All Things in Moderation

Friday Open Thread: 8/17/2012

35 Responses

1. 

   markinaustin, on August 17, 2012 at 12:04 pm said:

   I mentioned The Long Sunset by Anthony Montague Browne.

   Browne heard him talk of homosexuality on only one occasion. During a discussion of the infamous Cambridge spies, WSC mentioned that they did not become spies because they were blackmailed, in response to the suggestion that homosexuals were subject to such pressure. WSC suggested that the status of being among a reviled minority could leave one feeling alienated and without a country. He also made one homosexual joke – a pun.

   A homosexual Cabinet member, surprising his colleagues, married. His bride was notoriously plain. WSC remarked “buggers can’t be choosers.”

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   • 

     markinaustin, on August 17, 2012 at 12:14 pm said:

     JNC, I would be surprised if BHO had remained in close contact with his former colleague. Not much a POTUS can do for a particular neighborhood. The misconception of the all powerful POTUS is rampant and fed by the campaigns every four years.

     And I wish Jack Kemp were with us today, as well.

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2. 

   lmsinca, on August 17, 2012 at 12:31 pm said:

   Mark, I’m not going to be around much for the next few weeks but will put up a post tomorrow morning for the book review and try to participate when I can.

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3. 

   jnc4p, on August 17, 2012 at 12:38 pm said:

   Mark,
   These were passages that I found telling:

   “Obama’s much ballyhooed 2009 stimulus package has failed to touch ordinary South Side residents, says Allen, who has reached out to Obama administration officials, including fellow Chicagoan and prominent White House adviser Valerie Jarrett, to express his dismay. He wants red tape cut, and he wants to see more business loans for the area and more jobs for local residents on construction and infrastructure projects.”

   “Cut red tape” “more business loans” – There’s an opening here for a more sophisticated Republican party than one that has been on display recently, hence the Jack Kemp observation.

   “With no great hope that Washington will provide additional help anytime soon, Allen’s organization is principally focused on aiding small-business owners struggling to get ventures off the ground. His organization makes available office space, in the form of cubicles, for budding entrepreneurs who are looking for capital, workers and affordable places to house businesses. He assists the dreamers in the sometimes confounding process of applying for commercial loans and government grants, and he must occasionally guide them through the frustrations of credit repair. Always, he says, he is looking to pair them with local potential investors who have already made it, but the ranks of the winners are small. In the meantime, he tries to find any part-time jobs for the desperate. It is a grind.

   “We need loosened credit from Barack’s people; we need strings untied. Not easy,” he says.””

   A sophisticated Romney campaign would read this article, put in a call to some old friends at Bain Capital and see about possibly starting a “Bain Capital Small Business Investment Venture Capital Fund” for under-served neighborhoods like the one profiled in Chicago. Go there in the bus and make an event out of it. If accused of political opportunism during the campaign, the response should be that yes, they are guilty as charged about opportunistically exploiting the President’s record of economic failure and opportunistically bringing capital investment (at an appropriate rate of return to adjust for the risk premium) to an otherwise under-served community that is choking on the government red tape.

   The Republican message that sells best is that any of us can be an entrepreneur, regardless of background or skin color. However, if they don’t actually believe it (like Jack Kemp did) and aren’t going to follow up on it, then don’t bother at all.

   “Meanwhile, administration defenders point out that the stimulus law was never chiefly designed as an infrastructure program. Most of the stimulus money has gone to the kinds of initiatives principally designed to stoke consumer demand, bolster the social safety net and preserve existing jobs: tax credits for lower- and middle-income families, more public education funding, additional assistance to Medicaid.”

   There’s nothing to show for the stimulus because it was never meant to achieve anything, just fund existing structures.

   Edit: Correction – Spellchecker changed “under-served” to “undeserved”. I’ve fixed it.

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4. 

   ScottC, on August 17, 2012 at 12:42 pm said:

   jnc:

   A sophisticated Romney campaign would read this article, put in a call to some old friends at Bain Capital and see about possibly starting a “Bain Capital Small Business Investment Venture Capital Fund” for undeserved neighborhoods like the one profiled in Chicago. Go there in the bus and make an event out of it. If accused of political opportunism during the campaign, the response should be that yes, they are guilty as charged about opportunistically exploiting the President’s record of economic failure and opportunistically bringing capital investment (at an appropriate rate of return to adjust for the risk premium) to an otherwise undeserved community that is choking on the government red tape.

   Outstanding idea.

   JNC Edit: Correction – Spellchecker changed “under-served” to “undeserved”. I’ve fixed it in the original post.

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5. 

   Michigoose, on August 17, 2012 at 2:23 pm said:

   Only one problem. . . there is no sophisticated Romney campaign.

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6. 

   okiegirl, on August 17, 2012 at 3:06 pm said:

   Since this is an open thread, may I ask if anybody (other than Emily) has done any genealogical research? If so, any tips for a novice? I am embarking on the quest into my father’s family, which is difficult for us since my father was estranged from his family as was his father. Luckily, having found a long-lost 3rd cousin from another branch of the family who graciously provided a mountain of materials (though not organized at all), we have a head start. My niece and I are planning a mid-October trip adventure to the area where my great grandfather lived as an adult to see what we can find.

   Hahahahaha. Based on the preliminary info from the 3rd cousin, my great grandfather was divorced from first wife 11/12/1874, got a marriage license to marry second wife 11/15/1874, and subsequently married my great grandmother (who is not the second wife) in 1874. Three marriages in appx six weeks’ time??? Gawd, I’m hoping there’s a mistake in that chronology somewhere.

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7. 

   jnc4p, on August 17, 2012 at 3:08 pm said:

   Good analysis by Ezra Klein:

   “The White House’s huge gamble on Paul Ryan
   Posted by Ezra Klein on August 17, 2012 at 2:56 pm”

   http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/08/17/the-white-houses-huge-gamble-on-paul-ryan/?hpid=z1

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8. 

   jnc4p, on August 17, 2012 at 3:10 pm said:

   “okiegirl, on August 17, 2012 at 3:06 pm said:

   Hahahahaha. Based on the preliminary info from the 3rd cousin, my great grandfather was divorced from first wife 11/12/1874, got a marriage license to marry second wife 11/15/1874, and subsequently married my great grandmother (who is not the second wife) in 1874. Three marriages in appx six weeks’ time??? Gawd, I’m hoping there’s a mistake in that chronology somewhere.”

   What state? For some reason, that quote made me think of the Hatfields & McCoys miniseries on History Channel.

   http://www.history.com/shows/hatfields-and-mccoys

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9. 

   okiegirl, on August 17, 2012 at 3:39 pm said:

   jnc, LMAO. What about that made you think of the Hatfields & McCoys? Gotta admit I was hoping for a better tip than History Channel, where I am not likely to find much about my family. Smile.

   Our research will start in the Wichita and Arkansas City, KS, area.

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10. 

    Michigoose, on August 17, 2012 at 5:20 pm said:

    Your great-grandfather sounds a bit like my great uncle Paul, okie! He was grandma’s older brother and was quite a scoundrel by all accounts (among other things, family tradition/gossip has it that he ran rum across the border from Canada during Prohibition and ran a gin mill). He was shot and killed by his 28-year-old common law wife when she came home and found his 60-something butt in bed with the 16-year-old from next door. In Paradise, MI. Go ahead and make your own jokes. . .

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11. 

    Michigoose, on August 17, 2012 at 5:39 pm said:

    shrink linked to this Gallup poll over on PL. All I have to say about that is “cheers!”

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12. 

    Mike, on August 17, 2012 at 6:00 pm said:

    Michi:

    Well, it’s good to know I’m above average in something … Or maybe I just drink too much.

    Nah.

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13. 

    Michigoose, on August 17, 2012 at 6:07 pm said:

    Mike:

    As I sit here drinking my Bombay Sapphire dirty martini the exact same thoughts went through my mind.

    I had the same answer, too! 🙂

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    • 

      ScottC, on August 17, 2012 at 6:48 pm said:

      Mich:

      As I sit here drinking my Bombay Sapphire…

      I highly recommend Tanqueray Rangpur gin. Not just regular Tanqueray mind you, although that will do in a pinch, but the Rangpur. Made with “rangpur limes and other botanicals”. Fantastic.

      Another gin I recommend, although only for the real gin connoisseur, is Hendricks with tonic. It is has a very distinct taste, and as the label recommends, mix it with a slice of cucumber rather than the traditional lime. It really does make a difference. Very smooth.

      I have become a genuine gin snob. I can drink just about any kind of vodka, but when it comes to gin it has to be one of only a few, in order of preference:

      Tanqueray (preferably Rangpur)
      Hendricks
      Plymouth
      Bombay Sapphire

      Even the regular Bombay is too harsh. Gordon’s and my mouth breaks out in hives.

      Seriously Mich, if you are a gin drinker and haven’t tried it yet, get the Tanqueray Rangpur.

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14. 

    okiegirl, on August 17, 2012 at 6:10 pm said:

    Cheers from OKC as well! (Chilled Vodka [martini — don’t know how to do strikethrough] here after a difficult week)

    Edited

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15. 

    Michigoose, on August 17, 2012 at 6:17 pm said:

    okie, I store both my gin and my vodka in the freezer. I’m not much of a vodka drinker, but there’s a craft distillery here in Ogden that’s put out one called “Five Wives Vodka.” Once I finish the bottle of Absolut that’s in the freezer I’m going to have to try that one!

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16. 

    Michigoose, on August 17, 2012 at 7:05 pm said:

    Scott:

    I’ll have to hunt up some of the Rangpur. For a G&T Tanqueray is my preferred gin. And I’m with you on the regular Bombay–I got a bottle to do a side-by-side taste test with the Sapphire and ended up giving my bottle to a friend (who has excellent taste in wines, but. . .) makes his martinis with Beefeater!

    *shudder*

    I’ll also ask about Hendricks. They (the state DABC) may have to special-order it. And I love cucumbers, so that may be right up my alley. I only recently got onto the martini kick and have found that the gin–not surprisingly–makes all the difference in the world.

    I don’t even want to think about Gordon’s. . .

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    • 

      ScottC, on August 17, 2012 at 7:19 pm said:

      Mich:

      I think one of the things that makes the Rangpur so good is that it has some kind of lime (and other botanicals!) distilled into it. Look for the light green (as opposed to the traditional dark green) Tanqueray bottle.

      The Hendricks is very peculiar.  A friend knew of my taste for gin and sent me a bottle.  At first I thought the cucumber advice a little off the wall, and so made it with a lime.  It was OK but nothing special.  Then I decided to try the cucumber and it really does make a difference. Definitely makes it smoother.  I have no idea why that is the case.

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17. 

    Michigoose, on August 17, 2012 at 7:30 pm said:

    Rose petals?!?!?!!

    OK, I’m definitely going to have to get my hands on some of this gin!

    The scientist and cook in me is thinking about the cucumber bit. I’m guessing something about the bitterness in the cucumber (chemical: cucurbirtacin) and the bitterness in the gin combine to smooth everything out.

    I’ve seen (but not tried) Tanqueray 10, so I’m thinking that if I find the right state liquor store they’ll have the Rangpur. I usually go to the wine store and they don’t have much in the way of specialty liquors there (most of the floor space given over to–surprise!–wine), but one of them should specialize in liquors.

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    • 

      ScottC, on August 17, 2012 at 7:46 pm said:

      Mich:

      I’ve seen (but not tried) Tanqueray 10

      That’s Tanqueray’s most expensive make, but frankly I am not much of a fan. I definitely prefer the Rangpur and even the standard Tanqueray to the 10. Something about it just isn’t right for me. The Rangpur is the most difficult to find. I’ve got 3 liquor stores in my town, and they all carry 10 and regular, but only one carries Rangpur. One of them didn’t even know about it until I mentioned it to them. Haven’t been back there.

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      • 

        ScottC, on August 17, 2012 at 7:50 pm said:

        Mich:

        Have you seen this? I had some last week for the first time. Pretty good. Who knew the Lone Star State made premium vodka?

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18. 

    Michigoose, on August 17, 2012 at 7:57 pm said:

    Scott:

    I haven’t, but evidently it’s a favorite of yellojkt’s (there was a parallel liquor thread going over on PL earlier from shrink’s link). I’ll have to look for it here, since yello can find it in Maryland so their distribution network must be pretty good. But, again, I’m not much of a vodka drinker and I want to try the local craft one (“Five Wives” from Ogden’s Own distillery) first. I think my bottle of Absolut has lasted for about six months now.

    So many fine liquors, so little time!

    Let me know if you want to try Five Wives and can’t get it in CT; I’ll send you a bottle as an ATiM anniversary present. 🙂

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19. 

    Michigoose, on August 17, 2012 at 7:58 pm said:

    Maybe we can get Mark to send us some Tito’s!!!

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    • 

      markinaustin, on August 17, 2012 at 8:05 pm said:

      No problem. Give me actual shipping addresses by email and I can have it shipped from sixth street, I think.

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20. 

    Michigoose, on August 17, 2012 at 8:13 pm said:

    Check your e-mail. . . 🙂

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21. 

    Michigoose, on August 17, 2012 at 8:20 pm said:

    Scott:

    I just checked the DABC website and it says that Rangpur is carried, so now I just have to track it down. That’ll be my reward tomorrow for getting all my chores around the house done. . . assuming it doesn’t involve a trip to Moab or something!

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22. 

    yellojkt, on August 17, 2012 at 8:58 pm said:

    I have a really excellent liquor store in my area which does carry Tito’s. I mix it with Wegman’s organic lemonade. Recently I took a tour of Catoctin Creek distillery in Purcellville, VA. They make rye whiskey, gin, and brandy out of a single still.

    I keep a bottle of Bombay Sapphire in the freezer next to the Tito’s but I rarely have any because I find gin too bitter. I do like to spend some evenings with a iced glass of either Booker’s bourbon or, on very special occasions, Midleton Very Rare.

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23. 

    Mike, on August 17, 2012 at 8:59 pm said:

    Tito’s is good drinking vodka — got a big old bottle in the liquor cabinet. Dogfish Head brewery also distills a really good vodka, if you can get your hands on it (sorry, Michi, only in the Mid-Atlantic).

    I’ll have to try the Rangpur. I’m not a fan of the Ten either. Besides Sapphire, which we have right now, I really like Bluecoat (distilled in Philly). It has a little different flavor, kind of citrus-y, orange-y, not exactly like British gins.

    Hmm. Maybe it is time for a Vesper …..

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24. 

    Michigoose, on August 17, 2012 at 9:36 pm said:

    I just got back from my evening walk with Daisy and this thread is making me thirsty. . . time for a nightcap, I think!

    I’ve never tried rye; anyone have some suggestions?

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25. 

    Michigoose, on August 17, 2012 at 9:56 pm said:

    Scott:

    Also, a purely curious question. What are the liquor laws in CT? In MI, where I grew up, beer and wine could be purchased in grocery stores, but liquor had to be bought from a licensed but privately owned liquor store. In NC (Ft Bragg) wine and liquor had to be bought from a state-run ABC store (I don’t remember what the laws were in AL [Ft McClellan]–I wasn’t there long enough, and lived on post both times anyway and so just bought booze on post). WA (Ft Lewis) was the same as NC. In UT you can buy 3.2% beer in grocery stores but anything stronger has to be bought either from the source (brewery/winery) or a state DABC store.

    One of the reasons I decided to learn how to make martinis was that I’ve enjoyed them while traveling, but UT liquor laws prevent a good one being made here (too much alcohol/drink). When I first moved here, you couldn’t have a shot and a beer at the same time (the server had to just stand there with the beer until you’d drunk the shot) because you weren’t allowed to have more than one drink/person on a table–that was one of the laws that got changed for the Olympics and people found out that it wasn’t the end of the world.

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26. 

    jnc4p, on August 18, 2012 at 11:10 am said:

    Also worth a read:

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    • 

      ScottC, on August 18, 2012 at 1:48 pm said:

      Mark:

      Yesterday you recommended Tony Blair’s pre-invasion speech in the House of Parlaiment. I think this is the one you were talking about, from the March 2003 debate on Iraq.

      I actually had another one in mind, his speech at the Labor Party conference one month prior, Blair’s moral case for war. The whole speech is worthwhile, but the section I found most relevant was this:

      And I know many in our own Party, many here today will agree with her; and don’t understand why I press the case so insistently. And I have given you the geo-political reason – the threat of Weapons of Mass Destruction and its link with terrorism. And I believe it.

      If I am honest about it, there is another reason why I feel so strongly about this issue. It is a reason less to do with my being Prime Minister than being a member of the Labour Party, to do with the progressive politics in which we believe. The moral case against war has a moral answer: it is the moral case for removing Saddam. It is not the reason we act. That must be according to the United Nations mandate on Weapons of Mass Destruction. But it is the reason, frankly, why if we do have to act, we should do so with a clear conscience.

      Yes, there are consequences of war. If we remove Saddam by force, people will die and some will be innocent. And we must live with the consequences of our actions, even the unintended ones.

      But there are also consequences of “stop the war.”

      If I took that advice, and did not insist on disarmament, yes, there would be no war. But there would still be Saddam. Many of the people marching will say they hate Saddam. But the consequences of taking their advice is that he stays in charge of Iraq, ruling the Iraqi people. A country that in 1978, the year before he seized power, was richer than Malaysia or Portugal. A country where today, 135 out of every 1,000 Iraqi children die before the age of five – 70 percent of these deaths are from diarrhea and respiratory infections that are easily preventable. Where almost a third of children born in the center and south of Iraq have chronic malnutrition.

      Where 60 percent of the people depend on Food Aid.

      Where half the population of rural areas have no safe water.

      Where every year and now, as we speak, tens of thousands of political prisoners languish in appalling conditions in Saddam’s jails and are routinely executed.

      Where in the past 15 years over 150,000 Shia Moslems in Southern Iraq and Moslem Kurds in Northern Iraq have been butchered; with up to four million Iraqis in exile round the world, including 350,000 now in Britain.

      This isn’t a regime with Weapons of Mass Destruction that is otherwise benign. This is a regime that contravenes every single principle or value anyone of our politics believes in.

      There will be no march for the victims of Saddam, no protests about the thousands of children that die needlessly every year under his rule, no righteous anger over the torture chambers which if he is left in power, will be left in being.

      I rejoice that we live in a country where peaceful protest is a natural part of our democratic process.

      But I ask the marchers to understand this.

      I do not seek unpopularity as a badge of honour. But sometimes it is the price of leadership. And the cost of conviction.

      But as you watch your TV pictures of the march, ponder this:

      If there are 500,000 on that march, that is still less than the number of people whose deaths Saddam has been responsible for.

      If there are one million, that is still less than the number of people who died in the wars he started.

      Let me read from an e-mail that was sent by a member of the family of one of those four million Iraqi exiles. It is interesting because she is fiercely and I think wrongly critical of America. But in a sense for that reason, it is worth reading.

      She addresses it to the anti-war movement.

      In one part, she says:

      “You may feel that America is trying to blind you from seeing the truth about their real reasons for an invasion. I must argue that in fact, you are still blind to the bigger truths in Iraq.

      “Saddam has murdered more than a million Iraqis over the past 30 years, are you willing to allow him to kill another million Iraqis?

      “Saddam rules Iraq using fear – he regularly imprisons, executes and tortures the mass population for no reason whatsoever – this may be hard to believe and you may not even appreciate the extent of such barbaric acts, but believe me you will be hard pressed to find a family in Iraq who have not had a son, father, brother killed, imprisoned, tortured and/or ‘disappeared’ due to Saddam’s regime.

      “Why it is now that you deem it appropriate to voice your disillusions with America’s policy in Iraq, when it is right now that the Iraqi people are being given real hope, however slight and however precarious, that they can live in an Iraq that is free of its horrors?”

      We will give the e-mail to delegates. Read it all. It is the reason why I do not shrink from action against Saddam if it proves necessary. Read the letter sent to me by Dr. Safa Hashim, who lives here in Glasgow, and who says he is writing despite his fears of Iraqi retribution.

      He says the principle of opposing war by the public is received warmly by Iraqis for it reveals the desire of people to avoid suffering. But he says it misses the point – because the Iraqi people need Saddam removed as a way of ending their suffering.

      Dr. Hashim says:

      “The level of their suffering is beyond anything that British people can possible envisage, let alone understand his obsession to develop and possess weapons of mass destruction. Do the British public know that it is normal practice for Saddam’s regime to demand the cost of the bullet used of in the execution of their beloved family members and not even to allow a proper funeral?

      “If the international community does not take note of the Iraqi people’s plight but continues to address it casually this will breed terrorism and extremism within the Iraqi people. This cannot be allowed to happen.”

      Remember Kosovo, where we were told war would destabilize the whole of the Balkans and that region now has the best chance of peace in over 100 years?

      Remember Afghanistan, where now, despite all the huge problems, there are three million children in school, including for the first time in over two decades one and a half million girls and where two million Afghan exiles from the Taliban have now returned.

      So if the result of peace is Saddam staying in power, not disarmed, then I tell you there are consequences paid in blood for that decision too. But these victims will never be seen. They will never feature on our TV screens or inspire millions to take to the streets. But they will exist nonetheless.

      Ridding the world of Saddam would be an act of humanity. It is leaving him there that is in truth inhumane.

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27. 

    bannedagain5446, on August 18, 2012 at 6:37 pm said:

    If all we needed to to do was get rid of Saddam it didn’t have to cost a trillion dollars and hundred of thousands of lives. A few drones or airstrikes could have gotten the job done.

    It’s not like we have to pretend anymore that the good guys don’t assasinate people.

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28. 

    Michigoose, on August 18, 2012 at 7:10 pm said:

    Don Juan:

    A few drones or airstrikes could have gotten the job done.

    You’re forgetting that drone technology has come lightyears from where it was in 2003, and that we’d been doing airstrikes on and off for years. Just like with ObL, it usually take boots on the ground to kill someone and be sure about it.

    Assassination, whether by the good guys or not, is rarely neat and clean.

    And, for the record, I was against the Iraq war from before it even started.

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