Don't that beat all?

I'm chatting with a buddy of mine this evening who lives in Bermuda (great gig actually). When we get a chance to talk, we rarely talk politics. For some reason though, he brought up Bob Herbert's column today in the Times, which he approvingly cited. What he said next though is a little more interesting, but made remarkable when you realize this guy is a New England blue blood with a trust account big enough to back up that long family tree.

"Now everyone's whining about torture. Torture! They're gonna say that America doesn't torture. That democracies don't do this. That only Nazi Germany, or extremist Afghanistan do this sorta thing."

I told him that was true enough. And I read him snippets from this post over at AmericaBlog. He roared with laughter. "Those damn white liberals!" he declared.

"Where are they everytime a poor white Southerner gets his ass handed to him on the police station floor cause he was at the wrong place at the wrong time? Where are they when some wetback gets his jaw dislocated during an interrogation? America doesn't torture? Bullshit. America doesn't torture smart-ass, white college kids with a little bit of money. America has always tortured everyone else though."

Sounds right to me.

Train Dispatch #5, from Laguardia

Haven't had the opportunity to take the train lately... been doing a lot of flying. One thing I've noticed about those flying our commercial skies is that they are markedly different from those riding our public trains. Almost no one wants to talk to you when you fly, unless you're in business class or first class and you and the person you're talking to are both flying alone. On rare occassions, coach flyers will strike up a conversation, usually prompted by the children flying with one of the conversants. Kids have a way of breaking the ice in close quarters that adults just can't seem to handle. And that's where I think the main difference lies. On planes, you're on top of each other (unless flying business or first, see above) . When you're on top of each other, you're afraid to make the other person (or yourself) any more uncomfortable than you already are. You can smell their breath, so they can smell yours. You understand this I'm sure. On trains though, there's a little more room, and you can walk a few cars to get yourself a beer (or two) instead of waiting for some lady to bring you one. Even the side by seats are bigger and a little less "cozy" than two coach seats side by side (however, I have noticed that less conversation typically occurs on the side by side train seats than their three seat bench counterparts holding only two passengers).

What's all this mean? Not sure, but something to keep in mind. Give people a little space and they open up, they become friendly, and they start having good conversations, the kind that shed light on the day to day, or the kind that are therapeutic. Pack people in like rats and they'll shut up, stare straight ahead, and forget to ask questions or crack jokes. Makes me think about the suburbs... Speaking of which, please check out a new blog on suburban development and land use. Started by friend of Amendment Nine DML. We caution DML though, most friends of this site don't fare well at MyDD or Daily Kos... Not sure why, just a warning. Anyway, the blog itself seems pretty interesting and we hope to hear more from DML soon!

Pooty Poot

Gotta love this... the whole article is like watching someone look at themselves in a mirror, and then write about it as if they're looking at a stranger. Weird, but hilarious. I especially love this part:

It's not clear how well Putin understands the controversy that led to the dismissal of four CBS journalists over the discredited report on Bush's National Guard service.

Well, if Pooty Poot did indeed say this:

We didn't criticize you when you fired those reporters at CBS.

then I imagine Vlad understands it just fine. It seems while Bushes rule behind closed doors, Putins rule out in the open.

Just dog tired... Train Dispatch #4

I've been pretty busy of late, and most of the other contributors here have been busy too. Busy and tired. Something about late winter here that makes you "just dog tired." On the train yesterday, it was quiet. A few bankers, businessmen, and other suits knocking off a little early, some moms in the city for a shopping spree, and a couple of MTA employees riding up for the shift change. Each person on board had something in common though, we all appeared wiped out. It was a quiet ride to say the least. Quiet, that is, until we stopped in Stamford and the 4pm crowd of teenagers piled in on their way home from school. It was like being in the rare books section of a university library one moment, and then the next moment, suddenly finding yourself at lunch in the cafeteria of a 3,000+ high-school. Insane!

I've never been able to figure this out. All these kids pile on in the afternoons, heading to Bridgeport from Stamford. They all apparently go to a public high school, but honestly since my kids are about 14 years from having to worry about such things, I just haven't looked into what it is all about. Needless to say, the contrast in passenger type is most amusing at this point.

After a few minutes, the teenagers settled down, the police officers walked through a couple of times (yeah, police officers! weird huh?) and suddenly part of the train was transformed into the back of the schoolbus. Teenage girls with tight jeans cozying up to teenage boys with jeans so baggy three or four full grown adult males could fit inside them. Some kissing, rubbing, whispering, altogether normal flirting though with the occassional "fuck no you damn ho bitch!" thrown in for good measure.

At one point, a group of teenagers started swearing loudly and clapping and laughing. They kept getting louder too. Finally, one businessman in what can only be termed a "loud" brown pin-stripped suit just lost it. He'd had enough. He was tired. They woke him up. He fell back asleep. They woke him up again. He started reading a book, and their banter was making that impossible. "Hey!" he yelled to get their attention, "why don't you kids shut the hell up, huh?" Silence.

I thought to myself at this point that the guy either had some serious cajones or he was a miserable wretich who thought he could boss around anyone younger and darker than him. "Who said that?" Asked a half-afro, half-latina girl with corn-rows, gold-hoop earrings, and clothes so tight they looked they were about to pop-off. Oh yeah, and she was about four foot two as well. "Who said that? I said!"

Finally the brown-suited businessman piped in: "I did." At this point I realized the guy was a miserable wretch. Someone with balls would have said: "I did, now shut up." But he didn't. He thought once they recognized that HE said it, they'd all be quiet and start doing their homework.

I sat up in my seat for the fireworks that were about to begin. "Oh you did? Well listen here Mr. I'm gonna disrespect everyone cause I make more money than them, didn't your mama ever teach you to ask for things nicely? What's wrong with you? You don't gotta be swearin' at us an shit, if you want us to quiet down, all you gots to do is ask. You hear me big man? You just ask?"

The businessman was now so red that he was in danger of igniting. His ears, the tips of them, actually seemed to be blue. What really did it to him wasn't what she said, but that she stood up, walked over to him, and started swaying her head from shoulder to shoulder as she spoke each syllable. He was finished. I think he might have even pissed himself.

"You go girl." said someone from the back. There was a small, but nevertheless genuine, applause. And the guy mumbled something like: "i'm just dog tired, i'm sorry." Yeah, they were being loud buddy, and they woke you up. But she's right, you got to ask first.

Did he squeal?

Bob Novak knows who in the administration leaked the identity of Valerie Plame. So why are two other reporters being compelled by judicial decree to answer questions in grand jury testimony? I smell a rat, and if I had to guess, I'd guess the rat spoke long ago to save his own skin.

An Apology?

Look fast, Jonah Goldberg at NRO says "I'm sorry"... why? Well, I'll let you figure that out. But I'm reminded of something I learned in Sunday school, it ain't an apology unless you ask for forgiveness. Come on Jonah, you can do better.

Apt Description?

Does this...

...nattering nabobs of negativism who are deeply pessimistic about America's future.

Sound at all a little like this...

This Election is simply, in my estimation, an exercise in pretty pictures.

And if so, can we all agree to disagree with Fred Hiatt where he says this...

Eeyore's friends never doubted his good intentions.

Cause it seems pretty clear to me that such pessimism as seen in the above link re: the election in Iraq is written not in good faith, but simply is a manifestation of a pathology of power hunger.

Anheuser-Busch

Did anyone see the Anheuser-Busch ad last night with the troops walking through an airport terminal and everyone clapping for them? Was anyone besides me a little offended at that? I don't know, call me old fashioned, but it seemed like Anheuser-Busch hurt themselves, rather than helped themselves with that ad.

Also, speaking of commercials, how about the Miller Lite take down of the new Budweiser Select? I didn't see the Budweiser Select commercial until after I saw TWO Miller Lite attack ads... effective? You bet. As soon as I saw the Bud Select ad, I wondered without even realizing it, "why do they need a better tasting bud light?" To those ad guys at Miller who dreamed this one up, this Bud's for you!

Follow the Money

Today's Daily Deal reports (subscription only) that private equity player Advent has invested $40M in NBS. What is NBS? National Bankruptcy Services. This came up as odd for me and some others here as the corporate reorg market is due for a slow down, not a pick up, in business. A little deeper in the column you read though that NBS focuses on C. 7 and C. 13 bankruptcy monitoring services; as in, personal or small biz bankruptcies. Follow the money.

In other news, Adelphia GUCs appear to be getting short-changed, again, by about $1B says the LA Times. I know some folks who are gonna be unhappy about that.