Posted 11:06 AM by magnu231
Obama, the "Clean Black"

I find the scuttlebutt surrounding Barack Obama's "blackness"interesting. According to Drudge (though I'm unable to get to the article at present), Biden said in an interview that "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy..." Stanley Crouch wrote a column in the NY Daily News a while ago entitled "What Obama Isn't: Black Like Me". I think these two columns rather nicely illustrate one of the major pitfalls of the left, racial profiling. Now, of course this exists on both sides, etc, etc, but since this a blog, permit me to overgeneralize. The left has long refused to accept certain people as black for the simple fact that they believed in conservative principles, or voted the wrong way, or refused to hate George Bush, who after all, does not care about black people (at least according to Kanye, and he should know, because he had a crown of thorns in a picture on the cover of Rolling Stone). After all, somebody cannot be truly Black unless they agree with what the Black leadership says to agree with. But it's alarming that this trend is being extended to those of slightly different heritage, or whose speech is a little too precise. And I think it's a problem that cannot be fixed by ignoring it. Racial prejudice, though not a problem in our country to the extent that it is in other parts of the world, is still a problem that needs to be confronted directly. However, those that will be quick to denounce the opinions of Crouch and of Biden (if it turns out that the quote is accurate and in context), should also be quick to fight for those disenfranchised and shunned by their ethnic group for daring to disagree.

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Posted 2:24 PM by Jason
"But outside it's cold; and oh, that howling wind!"

The St. Paul Winter Carnival begins this weekend.  This is as good a reason as any to read F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Ice Palace."   

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Posted 3:43 PM by Jason
Wherein Peter Huber sets you straight on energy and energy policy.

This column is from November, but I just saw it today, as I am not a regular Forbes reader.  I have, however, been a fan of Peter Huber for a few years now.  Who is Peter Huber?  Check out his profile at the Manhattan Institute's website.  He gets to the point in a hurry:

If you're 40 or older, you're going to spend the rest of your life powered by carbon or uranium. Take your pick. Forget about "none of the above" or "less of both." For the next several decades at least, alternative energy sources aren't serious choices; they are pork barrels, delusions, demonstration plants and daydreams.

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Posted 10:56 AM by Jason
Global Warming: Is There Anything it Can't Do?

This just blew my mind. SIGN KYOTO NOW CHIMPY McHALLIBUSHITLER!  For the CHILDREN!

Then again, according to Sen. Arlen Specter, stem cell research has the potential to conquer all known maladies, that could fix this, right?  Right?  

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Posted 10:44 AM by Jason
State of the Union

I barely watched the State of the Union address last night; just the end really.  I know I'm supposed to care, but Veronica Mars was new, won't be all over the news today, and wouldn't carry as well in transcript form.  I happened to switch the TV to ABC, only to see Charlie Gibson (talking to John McCain) repeatedly refer to American soldiers as "kids" and "young kids," and it rubbed me the wrong way.  Somehow it didn't bother me coming out of John McCain (I think he used the word first and CG went with it).

I wonder if the typical soldier would appreciate being referred to as a "kid."  

Ok, I give up.  I'm writing this right now a little after 9:30pm, but won't be able to post until Wednesday morning.  Sorry if I mix tenses.  No wait, I'm not.  

Hillary Clinton just called the Democrats an "evidence based party."  What does that even mean?

Well, at least Charlie called her on the "symbolic votes" against the "surge" and Democrats wanting to have it both ways on Iraq.  

She thinks we might make some progress by cutting money to Iraqi troops.  

I don't like using the word "surge" here, mostly because it reminds me of the soft drink made by Coca-Cola from the mid to late nineties, which seems to have been resurrected as Vault.  Really, think about it, it's the same thing.  At least they don't have the horrible commercials this time.  That or I don't watch as much TV.  

On to Obama.  Are presidential politics going to interfere with the next two years?  He gives the "well, it surely won't interfere with ME getting my work done" answer.  Smooth.  Then just platitudes and stock talking points.  See, this is another reason I DIDN'T watch the address.  

That's about enough politics; I'll stop now.  



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Posted 3:28 PM by magnu231
Tales of the Macabre

Making a brief foray from my normal libertarian polemics into the strange world of film making, I turn to the story of Erik Red. Some may have heard of the new "slasher" film (which is actually a remake) called "Hitcher". The story of the man behind the movie is as interesting and gory as the movie itself, (though I personally have no inclination to see it). If you're interested, check it out here.

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Posted 11:58 AM by magnu231
Reintroducing Satire

I think, and it was clear to me after watching some clips of O'Reilly on with Colbert, and vice versa, that one of the problems of parts of the conservative movement is a sort of portentous pretentiousness, a trait that of course still exists in liberalism, but used to be less noticeable in conservatism. Men like WF Buckley and others took joy in being not only intelligent, erudite, and intellectual giants, but also in being somewhat quirky and entertaining, symbolized by the bow-tie, which has since been so misapplied that it too stands for pretension. Here's someone who the conservative desperate needs to keep hearing from, in my opinion. PJ O'Rourke has been less in the public eye than when he was a young libertarian madman, touting drugs and dangerous sexual behaviors. However, I think he's matured into a funny and yet thoughtful writer. Here he is in Radar online talking about where the conservative movement has gone wrong.

Ah, there is a simple answer to that. We took power. You see, it's pretty easy to be smart and reasonable and far-sighted and to have great perspective on the past when you don't have any power, when you don't have to do anything.

Even though we had Reagan in, the conservatives had not yet taken over the reign of government. I mean, the whole story of the Reagan Administration is the fight for the conservatives to actually get power. And then we get George H.W. Bush, the senior, who's kind of a weak sister. His heart's in the right place and stuff, but I mean, he really should have been president of the country club, not of the country. And so the whole thing doesn't really bear fruit until we take over Congress in 1994, and then the problems begin ... and now it's payback time.

(I completely agree).

1 comments

Posted 11:12 AM by magnu231
AAAAAaaand We're Back!

I walked into the law school for the first time in a while, and was immediately accosted by a moderately elderly protester who demanded that I take a flyer. I refused, and walked away when she started to plead her case anyway. Then, while I was trying to figure out my class schedule (and trying to convince myself that life during this semester would not be as awful as the last semesters, even though it looked twice as bad), a mysterious figure, appropriately dressed in an orange jumpsuit and hood loomed next to my table. He offered me another flyer. I politely refused. He then made some comments about my being apparently a "pat hand" on the subject, and told me I was closed-minded. He then started to go down the line, offering flyers to some obviously bored students, none of whom took it. He then started to get on the soap-box, pontificating about "students who wouldn't even listen to opposing points of view" (though I happened to know that several of the students did not have an opposing point of view. It was hard to convince him that the controversy had been raging for a while, and we law students had some idea of what it was about. Perhaps (shockingly) more than he himself had! So, it was a fun reintroduction to the law school. And to blogging. It's great to be back (read with even more sarcasm than was slathered on by the aging anti-torture advocate).

8 comments

Posted 4:03 PM by Jason
Hash, Then Re-Hash

A group of OLC alumni has written a letter to UMN Law Deans Morrison and Charles supporting Robert Delahunty's appointment to teach one semester of constitutional law (to fill in for Prof. Carpenter) and responding to some of the concerns expressed by members of our faculty in the previously mentioned Nov. 28 letter.  Is this an old issue? You bet.  Is this letter, written by former colleagues and supervisors of Prof. Delahunty, worth reading? Indeed.

[Note: Our lull in posting should end soon, as classes resume Tuesday]  

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