Yeah, I don't get this Douthat guy. His fears puzzle me. For example, in this piece on the current state of conception-for-hire:

The Birds & The Bees (via the Fertility Clinic)

He closes this call for more sensible oversight (he even suggests that even europeans are doing it more sensibly than us - can you imagine?) with this somber observation:

[more sensible regulation] might diminish, if not completely undo, what one grown-up donor baby quoted in the study describes as the feeling of existing entirely for “other people’s purposes, and not my own.”

His implication appears to be that your average schlub DOES exist "more entirely" "for their own purposes" than the "monstrously" conceived spawn of sperm donors.

Ross, not to blow your mind or anything, but what if - just what if - there's no purpose for ANY of us, however "naturally" or unnaturally conceived?

And I'm in favor of the kind of increased oversight he outlines in the piece.

I think if any of us think about it too much, we're all a bit troubled about the circumstances of our conception.

drsmooth wrote:Yeah, I don't get this Douthat guy. His fears puzzle me. For example, in this piece on the current state of conception-for-hire:

The Birds & The Bees (via the Fertility Clinic)

He closes this call for more sensible oversight (he even suggests that even europeans are doing it more sensibly than us - can you imagine?) with this somber observation:

[more sensible regulation] might diminish, if not completely undo, what one grown-up donor baby quoted in the study describes as the feeling of existing entirely for “other people’s purposes, and not my own.”

His implication appears to be that your average schlub DOES exist "more entirely" "for their own purposes" than the "monstrously" conceived spawn of sperm donors.

Ross, not to blow your mind or anything, but what if - just what if - there's no purpose for ANY of us, however "naturally" or unnaturally conceived?

And I'm in favor of the kind of increased oversight he outlines in the piece.

He's scared of girls, and hates them, and deals with that through a lot of pre-Vatican II hoodoo and sophistry.

Seriously, I don't think it's any more complicated than that. The irony is that he basically *is* a teenage girl.

I wish the IDF would attack the Phillies broadcast booth

Really interesting analysis of the politics of the Gaza flotilla here. It both made me more sympathetic to Israel's actions in this awful incident, and more convinced that this is going to be very damaging for Israel.

Obama's Race to the Top creating what looks to me like damn good incentives for positive change in education.

The Flotilla Fiasco

Think the WaPo has a really smart take on this.

jerseyhoya wrote:The Flotilla Fiasco

Think the WaPo has a really smart take on this.

smart-ish, but essentially a riff on the Stratfor piece daj posted

Yes but it's like 1/6th of the amount of words

jerseyhoya wrote:Yes but it's like 1/6th of the amount of words

that's what I liked most about it, yes

the Stratfor folks have a tendency to take an idea, one single idea, a lone thought, and embellish on it, embroider it, discourse upon it at length, without adding anything substantive, any new nugget of insight, any telling example of whatever it is they're on about.

I hate that.

I've thought about trying to get a job at Stratfor.

TenuredVulture wrote:I've thought about trying to get a job at Stratfor.

You need to work on your verbosity skills, your loquaciousness, your capacity to drone on.

You're far too terse.

You must become more voluble.

And repetitive.

Did I mention repetitive?

TenuredVulture wrote:I've thought about trying to get a job at Stratfor.

what's a stratfor

jerseyhoya wrote:Obama's Race to the Top creating what looks to me like damn good incentives for positive change in education.

I agree. Though part of me is skeptical that anything endorsed by Randi Weingarten represents meaningful change.

If you've got a bit of time, I recommend this NYT magazine articlefrom a couple weeks back. Rarely is anti-union animus so pronounced, but I guess Stephen Brill can get away with it. This article probably scared the hell out of the teachers unions just by virtue of its appearance in the Times.

TenuredVulture wrote:I've thought about trying to get a job at Stratfor.

one of the three bajillion places i've applied to in the last few months

I voted today in the runoff--early voting. I think I may be the only person under 80 who voted today.

Al and Tipper are splitsville. I wonder why at this point? Can't they just do a Clinton and maintain a facade? It's not like either are all that much in the public eye.

TenuredVulture wrote:I voted today in the runoff--early voting. I think I may be the only person under 80 who voted today.

Its got to be demoralizing for Halter and Lincoln (especially so) to bust so hard to win this runoff, knowing almost certian defeat waits in Nov.

Polls have closed in Alabama and Mississippi. Most consequential primaries are Artur Davis in the AL Dem Gov primary, where he's on shaky ground for voting too conservatively in the House (against HCR especially, and Parker Griffin trying to hold his seat as a GOPer after being elected in 08 as a Dem.

Most interesting primary is for Alabama Ag Commissioner on the R side. I think we all know why.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU7fhIO7DG0[/youtube]