Perkin' at the Perks

Marigny Perks has got it going on. If you've reached this from www.marignyperks.com you know our web site is on the way. I've got great plans for the site and I think you'll want to visit it often. If you're in New Orleans, stop by and say hello in person.

The new team

Here is a little about our new ambassador to Iraq:

"Crocker's experience and his vast knowledge of Middle Eastern cultures, history, and languages make him one of the State Department's leading experts on Middle Eastern affairs. He has received a Presidential Distinguished Service Award and the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Civilian Service. In January 2002, he was appointed interim envoy to the new government of Afghanistan, and was confirmed as Ambassador to Pakistan in October 2004."

Now you may wonder why such an ideal candidate for that job has not been sent there already. Maybe, just maybe, its because he publicly opposed the invasion and warned about the dangers of civil war back in the beginning. Crocker is one of the State Department and CIA experts who publicly, and in writing, contradicted the picture painted by Bush and his neocons. They did not get much publicity but I remember at the time thinking how much more likely they were to be right than the hard sell from Bush.

Lieutenant General David Petraeus has taken over the military leadership in Iraq. He's been lavishly praised so you might wonder: since he's so good, why hasn't he been sent to Iraq already. Well, maybe, just maybe it because he contradicted Rumsfield's policy. Petraeus literally wrote the book (an Army manual) on insurgency warfare. To this day Bush has a hard time admitting that we are stuck trying to put down the tar baby of insurgency. Bush prefers to call it terrorism and slyly link it to 9 -11. Petraeus knows that the insurgents are using terrorist tactics but that the people who attacked us on 9-11 were not Iraqis and and that currently Al Queida is only a small part of the Iraq problem.

At last, Bush is using the talent he should have been using all along. Its a stunning retreat for Bush.

The comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought

Forty-five years ago today, JFK, speaking to the graduating class at Yale, said, "The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie -- deliberate, contrived, and dishonest -- but the myth -- persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic ... Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." He urged the students to "move on from the reassuring repetition of stale phrases to a new, difficult, but essential confrontation with reality." Kennedy was urging the students not to let the establishment, which he represented, get away with anything. Submit its rhetoric to the fiercest scrutiny. Think for yourself. It was an invitation that reflected his own education, two years earlier, in the wisdom of doubt.

Today we have a president who experiences no doubt. Without doubt there is no introspection and no self knowledge. Myth replaces analysis. We owe it to ourselves to reject the easy myth and to think independently. Bush and his supporters tirelessly repeat the talking points assigned to them by Mr. Rove. The same stale phrases are repeated relentlessly until some people believe them to be true.

When you hear the same words over and over; beware. You are hearing myths being made.

The streets of New Orleans

The streets of New Orleans flow around statues like water around a rock. They swirl and curve and angle off in dizzying patterns. There is almost no grid here. Its called the Crescent City because it sits in a long crescent of the Mississippi River. The streets parallel to the river follow the crescent in their own gentle arc.

Historically, the river was the primary transportation route and lots facing the river were long and narrow so as many people as possible could have access to the river. The streets that run perpendicular to the river are at angles to each other to accommodate multiple slices of river front property. (It also has something to do with our "shotgun" houses.)

So here we have it: a city with quirky street patterns that are a reflection of the city itself. There is an unpredictability to street patterns and to life here. Both are idiosyncratic and neither are like anywhere else. The streets merge into triangles and little parks are formed. Street names change suddenly, for no apparent reason. Driving in New Orleans is a free form exercise, much like living in New Orleans.

Our history and geography combine to shape our streets and our lives.

full of sound and fury

I've been watching the chest thumping politicians trying to outdo each other in sounding tough. They so badly understand foreign affairs that they wind up sounding dumb.

For instance: Giuliani casually lumps together Iran and Al Qaeda. Mitt Romney goes even further and lumps together Shia, Suni, Hizbullah, Hamas and Al Qaeda. These groups are very different and in some cases are enemies of each other.

How can people get to that level in political life without knowing that Iran is a Shiite power and actually helped the United States topple the al Quieda-backed Taliban in Afghanistan. Or did they know it and ignore the facts? Some members of Congress don't know the difference between Shiite and Suni. Reporters don't know enough about the culture of the mideast to ask good questions.

We can't use our military power to solve political problems and tough talk without understanding the problems is just dumb.

The candidates debate

I just watched the Democratic candidates debate on CNN. First of all, CNN didn't impress me. Wolf Blitzer persisted in asking dumb questions that are not worthy of the candidates or the process.

I thought all of them did better than in the last debate. I was more impressed with Hillary than I was before, even though I have serious reservations about her. Obama's style and experience don't lend themselves well to a debate format. He let one opportunity after another go by without challenging Hillary. She slid away from direct answers without anyone calling her on it.

I'm particularly concerned about Hillary's original vote to allow Bush to go to war against Iraq. She dances around it without directly explaining her vote. A lot of smart people opposed the war. She claims to be misled. Were they smarter than her? My impression is that her vote was the result of a political calculation of the worst sort.

Hillary was more presidential than any candidate in either party. She struck me as the most qualified to hold the job - even though I wish it was someone else.

I've written before that I'm seeing a gradual drift to the left in the country as a whole. The debate last night confirmed that. There was unequivocal and unanimous agreement that gays should be allowed to serve openly in the military. The only disagreements about universal health care were about the details. Those liberal positions are consistent with signs in the popular culture that the mainstream flows to the left now.

Next up, the Republicans debate again. What fun!

Conservative pretzels

I've been reading conservative writers lately and they are twisting themselves into irrational pretzels over Iraq.

Their basic war paradigm is deeply flawed. They look at Iraq and see only us against those who attacked us on 9-11. Their enemy is Al Queida. Neither comports well with reality. The absolutist conservative world view is all black or white, with no shades of grey. They live in an "us vs. them" world. Their victory-or-defeat set of choices leaves no room for diplomacy and their war model is failing them.

Now for the pretzel. There is reason to think we've already lost. There isn't much reason to think we will accomplish much more in that poor country. Conservatives are now blaming the Iraqi people for conditions there. Its close enough to the truth to serve as a moral fig leaf to cover their flaccid policy. They will see a defeat and surrender but they will not call it ours. It will be Iraqi. It'll be just as much a defeat in January '08 as it would be tomorrow. They need more time, however, to confect their puff pastry of shifting responsibility.

I've seen conservatives blame the patient for being sick before. Now they are doing it again.