Nobel Prize as Disservice to the Recipient

This is the first time that a Nobel Prize win has been a disservice to - or at least a headache for - the recipient. It'll take some time to see the final effect of Obama's win on his popularity and stature. It may ultimately elevate him. But since the initial reactions are "this is premature" and is actually amplifying the Saturday Night Live criticism of "What has he accomplished" they've given him a surprise communications headache to deal with.

I also have some trepidation as to its effect on the very multilateralism he's trying to foment. This is hard to articulate, because it deals with the instinctive way that humans react to things, but I feel that the feeling of envy/jealousy or whatever else you want to call this general emotion that he didn't deserve this, will result in a desire to burst his bubble, take him down a peg and generally may create a danger of impatient shortness of temper/patience in diplomatic relations that will heighten the very temperatures that he's trying hard to lower. This is of course, anticapatable and manageable through proper, appropriate displays of humility, and likely won't amount to much - but the point is that it is indeed something he has to manage.

Slate on Iran

Something that doesn't get nearly enough respect? Slate. They are a small shop of very bright people (who, it is said, spend all available off hours applying for better jobs at the New York Times). I find they have a knack for asking the question "Wait a second. How did we get here?" and then telling me. Here they are doing it again on Iran. You'll notice that they don't lay the credit at the Altar of the God of Tweets. Rather:

"the truth is that the high turnout was the result of many years of organizational work carried out by small groups of civil rights activists and, above all, women's groups, working largely unnoticed and without much outside help."

This isn't a post about how great Slate is though. It's a post to bring attention to the Slate story that gives credit where it is due. No issue is more important than the totalitarian nightmare still lived by women in oppressive regimes all over the world. The bravery of these groups in Iran needs recognition and support. That isn't to say CNN is oblivious to the role played by women in this struggle. They report on it here. What's useful in the Slate article is that it explains that this isn't spontaneous. It's the product of years of work. Work that is eroding the power of theocracy and, in time, could be a turning point in the global struggle for women's rights.

A sense of priority and propriety please

 I find mildly tasteless the media tendency to turn a story about the struggle in Iran into a story about Twitter.

An unflattering summary of the state of Canada

A poster on one of the message boards I frequent, reddit.com, posted this little gem of a rant that I just had to keep for posterity. I don't agree with all of the vociferousness and language, but there's a certain hilarity to its whole "I'm mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore" sponteneity that I couldn't resist. Those easily offended by, oh whatever, might want to skip it.

Antihostile writes:

"Things I learned about Canada in the last little while:

You can be charged with drunk driving if you're drunk and near a car, the RCMP lie when they taser and kill people, the leader of the opposition is a milquetoast who can't make up his mind, the PM is a fascist, they're introducing mandatory minimum sentencing drug laws that have helped destroy the U.S., text-message fees are marked up 4900%, our health minister believes in non-nuclear isotopes, our Science Minister doesn't believe in evolution, the Federal Natural Resources Minister has a complete retard for an assistant, the Brampton MP abuses her household help and our MPs quietly and secretly decided that they will not reveal how they claim expenses just in case the scandal that brought down the Brit MPs causes the same fury here. WHAT A GREAT COUNTRY!"

Another poster then added:

"Also, our Mint lost $20 Million worth of gold. And the (recently re-elected) Premier of BC plead guilty to drunk driving while on vacation in Hawaii but the liberals called for the resignation of the NDP solicitor general for getting too many speeding tickets."

Fun.

This has to be the biggest "oops" in the history of oopses

Seriously.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/03/us/03nuke.html?_r=1 

 

Can you think of a bigger oops?

Barack Obama Pic "I'm surrounded by idiots" ;)

http://tinyurl.com/ddnhne

This is just a test, do not adjust the vertical...

I'm trying out Twitterfeed from my blogger blog.  This post (and hopefully this tweet) should send my blog posting to Twitter.  I'm just typing more because I want to see how it handles posts of more than 140 characters.  I think that's reasonable? Don't you think that's reasonable? You don't? Well! Who cares what you think anyway?!  Hrmmmph!  K. That should be enough. ;-)

Twitter Re-Dux

Since I last bitched about Twitter, I decided I need to give it a fair shake before judging it so harshly. I've also found that what had really frustrated me was the supply-push of Twitter from the media giants, rather than the service itself.  But since I wrote that I guess the push has worked because a LOT more people are tweeting away.

 

So I'm going to give it that fair shake. I'm @corymacdonald, should ye care.

Get Out Of My Brain, Barack Obama!!

At his Town Hall in Europe, Obama said something that I've been thinking for a long time - and, not surprisingly, said it better.

 

"But the point is that what I found at a very young age was that if you can only think about yourself -- 'How much money can I make? What can I buy? How nice is my house? What kind of fancy car do I have?' -- that over the long term, I think you get bored," he told the audience of mostly students.

"I think if you're only thinking about yourself, your life becomes diminished, and the way to live a full life is to think about what can I do for others, how can I be a part of this larger project of making a better world," he said.

 

His idea is slightly different than mine in execution though. He's talking about public service in an altruistic sense, and while I agree with that my idea is broader. Doing for others isn't limited to charity.  Every day millions of people go to their jobs complaining that it isn't fulfilling for them because they aren't "making a difference" and they want a "job that fulfills them". I think that that is an attitude that promises to lead you straight to a life of ennui.  If you want to be happy, ask yourself "where can I best be of use?" Every job needs doing. Just find a job suited to your skill set and do it well.  Take pride in what you give to the collective enterprise of your office or company.  Basically, to paraphrase another U.S. President, ask not what your job can do for you but what you can do for your job.  Don't do this because you owe your job something. Do it because it'll make you happier.

Fareed Zakaria

Fareed Zakaria's GPS is what all cable news should look like. It embarrasses the rest of CNN and its competitors by comparison. Zakaria actually acts like a) there is an important world outside the United States and b) that insight can be gained by interviewing  a broad range of non-famous experts rather than just asking the same fifteen full time employed pundits how the world works (David Gergen, Paul Begala, Donna Brazile etc).   He also seems to focus on how policy will affect people, rather than how it will affect the outcome of the mid-term elections.  To say it's a breath of fresh air is gross understatement. 

Video Link from The Daily Beast

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Message from sender:

See the video here: http://thedailybeast.com/video/item/brooks-on-jindal

Peter Schiff responds to Obama Stimulus

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/025528.html

John Stewart calls Obama visit to Canada a "pre-season" game

Stewart is correct. I've been saying the same thing for quite some time. That is exactly why most US president's visit Canada first. It isn't because Canada is the biggest trading partner or because of the primacy of border issues.  It's because it allows a foreign visit on training wheels.

 

And there's nothing wrong with that. It just makes sense.  As Canadians our job is just to take advantage of the situation.

 

One other thing though: Canadians - particularly our media - NEED TO STOP FISHING FOR CANADA COMPLIMENTS FROM FOREIGNERS.  It's humiliating and tacky. If you wouldn't fish for compliments about yourself, don't denigrate your country by doing it to the rest of us.  The next person to ask "so what do you think of Canada" should get some moose antlers shoved up their northwest passage. 

 

I'm looking at you, Mansbridge.

 

ps.  Pass it on.

Clear and Understandable Analysis of the US Financial Situation

This is a good Q & A to read if you want to be able to predict what will likely happen - and need to happen - in the US in the next couple of years.

 

http://online.barrons.com/article/SB123396545910358867.html?mod=djemWR&page=sp

Living on our Island, Safe from the Sharks in the Great Blue Sea

There is nothing new in my feelings on this, but I am repeatedly struck, and repeatedly horrified, by the fact that a very large part of planet earth  is, still to some degree or other, an Orwellian nightmare for anyone born with a vagina.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/02/17/pakistan.taliban/index.html 

McCardle on Canadian economy

http://meganmcardle.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/02/oh_canada.php

Johann Hari: Despite these riots, I stand by what I wrote

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-despite-these-riots-i-stand-by-what-i-wrote-1608059.html

Zakaria says Canada rocks. It rocks boringly. But it rocks.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/183670

Canada's Obama

People keep asking "Where is Canada's Barack Obama?" and I keep yelling in to the void "HIS NAME WAS TRUDEAU!"