Apt. 11D

Weekend Journal

On Friday morning at 8:30, the second kid waited his turn on line to enter the school bus. At this point, he always gets a kiss and some parting words, "listen to the teacher, be nice to the other kids, and have fun." Slug anyone who messes with you. Do well on the test or you'll never go to college. Don't get VD. Then I headed for home for the other ritual that awaited me.

I Like This Train and This Train and This Train

John Edwards on MySpace

Edwards aired a live campaign dialogue at the University of New Hampshire on MySpace this afternoon. MySpace viewers could send in questions that would be answered by Edwards at that event.

We watched a bit of it in my media class, and the students were very impressed. Myspace and Facebook are their primary venues for information. Edwards definitely has a leg up on campaigns and technology.

I'm reading the article on Facebook in the Atlantic.

Post Haste

I pulled down my Ahmadinejad post from earlier in the week.

One of the great things about the web is that you can read diverse opinions. Some sway you one day, others sway you another. If you use the web properly and take advantage of both points of view, I think it makes your opinions stronger.

On the other hand, the web also enables people to publish opinions too quickly. When that happens, it's best to pull down the post and admit your hastiness.

Dangerous Women

Sunday's Times had yet another piece o' crap trend article about women who make a pile of money and have trouble dating men who make less money. It was so clearly a piece o' crap, but I had to read the whole thing on Sunday, because I'm a shallow being who reads the Style Section before the Week in Review.

I would love to know how many women the reporter had to interview before finding a couple of idiots who complained that their dates couldn't afford the fine wine and pate.

I was disturbed by the article, because the underlying theme of this article was that successful women are materialistic bitches.

Becks at Unfogged linked to Megan McArdle who also hated the article. Megan wrote that the real problem was income disparity between the genders in the minority community and tut-tutted the liberal Times for overlooking this fact. It's not really a surprise that the Style section is written by apolitical, bottom feeders for shallow creatures like myself.

The discussion thread on Unfogged took an interesting tangent. Does Megan get undue criticism in the blogosphere? Do many of the negative comments have an uncomfortable, sexist edge to them? Ann Althouse has complained that her critics too often make crass comments about her appearance, which never happens to the male bloggers. Of course, Althouse has made crass comments about the appearance of other women bloggers.

I have mixed feelings about that tangent. On the one hand, it's the blogosphere. If you don't develop a hard crusty shell quickly, you're dead meat. On the other hand, I worry that successful women piss people off.

Are the Netroots Relevant?

I'm in the midst of writing a post on Ahmadinejad, but got distracted with Brooks' op-ed for the day. Brooks writes a post that is guaranteed to get linked and trashed around the blogosphere. It's his little way of celebrating the downfall of Times Select.

Brooks writes,

Now it’s evident that if you want to understand the future of the Democratic Party you can learn almost nothing from the bloggers, billionaires and activists on the left who make up the “netroots.” You can learn most of what you need to know by paying attention to two different groups — high school educated women in the Midwest, and the old Clinton establishment in Washington.

In the first place, the netroots candidates are losing. In the various polls on the Daily Kos Web site, John Edwards, Barack Obama and even Al Gore crush Hillary Clinton, who limps in with 2 percent to 10 percent of the vote.

Clinton is doing well with less educated Democrats, while the netroots picks have a more elite following. She campaigns towards the center taking an almost hawkish position on national security, while the netroots desires a more clear alternative to conservative politics.

I love the idealism of the netroots and their enthusiasm for grassroots politics. They are electronic hippies carrying virtual picket signs and googling for facts.

But maybe I'm too jaded. I think that Clinton's middle of the road approach to policy is just smart politics. (Though I'm not sure that her health care proposal is middle of the road. She was considered a commie 15 years ago for proposing a similar idea.) Good politics is about getting elected, you know. 

I also am concerned about the elitist composition of the netroots versus traditional Democratic voters.

UPDATE: Similar post by Matt Yglesias

Weekend Journal

Ian walked over to the plastic kiddie picnic table on the front porch. It's the bright yellow number that is one of the mandatory pieces of crap that mysteriously appears when you have kids. I don't know how we got it. It must have been a hand-me down from someone.  It will have to be passed down to another family in a year or two when the boys legs are too big to fit under it, because that plastic monstrosity sure isn't going to decompose ever. Not terribly eco-friendly.

Is That A Gun in Your Pocket?

Gun fever swept the political bloggers this weekend. Megan, Ezra, and Matthew are posting pictures of themselves with firearms. OK, here's my picture.

Question of the Day - Purposely Ignorant

Last week, I got pulled over by a cop because my inspection sticker on my car was a year over due. I was vaguely aware that cars had to be inspected, but I had never really bothered to find out what the exact rules were. I have chosen to remain ignorant about all things regarding car rules and maintenance.

I haven't ignored car rules, because it's a man thing. There are also vast number of girl stuff that I refuse to learn. Like when you are supposed to add bleach to your wash. And the correct way to fold fitted sheets.

I learned long ago from my father that if you remain ignorant about a subject, others will feel pity on you and take care of it for you. They will shake their heads and laugh that even with a PhD, you don't know something as simple as X. After they are done with the chuckle, they'll just do X for you. Seems good to me.

We all do that to a certain degree. They are only so many things that we can really do properly. So my mom knows the sale price of mallowmars at Shop Rite, but she doesn't know how to turn off my cordless phone.

Question of the Day: On what matters are you purposely ignorant?

Spreadin' Love

Two great shows that go great together. Sex and the City and the Daily Show. (via Eszter)

Garance Franke-Ruta says Fred Thompson ain't all that sexy. (via Dan)

Dooce gets used to the idea that she could never be a mom that travels happily with a tot.

A friend of mine wants to make a t-shirt that says "Don't Tase Me, Bro!" Bad taste or big seller?

Eric Asimov's list of the best wines for under $10. I do like the Ravenswood.