Quoting piscivorous: Forgive the snark

Forgiven. That's a good one.

This was a good diavlog. I'd really enjoy hearing more from Andres, especially. I do have to laugh at how quickly the media consensus has become "Why isn't Obama doing more? Why didn't he have plans ready to go on Day One?" Seems like only yesterday when the daily bleat was, "Who does Obama think he is? What's this 'Office of the President-Elect' stuff? How arrogant he is to have formed a transition team even before even winning the election!" Minor snipes for Matt: I gotta say, your glasses aren't a whole lot better than Tom Daschle's. And for you to be calling other people superficial ... I will say that once you got over telling yourself ... jokes, were they? ... things got a lot better.

Martinez has it bass-ackwards. Wanting to have it both ways, in Daschle's case, for example, or Rahm Emanuel's case, for that matter, is not as insidious as actually taking enormous sums of money because you have made connections in high places while acting as a public servant. By doing so, you remove any credibility you ever had as a public servant. It was said about Emanuel that he just wanted security for his family. Fuckin' A. Who doesn't? He got more than security. He got rich. Or richer. They're all whores. We're all wage whores, but they're in the big leagues. I don't think much of Martinez's aesthetic sensibilities, to say nothing of his moral sensibilities. Same goes for Obama.

Great pairing and diavlog. They covered a lot of ground. I'm glad they brought up the ominous banking system and how little is being said about it. Having never taken a class in business or econ even I know that things are shaky in the financial sector to put it mildly. About the L.A. Times. A couple of days ago one of their columnists, George Skelton, referred to undocumented workers as "illegal immigrants." I couldn't believe it. That has to be the first time in years that term has been used at the Times. They must have fired their editor who combs each issue for politically incorrect words and phrases. I liked the swipe at Bay Buchanan. She needs to loosen up a bit and get sense of humor like her brother has. John

It's Kill-uh-fur! Kill-uh-fur! ARGH! signed,
a Killeffer

Best Matt Welch ever. apparently, he needs to be on with someone he has a personal connection to so he can tone down his flippant, snarky, glib crap and talk substance. because i do like to hear his views. and Pisc - that was funny! thanks for posting it.

Doghouse Riley's take on Daschle, the press, and the start of new Administrations is relevant and well worth a look.

I know I'm going to look like an Obama fan who suddenly loves lobbyists but I really did think his proposed ban was a dumb, populist idea. People use "lobby" and "special interest" like cuss words, but people lobby for everything- should Obama turn away former lobbyists for the ACLU? Or people who lobbied for the NEA, or for increased Medicaid funding? Some of them may be cynical but that hardly damns everyone in Washington who's trying to effect change by reasoning with lawmakers. I was happy to hear both diavloguers push back against the whole lobbyists demonization thing even if they're damned dirty libertarians

Visit the scenic midwest!: http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/175...6:05&out=16:10

Seeing Matt Welch on screen always makes me happy. It might be because he embodies just the right mix of zany and analytical.

Quoting Nate: Seeing Matt Welch on screen always makes me happy. It might be because he embodies just the right mix of zany and analytical.

"zanylytical"?

Andres, I enjoyed your article very much on the Slim endowment/loan/usury (14%?? - I think that says more than anything about how bad things are at the Times, if I were they I'd be re-reading the terms and conditions in fine print to see added service charges or things that could kick the rate to 22%). I do however think you missed the main point that the Times isn't just compromised by the loan, it's that it's further compromised....... Jayson Blair
The McCain smear
Frank Rich's alternative reality of a 9/11 photo.
Krugman fighting corrections to his column, then having them only going in the on-line version (what was it, four sets of corrections on one piece?) Add to that the fact that the New York Times has never addressed the real impact of illegal immigration or unsecured borders on the United States and it's hard to believe that anyone could come to the conclusion that the Slim loan represents (or even gives the appearance of) anything new.
Matt, I enjoy Reason very much and find most of it a great read. If there's anything you could do to get Jacob Sullum on to BhTV it would be greatly appreciated.

Hey Matt - What year did you go to Cuba and what bands did you hear?

Quoting harkin: Jayson Blair

Ah, yes, everything changed after Jayson Blair. 2003 was probably a pivotal year for you in terms of your relationship to the NYT. We're all a little older now -- and a little less innocent.

On the leadership vacuum point: If we are constantly drawing from Goldman Sachs, is it because over the last 20+ years we've permitted the merger of financial institutions so that there are fewer and fewer institutions to draw talent from? .... What and where are the true talent pools?

I didn't watch it, but I'm going to guess that both advocated policies that would inch us closer to some form of union with Mexico and would lead to an even greater % of Mexican citizens living in the U.S. Around 14% of their working age population lives here; one can only wonder how high MattW would like to make it. Let me also guess that neither discussed all the PoliticalPower that the Mexicangovernment has inside the U.S., and neither discussed a way to reduce that. And, let me also guess that neither expressed dismay at all the U.S. politicians who are more than willing to screw over U.S. citizens in order to give a wide variety of benefits to citizens of another country who are here illegally. And, I'm going to guess that neither of them realize how dangerous that is from the perspective of devaluing U.S. citizenship. If I got something wrong, please let me know. P.S. For all the things MattW won't tell you, subscribe to my feed: http://24ahead.com/

Quoting ImmRefDotCom: I didn't watch it, but I'm going to guess that both advocated policies that would inch us closer to some form of union with Mexico and would lead to an even greater % of Mexican citizens living in the U.S. Around 14% of their working age population lives here; one can only wonder how high MattW would like to make it.

Let me also guess that neither discussed all the PoliticalPower that the Mexicangovernment has inside the U.S., and neither discussed a way to reduce that.

And, let me also guess that neither expressed dismay at all the U.S. politicians who are more than willing to screw over U.S. citizens in order to give a wide variety of benefits to citizens of another country who are here illegally. And, I'm going to guess that neither of them realize how dangerous that is from the perspective of devaluing U.S. citizenship.

If I got something wrong, please let me know.

P.S. For all the things MattW won't tell you, subscribe to my feed: http://24ahead.com/

Let me guess. You haven't actually watched this, but you want to snipe about the details you haven't heard, because you imagine the participants you haven't

Quoting ImmRefDotCom: I didn't watch it, but I'm going to guess that both advocated policies that would inch us closer to some form of union with Mexico and would lead to an even greater % of Mexican citizens living in the U.S. Around 14% of their working age population lives here; one can only wonder how high MattW would like to make it.

Let me also guess that neither discussed all the PoliticalPower that the Mexicangovernment has inside the U.S., and neither discussed a way to reduce that.

And, let me also guess that neither expressed dismay at all the U.S. politicians who are more than willing to screw over U.S. citizens in order to give a wide variety of benefits to citizens of another country who are here illegally. And, I'm going to guess that neither of them realize how dangerous that is from the perspective of devaluing U.S. citizenship.

If I got something wrong, please let me know.

Turns out it's a lot worse than that. Apparently, some Mexican guy who's like 10 times richer than Bill Gates is going to buy the United States. He's already bought a controlling interest in the New

Quoting ImmRefDotCom: P.S. For all the things MattW won't tell you, subscribe to my feed:

No thanks. I didn't check your blog, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess it's more bed-wetting wingnuttery about how scared we should be of Mexicans. Pass.

As MattW knows, I've left probably a few hundred comments over at Reason, and I'm quite familiar with the positions of that esteemed-by-a-few publication. In fact, here's MattW referring to me by a former name ("lonewacko") reason.com/blog/show/131023.html Also, I have a very handy tag search in the right sidebar on each page, which you can use to summary pages aggregating my coverage of various topics, such as this: http://24ahead.com/s/new-york-times One of the items listed at that page is this: http://24ahead.com/new-york-times-pa...who-wants-incr It'd be nice if the visitors to this site would spend just a little bit of time thinking things through, because snark and cute comments aren't really worth much.

Really sad how these two examples of our journalistic elites are so completely out of touch with on-the-ground realities of American working-class lives. No sense of loyalty, no sense of responsibility: cosmopolitan citizens of the world . . . I say this as a common laborer with 40 years experience. These guys need to make their livings with their hands.

Quoting BornAgainDemocrat: Really sad how these two examples of our journalistic elites are so completely out of touch with on-the-ground realities of American working-class lives. No sense of loyalty, no sense of responsibility: cosmopolitan citizens of the world . . . I say this as a common laborer with 40 years experience. These guys need to make their livings with their hands.

This is a serious, non-snarky question: What privileges your life experience? Why shouldn't you feel bad for being out of touch with their realities? How do you know they have no sense of loyalty or responsibility? They are, after all, holding jobs and evidently moving up and along in their careers. I say this as someone who has made his living by pounding both keyboards and nails.

Quoting ImmRefDotCom: Also, I have a very handy tag search in the right sidebar on each page, which you can use to summary pages aggregating my coverage of various topics ...

Yeah, I looked at it. I must say your bio of Barack Obama is matched only by one other site that I can think of.

Quoting ImmRefDotCom: It'd be nice if the visitors to this site would spend just a little bit of time thinking things through, because snark and cute comments aren't really worth much.

There's a world of difference between "thinking things through" and trawling the Internet looking for bits of data to support your preconceived ideas. Your points of view on Obama, Mexico, and the NY Times, as far as I can tell, deserve nothing but mockery. Maybe "snark and cute comments aren't really worth much," but neither is anything I've looked at on your site, except possibly to students of delusion.

Don't waste my time. If you have a valid, logic-based criticism of something I've written, let's hear it. So far, all your comments are as bad as your site: just snark with no content.

Quoting ImmRefDotCom: Don't waste my time. If you have a valid, logic-based criticism of something I've written, let's hear it. So far, all your comments are as bad as your site: just snark with no content.

Thanks for visiting.

If you have a valid, logic-based criticism of something I've written, let's hear it.

Logic-based criticism of what you wrote: In your first post you jumped to inane and mistaken conclusions while commenting on something you had zero knowledge of (having not listened to the dialogue). It's hard to imagine a more stupid approach to life.

Quoting Stapler Malone: "zanylytical"?

It is the new buzzword that is sweeping the nation.

The NYT has an article on Carlos Slim Helú in today's paper. (Slim is the Mexican tycoon who has recently invested in the NYT, who was discussed in this diavlog.) Not a puff piece, but not really harsh, either. More of a "some say, but some others say" kind of thing.