It Makes a Difference to the Sheep

They both look swell when depicted by flip cards.

Why? "Jane Galt" hits the nail on the head:

But given the choice between closing the deficit and getting spending they want--on national health care, for example--most liberals would be full of reasons that the budget deficit isn't nearly as bad as we all have been thinking. Similarly, if they were in the opposition, watching all that new spending get passed, most conservatives would be happy to wax lyrical on the terrible downfall that awaits countries that spend more than they earn.

That, in short, is why we run a budget deficit; whoever is in power has bigger priorities. Perhaps that's a feature of Americans, or the American political system, but it seems to me that the only way we'll see our budget balanced is if we have the same combination of things that hit us in the nineties: a huge capital gains surge that surprises the hell out of our politicians, and a political system too gridlocked to spend the booty.

This is one reason why I am increasingly taking "pox on both their houses" attitude toward contemporary politics.

As I was entering the Men's Locker Room of my University's overpriced athletic facilities I did a double take as I saw what undeniably were two women using the digital scales inside the locker room. To get to the scales, they had to walk past several aisles of lockers as well as the entrance to the showers. Hence, it was certainly possible if not quite likely that they would have encountered some men in various stages of undress along the way. The men around them seemed to regard them with a mixture of astonishment and bemusement. Were we really seeing what we thought we were seeing? After weighing themselves, the girls casually walked out, grumbling something semi-unintelligible about the scales being out of order in the Women's Locker Room or some such.

While I confess I was glad that I was only entering the locker room when this happened and was not either changing or heading to the shower, I don't think I would have been seriously discomfited in any event. Too many years of men's locker rooms not to mention Korean bathhouses and saunas have rendered me fairly unconcerned about public nudity, at least in certain obviously limited contexts. Still, this is not a test that I am eager to take any time soon.

It occurred to me that it is highly unlikely that the reaction to a similar situation with the gender roles reversed (e.g. men sauntering into the women's locker room to use the scales) would be the same philosophical bemusement. It also occurred to me that if one were to heed the letter of the law, what the girls did could clearly constitute sexual harassment. I somehow doubt, however, that many men could be found who would be willing to press charges.

The DPRK announces that it is shutting down the Yongbyon plant, a development which presumably would make it easier to reprocess spent fuel rods to make more nuclear weapons-grade material. Of course the DPRK has previously claimed to have reprocessed all 8,000 fuel rods that were previously kept under IAEA lock and key. It isn't clear how much more material Yongbyon could have generated in the last couple of years. (Thanks to an eagle-eyed student for pointing this story out to me).

Note the following announcement:

THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY SEMINAR IN IMPERIAL AND COLONIAL STUDIES

A talk by

Maya Jasanoff

“Edge of Empire:Conquest and Collecting in the East, 1750-1850”

Maya Jasanoff is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Virginia. She is the author of Edge of Empire: Lives, Culture, and Conquest in the East, 1750-1850 (forthcoming from Knopf).

Friday, April 22, 3 p.m.
Location: Marvin Center 404
George Washington University