Tea Leaves

Here’s a photo of a 1949 political billboard from Pittsburgh. The photo, courtesy of the Pittsburgh Courier Archives, is by Charles “Teeny” Harris, who took over 80,000 pictures depicting black life in Pittsburgh. The billboard is by the Republican party, which I guess hasn’t changed much in fifty years. I originally saw this on Orcinus, who credits d. eaton with pointing it out to him.

I think this image serves as a cogent and simple reminder that the political appeals to fear — by either party — are not some sort of new technique. They’re not a unique outlier of a type that has never been seen before. They are part of the grand and sordid tradition of American politics. In a very real way, the terrorists of September 11th are the best friends of those in power in the US; they’ve provided a new set of images for our leaders to use to try to keep us scared and docile.

If those images weren’t here, our leaders would use other images — whether it’s Democrats talking about my Social Security being taken away, or Republicans talking about how protecting the environment from being poisoned will somehow make me lose my job.

The only question I really want to know the answer to is: how do they sleep at night?

My first Red Sox World Series experience was in 1975 against the Reds. My dad didn’t let me stay up for game 6 and Carlton Fisk’s home run. Of course, they lost game 7.
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Strange and Norrell

I’m currently reading Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, which I’d characterize as Jane Austen meets Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman.

Most reviewers have compared the book to the Harry Potter series, undoubtedly because the book is “about” magic, and takes place in England. This isn’t any more accurate than comparing Catch-22 to A Farewell to Arms simply because both are “about” war and take place in Italy. Stylistically, the books could not be farther apart. Where Potter is breathless and credulous (not unreasonable attributes for a public school coming-of-age story), Strange & Norrell is sophisticated and subtle. It’s quite enjoyable and would make a fine addition to anyone’s winter reading list.
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This morning on the way in to work I made the mistake of tuning in to NPR. Steve Inskeep was interviewing Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) about partisanship. In so doing, Frist made the point that the Democrats have blocked 10 Federal Circuit Court nominees from consideration and that, and I quote, “the blocking of 10 justices, has never been done in the history of this country.”

My mouth dropped open, because this is a lie.

It’s not a little lie. It’s not even a big lie. This goes past “big,” all the way into “pathological” territory. This is a lie that says “I’m lying, I know I’m lying, and I think the people listening to me are complete morons.” It shows not just disrespect for truth, but disrespect for the people he’s talking to. That would be you and me.
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The Red Sox are in the World Series. That’s pretty cool.