Internal Monologue

via Ezra Klein .

I just finished listening to the last of David Blight's lectures on the build-up to, fighting of, and aftermath of the American Civil War. I think it would be fair to say that this series of lectures transformed my understanding of American history, race relations, and politics. So much of what seemed baffling to me about my country now seems explicable, indeed even inevitable , given what happened in this country from 1861 to 1865, and then from 1866 through the rest of the 19th century. I did not realize how absolutely devastating the war was, particularly to the South. And then, after all that, for the nation to come together again within a few short years is both miraculous and hideous. Such a cataclysmic schism and subsequent rapid reconciliation could not possibly happen without a thousand myths, delusions, distortions, projections, and obsessions taking hold. And certainly not without a massive backlash and a lot of people being thrown under the bus (or to the back of it). ...

According to this chart , only 23% of people on OK Cupid who identify as bisexual actually send messages to both genders. OK Cupid identifies more interesting lies here , about height, income, and age of photos.

Here's a good writeup that captures some of what is frustrating about the recent Grant verdict.

Rock Fans Outraged As Bob Dylan Goes Electronica Given the number of genre and identity transformations he's undergone, I wouldn't be all that surprised.

From here .

If you're not one of the over 3 million people who has already seen this:

Republican Chair Michael Steele attacks the war in Afghanistan ! Bill Kristol is not happy about this. Sullivan hopes this starts a genuine debate within the American right about the war in Afghanistan. It's interesting how the partisan politics plays into this: Republicans have recently been the advocates of the more militarist approach to fighting terrorism, so one would expect the Chair of the Republican Party to support the Afghan war, as they did under Bush. But Republicans have been almost reflexively against anything Obama pushes forward, even things that Republicans recently advocated (e.g. Massachusetts-style health care reform, cap-and-trade CO2 reduction). Since Obama has identified himself more and more with the Afghanistan occupation (foolishly and immorally, in my opinion), it makes sense that Republicans would attack it. I might find myself with a strange set of political allies on this issue! My guess is that Michael Steele was following the second script (attack ...

I think this is a good expansion of the thinking about the financial crisis. Nobody in our current political discourse is asking questions like, "What is the current power relationship between capital and labor? What do we want that relationship to be? How would policies we are currently considering affect that relationship?" I'd like to see more of those discussions happening. (HT: Shailja Patel on Facebook )

This is the best slacktivist post in some time. I really think our political discourse regarding the economy is completely broken. The US can borrow money at extremely easy rates. Or just print more of it: inflation is extremely low to non-existent. We have a lot of unemployed people (myself included). We have a lot of things we need to do. Let's get to work, America. But due to the desire of the Republican party to punish people who are already suffering, and the over-representation our political institutions give them, we cannot do the obvious thing. This seems like Hooverism all over again. I am very angry, and very disappointed at the nonchalance with which the suffering of so many people is treated by our political class. And these aren't even people on the other side of the world. These our us . 9.3% unemployment is a crisis. And unlike the BP oil leak, we can do something about it.

Cuba embargo to take (welcome) hit today Good news . A congressional panel is poised to take the first step toward ending a decades-old U.S. ban on travel to Cuba and removing other hurdles to food sales to the Caribbean island, a senior lawmaker said on Tuesday. [I sent this from my iPhone, so please excuse any excessive brevity or typo graphical errors.] --Zachary Drake