March 27, 2008
Declaration of Exasperation II
Perhaps the last post deserved to be accompanied by some art.
Posted by dag at 8:28 PM | Comments (0)
Declaration of Exasperation
Flipping channels (I'm working from home today) I ran across a CNN article about Clinton's recent letter-writing campaign against Nancy Pelosi for her suggestion that Super Delegates should vote with the will of the people (which would, of course, benefit Obama).
Incredibly, her supporters are also pointing out that pledged delegates are not, strictly speaking (of course), bound to vote as the voters they represent suggested. In essence, they are arguing that she does not need popular consent within her party to be its candidate is entitled to be her party's candidate, regardless of the voice of the voters in her party. No doubt a similar argument is in development for November.
On a completely unrelated note (I assure you) I was flipping away from the conclusion of an episode of HBO's superb John Adams that featured the spectacle of the delegates to the Continental Congress standing by as the Declaration of Independence was read for the first time.
A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Posted by dag at 1:00 PM | Comments (2)
March 17, 2008
The Great Unravelling
The sub-prime mess, in 45 easy steps.
Of course, its missing about 10 slides about the Federal Reserve failing to regulate any of this and, worse still, tossing gasoline on the fire with overly-loose monetary policy.
Update: By the way, while I'm on a bender anyway, think twice about buying Iams. I know, I know: it's PETA. But even a broken watch is right twice a day.
Posted by dag at 2:34 PM | Comments (0)
Advanced Bracketology: Theory and Practice
After an intense few hours of analysis, psychoanalysis, electro-shock therapy and just plain guessing, I am ready to unveil the first draft of my brackets:
A few notable features:
1. Memphis falls hard and fast. I think that their Achilles Heel (terrible free-throw shooting) will catch up with them sooner rather than later.
2. Duke is in the Elite Eight. That may be generous. But then again, maybe it's not generous enough. But that is exactly the kind of sick trip Coach K, that acknowledged grandmaster of edge-work (careful Dean: soon he'll want to spoon with you), had programmed in from the start. This Duke team is better than what has been fielded in the past 2-3 years, but not as good as those fin-de-siecle squads K was fronting, or even those that took the court in the early years of this decade. So, while Duke sucks (that's a given) it is harder to tell just how badly this year.
3. No revenge for the righteous/UNC does not get to kick the Hoyas squah in the nuts-I just don't think they'll get past the Jayhawks.
4. Bruce Pearl gets a reprieve-I think it possible that Louisville will actually beat Tennessee, but the point is that I had to choose one of them to be the next victim.
5. Prepare yourself for LA Riots Part II: when UCLA goes down hard with fleeting glory in sight, those savages on the left coast will not take it well. The Crips, the Bloods and, worst of all, Lindsay "Marilyn for Trailer Trash" Lohan will be out that night trying to vent the most savage kind of vibes.
6. Prepare yourself for Chapel Hill Riots Part II: I have spent thousands on illegal fireworks from the Great State of South Carolina, and will expect to see some payoff from it.
Posted by dag at 2:04 PM | Comments (0)
March 10, 2008
Where it Happened
A couple of out-of-town friends who've spent time here in the Southern Part of Heaven have been asking about precisely where last week's tragedy happened. Above is a photo of the very spot (below is a map pinpointing it: look for the little yellow figure). I drove by it the other day and based on the location of a pile of flowers, I suspect Eve Carson died near the mailboxes in the left-center of the photo.
If you visit the spot it is very hard to believe that what happened there did indeed occur. It is such a pretty and peaceful little corner of the world.
I have a feeling that this one is going to leave a lingering scar on Chapel Hill.
Posted by dag at 10:24 AM | Comments (1)
March 9, 2008
A Solution to the Drought Here in NC
Has anyone thought about somehow collecting the sweet tears of the Cameron Crazies envy and diverting it into the local reservoirs?
I like that sign "Coach K has 800 more wins than Tyler"...
Yeah, well, last night Tyler got just a little bit closer.
I'll give Duke this though: they are fundmentally a lot better than some of the teams ranked ahead of them (eg Memphis).
Posted by dag at 7:22 PM | Comments (1)
March 5, 2008
The Incredible, Indomitable Clintons
Last night I had an epiphany (couldn't you smell the smoke?): the Clintons simply cannot be killed by conventional weapons.
By the logic that kept her in the race thus far, I now find it highly unlikely that Hillary will pull out ahead of the convention. Even if Obama continues to slowly build his delegate lead, Hillary will put everything on winning super delegates and getting the Michigan and Florida delegates seated. After all, there is always that mathematical possibility.
Well, maybe its about time: its been a good 40 years since we had a 1968 in the Democratic Party. After all, what's worth doing is worth doing disastrously.
Posted by dag at 10:13 AM | Comments (0)
March 4, 2008
A Little Comic Relief
Posted by dag at 9:18 PM | Comments (0)
Vigilantism 2.0
By now, many of you have probably heard of or seen the video that has been racing around the net that purportedly depicts a US Marine in Iraq killing a puppy. If you haven't, you probably shouldn't (it had a big impact on even a walking callus like me). If you insist on doing so, it can be found in various places (it reportedly keeps getting pulled down wherever it is put up), but try here. In it, you see what is likely a US Marine (the authenticity of the video is subject to debate, but I can see no smoking gun kind of tell that would lead me to doubt its authenticity) manhandling a puppy and then casually
throwing it (presumably to its death) from an embankment.
Needless to say, a shocking image like this has provoked a range of often emotional responses. I was personally disgusted by the video and hope that, if it is authentic, the Marine pictured in it is punished as severely as possible. I have a hard time accepting the oft-advanced argument that this is simply an inevitable product of the violent conditioning that is war: I think that even those truly inured to violence and brutality still do not engage in gratuitous malice. No, I suspect something else is going on here: this guy probably lives at the intersection between an anti-social personality type and a sadist.
Equally outrageous, however, has been the the public dissemination by various blogs of the private identifying information for an individual suspected of being the Marine in the video (the video ends with a soldier off-camera possibly identifying the offending Marine as "Motari", which has led to this individual with the same surname being advanced as a suspect), typically accompanied by calls essentially for a vigilante response.
For excellent examples, see "Crime and Federalism", the video link above or, even better still, Mir1, which actually posts his home address and number.
As upsetting as the video images are to me, am I the only one who finds this electronic lynch mob rush to judgment a bit sickening as well? WE DON'T EVEN KNOW FOR CERTAIN WHO IS IN THAT VIDEO, WHERE IT WAS ACTUALLY SHOT, ETC. Although my personal sense is that it probably is real, the fact is that anyone with access to am Army-Navy store, some airsoft weapons and a desert environment could have shot it. And all we have is some brief mention of one name (is it actually the Motari referred to on the video? Is Motari the one throwing the dog, or a third Marine off camera (you can't be certain from the video)? Did he say Motari? Moteri? Motarrey?) to go on ( and have the good people at Mir1 not noticed that the surname in the address they provide does not even match that of the individual accused of being the Marine in the video?)
But don't lose hope. The author of "Crime and Federalism" offers the following sage advice:
Others have noted, and I agree, that we must await confirmation of the puppy killer's identity before taking further action. The matter is still under investigation, and we need to confirm identities. Once we have confirmation, we should do everything legally within our power to make the killer's life a living Hell. But we must await confirmation before taking further action.
Although he has been somewhat more careful than many of those commenting in blog postings about this incident by adding the qualifier "legally", I am still left with the following question: who the the hell empowered this guy, or any of the other individuals making calls for legal (or, in many cases, blatantly illegal) action against this individual? Who do you think you are, and can you explain to me why it is that you seem to think that the blogosphere is a more acceptable staging ground for vigilantism than the streets? When did this become acceptable? We are a society with rules and individuals and institutions lawfully empowered to enforce those rules. Why is it acceptable in the blogosphere for some people essentially to deputize themselves?
Posted by dag at 3:58 PM | Comments (0)
February 28, 2008
Re-Tooling
I haven't posted much in the past few months. Partly I've been very busy-long story there-but I also must confess that I have grown a bit tired of Aging Disgracefully as it presently stands. Maybe it doesn't fit where I am in life, or maybe it just lacks focus. Bear with me as I strike it with blunt objects until it works for me and, hopefully, you.
In the meantime, enjoy:
Posted by dag at 11:58 AM | Comments (0)
February 27, 2008
A Lion Has Passed
In other news, that cheeky little chap Gary B. Trudeau and I are in agreement for the first time:
postscript: Don't bother asking me how I could spend three decades reading and enjoying Trudeau's stuff yet disagreeing with him about most of the large and small points .... even I can't answer that question.
Update:
The NY Times provided the following image of the Great One at work:
Now that's what I call an office.
I must admit that in this regard Buckley and I can even call Al Gore a Fellow Traveler:
Posted by dag at 12:19 PM | Comments (0)