Here’s what I saw when opening up Google Reader a few minutes ago:
That’s the McClatchy feed, and the stories are here and here.
Read a fucking book.
mistermix has been a Balloon Juice writer since 2010.
by $8 blue check mistermix| 121 Comments
This post is in: Foreign Affairs, War on Terror aka GSAVE®, Assholes
by $8 blue check mistermix| 30 Comments
This post is in: Republican Stupidity, Good News For Conservatives
DougJ has already weighed in on David Frum’s request for a new definition of conservatism, but I have another suggestion:
This was the sole representation of the Grand Old Party at yesterday’s Rochester Pride. There were a number of Democratic candidates, as well as a few non-partisan (judicial) candidates, but not a single Republican. Frum can blather all he wants about a “culturally modern” and “socially inclusive” party, but until his party’s candidates aren’t afraid to show their faces at a minority gathering, he’s just pissing on our shoes and telling us that its raining.
by $8 blue check mistermix| 66 Comments
This post is in: Our Failed Media Experiment
This Times story on Energy Secretary Stephen Chu’s role in the BP disaster contains some subtle, but insidious, bad journalism.
In early May, he suggested using gamma ray imaging to determine the condition of the well’s blowout preventer, a move no one at the company had considered.
A few weeks later, he overruled some BP officials and ordered the company to stop the “top kill” effort, citing “very, very grave concerns” that it could backfire.
He insisted in late June that a tighter cap be installed on the leaking riser. And on Tuesday, over the strenuous objections of top BP officials, he ordered a 24-hour delay in plans to conduct a pressure test on the well, saying that more safety precautions and analysis were necessary.
[emphasis mine]
If Chu can “overrule”, then he has some kind of power, right? Not so fast:
He is not formally part of the chain of command in the spill response, but carries the authority of Mr. Obama as well as his own considerable intellectual heft.
The whole story is crystal unclear about what Chu can actually do. It’s crying out for a paragraph or two about the Energy Department’s role in oil production (if any), and Chu’s role versus other players like Salazar. That might seem nit-picky, but part of the reason that people expect Obama to pull out his god wand and make it all better is because a lot of political journalism is very mushy about the roles and powers of participants in the process.
Also, too: People make a lot of fun of the “Snooze Hour”, but one thing Jim Lehrer is really good at is making his guests stop and explain acronyms and agency roles. Some might consider that disrespecting the viewer’s intelligence, but I think it’s quite the opposite. It acknowledges that smart people might be new to a subject and may need some context.
by $8 blue check mistermix| 20 Comments
This post is in: Excellent Links
The Times Magazine has a good profile of the new generation of abortion providers, who are products of residency programs quietly established with financial help from the Buffet family, among others:
When Salt Lake City and Atlanta are home to programs that train doctors to be expert in abortion and contraception, the profession sends a signal that family-planning practices are an accepted, not just tolerated, part of what doctors do. That helps draw young physicians. The first generation of providers after Roe took on abortion as a crusade, driven by the urgent memory of seeing women become sick or die because they tried to induce an abortion on their own, in the days before legalization. Out of necessity, the doctors pushed ahead with little training or support. “We did it by the seat of our pants,” says Philip Ferro, an 82-year-old OB-GYN at the S.U.N.Y Upstate Medical University in Syracuse. “There was no formal source of knowledge.”
As Ferro wryly puts it, “That would not stand today.” Abortion and contraception have become the subjects of rigorous, evidence-based research. The younger doctors who are coming through the residency training programs and the Family Planning Fellowship “have invigorated this field beyond my greatest expectations,” Grimes, the researcher and abortion provider, says. “We are cranking out highly qualified, dedicated physicians who are doing world-class research. There is a whole cadre of people. I helped train some of them, and I’m very proud of that. In the 1980s, I wasn’t sure who would fill in behind me when I retired. I’m much more optimistic now.”
Another take home from the article is that the terrorism practiced by right-to-lifers has mainly served to deny rural and semi-rural communities the services of abortion providers, because it’s really damn hard to be the only provider in an area.
by $8 blue check mistermix| 80 Comments
This post is in: Democratic Stupidity
This brand-enhancing ad was paid for by the Democratic Governors’ Association, who gave $782K to a 527 group trying to get Iowa Governor Terry Branstad beaten by his primary challenger. Someone needs to tell the DGA that the definition of ratfucking is not “fucking yourself with the opponent’s dick”.
Also, too: The answer to the often-asked question of why the Democratic Party isn’t better at promoting its core values is that an influential part of the party establishment is ashamed of those values and the party leaders who promote them.
A Heady Mix of Incompetence and Self-HatredPost + Comments (80)
by $8 blue check mistermix| 55 Comments
This post is in: Bring on the Brawndo!, Clown Shoes
Mississippi Public Radio pulled Terry Gross’ program Fresh Air because of a single complaint by someone who heard some mild talk about sex from Louis CK (nothing like this, in other words). MPR has a “zero tolerance” policy for certain kinds of content on their airwaves.
Louie has posted a 13 minute rambling video begging Mississippians to ask for reinstatement of the show, which is worth watching if you want to ruin your morning. (Update: He took it down, smart move.)
I’m just surprised that Fresh Air lasted as long as it did with a zero tolerance policy, and I wonder how the hell any media outlet can exist with a hair trigger like that. Once the terminally offended hear how easy it is to get a program taken down, MPR will be nothing but re-broadcasts of the Lawrence Welk Show and interviews with the Social Security commissioner.
by $8 blue check mistermix| 120 Comments
This post is in: Science & Technology
Isn’t it painfully obvious by now that Apple needs to drop their AT&T exclusivity agreement like Betty dropped Don? It might have been whiskey-fueled nooners and trips to Rome in the beginning, but now it’s nothing but lipstick on the collar and nights away from home.
If the iPhone hadn’t been saddled with such a frustrating, crap network, the early adopters of iPhone 4 (many of whom have been on iPhone since day one) wouldn’t be as obsessed with signal and call quality. I’m not saying that the current dust up about the iPhone’s antenna wouldn’t exist, just that it would be one issue, not an overriding concern.
If iPhone were available on Verizon, Verizon wouldn’t have gotten in bed as readily with Google. Every day a bunch of Verizon customers who would rather have an iPhone buy an Android phone and make a two-year commitment to Google. I’ve never waited in line before for a gadget, and I probably won’t again, but I was so fed up with their mediocre smartphones that I was at the Verizon store on the first day to buy the first decent Android device on their network (the Droid).
I’m almost certain that tomorrow’s press conference won’t be an announcement of an iPhone on Verizon, but it should be.