Month: March 2003 (Page 6 of 8)

Good stuff from Howard Dean

Former Vermont governor and 2004 Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean was on “Meet the Press” over the weekend. And despite Tim Russert’s baiting, Dean was evenhanded and forceful.

Russert: Are you giving the United Nations and, in effect, [makes a face] the French a veto over the security of the United States?
Dean: Never. Never will I do that. And that would be wrong to ever do that.
Russert: But isn?t that what you?re doing, in effect?
Dean: No. No, because the argument here is: Is the security of the United States affected by what?s going on in Iraq today? And I don?t believe it is.

and later…

Russert: Civil unions for gay couples.
Dean: Yes.
Russert: Do you believe the American people will accept that even though…
Dean: Sure.
Russert: …they may be morally opposed to accepting homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle?
Dean: I think that?well, first of all, I?m not sure you can say homosexuality is an alternative lifestyle. I think most evidence is that homosexuality is genetic. So people don?t choose a lifestyle.
Secondly, I think most people believe in equal rights under the law. What civil unions does is it says marriage is between a man and a woman but same-sex couples may enter into a civil union and have all the same legal rights as people who get married?hospital visitation, insurance, inheritance. Vermont is the only state in the country where everyone is equal under the law and I think that?s a good thing and I think most Americans believe that?s a good thing.

On Comedy Central’s “Tough Crowd” tonight, comedian Judy Gold called the war in Iraq “a war of choice.” Beautifully put. Because even if you agree with this war, you have to admit, it’s a choice we’ve made to pursue it, unlike the traditional idea that war is something thrust upon you. This war is like elective surgery – it might improve things, but there are definite risks, and the cure could very well be worse than the disease. It’s the liposuction of international relations.

What are we, in junior high school? What’s next – chanting “Fatty Fatty Boombalatty!” in front of Volkswagen dealerships?

It’s official: Salon reads my weblog.

I recently had a brief period of thinking I knew what the hell I was doing. This turned out to be an illusion.

Anyone ever read “The Sparrow” by Mary Doria Russell? My mother recommended the book to me, and I started reading it over the weekend. I’m about a third of the way through, and enjoying myself immensely. I’ll write a review when I’m finished. Good stuff, Maynard.

Saddam bin Laden

You almost have to admire the way the administration has managed to blur (erase?) the line between 9/11-Osama-Al Qaeda and Saddam-Iraq. Just by mentioning the two in the same sentence enough times, people are beginning to believe that it’s all the same thing.

-How many Iraqis were among the 9/11 hijackers? None.
-Are Osama and Saddam working together? No. They hate each other.
-Did Saddam have anything at all to do with 9/11? No.

But we are a suggestible people. It reminds me of a great book I read in a college psychology class, “Influence” by Robert Cialdini.

Cialdini did experiments where people asked others for favors, like permission to cut in line at the copy machine. He found that if people included the word “because” in their spiel, they were much more likely to get the other person to agree. This was true even if they didn’t really give a reason: “Could I cut in line? Because I need to make some copies.” People hear the word “because,” and their brains assume there’s a good reason for the request.

Same thing with Saddam and 9/11. Mention them together often enough, and presto! Influence. Cialdini would be proud.

Some great writing by Jimmy Carter and Gary Kamiya about “the mess we’re getting in,” as Darryl Worley put it.

Andy “Mark Twain of Our Generation” Rooney’s eyebrows are now growing so long, they droop down in front of his eyes like some sort of hairy clip-on sunglasses. Does anyone else want to reach through the TV and snip them off with pinking shears?

Memo to Andy: Yes, Andy, we’ve all noticed that they’re putting less stuff in boxes at the supermarket. We already knew that in 1988, when you did the first in your “coffee cans have less coffee” series. Your Pulitzer is in the mail.

Combination Orwellian/Freudian quote of the week

“But in the name of peace and the security of our people, if he won’t [disarm] voluntarily, we will disarm him, and other nations will join him — join us in disarming him.”

-President George W. Bush, at his second ever prime time press conference