digamma.net - notes

Andy McCarthy at National Review Online says Benazir Bhutto was “killed by the real Pakistan” because some poll says a lot of Pakistanis approve of Osama bin Laden.

Josh Patashnik at The New Republic (where blanket slurs against large Muslim communities are often not a problem at all) replies, “But to say that Bhutto was killed by the “real Pakistan” seems to me akin to saying in 1968 that Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed by the “real America"–not completely absurd, but far from capturing the reality of the situation. It’s an insult to the disenfranchised majority of Pakistanis who reject both Musharraf and al-Qaeda.”

I am reminded of a fine observation by Noam Chomsky from some years ago:

As far as I know there are only two forces in the world that are pressing for a clash of civilisations. One is Osama bin Laden and the other is George Bush. Nobody else wants it.

Merry Christmas everyone!

My gift to you, my true love, is a link to Jonathan Schwarz and the best Christmas blog post ever:

I’m so tired of the commercialization of decrying the commercialization of Christmas!

When I was growing up, we didn’t need special issues of Real Simple Magazine or episodes of Oprah to decry the commercialization of Christmas. I bet my entire family could have decried the commercialization of Christmas for less money than they spend on one disapproving segment on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric about competing neighbors in Boca Raton who each spend $1 million each year on Christmas decorations in their subdivision. In fact, one year when times were slow at dad’s law firm, we decried the commercialization of Christmas without spending any money at all!

That’s because we understood the true meaning of decrying the commercialization of Christmas. It’s about giving, and sharing, and spending time with your loved ones being angry about the CGI baby Jesus in the Wii commercial.

The worst part is that it starts earlier every year. First it was December, then Thanksgiving, then Labor Day. I wouldn’t be surprised if we wake up one year soon and we’re decrying the commercialization of Christmas on December 26th, before we’ve even returned the copy of It’s a Wonderful Life we bought to decry the commercialization of the previous Christmas!

So take my advice: this year, step back from your over-scheduled, stressful life, and decry the commercialization of Christmas the old fashioned way. You don’t need big corporations to do it for you. Just get together with the people you care about the most, and bitch about it like your parents did…and their parents before them. I bet a year from now you’ll look back on this as the best decrying the commercialization of Christmas of all.

Wow, right after I shout out Atrios for criticizing Bill Clinton, Paul Krugman takes a shot at Barack Obama:

From the beginning, advocates of universal health care were troubled by the incompleteness of Barack Obama’s plan, which unlike those of his Democratic rivals wouldn’t cover everyone. But they were willing to cut Mr. Obama slack on the issue, assuming that in the end he would do the right thing.

Now, however, Mr. Obama is claiming that his plan’s weakness is actually a strength. What’s more, he’s doing the same thing in the health care debate he did when claiming that Social Security faces a “crisis” — attacking his rivals by echoing right-wing talking points.

It’s a shame about Obama. I really thought he was the man for a while, but somehow he lost his nerve, if he ever had it.