenment. You think the fact that 43% of whites could stomach voting for an incredibly charismatic and eloquent light-skinned black guy who was raised by white people means racism is over. You think progressive taxation is socialism. 1 in 100 of you are in jail, and you think it should be more. You are shallow, inconsiderate, afraid, brand-conscious, sedentary, and totally self-obsessed. You are American.

Exhibit A: You’re more upset by Miley Cyrus’s glamour shots than the fact that you are a grown adult who is upset about Miley Cyrus.

Sentence: Invaded and occupied by Canada; all military units busy overseas without enough fuel to get back.

Still, 3, 3, 4, 16, 9, 43. I guess “you” (and I) had a good year.

Great: Why I’m Happy, Why I’m Not Satisfied.

So moving. Who knows what the coming months and years will bring, but I was thrilled to witness this, and to be able to put my political cynicism aside for the day. Three other notes:

• Joseph Lowery kicked Rick Warren’s ass (stole the show, really).
• Dick Cheney in the wheelchair! Aside from the obvious symbolism of the decrepit and tired exiting the stage, there’s the fact that he now physically embodies the Bond villain he has always been (or, even better, the HH take).
• How ‘bout that kid in the front pew in Chicago? Asleep the first time we cut to that location, and struggling to stay asleep the next time. Awesome.

The Onion: Supreme Court Overturns Bush v. Gore

Al Franken is closing the gap in MN, he may even be ahead. With this back on my radar, it reminds me of this great MPR series on challenged ballots. Not to pick on Franken (I hope he wins), but check this one out:

The Franken campaign challenged this ballot. Even though the voter filled in the bubble next to Barkley’s name, a Franken representative said what appear to be eraser marks over Franken’s bubble indicated the voter intended to vote for Franken. (MPR Photo/Curtis Gilbert)

That one might be the most egregious, but there’s plenty of shame to go around.

The Onion rises to the occasion, as usual: Nation Finally Shitty Enough To Make Social Progress, Black Man Given Nation's Worst Job, and Kobe Bryant Scores 25 In Holy Shit We Elected A Black President, are all gems. Is that last one the first ever Onion piece that is more touching than funny?

Like in '04, Mark Newman's fantastic maps remind us that our country is purple, not red and blue.

Two cartoons: one from Patrick Moberg and the other from Toles.

Reactions From Around the World.

I'm definitely going to print out and read this seven-part saga from Newsweek once all the chapters are posted. An "in-depth look behind the scenes of the campaign, consisting of exclusive behind-the-scenes reporting from the McCain and Obama camps assembled by a special team of reporters who were granted year-long access on the condition that none of their findings appear until after Election Day."

If there's a wet blanket in all this, it's California, with its five million bigots. Discouraging. I think, as a MA resident, I'll drive over there and demand they hand over the "Most Progressive State" championship belt they've held for so long. Great post from Andrew Sullivan. Also, Toles again.

Update #1: Ze Frank's from 52 to 48 with love (about).

Wow, I thought The Onion was for laughs, not dead-on predictions. From 2001: Bush: 'Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over'. Spooky. Via Waxy.

It will be nice to have a president (with any luck) who reads.

And, to get off of politics, I'm sure this is old news by now, but I just saw this today, and I can't stop watching and smiling: Where the Hell is Matt?

Cass Sunstein @ The Chicago Tribune: The Obama I Know.

Disgustingly unsurprising White House waterboarding stance. If you didn't read it the first time I posted it, now would be a good time to read this account from a guy who waterboard himself.

From The New Yorker, Deal Sweeteners:

What's stopping the U.S. from doing the same [distilling better ethanol from sugarcane rather than corn]? In a word, politics. The favors granted to the sugar industry keep the price of domestic sugar so high that it's not cost-effective to use it for ethanol. And the tariffs and quotas for imported sugar mean that no one can afford to import foreign sugar and turn it into ethanol, the way that oil refiners import crude from the Middle East to make gasoline. Americans now import eighty per cent less sugar than they did thirty years ago. So the prospects for a domestic-sugar ethanol industry are dim at best.

Interesting. And, like so many interesting things involving politics and special interests, depressing.

Our Insulated Congress: We don't live in a very democratic democracy, do we?

You really have to watch Colbert dismantle Congressman Lynn "Bag of Hammers" Westmoreland.

On 9/10 and 9/11 ABC will air a docudrama called The Path to 9/11. In it you will "learn" that the CIA had bin Laden in a house, literally surrounded, called the White House for authorization to take him out, and the Clinton administration refused to grant the authorization. Complete fabrication, "Straight Out of Disney and Fantasyland." I wouldn't expect anything factual from something labelled a "docudrama", but c'mon...

After a few weeks of receiving the paper version of The New Yorker (rather than the limited online content) I can see why a buddy of mine found my not subscribing inexcusable. Fantastic. Each issue always has at least one must-read article in it, and often more than that. Off the newsstand you'd pay over $200 for a year's supply, but you get get it for less than $1/issue delivered. The highlights of the July 3rd issue were an interesting World Cup piece, a fascinating article on hemispherectomies (brain surgery, exactly what you'd guess it is from the word):

I asked him Mike's question, about all that space left by the missing lobes. In the past, [Dr. Ben Carson] said, doctors worried about this and tried to anchor the remaining brain by stitching it to the dura. They would put all kinds of things in the cranial cavity—one surgeon used sterile Ping-Pong balls. But, as Carson did more hemispherectomies, he realized that the brain's own drip of cerebrospinal fluid could adequately fill the cavity. Sometims the remaining brain moves during the weeks following the surgery, but usually by less than an inch. "It doesn't seem to be a problem," he said. Much of Carson's method is intuitive. "You develop a feel for the brain," he said. "Normal brain feels like a very soft boiled egg. A bad brain feels like a mushy apple."

... and a profile of David Addington (Cheney's chief-of-staff):

David Addington is a satisfactory lawyer, [Bruce] Fein said, but a less than satisfactory student of American history, which for a public servant of his influence, matters more. "If you read the Federalist Papers, you can see how rich in history they are," he said. "The Founders really understood the history of what people did with power, going back to Greek and Roman and Biblical times. Our political heritage is to be skeptical of executive power, because, in particular, there was skepticism of King George III. But Cheney and Addington are not students of history. If they were, they'd know that the Founding Fathers would be shocked by what they've done."

The Show, 6/29/06:

A wedge strategy is where you focus on a highly charged issue at the borders of rationality and emotion.

The emotional content of the issue can create a moral conviction that the issue needs to be resolved at any cost.

Tactics that would otherwise be called into question can then be employed to resolve the issue.

This sets precedent for the future use of those tactics in other arenas.

You'll have to watch it for yourself to get the context (not to mention the funny parts of the show).

Twenty-nine percent?! That can't be right. That 50.000001% of the population that voted the dude back into office for a second term couldn't have dwindled that much. I mean, the folks that voted for him two years ago must have been frickin' True Believers. Did 42% of them really just dry up and blow away? If so, why? It's not like the last two years have been any different from the first four years.

Second verse, same as the first, a little bit louder and a little bit worse...

Depending on your political slant, a "Mommy wants a new president" t-shirt could be perfect. Of course, I guess it's more a gift for the kid than the mom.

Should the Internet have slow lanes and fast lanes, with companies paying to get on the fast lanes? From Why You Should Care About Network Neutrality by Tim Wu:

In trying to figure out who's right, let's forget about the Internet and look at KFC. The fast-food chain discriminates. It has an exclusive deal with Pepsi, and that seems fine to pretty much everyone. Now, let's think about the nation's highways. How would you feel if I-95 announced an exclusive deal with General Motors to provide a special "rush-hour" lane for GM cars only? That seems intuitively wrong. But what, if anything, is the difference between KFC and I-95? And which is a better model for the Internet?