Brought to you by the letters WTF

It's a worthy cause--Bill Frist is one of several senators to appear on Sesame Street in segments on "Healthy Habits for Life"--but that doesn't make it any less trippy.

Set America Free

Set America Free: A bunch of national defense wonks and a couple of environmental groups (NRDC, Apollo Alliance) have united to lobby Congress for significant increases in U.S. auto fuel economy. They're emphasizing a "carrot" approach--investment tax credits as an incentive for companies to make their autos more efficient--rather than the "stick" approach of simply imposing industry-wide CAFE standards. (WP)

Plastic People of the Universe to play DC

Cool! At the Black Cat, May 26. The Plastic People of the Universe are a Czech punk band which played a pivotal role in the overthrow of Czechoslovakia's Communist government. Another notable thing about them is that they do some solid covers of Velvet Underground songs, even though most of their music is straight-up punk. Here's a sample of their cover of "Waiting for My Man."

Lakoff tapped for environmental reframing project

The Green Group has recruited the Don't Think of an Elephant author to help the movement repackage environmental issues for the challenging current political environment. (Grist)

Hmm. While I recognize the importance of reframing, it is clearly no silver bullet, and I feel that its potential to help us win is a little overemphasized. Certainly, let's answer Luntz with Lakoff, but let's also not forget: the other guys win not by being smarter than us or having broader popular support, but by being richer and having more friends at the top. Just something to think about before you cut that multi-thousand-dollar check.

See also Has Kristof ever BEEN to Washington? (3/19/03)

Job-seeking: kind of like dating

• "I know, I know, I'm being too picky. But I really need to wait for the right one. It's not fair to either of us if I just 'settle.'"
• "Is it too soon to call? Ugh, I hate these stupid games, I should just call. But what if I come off as too desperate?"
• "Sweet, he paid for my coffee."

Speaking of thumbs

A woman who chomped down on a human finger in her bowl of chili at a Wendy's restaurant is suing the chain (AP). But I feel like the person who should really be suing is the owner of the finger.

Idle thumbs in America

A few days ago we heard that Russia's Communist Party is planning to use a celphone text messaging campaign to build support among younger Russians. Now, here's an article about the use of text messaging as a political tool in Kuwait.

I think it's interesting that text messaging is not being widely used in this way in the U.S. Remember that fad of the late '90s, wherein people would use text messages to get 5000 people to go to Central Park and then all howl like wolves at exactly 9:11 am, or something like that? That never really took off or morphed into something more productive, and that surprises me.

Easter Monday notes

Good morning from the pile of foily carcasses that is all that remains of my stash of Cadbury Creme Eggs.

• Despite a flood warning, the annual White House Easter Egg Roll will continue as planned. Make sure to put a life vest on your tyke. (WP)
• I think I speak for Czech-Americans everywhere when I swear: we've never heard of the Easter Monday whipping tradition (Craigslist, Radio Prague).
• Popewatch: The Pope did not make his usual Easter Monday appearance. (ABC)
  
• Schiavowatch: Terri received a drop of wine for Easter communion yesterday. (CNN)

Friedman! Huzzah!

Tom Friedman, NYT columnist, is a man on a mission. This is his third column demanding that the Bush administration craft "a 'geo-green' strategy that would marry geopolitics, energy policy and environmentalism." Its failure to do so he calls "one of the greatest examples of misplaced priorities in the history of the U.S. presidency."

Kyrgyz

Definition: of or from Kyrgyzstan
Scrabble value: 26 points

While the population of Terri Schiavo's hospice bed is only 1, the population of Kyrgyzstan is over 5 million. And, just so's you know, insurgents (eek!) in this former Soviet republic have just ousted its president. Now various factions in the Kyrgyz Parliament are struggling for power as law and order collapse (NYT). Awesome--a power vacuum in yet another country which may or may not contain loose nukes.

Why should we care? Because one of the most significant and important projects of our parents' generation, the democratization and stabilization of the Soviet bloc, clearly is not finished. And few Americans seem to be paying attention.

Change the world; lose the freshman 15

After 9 days without food, hunger-striking Georgetown students succeed in pressuring the University to increase contract workers' wages to $14/hr. The wage increase will affect about 450 workers. (WP) Nice work.

Deanic depressive

After last year, it may seem as though giving money to the DNC is, as me ole gran'mum would say, "a bit like shoveling shit against the tide." But if you're into that sort of thing, Howard Dean is passing through DC next week on his fundraising circuit, and you can get in on the action for as little as $50.

Maybe Dean will be the guy who turns it all around, after all. I would not consider his presidential nomination campaign a failure. It's simply that his phenomenal, history-making grassroots fundraising success and pioneering use of the internet as an organizing tool were not enough to overcome his fundamental freakiness as a candidate. The question is whether the DNC will curl its deadly fingers of moral murkiness around Dean, or whether Dean's leadership will spur the party toward renewal.

Missed connection with the 21st century

In a flashback to 1945, someone has posted the following "missed connection" on Craigslist:

Beautiful negro girl on the blue line metro - m4w - 24
Reply to: anon-65192045@craigslist.org
Date: 2005-03-23, 9:51PM EST

Attractive negro girl on the blue line to Franconia-Springfield, you were in a car in the 2nd half of the train around 5:15pm rush hour...

But the derogatory innuendoes of yesteryear don't end here. One Craigslist user replies, "I hope he got off the metro and drove straight back to Alabama," implying that the poster is, perhaps, an ignorant "cracker." This honky says: let's get rid of the loaded words. An actual physical description of the person's skin color will do just fine.

Nader v. Novak

Ralph Nader and Bob Novak are truly a delight on CNN's Crossfire, with Nader good-naturedly launching ad hominem attacks against Novak every thirty seconds or so. You never saw personal mudslinging to this degree with Carlson and Begala, for example. A transcript of yesterday's show puts the former Green Party presidential candidate on record calling Novak "the prince of darkness," but doesn't quite capture how much trouble Nader has with the teleprompter.

Correction: no charge to change ZoomInfo profiles

In a now-deleted post I inaccurately described ZoomInfo's system allowing people to correct information in the profiles it costructs from information on the web. ZoomInfo's Director of Corporate Communications informs me that:

"You describe us as charging people to update; that is not the case. We do a no-charge credit card transaction to verify that the name on the credit card matches the name on the summary. We user-tested a number of verification options during beta, and this was the option most favored."

Antigravitas regrets the error.

Metametameta

CNN's Inside Politics has a daily segment called "Inside the Blogs," which is basically about what mainstream journalists think about what bloggers think about what mainstream journalists think. Today, apparently, "the bloggers are talking about Terri Schiavo."

Hmm, gotta stay ahead of the curve--ah well, all that yours truly will say about the Terri Schiavo case is this: if someone called me back in to work from my vacation to do something that wasn't even my job in the first place, I'd be pretty pissed. Especially if they were asking me to overstep U.S. government's separation of powers.

Name that Member

Capitol Hill job postings often purposely obscure the identity of the Congressperson you'd be working for. You know, "Southwestern Republican seeks experienced press secretary," etc. Sometimes, though, the line between obfuscation and clarity is a little too narrow, as in this posting I saw today:

"Blue Dog Democrat seeks Legislative Assistant for immediate opening ... Previous LA experience is strongly desired, and connections to Oklahoma preferred." (emphasis mine)

Hmm, could this possibly refer to Rep. Dan Boren, both the only Democrat and the only Blue Dog caucus member in the Oklahoma delegation?

For, by, and about tools

I can't think of anything I'd rather do than read Boeing's Vice President of Marketing's blog. (Via WP, More PR Than No-Holds-Barred On Bosses' Corporate Blogs)

Has Kristof ever BEEN to Washington?

In his March 12 NYT column, Nicholas Kristof , inspired by "The Death of Environmentalism," writes that "The U.S. environmental movement is unable to win on even its very top priorities, even though it has the advantage of mostly being right." Kristof is absolutely right that there are changes to be made within the environmental movement. But he's dead wrong when he claims that the fundamental problem here "is that environmental groups are too often alarmists." Agreed, we need to refine our messaging, but that's not the central issue here.

The fundamental problem, the reason that enviros have always had to work their fingers to the bone to win small victories, is that the minority of people who stand to benefit from profitable but environmentally disastrous policies are the same people who are able to buy access and influence with our decision makers. You know these people. Their names are Exxon-Mobil, DuPont, and International Paper, just to name a few.

Kristof's argument assumes that the political landscape in America is a level playing field in which victory only comes down to winning the hearts and souls of the voting public by presenting the merits of one's case in a compelling way. I am shocked that a man of such erudition could possibly assume such a thing, and I wonder if he has ever spent any time on the Hill. For example, has he never seen the American Petroleum Institute's hundreds* of lobbyists swarming around the Senate the day before a vote on drilling in the Arctic Refuge?

What we actually need to win is not more "reasonable environmentalists,"** as Kristof argues, but a) true campaign finance and electoral reform b) more money, 'cause we don't run a profit like the other guys do c) lots more people on the ground d) a little bit better framing of our message.

*Literally.
**There are plenty of actual reasonable environmentalists, but what he means is "sellouts"

Farewell, Mr. X

Diplomat, Sovietologist George F. Kennan is dead at 101 (NYT), beating out nemeses Josef Stalin, Nikita Krushchev, and Leonid Brezhnev by decades. If you can't outstockpile them, outlive them.

Appropriately, that is the policy that the U.S. adopted toward Communism during the Cold War under Kennan's influence. You may remember that Kennan was the author, under the pseudonym "Mr. X," of the 1947 essay which first articulated the containment approach toward facing down Communism.

Fight for blogger equality continues

Apple is suing bloggers who revealed company secrets on their sites. At issue is whether bloggers are journalists, and therefore entitled to keep their sources confidential. (NYT)

This is only the latest development in the battle for bloggers' rights. (See also related posts, Score one for blogocracy and Ooh, ooh! Free FOIA requests!!!)

Legislative update from the purple sofa

Here's the latest on some stories I've been following from Murky Coffee, whose free wireless I am sponging while I wait for Verizon to get a clue. Hats off to Murky.

• Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) is "seriously depressed" that enviros have been kicking his ass on Arctic Refuge drilling all these years. (WP) Interior Secretary Gale Norton places requisite pro-drilling op-ed in the NYT. It's on.
  
• Credit industry-backed bankruptcy bill passes Senate, is lampooned by Tom Tomorrow. Those of us who have, at one time or another, signed up for a credit card in exchange for a free Snickers bar wince at the memory, vow to make larger payments.
  
• DC area media develop full-blown obsession with mercury (the element) in wake of continuing contamination problems at Cardozo High. (see DCeiver's Mercury Panic Pictorial Threat Index; also coverage by Washington City Paper, Kojo Nnamdi Show.)
  

You must be at least *this white* to drive legally

Good God, have you seen the new TV ads sponsored by the Coalition for a Secure Driver's License?

We see images of a dusky-skinned man obtaining a new driver's license (he writes "Ali" as his first name on the application) and then coasting through airport security. Next we see a very blond, Aryan-looking mother and child waving farewell to the father of the family from the steps of their suburban home. "When will Daddy come home?" asks the adorable little towhead as we see Dad board what we can only presume is the same plane as Ali, the nasty brown terrorist.

A little heavy-handed on the racist undertones, don't you think? This group makes some valid national security arguments about tightening up state policies on issuing driver's licenses to immigrants, but one gets the feeling that their true agenda is to keep people darker than a paper bag out of our country as much as possible. I guess they gain a little legitimacy by having on their board an actual immigrant ... from Great Britain.

Harnessing the tools of capitalism

In an effort to attract younger members, Russia's Communist Party plots text messaging whisper campaign. (Forbes.com)

Friday afternoon moment of Zen

"[Japanese] Prime Minister Koizumi interacts with the therapeutic seal robot Paro in 2003. (Courtesy of Takanori Shibata)" (WP)

You lied, James Earl Jones!

Posting will be sporadic over the next couple of days as Verizon resolves its persistent issues with my phone/DSL service. Grrr, I hate Verizon! All of them except for John, the friendly and professional dispatcher who took my call after they screwed up my phone installation. He totally hooked me up. Which brings me to:

My philosophy of dealing with customer service personnel
These people deal with so much attitude, hauteur, and unnecessary rudeness on a daily basis that if you are simply respectful and understanding toward them, they will totally go to bat for you.

And with that, I go...offline.

Out-outfoxed

Rory O'Connor reports that an episode of the ABC drama Boston Legal--an episode focusing on censorship--was itself censored to purge it of references to Fox News, Bill O'Reilly, and the independent anti-Fox expose, Outfoxed. (Media is a Plural via Alternet)

Bizarre. I always figured that the unholy union of news and entertainment would come crashing down on our heads, but the continuing subversiveness of The Simpsons gave me hope...until now.

Cautious optimism is justified

Will upgrade to "full-on optimism" if next week's EPA mercury rule doesn't suck.

Yesterday the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee shut down the so-called “Clear Skies” bill. Then, today, the EPA released its long-awaited Clean Air Interstate Rule, which sets deadlines for states and counties to meet new federal air quality standards. “Clear Skies” may yet resurface--who am I kidding, will yet resurface--and the new EPA rule does not go as far to clean up emissions as it much as it could or should, but . . . dare I say it, the environmental community is on a roll. Nice work, y'all!

Those keeping score at home might want to send mad props and donations to groups like:
Clear the Air
U.S. PIRG
Sierra Club
National Environmental Trust

Stay away from Singapore!

So, the U.S. just pulled out of an international agreement that helps people get access to a home-country diplomat when jailed in a foreign country (WP). Death penalty opponents have been using the agreement to fight death sentences laid on foreigners in the U.S.--I gather that many of these are Mexicans being held in Texas--and the Bush administration does not approve of this type of meddling in our judicial system.

I predict that this bites us in the ass within 1 to 2 years. The Post notes that we used the protocol in question to sue Iran, successfully, for holding 52 American hostages in 1979-1981. All it will take is a U.S. citizen being held without access to the U.S. consul in some foreign country where they allow icky punishments like death or whipping, and I'm pretty sure we'll get back on board pretty quick. Either that or invade them.

Late-nite brainstorming yields silly soundbite

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) on the Bush administration's air pollution plan: "Naming the plan 'Clear Skies,' Boxer said, is 'akin to calling Frankenstein Tom Cruise.'" (Reuters via WP)

BTW--I've noticed that, in a victory for White House spin forces, reporters have recently begun to refer to "Clear Skies" as "a Bush administration plan to cut air pollution from coal-fired power plants" (see the story linked above). Previously they tended to characterize the plan with more skeptical language. For example, one Reuters story dated 2003 called it "his initiative to amend the 1970 Clean Air Act." The newer language, while objectively accurate, conceals the bill's true purpose--the plan would cut emissions, but by far less than what we'd achieve by faithfully implementing the existing Clean Air Act.

Must sign off now...my bullshit meter is ringing so loud I can hardly hear myself think.

Blogging builds useful skills

I just got tested and found out that I now type at 75 words per minute. That's nuts.

(I also boast excellent hand-eye coordination, developed in my youth thanks to games such as The Legend of Zelda, Contra Force and Galaga.)

Krugman live

In a lecture last night in DC, NYT columnist and Princeton econ professor Paul Krugman discussed the future of Social Security. As he walked onto the stage, my friend and I managed not to squeal like teenage boy-band groupies. Then, across a sea of orange ties (the event was sponsored by the Princeton Club of Washington) we watched PK slam the White House's privatization plan with poise and humor. My full notes from the lecture are posted here.

Krugman emphasized a couple of points I've been hammering on (see related post, SOCIALIST Security you mean, 2/16/05). First, the disagreement over whether to privatize Social Security is a philosophical one. As Krugman puts it, the pro-privatization side simply believes that "the government should not be in the business of providing social insurance." When one side believes the program must be preserved, and the other believes it is fundamentally illegitimate, there can be no compromise.

Second, Social Security is not a pension plan. It's social insurance. It exists, to quote PK again, to "[protect] your mother or grandmother from living on dog food." That's why it sometimes runs a surplus, which should be left alone to take care of later deficits. That's also why it doesn't make sense to privately invest these contributions, even though it is true that higher rates of return might be available. "It's also true," noted PK, "that my wife and I would have more money if we took my mother-in-law's savings and let her starve."

Score one for blogocracy

Blogger Garrett Graff of FishBowl DC is cleared to attend today's White House press briefing. (FishBowl DC)

It just goes to show--with a little spunk, dogged determination, and the editorship of the Harvard Crimson, you can accomplish anything.

How to poll in the 50s without really trying

Looks like when it comes to changing Social Security, the Bush administration's policymaking modus operandi--what I call the "testing the waters" approach--failed. Or did it? Tom Toles puts it best in his cartoon in the Post today, but here's how the "testing the waters" approach works:

1. Bush presents a new proposal, such as overhauling Social Security or taking action against Iraq, but in an extremely vague and nondetailed way. It is crucial that few if any supporting documents that further detail the plan are available to the press or the public. The Bush team, though, has a good idea of what it wants to do, which is usually either reward its buddies or shrink the state.
2. With the proposal now being discussed at water coolers around the country, Karl Rove and his army of flying monkeys poll and/or focus group to figure out what details they will need to include in the plan to get public opinion on board. The fewer actual details, the better. They also figure out the best terms in which to describe the plan to secure public support.
3. The plan is presented with typical flawless message discipline and all the details needed to make people happy, regardless of how much it screws them in the end. "As part of our new proposal, we're going to give you $500 apiece! and eat your children."

What the White House didn't count on this time was the visceral way in which so many seniors (electoral powerhouse demographic!) would reject any proposal to fiddle with Social Security. They're wise, they're crotchety and they remember FDR. 'Nuff said.

Nats pester Orioles

Consider: it is technically possible for the Nationals to end up playing the Orioles in the World Series someday--which means that the Baltimore-Washington corridor could potentially play host to a "MARC train series." Doesn't have quite the same ring as "subway series," but you get the idea.

Nats topple O's in 1st Meeting (WP)

Yale opens its gates a little wider

Another Ivy* puts its obscenely huge endowment to work for the greater good: the President of Yale announced yesterday that the school is eliminating the parental tuition contribution for kids whose families earn less than $45K. Students with a family income between $45K and $60K will see a reduction in the required contribution. (Yale Daily News)

I applaud Yale for its decision--it's great when universities do the right thing on their end. Unfortunately, though, the barriers to a college education for the underprivileged go far beyond high tuition. There are social factors (see David Brooks, "The Sticky Ladder," NYT), not to mention the barriers underprivileged youth face simply getting the scores and background they need for admission to competitive schools. How many families can afford SAT prep classes that can run into 4 figures? How many can afford to send their children to private school if their local public schools don't adequately prepare students for college?

We have two battles to face in this country if we're going to provide mind-broadening, income-enhancing higher education to every qualified student. First, we need to erase the socioeconomic barriers that keep people from applying to, gaining acceptance to, or succeeding in college. Second, we need to make college free--yes, free--to all Americans who qualify, as many other industrialized countries do.

*Princeton changed its student loans to grants in 2001. (Daily Princetonian)

Those kooky activist judges are at it again!

. . . except this time, what they are being activist about is allowing the display of the Ten Commandments on government property. And they count among their number none other than Mr. Strict Constructionism himself, Antonin Scalia.

In proceedings today, Scalia "noted that legislative proclamations and prayer invoking God's name are permissible. 'I don't see why the one is good and the other is bad,' he said." (CNN.com) Well, to be honest, neither is good in the strictest sense, and you're not helping, your honor. How the display of a patently religious symbol using government resources could be construed as anything other than establishment is beyond me. How someone like Scalia, who is usually able to ingeniously couch his ideology within a cleverly strict interpretation, is out front on this is beyond me as well.

I do not anticipate that the usual folks who complain about judicial activism are going to weigh in on this one. However, I hope they prove me wrong.

Faith in humanity from the Capitol operators

The Hill profiles the Capitol operators, the 34 people who pick up when you ring the Capitol switchboard (202/224-3121) and help direct your call to your member of Congress. Let's hear it for these hard-working folks, who take 30,000 calls a week and agree that "As a whole, people are really nice. . . you couldn't ask for nicer people."

Consult your barista to decide whether Altovis is right for you

Last night I saw a TV ad for a new "anti-fatigue" supplement called Altovis, which is marketing itself in a prescription-drug-type way even though it is non-prescription and has not been evaluated by the FDA.

Interesting. Is it legalized speed, I wondered? A quick look at the Altovis website reveals that the drug in fact is "a proprietary combination" of teas and herbs. Significantly, one of the ingredients is "green tea leaf extract (provides 100 mg caffeine)." That's about the equivalent of a large, strong cup of coffee. And here's where the makers of Altovis have figured out how to make a bunch of money by selling slow-release caffeine pills.

New research suggests that caffeine enhances wakefulness and energy level better if it's taken in small quantities throughout the day--as opposed to the triple-espresso-shot dose that I, for one, require each morning to function normally. So the 100 mg of caffeine in a daily dose of Altovis, slowly released throughout the day, might just be enough to fight fatigue in the average person more effectively than candy bars of cups of coffee. The other ingredients (ginseng, random herbs) are smoke and mirrors, I suspect.

I think I'll stick to my current regimen of OTC doppios delivered at regular 3-hour intervals.