Weekend Open Thread

by · November 20, 2009

Mark of New Jersey

Mark is a Founding Editor of The League of Ordinary Gentlemen, the predecessor of Ordinary Times.

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19 Responses

  1. Bob Cheeks says:
    November 20, 2009 at 1:55 pm

    OK: How about a blog on the question, Does Sarah Palin represent a threat to the American order because she refused to participate in the sacrament of abortion, given the fact that the child was a Down Syndrome baby?Report

    • Chad in reply to Bob Cheeks says:
      November 20, 2009 at 2:44 pm

      Oh, come on Bob. We liberals love Down Syndrome babies. The sacrament of abortion is reserved for poor, unwed mothers. It goes along with our six other sacraments; divorce, assisted suicide, public high school graduation, privacy, becoming a social worker and eating the body and blood of Michael Moore.Report

  2. Jaybird says:
    November 20, 2009 at 2:05 pm

    Rights theory, theology, morality, Providence… The hippie stuff, mostly.

    Batman, of course.Report

  3. Cascadian says:
    November 20, 2009 at 2:06 pm

    I’m not sure about an “American order”, not being a “real American” and all. I’m sure the Palins plan on taking care of the tyke themselves and won’t be taking any of those socialist handouts that burden society. Then again Alaska is the greatest welfare recipient we have.Report

  4. sidereal says:
    November 20, 2009 at 2:15 pm

    Is 2009 the year of the advent of the conservative hippie? What with the tea partiers and the increasingly ludicrous policy stances I’m getting a real Woodstock vibe. Will the longterm reaction of the establishment press to the conservative hippie be similar to the reaction to the echoes of the liberal hippies through the 70s and beyond? (In short, a drastic swing in the opposite ideological direction in order to avoid any semblance of association with the DFHs).Report

  5. Kyle says:
    November 20, 2009 at 2:45 pm

    Catching up on Sunday’s meet the press, I really wonder why Republican grand strategists thought minority homeownership was more likely to make them Republican than education reform.

    Say what you will about the Reverend Al Sharpton, but he’s not far off the mark when he talks about the civil rights implications of the nation’s achievement gap and habitual under-sourcing of the educational needs of needy/minority communities. Which, let’s face it is really, really difficult to pin on evil Republicans.

    If there was ever an issue where you could walk into the Bronx, Newark, or East LA, identify as a Republican, say the government has failed and isn’t accountable/responsive to the people and have any resonance, it’s on education.Report

  6. Aaron says:
    November 20, 2009 at 4:27 pm

    In the latest controversy over climate change (or is it nontroversy?) there’s been a bunch of emails between members of a climate science group that were leaked to the Internet: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/20/climate-sceptics-hackers-leaked-emails

    What I was interested in regarding this issue is not necessarily the particular content of the emails, but the relationship between scientists and the public. In most cases scientists are fairly open with each other about their methods and results. The public, however, mostly sees science as some inaccessible monolithic institution of men in white lab coats and safety glasses. How might there be some barriers between the scientific community and the public that cause distrust of scientific findings that have political or cultural implications? (i.e. climate change or evolution) Some examples could be inaccessible technical jargon, failures in public science education, and perceived or actual elitism of scientists. How does the media narrative of scientific results contribute to public confusion over current scientific theories?Report

    • greginak in reply to Aaron says:
      November 20, 2009 at 5:03 pm

      The media often does a craptacular job of reporting on science. For one thing they go with the false equivalence model of reporting: Earth flat or round: opinions differ.

      There are really good websites, often with practicing scientists, that aim to popularize science as well as great tv shows. The evil socialistic PBS/NPR is known for that. The site Real Climate noted in the article is a good example of that. but people really have to actually want to learn and understand. The alleged controversy of evolution in this country is an example of people not wanting to learn or understand.Report

      • Aaron in reply to greginak says:
        November 20, 2009 at 5:19 pm

        A lack of curiosity is a difficult obstacle to overcome, especially since actually taking time to learn about something is hard. With evolution, I think the issue too often gets painted as science vs. religion, when the theory of evolution has very little to say about religion. Well, except if you happen to believe in a literal interpretation of Genesis.Report

  7. Mike Farmer says:
    November 20, 2009 at 5:03 pm

    I have a Yorkie named Puck. My wife bought him as a pup to keep me company when I was recovering from a quintuple bypass. He sat with me everyday as I watched soap operas and popped pain pills. Needless to say, we bonded and he follows me everywhere I go around the hosue.Report

  8. Katherine says:
    November 21, 2009 at 10:00 pm

    Palinism and Jacksonianism: Compare and contrast. Both resigned from office before their term was up, for one thing (Jackson quit the Senate due to financial issues and then quit as governor of Florida because… I’m not sure why). Both harboured deep resentments due to political attacks on their families. Both were deeply polarizing. Both were seen as, for lack of a better word, hicks by many of their opponents. Both highly populist.

    My US history class is covering Jackson, so the parallels occurred to me. Anyone with a greater knowledge of American history care to expand on this?Report

  9. Michael Drew says:
    November 21, 2009 at 10:37 pm

    Two things I’d love to see explored:

    1) What does it say about society/MSNBC’s audience that, when they’re not indoctrinating America’s youth with liberal propaganda, their programming concerns overwhelmingly one topic: life inside America’s prisons. Don’t get me wrong, i think it’s important we have a realistic sense of what happens in the places where we send those whose right to live freely in society we have taken away, if only to help combat the rampant speculation and innuendo about it. But what does it mean that a particular cable network find the topic to be the equivalent of a self-administered morphine drip of profit?

    2. What will be the impact if, as seems to be suggested by knowledgeable prople in this On Point broadcast [http://www.onpointradio.org/2009/11/google-vs-murdoch, major mainstream newspapers-of-record soon] begin to charge for their main news (not just opinion) content? What would the effect be on places like this, which thrives on discussion centered on news generated by major mainstream outlets (even if initially mediated by other commentators)? My own sense is that the practice of (more or less accurate) summarization of reporting would become a newly valuable skill, and discussions like those here will essentially go on based on word-of-mouth/second-hand description of the reporting that is now simply linked to. But I’d be interested in others’ speculations as well.Report

  10. Jaybird says:
    November 24, 2009 at 1:05 pm

    Remember the murdered census worker in Kentucky? The one who had “fed” written on his chest?

    http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-11-24-census-worker-suicide_N.htm

    The police have ruled it a suicide.Report

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