Polanski

It seems that the whole Polanski debate is setting up along the left/right cultural divide. For the life of me, I can't figure out why it would. The crime was too icky to be merely brushed away as some kind of sexual hangup thing. The due process territory is pretty clear and not really in an area where battles are normally fought.
The only thing I can think of is that the left is generally more sympathetic to artists. I get that (and don't have any issue with it) but I can't believe it's really enough to cover this. At least I don't want to believe it.

Update: This post here suggests that there is also a divide between elite and rank and file on the left. I don't remember a similar divide in the past.

Other Options

I keep hearing that Republicans shouldn't criticize Obamacare proposals unless they have an alternative proposal. Never mind that there are Republican bills that have been proposed with alternatives, there are certainly plenty of other ideas that have been put forth online. The idea that a massive government system is the only viable way to fix our current bad system is patently false.
And besides, back in 2002-2003 during the run-up to the Iraq war there was huge opposition to W's 'war on terror'. Democrats (and liberals) didn't, and still haven't put forth a credible alternative to fighting international terrorism. Note that I'm not saying it is the only way, I'm simply saying that on this crucial issue all they could do was criticize and offer half hearted platitudes. Even now with a Democratic President in the White House and both parties of congress controlled by WOT critics, there has been very little change.
I don't suppose we can expect that alternative anytime soon.

Light Blogging

It may seem odd to post such a thing on a blog that gets about a post a month but I feel bad about the lack of posts over here. You see, I don't really like to comment on stuff right away because there is usually some bit of context that either deepens the issue or (more usually) muddles it. I like for the waters to calm a bit so I feel like I have a better handle. This has meant that over the last few months (especially with the health care debate) that I've gotten very behind. Each time I think of putting something up, I'm bogged down by the large number of posts that I didn't write earlier.
Well, I know how to handle this. The first rule of blogger's block is this: Get over yourself and write some things. That's what I'm going to do now.