Saturday, November 20, 2010
What Mattered This Week?
The continuing debate over New START? The possible revival of DADT repeal? The evolving Democratic strategy on taxes? Sarah Palin's TV show? Ireland? I'm going to say that the budget commission stuff this week didn't matter much, but other than that, I'm open to suggestions. What do you think mattered this week?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
I think the TSA revolt turned a corner this week. I can't remember another issue that's so outraged righties and lefties alike. Some politician is going to get a huge increase in stature by coming out forthrightly against TSA overreach.
ReplyDeleteI was going to say the new tax strategy, as democrats actually picking fights when they should be picking fights would be new. The previous commentor has a point, though. I'm a liberal, but i was reading a redstate post on a tsa incident the other day and thinking "goddamn right. grrr, stupid tsa"
ReplyDeleteI think the TSA thing is overblown; it has legs amongst those who travel frequently, meaning those who make up blog traffic and consume large amounts of media (or produce such), but I really think the polling shows that those who don't travel as much simply don't think it's that big a deal.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I'm going to say that, in the annals of history, few will remember this week for anything.
What about those world-changing 14 Abrams M1A2 tanks and their 119 tankers and all the millions of pounds of auxiliary equipment and spare parts and "technical reps" from the manufacturers of the hull and armor and engine and weapons and other systems, including the "TPI-1" telephone handset that lets the Tank Commander communicate with the soldiers that walk along beside looking for IED "signatures" and guys on rooftops with variations of the RPG, http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread346369/pg1, or Russian-designed Komets (now built under license in Lebanon, as with so much of the World of Warcraft/Toyland stuff the globalized MIC churns out)? Soldiers who can't take cover behind the tank unless they want to be fried by the turbine engine's exhaust? I understand Helmand Province will soon be ours, all ours! BWAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!
ReplyDeleteI concur with Matt Jarvis. I think we are just seeing the doldrums of the post-election press and lame duck Congressional session. Things will pick up in January, methinks.
ReplyDeleteThe Stuxnet virus that's delayed Iran's nuclear capability -- a whole new window into how wars are being fought.
ReplyDeleteThere hasn't been yet an informative poll about what people think of the new TSA procedures. There was a poll earlier this year, but it was before these procedures went into effect. The LA Times repeated a poll of "travel professionals" but on closer look, it was an online poll of "professionals who manage the sales and purchase of hotel rooms, airline tickets and car rental services for big businesses."
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, online polls are bunk -- not at all representative of the traveling public. Secondly, the poll was NOT of travelers, but people who have a very real, financial interest in keeping people traveling. Totally worthless as a measurement of travelers OR the general public, used only as an attempt to shape public opinion.
It's impossible as yet to get a representative opinion of people's reaction to these procedures. Anecdotally, there is a growing resistance, and the resistance is making it up into the "most viewed" and the "most emailed" lists on major news sites. I think it will have legs, for the reason that journos themselves are frequent travelers, and are more likely to notice inconveniences and write about them than, say, standing in a food stamp line.
I'm not picking on you, Prof Jarvis. These bogus polls and journos who write them up uncritically just make me crazy. Of course, I'm an epidemiologist, so I'm probably more disturbed about misleading polls than most. Still, there should be standards. I mean, who cares if everyone repeats misleading information until it becomes truthiness, eh?
James,
ReplyDeleteCBS did an RDD poll less than 2 weeks ago on the question, and 81% supported the full-body scanners. As I was noting above, that's not a representative sample of who is going through an aiport on any given day; many of these respondents will travel occasionally if not at all. My point is simply that the TSA thing is only really ringing bells amongst the frequently-traveling public. Now, that might be enough to get changes made. But, it's going to have to be a case of the intense minority overcoming the less-interested majority.
NATO agreements with Russia (missile defense, Afghanistan), East European support for START, and the quick appearance of two alternatives to Simpson-Bowles.
ReplyDeleteAfghanistan. Petraeus has called in his marker for bailing the Obama Administration out when McCrystal went off the reservation.
ReplyDeleteThere will be no US (or NATO) disengagement in 2011: the earliest date on the table is 2014. Many more US and NATO soldiers will be killed and wounded; the Administration will gain no political benefit, and the Afghans will be no nearer a stable, peaceful polity.