Nothing Else Fit

a current-events poem

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by fiddler Sonnet of a disgruntled citizenry (with minor apologies to Homer, Chapman, et al.) Sing, news, of Obama’s promises, made To voters who elected him to power. Which has he kept? Wars’ ends? Taxes paid By the rich? An economy in flower? New jobs for all who seek them? Emptying Guantanamo’s cells, its prisoners … Read more

at night we ride through mansions of glory in suicide machines

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by fiddler

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) is taking aim at the single biggest killer of teenagers — car crashes. For the second year she’s sponsoring a bill to require all states to make 18 the minimum age for an unrestricted driver’s license. At this point only a few states and DC keep teen drivers from unrestricted licenses until age 18; the others are divided between 16 and 17-1/2. States that let a driver have an unrestricted license at 18, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association, include Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey and Virginia. Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts and Ohio requires drivers to be 18 to drive at night. The article above, from Congress.org, said 12 states plus DC, which means they’re including Pennsylvania. In Pennsylvania, when young drivers turns 18 their licenses automatically become unrestricted; otherwise, restrictions are removed after a year of driving without a crash or conviction if the driver has completed a driver’s education course.

There are good statistical, practical reasons for this change. ‘Motor Vehicle Traffic’ accounts for 39.98 percent of fatalities for people age 16-19, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

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till the landslide brings it down

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by fiddler

Following up on previous posts (here, here, here, here, and here):

HBGary Federal, Team Themis, Hunton & Williams and the US Chamber of Commerce:

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how do you like living in Omelas?

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by fiddler

Despite eastern Virginia’s steamy summers, the temperature can drop close to or below freezing at night in late fall, winter and spring. Concrete is not a good insulator against the chill in the ground, or in the air. And in a concrete cell in the brig at the Marine base in Quantico, VA, US Army Pfc. Bradley Manning is being forced to go without clothing for hours at a time, including sleeping at night and for inspections.

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Going to the dogs open thread

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by liberal japonicus Hoisted from the comments (from bedtimeforbonzo longtime friend of the kitty) …after almost three years following the untimely deaths of my beloved CoCo and Bowser — we are again (since August) a two-dog household. Joining the indestructibe Hamilton, our loud and proud 16-year-old Beagle, is Cody, who was supposed to be my … Read more

Your sports open thread

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by liberal japonicus One area that has never really gotten much love here is sports. According to my rather spotty memory, back in the distant past, Sebastian talked about his volleyball playing, and Slarti talked a bit about competitive swimming, which isn't really a sport so much as a freakish ability of some people (I … Read more

Remeet Liberal Japonicus, New ObWi Front Pager, Longtime Presence

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Posted by Gary Farber, introductory guest post written by Liberal Japonicus.

Hello. (image of Ricky Gervais hosting the Golden Globes)

  Ricky-gervais-host-golden-globes

I'm liberal japonicus and my name has suddenly appeared on the sidebar. I'm still trying to figure out what this may mean, but one thing that it seems to suggest is that it is necessary to post something in the way of an introduction.

I'd note that in Japan, where I reside and where half of my genes are from, it is called a jiko shoukai ('self-introduction') and if you go to almost any small group meeting in Japan, you'll find a portion of it devoted to going around the table and doing said jiko shoukai.

Even if you are practically positive that you know everyone in the room, on the off chance that there is one newbie present, or someone has been struck with retrograde amnesia in the past 24 hours, everyone has to stand up, introduce themselves, not forgetting to add a little tidbit of new information that really isn't important, but allows those assembled to feel like they know you a bit better.

So a few quick facts.

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MAJ. Andrew Olmsted

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 by Gary Farber

Olmsted

Andrew Olmsted was my friend. 

He honored me with that. 

He's in my thoughts, every day, several times a day.

Please forgive me for being very personal in this post.  I am also apt to edit it and change some of it.

Hilzoy on January 04, 2008:

Andrew Olmsted, who also posted here as G'Kar, was killed yesterday in Iraq. Andy gave me a post to publish in the event of his death; the last revisions to it were made in July.

Andy was a wonderful person: decent, honorable, generous, principled, courageous, sweet, and very funny. The world has a horrible hole in it that nothing can fill. I'm glad Andy — generous as always — wrote something for me to publish now, since I have no words at all. Beyond: Andy, I will miss you.

My thoughts are with his wife, his parents, and his brother and sister.

As mine also always are, every day.  I think of Wes, Andrew's father.  I think of Nancy, Andrew's mother.  I think of Amanda, Andrew's wife.  I think of Eric, known as "Enrak" when he was commenting on blogs, primarily Andrew's.

I've met them all.

I think of Corrine, Eric's wife, and writing by her I read via Wes, and now I'll think of Catherine, Andrew's sister. 

I think of these men:

Andy's unit

Wes Olmsted wrote me this of himself and his Nancy on November 10th, 2010:

We both think of Andy every day, it seems so impossible that he has been gone for so long.  Sometimes I come down the stairs and open up my emails just hoping that somehow he has written again. 
 
I did want to let you know that there is a new "Andrew" in town.  Eric and Corinne have named their new son William Andrew Olmsted.  We spent Thanksgiving with them and really enjoyed our time with them.  How Andy would have enjoyed this young man! 
 
Life goes on but not as well as it used to.  Nancy and I will be moving back to Maine next June, after she retires.  We are having a house built in central Maine at the head of Penobscot Bay.  The best part is that we will be close enough to Eric, Corinne, and Will to see them much more often.

Andy and I went back to 2002 together.  We started blogging within two months of each other.  Myself on December 30th, 2001, and Andrew at on Andrew Olmsted.com on 2/04/2002 07:42:00 AM.

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Enough About You: Let’s Talk About Me

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by Gary Farber

My name is Gary Farber.  You killed my father.  Some of you are familiar with me, and some are not. 

Who the hell am I?

I'm the FNG as an Obsidian Wings front-page blogger.

But!

My first appearance at Obsidian Wings was via a post by Katherine R. on December 16th, 2003, when she linked to a post of mine, and named it Post Of The Week.  This attracted my attention to Obsidian Wings, with its first set of bloggers, Moe Lane, Katherine R,  and Von.

Set the Wayback Machine, Sherman!

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Confederate History Month, The Conclusion (?)

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by Robert R. Mackey crossposted from the Huffington Post This is the third, and unless there is a major gaffe tonight from Richmond, the final part of my writing on the serious problems with Confederate Heritage Month in Virginia. In the first entry, I noted the slight "omission" by Governor McDonnell of the institution of … Read more

Confederate Heritage, Part II

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by Robert R. Mackey Yesterday, I wrote on the subject of Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell's proclamation of "Confederate History Month" and the misuse of history.  In response, the Governor's office issued a statement noting that "a major omission" in the original proclamation.  That oversight? That there were actual slaves in Virginia in 1861.  And that they … Read more

Confederate ‘Heritage’ and the Suppression of Truth

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by Robert R. Mackey (cross-posted from Huffington Post) I opened this morning's Washington Post to find that the governor of Virginia, Robert McDonnell, has determined that the state's tourism demands requires a renewal of "Confederate History Month," which has lain dormant for the past eight years. Ok, I get it. The state needs money and the … Read more

Did the fathers of modern obstetrics murder more women than Jack the Ripper?

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By Lindsay Beyerstein Latoya Peterson of Jezebel spotted this disconcerting story in Sunday's Guardian: They are giants of medicine, pioneers of the care that women receive during childbirth and were the founding fathers of obstetrics. The names of William Hunter and William Smellie still inspire respect among today's doctors, more than 250 years since they … Read more

Contractors behaving badly

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By Lindsay Beyerstein In the wake of the guard scandal at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, a security contractor explains in strikingly frank terms why these large private security contracts in war zones are so predictably mismanaged: The main reason why managing these contracts is so difficult is that it is impossible to stay ahead … Read more

Michael Kinsley mocks fact checkers

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By Lindsay Beyerstein Michael Kinsley will never live down his latest column, a rant against fact checking: "Fact checking" is a tradition of some publications, mainly magazines, in which one set of employees, called fact checkers, is called upon to reconfirm every fact in an article by another set of employees, called writers, generally by … Read more

Last Post

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by hilzoy I had all kinds of ideas for things I wanted to write before I left, but between last-minute packing and phone calls from friends and family, it didn't happen. So I'll just say a few things quickly. As I said before, one of the things that led me to start blogging in the … Read more

Bare-Faced Go-Away Bird

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by hilzoy First, I'm going to Rwanda this weekend, on vacation. I'm looking forward to it immensely, especially since I discovered that the Bare-Faced Go-Away Bird, which topped my list of Best Bird Names Ever nearly five years ago, lives there. (And did you know that the name 'Watusi' comes from the Tutsi? I didn't.) If … Read more

Barack Obama: Surprise The World Again

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by hilzoy From the NYT: "President Obama is facing new pressure to reverse himself and to ramp up investigations into the Bush-era security programs, despite the political risks. Leading Democrats on Sunday demanded investigations of how a highly classified counterterrorism program was kept secret from the Congressional leadership on the orders of Vice President Dick … Read more

Filling Out Forms

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by hilzoy Queen Emily, who is guestblogging at Feministe, hates forms. Why? Because while "my birth certificate says I am male, my gender presentation is female.  They do not match. Until I can afford expensive genital surgery, I cannot change the marker on my birth certificate." If you've never had to think about exactly how much … Read more

R. I. P.

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by hilzoy First, Farrah Fawcett: She was enough of a star that she didn't need to make The Burning Bed, and the kind of star (all-American sex symbol) who might justifiably have wondered what effect it might have on her career. But she made it anyways, and it had an enormous effect of bringing the … Read more

The Past Is Past, And Thank God For That

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by hilzoy I just wanted to take a moment to give thanks for the fact that we truly don't have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore: "On Jan. 23, 1973, when the Supreme Court struck down state criminal abortion laws in Roe v. Wade, President Richard M. Nixon made no public statement. But privately, newly … Read more

More Things That Do Not Involve People Dying

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by hilzoy Here's Steven Walt's IR Guide To Parenting, in which we discover how the study of international relations helps you understand what's going on with your kids. For instance: "Once the kids are mobile, you learn about another key IR concept: the window of opportunity. You're feeding or changing Kid #1, and Kid #2 … Read more

The Berlusconi Thing

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by hilzoy Note to self: Do not get on Jose Saramago's bad side (h/t): "The Berlusconi Thing by José SaramagoI don’t know what other name I could give it. It’s a thing that looks dangerously like a human, a thing that throws parties, that organises orgies and rules a country called Italy. This thing, this … Read more

Next Up: Action Figures?

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by hilzoy From a review of Fault Line, a new thriller by Barry Eisler: "Some books have an opening line that catches your attention. A few rare one have openers that grab you, shake you a bit, and compel you to keep turning pages until the last. Such is the case with Barry Eisler's first … Read more

Signs Of The Times

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by hilzoy That the Financial Times has a headline that reads "Greenspan Backs Bank Nationalization" is truly a sign that we live in strange, strange times. Any moment now the sun shall become as black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon shall become as blood, and the stars of heaven shall fall unto the earth, … Read more

Phoenix By Bus

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by hilzoy  Atrios links to a story about growth patterns in Phoenix. It quotes a woman who wishes she could walk to stores from her house: "In Goodyear, for instance, the opening of the Estrella Falls mall was postponed last week for a second time. Shopping center developer Westcor now plans to open it in … Read more

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

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by hilzoy This morning I read a piece by Darren Hutchinson at Dissenting Justice about rendition, which has been linked by Instapundit and others. It contained the following passage: "Hilzoy also argues that absent torture and indefinite detention, rendition includes practices like extradition. This patently false assertion has floated around the web. Unlike rendition, extradition … Read more

Irony Is Dead

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by hilzoy Yesterday, various bloggers, including Steve Benen at the Monthly, posted a wonderful YouTube video of Pete Seeger singing 'This Land Is Your Land'. I hope you watched it then, since it's no longer available: HBO has taken it down (h/t). If you click the video, you get the following message: "This video is no longer … Read more

Random Snippets

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by hilzoy Just a couple of things I had to highlight. First, my quote of the day: “After helping to foster the explosive growth of consumer debt in recent years, credit card companies are realizing that some hard-pressed Americans will not be able to pay their bills as the economy deteriorates.” Really? All those credit … Read more

Anniversary

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by hilzoy A year ago today: 12:40:41 AM Andy: I’ve got to go. 12:40:43 AM Andy: *sighs* 12:40:45 AM Hilary: kk 12:40:54 AM Hilary: Bye. Have a great day. 12:41:01 AM Andy: Thanks. Sleep well. It was, of course, morning in Iraq, and Andy Olmsted was heading out on a mission. Some hours later, he … Read more

I Love The Internets

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by hilzoy Via Balloon Juice, the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britainplays the theme from Shaft: (At about a minute in, you might find yourself wondering: is it all instrumental? The answer is: no.) Thesis: Insofar as one can generalize, the British sense of humor depends to a greater degree than most on exploiting utter incongruity … Read more

Look Ma: No Gall Bladder!

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by hilzoy

As you might have noticed, I haven’t been around for the last few days. This is because, after getting hit with excruciating pain late Sunday night, heading to the emergency room early Monday morning, and having a series of increasingly high-tech tests, the doctors decided I needed emergency surgery, which I had Monday night. Nothing serious (though it would have been had I not gotten treatment), no complications, and I seem to be recovering nicely. However, the combination of recovery and Oxycodone has gotten in the way of my posting since I got back from the hospital on Tuesday. Since I don’t seem to be able to think of anything non-obvious, I’ll just make one simple point:

Despite the extraordinary competence and kindness of everyone who took care of me, Monday was pretty bad, all things considered. Even leaving aside the fact that the pain had kept me from sleeping the night before, and that I didn’t eat anything all day, the combination of serious pain and complete uncertainty is not, in my experience, a pleasant one.

I don’t even want to think how much worse it would have been had I had to worry about the money. I have no idea how much it cost, but I’m sure it’s well into five figures. I don’t have that kind of money lying around. Not many people do. So if I hadn’t had health insurance, I would have been wondering how on earth I was going to pay for it all.

Luckily, I do have health insurance. That meant that I was able to focus on doing what I had to do to get better, and that I was not tempted, for instance, to skip out after the initial tests, which were equivocal. (I did wonder, as they wheeled me into the Department of Nuclear Medicine for the last test, whether this was some of that unnecessary care I sometimes read about. I was wrong: that was the test that led them to decide to operate within the hour.) I could focus on what I needed to do, without having to worry about how on earth I was going to come up with a completely unanticipated $20,000 or so*.

Lacking health insurance does much worse things to people than that: for instance, it can kill them. But even if all it did was make people have to pay for health care they cannot afford, and thus make people in my situation have to worry about where they were going to find the money to pay the hospital bills, that would be too much. I would be more than happy to pay some additional amount in taxes in order to live in a country in which no one in my situation ever had to worry about that. Because, frankly, emergency surgery is quite bad enough by itself.

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Tanta

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by hilzoy From the NYT (via Calculated Risk): “The blogger Tanta, an influential voice on the mortgage collapse, died Sunday morning in Columbus, Ohio. Tanta, who wrote for Calculated Risk, a finance and economics blog, was a pseudonym for Doris Dungey, 47, who until recently had lived in Upper Marlboro, Md. The cause of death … Read more

Krauthammer Annoys My Inner Pedant

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by hilzoy I don’t normally read Charles Krauthammer, but Heather Hurlburt at Democracy Arsenal does, and she flagged this startling paragraph: “In the old days — from the Venetian Republic to, oh, the Bear Stearns rescue — if you wanted to get rich, you did it the Warren Buffett way: You learned to read balance … Read more