(Jack Ohman via GoComics.com)
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For your evening’s amusement, may I suggest Doghouse Riley’s evisceration of the latest Brooks atrocity?
DO you find it as curious as I do that David Brooks can trot out three sociologists, or economists-turned-sociologists, to back him up, but is apparently unaware of the existence of historians?
The people who pioneered democracy in Europe and the United States had a low but pretty accurate view of human nature. They knew that if we get the chance, most of us will try to get something for nothing. They knew that people generally prize short-term goodies over long-term prosperity. So, in centuries past, the democratic pioneers built a series of checks to make sure their nations wouldn’t be ruined by their own frailties.
How many things are wrong with that paragraph, not counting its publication in the New York Times? Should we try to count? Should we start with the standard rejoinder of the American right–home of the Republican party–that we live in a Republic, not a Democracy?
That playground retort–designed, I need not remind you, to cover the anti-democratic inclinations of the Republican party and the man who presumes to explain Democracy to us here–soon turns serious; assuming we’re speaking of the Modern, not the Ancient, World, the “people” (funny how fastidious “conservatives” are about avoiding gender-specific collective nouns when the subject is something females were excluded by brute force and religious dogma from participating in) who “pioneered democracy” (horrid construction designed to prove Brooks’ point for him without effort) were wealthy aristocrats who intended (and did) to preserve their own advantages above all. The authors of the Magna Carta and the various founding documents of the United States had no intention to share governance with the demos. The real European “pioneers” of democracy were the French, and we know what Brooks thinks of that…
Apart from the Usual Gang of Idiots Miscreants, what’s on the agenda for the end of the weekend?
Litlebritdifrnt
I am sat here at my computer desk. By the smell that is wafting up to my nostrils there is something dead somewhere, it could be a mole, a mouse, or a squirrel but somewhere my cats have secreted a dead animal, now all I have to do is find it.
geg6
Mr. Riley is punching down, taking on that idiot Bobo. Moral Hazard is a more interesting character.
For myself, watching Food Network Star and digesting. Hot day, especially considering the date, here in Western PA today. Made a salad from a half a roasted chicken we had left over. Spinach, gala apple slices, and shredded chicken with a warm dressing of bacon, green onion, cider vinegar, olive oil, thyme, and a pinch of salt. Dessert was triple vanilla ice cream with blueberries and strawberries. A bottle of Snoqualmie reisling and I am sublimely happy.
Calouste
I think Brooks is talking about Iceland. Other than that I can’t think of a European country that started with democracy “in centuries past” and didn’t have a hick-up or two along the way.
And oh, the US was almost ruined by its own frailty within a century of its founding, but that’s such an inconvenient fact.
befuggled
Please point me to the David Brooks column that is not an atrocity.
On the animal front, we keep hearing noises from the garage but can’t actually find anything in the garage.
suzanne
@geg6: That Snoqualmie Riesling is my favorite wine EVAR.
I stayed home sick on Friday and laid around much of the weekend. Still feeling like I got hit my a train, and I’d love to stay home and go see a doctor tomorrow, but I only get 5 sick days a year and I just used number 3. Feh.
I made this vegan chili today, because it’s my favorite, but I feel too craptacular to eat it right now.
Maybe I should go to the Minute Clinic or something. Oi.
Linda Featheringill
My two elderly cats [16 and 17] have taken to hanging out together, which is all well and good except . . . They get into trouble when they are together. They sneak into cabinets, and can’t find their way out. They sneak outside, and can’t get back in. They perform howling duets. The old troublemakers! What happened to the dignified lady and the distinguished gentleman who used to live with me?
[Moji is 16 and Sally is 17.]
Linnaeus
Conservatives have long had a tense relationship with democracy. The emergence of the New Right in the 1960s and 1970s obscured that tension somewhat, but it’s always been there.
MikeJ
Didja see that the Paulites have done it again? In Minnesota. 12 of the 13 delegates, and they just gave away the last one to Michele Bachman.
startribune.com/politics/statelocal/152171105.html
@geg6: I’m not a big fan of Riesling but I go hiking at Snoqualmie pass a minimum of once a month. My favourite huckleberry patch is up there which makes for good fall hikes.
Suffern ACE
@Calouste: I think Iceland even lost theirs for awhile. It’s not like they gathered at the thing in 1000 and low and behold the Danes never bothered with them again. It also helped that the country was gosh derned poor and rather unpopulated. Elite? What elite? They didn’t even get a chance to develop an elite until the 20th century.
cathyx
@Linda Featheringill: I’ve got 2 cats who are brothers and they are always fighting over who’s my favorite. Honestly neither of them are. They drive me crazy too.
karen marie
short-term goodies
OMFG, is David Fucking Brooks regressing back to his childhood?
I’m no historian but I’ve read, apparently, more American history and biographies of people active during the country’s founding than Bobo.
Smiling Mortician
Doesn’t Bobo have a degree in history? Or am I imagining that? Wikipedia doesn’t say.
geg6
@suzanne:
Good stuff, isn’t it? I usually go for the Chateau St. Michelle, but Snoqualmie is a close second. Plus, it’s on sale here right now for $8.99 a bottle. That’s a pretty good deal here where we still live with a state monopoly on wine and spirits.
Linda Featheringill
@suzanne:
Will you be able to see the eclipse?
jl
About halfway through the Brooks column, I realized that some one should have kept a timeline that kept track of the conservative hack pundit columns and media commentaries in reaction to the recent European election results.
I’ve read or heard about half a dozen already, but can’t document them.
Not worth the time for that linked blogger, or anyone, to go through Brooks’ nonsense in detail. But two points:
Bad dead white males history, at least for the US: Madison, Franklin, Jefferson, Hamilton, James Wilson, Thomas Paine (all Founders and Framers broadly construed) never arrived at a consensus on the role of government in restraining the lower and greedier passions of citizens in a democratic republic, or the appropriate level of centralization that provide checks and balances (Edit: or appropriate balance of self reliance and gummint hand outs, contrast John Adams and Thomas ‘early share the wealth primordial social security advocate’ Paine)
Recent history: Governments DID NOT lose elections in Europe because they tried to restrain supposedly short sided popular demands for all gain and no pain. Elections were lost because the governments have been doggedly pursuing failed policies of all pain and worse than gain but producing horrendous cost.
So, given that two of the major premises of his column are totally wrong, no need to go into more detail.
So, on to more important matters: friend persuaded me to assist in preparing a demonstration healthful but very flavorful and totally scrumptious and satisfying vegan meal tonight. Doubtful meat eaters will be on hand soon to try.
I am somewhat doubtful of total success, but beer and wine has been deemed healthful and vegan, and I made sure meatful delivery joint phone numbers on hand for emergency use.
Actually I am very doubtful, but what the heck, might as well give it a try. I want to learn how to grill tofu so it is cracklin crispy on the outside, and warm and gooey on the inside, so once I got that on the menu I was all in.
suzanne
@Linda Featheringill: Not from my couch, and I’m not moving.
Mark S.
They knew that people generally prize short-term goodies over long-term prosperity.
Yutsano
@geg6: @suzanne: You should see the falls. My aunt got married at the lodge there. It’s fantastic.
Mark S.
(Shit, I fucked up that last comment)
Like tax cuts over Social Security. Oh wait, that’s what Bobo wants.
karen marie
@Calouste: I suppose one would have to admit that frailty was a love of “short-term goodies,” but not even vaguely in the sense that Bobo suggests.
P.S. And it wasn’t the Government’s frailty but that of people who profited from the theft of liberty.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Mark S.: heh. I was just gonna post pretty much that
Mike in NC
Fixed
jl
@Mark S.:
The gander will decide what is good for the goose, and whatever that is, is not good for gander, unless the gander sees some overlooked goodies he can rake off.
That is an old saying that the Wise Founders of Democracy all agreed on long ago, but the wisdom was lost as greedy and spoiled democratic voters started asking what happened to all their tax and retirement money.
Brooks should have put that in the column, but he is reputed to be quite lazy, which is a quirk for him, but a deadly sin for us and we should be ashamed.
jl
@jl: And also, elections were not lost in Europe because the European leaders failed at giving in to their citizens’ delusional and greedy desire for infeasible demands for all benefits with no work.
This Brooks column should be nominated for his hall of hack infamy collection.
jeffreyw
Mmm… chili cheese fries.
geg6
@Yutsano:
You can taste it in the wine. Really.
I’ve gotta get to Washington one of these days. Been all around it, but never there. It was my dad’s dream paradise. He spent just a short time there while in the Air Corps during WWII, but never forgot it. Just like he never forgot being stationed in Alabama, but for the opposite reason.
Calouste
@Suffern ACE: Ah, well, maybe San Marino then?
jl
@jeffreyw: Would you please pass along the information that those cheese fries are vegan, so I can get them on tonight’s menu out here?
Thanks in advance.
They look great.
TaMara (BHF)
@Litlebritdifrnt: I change purses the way most people change shoes. I have several spring, summer, winter bags. One time I went to get my summer bag out – probably a year since I’d last even looked at it. Inside I found and mummified headless mouse I’m sure one of the fuzzy butts left for me.
My evening was supposed to consist of photographing the eclipse, but the clouds mocked me. I’ll put pictures up later so you can see the one, big, black cloud in an otherwise clear-ish sky that blocked the entire eclipse.
Yutsano
@geg6: You come out we’ll do another meet-up gladly. Plus between MikeJ and I we can give you great advice on where to go and where NOT to go. The only issue there is the places to see is much more numerous. If you could take a week that would be great. And our July weather is phenomenal.
geg6
@geg6:
Oh, and he also spent time in Biloxi, MS, which he declined to discuss except to say it is the asshole of the world.
jl
@Yutsano:
Thanks for the Snoqualmie Falls pic. I did not know there were those deluxe looking lodges at the top. They are going on my ‘to do’ list, fer sher.
Yutsano
@jl: Washington is full of great little livable traps like that. Of course I must give you the official standard caveat that there is nothing to do up here and the weather sucks. We somehow manage to exist in this hellhole. :)
Cacti
Tried Weihenstephaner Kristallweisbier for the first time this afternoon. Pretty good brew but I still prefer Paulaner as my go to weizen.
geg6
@Yutsano:
You are the best. I’ll be on the lookout for opportunities. Especially if I can find a way to tie it to work. Haven’t done a big trip for a conference for, literally, years. I know I’d be approved if I asked for it. I’ll be checking the NASFAA website for possibilities. Would live a meetup. Pittsburgh area BJers haven’t taken me up on the suggestion of having one here.
jl
@Yutsano:
I have spent a lot of time in boondocks that make 95 percent of Washington State look like Manhattan. So I fear no boredom as long as the countryside is nice.
And weather is no problem. When I had relatives up there, the weather was always perfect when I visited, for as long as I visited. I decided this is due to some kind of sympathetic magic that can never go wrong for me, and will fear no bad weather next time I visit.
You laugh now, but you will see!
Edit: Actually, one bunch of my Alaska family lives by the Copper River in a place where it rains damn near all the time in summer, so even if the sympathetic magic fails, I am ready. I am gonna live the high life in one of those lodges by the Snoqualalaloomie whatever Falls someday.
RossInDetroit
If David Brooks didn’t exist we would have to invent him. He triggers venting of the liberal spleen and a good venting now and then is necessary for health.
Villago Delenda Est
David Brooks SCREAMS for the “French solution” to be applied to him.
If this were 1791, and we were in Paris, Brooks would have already had his visit to Madame LeFarge.
jl
@jeffreyw: Um… still waiting to get the word that those cheese fries are healthful slimming vegan food.
Thanks.
jeffreyw
@jl: Leave off the chorizo chili and the cheese fries are very, very vegan. The ancho chili powder would be great flavoring for the cheeses!
kwAwk
On the topic brought up by the cartoon…
What I’ve never understood is why Democrats have such a problem with saying that banks who insist on being part of FDIC insurance should be required to follow strict guidelines for how they invest their deposits, as FDIC insurance makes taxpayers responsible for the bulk of deposits in a bank. Does anybody think a responsible private insurance company would insure banks which engage in such risky behavior?
It’s where Democrats are always losing the message war.
Corporations are people?
How about this. A corporation is a legal construct who’s sole purpose is to separate a business entity from it’s owners. It is not a person in any way shape or form.
Corporations pay taxes separate from their stockholders simply because the business is considered to be separate from it’s owners. Corporate income is separate from the income of the stockholders. Corporate liabilities are separate from the liabilities of the stockholders.
In a sole proprietorship or partnership the earning are transferred to the owners, and considered to be personal income. The liabilities of the business are the personal liabilities of the owners.
Calling Walmart a person doesn’t make any more sense than calling the United Nations a person.
What a world we live in.
Jay S
I’m not getting the point of the comic. I can see a couple of interpretations but none that strike me as funny.
Petorado
Typical Brooks column: democracy is the greatest thing ever and should be spread around the world, except for the fact that the inferior classes that are still allowed to vote want something back from the tax dollars taken from their paychecks.
This is another of his patented “political will” columns reinforcing for severely conservative pols that they should ignore the needs of the people who elected them to office and instead do what the Politburo would do: look out for themselves and their friends instead. Conservatives still have yet to prove Galbraith wrong.
Hill Dweller
Did anyone actually watch the entirety of Booker’s appearance on Meet the Republicans?
In addition to the stupid remarks about Bain, did he also downplay Republicans’ voter suppression efforts and the ‘war on women’?
Alison
@jeffreyw: Only if you’re using soy cheese, which would seem odd on chili fries. But it’s nothing I’d eat so what do I know…
jl
@jeffreyw:
Leave off the chorizo chili andthe cheese fries are very, very vegan.Thanks, Jeffreyw, that is just what I needed to know.
Ron
@jeffreyw: I don’t think you know what the word “vegan” means here. Cheese is definitely NOT vegan.
suzanne
@jl: Greek fries are one of my guiltiest pleasures. MMMM.
jl
@Ron:
I think jeffreyw wanted to type
” Leave off the chorizo chili and the cheese, fries are very, very vegan. ”
But I corrected him and got the correct information that I needed, which may come in handy very soon.
Edit: If anything remarkable happens, I will report back on the healthful vegan cuisine later. Or the emergency meats that the meateaters ordered.
Origuy
Uh, how are cheese fries vegan? Soy cheese?
I’ve spent a few weekends in Cle Elum, between Seattle and Yakima. Pretty area, although I don’t know what it’s like in the winter.
jeffreyw
@Ron: I don’t think you understood what @jl was wanting. 8-)
meander
I happened to catch the end of a program on the local PBS station (KQED in S.F.) called Shelter Me: Improving Lives, One Shelter Pet at a Time. I saw a minute of the segment about shelter dogs helping a person who gets sudden seizures, and the full segment about shelter dogs helping vets back from Iraq and Afghanistan. It’s remarkable what a dog can do for a person. Two organizations they highlighted were “Pets for Vets” and “Freedom Dogs”. I’m definitely adding them to my charitable donation list.
Looks like it’s playing on PBS stations across the country in the next few weeks, with a big burst on May 30.
jeffreyw
Mmm… nachos
Suffern ACE
@kwAwk: Because the three banks with both large FDIC deposits and large commercial banking operations happen to be large donors to Democrats as well as Republicans AND those commercial operations actually are important to the functioning of the economy. If I understand this hedge correctly, the initial hedge was against 350 billion in european corporate bonds that the bank held. I don’t know if the deposits that were used by the CIO came from the FDIC retail banking deposits or one of the commercial or investment banking entities or the non FDIC insured private banks. But there aren’t a whole lot of banks that need to hedge against a large european corporate bond holding like that.
There really are only three banks where the FDIC is involved in a substantial way that would be involved in this kind of hedging. I think if Obama can hold on and DF isn’t repealed, we are going to see these banks shed their US retail banking operations. But right now, who is going to buy them?
i can understand why the smallish FDIC depositors don’t leave the bank since they are insured. But I wonder why the large uninsured depositors don’t just say “thank you, but you just risked my deposits.”
GemmaM
You know, if your spleen needs a little *extra* venting, Andrew Sullivan’s blog put up a doozy of a demeaning post on Angela Merkel a couple hours ago entitled Getting Merkel to Fourth Base in which it is guessed that she, or at least Germany in general, will soon “acquiesce to the inevitable”.
I mean, ew. I dunno about you, but when I get to “fourth base” it’s not “inevitable”, it’s ’cause I just hit a home run in the boy department :) Then, too, there’s the whole “let’s demean female politicians using sexual metaphors” thing.
Bah. Spleen, I tell you. Spleeeeeen. Who’s with me?
YellowJournalism
@Origuy: Depends on the winter, but if you enjoy the snow it is beautiful.
burnspbesq
You can suggest whatever suits your fancy, but I’d rather stick knitting needles in my eyes than endure Dogmeat Riley.
James E Powell
@Yutsano:
That’s the Great Northern from Twin Peaks, isn’t it?
Both Sides Do It
Doghouse Riley is the best pundit in America there I said it
Both Sides Do It
Doghouse Riley is the best pundit in America there I said it
JoyfulA
@geg6: My father was a Navy civilian bureaucrat recruited when Huntsville, AL, was being staffed up. One visit was enough for him: “Not a place to raise children” was all he would say. I don’t think any of his group accepted the transfer and promotion.
Of course, previously in WWII Navy, he’d been just about everywhere and didn’t like any of it, so there’s that.