Category Archives: Politics and Culture

The Week in Idiocy — What Stupid Thing is Ross Douthat Saying Today

Politics and Culture, Things that Piss Me off from The NY Times, ,

Ross Douthat, I get it. You’re kind of like The New York Times’ answer to Ann Coulter — a “conservative” who entertains the less conservative with your idiotic antics. The difference is Coulter’s more like Sarah Silverman or even Andy Kaufman, edgier, willing to go really far into bad taste territory to stay in character. You, however, work for the Gray Lady and have to be more restrained. You’re like the uncle who baits everyone at Thanksgiving, except purposely dumber so Times’ readers can always answer your argument in their heads before they even finish your column.

You are the Monday Crossword Puzzle of columnists, and I’m one of those people who can’t get through the puzzle by Wednesdays even in pencil with a good eraser, so I’ll play.

In this week’s column, The Three Burials of Obamacare, you explain that the first time the plan was nearly DOA was when Massachusetts sent what you describe as a “pick-up truck driving Republican” to the Senate and he voted agin’ it. Ok. Scott Brown did drive a pick-up. What’s the point? Is that a subtile way of saying “We Republican’s are regular Joe’s as opposed to you elite Democrats”? Granted, Brown looked more natural in his truck and his regular guy clothes than Romney did ever, but most regular guys aren’t lawyers, professional politicians and former centerfolds for magazines catering to gay men – not that there’s anything wrong with that.

You also blame Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid for “maneuvering” to save health care despite voter backlash. Wait, what? The majority of voters in this country have made it pretty clear they wanted health care reform – see Presidential election 2012. Hint – the guy who lost might have lost by less if he hadn’t disavowed the biggest success of his term as governor (and also hadn’t been caught on tape telling us how he really feels about 47% of the population).

Next you blame Chief Justice Roberts for not overturning the law. You conservatives are big fans of judicial activism when it goes your way. (See Supreme Court Coup 2000 – Bush v Gore). I guess that’s what you have to do when your party is going down in flames, and can’t actually win elections.

Then, you blame Sebelius and her “hapless crew” for the website screw up. But why stop there? A lousy website wouldn’t have sunk it if all those Republican governors and legislatures hadn’t made it illegal in some states for people to even help other people navigate the exchanges and had refused to set up their own exchanges leaving all the work to the feds. Here in New York where the state set up its own exchanges and website, we’re doing just fine thank you very much. Why not put credit where it’s actually due?

You also blame the President for what you term the “noble lie,” you know, the stupid screw up when he said everyone could keep their insurance. That implies a lot more intentionality than was probably there. His statement didn’t make the “backlash” worse. The “backlash” was ginned up by the usual suspects – mostly Fox news, and some of the folks they’ve taken up as poster children for the evils of Obamacare even when it turns out they actually benefited from the new law. The reality which most of the reality-based public understands is that while some folks may wind up paying more per month out of pocket for actual health insurance than they were paying for junk insurance, none of them are going to die or go broke because of Obamacare. Without it, people with pre-existing conditions couldn’t get insurance, and there was nothing to stop insurers from canceling policies once people became sick. The Republican party still hasn’t come up with any fix for that other than a lot of mumbo-jumbo about the magic of the market place. Because that’s worked in what other developed country? (Hint: Freemarketstan is not a real place.)

But then you go on and blame the real culprits – liberals, and their desire for “big government solutions.” All of your columns involve this Manichean struggle between the forces of conservatism and the big-spending libertine liberals. Douthat get over yourself. Most people including most of the people who vote, aren’t all that “political.” They don’t get paid to write columns and they don’t spend all their time thinking which label to affix to themselves.

Most voters vote based on their perceived self-interest. Most voters support health care reform. Many of those who aren’t happy with the Affordable Care Act would rather see a single payer system – a public option at least. This isn’t because they think government is an answer to all their problems or as Romney so eloquently put it because they won’t take responsibility for their own lives, It’s because they’re sick of changing doctors every time their employer goes for a better deal and changes providers. It’s because they’re terrified of what could happen if they get laid off. It’s because maybe they’d love to be entrepreneurs and start their own small business, but they can’t afford to lose their employer-based insurance because they aren’t in their twenties and in perfect health, or they have children. It’s because they don’t want to lose all their life savings because of a single accident or illness, a big possibility in the pre-ACA environment.

Let’s not forget that before this became a partisan issue “Obamacare” was “Romneycare” – the signature achievement of a Republican governor, and before that it was the brainchild of a conservative think tank eager to ward off single payer. Obamacare was never what progressives wanted, and conservatives only turned against it because of partisanship.

Your conclusion, as usual, sounds reasonable in that it consists of words written in the correct order, but it doesn’t actually make any sense. You suggest that critics of Obamacare need to actually “wrestle with a system that resists any kind of change.” One wonders what kind of ideas conservatives would come up with. Given their belief in the individual, perhaps something that involves individuals taking responsibility for themselves by buying their own health insurance? Of course, there’d need to be some reform of health insurance laws to make sure the policies they were getting weren’t complete junk, met some minimal standards, and couldn’t be cancelled by providers on a whim. Most employer-offered insurance would meet the standard, but people who were in the individual market might not be able to afford the new private insurance. While getting everyone into the insurance pool would help keep costs down, decent policies might still cost more than some struggling families could afford. What about lowering their taxes? That’s always a conservative favorite. Wait a second, why not give them the tax credit up front, to make it easier to buy their private-market insurance?

Sounds a bit familiar, doesn’t it?

(Like this post? For more like it, you can read more stuff that pisses me off in The New York Times, but if you’d like to read something different, like say fiction, you should check this out.)

Today’s Rant — Charter Schools

Politics and Culture, Things that Piss Me off from The NY Times, , , ,

Unless you actually went to public school yourself and/or decided to send your own children to one, you really shouldn’t be making decisions (for others) regarding public versus charter schools and vouchers. (And yeah, I am talking about politicians including some alleged moderates and progressives.) Unless you really “get” that the middle class doesn’t have a future if parents are going to have to shell out tens of thousands every year for every kid for private school tuition, that a professional teaching force is better than eager grads padding their resumes, that public schools (and charters) aren’t just for the less fortunate but should be the default, and a decent education that helps every child – regardless of how much money their parents make – to reach his or her potential is a NECESSITY if America is going to compete with the rest of the developed world, you really shouldn’t be talking about gutting public education in order to give contracts, free space and other goodies to corporatized low-bidding charters. Public schools can and do succeed, and when and where they don’t, systems can be reformed. Charters, for the most part, limit parental involvement, subject kids to long commutes, sap resources that could go to public schools and will never be able to take everyone. They are often secretive about their actual data.

All of the “innovative” stuff and best practices can be done by public schools, PLUS it can be done in communities where kids actually live, parents may actually be able to participate, and local institutions and organizations may be able to partner for the benefit of all.

Yes, there are issues with unions, not just teacher unions, but cafeteria workers, janitors, paraprofessionals etc. Cities and states may need to be tough, but the countries that have the best public systems ALL have strong teacher unions. If Finland can do it, why can’t we?

Also you know what causes America to consistently score low in educational achievement compared to some other countries? POVERTY — something charters don’t even begin to address, but public schools working with a community school model can begin to.

The problem is when “reformers” are not consumers of public education and think of public education as being for other people’s children.

End of today’s rant. Discuss.

(Marion went to public school, taught public school, worked as an administrator in a public school/CUNY collaborative program, and worked with a non-profit that was the senior developer of a public school with other community organizations. See these three previous posts on the top — here, here, and here. She is not talking out of her butt on this one. Also btw she writes fiction that has nothing to do with this topic, but you might want to check out.)

Please Don’t Make Me Burn My Tickets, Mr. Gelb

Idiots at the Opera, Politics and Culture, , , ,

I’m old enough to remember when people used to talk about Soviet Jewry. Religion, all religions were suppressed in the old Soviet Union. The Soviet Union while fervently anti-zionist, recognized Jews as a nationality – that is they weren’t Russians; Ukrainians, Kazakhs, or anything else no matter where they lived or how they long they lived there. They were Jews, but they weren’t really allowed to express any kind of Jewish identity. In addition to historic anti-semitism, there was institutional anti-semitism and discrimination throughout the Soviet era. I’m sure it’s still no picnic for Jews in Russia now. But back in the 1970’s when Jews were desperately trying to leave but weren’t allowed to, it was a really big deal. There were massive demonstrations in the United States in support of Soviet Jewry, primarily with the message of allowing immigration, as well as ending the policies that led so many Jews to seek it.

In those days, Soviet artists and performers no matter what their nationality were not allowed to freely travel. It was huge when they managed to escape their handlers and “defect” to the West. Imagine that. Leaving your country was “defecting,” proof positive of dissidence. It was historic when dancers like Nureyev or Baryshnikov sought refuge in the West. Sometimes defectors left behind their spouses, even children when they “escaped.” When Soviet performers form official companies made sanctioned visits to the United States, sometimes they were met with protests. But generally when visiting cultural ambassadors were performing in the US, we didn’t expect these captive artists to speak out against any of the heinous policies of their government. We didn’t hold it against them if they seemed to at least tacitly support the regime. What choice did they have?

However, let’s stretch our imagination for a moment. What if if back then, the Soviet Union had allowed some conductor and singer to travel freely, to even reside in another country without losing the right to return to Mother Russia? And what if those “free artists” had made statements in the past supporting their leaders? Now imagine a new “crackdown” on the Jews, new laws being passed that make it a crime to even speak about a Jewish identity, new semi-sanctioned pogroms. What if these artists didn’t even speak against that? Didn’t announce that they could not support those policies? What if one of them made a statement saying she did not personally discriminate against anyone including Jews, a statement in which she didn’t directly reference the crackdown or the specific Continue reading Please Don’t Make Me Burn My Tickets, Mr. Gelb →

The Lady On the Line (And Some Hot Tips About the TKTS Booth)

New York Stories, Politics and Culture, Theater, Movie, Event, Misci Reviews, true story, , , , , , , , ,

It was late July, after the heat wave had broken, and I was on a mission – to obtain half-price tickets to The Explorer’s Club. The show would be closing soon, and the better-half – who wanted to see it – was about to take off on one of his work-related do-gooding missions.

I got on the Play Express line at 2:00, an hour before it opened. The Play Express line, for those unfamiliar with the Times Square discount tickets booth, sells tickets only to non-musical plays. It’s located on the west side of the kiosks. Not only is this line much shorter than the two other general lines on either side of the kiosks, but the odds of getting to see the show you want to see are high, as most people who come to TKTS want musicals. I knew arriving early would get me one of the first spots.I’d be out quickly once the booths opened.

(Hot Tip #1 – Always check online for what time they open as it’s different on different days.)

I was the fourth person on the Play Express line, and was having a lovely chat with the woman in front of me. She was from South Carolina by way of Ohio, had retired there with her husband to be near her daughter and the grandkids. Wasn’t sure she particularly liked it, missed her friends and the feeling of being in a real city. It was her first time in New York City, a big anniversary trip, and she and her better half were having a ball. She’d seen Motown – The Musical the night before, paying full price. She was hoping  to score tickets to The Trip to Bountiful. We talked about the awesomeness of Cicely Tyson. She asked me what she thought her chances were of getting that show. I told her given where she was, the chances were excellent. We discussed many things including where to find the best Ethiopian food in New York. (She was planning a trip to Awash. I mentioned that Massawa was my favorite.)

She was afraid she might not have enough cash and she’d read somewhere that some shows didn’t take credit cards. I told her not to worry about it. All the Broadway shows Continue reading The Lady On the Line (And Some Hot Tips About the TKTS Booth) →

At the Theater — The Golem of Havana

Idiots at the Opera, Politics and Culture, Theater, Movie, Event, Misci Reviews, ,

They had me at the title, The Golem of Havana. They had my better-half as well. His father’s family briefly sojourned to Cuba on their way to America.

Tickets were cheap, and it was at La Mama in the East Village, a theater I probably hadn’t set foot in in twenty years or so though I once wrote a book set in the neighborhood.

As the band began to play, the BH realized with a little trepidation that it was a musical. He doesn’t like musicals — with a few exceptions. Fortunately, this turned out to be exceptional – one of those musicals where the music and story are integrated, where there is a serious theme and the music adds to the emotional impact. At intermission he paid the show the ultimate compliment. “It’s like opera,” he said.

The mostly equity-cast all acquitted themselves so well it’s hard to find standouts, though I especially enjoyed Felipe Gorostiza as Batista. He managed to make the dictator comically sleazy while also suggesting his dangerousness and superficial charm. Liba Vaynberg in the leading role was powerful, and if the world is just, she won’t need a day job for long.

The story is the tale of a tailor’s family – Hungarian Jewish immigrants, Holocaust survivors – struggling in Havana on the brink of revolution. The golem at first exists as a Continue reading At the Theater — The Golem of Havana →