The Oil Plume As Metaphor

David Brooks explains the Gulf oil spill:

And, at this particular moment, we are confronted by the picture of an uncontrolled gusher of oil spewing destruction into the gulf. This image could be with us for another few months, searing into the national consciousness and becoming the defining image of 2010.

Everybody is comparing the oil spill to Hurricane Katrina, but the real parallel could be the Iranian hostage crisis. In the late 1970s, the hostage crisis became a symbol of America’s inability to take decisive action in the face of pervasive problems. In the same way, the uncontrolled oil plume could become the objective correlative of the country’s inability to govern itself.

The plume taps into a series of deep anxieties. First, it taps into the anxiety that the people running our major institutions are just not that competent. Second, it feeds into the anxiety that there has been an unhappy marriage between corporations and government officials, which has had the effect of corrupting both. Most important, the plume exposes the country’s core confusion about the role of government.

Skip, and:

In times of crisis, you get a public reaction that is incoherence on stilts. On the one hand, most people know that the government is not in the oil business. They don’t want it in the oil business. They know there is nothing a man in Washington can do to plug a hole a mile down in the gulf.

On the other hand, they demand that the president “take control.” They demand that he hold press conferences, show leadership, announce that the buck stops here and do something. They want him to emote and perform the proper theatrical gestures so they can see their emotions enacted on the public stage.

They want to hold him responsible for things they know he doesn’t control. Their reaction is a mixture of disgust, anger, longing and need. It may not make sense. But it doesn’t make sense that the country wants spending cuts and doesn’t want cuts, wants change and doesn’t want change.

Brooks is mostly describing the President's liberal base, but of course that is Obama's problem - conservatives don't have a magical faith in Big Government and are not surprised to see it faltering.  It is Obama's side (and, pardon my redundancy, the media) which routinely looks to Washington for miracles and is experiencing some disillusionment.  It seems unkind to reprise this, but this is from the surprise NY Times endorsement of Obama back in October 2008:

In his convention speech in Denver, Mr. Obama said, “Government cannot solve all our problems, but what it should do is that which we cannot do for ourselves: protect us from harm and provide every child a decent education; keep our water clean and our toys safe; invest in new schools and new roads and new science and technology.”

I assume Sasha and Malia are rigorously testing toys, but not all of our water is looking so pristine right now.

THEY'RE FROM THE GOVERNMENT AND THEY ARE THERE TO HELP:  A classic window into the liberal mind was provided by this recent NY Times correction of a Freudian editing error:

Because of an editing error, an article on Tuesday about the top 10 choking hazards for children omitted some steps to take if a child is choking and seems unable to cough out the obstruction. Besides having someone call 911, the health authorities recommend acting quickly to remove the object.

What?  You mean, if my child is choking I don't just stand around waiting for government assistance?  Why did we even elect Obama?

Comments

[narciso]

Except there was the Ixtoc spill right around the same time, I hate when reality interferes
with a metaphor

[Frau Depression]

"Why did we even elect Obama?"
According to Obama voters, gas and mortgage payments for starters and access to "his" stash.

What in the world was done to Brooks during his visit to the WH?

[MarkO]

Anything that continues to expose the fraud in the White House is good for the country.

[BB Key]

That did not take long...

James O'Keefe busts the Census Bureau for fraud in NJ

[narciso]

The brain slug fell out, don't worry it was replaced with another one

[steve sturm]

While there are some people who have such (misguided) faith in Obama/government that they were expecting him to have kept the breach from happening and are expecting him to shut down the leak, I believe most people are more realistic and have expectations that (1) the Administration is able to understand and follow what is going on and (2) take action to minimize the damage from the leak. (9/11 analogy: we don't expect the government to keep every attack from succeeding, but we expect them to competently respond to those that do take place).

Instead, we're treated to an Administration that is alternates between clueless and bully, and furthermore and more devastatingly, isn't dealing effectively with the damage (taking too long to respond, limiting the actions the states themselves can take, etc).

To paraphrase the maxim, 'it's not the accident that makes us look weak, it's the inept response' that does.

[Captain Hate]

Speaking of the Census, I received a visit from a census-taker last week even though I told her I sent my form back during the same day I received it. She told me that the drones had somehow misplaced the data for my neighborhood; shocking, I know. She was very pleasant and professional and, as a black woman, agreed with most of the posters here regarding the inappropriateness of asking a question about race and accepted my response of "American".

[Melinda Romanoff]

Cap'n-

It must not have been one of these Census workers, as filmed by James O'Keefe.

His latest creation, BTW.

[Someone should change your horse in the middle of the brook.]

This metaphor blows. It's blackening my day. We are not ungovernable; Obama is incapable of governing. My God, man.
===================

[Cecil Turner]

What? You mean, if my child is choking I don't just stand around waiting for government assistance? Why did we even elect Obama?

Well, maybe not only stand around . . . But I doubt this is having a big impact on his base's view of government largesse. Remember folks like Peggy Joseph:

“Because I never thought this day would ever happen. I won’t have to worry about putting gas in my car. I won’t have to worry about paying my mortgage. You know. If I help him, he’s gonna help me.”

So, has the President delivered? I think he has:

[Melinda Romanoff]

Sorry BB Key, didn't read yours too clearly.

[Ignatz]

Cecil,
I'm presuming the red line is government transfer payments. Correct?

[Cecil Turner]

That graphic didn't work out so well. Here is the source.

[Comanche Voter]

"Most important, the plume exposes the country’s core confusion about the role of government."

Core confusion? My bleeding backside! I don't have any confusion about what government's role is. Aside from some core competencies--such as providing a military defense, running a Supreme Court and the Federal Reserve, there's not a heck of a lot of things that they do well. They have a "reverse Midas touch" on almost every excursion outside the narrow range of things that only a federal government can do.

[Captain Hate]

No Mel, her professionalism and courtesy led me to believe that she doesn't have the "right stuff" to either move up the ladder, as exemplified in your link, or be retained once the Census is done.

[centralcal]

You know, I have thought these past few years that Al Gore is insane (look at the eyes) and have said so here many times. Yet, I wondered how Tipper could stay with him if he was insane.

Now, they are getting divorced after 40 years of marriage. Maybe she too thinks (knows) he is insane.

[Yeah, I didn't expect this.]

Did she go skeptical on him?
===============

[Sue]

Wow.

[centralcal]

MayBee is already advising Tipper (via Twitter) to claim dibs on the Santa Barbara home.

[bunky]

algore...........

[matt]

I will say it again. We have a Department of the Interior, a Department of Energy, an Environmental Protection Agency, and all sorts of specialist offices distributed throughout the government. We even have a "Coast" "Guard". There is also an "Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund". All have proven worse than useless.

And yet it seems not a dime has been spent on the rapid and efficient control and containment of oil spills, even though it is an inherent risk in offshore drilling, pumping, and transportation.

That same government now controls Wall Street,the auto industry, and health care. We are so screwed.

[Melinda Romanoff]

matt-

We all know the problem is because they are underfunded.

[Ignatz]

We all know the problem is because they are underfunded.......by Bush!

[BobDenver]

From Brooks' column:

"We should be able to build from cases like this one and establish a set of concrete understandings about what government should and shouldn’t do. We should be able to have a grounded conversation based on principles 95 percent of Americans support. Yet that isn’t happening. So the period of stagnation begins."

What a fundamental misreading of American history, and human nature, for that matter. We Americans have NEVER agreed on what "government should and shouldn't do." What does he think Hamilton and Jefferson were fighting about? Or Lincoln and Douglas? And the fight has raged ever since. Rush is right about the danger of the so-called moderates, adopting by default a position of weakness, always looking for consensus from the get-go, as opposed to finding it in necessary trade-offs at the end of hard legislative battles between supporters of opposing views.

"So the period of stagnation begins." Finally! By stagnation, he means the inability of the adminstration to force any more carp sandwiches down our throat. This is what passes for a conservative at the NY Times. I am so glad I moved out of NYC before the brain rot became permanent.

[peter]

Don Surber has some great one-liners re: Vice President Gore.

[narciso]

Remember Matt, that Obama wanted to cut the Coast Guard budget for exactly this sort of
effort, regardless it is inexcusable that no steps have been taken to mitigate this problem

[Frau Ehescheidung]

Win one for the Tipper!

[MayBee]

This is an emergency post for Ann

MUST SEE

[Neo]

Former Vice President Al Gore and his wife, Tipper, are separating after 40 years of marriage.

I guess Al's head and Tipper couldn't fit in the same room anymore.

[Captain Hate]

I give Tipper a great amount of credit for not smothering that fat POS in his sleep.

[narciso]

"These goggles they do nothin" is all I have to say

[Melinda Romanoff]

Bob-
There is nothing so exhilarating as a journalist breathlessly describing their own economic forecasts.

If it were a card game, he'd be broke in two hands.

[Captain Hate]

Btw, wouldn't it be the best thing ever if Tipper started dropping dimes on some of ManBearPig's AGW scams?

[glasater]

The comments at Althouse are a scream re the Gores.

[macphisto]

reminds me of when Larry David dumped his moonbat wife of "one square of TP" fame.

[peter]

MayBee, there's more tension on the seat of those slacks than in s shareholder's meeting at BP.

Regarding the Gores, when Rolling Stone magazine airbrushed Al's unit to look like Dirk Diggler's, I remember Joan Rivers saying she thought it was fake, because Tipper didn't look that happy.

[jimmyk]

Aside from some core competencies--such as providing a military defense, running a Supreme Court and the Federal Reserve...

Um, you might want to rethink that last one.

[centralcal]

MayBee - Ann was ahead of you. She posted last night on the corn thread about Flotus's latest exhibitionism. She posted as Evil Ann - LOL!

Michelle needs an intervention (and the correct sized underwear).

[MayBee]

Ha, Peter!

Thanks, ccal. I should have known.

My goodness, that is the return to the White House outfit. I would hate my husband if he let me walk around like that in front of cameras.

[Ignatz]

--I would hate my husband if he let me walk around like that in front of cameras.--

Go take a look at Evil Ann's uncropped version Maybee. He's standing behind her with a disgusted look on his face glancing down at her caboose.

[Ranger]

Not entirely off topic, the last two generic congressional http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/generic_congressional_vote-901.html>polls:

Gallup 1600 RV 49 43 Republicans +6
Rasmussen 3500 LV 44 37 Republicans +7

Both taken between 5/24 and 4/30. I don't think Obama's presser had the impact he wanted.

[MayBee]

The man is supposed to be saving the world and he won't even save his wife from a damn wedgie.

I wonder what David Brooks thinks of those creases?

[centralcal]

Honestly, I don't think Moochelle has a wedgie (or rather, a pair of them), I think she is wearing bikini panties that are several sizes too small for her enormous girth.

Poor thing seems to be in severe denial about her true size - whether outer or under wear.

[centralcal]

Re the Gore divorce: Cripes Suzette asks the really hard question - "Maybe she caught him warming his globe with someone else?"

[Danube of Thought]

Why didn't Brooks call for this debate when Bush was being savaged over Katrina?

[Sue]

Why didn't Brooks call for this debate when Bush was being savaged over Katrina?

Bwahahahaha! I was laughing anyway over MO's wedgie and then you came along and now my sides are splitting.

[Jane]

glancing down at her caboose.

If anyone ever called my rear end a "caboose" I would deck them!

[glasater]

Holder is starting a criminal investigation into the oil disaster.

[macphisto]

caboose, hell...that's a coal tender and a boxcar.

[Tom R]

I wonder if Holder will investigate the government civilians in the Obama administration who were responsible for oversight of offshore drilling? LUN

[BobDenver]

Interesting NRO piece by Barone suggesting just how bad the gulf spill is for Obama. LUN

[lyle]

Holder is starting a criminal investigation into the oil disaster.

No problem for BP. Just appoint a couple of Black Panthers to their PR dept. Problem solved.

[Captain Hate]

If anyone ever called my rear end a "caboose" I would deck them!

Why? Is yours more a flatcar?

[peter]

caboose, hell...that's a coal tender and a boxcar.

Serious coffee spit take, Danny Thomas style.

[daddy]

Anyone seen yet whether Naomi Wolf has started designing clothing outfits for "The Single Al Gore?"

I sure hope it's not more 'Earth tones'.

[Frau Bahnhof]

Having Holder investigate BP is *the* ticket.Why do I keep having the vision of Holder hugging Janet Reno while she cried?

(German slang used to call that body part a train station.)

[Captain Hate]

Anyone seen yet whether Naomi Wolf has started designing clothing outfits for "The Single Al Gore?"

ManBearPig: Naomi, does this make me look fat?

NW: My pager just went off and I've gotta leave STAT!!!

[bunkerbuster]

Tom asserts: ``conservatives don't have a magical faith in Big Government.''
They certaintly do. How else can you explain the incredibly naive belief of conservatives that an invasion of Iraq would bring a magical wave of democracy across the region? Or that our troops would be "welcomed" and Iraqis would erect a statue of GW Bush.
Or what about conservatives rather heated, magical belief that Big Government can prevent Mexican workers from accessing a labor market where their services are in high demand? And what about the belief that Big Government can successfully beat illegal immigration by targeting workers rather than employers?
Or the war on drugs. Despite decades of evidence to the contrary, conservatives cling to the belief that Big Government can control drug use by spending billions on chasing users, dealers and makers around the world.
Or religion. Conservatives believe Big Government should be involved in helping selected religions maintain cultural dominance. Prayer in school? Religious symbols on public property? Conservatives are just fine with Big Government helping their favored religion.
On sex. Conservatives believe Big Government should decide whether it's ok for women to have sex with other women and whether women who prefer sex with other women should have equal rights with women who prefer men.
Conservatives have just as much faith in Big Government as liberals do. The difference is in what they want government to do. Conservatives generally want Big Government to support the powerful against the weak, whereas liberals want big government to support the weak against the powerful.

[bunkerbuster]

``I would hate my husband if he let me...''
Priceless...

[matt]

some thoughts on the complete federal mismanagement of the BP crisis. LUN

[peter]

I think this wikipedia entry needs some serious updating. LUN

[lyle]

You sure seem to know a lot about conservatives, bb. Please...tell us more about these horrible creatures and their retrograde beliefs!

...whereas liberals want big government to support the weak against the powerful.

Preach it, brutha! Do tell! Testify, man! Support Monica Lewinsky! Free Bill Ayers!

[Ignatz]

Ignoring for the moment that many conservatives do not support some of those propostitions anyway "Big" Government is not particularly needed to address any of those problems with the possible exception of the largely misguided drug war. In fact some of them are no business of the "Big" federal government at all.
Even if all of those areas were vigorously enforced they would amount to a tiny fraction of the Big government which is now busy bankrupting us.

[MayBee]

What Ignatz said.
Most of the thinks BB lists don't require "big" government, just an effective government.

I'm not even sure what the Iraq/Democracy thing has to do with any of it.

[lyle]

Conservatives have just as much faith in Big Government as liberals do.

Is that you, Mr. Brooks?

[Fitzie, we've got a victim for you to crucify, er, I mean we've got a mess for you to clean up.]

Well, I don't have much faith in Holder's Justice Department actually doing public justice now that they've started looking for criminal violations.
=================

[ReichsGulf Oilferno.]

er, heh, that's 'looking for criminal violations in the oil leak. See DotEarth for the importance of being earnest.
===========

[bgates]

liberals want big government to support the weak against the powerful

"Powerful" : a parent who wants his 6-year-old to learn to read
"Weak" : the NEA

"Powerful" : a guy trying to start a lawn care business
"Weak" : the EPA, OSHA and the IRS

"Powerful" : a woman who wants to live in her own house
"Weak" : Pfizer

"Powerful" : a guy who wants to vote in Philadelphia
"Weak" : three guys armed with clubs and the Justice Department

Powerful: the contempt of any thinking person for busty
Weak: busty's arguments

[JM Hanes]

The JMHanes Foundation is pleased to announce that it will be awarding its Incoherence on Stilts Prize to David Brooks for a single emblematic sentence:

"We should be able to have a grounded conversation based on principles 95 percent of Americans support."

Apparently the conversational skilz of that elite 5% Brooks thinks should be running the country appear to lack a certain il ne sait quoi. Yet without a hint of irony, Brooks simultaneously observes that the other 95% of Americans already appear to have sorted things out on their own.

We would note that it doesn't take an oil plume to expose Brook's core confusion about public intellectuals' spot in the political food chain. It also takes a hefty set of blinders not to recognize that it's the media, not the people, demanding pressers, metaphorical accountability, and emotive theatre. The well grounded public just wants somebody to git 'r done.

[Janet "Dare to be Dull..."]

I nod off after a few sentences from Brooks. Blah, blah, blah. What's he even talking about?
Then JM Hanes writes this -
"The well grounded public just wants somebody to git 'r done."

Short, to the point, and absolutely correct.

and...If anyone ever called my rear end a "caboose" I would deck them!

caboose, coal tender, boxcar, flatcar, train station....I am at the point where I'm just glad anyone is noticing!

[Ignatz]

I've always wondered how David Brooks appreciates the nice crisp crease in Barry's trousers when they're always bunched around Barry's ankles whenever Brooksy is in the room.

[MayBee]

Janet- bunch your underwear all up in your cheeks and wear pants a size too small, and everyone will notice!

[Janet "Dare to be Dull..."]

Yeah MayBee! or I think daddy speculated that it was a jock strap. Not sure I want attention bad enough to wear a jock strap!

[Clarice]

jmh, Telling it like it is...Think how many forests could be saved it the newspapers cut out their editorial pages which no one in his right mind ever reads.

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

Looks to me like Brooksie is merely another example of Kaelesque GroupThink in the Big Apple, JMH.

LA and NYC are particularly subject to the malady.

[Janet "Dare to be Dull..."]

"...an uncontrolled gusher of oil spewing destruction into the gulf."..."searing into the national consciousness and becoming the defining image of 2010."

I might be the only one, but my hair is not on fire over this oil leak. An accident happened, and now let's fix it. Learn from it, and move on.
It is like the word "accident" has disappeared from our vocabulary. Blame, suing, outrage, banning, lawsuits,....it never ends. How can we ever invent new products or do great things if any mistake or accident shuts down the entire endeavor?
I am a thousand times more worried about Israel.

[Extraneus]

Btw, wouldn't it be the best thing ever if Tipper started dropping dimes on some of ManBearPig's AGW scams?

I would expect the settlement to make that a dumb move for Tipper.

[Clarice]

I think the notion that this administration could handle the leak better than BP can is laughable. But then I just was in a line to get wanded at the airport, a line composed of white, American born ladies of a certain age whose bra underwires set off alarms--this from the folks who couldn't put on a no-fly list a loony whose dad warned us was dangerous and should not be allowed into the US.

[Janet "Dare to be Dull..."]

Is this the mock algore thread too?
On my side porch we've got a corny little sign with a piece of rope that says:
Cowboy Weather Forecaster
If rope is dry...sunny
If rope is wet...rainy
If rope is white...snowy
If rope is stiff...freezing
If rope is moving...windy
If rope is gone...hurricane

Might send one to algore to help him simplify his life, and mention the Tom Maguire suggestion, "Dare to be Dull!".

[Janet "Dare to be Dull..."]

Yeah Clarice, like Matt said at 1:00, "I will say it again. We have a Department of the Interior, a Department of Energy, an Environmental Protection Agency, and all sorts of specialist offices distributed throughout the government. We even have a "Coast" "Guard". There is also an "Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund". All have proven worse than useless."

[daddy]

Yeah Clarice, but did you happen to notice if they had the new "HOMELAND SECURITY DEPARTMENT" headline printed at the top of their old Xeroxed Custom's Forms for Flight Crews?

That's how to know if they're really top notch and doing the important work Janet Naploitano expects of them.

All that other stuff, up to and including non-profiling, us secondary.

[daddy]

Clarice,

Since you probably missed it because of traveling, Dennis Prager had a fascinating segment today where he played audio of a screaming mob of angry Islam's in London protesting the Israeli Blockade event.

The NBC reporter was asking the distraught shrill girl softball questions about was she surprised at Israel's belligerence. In the background was a hugh crowd chanting something in Arabic.

Prager then played back what they were screaming in the background in unison over and over again, that the fool reporter never even bothered to ask about. Was it "Death to Israel?"

No. It was "Death To England."

[Melinda Romanoff]

daddy-

I'm sure you're aware of Labour's attempt to immigrate in a permanent, "grateful" new base to ensure their permanent power.

Boy, that looks familiar, where did I see that immigration idea before?

[Clarice]

Death to England--Not that the BBC would care unless it cut into their munificent salary and benefit packages.

[Janet]

daddy, Oh my goodness, that is chilling. Things are gonna get so much worse for Israel and the rest of us.

[daddy]

Clarice,

It was NBC, but actually if it had been the BBC, that would have made it even richer.

Hope you had a fun and restful vacation.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Glad to see you're home safe and sound, Clarice.

Janet, you should do a little research on Bat Ye'or, an absolutely fascinating woman. And, at minimum, shock your librarian into getting a copy of Eurabia and learning what the "enlightened ones" have been doing to Europe for the last four or five decades.

[Clarice]

Thanks, Mel and daddy. I had a great time, and see great promise in my grand daughter. She was very excited for weeks about her fifth birthday and the party and all but the night before she burst out sobbing. Between sobs we asked her why she was suddenly so sad and she said plaintively,"I'll never be four again."

I'm nuts about her.

[daddy]

Melinda,

Did not know that but I'd bet you are correct. I thought getting rid of George Galloway in last months Brit Elections was positive, but now I'm not so sure as I need to see who they replaced him with. Why use a dhimmi when you can elect the real thing instead.

Janet,

Was interesting and frightening.

His point initially was simply the idiotic softball questions the NBC Reporter was asking. But then the loud chanting in unison by the crowd caught his attention. He could easily make out the "Death To" part, but couldn't quite make out who they were wishing death to, as his ears naturally were expecting it to be Death to Israel or Death to the Jews, so a guy called in and said "They're saying "England."

So Dennis played it back again and clear as a bell thats what it was. Over and over again, in huge unison "Death to England, Death to England."

[bunkerbuster]

"Powerful" : a parent who wants his 6-year-old to learn to read
"Weak" : the NEA
While there's no evidence that the NEA opposes reading instruction, I take bgates point that some social, cultural and economic institutions that have liberal support may appear stronger than some selected rival interests supported by conservatives. These are the exceptions and exist in cases where the traditional establishment power structure has been diminished or replaced. Traditionally, wealthy, powerful families and the churches they attended controlled public education because they controlled local politics, right down to the school board. That era was doomed by wider participation in local politics and when a critical mass of the wealthy and powerful started sending their children to private schools.
A more precise description of identity conservatism, the strain that dominates contemporary American conservatism, is that it supports traditionally powerful, authoritarian institutions (business oligopolies, police, military, organized religion) over the traditionally weak, communitarian ones (labor unions, consumers, ethnic minorities, gays, atheists). And the only opposition from identity conservatives to government is when it is used to help the weak as opposed to helping the powerful, as described above.
"Powerful" : a guy trying to start a lawn care business
"Weak" : the EPA, OSHA and the IRS
Lol. Given the amount of lawn care performed by Mexicans without the appropriate paperwork, this one's hilarious. Given what's going on in the Gulf of Mexico, the idea that the EPA and OSHA are powerful institutions, relative to those it regulates, is an especially tragic farce. We know oil and nuclear companies helped write the Bush admin's energy policies (and that Cheney demanded the right to do so in secret), but I don't recall the lawn care lobby having any effect on any conservative politician, other than those committed to stopping Mexicans from accepting jobs offered by greedy Americans seeking illegally cheap labor.

[Janet]

From Mel's Bat Ye'or link -

"Europeans have lived in a culture of hate and lies directed against Israel, which are expressed in the media from morning to night. It is a continual indoctrination of hate, not much different in its deliberate policy and planning from the 1920-40 period."

This is happening in America too. The drumbeat of blaming Israel for any trouble in the Middle East. I'm sure non-news junkie Americans must come away with thinking Israel is at fault. There are the haters of Israel and those that stand with Israel, but the huge neutral/uninformed group that is swayed by our MSM is my worry.

[Janet]

I bought her book Mel, at your recommendation. I haven't read it yet. I read so much on Islam right after 9-11 (Spencer, Hirsi Ali, Fallaci, Warraq,...) but nothing recently.

[Clarice]

Guilty consciences in Europe, Janet. They need to assuage them by blaming their victims.

[centralcal]

Clarice: what a sweet story about your granddaughter. Ah, I am sure we all sobbed when we were no longer four! (Actually, I have sobbed many times that I was no longer [insert any younger age than I am now]).

Y'know the time is soon approaching where you will not be able to call her "wolverine."

Happy birthday little Clarice - ette.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Janet-

Did you notice the date of the interview? She's been on this for years, and I'm embaressed to say I"ve only kept up with her work since '01. (yes, I used to go through all 30 pages of Google searches).

And you can safely assume the reason for my searches that caused her to pop up in my radar.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Janet-

Last one, from the perspective of an American gay man living in Europe, Bruce Bauer, a friend of a friend, lays out his experiences living in "tolerant" Northern Europe.

[Janet]

I had her(didn't know she was a she) name on my author list for years, but none of our bookstores carried her books so I stopped asking. You reminded me awhile back.

[Janet]

Yeah, I've read While Europe Slept...it is very good. Actually own it.

[Clarice]

Thanks, cc. I think you'll share my delight when I tell you that minutes after receiving an "Operation" game she figured out how to cheat me at it.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Janet-

I wish my library was a bit bigger, no shelves right now, all boxes. I can only get so much read outside of work, mostly during "spa time" at 4:15 AM while I'm waiting for the meds to do their stuff. I'm trying to fight my way through the last 40 or so pages of the Reinhart/Rogoff book I've chatted up so much in the past.

I'm not even going to mention the math books I'm behind on...