On Wingnuts

From The Monkey Cage comes this report of academic research, which finds the wingnuts on both sides tend, as opposed to more centrist people, to be:

• less trusting of institutions
• more paranoid and conspiratorial minded
  
• less tolerant of ambiguity
• more Manichaean (in religious terms--seeing life as a struggle between Satan and God)

And finally: "The far left and the far right also resemble each other in the way they pursue their political goals. Both are disposed to censor their opponents, to deal harshly with enemies, to sacrifice the well-being even of the innocent in order to serve a ‘higher purpose’, and to use cruel tactics if necessary to ‘persuade’ society of the wisdom of their objectives. Both tend to support (or oppose) civil liberties in a highly partisan and self-serving fashion, supporting freedom for themselves and for the groups and causes they favor while seeking to withhold it from enemies and advocates of causes they dislike."

The Seeds of the Agricultural Adjustment Act

From the 1930 blog:

"Two Farm Board members say will concentrate on controlled production and cooperative marketing by producers as “sole salvation for American farm industry.”

It wasn't clear to people at the time, but clearly the AAA was evolving from the lessons learned in the Hoover Administration--Hoover tried price support loans through the Farm Board and voluntary reductions through jawboning, but it didn't work. 2 1/2 years later the AAA would provide for the loans, but with mandatory reductions of production.

The Wingnuts on Both Extremes

At least every other day I think the wingnuts on the right and those on the left show the same symptoms (i.e., crazy).  This article in Slate pointing out both right and left are anti-H1N1 vaccine is an example of the anti-government, anti-science populism.  Read it all, but I particularly like the last sentence of the last paragraph:

"Still, the current political climate is a veritable petri dish for swine flu fears. For one thing, the debate over health care reform has already stirred up suspicions that the government will use medicine to hurt the American people. (The charges range from well-intentioned negligence to conspiratorial world domination.) Meanwhile, post-Katrina, lack of disaster preparation is unacceptable. Politicians would rather overreact than underrreact. Then, of course, there's the Internet echo chamber and the vague paranoia surrounding Obama. A caller recently told Glenn Beck that "if this were five years ago, I'd probably say definitely, I'll take it [the vaccine]." Perhaps there's a simpler, more elegant explanation for why members of both political extremes refuse to get vaccinated: natural selection."

Bits and Pieces

Trying to catch up with my blog reading I missed while traveling:

"... because the Senate pretty much runs on bad policy compromises.... Ezra Klein

"Conventional wisdom, whether it's mine or someone else's, deserves pushback...."  Kevin Drum

"..these are not just local haulers but transcontinental shippers running from Hamburg to Hanoi, Damascus to Delhi, the Urals to Hydarabad...." Fred Starr quoted at Tom Ricks' The Best Defense talking about using Afghan roads to connect faraway places.

Marijuana and Prioritizing Resources

I never smoked pot, so you might expect I'm dubious of the medical marijuana laws passed by some states.  It seems to me likely these, whatever their benefits to the ill, will serve as figleaves (spell check doesn't like that) for abuse.  So I'm not applauding the Obama administration's ruling that DOJ won't spend time prosecuting those who use the laws.  On the other hand, I'd much rather DOJ devote its attorneys to prosecuting tax fraud and those who try to cheat the farm programs. So, as usual, I end up ambivalent.

Travel Status

Will be on the road to NY the next few days so blogging will be light.

White House Garden--6 Months

Obamafoodorama has a post celebrating the 6 month anniversary of the White House garden.   I don't recognize many of the plants in the picture at the top (which doesn't mean much--I'm not good at recognizing).  The photo isn't dated--presumably it's maybe late August as there looks to be some fall lettuce growing. Because gardeners are competitive, I do wish there was more transparency.

Props to Obamas

As I was grumpy yesterday (see prior post), I'll give kudos to the Obamas for doing a family picnic for Secret Service and their families. It's a simple thing, but both good in human terms and in management terms.

Is Obama First Cook?

Must be getting grumpy in my old age, but my first reaction to Obamafoodorama's gush over Michelle's speech at HHS is to ask how much cooking she and Barack are doing these days.  A good feminist should have gone for a two-fer--it's time for more home cooking by men.  I have to admit I didn't watch it, and from watching her speak in the past I'm sure she was effective. But the Obamas are now upper class, which these days means servants, and preaching from the upper class sometimes grates.

21 Stupid Airline Travelers

Can you take a grenade with you when you fly?

21 people thought so in the last 14 months. (Or at least TSA caught 21 grenades.)