Ten bucks if you can help me to understand why I have Duran Duran's "Hungry Like The Wolf" in my head right now.

Very Literal QA Manager: I've just filed a bug on poor audio quality with select clips in the video player. See for example the clip on Carter criticizing Cheney on Iraq.

Isaac: No worries. That's just part of the global conspiracy to mute dissention

Very Literal QA Manager: (In all seriousness) I will update the bug entry with that information. Thank you.

Jews and the Republican Noise Machine

The right-wing freak show has been on a long campaign to turn Jews away from the Democratic party by beating the "bad for Israel" drum. In the 2004 Presidential campaign, they sent emissaries to small midwestern synagogues (like the one my parents attend) where they claimed to congregants that John Kerry was a friend of the Palestinians and a foe of Israel. That strategy did manage to peel off a few Jews in 2004. But in 2006, 88 percent of the Jewish vote went to Democratic candidates.

My father-in-law subscribes to a conservative Jewish magazine called Commentary that has become the mouthpiece for this "bad for Israel" campaign. This weekend, we were over at Sarah's parents' house, and I read the latest Commentary cover story: "Jews, Muslims, and Democrats."

As you can imagine, the article attempts to tie Democrats to Islamic extremists, and explicitly claims that a vote for a Democrat is a vote against the "safety and security of Israel."

Not only was this article offensive, but it was offensive and POORLY WRITTEN.

The excerpt below discusses the successful 2006 candidacy of Keith Ellison, the first Muslim to be elected to Congress. In it, the author makes great hay (three whole paragraphs!) of the fact that Ellison was affiliated with the anti-Semetic Nation of Islam during his college years. Then, there are two sentences that conceed that he apologized, explained, and won overwhelming support from his Jewish constituency. But that recuperation is quickly whitewashed by a paragraph that conflates Ellison's candidacy ("He is not alone") with others in the Democratic party who "express an uninhibited hostiliy toward the Jewish state."

Utterly ridiculous. So goddamn offensive.

Commentary - 1/07 ...Ellison wrote a letter to the Minnesota Jewish community-relations council in which he admitted that as a young man he “did not adequately scrutinize the positions and statements” of the Nation of Islam, acknowledged that they “were and are anti-Semitic,” and declared that “I should have come to that conclusion earlier than I did.” On the strength of this and similar statements he proceeded to win endorsements from the American Jewish World, a “progressive” local paper, and the even more “progressive” Minneapolis Star Tribune. Both the ease with which Ellison was able to glide through this controversy and the remarkable lack of discomfort his candidacy appeared to cause among his fellow Democrats point to the larger significance of his election. For the simple fact is that in certain respects he is not alone: the past decade or so has seen the formation of a group of 40 to 50 Democratic Congressmen who, in varying degrees of intensity, have felt free to express an uninhibited hostility toward the Jewish state.

Random Notes

I'm listening to Crowded House - Woodface right now. These guys are one of the most underrated pop bands of the Nineties. This guy I knew in college used to worship them - wrote glowing reviews, had posters, and so on.

That same guy used to regularly cheat his way out of paying for pizza. He'd order with stoned people - The idea was that he could easily convince them they owed more money to the delivery guy than they really did. I don't think there's a correlation between this and Crowded House.

I worked my co-op shift last night (where I shop, not where I live). That meant I only got 30 minutes with Asher and less than ten minutes with Sarah. I have class tonight, and won't see either of them at all. I guess, there's always the weekend.

Best New York City Quote Of The Week: Garbage pickup has lagged due to the weather, and bags are piling up all over the sidewalks. Sarah and I were watching New York One news the other day. They did a man on the street interview with someone who gestured back to the small mountains of garbage overflowing into the gutter and said offhandedly, "It's always pretty bad. I didn't even notice the difference."

Happy Birthday, Asher!

Now you can stop telling people you're "almost two."

On Sunday, we celebrated with family, bagels and cake - Asher's three favorite things. On Monday, he relived the moment at least half a dozen times by jumping up on the previous day's "candle blowing" chair and singing "Happy Birthday to Asher! Happy Birthday to Asher!"

I love you, kiddo. Let's see what year three has in store.

If You're Happy and You Know It, Say Penis

This lyrical nugget came unprompted out of Asher's mouth the other day while he was transitioning from bath to pajamas. Yes, our son's gender education is in full swing, as it were.

The Shloshim for Beth Samuels was last week, and there were ceremonies in both California and New York City. Sarah and I went to the one here on Sunday night at Drisha. Rana, her parents, and Beth's husband Ari flew in to speak. Hundreds of people packed into the room, and Drisha named it's summer high school program after Beth.

What struck me most was how religious Judaism provides such a necessary structure and language for dealing with death. Not only are there various actions, customs and milestones, but they're couched in a highly developed exegesis and sense of community that leaves mourners with something other than a gaping void where that person used to be.

Lurkers?
So many random people from my past have turned up in the comments section on this blog. I guess that's the obvious by-product of these things, but it does make me wonder who ELSE is out there that hasn't revealed themselves, yet.

If I asked, would you respond?

I'm asking. Tell me in the comments section.

Douglas, Su, Jerome, Michelle, Jen - I already know you're here occasionally. Shannon, I feel like you're back in my present by now even though I haven't seen you since 1991.

Anyone else?

Why Political Punditry Is A Stupid Game, And Tom Friedman In Particular Sucks At It

Watchdog group Fairness And Accuracy In Reporting has cataloged the vast number of instances that Esteemed New York Times Columnist Tom Friedman has moved the goalposts when talking about victory in Iraq. This guy's worse than Cheney, for chrissake! Success has been six months away for three years, now.

"The next six months in Iraq—which will determine the prospects for democracy-building there—are the most important six months in U.S. foreign policy in a long, long time." (New York Times, 11/30/03) "What I absolutely don't understand is just at the moment when we finally have a UN-approved Iraqi-caretaker government made up of—I know a lot of these guys—reasonably decent people and more than reasonably decent people, everyone wants to declare it's over. I don't get it. It might be over in a week, it might be over in a month, it might be over in six months, but what's the rush? Can we let this play out, please?" (NPR's Fresh Air, 6/3/04) "What we're gonna find out, Bob, in the next six to nine months is whether we have liberated a country or uncorked a civil war." (CBS's Face the Nation, 10/3/04) "Improv time is over. This is crunch time. Iraq will be won or lost in the next few months. But it won't be won with high rhetoric. It will be won on the ground in a war over the last mile." (New York Times, 11/28/04) "I think we're in the end game now…. I think we're in a six-month window here where it's going to become very clear and this is all going to pre-empt I think the next congressional election—that's my own feeling— let alone the presidential one." (NBC's Meet the Press, 9/25/05) "Maybe the cynical Europeans were right. Maybe this neighborhood is just beyond transformation. That will become clear in the next few months as we see just what kind of minority the Sunnis in Iraq intend to be. If they come around, a decent outcome in Iraq is still possible, and we should stay to help build it. If they won't, then we are wasting our time." (New York Times, 9/28/05) "We've teed up this situation for Iraqis, and I think the next six months really are going to determine whether this country is going to collapse into three parts or more or whether it's going to come together." (CBS's Face the Nation, 12/18/05) "We're at the beginning of I think the decisive I would say six months in Iraq, OK, because I feel like this election—you know, I felt from the beginning Iraq was going to be ultimately, Charlie, what Iraqis make of it." (PBS's Charlie Rose Show, 12/20/05) "The only thing I am certain of is that in the wake of this election, Iraq will be what Iraqis make of it—and the next six months will tell us a lot. I remain guardedly hopeful." (New York Times, 12/21/05) "I think that we're going to know after six to nine months whether this project has any chance of succeeding. In which case, I think the American people as a whole will want to play it out or whether it really is a fool's errand." (Oprah Winfrey Show, 1/23/06) "I think we're in the end game there, in the next three to six months, Bob. We've got for the first time an Iraqi government elected on the basis of an Iraqi constitution. Either they're going to produce the kind of inclusive consensual government that we aspire to in the near term, in which case America will stick with it, or they're not, in which case I think the bottom's going to fall out." (CBS, 1/31/06) "I think we are in the end game. The next six to nine months are going to tell whether we can produce a decent outcome in Iraq." (NBC's Today, 3/2/06) "Can Iraqis get this government together? If they do, I think the American public will continue to want to support the effort there to try to produce a decent, stable Iraq. But if they don't, then I think the bottom is going to fall out of public support here for the whole Iraq endeavor. So one way or another, I think we're in the end game in the sense it's going to be decided in the next weeks or months whether there's an Iraq there worth investing in. And that is something only Iraqis can tell us." (CNN, 4/23/06) "Well, I think that we're going to find out, Chris, in the next year to six months—probably sooner—whether a decent outcome is possible there, and I think we're going to have to just let this play out." (MSNBC's Hardball, 5/11/06)

Best. Email. Ever.

An old college friend just got back in touch with me. Below is an excerpt of the email he sent describing how he ended up in France restoring old hearing aid stores.


Here's what happened: i went to grad school in 2001 to study japanese and chinese buddhism, ended up in a phd program at the university of pittsburgh in 2003 doing a doctorate on a particular sect of esoteric buddhism in the 10th century...and then one day in tokyo i met a frenchwoman, left grad school cuz it wasnt very fun, and moved to france and got married.

that was about a year ago.

i currently work for my father in law restoring some stores that he owns, which amounts to a small chain of hearing aid stores here in lyon.

This guy was one of the smartest people I know at Northwestern. He was also the guy who took nine hits of acid once and was convinced he was Jesus.

When you work at a very large company, there's this sea of middle managers without definitive opinions - or at least they're hesitant to make their strong preferences known, lest the decision backfire and their neck be on the line.

One of the cool things about this is that if you have a strong preference for one thing over another, you've got a good chance of driving the entire very large company in your preferred direction, because there aren't too many other folks willing to voice strong opposition.

Those who know me, know that I have an opinion about everything. I'm emphatic about my opinions, but I'm very happy to be disabused of them if better opinions come along.

All of this makes for a very interesting workplace, sometimes.

When Two-Year-Olds And Bad Guitarists Co-Write A Song

With the playground not an option this weekend (it was freezing!), Asher and I passed the time by writing songs. He would feed me words (all the nouns, and most of the adjectives), and I would supply the chords/melody. Below is sample:

(inexplicably sung to the tune of Soul Asylum's "Runaway Train")

/ C - / Em - / Am - / G - /
Ducky, Ducky
Ernie, Asher, Mommy
They took the subway
and someone was sorry
They took the R train
Oh man, it was a pain
It broke down, and
they had to walk home in the rain

Subway, Bus, and Taxi Cab too
Urban living will get the best of you
Unless you chill out with these cool folk
living right here in Park Slope.

Uncle!

Its just past 6am. I've been up since 3, when I simultaneously slept off my drunk from a work post-holiday party and was called on to tend to my two-year-old son whose snot-caked nose needed to be wiped down with a warm washcloth. Soothing words and Benadryl applied, he settled back down. Me? I turned on CSPAN.

I've got 200 pages of reading to do for class tonight, nine - count 'em NINE - meetings at work today, and a decision to make on a pricey business deal that's going to significantly impact the ABC News product over the next twelve months.

Wow. Any ideas how I'm going to get through the next 18 hours?