Flu and “Oh . . . NOW I get it”

I’ve had the flu — apologies to people who had posts pending that took me too long to get up.

Even with the flu, I had to go to have a drink at a friend’s birthday party. I loaded up on advil cold and sinus and headed to perhpas my new favorite place in Evanston. Over a drink, I finally got it (something). I was talking with a dear friend who is I am guessing early 50s and is a woman. Not learning my lesson from last week, I again lamented Hillary’s inability to count and this woman who I respect tremendously said, “When you have been in professional life as long as I have, you will experience being well-trained and well-qualified with the experience to do a job well, and some MAN will come out of nowhere with none of that and get the job you deserve.” (May not be an exact quote, but it is close).

All of a sudden I got the Hillary supporters’ point in a new way. Especially the women of my friend’s generation (which is what she said: women of MY generation have had the expereince . . . )

Anyway.

A little comic relief (i.e., Hillary really is done)

From Andrew Sullivan, via the New Republic;

from Dana Milbank (with apologies to Monty Python) in the WaPost;

and this was *before* Edwards’ media-moment-stealing endorsement yesterday.  Enjoy.

foie gras is back

I got the call on Tuesday that the repeal was going to be put through at the Wednesday City Council meeting. So, I was down at City Hall yesterday morning at 9:15, and talked my way into the press box for the 4plus hour meeting. Anyone who ever wants to experience pure boredom should sit through a Chicago City Council meeting from start to finish. Foie gras was the last issue brought up and the one that all the reporters/cameras were there for. Here’s Dan Mihalopoulos and Mark Caro’s rendition of what went down, complete with video. I was right there in the press box with them, and their rendering is pretty spot-on. Mark turned toward me after the repeal was passed, 37-6, and we both said “that was great!” (sociologically interesting, politics in action, witnessing of yelling and lobbying, etc).

What the whole experience boils down to was seeing how easy it is to get anything through City Council, what with the length of the meeting, the fact that aldermen are up and down, chatting with each other, in the antechamber drinking coffee, and each sitting behind a 2 foot tall stack of papers/resolutions/ordinances.

I Haven’t Read The Opinion Yet

But California’s Supreme Court has ruled against the state’s ban on same-sex marriage. In case anyone wonders or cares, I think this is a Very Good Thing. And I wonder whether they cite to Loving v. Virginia. Also, anyone else feel free to blog here.

EDIT: Here’s a link to the opinion. Looking at it very quickly, the narrow issue that the California Supreme Court decided, as a matter of California constitutional law, is this: once the state established a domestic partnership regime for same sex couples that gave pretty much all of the tangible legal rights and imposed pretty much all of the responsibilities as marriage, can the state still reserve the word “marriage” for mixed-sex (if that’s the term) couples only?

I, On The Other Hand, Love America, But Don’t Like Kobe Bryant

So that’s two more things I don’t have in common with this Hezbollah member.

Again, it’s a commonplace that many people around the world who don’t like American foreign policy, wealth, or perceived arrogance, or the way we look, smell, or whatever, still respond favorably to American popular culture, particularly those aspects that seem to imply rebellion against authority, e.g. rock music, blue jeans (God knows why — how can it be rebellious if everybody wears them), and even NBA basketball. Hey, world, there’s a lot more where that came from! To know us, really know us, is to love us! We’re the country you’d most like to have a beer with! Even you, Mr. Hezbollah member, assuming that you drink alcohol! Come visit, don’t blow up any buildings, and maybe we can score you some Lakers tickets!

One of the saddest things to watch over the last few years has been the current administration’s clumsy attempts at this kind of cultural propaganda. Again, not to repeat another Thomas Friedman column, but it seems to me that the best people to get out the message that Americans are not actually rapacious oppressors, but instead are really cool dudes who value freedom, love children and dogs (as pets, not soup ingredients), and just want to get along with every one — really! — are not American flaks like Karen Hughes, but actual foreigners who’ve spent some time here, either as tourists, workers (as long as we don’t exploit them too badly) or students. By making it harder for such people to come here, we’re undermining our public diplomacy efforts. We ought to make it easier.

Good Thing He’s Rich, White, And Has Well-Connected Friends

Or things could have really turned out badly for this guy.

It’s not a novel observation (Thomas Friedman makes it monthly), but one of the worst consequences of our government’s response to 9/11 has been its hostility to friendly foreign visitors, to say nothing of a general increase in authoritarian arrogance. Treatment of would-be tourists or foreign students is not an issue that could ever get political traction, but when I think about the “right track/wrong track” question, it’s stories like this, just as much as any of the large issues of the day, that make me pessimistic about our current direction.

Want more? Here’s a link to an ongoing series in the Washington Post called Careless Detention, which looks at the lack of medical care for immigration detainees.

War Vets Need Help

We send them to war, but are we doing enough to help war vets when they return?  Suicide rates are alarming.  Bush once said to other victims, “Help is on the way.”  Is it for our soldiers?

Why Young People Should Vote

Here’s a link to a video of an interview with two West Virginia voters of a certain age, both women, who support Sen. Clinton. The first one just really, really likes her. Cool. The second one won’t vote for Sen. Obama because “He’s a Muslim,” even though she knows that he says he’s not. Obviously, not cool.

Since the Supreme Court is OK with a law that prevents nuns without driver’s licenses from voting, but would probably strike down a statute that prevented bigoted morons from exercising their franchise, even if the state of West Virginia were to pass such a law (which I kind of doubt, but that might just be the bigoted moron in me), the only solution is for you, the alleged young, non-moronic readers of this blog, to get out there and dilute the influence of the bigoted moron bloc, which is known for its high turnout. Off you go!

Invade Myanmar?

Time online today suggests it might be time to invade Myanmar to ensure that aid reaches victims of the cyclone.  Here’s a CNN reporter’s accounting of his narrow escape out of the country & how the “generals” seem to be treating this tragedy.  What do you think?  Invasion makes more sense in this case than 5 years ago going into Iraq, BUT….

All my life, I’ve heard how many lives were “saved” by Truman’s decision to drop the bomb(s) on Japan, but I remain unable to reconcile that argument with the known consequences.  In this case, we do know many people are dying while waiting for a drink of fresh water, some food, shelter, etc.  What’s the right thing to do?  Sending money, especially in this case, left me wondering if whatever it buys will ever get to those suffering.  I remember the debate on this blog about the stolen skateboard, & I said something like…maybe the person who took it needed the thing or the money from it more than the kid who actually bought it.  Now that feels kind of naive when I picture the junta soldiers taking emergency supplies for their own use or charging a fortune for them.  They want to distribute it themselves.  Will they?

Oh no she didn’t! And more on superdelegates

Well, she finally played the race card explicitly. Just in case, you didn’t hear, here is how it went down according to USA Today:

“I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on,” she said in an interview with USA TODAY. As evidence, Clinton cited an Associated Press article “that found how Sen. Obama’s support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me.”

“There’s a pattern emerging here,” she said.

Clinton’s blunt remarks about race came a day after primaries in Indiana and North Carolina dealt symbolic and mathematical blows to her White House ambitions.

I think Bob Herbert captures my feelings pretty well.

But I do have one thing to add: You don’t sit down when there is racism this blatant going on. You don’t cave to it. The Democratic Party is going to be the party that ASSUMES white people are too racist to vote for an African-American man? Nice.

Please Hillary - go away before you hurt our party, your own legacy, and Bill’s any further. Bow out. You lost.

Superdelegates: I want their names and phone numbers. Just the ones who have not endorsed either candidate. And not their home numbers, their work phone numbers. And then we need to call on them to get this over with by endorsing Obama. If someone collects the list I will happily post it. It is part of their job and as Democrats, aren’t we allowed to call and lobby them?