In an effort to provide an occasion for political discussion that engages our political and moral views but not our partisan passions, I offer the following policy question, which I and some colleagues have written about (registration required). (A longer relative of this paper with more biology and a less developed moral argument is here.) It’s about embryonic stem cells, but nothing about the moral question we raise turns on whether or not it’s OK to use human embryos to derive stem cells. It also assumes that we have figured out how to use stem cells to cure diseases.
Nothing Else Fit
Or are you just happy to see me?
Eric Muller shows us exactly what Kerry had in his pocket during his debate with President Bush. I’ve been unexpectedly called away, so my upcoming report on the Abu Ghraib RICO lawsuit won’t appear until tomorrow morning. ‘Till then, this is another open thread. UPDATE: For those unfamiliar with “Jacketgate” (and, thus, Muller’s reference) see … Read more
mcmasterchef Memorial Recipe Thread
…because we listen to the requests and needs of our valued cus… ah, readers here at Obsidian Wings. Because we care. And because it’s fall, which has always been the time of year in my family when pies are baked. As a loyal member of the Pax Gibletsia I say, let us have recipes for … Read more
Cheer Up! Things Could Be Worse…
If, for instance, you lived in Kiruna in the north of Sweden, not only would you have to live in, well, northern Sweden*, but your town might be sinking into the earth: “The town of Kiruna in remote northern Sweden is seeking a new home before the earth swallows it up. Its centre is in … Read more
So as not to hijack the thread further…
– this one, that is – I will just note that there is indeed such a thing as a spectacled bear out there. And all this time I thought that my totem animal was the raccoon… Open thread for personal totem animals and closest anthropomorphic fit. Moe PS: If you’ve got a spare twenty or … Read more
Hiatus explained…
…aside from my generally uneven temper lately, that is – which is likely to become more uneven, alas. I’ve been involved in deep and secret plans for the last month, you see. I’ve been plotting, scheming, conniving, making furtive calls, marshalling my forces, and weaving a web of innuendo and artifice – and it all … Read more
Happy Birthday
to the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which is one hundred and forty two today: That on the first day of January in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against … Read more
Why No Posts?
Consider this an open thread. It’s been a wonderful day here in Baltimore: I have been out doing Kerry work and registering voters. Now that I’m back, I thought I’d check in, and lo! no new posts. I know why I haven’t posted anything in a bit — besides the Kerry stuff and, you know, … Read more
Ah. Cat out of bag.
Now that she’s blogged about it herself, on behalf of the blogosphere let me one of the first to congratulate Rivka on her upcoming blessed event. Being Rivka, she’s written something interesting on pregnancy and expectations; and, for the record, surely I didn’t use the actual word ‘jerk’. I think. Ach, well. Now comes the … Read more
Slightly Squiffelated Observation
I’m currently engaged in the tricky task of metabolizing two beers and several glasses of a surprisingly good cafe zinfandel at this NJ D&D party that I’m at now, but I must say: the America’s 9/11 Ride thing was pretty cool. Even when it held us up for a half an hour at the Delaware … Read more
Off for a few days
for surgery (nothing alarming, just repairs.) They tell me I’ll be back after 3-5 days; for a week or so afterwards, if I say anything unusually dumb, just put it down to pain medication. (Normal levels of stupidity are, of course, fair game as always.)
A Withdrawal Plan I Can Agree With
I see that Bush has announced a troop withdrawal from Europ and South Korea. This is an excellent idea that could have been implemented years ago. The troops in South Korea were positioned as a tripwire for the Cold War. South Korea is capable of defending itself against an agressive North Korea and has had large protests to get rid of the troops for decades. If we feel the need to invade North Korea, it can be done without the non-strategic tripwire installations. But frankly we wouldn’t be invading North Korea without Chinese help anyway. Far more likely is a strike against the nuclear plant.
Troops stationed in Germany have mainly been a drain to the U.S. for more than a decade. They aren’t located near the modern threats and have been the subject of much criticism for years.
Furthermore, this is a nice hint that Europe might want to consider funding a more realistic level of its own defense.
Great News! and Bad Music!
Everyone needs to take a break from arguing about genocide every now and then. The great news: Brazilian scientists have sequenced the coffee genome. Their agriculture minister says: “We are going to create a super-coffee that everyone can benefit from eventually.” Many’s the time I have said to myself: Self, what I need now is … Read more
Meatloaf Recipe Slam!
The Glittering Eye had earlier made a request for a meatloaf recipe slam; frankly, I could use the input myself. The Meatloaf Maven of the house is at an engineering conference: all I know how to do is to mix an egg, onions, breadcrumbs and meat together, add ketchup (yes, Heinz) and bake. Extra input … Read more
The long night.
I’m out for the next few days as I deal with “work,” but a few brief notes regarding an update to my blogroll — all lawyers (two righties, two lefties, and one, erm, “aspiring Judicial Diva”):
Michael Froomkin — a lefty, and represents it well.
Stephen Bainbridge — More conservative than I, but brilliant in his area of expertise (corporate law). His latest attack on John Kerry is right on the money. If he says “John Trial Lawyer Edwards” one more time, however, I’m pulling out my can of “those who cannot do, teach.”*
Brian Leiter — Does not suffer fools, and does not suffer them well.
Curmudgeonly Clerk — Frequently conservative, always considered — the Tacitus of law bloggers. (It doesn’t hurt that he appears to clerk in the Southern District of Texas, and I have fond memories of my appearances before Judge Hinojosa of the same.)
Article III Groupie — Umm, I’m not sure how to describe this site; all I can say is that I visit it more frequently than I care to admit. How to explain what it’s all about? I’ll let A3G give it a go: “This weblog, ‘Underneath Their Robes’ (“UTR”), reflects Article III Groupie’s interest in, and obsession with, the federal judiciary.” It’s too late to vote in her “Superhotties of the Federal Judiciary” contest — “The Hot. Alex Kozinski (9th Cir.)”* won for the men and “The Hot. Kimba M. Wood (S.D.N.Y.)” won for the women — but that’s no reason to stay away.
And, with that, see ya’ll in a few.
von
Vacation
Have returned from vacation; have surveyed the world; have decided that the whole subject-verb-object thing was wrong from the get-go. New rule: use sentence fragments whenever possible. Was here: (View of Prospect Harbor, Maine from the front porch of Cabin von von-family.) Was quite nice.
Open question
Because it was pretty quiet here today on the posts front (and, yes, we’re in the final stages of deciding who to invite in as a guest). Essentially, I’m wondering whether to reproduce my Redstate posts here, or reproduce my posts here over on Redstate, or however it would be put. I can see arguments … Read more
Light blogging…
… because I’m going to bed like, right now, the webblocking software’s back up at work and tomorrow night we’re going directly to Pittsburgh. This month it’s going to be lawn work day at my girlfriend’s grandmother’s place. I may be able to squeeze in a post or two; then again, I may not. Either … Read more
(Throwing up hands.)
To hell with it; I’m taking the rest of the night off. Talk amongst yourselves.
Book Worm Open Thread
I’m just as interested in getting to the bottom of whether Michael Moore is actually the anti-Christ or not as the next person, but I’m also going through a book-hungry craze lately and so offer up this Open Thread to talk about books. To keep it simple and offer some structure though, start your comments … Read more
The Glorious Fourth
I was going to slap a big picture of the American flag up here, maybe a bald eagle or two, but then I said, “Moe, everybody’s going to be slapping up American flags and bald eagles. Give your readers something different.” So, here goes: the Mudcat Cafe, hosters of the Digital Tradition Folksong Database. Looking … Read more
She’s going.
I’m sorry for this. I can’t help it. I’m still watching her go. My grandmother. (You’ll need to read the link to understand.) Ninety-one. Strong. Brilliant. Dying. She doesn’t sound the same. She isn’t there anymore. My father says that he and his brothers just want to get her to her cabin in Maine one … Read more
Fahrenheit 911
I’ve normally found Michael Moore too bombastic and reckless. His in-your-face style of filmmaking embarrasses me normally, and his speech at the Academy Awards struck me as in poor taste.
After I saw the film last night, though, I attended a moveon.org house party where Michael Moore spoke to thousands of Americans via a national conference call. He was polite and actually quite patriotic. He had helpful advice about getting the disenfranchised back into the political system, and his response to anecdotes of reactions to his film seemed gracious and genuininely grateful.
I had gone into the film expecting to see all kinds of outrageous juxtapositions and innuendoes (and surely it’s not a respectful portrait of the president), but I came out thinking there’s nothing in there that’s any less flimsy than the constant “technically true” propaganda we get daily from the White House, so he’s essentially just fighting fire with fire.
Oh.
I’m surprised that I missed this – well, actually, no: I was on a bit of a self-enforced hiatus last week* – but I’d like to offered my (belated) sympathies to Matthew Yglesias about the health of his mom. I used to regularly read his site, before the vagaries of webblocking software made it impossible … Read more
Bilateral Social Gathering Geez, it was just dinner.
A useful corrective took place yesterday: to wit, my girlfriend and I had dinner with Rivka (of Respectful of Otters) and her Significant Otter*. This would be considered to be quite the accomplishment: Rivka’s a Dean Democrat, I’m a Bush Republican, so of course it was tense…
…well, actually, it wasn’t tense at all. Rivka’s a sweetie, not to mention sound on Lois McMaster Bujold and the Rocky Horror Muppet Show, so we sat in the back yard, drank beer, demolished a cheese and crackers plate, had some very good grilled salmon – and some better Denver pudding – and finished the night playing the I’ve Got A Stranger Song Than THAT game (if I had only known, I would have brought in the big guns instead of relying on my girlfriend’s Ipod selections). She wrote about it herself here; I’m glad that they had as good a time as we did. One of the major problems with political blogging is that it’s really, really easy to forget that there’s a difference between a person’s policy positions and their personality; lots of us spend lots of time – too much time – in wars to the virtual knives. Spending a pleasant afternoon in the pleasant company of someone whose vote you’re likely to cancel out in November is an excellent corrective; I wholeheartedly endorse the practice.
As for the ‘cuddly’ bit… well. I am hardly in a position to either confirm or deny that description.
Moe
Well, I’m back…
…having (hopefully) gotten a handle on whatever it is that keeps me from shouting instead of commenting and ranting instead of debating. Regular blogging – well, by me, at least; the others more than covered the slack while I was reacquiring equilibrium – will resume some time after Bubba Ho-Tep has been watched. Moe PS: … Read more
Fourth draft of this one.
Don’t expect me to believe that story about the bird getting flipped unless there’s a verified photo involved. It sounded too good to be true, so it almost certainly was. Moe PS: I’m not trying to be coy: I’m trying to state an opinion on a current event while feeding the rumor mill at little … Read more
“Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.”
From Matt Yglesias, more evidence that, despite my best efforts, I am aging: I also wonder how novel all this hooking up is really supposed to be. Don’t Mike and Stacy hook up in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, a film from before my time? Also missing is the broader socioeconomic context. Nevermind the “broader … Read more
Two Good Charities.
Via Phil Dennison’s Catch Me If You Can we see Spirit of America, a group sending relief directly to Afghanistan and Iraq, and via Nathan’s Argus we see Send a Cow (via The Mongol Rally, which for some reason is having a completely inexplicable appeal to me), a group promoting self-sufficiency programs in Africa. Never … Read more
I’ll worry about it the day after tomorrow
It was a drizzly Memorial Day here in New York, so the movie theaters were full of folks who might have otherwise had a picnic or gone to the beach. My friends and I treated ourselves to the scientifically challenged, propaganda-laden disaster flick, “The Day After Tomorrow” (what else we gonna talk about as we … Read more
Ratzenfraktzen thunderstorms…
…completely wrecked our plans today, tanjit. Rain is one thing, large bolts of electricity that strike the ground essentially at random are another. Guess we’ll go to the Memorial this weekend, instead. Open thread. Moe UPDATE: I was so not into the blogging thing today – I was introduced to this wonderful experience called a … Read more
Couple of Questions and a statement.
1). The girlfriend and I plan to visit the World War II Memorial on Monday (yes, we know about the likely crowds, and yes, we know about the security issues). I don’t normally care about picture taking, but is there any interest on this from our loyal readers? 2). Do DC political bloggers ever get … Read more
As is obvious, I’m back…
…and skipping the SCA event on account that it’s Too Bloody Hot out and while I’m not hung over, I’m also not entirely eager to leave my nice, cool, dark house just yet*.
The wedding was very nice – lovely ceremony and the reception food and drink was the best that I have ever seen – but I suspect that either the wedding planners and/or the Lords of Kharma (I expect the latter, ‘cuz the parents of the couple don’t know me from Adam) were funning with me, because I apparently ended up at the Republican table. Hell, I was the vocal moderate at the Republican table, which was really, really funny – but I DIDN’T INSTIGATE ANY OF THE POLITICAL DISCUSSIONS. I kept telling my infinitely-patient girlfriend that. I was being good.
Well, true, I admit to trying to make my presumptive future father-in-law’s eyes pop out by telling him that Senator Hillary Clinton wouldn’t be a bad choice for the 2008 nomination from the Democratic POV, but that was for completely different reasons.
Moe
Cicada update.
More of the buggers, but not yet a horde. Still waiting; in the meantime, I finally tracked down the lyrics to that rap song by the Pheromones (found here, amid some commentary that you may want to skip over completely). It may not be a perfect reproduction of the original text, though.
Catch all y’all on Sunday, most likely: I have a wedding in NJ to go to tomorrow and a SCA event back in MD on Saturday. Arrgh.
Moe
Small world alert.
I walk past this twice a day: … And I’ve always wondered who put it there, and why nobody ever cleaned it off. It’s been defaced for a while now, from what I remember. I don’t really know why this struck me as interesting, so I won’t be heartbroken if I don’t get comments on … Read more