Friday, August 6, 2010

Social(ist) Interaction

Stanley Kurtz is a prominent writer in the Conservative punditry. During the last election, he was a major proponent of the notion that if we elected Barack Obama, then we'd be turning the White House over to William Ayers, Reverend Wright, and any other radical who was ever in the same room as Obama. He's now out with a book that makes the case that Obama is a Socialist, which is a claim that many of the president's foes are desperate to believe and/or sell.

It seems like a silly charge to me. Obama's the guy who didn't fight for the public option, didn't nationalize the auto industry, etc. He still won't come out strongly for Gay Marriage and seems to me to barely qualify as a "slightly left of center Democrat," which is how William Kristol characterized him on The Daily Show. (Betcha Kristol never said that on Fox News.) But I do understand that some people are so far to the right that even the middle of the road looks Marxist from their vantage point. I also understand that some folks are so horrified to have a guy in the Oval Office who's a Democrat and/or Black that they want to throw every possible insult at him...so he's Hitler, he's the Anti-Christ, he's not an American Citizen...and he's a Socialist.

Enter Eugene Debs...and this is not the Eugene Debs who helped start the U.S. labor movement. This is a current Democratic activist writing under a pseudonym over at the website run by Conservative strategist-pariah David Frum. Frum is kind of a fascinating figure in the punditry these days. He wants to achieve most of the same things that other right-wingers crave but he thinks they're going about it the wrong way; that while the goals are right, the popular strategy as to how to get there is wrong. There are some folks out there who hate Obama...and hate Frum as much if not more for suggesting that throwing every possible handful of mud at the president is not going to drive him from office. Anyway, Frum has been publishing articles that "Debs" is writing to argue against Kurtz.

If you want to follow the exchange, here's the first round by Kurtz. Then here's Debs' reply and a supporting argument by Frum. Then here's Kurtz's reply to Debs. Then here's Debs' rebuttal to Kurtz and here's Debs continuing his argument.

Obviously, I think Kurtz is full of it. His position seems to come down to "If Obama does X, he's a Socialist and if he doesn't do X, then he's still a Socialist...and if anything he does seems to prove he's not a Socialist, it's obviously a smokescreen to cover up the fact that he's determined to do Socialist things to us." Still, I found the exchange interesting and I leave you to make up your own mind who's winning, not that it matters a lot. Those who believe Obama is a Kenyan-born commie-fascist are going to believe that forever. And Kurtz will sell a lot of books to them.

• Posted at 11:46 PM · LINK

Python Goes 8mm

On August on BBC Two, a show called Home Movie Roadshow will be running old home movies that Terry Jones shot of the early days of Monty Python. You may not be able to watch that broadcast but you can see a little preview of it here. Thanks to Andrew Littlefield for letting me know about it.

• Posted at 9:53 PM · LINK

Today's Video Link

From a recent BBC Special celebrating the 80th birthday of Mr. Stephen Sondheim: Simon Russell Beale, Daniel Evans, Julian Ovenden, and Bryn Terfel perform "Everybody Ought To Have a Maid" from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum...

• Posted at 7:26 PM · LINK

Recommended Reading

Jacob Weisberg, who has a thriving practice going as an aggregator of stupid remarks that come from political leaders, writes about why Sarah Palin says the inane things she says. The way I see it, he's way overthinking the question. I think it's a matter of just playing to her audience, saying what the people who flock to hear her like.

Years ago, a female stand-up I knew had a routine in her act that I thought was sexist (from a male POV) and stupid and while audiences howled at it, it was the kind of laughter a guy could get by coming out and dropping his pants — a cheap, easy laugh. It was so out of tone and character with the rest of her material (and her as a person) that I asked her one night why she did it. The answer was, "Because people laugh" and that was literally all there was to it. She did it because it seemed to be advancing her career and no, she didn't pause to ponder if she agreed with that message or the philosophy it expressed. It just worked and that, by God, was that. I think of her when I hear Sarah Palin.

• Posted at 12:24 PM · LINK

Power to the People

I've written enough about Five Guys burgers on this blog so here's Equal Time for something healthy. After my Gastric Bypass Surgery, I had to subsist for a time on protein drinks, which was a problem for me. Most are loaded with artificial sweeteners. I'm agnostic on the question of whether things like Aspartame or Sucralose are harmful to most people but I am of the belief that my body doesn't like them...my body and my taste buds. The times I've had them, they reminded me of something gross like animal urine or swamp water or cole slaw.

Anyway, avoiding artificial sweeteners took about 75% of all available protein drinks out of consideration. Avoiding high sugar content eliminated another 20% or so. I only found two brands that worked for me, both of which are flavored with Stevia, which is not an artificial sweetener but is sometimes employed in the same way. The Healthy N Fit line was rather decent but I finally decided I had a slight preference for the Jay Robb brand, which I gather is an industry leader. It deserves to be. They fib a little to make it sound like their product is utterly delicious but most of their protein powders, when mixed with some liquid, are highly drinkable. Some folks add milk or fruit juice but I go commando with plain ice water.

Jay Robb has protein powders made with egg whites, protein powders made from whey and protein powders made from brown rice. I tried all of them and immediately scratched the rice ones from my shopping list. One sip and I did a spit-take so grand, I think I owe royalties to the Danny Thomas Estate. The ones made with egg whites or whey are pretty similar in taste but I have a tiny preference for the whey, which is also lower in Sodium.

All three kinds come in vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, plus you can also get the whey in pina colada and tropical dreamsicle, and the egg white protein in an unflavored version. I haven't tried the pina colada flavor because I never had a real pina colada, and I have no use for the unflavored. The tropical dreamsicle, which is kind of a creamy orange, was okay mixed with water and would probably be grand if swirled into orange juice, which I no longer drink. Much better are the vanilla and chocolate flavors, which I think are a lot better than the strawberry. You may, of course, feel otherwise. Mostly, I alternate vanilla and chocolate.

You can buy Jay Robb protein powders online and there's lots of info at the Jay Robb website plus, as you might imagine, prices that are buck or three higher than other sites. I found my best price by going to an outlet of The Vitamin Shoppe but wherever you buy, don't start with a whole cannister of the stuff; not until you decide what you like. For around $2.50 each in many stores, you can buy one-serving packets of each variety.

Some tips. If you mix with water, the colder the better. A blender also helps. I use the Magic Bullet, the same product you're sick of seeing on every third infomercial and it's perfect for this. I also use a little less water than the Jay Robb folks suggest. It makes for a more flavorful shake and you can drink it faster. The longer it sits, the less wonderful it tastes.

And that's about all I have to say on the topic except this. In the last few years since my surgery, my sweet tooth has gone away. My doctors can't explain quite why it happened but one day, I suddenly had no craving for cake, candy, ice cream, etc. Naturally, one can't help but get some sugar in one's diet but I'm no longer interested in the dessert category or anything that's supposed to be sweet so I get a lot less than I once did, like maybe 5% of my previous consumption. This has somehow reconfigured my taste buds such that the Jay Robb protein drinks now taste better to me than they used to. (Conversely, most fast foods taste worse. One of the reasons I gush so much over Five Guys is that it's a puzzling exception.) I don't know if any of you reading this feels the need for a protein drink in your life but if you do, these have been my recent experiences. L'chaim.

• Posted at 12:16 PM · LINK

Recommended Reading

Paul Krugman on the Paul Ryan proposal for slashing taxes for the rich and benefits for everyone else. If you'd like to see Rep. Ryan's idea as he presents it, this page will make his case. I think it's double talk that skirts past a lot of specifics. Like, he exaggerates the financial woes of Medicare, then suggests replacing it with a plan that would give seniors vouchers that would enable them to pay for "quality, affordable [private] health plans." How much would his plan give them? How would anyone be sure that the amounts would cover the costs of a decent health plan? He doesn't say.

• Posted at 1:58 AM · LINK