#JoanWalsh - Civil War ignorant and gullible

She has a long, large book review post at Salon, with the central tenet of the book under review being that "Northern economic imperialism" was a large reason for the Civil War.

No, no, no!

Southern intransigence after losing control of one of the three branches of government, with fire-eaters ready to run with that, was the cause.

This has to be the worst thing Walsh has ever written at Salon, and she's had clunkers in the past.

With racists, Lost Causers, etc., already advocating crap like this, for her to favorably review such historically-revisionist bullshit is hugely wrong.

As for the "Civil War being a mistake"? Nope? Jim Crow, etc., were the fault of Reconstruction being a mistake for not being vigorous enough of long enough. Good fucking doorknob, Walsh is dumb.

Exemplar:

Even when President Ulysses S. Grant tried to use the military to beat back white Southern paramilitary groups literally massacring African-Americans trying to execute basic rights, he couldn't, because soldiers were deployed out West in the new Civil War against Indians.

Did Grant, or his party, ever propose keeping the military budget higher to keep more troops in the South? No. Was that the fault of the Civil War? No.

And, ignorant about Lincoln:

And as a strict constitutionalist, Lincoln resisted abolitionism, because like it or not, the Constitution made room for slavery. The president disliked slavery, but his priority was the union. He famously told abolitionist Republican Horace Greeley (who later turned against Reconstruction and ran for president as a Democrat, abandoning African Americans as did too many other abolitionists): "If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that."

She ignores that, in his next sentence, he says that if he could do it by freeing all the slaves, that would be his preference.

Beyond that, as his habeas corpus actions, even with Congress in session, show, he was NOT a "strict constitutionalist" either.

It's default of the Republicans

So, Paul Ryan says no big deal if we have a "short term default" on the national debt? And, other alleged paragons of GOP fiscal sanity, incluindg Mr. Fiat Money, Ron Paul, agree?

Yet the inside-the-Beltway press corps still treats these people as sensible grownups. (And, so does Preznit Kumbaya.)

Why?

It's clear this is ultimately just about politics, as is hwho takes credit for good j ob-creation months and passes blame for bad ones.

Weinergate rears its ugly head

While waiting to board a plane in Oakland, I noted that Rep. Anthony Weiner, D(umbass)-N.Y. had fessed up to the "We're No. 1" picture being his. (And yes, as in the header [that's three!] for this story, the bad puns write themselves.)

I also saw that this wasn't the only pic of him, nor sent to the only woman, and that his wife was preggers.

Several thoughts.

1. Since he did NOT "DM" this woman/women on Twitter, who besides Anthony Weiner has ever claimed he's that much of a techie as a Congresscritter?

2. This is probably NOT "conduct unbecoming a member of Congress," or bringing Congress into disrepute, per the Constitution. I'll bet 10 percent of male MCs, and 5 percent of females, have had affairs since their first election to Congress. After all, national research shows about half of married American men and one-third of women will have at least one extramarital affair.

3. The Dems aren't the religious right party, so, unlike with shirtless Chris Lee on the GOP side, there isn't a hypocrisy issue.

4. But, speaking of that ... Dems could and should rightfully resign for all sorts of serious hypocrisy, like supporting Obama's war on civil liberties after calling Bush out, claiming to be for the working man, yet supporting a crappy recovery program by a weak-kneed, compromising president, etc.

5. And, speaking of both Nos. 3 and 4, per the link above, there is an arrogance issue too. Whether it's the "don't you know who I am" or whatever, I thnk Weiner types think they can just plow ahead.

The 'full TSA' - almost the 'full Monty'

The Transportation "Security" Agency folks gave me the body frisk plus the chemical swabs of my carry-on stuff Saturday as I flew out of Midland, Texas. They double-teamed me during swabbing time, even, with a second TSAer asking me all these profiling questions. (There's no backscanners in a small airport like this — yet.)

Second, frustration at backed-up lines, especially being behind a bunch of first-time fliers, is NOT the same emotional expression as nervousness, you inaccurately profiling numbnuts.

Second, as far as profiling questions, I've been through Border Patrol checkpoints more than two dozen times. I'm plenty used to stuff like that.

Third, let's call this Reason No. 741 not to vote for our "constitutional law scholar" preznit.

Now easier to read on cell phones!

Blogger has created a mobile-device friendly version of blog pages, and that's now enabled for this blog.

Maybe it's time to start being kinder to ourselves

Probably originating in 12-Step groups, I have heard plenty of admonitions, chidings and warnings in various locales in life about "pity pots" and "pity parties."

But, some new psychological research says that maybe we need to stop worrying so much about "pity parties" and instead have more concern about how kind we are to ourselves.

A LOT more concern, including learning it as a top-level life skill.

This is NOT the "give every kid an A to boost self esteem," the study makes clear. In fact, it notes that that technique often backfires, and can lead to neuroticism, emotional fragility and narcissism.

"It is not this nimby, bimby stuff," said Paul Gilbert, a researcher at Kingsway Hospital in the United Kingdom. "Compassion is sensitivity to the suffering of self and others and a commitment to do something about it."

Kristin Neff, an associate professor of psychology and the mother of an autistic child, writes about cultivating self-compassion from her own parenting experience as well as her professional background, in the just-published book, "Self-Compassion."

She lists three aspects to it: mindfulness, common humanity and kindness.

Mindfulness, whether done as a full meditative practice or not, is as Neff describes it, accepting emotions without either suppressing/blocking them OR fixating on/attaching to them.

Common humanity is, to riff on another old phrase from "the other folks," recognizing that our hurts and pains aren't "terminally unique" either.

And, kindness is kindness to ourselves as well as others.

The LiveScience authors go on to note that self-esteem of the type I stereotypically mentioned above still have a competitive and comparative element to it. Self-kindness does not.

And, speaking of competitiveness, other researchers, the story notes, believe that as the pace of modern Western life accelerates, self-punishment will likely increase.

But, won't being kind to ourselves a lot lead to a temptation to "let ourselves off the hook"? No, but that's been anticipated too:

(A)ccording to Neff, the most common fear about becoming self-compassionate is that it will lower performance standards and encourage laziness. But researchers have found that self-compassionate people are actually less likely to sit on the couch all day eating bonbons.

So, lighten up. Especially on yourself. And let's encourage each other on this.