Wednesday, October 1, 2003

Recommended Reading

You'll need Adobe Reader to read it, but you might want to read this. It's a two-page chart prepared by Congressman Rahm Emanuel (D-IL). For those who don't have Adobe Reader, here's the concept: Page one is a list of proposed spending in the effort to rebuild Iraq. Page two is a list of cuts that are being made in America spending on itself. For instance, we're cutting $1,500,000,000 in housing for American military personnel while spending the same amount to repair "electricity transmission" in Iraq. There are even more egregious examples but basically, that's what it's all about.

• Posted at 1:49 PM · LINK

Recommended Reading

John Dean discusses the laws against government officials leaking the kinds of things that it looks like someone in the White House leaked.

• Posted at 1:39 PM · LINK

Interviews With Candidates

I was spectacularly unimpressed with Howard Dean last night on Mr. Leno's program. Politicians go on a show like that, well aware that they need to be glib and funny and human, and I suppose he did that part okay. But they also need to be able to get a tad serious there for a time and slip in one or two genuine points about what's wrong with our nation and how they have a real plan on how to rectify it. And I'm afraid Dr. Dean didn't make that leap. Even when he tried to get to issues, he sounded lightweight and (worse) generic. Years ago, I wrote a piece about political humor that said a presidential candidate couldn't be considered a serious contender unless political cartoonists like Paul Conrad could draw the guy. Now, the benchmark may be that you have to be able to imagine Saturday Night Live finding a cast member who can "do" him. If not, the person may be too nondescript and lacking in charisma to get elected, and that's been my view of Howard Dean, so far.

Meanwhile, Joshua Micah Marshall has conducted this interesting interview with General Wesley Clark. I don't know yet if he's the man but if he can sound this informed and interesting in front of an audience, maybe. Just maybe.

• Posted at 12:26 PM · LINK

While I'm At It...

Since I'm recommending books by liberals today, I also wanted to mention the new collection of Paul Krugman essays, The Great Unraveling. If you don't want to spring for it, I can basically summarize it with the words, "Just about everything the Bush administration is doing is going to bite us all on the ass." Naturally, Mr. Krugman goes into a little more detail than that, as befits a professor of Economics at Princeton. I ordinarily have little patience with predictions that the sky is falling but I find Krugman usually has pretty sound logic behind his doom 'n' gloom forecasts and he manages to avoid most of the personal crap. He will either come to be viewed as the sagest prophet of our time or this book will be ruthlessly mocked for its needless hysteria. Either way, I'm glad I have a copy and if you want to have one, here's our Amazon link. (Full disclosure: My copy was sent to me, free and unsolicited, by someone who works for its publisher and follows this site. But I would still be recommending it even if I'd paid good money for it.)

• Posted at 12:05 PM · LINK

You're Gonna Love Tomorrow

Some strips are acquired tastes. I'll admit the "clip art" look of Tom Tomorrow's strips put me off at first. And at second and at third. There was something about the rubber-stamp style that put me off and the few times I forced myself to actually read an episode of This Modern World, it didn't seem worth the effort. Which just goes to show you, or even shows to go you, you shouldn't judge a comic strip by what it looks like. I guess. Whatever, the work of Mr. "Tomorrow" (actually, Perkins) has grown on me and as this new career overview volume makes me realize, the problem wasn't him. It was me. I didn't read enough to get in sync with his cynical-but-funny way of looking at the news. I now routinely visit his weblog and I'm buying all his past collections. If you're new to his world, this volume would be a good introduction. Click here to order a copy from Amazon.

• Posted at 11:15 AM · LINK

What's Up With Gary Larson?

You remember him: The guy who drew the comic panel, The Far Side. Here's what he's been doing. And here's where you can order the upcoming two-volume set, The Complete Far Side, which features every damned one of his cartoons. It's almost a hundred bucks for 1,250 pages. Someone else will have to figure out what that works out to per cow joke.

• Posted at 3:48 AM · LINK

The Recall

They're saying Gray Davis can't be saved and Arnold can't be stopped. That's not how I'm voting but I don't care enough about Davis or Bustamante to get worked up over it. I cannot understand anyone's enthusiasm for Schwarzenegger, especially that of folks who have moralized in the past against so many things that he represents. Seems to me all he stands for is a G.O.P. victory, so his backers have managed to kid themselves into thinking he's even vaguely qualified. If I were an extreme Republican, I'd be pissed at him for beating Tom McClintock and if I were a moderate Republican, I'd be mad that he sandbagged Richard Riordan out of the race. Both of them have experience, an understanding of the issues and a set of core beliefs more compatible with their party.

But hey, Arnold looks like he's going to win. And that's all that matters, isn't it?

So far, my biggest disappointment about this whole election is that Larry Flynt hasn't made any trouble. I was looking forward to him giving interviews and trying to crash the debates. I don't even understand why he threw his hat in the ring if he wasn't going to unleash sex scandals and throw mud.

Ah, well. This recall will be over soon and we can all turn our attention to the next one.

• Posted at 1:51 AM · LINK