Postmodern Conservative.

Site News

Coming sooner, rather than later. Thanks for hanging in there. You will be delighted, I sweah.

Status Check

Fear not, folks. We have not gone off the air. It's a crazy week, and there's some retooling of the innards afoot. Stay tuned for details, and see you at the Confabulum meanwhile.

Confabulated: Fecundity Edition

Breeding.

Bitching.

How to keep our arguments fertile.

Just how conservative are Sam's Clubbers?

Just how conservative is Sarah Palin?

Less Than Mirthless

Clive Davis at the (UK) Spectator:

Alex Massie notes anoter outbreak of bad behaviour among the travelling lager louts, and tries not to be irritated by the asinine response of James Poulos, who suspects Britons behave like this because we inhabit "the most mirthless of all pink police states". Oh dear. If Poulos can't get the UK right, why listen to his opinions about any other country?

How foolish I was to imagine that the collapse of British culture and the calcification of its bureaucracy have conspired to produce generations of young Britons, boys and girls alike, who learn fast that they must hold the hand of Guvmint at all times unless getting wasted, getting laid, or getting sick in the streets. My foreign policy bona fides have been ruined indeed.

What have I ever done to Mr Davis, who, I'm certain (seriously), holds his drink like a gentleman and bemoans the fall of Western civilization? That makes two of us! He looks friendly enough. Ah, well. What was that about mirthless again?

I blame Stephen Pollard. I'm on your team, gents...really.

Random Acts of Blogging

C11: Peggy Noonan on our Cognitive Dissonance

C11: Obama, Communitarian

Culture11

I'm stoked to announce that Culture11 -- where I'm founding Political Editor -- has launched today (in beta, naturally). 

Best-kept-secret status: officially over. 

Number of writers you want to read: uberhigh. 

All the neighborhood kids have come out to play. 

Join them, why don't you?

Fun With Half-Assed Reading

Stephen Pollard, The Spectator:

I wondered how long it would be before someone managed to get a dig in at Israel over the Russian bombing of Georgia. So congratulations to James Poulos at - where else? - the Guardian for, as far as I am aware, being the first:

The anti-Russia lobby is giving the pro-Israel lobby a run for its money, hyping the settling of scores among two European, Orthodox Christian countries as more dangerous to the peace and security of the west than any clash of civilisations or jihad ever was.

I'm happy to accept the prize, but clearly Pollard stopped reading before reaching this 'dig':

Nor is our friendship with Georgia quite as deep and profound as our friendship with Israel.

Oops!

Paris as Premonition II

In re the below, see also Steve Benen:

The McCain campaign actually seems to think this ad has merit. It doesn’t.

Asked for a response to the video, the Obama campaign said, literally, “Whatever.” McCain spokesperson Tucker Bounds issued this response: “It sounds like Paris Hilton supports John McCain’s ‘all of the above’ approach to America’s energy crisis — including both alternatives and drilling. Paris Hilton might not be as big a celebrity as Barack Obama, but she obviously has a better energy plan.”

My, my, the McCain campaign does come up with the dumbest things to say.

That said, watching the Hilton video, a few questions came to mind. First, why is that Paris Hilton’s fake ad includes more substantive talk about energy policy than John McCain’s real ad? Second, if writers helped Hilton with her script, and writers helped McCain with his script, why is it that Hilton seems to have a better grasp on policy details than McCain does? Shouldn’t that be, you know, the other way around?

McCain seems to be arguing the following:

Obama < McCain < Paris

Benen praises her great felicity with the teleprompter. I am given to understand that Paris actually memorized her lines. Laughably enough, it's just a natural reminder of the great squandered potential of even faux-aristocrats in democratic times. If Paris put half the energy she's put into dry humping a Western Bacon Cheeseburger and starring in House of Wax into making her way slowly and patiently into representative government, she could succeed easily, and become the Henry Clay of the Hollywood Hills. She is pitch-perfect as the pragmatic liberaltarian the world is hoping for, and she is unafraid to kiss a black man on the lips -- something Barack Obama isn't tough enough to do.

UPDATE: contra Benen see Manzi, who is right, especially about Yoda and subtle digs.

Worst Title of the Year?

Hopes of World Trade Deal Collapse -- New York Times

Apparently Inevitable. Really. WILL!

My Wordle. Hmm:

No, I don't know how to make that bigger. Click on it. But will there really be an album? (Yes.)