Friday Cat Blogging

I am so stealthy.

He Can't Drive 55

It looks like South Carolina's Lt. Gov. just can't keep his foot off the gas. You might remember that The Honorable Andre Bauer got pulled over at gunpoint three years ago for doing 60 in downtown Columbia and running a couple of red lights. Now the word is out that Bauer has been pulled over twice in the last four months: in December for doing 77 in a 65 zone on I-385, and in February for doing 101 on I-77 at night.

Bad timing for Bauer, who, just on Friday, had explicitly denied having any recent run-ins with the law. Also bad politics, since Bauer is up for reelection this year, and already has a primary opponent. And as much as it pains me to see Mike Campbell exploit his father's name and the Campbell's soup logo in a bid to get a job he thinks is a waste of money, I do like the thought of Bauer getting unceremoniously tossed out on his butt.

It could also prove very expensive for Bauer from a ticket perspective if he loses his spot as "SC 2". He was let off with only a warning in December, and was just sent on his way after getting caught doing triple digits in February. Something tells me he won't be so lucky after he leaves office and doesn't get to make up stupid titles for himself on his government-issued police radio.

And while we're on the subject of the police, perhaps someone should ask the SC Highway Patrol why it doesn't think it needs to enforce the law when dealing with "almost famous" people — I'd be interested to hear the answer.

Not the Fifth

One of the advantages of working from home is that on Thursday and Friday afternoons, I can finish the day with some golf on the TV in my office. Of course, I screwed up this week and totally forget to watch any of the Players Championship. Chalk that up as reason 15 it's not the fifth major: I'd never forget to watch any of the true majors, no matter how busy my day was.

Friday Cat Blogging

Sometimes I like to take a nap before dinner.

Charlotte MS Walk

Many of you probably have friends and family who are living with Multiple Sclerosis. It's an awful disease, but recent advances in drug therapy have been very encouraging, and have greatly improved the quality of life of many patients. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society funds much of this crucial research, and with continued support, there is good reason to believe that we might be close to a cure.

On Saturday, April 22, Mary and I are going to be participating in the Charlotte MS Walk to raise money for the MS Society. If you can be in Charlotte for the walk, please join our team and walk with us. If you can't walk with us, please consider making a donation, or organize an MS Walk team in your own community.

It's good fun for a good cause — what could be better than that?

Bedeviled

As if I weren't doing badly enough in my NCAA pool, tonight Duke let me down, losing to LSU 62-54. I had Duke going all the way, so my brackets are officially fubar'd.

In a way, it serves me right — I never have liked Duke very much. But I never thought they'd tank just to teach me a lesson. I guess I should have gone with the Shockers.

Update: Et tu, Gonzaga?

Elmwood Cemetery

Now that I've been running again, one of my favorite routes takes me looping through Elmwood Cemetery, a 72 acre tract just a few blocks from the center of town. I've long been meaning to go back with a camera and take a few pictures, and a few weeks ago, I finally did.

Less Like Anti-Abortion, More Like Anti-Sex

With the new lineup on the Supreme Court, and with state legislatures getting in line to pass the most restrictive anti-abortion laws we've seen in over 30 years, you can bet that choice will be at the center of the political culture wars in 2006 and 2008. Thus it is important to keep in mind what is really driving the anti-choice movement, which as Garance Franke-Ruta reminds us, is not, at the core, merely opposition to abortion.

While some portion of the pro-life side is genuine about wanting to reduce abortion, none of the big successes in reducing the abortion rate can be attributed to their efforts — not even to the parental notification and consent laws they've passed, according to The New York Times. Perhaps this is because the real goal of a significant chunk of the pro-life agitators is not reducing abortion, but the creation of a legal and medical system that reflects and reinforces the moral order. Preventing disease, death, and human suffering are not the ultimate goals of this part of the anti-choice movement, which is why they also oppose vaccines against HPV, which can cause cervical cancer, and even HIV. Their major worry is social disinhibition and the way the legal system has given social sanction to acts they consider immoral. It is not the existence of abortion that must be resisted within this framework; it is the social sanction the law gives it.

Many anti-choice folks may be sincere in their moral beliefs about abortion, but it's pretty clear that they see sex itself as the larger problem here. So don't think for a minute that South Dakota represents the end-point for what this movement wants to accomplish — it's only the beginning.

Best and Worst

Senator Russ Feingold throws down:

A liberal Democrat and potential White House contender is proposing that the Senate censure President Bush for authorizing domestic eavesdropping, saying the White House misled Americans about its legality.

"The president has broken the law, and, in some way, he must be held accountable," Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) said.

There is sure to be a lot of debate about whether this criticism of the President is a smart move politically for Feingold and the Democratic Party, but amidst all the hand-wrining it is important to remember that substantively this is the right thing to do. Accountability and rule of law are not the sexiest issues, but it is no exaggeration to say that these principles are central to our democratic system. Feingold's attempt to protect those principles is patriotism at its very best.

It's not surprise, though, that Republican's promptly trotted out their customary accusations of treason against Feingold. Within minutes, Senator Bill Frist was stepping up to the plate:

Frist, appearing on ABC's "This Week," said that he hoped al-Qaeda and other U.S. enemies were not listening to the infighting.

"The signal that it sends, that there is in any way a lack of support for our commander in chief who is leading us with a bold vision in a way that is making our homeland safer, is wrong," Frist said.

There is sure to be a lot of debate about whether this obsequious and unwaveringly loyalty to the President is a smart move politically for Frist and the Republican Party, but amidst all the jaw-boning it is important to remember that substantively this is the wrong thing to do. Frist's apparent belief that being a good citizen demands sitting down, shutting up, and letting the President do whatever he wants, undermines the principles of accountability and rule of law that are central to our democratic system. Frist's attempt to attack these principles is jingoism at its very worst.

746

According to Forbes, there are 746 billionaires in the world. That's quite a lot, and more than I thought there would be as I was waiting for the story to load. The article doesn't include their collective net worth,but the top ten clock in at a cool $275.4 billion — more than the GNP of all but 17 countries.

I was surprised to see whose name was at the bottom of the list, tied for 746th place with $1 billion even — Jerry Zucker from SC. I'm pretty sure he's the only person on this list that I have ever met. Not the most exciting "brush with fame", but it's all I got in the billionaire department.

Press as Reality

The Poor Man makes a good point about the Bush administration's approach to the Iraq war:

Here’s my little translator’s key to this emerging talking point: Republicans attach incredible importance to media criticism of the war, because they genuinely believe that the war is won and lost IN THE MEDIA. The American media, that is. Their partisan selves are so thoroughly embedded in the culture-jamming electioneering of the Rovist personality cult the GOP has become that they genuinely don’t recognize the difference between actually achieving peace and a non-doomed secular democracy in Iraq, and just being able to plausibly claim that peace on American TV.

I think this is correct, but I would take it a step farther: this media strategy is the standard response to almost every serious problem. For instance, you might recall that after being told that "America is under attack", Bush sat in a Florida classroom for seven minutes before taking any action. But can you remember what action he took first?

But even after he left the classroom, he didn't call the Pentagon. He didn't ask if there were other aircraft hijacked or missing. Instead, he and his staff worked on a statement to the press.

Ken Mehlman gives us another example of this mindset. Speaking about Rathergate:

“It also, frankly, gave us an opportunity, frequently, when things came out in the media that we didn’t believe or didn’t like, to say, ‘It’s another CBS story,’” said Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, who was the president’s campaign manager. “I mean, it gave us a serious response to bad news.”

But of course, that's not a serious response to bad news, that's a clever response, a response that tries to change the subject. Now, that might be a good strategy if all you want to do is to alter the way people talk about bad things, but it's a horrible approach if you actually want to do something about those bad things. Mehlman's inability to distinguish between the two is telling, and sadly, all too common.

Status Symbol?

Walking home from the gym today, I saw someone driving their Hummer down the street. As usual, my first reaction was to think, "what an asshole." I have a similar response when the vehicle is an Escalade, a Suburban, or any other titanic truck-pretending-to-be-a-car, but Hummers trigger that feeling most intensely.

It's not just about the way Hummers look (ugly), or their fuel efficiency (lousy); other vehicles are just as ugly or consume as much gas. Instead, I think it's primarily due to the fact that the company's marketing campaign seems to be a direct appeal for people to revel in their own obnoxiousness. "You're a macho dickhead — buy a Hummer!" So it's no wonder, I guess.

I know some people think their ginormous SUV is a status symbol, but I'm willing to bet that a lot of people share my reaction. So folks, do yourselves and the world a favor, and rethink your mode of transport.