Dave Schuler
August 2, 2004
I’ve been out of town for a few days and suffering from severe blogging withdrawal symptoms but I did watch the last two days of the Democratic National Convention.
I thought the whole thing was oddly phlegmatic. I’m told it looked different from the convention floor but I found the whole thing rather subdued compared to past Democratic Conventions.
I was both encouraged and discouraged by Mr. Kerry’s speech on Thursday evening. I was encouraged by what I took as his commitment to not abandoning Iraq. To be honest I’ve never been that concerned about Kerry in this regard. I’ve been very concerned about Kerry’s supporters and about the people who will comprise any future Kerry administration. I suspect that he will be surrounded by people who opposed the war in Iraq—as did 90% of the delegates to the Democratic Convention as determined in a New York Times poll. I further suspect that a substantial number of the delegates favor immediate withdrawal—as did two of the former candidates who spoke at the convention.
I was discouraged by Mr. Kerry’s comments on Social Security. Although the War on Terror is the most important issue for whatever administration is in charge next time around there are other issues and, in my opinion, Social Security and healthcare reform are two of the most important. Mr. Kerry said he would opposed either privatization or a reduction in benefits. Fair enough. I oppose privatization myself. That leaves increasing the payroll tax, eliminating FICA max, means testing, and expanding the base to include millions of state, local, and federal government workers as fiscally sound methods of reforming Social Security.
The Baby Boomers will start reaching social security retirement age during the next presidential term. It’s a problem that can’t be deferred any longer.
And I find Mr. Kerry’s assertion that health care is a right simply distressing. I’ll write more on this subject later.
Dave Schuler
July 28, 2004
What did it mean?
Howard Dean
“To everyone who supported me you’ve given me so much, and I can’t thank you enough. But this was never about me. It was about us. It was about giving new life to our party, new energy to our democracy, and providing hope again for the greatest nation on earth.”
I’ll be back.
Ted Kennedy
“Today, more than two centuries after the embattled farmers stood and fired the shirt heard “round the world,” the ideals of our founders still resonate across the globe. Young people in other lands — inspired by the liberty we cherish — linked arms and sang “We Shall Overcome” when the Berlin Wall fell, when apartheid ended in South Africa, and when the courageous protests took place in Tiananmen Square.”
This means that Mr. Kennedy has left his contact lenses in too long.
Teresa Heinz Kerry
“Today, the better angels of our nature are just waiting to be summoned. We only require a leader who is willing to call on them, a leader willing to draw again on the mystic chords of our national memory and remind us of all that we, as a people, everyday leaders, can do; of all that we as a nation stand for and of all the immense possibility that still lies ahead.”
This means that Ms. Heinz Kerry needs a better speech writer. It’s hard to harness Abraham Lincoln to drum up support for John Kerry.
Barack Obama
“On behalf of the great state of Illinois, crossroads of a nation, land of Lincoln, let me express my deep gratitude for the privilege of addressing this convention. Tonight is a particular honor for me because, let’s face it, my presence on this stage is pretty unlikely. “
This means that Barack Obama will be the next junior senator from Illinois.
Dave Schuler
July 28, 2004
I’m having some difficulty working up up too much enthusiasm for the Convention. I don’t think I’m alone. Dean Esmay has an excellent post on why the convention is important. I’ll try to drum up some interest and write something about it.
Meanwhile Jeff Goldstein continues to cover the convention by mocking everything in sight. Keep scrolling up.
Dave Schuler
July 25, 2004
In response to the Obsidian Wings Meatloaf Recipe Slam I have decided to offer you the ultimate guide to meatloaf. When you have mastered this approach to making meatloaf you will be able to make a nearly infinite variety of meatloafs. Here are the basic ingredients:
1 lb. meat
1 medium onion, minced
2 Tbsp.—1/4 cup fat
1/4 cup filler
Binder
1/4 cup sauce
Seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste
Meat
Select one from the following meats: beef, pork, lamb, veal, chicken, turkey, or ham. Or use a combination. It is possible to make a fantastic meatloaf with cod, scallops, or salmon.
UPDATE:
Thomas Vincent makes the excellent suggestion of adding Italian sausage or other similar sausage to the list of possible meats in the combination. I suggest that if you use a regular fatted sausage that you reduce the amount of other fat added to the recipe or the product may end up a little greasy.
Fat
Meatloaf doesn’t taste like anything without fat. Without fat meatloaf is dry, bland, and uninteresting, useful only as a doorstop. Meatloaf can be made without added fat but you’ll have to double the binder and the sauce and it still won’t be nearly as good. You have been warned.
Select one from the following or use a combination: butter, raw bacon, pork fat, chicken fat. I usually grind my own meat with no fat and add the fat of my choice to my meatloaf.
[continue reading…]
Dave Schuler
July 25, 2004
Here’s the second amendment to the United States Constitution:
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
Most of the attention that this amendment has received has been on the latter portion of the amendment: “the right of the people to keep and bear arms” but I’d like to focus on the opening clauses of the amendment.
[continue reading…]
Dave Schuler
July 25, 2004
On Dean’s World Joe Gandelman asks Is the New York Times Liberal?” and analyzes today’s column by New York Times Public Editor Daniel Okrent.
Determining your position or an institution’s position in the political spectrum is like finding your location in the world. You look left—there are people there. You look right—there are people there, too. That means you’re in the center, no? Everyone is at the center of their own universe. There is no GPS for classifying political positions.
[continue reading…]
Dave Schuler
July 24, 2004
Steve Verdon fisks a post of Kevin Drum’s on this article from the Washington Post:
The notion of one of Washington’s most respected foreign policy figures being subjected to treatment that had at least a faint odor of a sting operation is a strange one.
Archive employees believed that Mr. Berger had illegally removed classified documents from the archives. They were doing their jobs. The notion that government officials—or former government officials—should receive different treatment than any other citizen is worse than strange. It is elitist, opposed to the rule of law, un-American, and vile.
This article appeared in the news section. As opinion it’s vile. As news it’s agit-prop.
Dave Schuler
July 24, 2004
I love Noah Millman’s posts on Gideon’s Blog because they’re well-written. And I love them because serious thought and good heart shine through every post. But most of all I love his little sermons and midrashim. I don’t think you have to be Jewish to be appreciate them:
As I say, this approach strikes me as more productive and correct than the alternatives. But I do have a nagging doubt: can we as a people persevere guided only by a hermeneutic? Isn’t there a psychological difference, after all, between the will to believe that God authored the Torah, and the unwilled conviction that God authored the Torah? Isn’t a postmodern hermeneutic thin spiritual gruel to nourish a people? I could make many rejoinders to my own questions. But in the end, this question will be answered by history. If we, Conservative Jews, are faithful, then our perseverance itself will vindicate our own ideology about why we are faithful. If we are not, then we will not be there to do the vindicating.
I’m not Jewish and I come back looking for more time after time.
Dave Schuler
July 23, 2004
The blogosphere appears to be digesting the goat right now. There hasn’t been an enormous amount of commentary on the 9/11 Commission report yet. Protein Wisdom gives a rundown of mainstream media reaction and correctly observes that it appears to be a Rorschach test.
Gary Farber on Winds of Change makes the reasonable suggestion that we should shut up and listen for a change. This may be our last opportunity to abandon partisan bickering and agree on something for quite a while.
I’m struggling with myself whether to read the executive summary, the whole shebang, or just wait for the next commission’s report to come out.
Dave Schuler
July 23, 2004
One of the fun things about blogs is that the comments thread on blog can go off on strange and sometimes interesting tangents. A thread on Obsidian Wings (one of my homes away from home) that started off as a commentary on Glenn Reynold’s rather silly comparison of Heinz catsup with W catsup has lurched uncontrollably into meatloaf. The thread has ended (I believe) with a suggestion for a future meatloaf recipe slam. If they’re very, very lucky I’ll share my meatloaf recipe with them.
But right now I will share one of life’s great truths: meatloaf makes no gravy. But how can you have meatloaf without mashed potatoes (I heard someone exclaim)? And what’s mashed potatoes without gravy?
I have solved this problem and, faithful readers, I will share this quirky but effective solution with you. Creamed corn. Serve creamed corn with the mashed potatoes. It’s quick and tasty. And you won’t have to use that gravy-like sludge that comes out of a jar. Sheesh.
