Schoolboy Errors

No-one needs me to tell them that the situation in Egypt is complicated and potentially disastrous. I don't know nearly enough about the current state of play or the history of the area to offer any kind of intelligent or coherent thoughts on the matter.

Having said all that, and recognising that it would be both distasteful and unwise to attempt to use Egypt as a political football, Maha's post on Republican reaction did get me thinking once again about their rhetorical strategies.

As Egypt continues to unravel, some rightie bloggers have seized a story at Huffington Post to bash the Obama Administration. The article says that in 2009 the Obama Administration deeply cut money for programs designed to promote democracy in Egypt, partly at the urging of the embassy in Cairo.

Now, in retrospect, the White House might deeply regret that decision. But, y’know, that’s how it is with cutting government programs. It isn’t painless.

Sen. Rand Paul last week (before Egypt began to unravel) was marching around boldly declaring that all foreign aid should be cut, which would include what’s left of the programs to promote democracy. And, y’know, in their speeches Republicans are gung-ho for cutting just about all government spending that’s not attached to a defense contract. 

 I wouldn't want to go too far down the Republican hypocrisy route on this occasion: it might be their defining feature, but having some of them calling for spending cuts whilst others (bloggers, no less) criticise the results of those cuts isn't hypocrisy a priori.

Having said that, if this does get picked up by the GOP establishment - and I'd be surprised if it doesn't, since a) "Obama is losing us Egypt" is already the party line and b) it's not like logic or shame has ever stopped these people before - it arguably won't be their demands for cuts across the board that will make them hypocritical.  That's mainly just incoherence.

What will make them hypocrites is their own former responses to things that went south after they tried/managed to cut the safeguards that were supposed to help.  Remember Bobby Jindal mocking the idea that the US needed volcano monitors in the official SOTU rebuttal? Just before Mt. Redoubt erupted? Awkward.

Punt And Dennis: They Should Get Out More

The Other Half took me to see this in York on Friday night as part of my birthday present.  I think we were a little nervous in case it turned out to be shit.  You don't want to go to all that work and expense just to find out two comedians your boyfriend loved when he was a teenager don't still impress him now he's turned 31. I was scared for similar reasons; concerned as I was that I would hate it and have to try to hide as much of my disgust as possible.

I mention this as scene-setting: I wasn't exactly in a relaxed "ready to laugh" mood.  Despite this, though, I really enjoyed myself.  Punt and Dennis aren't liable to offer up any curve-balls at this point -  there wasn't any joke there that couldn't have been written in the mid '90s with a few name changes - but then so long as the material itself doesn't seem dated, I don't see any necessity in complaining.

Judged by that standard, both halves hold themselves together very well.  Perhaps the show is a bit front-loaded (I definitely found my interest flagging a little roughly halfway through the post-intermission material), and it was a shame they finished the show with material that I suspect was taken almost unaltered from their '90s TV show.  Having said that, I say "suspect" because it's been so long that I can no longer remember specifics, so maybe it's time the material got a fresh airing in any case.

Such niggles aside, then, my only real issue with the performance was in its structure.  Hugh Dennis must have delivered something like 90% of the punchlines, jumping off from Steve Punt's build-up.  Indeed, most of the punchlines that Punt offered took place during the periods of time Dennis was off-stage, which happened several times during the show, along with similar periods of Puntlessness, which alternated with the Dennis droughts so precisely that one wonders whether it was written into a contract somewhere.

Throughout the show Dennis was gregarious, and Punt apparently somewhat nervous.  Doubtless this is in some sense determined by the persona each has developed in order to maintain a successful double act, but I'm sure I remember the Punt of yesteryear (yestermillenia?) being more punchy, and an overall tactic of alternating jokes, rather than predominantly reducing one comedian to little more than a straight man.  As one audience member observed during the interval, "It's all turning into 'The Hugh Dennis Show', isn't it?"

Even Punt himself seemed less than thrilled by this.  The Other Half and I both independently sensed some frustration at Dennis' tendency to go off-script.  Not that it didn't work, or didn't make me laugh, but it's difficult to laugh when you sense something like that - particularly when the promotional material might as well have said "See Hugh Dennis from Mock The Week, Outnumbered, and The Now Show, and Steve Punt, who sometimes is with him!"

Still.  Maybe I'm projecting.  I always thought Punt was the funnier of the two in any case, and I've always thought it a shame Dennis seems to get far more work.  It's also possible that my surprise at their current style reflects a lack of experience with The Now Show, which I am ashamed to admit I don't listen to nearly as often as I should.  In any case, anyone with a spare night to fill could do worse than seeking this show out.

Refusing To Change

It seems like a little while since people were howling in outrage over GOP misuse of the filibuster.  I suspect this is partially because the lame-duck session actually achieved something, and partially because in a situation where different parties control the Senate and the House, it becomes less meaningful.  The minority in the Senate don't really need the filibuster; because their colleagues in the House will vote down things they'd dislike in any event.

Regardless, given the sheer number of filibusters thrown up in the last twenty years, it's clear that such a situation can hardly be relied upon - to say nothing of how depressing it is to consider that the only time intra-house partisanship doesn't prevent obstruction is when the inter-house kind can do it instead.

So, given the ludicrous abuse of the filibuster in recent years, and it's total failure to work in anything like the way it was originally intended to, and how angry multiple Democratic figures got about it all, what's going to happen regarding reform?

Nothing.

This, of course, is deeply frustrating, but hardly surprising. Ezra Klein has an excellent piece up on why the Democrats have screwed this up so badly, but the only line you really need to read is here:

Both parties are more committed to being able to obstruct than they are to being able to govern.

Amen.  Despite the bitterness and filthiness of American politics, its hyperventilating and unchecked aggression, and the morass of bigotry and obvious mendacity, this is the part that genuinely makes me more depressed than anything else.  Both parties care less about running the country when they're asked to than making sure the guys that did get asked can can't get on with the job.

Friday Space Hulk: Better Late Than Never

Right.  It took long enough; but a mere 54 weeks after Pause, Jamie, Cocklick and Dr L found me a copy of Space Hulk for my 30th birthday, I've finally managed to paint up one of the miniatures.  Introducing: Brother Noctis.

Hopefully I'll speed up a little now that I know how I'm approaching these Terminators; otherwise we're looking at a full set at round about the time I turn 45.

Of course, that's not all I've been up to painting-wise.  Watch with baited breath as Noctis faces his greatest challenge yet - a fully functional Trygon!

Eek!  It's tough!  It's mean!  It eats Terminators for breakfast and picks the tactical dreadnought armour from its poop! How can Noctis defeat it?  Surely it is too powerful!  Its mighty jaws!  Its glistening fangs!  Diamond-hard razor sharp claws!  Oh, the humanity!  The hu-

Man!  Fuck you, comic reveal!  Fuck you!

Best... Comic... Ever!

Courtesy of my friend Count Libido:

Sheer genius.  I shall have to search this Stoos guy out...

A Tale Of Cocktails #11

Morning Glory
.

Ingredients

.

3 1/2 oz champagne

1/2 oz Triple Sec
2 oz orange juice
Orange garnish

.

Taste: 8         

Look: 6         

Cost: 8          
Name: 7
Prep: 8

Alcohol: 3

Overall: 7

.

Preparation: Combine ingredients in a champagne glass and stir.  Add garnish and serve.

.

General Comments: Essentially, this is a slightly strong mimosa with added Triple Sec.  Not exactly a fascinating proposition.  On the other hand, adding more kick to a mimosa whilst also increasing the inherent orangey nature of the drink isn't a bad idea - indeed it works quite well.

Nice name, too.  Clearly in the long-standing tradition of suggestive cocktail titles, with the added bonus of implying this can be drunk for breakfast.  That's all the excuse I need...

Things I Have Learned

Today I have learned two very important lessons.  Firstly, I can't write on blackboards for more than three hours without developing a blister.  Second, I can't talk for more than four hours out of every six without developing a serious sore throat.

Obviously, the fact that I am a total wimp is not particularly surprising.  On the other hand, it's genuinely interesting to have proved I must spend less than two thirds of my waking life talking.  Who would have guessed?