Pacific Views

Tuesday Afternoon Stroll

TBogg really appreciates the efforts of the Campaign for California Families for keeping him from having to get divorced.

Bohemian Mama talks about some of the lower profile programs that are getting cut in Bush's budget, and talks about an article that reveals what the 9-11 commission won't be looking at.

Boing Boing on the mathematics of M&M packing. Turns out that their shape achieves a high degree of packing efficiency.

Calpundit posts a crank email. From reader comments: "Looks like that child got left behind." And this description of the writer as "a anti-semantic spigot." On a more serious note, he points us to a story about anti-choice activists' plans to harass abortion providers in Wichita.

DailyKos: If you want to criticize you'd better tie it into a larger theme, how the netroots are winning, a look at the situation that's left mass graves ignored in Guatemala, and someone wonders if Bush was kicked out of the Guard.

Educated Guesswork kicks around the ethics of computer virus writing, and wonders if our movies would look realistic to someone who wasn't used to the conventions of our films.

A bit ago, Atrios was wondering if a TNR article about possible retribution against Dean supporters was at all accurate. If it is, the Democratic party is going to find themselves with a serious problem on their hands. But, it could also be the magazine that endorsed Joe Lieberman taking the opportunity to sow dissent with those of us who ensured that no one took his schtick seriously.

Tim Bishop enjoyed Joe Trippi's speech about the transformation of politics, and notes that the media reported it far differently than the blogs. TechDirt develops the theme of media skew further.

Just a Bump in the Beltway talks about legislation that may reduce access to painkillers, to the detriment of many. Also, Walmart's costs to their communities are getting some scrutiny, and toy manufacturers or fighting back to keep Walmart from driving competing toy retailers out of business.

Lean Left notes that funding for closed captioning is being cut for certain shows deemed by a shadowy panel (so shadowy that members didn't know they were on it) to be inappropriate, and finds a piece that skewers the press for keeping just as mum as Bush when they knew claims about Iraq were false.

Liberal Oasis broke down last Sundays talking head shows, and interviewed Eric Alterman.

Over at Lunaville the news that the Senate Iraq probe will include Bush and his aides was greeted with some jubilation.

Max Sawicky is all over the 'outsourcing is good' claim.

Nathan Newman on the dismal situation for voting and women's rights in Afghanistan, which is now in some cases even worse than it was before we went in. Also pointed out, first responder budgets have been cut, which is not what you do when you're serious about Homeland Security.

Neil Gaiman has the defining comment (scroll up just a bit) on the Janet Jackson lawsuit kerfuffle:

(Reads article). A Knoxville banker says she's made her point and has withdrawn her federal lawsuit over the Super Bowl halftime show. I assume, athough the newspaper doesn't specify, that her point is that she has too much time on her hands, and is an idiot, and she has certainly made it very effectively.

And reading down, Gaiman points out yet another reason why we should be insanely jealous of the British, beyond the fact that their leader can speak coherently. They have conservatives who understand gay rights.

Notes on the Atrocities explores some reasons for the failure of US nation building.

Orcinus explains again why the AWOL issue is so important.

Pandagon: Ezra wonders whether we'll all come to regret the outcome if Atrios is correct that Larry Flynt now has the goods to break a story about Bush getting an abortion for a girlfriend before abortion was legal. Also, he fisks a TowHall columnist who thinks that the only feminine behavior left for women is wearing skimpy clothing, which would be news to me.

Respectful of Otters discusses the reasoning behind it being a good idea to pay more for newer anti-psychotics.

Seeing the Forest suggested a while ago that we not fall for the ownership society scam, and lately reminds us that for most people only the pictures matter. When you're done reading that, keeping reading the post below it which details the blinding arrogance of the well-informed. He tells of a marketing lesson learned the hard way:

I was approached by a direct mail consultant with an idea to sell something to my customers using direct mail. I agreed that the idea was a good one and we got started, but very soon I became uncomfortable with the sales pitch that the consultant was writing for use in the letters. I felt the language was insulting and obvious, even slick and sleazy, and that the customers wouldn’t fall for that kind of trash. So we decided to put it to a test (that’s the beauty of direct mail, you test everything) where I would write a letter and we would mail each of our letters to several thousand people and see what happened. ...

We mailed the letters and a week or so later the orders started to come in. After two weeks the results were becoming obvious, and after three weeks and his letter outselling mine almost four to one I wrote out by hand and FAXed to him a long letter that said only, “I will never question Jim Johnson again. I will never question Jim Johnson again. I will…”

Suburban Guerilla is (I think, rightly) revolted by a Bush administration plan that will allow the dumping of more untreated sewage.

Columnist Mark Morford wonders what everyone is so afraid of?