Re: America, Midwife From Hell

1

When you have an internal midwife fear is a natural response.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 6:53 AM
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Unarmed, internal midwives good for the road back from Switzerland to Iraq, but there is always the danger of getting stuck in Rousseau whenever you are near Switzerland.


Posted by: rob helpy-chalk | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 7:00 AM
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3

He needs to work in a story about the time this cab driver he knew helped deliver a baby in the back seat of his taxi.


Posted by: AcademicLurker | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 7:02 AM
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4

A freedom baby?


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 7:03 AM
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5

Anyhow he is entirely right that I don't want Hobbes to be pregnant with me.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 7:04 AM
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2 - How does Susie Derkins figure into this story?


Posted by: snarkout | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 7:13 AM
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7

Stuck in Hobbes.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 7:14 AM
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8

I don't really pay attention to Times columnists the way you people do but that is an incredibly terrible paragraph.


Posted by: Mister Smearcase | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 7:17 AM
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9

Stuck inside of Hobbes with the Lockean blues again.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 7:22 AM
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10

Few people in the American punditocracy are more consistently and persistently dumbassed than Tom Friedman. It shows up most frequently whenever he starts on about the Middle East, but I have a special place in my heart for the six or seven columns a year he writes explaining how the country needs a centrist third party, one that would reject the hardline positions of both major parties and bravely stand up for X, Y, and Z. Where X, Y, and Z are all actual planks of the Democratic Party platform.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 7:22 AM
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11

Friedman is, to use an oft-borrowed phrase, a stupid person's idea of what a smart person sounds like.


Posted by: MAE | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 7:22 AM
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12

Stuck inside of Hobbs with the Santa Fe blues again.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 7:24 AM
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It's a niche outlet, and apparently there's a lot of demand in the niche for foolishness masquerading as seriousness.


Posted by: CharleyCarp | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 7:31 AM
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I know that when our kids were born, making sure our midwife was well-armed was very important to us. That Hobbesean phase during the c-section was pretty dicey.


Posted by: emdash | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 7:40 AM
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If only America had lent its power to the anti-Saddam forces, just imagine how well Iraq would be doing instead of floundering around in a Hobbesian breech-birth.


Posted by: Cryptic ned | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 7:45 AM
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"Hobbesian" rhymes with "cohesion", right?


Posted by: Cryptic ned | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 7:46 AM
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17

Some people do say it that way.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 7:47 AM
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10: At their convention in Charlotte, I'd love to see someone put forward a motion to change the official name of the party from "Democratic Party" to "Centrist Third Party of the United States."


Posted by: MAE | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 7:48 AM
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For a moment, I was looking for the "like" button for MAE's comment. FACEBOOK, WHAT HATH THOU WROUGHT?


Posted by: Sir Kraab | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 7:55 AM
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20

Friedman is a weirdly mesmerizing speaker. He's mastered sounding sensible and compelling while spouting nonsense.


Posted by: Eggplant | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 7:58 AM
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21

Muddy Waters went down to Louisiana to get him a mojo hand, which he used to have all you wimmins at his command.

Friedman made a different choice. He decided to have all the old, rich, white men at his command.

Its the only way to explain Friedman's appeal.


Posted by: rob helpy-chalk | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 8:10 AM
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22

What's the other place?


Posted by: beamish | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 8:35 AM
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23

FB.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 8:37 AM
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24

Friedman should have clarified whether he's refering to the traditional Iraq, or the Roth Iraq. Either way, well-armed external midwifes should be invested in the rye bums in theatre.


Posted by: unimaginative | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 8:37 AM
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A Roth Iraq you have to pay a penalty if you need to access your midwife arms before Switzerland.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 8:39 AM
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23: Fort Benning, that is.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 8:45 AM
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27

Friedman really is the worst of the worst of the serious, respected thinkers in the media.


Posted by: NCProsecutor | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 8:48 AM
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27 s/b "serious" and "respected"


Posted by: NCProsecutor | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 8:49 AM
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22: As you go up the stairs into the lobby.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 9:00 AM
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23: When I was a kid, the nuns explained that if we were good, we would go to heaven, and if we weren't, we would go to "the other place." Now I know what they were talking about!


Posted by: politicalfootball | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 9:16 AM
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31

it is the white man's burden to be that well-armed midwife.


Posted by: cleek | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 9:23 AM
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32

He needs to work in a story about the time this cab driver he knew helped deliver a baby in the back seat of his taxi.

He could adapt a Malvina Reynolds song.


Posted by: NickS | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 9:25 AM
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33

Serendipitously, I have a friend who is beginning doula training in a month, who is also looking for someone to teach her to shoot. I think her politics are significantly different from what Friedman envisions, however.


Posted by: Natilo Paennim | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 9:28 AM
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34

I always thought "the other place" was "in the butt."

In other words, 23 gets it exactly right.


Posted by: MAE | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 9:34 AM
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I just realized that Friedman is basing his reasoning on the recently-discovered original first-draft wording of the Second Amendment:

A well regulated Midwife, being necessary, to the security of a free, State the right, of, the people, to keep and bear Arms, shall not be, infringed.


Posted by: MAE | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 9:41 AM
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In other words, 23 gets it exactly right.

This was the subtext of my 30 also.


Posted by: politicalfootball | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 9:50 AM
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37

Fuck Friedman. Doesn't exist for me.

||

Syrian Revolt Richard Seymour, tl, vicious comment section.

Libya, Syria, and left Islamophobia ...Louis Proyect

Reflexive anti-imperialism and a romance with revolution can both cloud the understanding. And Conradian pessimism and humanism just ends with withdrawal and surrender to the bourgeois. Complicated.

|>


Posted by: bob mcmanus | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 10:06 AM
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38

Greenwald's basic point is also worth repeating. Friedman is saying "To avoid the same outcome, we need to do the same thing we did last time."


Posted by: rob helpy-chalk | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 11:52 AM
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39

Your tax dollars at work:
http://www.greenisthenewred.com/blog/home-raids-grand-jury-subpoenas-portland-olympia-seattle/6233/


Posted by: Natilo Paennim | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 2:34 PM
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40

You see, the problem with Iraq was that we brought a knife to a midwife fight.


Posted by: Ginger Yellow | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 3:54 PM
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41

Ten examples of Friedman bemoaning the lack of Arab Mandelas, three of which also include midwife metaphors. (Via Taibbi)

Friedman's belief in the importance of Great Leaders is no doubt a factor in his ability to mesmerize rich old white men.


Posted by: rob helpy-chalk | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 5:00 PM
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42

41 is fantastic.

There are certain problems with the statement "Without an external midwife or a Syrian Mandela, the fires of conflict could burn for a long time." Although I guess an external midwife is indeed more useful than an internal midwife. Especially for extinguishing fires. The external midwife can tell people to go get buckets of water, whereas the internal midwife is restricted to choosing when to release the amniotic fluid.

Not sure where the Syrian Mandela fits in, though he would at least demonstrate physical bravery so he could be your traditional axe-wielding smoke-braving firefighter.


Posted by: Cryptic ned | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 5:26 PM
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43

I have a friend who really likes David Brooks, and in the moment, I can never think of just the right example for why he's awful. My friend liked the one about how certain teaching styles fail boys, since the "sit still in class" stuff isn't how the rest of the world works.

I think my friend takes this seriously since he teaches an Economics course and a ton of his students don't show up, because they have his powerpoint* slides. He started thinking that maybe he should do everything on the chalk board. He makes sure to include some material on the exam that they'll only know if they go to class. But he sort of says to himself, "I could just cash my paycheck of course, but I want to be useful, and what am I doing here if they don't need to come to class."

But does anyone have a list of Brooks's all time worst columns so that I can start working on changing my friend's opinion.

He's probably using beamer or LaTex's whatever


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 6:39 PM
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But does anyone have a list of Brooks's all time worst columns so that I can start working on changing my friend's opinion.

Two possibilities. And a fact-check post.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 7:07 PM
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45

41: God, Friedman is such a fucking moron. Nelson Mandela needs to fly to Bethesda and kick his ass.

Friedman: I was walking down the street in Bethesda one day, and Nelson Mandela kicked my ass! I said "Nelson Mandela, Nelson Mandela, why'd you kick my ass?" And he said "'Cause you're a fucking moron!"


Posted by: Natilo Paennim | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 7:21 PM
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46

19: HAST.


Posted by: OPINIONATED LITTLE BITCH | Link to this comment | 07-25-12 7:50 PM
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47

I am a day late as always but I love 45.


Posted by: Katherone | Link to this comment | 07-26-12 10:33 AM
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48

that was a typo


Posted by: Katherine | Link to this comment | 07-26-12 10:33 AM
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49

Good Lord!


Posted by: Hattie | Link to this comment | 07-30-12 12:06 AM
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