Links for 2012-01-05

I've thought a lot about Farrakhan, recently, watching Ron Paul's backers twist themselves in knots to defend what they have now euphemistically label as "baggage." I don't think it makes much sense to try to rebut the charges here. No minds will be changed. Still let us remember that we are faced with a candidate who published racism under his name, defended that publication when it was convenient, and blamed it on ghost-writers when it wasn't, whose take on the Civil War is at home with Lost-Causers, and whose take on the Civil Rights Act is at home with segregationists. Ostensibly this is all coincidence, or if it isn't, it should be excused because Ron Paul is a lone voice speaking on the important issues that plague our nation. I have heard this reasoning before.

This was a family dinner, not a job interview. Yet, I noticed after thinking about it more - something strange about the dinner conversation. The grads didn't ask any real or authentic questions. They weren't curious. When the conversation took a turn about a few current events, one linking to a columnist in The Washington Post, and another to The New York Times, both gave the deer-in-the-headlight-look and one murmured "must've missed it due to finals (exams)." The adults tried to engage more by soliciting some opinions. Nothing. Okay. We go on vacations, immerse in a no-distraction mode for long-term projects, barely checking on anything but breakthrough news, but there was a void in this conversation. Surely, you must have a question, at least asked by Stephen Colbert or Jon Stewart?

Because some days you just want to see owls playing with tennis balls.

"My fellow Americans, I come to you today to ask, why?" Obama said to 1,200 people gathered inside a gymnasium at Taylor Allderdice High School. "Why can't our congressional leaders work together to create jobs? Why can't Wall Street ever be held accountable? And most important, why on God's green earth would I voluntarily subject myself to this nonsense for another four years?"