Ever ridden the London Underground or practically any British train?

That would be a yes. London to Scotland in five pleasant hours, thank you very much.

Ever felt the full force of indifference to customer service in practically ANY European business?

I do love how the vaunted cheery American attitude to customer service (usually cited in reference to sub-min-wage service employees who need tips to make up the deficit) never quite makes it into the billing office of your local medical facility, where lots of sour-faced clerks will be all too happy to thrust clipboards in your bleeding face.

Posted at November 9, 2007 10:44 PM in response to Question for Paul Krugman: Why Does the DC Metro Suck?

Race also permeates attitudes towards public spending. A large swathe of white Americans will gladly pay for health, accommodation and training for black Americans, just as long as those black Americans are wearing prison uniforms and sleep in prison cells.

Posted at September 11, 2007 6:39 AM in response to Crank Politics

I'm not sure how many Americans are aware of Jack Straw's description of military action against Iran as 'inconceivable', and use of tactical nukes as 'completely nuts'. He was bumped out as British Foreign Secretary soon after, and the scuttlebutt was that the US had much to do with it.

Posted at September 4, 2007 4:48 PM in response to Iraq with an N? Anatomy of a Rumor That Has to be Taken Seriously

Iran, unlike Iraq and Afghanistan, has formidable defenses

Its most formidable defence, in a strange way, is Iraq and Afghanistan, or at least the US actions towards the two. It makes strategic sense to do nothing against a US first strike, at least in the short term. No missiles, no naval activity, no covert activities in Iraq.

Iran is a final straw for many nations' patience with the rogue Bush regime, or at least the patience of those nations' citizens. I'm sure the Iranians have an inkling of that. So don't imagine activity in the Gulf, but in front of the Green-Zonified US Embassy in London. Imagine Ahmedinejad appealing for global support and invoking the Nuremberg principle of crimes against peace, in all its twisted irony.

It sounds so Friedmanesque, but the next six weeks could really be make or break, if Bush is minded to 'fix' the Middle East in a way that his successor can't step back from.

Posted at September 4, 2007 12:14 AM in response to Iraq with an N? Anatomy of a Rumor That Has to be Taken Seriously

The issue here isn't to refute that viral email bullshit, because it's patently bullshit: the apples/oranges comparison of 'soldiers in Iraq' to the general population, the not-very-veiled implication that DC should be abandoned (one thing wingnut middle-Americans know about DC is that it's a black city), etc.

Trying to refute the shoddy comparisons wastes time. It's just 'trolling'. What matters is who's doing it.

Where do these circular emails come from? What's their origin and distribution? Is it someone transcribing Limbaugh? I doubt it: it sounds too literate. Is it some 501(c)(3) wingnut welfare organisation churning them out? That seems more likely. I'd speculate that it's a bunch of pasty Young Republican interns who'd shit their pants at the thought of serving in Iraq.

Posted at August 15, 2007 7:46 AM in response to Things Are Swell in Baghdad

Stop using the bullshit wingnuttese pseudo-verb 'to fisk'.

Just stop it. It's stupid.

Posted at June 1, 2007 3:54 PM in response to Fisking George F. Will's "Case for Conservatism"

If the White House were smart, he'd be gone tomorrow, and that would diffuse the focus on what really seems to be scaring them shitless: i.e. the RNCmail backchannel.

So, my prediction is he stays, and gets the heckuva job seal of approval. The Bush Crime Family looks after its own as long as they don't betray the Boss, even if that loyalty ends up bringing down the whole enterprise.

Posted at April 19, 2007 2:55 PM in response to Reader poll: the end?

Kos is blinkered. He thinks that all bloggers are political bloggers, and thus behave according to the rules of political blogging, which allow for a lot more bare-knuckle dealings than elsewhere. In that mileu, macho crap is the order of the day.

Kathy Sierra is not a political blogger.

It's time to stop feeding the line that there is One Big Blogosphere, whose rules and culture are dictated by big political bloggers.

Kos speaks for the mileu of tech blogging the way he speaks for cat blogging.

Posted at April 12, 2007 3:05 PM in response to Misogyny in our midst

The issue is whether or not, the Speaker of the House – the second in line to the President – should be conducting foreign policy – not just fact-finding, but delivering communiques and trying to forge new understandings and agreements.

Why the fuck not, if the President refuses out of some childish fit of pique?

I think last week was really quite productive because it showed that the bomb-em-first brigade can be ignored, and the grown-ups can get on with diplomacy. It's a bit sad that basic diplomacy seems shocking to Americans after six years of Bushism, but there you go. But Pelosi's trip to Damascus and the UK-Iran backchannel discussions have altered the dynamics around the region, and in a good way.

But yeah, Kenny Baer, concern troll.

Posted at April 9, 2007 12:43 PM in response to Springbreak in Syria

To the commenters: better to have a conversation than huddle in separate camps and snipe from a distance.

To Mr Ford: your mission is to redefine the term 'Fox News Democrat' so that it's not a pejorative, or a synonym for enabling GOP propaganda. And I'll judge you on your actions.

But I do have one question: can the DLC be trusted to back Democratic policies with which it may take issue, rather than provide the GOP with ammunition? That is, can it accept being a minority voice contributing on the inside, or will it take its ball and run to Fox News, seeking the power that organisation offers to Democrats who spend all their time criticising other Democrats?

Posted at April 3, 2007 10:22 AM in response to In Search of Common Ground