Ink Lake

This Doesn't Happen At Katz's

But when you’re visiting an optometrist on Mott Street on the day of the New Year’s parade…

Freedom Fighter

Gretchen Ertl for The New York Times

“Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the strongly marked feature of all religions established by law.”

The blog supports Jessica Ahlquist, for sticking to her guns, and for all of our rights. Tom Paine would be proud of you, Jessica.

 “That which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly.”

Who Exactly Do You Mean By "Their", Fat-Boy?

“and my point is that in a state like this, the fact of the matter is their own polling [which shows 52 percent support for gay marriage] belies that position.”

NJ governor Chris Christie explaining his politically shrewd gutless proposal to have marriage equality put to a popular vote. You know, just like abolishing slaveryx, freedom-of-speech, etc.

Utah Beginning to Look Like Utah

Alta. Where else?

Kodak Moment

Cheers to my friend Zoë, for winning the  “People You Meet” category of the National Geographic/Hilton Honors Expensive Vacation “Stories Without Words” photo contest.

More of her work can be seen here.

Unrighteous Indignation

Give Mitt Romney props. Of his gazillion flip-flops, the one thing he couldn’t pretend to be (and to his further credit, he didn’t even seem to try), is be a racist.

But Newt, the South Carolina primary is made for a guy like him. 

Then the religion card: the increasing anti-religious “bigotry” of the elites will be his enemy. He will deploy race and religion and nationalism as his themes. No wonder South Carolina loved him. And rather than retreating on the racially charged “food stamp president” line, he reiterates it.

This is what the GOP now is, and it deserves its spokesman. But do not under-estimate the appeal to some of the idea of humiliating and removing the first black president. That's what Gingrich is really about. He is giving them what they want. And it's meat that has barely seen a skillet.

Then we hear about Obama's “extreme left-wing allies from San Francisco” and now he is a “danger to this country”. “He makes Jimmy Carter look strong.” He wants the final showdown between America and socialism/Marxism/radicalism/Jihadism/Obama. And the rage among some about a black president actually exercising authority is real. This man can roil it brutally, shamelessly, mercilessly. And he will.

Of course he will. Whether he believes any of it or not, I don’t know, and it doesn’t even particularly matter. He’s the golfing buddy you want to be talking to about making sure your dumb-ass kid gets that summer job. As Andrew Sullivan wrote last night, Gingrich, “knows in his bones how to work this constituency”. He’s the id of the Republican base, and its relaxed-fit avatar.

The late Lee Atwater, shaper of the GOP’s modern “Southern Strategy, said it best,

You start out in 1954 by saying, “Nigger, nigger, nigger.” By 1968 you can't say “nigger”— that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states' rights and all that stuff. You’re getting so abstract now [that] you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites.

And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I’m not saying that. But I’m saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me — because obviously sitting around saying, “We want to cut this,” is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than “Nigger, nigger”.

Appletons

From National Lampoon, 1981. Cut it out and saved it.

I Sure Can Pick 'Em

 

Yes, after Lori Berenson, I had other great dates.

No, I didn’t recognize her by the picture, but the name caught eye whe I looked at the lead post this afternoon on Gothamist.

About 20 years ago, I went on a few dates with Ms. Van Voast (apparently, AKA New York's “Topless Paparazzo”).

I remember we caught Deconstructing Harry, and then grabbed some coffee. Somehow the subject of Albert Speer came up. I remember her remarking it was a shame that he didn’t get a chance to construct all those cool buildings.