Help Wanted in Japan

Think you're up to it?

Quote of the Day: "Our Stock Arguments Are Lazy Stacks of Cliches"

A thoughtful liberal takes his fellows to task (as well he should, because he's totally correct).  Read the whole thing, but here's a piece of it:

Criticism of today’s progressives tends to use words like toxic, aggressive, sanctimonious, and hypocritical. I would not choose any of those. I would choose lazy. We are lazy as political thinkers and we are lazy as culture writers and we are lazy as movement builders. We ward off criticism of our own bad work by acting like that criticism is inherently anti-feminist or anti-progressive. We seem spoiled, which seems insane because everything is messed up and so many things are getting worse. I guess having a Democratic president just makes people feel complacent. Well, look: as a political movement we are in pathetic shape right now. We not only have no capacity to move people who don’t already share our worldview, we seem to have no interest in doing so. Our stock arguments are lazy stacks of cliches. We seem to want to confirm everything conservatives say about our inability to argue without calling other people racist. We can’t articulate why our vision of the future is better than the other side’s, and in fact many of us will tell you that it’s offensive to think that we have an obligation to educate others on that vision at all. We celebrate grassroots activist movements like Black Lives Matter, but we insult them by treating them as the same thing as hashtag campaigns, and we don’t build a broader left-wing political movement that could increase their likelihood of success. We spend all day, every day, luxuriating in how much better we are than other people, having convinced ourselves that the work of politics is always external, never internal. We have made politics synonymous with social competition. We’re a mess.

... One-liners don’t build a movement. Being clever doesn’t fix the world. Scoring points on Twitter doesn’t create justice. Jokes make nothing happen. We’re speeding for a brutal backlash and inevitable political destruction, if not in 2016 then 2018 or 2020. If you want to help avoid that, I suggest you invest less effort in trying to be the most clever person on the internet and more on being the hardest working person in real life. And stop mistaking yourself for the movement.

Via Mark Hemingway of the Weekly Standard, who also notes: "The Democratic party's complete ideological breakdown in favor of party leaders fragging each other would be an amusing spectacle if so many of America's imminent problems didn't depend on working together."

Quote of the Day: The Strategic Value of Threat Deflation

From a lengthy essay by a professor of national security comes this thought:

... the rhetoric about ISIL has given the group prestige it does not deserve. Washington may inadvertently help ISIL’s recruiting efforts by hyping its capacity for mayhem.   

... The group has already proven adept at propaganda; it does not need our help and we should not give it.  

What say you?

Buh-Bye, Jay Carney

The White House press secretary is leaving, and the best commentary I have on this is to link to the Onion's satirical piece written in the guise of Carney: "Well, Time To Go Out In Front Of A Bunch Of People And Lie To Them."

PSA: Godwin's Law Does Apply Internationally

In this spat between the Philippines and China, the Filipinos went Godwin first.

The State of the Union Speech Drinking Game

Get ready for alcohol poisoning, citizen!  Here are Greg Gutfeld's SOTU drinking game rules, and they are brutal:

Every time he says ‘folks,’ drink. 

Every time he says ‘fair share,’ drink. 

Every time he says ‘extraordinary,’ drink. 

Every time he brags about working tirelessly, drink. 

When he frets about lack of compromise, drink.   

If he says, ‘Bring me a bill, and I’ll sign it,’ drink. 

When he brings up the middle class, the people he’s ruining, drink. 

Every time he says, ‘It’s the right thing to do,’ drink. 

Every time he cites someone that his policies have helped, drink. 

If she’s in the audience, drink some more. 

Every time he says, ‘I never said it would be easy,’ drink. 

If he says that after mentioning ObamaCare, drink again. 

If he says ObamaCare’s rough start was worth it, drink. 

And every time he reminds us that running a country is really hard, say, ‘Yeah, we can tell,’ and drink … 

Finally, each time you feel like you’re being screwed, drink. 

Then again, being buzzed or even all-out sloshed might be the only way to endure the meaningless yakfest to come.  I'm not even going to bother, frankly.  Did you know that Skyfall is now streaming via Netflix?

Paglia, Althouse, and Ace on Free Speech and Media Companies

The media companies are getting coal in their stockings this Christmas.

Pajama Boy: What The Hell Is THIS?

The people entrusted with Obamacare publicity actually think this is a good idea?  Even left-wing shill MSNBC can't stop guffawing.  Rich Lowry calls this smug little hipster fool in a plaid onesie (a onesie!) "an insufferable man-child," and I can't agree more.  I finally survive finals and emerge into the land of the living and ... run smack into this insultingly infantilizing mess.  Hell, I think I would rather be drowning in my exam-week books and papers, where for two weeks I was too busy to notice the government's ongoing descent into oblivious self-parody.  

While we're on the topic, let me just say that nothing is a bigger turn-off than smug urban-cool hipster guys who think they're smarter and cuter than they really are.  Ugh.  If this is what "enlightened" guys are supposed to be like these days, give me a rugged, unreconstructed, unapologetic cowboy any day of the week.  You know, someone who actually has a confident definition for "self-reliance" and "masculinity." 

Putin vs. Obama in Images

You know, waaaay back in early August, before the Syrian fustercluck had really happened, Iowahawk said something that I think is well worth repeating now that we've seen how Putin played Obama like a fiddle and completely outmatched him.  At the time the tweet was mostly just a sassy quip.  Now it's not so funny, is it?

Coming up on Worldwide Wrasslin': it's Vladimir the Bear-Strangling KGB Bond Supervillain vs Gradschool McMomjeans.
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) August 7, 2013

Buzzfeed just did a brutal photo comparison of the two doing photo-ops, and well, here it is, kids, because it makes Iowahawk's tweet all too concrete.  Yeah, Buzzfeed is evil and stupid and likes to steal images and links and stuff, but it just might say something about Obama's plummeting level of "cool" that even a silly, often-juvenile outfit read by undergrads who like celebrity gossip and puppies does this:

 

Unfair?  Maybe.  But not necessarily untrue in what the comparison says about the public image and reputation of these two.  I never drank the Obama Kool-Aid, so I'm looking around at colleagues and former Kool-Aid drinkers now surprised and increasingly appalled at the sort of empty suit they elected to office not just once but twice while preening in their own self-righteousness as they did.  Now the whole thing has blown up in our collective faces.  Shocker, eh?  The Putin thing is unspinnable, no matter how hard the White House spin doctors try.  Obama aside, this is bad for the country ... and everybody who thinks a world dominated by the likes of Russia, China, and Iran would be a Very Bad Thing.  Shall we end with a bitter laugh?

Sure, Putin's an iron-fisted authoritarian dictator, but you gotta admire the guy's ability to keep a straight face while pantsing Obama.
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) September 12, 2013

The Syria Speech

I'm sorry. I'm watching this thing, but I cannot take this unserious man seriously.  The content of this speech is so much rhetorical fluff and filler.  His mouth is moving, but I can't hear a bloody thing over the sound of How Idiotic This Administration Has Been For Days.  This is CYA BS meant to cover up the unbelievable clusterfark that this has become.  This sucks.

Well, at least this craptastic speech was short.  Ugh.  Here, you can enjoy Stephen Green's drunkblogging of it.

UPDATE:  The speech in a nutshell:

All we are saying, is give either peace or war a chance, depending which I'm pursuing at the moment.
— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) September 11, 2013

Quote of the Day: Cereal Killer

Why, yes, let's make our already-ludicrous "case" for striking Syria even more ludicrous by infantilizing it with this metaphor:

"A second senior official, who has seen the most recent planning, offered this metaphor to describe such a strike: If Assad is eating Cheerios, we're going to take away his spoon and give him a fork. Will that degrade his ability to eat Cheerios? Yes. Will it deter him? Maybe. But he'll still be able to eat Cheerios."

Cheerios?  Silverware?  I guess the only up side is hoping that metaphorically Assad then stabs himself with the fork.  Or something.  What the hell is wrong with these people?  From the beginning, the Syrian mess has been characterized by folks from the president on down saying the stupidest things imaginable within earshot of ... oh, everybody.  

Let this be a lesson to you, my darlings: THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK. THEN THINK AGAIN.  AND A THIRD TIME BEFORE YOU OPEN YOUR TRAP. Remember that timelessly relevant axiom: "It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt."

Speaking of ... Obama is giving his speech tonight.  

"Words, words, mere words, no matter from the heart: The effect doth operate another way."

The line from Shakespeare seems fitting for this.  Do recall this too.

My Chemical Romance

Wedding season is in full swing, and the line between creativity and cruelty has become a huge blur.

Cheerios and Interracial Families

I totally didn't understand the controversy.  It's an adorable ad.  The family in it had a black dad and a white mom.  SO WHAT?  But apparently some jerks got their undies in a bunch about it online.  So here's the backlash to the backlash: the reminder that hey, interracial families exist.  Thank you: this has been your public service announcement.  In fact, a whole bunch of my friends have married someone of another race and are raising gorgeous interracial families.  Love should be color-blind.  Shall we also bring up the related topic of interracial adoptions?  Don't be a hater, man.

Quote of the Day: Government PR

Here's a thought: 

It is a great irony, and history will marvel at it, that the president most committed to expanding the centrality, power, prerogatives and controls of the federal government is also the president who, through lack of care, arrogance, and an absence of any sense of prudential political boundaries, has done the most in our time to damage trust in government.

Well, it's definitely change.  

Spinning Scandal-a-Palooza

I stumbled across this hilarious image while news-searching for something else entirely, but it's so pointedly relevant that I simply must post it.  (Seriously, does Obama press secretary Jay Carney even listen to himself?)

Jon Stewart Vs. Scandal-a-Palooza and Claims of Ignorance

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Indecision Political Humor,The Daily Show on Facebook

Public Service Announcement: On Being Gracious

Graciousness is an endangered trait these days, and I am all for bringing it back.  This is excellent stuff here and valuable life advice.  A bit of it:

Remember that the only representation of you, no matter what your station, is you — your presentation, your demeanor. You simply must attend. Stand when someone enters the room, especially if you are lowly and he is the boss, and even if the reverse is true. Look them in the eye. Ask yourself: Does anybody need an introduction? If so, before you say one word about business, introduce them to others with pleasure in your voice. If you can't muster enthusiasm for the people you happen upon in life, then you cannot be gracious. Remember, true graciousness demands that you have time for others.

A friend of mine once said that there are really two commandments in life: (1) Be Cool, and (2) Don't Be A Jerk.  Being gracious and courteous is, I'll argue, part of being cool. 

Quote of the Day: Credibility in the Gun Control Debate

Nothing is so obvious that you don't have to spell it out:

If you push legislation on a social issue with arguments that are demonstrably wrong (as in “provably non-factual”), obviously ignorant, and deliberately deceptive, how are people supposed to believe that your arguments are factual, informed, and objective in any other policy debate? 

If you think it’s no big deal to get your facts wrong, be ignorant about the issue at hand, and intentionally deceive people into voting your way when it comes to gun control, why should the fence-sitters and the opposition believe that you don’t play loose with the facts when it comes to climate change, energy policy, social justice, economic policies, or any of the other items on the progressive agenda? How can you be surprised when your efforts on, say, climate change are met with suspicion and outright hostility from the other side, and they accuse you of misrepresenting the data to push an agenda? After all, you’ve already set a precedent for that.

Earth Hour? Pffft. FIAT LUX!

The annual idiotic nonsense is upon us again, though I haven't found a response better than this one by a Canadian professor from a few years ago.  Do read the whole thing.  See too what Bjørn Lomborg has to say.  Perhaps celebrate Human Achievement Hour instead?  (Related thoughts.)  Awesome Aussie Tim Blair is treating this Earth Day with his usual panache (see his hilarious writeup from 2012).  As for me, I intend to carry on doing what I had planned to do tonight regardless of silly, sanctimonious publicity stunts.  It's March Madness, people, and my compatriots and I will be in front of the TV!