Obama Is A Paradigmatic Political Hack

The president clearly knows better than this:



All that the marijuana question's popularity says about the people who voted for it is that they actually know how to think clearly and independently about drug policy. This is in contrast to Obama who, though he has to be aware that the prohibition of marijuana is even sillier than the prohibition of alcohol, is still willing to parrot the conventional wisdom to maintain the support of the ignorant. And that's not change I can believe in.

So welcome to my long list of political hacks, Mr. President. You're just the latest addition to a long and ignoble list.

The Iraq War Has Now Lasted Six Years

From Andrew Sullivan:

You realize again from this speech just how utterly different the rationale was for the war at the start than it is now: to "defend the world from grave danger." There was no grave danger. How the US government could have been so incompetent in making such a serious charge remains bewildering to me. How I was so credulous still shames me.

I feel Sullivan's pain because I supported the war in the beginning as well. But I was a foolish 20-year-old undergrad at the time--not an excuse, just an explanation. Never again will I be so easily duped.

Ted Sporer Gets Off On Torture, Militarism

Here's what Sporer had to say about the following video:

Some one needs to discuss the consequences of the childlike approach to national security by which the Obama Adminstration [sic] is imperilling the United States.

I recommend that this windbag, who seems to be pretty representative of the average Iowa Republican activist at this point, read up on the torture methods Cheney advocates before defending them as a wise national security strategy. Unless of course he doesn't mind coming across as an ignorant fascist.

Update:

Andrew Sullivan continues to do his part to keep the heat on the vicious former vice president:

What people forget about Cheney is his rank incompetence - which he covers up with fear-mongering and sadism. Very few things have enraged me as much recently - not even the thieves and con-artists at AIG - as that disgraceful, repellent, and deeply dishonest CNN interview Cheney gave last Sunday. Truly a low-point in that man's gutter-level conduct of public office.

Continue reading.

Glenn Beck Is (Still) A Fucking Idiot

(Via Reason.)

Legalize, regulate, tax. It really is just that simple.

Here's a great video debunking Beck's unfounded "marijuana tears up your lungs" claim. It was put out by the Marijuana Policy Project, which is the organization that Beck's gracious interlocutor started:



Check out more clips like this one at the Marijuana Policy Project's YouTube channel.

Memo To America: Evolution Is Awesome

National Geographic has posted an amazing video of a fish with a transparent head that protects its eyes, which are kept inside:



But, unfortunately, many American politicians (like their troglodyte constituents) still don't understand the theory that underpins modern biology. In a recent blog post, P.Z. Meyers takes aim at a few particularly egregious examples of such ignorance. The people of South Carolina and Minnesota should be ashamed of their anti-intellectual governors.

CNN: Mexican Drug Violence Likened To "Civil War"

The most mainstream of mainstream media outlets reports:

A shootout in a border city that leaves five alleged drug traffickers sprawled dead on the street and seven police wounded. A police chief and his bodyguards gunned down outside his house in another border city. Four bridges into the United States shut down by protesters who want the military out of their towns and who officials say are backed by narcotraffickers.

...

Mexico, a country with a nearly 2,000-mile border with the United States, is undergoing a horrifying wave of violence that some are likening to a civil war. Drug traffickers battle fiercely with each other and Mexican authorities. The homicide rate reached a record level in 2008 and indications are that the carnage could be exceeded this year.

It's great to see CNN using such strong (and honest!) language. Of course, I've been harping on this issue for some time, writing posts such as "Rampant Drug Violence As A Good Sign? Seriously?" and "Mexico: The Canary In The Coal Mine?". But, regardless of how many times I've already said it, I still feel compelled to say it again: To end the violence, end the drug war. Legalize. Regulate. Tax. Now, now, now.

I don't care what the conventional wisdom is. If we don't change the status quo, the situation in Mexico may soon get far worse. And we really don't want a failed state sharing a nearly 2,000-mile border with us. It's difficult to overstate how bad that would be.

The Final Word On The Phelps Fiasco

...(at least on this blog) goes to Radley Balko, who's provided wonderfully, bitingly sarcastic commentary throughout the news cycle this event dominated:

Michael Phelps Apologizes ... to China

His message to Chinese youngsters: “Do the right thing.”

Which I guess means submit to the state’s authority, even when the law you’ve broken is an immoral one, and the means the state has used to enforce it are wholly disproportionate to the alleged crime.

So let’s stop with the rabble rousing. No more questioning the legitimacy of bad laws. No more questioning the state’s power, or it’s willingness to flex its authority when it gets embarrassed by its citizenry. No more staring down tanks, whether they belong to Deng Xiaoping ... or Sheriff Leon Lott.

And, in case you don't feel sufficiently motivated to click Balko's links, here's the picture of Deng's tanks:



And here's Lott's:



That's right, the good Sheriff Lott actually procured an armored personnel carrier for his department--and that was even before his jurisdiction was overrun with such nefarious characters as pot-smoking swimmers. Balko actually wrote about this madness months ago:

The Richland County, South Carolina Sheriff's Department (that's them above) just obtained an armored personnel carrier, complete with a belt-fed, .50-cal turreted machine gun. Sheriff Leon Lott has charmingly named the vehicle "The Peacemaker," and insists that using a caliber of ammunition that even the U.S. military is reluctant to use against human targets (it's generally reserved for use against armored vehicles) will "save lives."

...

Like most of these military toys obtained by local police departments, the Peacemaker will inevitably be used on drug and gambling raids—that is, to enforce laws against consensual activities. Or, as we're now seeing in Minnesota, perhaps on raids against leftist political activists.

Oh, authoritarianism. The human propensity to violently dominate others would be hilarious if it weren't so tragic. And terrifying. Because when it comes down to it, we are just an overgrown tribe of super-empowered chimps.

Masturbation Improves Personal And Public Health

From Slog:

The Passion 4 Christ Movement is proudly anti-gay (naturally), anti-fornicators (straight ones too!), anti-players (they tend to fornicate a lot), anti-divas (who do you think players be fornicating with?)—P4CM is even proudly anti-masturbators. And they're selling the t-shirts to prove it:

Yeah we said it... Nobody talks about it, but most people have done it or are still doing it. It's seems to be a rite of passage for both girls and guys into the world of sex. Some say masturbation is not a sin, some say that it is. But is it really okay in the eyes of God?

Arguing against sex before marriage is silly enough, but arguing against masturbation is just ridiculous. Masturbation is the best way for people to fulfill our sexual needs with no risk of disease or pregnancy. Any moral system that disapproves of masturbation is fundamentally flawed--it harms no one and benefits everyone.

Update:

This is just extremely sad:


(Via Towleroad.)

Attempting to convince people that their innate sexuality is sinful is a great way to get them to kill themselves. Studies show that familial acceptance is key to gay young people's mental health. Any policy that encourages families not to fully accept their gay members when they come out is quite literally promoting situations that lead to suicide.

Update II:

From DASOUTH.com, via a friend of mine:

Most people who have engaged in masturbation know that the culmination of this sexual act ends in shame. I don't have to share with you the thousands of emails of the admittance of this shame because you know all too well since you have experienced it yourself. Curled up in a fetal position, crying, because your bed is even more empty and you're lonelier than you did before you violated yourself...Because God never created sex so that you could gratify yourself. The dictionary defined masturbation as self abuse...the miss use of yourself. The mistreatment, the manipulation, the exploitation of YOU.

My friend comments:

I think he's doing it wrong.

Yeah, I can't think of a single time one of my masturbation sessions ended with me curled up in a fetal position and/or crying. Anyone who has had that happen should almost certainly seek professional counseling. Probably from a secular therapist.

Push Back Against Marijuana Prohibitionism Continues

One of Andrew Sullivan's readers writes:

I am a twenty-six year old law school graduate who is currently pursuing a masters in political science. I smoke up to three times a week, depending on my schedule. Am I an unproductive member of society? Should I be apprehended to face criminal charges because I enjoy sitting on my couch, lighting a joint, and watching The Wire? According to the puritanical laws governing marijuana, and the false rhetoric espoused by those cognitively inflexible enough to see marijuana as somehow worse than tobacco, I am a criminal. I believe the laws currently in place reflect the views of a society inordinately afraid of the truth.

But what do I know? I smoke weed.

And here's Sullivan himself on the ongoing absurd theater surrounding Phelps' marijuana use:

America's drug war insanity deepens. What I love about the harrumphing is its total incoherence. The argument, so far as I can tell, is: a) marijuana destroys people, renders them incapable of productive and worthwhile lives; b) yes, the new president and the greatest Olympic swimmer of all time have smoked pot; c) but that means we have to punish them all the more!

Because they disprove the lies required to sustain the Prohibition. The more the myths of the anti-cannabis brigade are exposed, the more they have to be enforced. For my original pro-Phelps splutter, see here.

But perhaps the best response to this brouhaha thus far comes from Radley Balko who has authored a brilliant post titled "What Michael Phelps Should Have Said."

My take on what we can learn about the mainstream media from their reaction to the Phelps photograph can be found here.

Update:

Slog is appropriately blunt regarding the possible criminal charges against Phelps:

What a bunch of fucking jerks. I hope they totally embarrass themselves with a lack of evidence.

Update II:

At the UI Advocates for Liberty blog, Jeff Yager also comments on the prospect of Phelps facing prosecution for the bong rip heard round the world:

Wow. I really hope they charge him and let this complete insanity of marijuana prohibition be brought into the limelight. Nobody cared half this much when the guy got a DUI a few years ago. You know, something that actually might have put others in danger? But take a hit on a bong at a college party? CRUCIFY HIM!!!! Yeah, that's logical.

Update III:

Balko discusses the prosecutor's discretion in the Phelps case.

"Get Your Obama Check"; "My $12,000 Bailout"

A sign of the times: There are now Facebook ads for instructional materials that will supposedly teach you how to bilk the government out of money.

These are the ads I've seen thus far (I'm not linking to the sites because that would only contribute to the hits they get):

Get Your Obama Check
The government's giving back billions to the public to stimulate the economy. Find out how I got $12,000.

My $12,000 Bailout
I paid $2.99 and Obama gave me $12,000 in less than 30 days. Get yours today!

The pages the ads link to are obviously cookie-cutter websites set up as part of a shady scheme to separate fools from their money. Amusingly, despite the fact that the two ads I republished above link to different sites that claim to be run by different people, they use the exact same photo of a check allegedly procured from the United States Treasury. Even the name, which appears to be poorly photoshopped in on both images, is the same:



Stupid free-money scheme advertisement epic fail.

Please, people, remember: TANSTAFL (There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch)! Thus, if it sounds too good to be true, it almost certainly is. The best way to obtain money is to work.

Update:

Here's another version of the ad:

Your Government Bailout
The United States government is giving away billions to stimulate the economy. Buy a house, pay debt, start a business. Claim yours!

Phelps Scandal Exposes Government Shills

The Times reports:

Drug claim could spell disaster for Michael Phelps

The world was spellbound for a magical seven days at the Beijing Games as Michael Phelps became the greatest Olympian in history, but today his career could lie in ruins after being pictured allegedly taking drugs.

America woke up to discover that their Olympic hero, whose face smiles from packets of cornflakes on millions of breakfast tables this morning, stands accused of smoking cannabis. Athletes caught using the drug, a banned substance under rules set out by the World Anti-Doping Agency, could face a ban of up to two years.

Who the hell cares?

If anything, smoking pot probably decreases his lung capacity and thus makes him a slower swimmer. So why is this relevant to his competitive sport of choice?

People (often rightly) take note of and (often wrongly) make make a big deal out of counter-cultural bias inherent in alternative media. But stories like this one show that the allegedly neutral mainstream media has a bizarre drive to toe the prohibitionist government line. And worse than that, these deranged anti-marijuana mainstream sources go as far as to present nonsensical moral objections to drug use in the abstract as fact--giving the impression that everyone thinks or ought to think that marijuana use is a bad thing. It's no wonder so many people believe this propaganda when so much of the mainstream media is so happy to shill for it.

This is why I'm optimistic about the death of so many mainstream news outlets. Nothing clears dead wood better than fire. And only when the mass of inanimate clutter is removed can anything new grow in its place.

Update:


Reason.tv at Slamdance: Drug War, Colombia-Style:



It's scandalous that the mainstream media care more about chiding famous athletes for smoking pot than reporting on the horrific violence that the drug war inflicts on innocent Colombians.

Update II:

Slog parses the wording of Phelps' apology:

"I engaged in behaviour which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment," Phelps said in a statement to the Associated Press. "I'm 23 years old and despite the successes I've had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner people have come to expect from me. "For this, I am sorry. I promise my fans and the public it will not happen again."

But what does "it" refer to? Smoking pot? Allowing himself to be photographed while smoking pot? Allowing himself to be photographed while smoking pot out of a skank-ass bong? Allowing himself to be forced by finances into making an apology for something he's going to keep doing on a regular basis? Well played, Mr. Phelps.

Stimulus Plan Contains Protectionist Provisions

Cato @ Liberty reports:

Leaving aside the many other disastrous implications of the pork-laden “stimulus” bill, here are some thoughts about its impact on international trade. For all practical purposes there is no difference between the Smoot-Hawley tariff bill of 1930 and the “Buy American” provisions in the $819 billion spending bill that passed the House Wednesday.

Smoot-Hawley was the catalyst for a pandemic of tit-for-tat protectionism around the world, which helped deepen and prolong the global depression in the 1930s. “Buy American” provisions will no doubt inspire similar trade barriers abroad and will have the same effect of reducing global trade—and therefore prospects for economic recovery. It is not unreasonable to say that U.S. policymakers are on the verge of taking us down that same disastrous path.

Continue reading.

My timid support for this bill just shrank to zero. If I were in Congress, I would have voted against the stimulus based on this alone. Why do both of this country's political parties have to be filled with such ignorant hacks? Oh, yeah, because that's the nature of party politics. There has to be a better way to run a government--there just has to be.

Update:

Cato @ Liberty keeps at it:

Evidently, the once-and-for-always politically savvy U.S. steel industry has not lost its touch. Like profit-maximizing firms in any industry, America’s steel producers have devoted large chunks of their profits (which have been enormous and record-setting over the past five years, up until 4Q08) to their highest yielding input. For Big Steel, that input isn’t human capital or physical capital, but the far more productive enterprise of lobbying for taxpayer largesse. And this will be a pretty big payday for these modern-day robber barons.

But, it is absolutely stunning—even to those who have watched this industry impose its will over U.S. trade policy at great expense to other industries time and time again—that nobody in Congress has blown a whistle on this outrageous scheme. The incredibly profitable U.S. steel industry (which has fallen on harder times in the past several months like everyone else), consists of fewer than 100,000 workers. It is the ONLY beneficiary of this hair-brained provision that will undermine any incentive the industry has to remain efficient, and promises to spark reprisals and crush export sales for industries that employ millions of workers. That doesn’t strike me as a recipe for U.S. job growth.

Continue reading.

American Family Association Monitors UK TV

Towleroad reports:

Earlier this month, Donald Wildmon's American Family Association announced a boycott of Pepsi for its support of LGBT causes but they've recently become even hotter under the collar over an ad the company is running in the UK which features a guy in a bar who gets hit on by several women but passes them up for a hunky guy on the other side of the room.

Here's the ad, which is stupid (but that only makes the AFA's tantrum that much more absurd):



And here's what the AFA has to say about it:

Pepsi is now using its TV spots to promote the gay lifestyle. AFA asked Pepsi to remain neutral in the culture war. Pepsi refused. The company said it will continue major financial support of homosexual organizations seeking to legalize homosexual marriage.

...

Pepsi also forces its employees to attend sexual orientation and gender identity diversity training, where they are taught to accept homosexuality.

First, promoting the "gay lifestyle"? Really? Does the AFA seriously think the rate of homosexuality in the population can be increased through advertising? Sexuality is an integral part of people's identities. It's not the sort of thing that can be influenced by TV spots--like, for example, people's choice of sugar water brands.

Second, would the AFA rather that Pepsi employees not be taught to be kind to their LGBT coworkers? What ever happened to that whole do-unto-others thing? Apparently, they don't think Jesus was serious when he taught that people should love their neighbors as themselves. I never ceased to be amazed by the scope of fundamentalists' perverse obsession with gay sex.

Nagging Administrators Remind Us That Smoking Isn't Allowed On Campus

The UI has sent out yet another e-mail today reminding the community that smoking isn't allowed on campus--just in case anyone forgot over winter break, I guess. I did notice at least two people violating this policy on my way to the newsroom today, however, so it's clear that the message has yet to fully sink in.

Here's the reminder:

Dear Members of the UI Community:

In accordance with the Iowa Smoke-Free Air Act, The University of Iowa was designated a smoke-free campus effective July 1, 2008. Smoking is prohibited in all indoor and outdoor areas on campus, including University buildings, campus grounds, parking lots, athletic fields, and recreational facilities. State law also prohibits smoking in off-campus buildings being used by the University for University business.

We ask that all students, staff and faculty help us comply with the Iowa Smoke-Free Air Act by refraining from smoking in prohibited areas.

Information on the smoking policy, smoking cessation resources, boundary maps and other frequently asked questions is available on the Smoking Policy website at http://www.uiowa.edu/homepage/smoking/index.html

The University and the State offer free or low-cost assistance to smokers who wish to quit. A complete list of smoking cessation resources is available on the smoking policy website.

Jonathan Carlson
Senior Associate to the President
Co-Chair, Smoking Policy Implementation Team

Joni Troester
Director, UI Wellness, Human Resources
Co-Chair, Smoking Policy Implementation Team

As we reported in the Daily Iowan late last year:

Iowa's smoking ban hasn't exactly lit a fire underneath local police to crack down on illegal smokers.

Since the ban went into effect on July 1, people are prohibited from smoking in almost all public facilities, with the exception of casinos' gaming floors.

UI police have responded to 84 smoking calls, 27 of which were complaints, but no citations have been issued.

This isn't surprising, as the idea of prohibiting smoking throughout the entire UI campus is inherently ridiculous. I've already written a column about that. However, this fact clearly doesn't matter to the nanny-state Iowa legislators who passed the law or the persistent nags who attempt to enforce it here at the university.

Blago As Surrealist Performance Artist

Here's the video from Rod Blagojevich's appearance this morning on the View:



I've got to hand it to him, he's going out in style--not with class, but in style.

Steve King's Tired Antics Continue In 2009

It's a new year, and America has a new president, but Iowa is still blessed with the same old Rep. Steve King - a bizarre breed of bigot who besmirches the good name of Iowa further with every day he spends representing the state's 5th District in Washington, D.C.

Last March, King warned that Al Qaeda terrorists would take to the streets and dance in celebration if Barack Obama were elected president. Not long after making this incendiary claim, King appeared on Fox News and reaffirmed it. He even went so far as to suggest he would apologize if Obama won and his prediction didn't come true.

Following up on this story, Politico, an online political- news outlet, contacted King a few days before Obama's inauguration and asked him about his previous statements. Though he offered no apology, King was willing to acknowledge that the terrorists' celebrations that he had prophesied have thus far failed to come to pass.

"They have made statements against Obama," Politico reported he said. "This thing has shifted, and now I think Obama's position of immediate withdrawal [from the war zone] has changed."

However, rather than leaving well enough alone and refraining from offering any new offensive remarks, King went on to suggest to the Politico reporter that Obama's choice to include his middle name, Hussein, in the swearing-in ceremony was "bizarre" and "a double-standard." Apparently, it's King's view that because various right-wing commentators suffered criticism for highlighting the new president's full name, the president himself should also be barred from referencing it publicly.

The disingenuous nature of such a complaint is entirely transparent. Using Obama's full name simply to refer to the president has never been considered offensive. Complaints about highlighting that his middle name is Hussein only arose when it was clear from the context or tone of the usage that the speaker was attempting to draw some sort of connection between the president and former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Further evidence of King's ongoing hostility toward the president can be found in his refusal to attend a post-inauguration reception that Iowa's congressional delegation held for residents of the state who were in Washington, D.C., at the time. Radio Iowa has reported that a King aide asserted that the congressman's snub was a result of his opinion that his campaign donors wouldn't approve of him contributing the required funds toward refreshments at the reception. However, classy Republicans such as Sen. Charles Grassley and Rep. Tom Latham apparently had no objection to ponying up their $100 contributions.

Regardless of the extent to which King is an embarrassment to Iowa, it's highly unlikely he can be defeated by a Democratic challenger. Even with a spirited candidate such as Rob Hubler under the Obama-Biden ticket, which won the state so commandingly, Iowa's 5th District was simply too conservative to elect anyone who wasn't a Republican.

But there remain two plausible scenarios under which King could be dethroned. First, a challenger who looked more like reasonably rational Iowa Republicans such as Grassley or Latham could go after King in the primary. Second, given demographic trends, Iowa may well lose a U.S. House seat after the next census. Though such a development would unfortunately reduce the state's legislative clout, it seems unlikely that a candidate as far out in the wilderness of right-wing madness as King would be able to survive following any such redistricting.

One way or another, hopefully, a more serious politician who is actually interested in effectively lobbying for the people of Iowa will eventually succeed in sending King back to Kiron, where he belongs.

(Cross-posted from the DI's main site.)

"Joe The Plumber" Is Still An Idiot

(Via Slog.)

And why exactly did anyone think sending this troglodyte to the Middle East as a journalist was a good idea? I'm not sure, but my working theory is that the intention was to prove once and for all that Jean-Paul Sartre was correct about life's fundamental absurdity.

Ann Coulter's New Stand Up Routine

Check out the hilarity:


Watch CBS Videos Online
(http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4701138n)

Ta-Nehisi Coates offers this excellent response:

In roughly six minutes, Ann Coulter asserts that Sean Hannity is more likely to be assassinated than Barack Obama, that the country is teeming with "left-wing violence," calls W. the most persecuted and attacked president since Richard Nixon, and calls Tom Delay a victim of oppression. As I said--So. Awesome. My only beef with this interview was that dude should have let her talk more, and disagreed less. Plus no hits on Michelle Obama. Come on man! More thuggism plz!

Oh Fox News...

Pay attention to the ticker which is posting text messages from viewers:




Via Shakesville

You Know Your Party Is In Trouble When...

...this is a headline at CNN: GOP divided over 'Magic Negro' song.

What other difficult issues are the Republicans furrowing their brows over in an attempt to decide on an official position? Whether doctors who perform abortions should all be executed? Whether gay men should all be castrated?

Seriously, it's long past time to throw the far-right extremists under the bus, drive the bus back and forth over their corpses several times, and return to the American mainstream.