Corey Mull's Evil Urges

Dammit

OK, so according to the all-knowing internet, the stretchmark-like things on my shoulders aren't really stretchmarks, but burst capillaries from exercise.

Still, I've been lifting off and on for almost 3 years, and I've never experienced anything like that. I must be doing something right.

Oh my God

Interrupting this banal workday to announce that I've been working out like six days a week for the past month or so. Not a big deal. But when I woke up this morning, I looked in the mirror and found stretchmarks - stretchmarks! - on my shoulders.

Stretchmarks!

Such is the price of getting ripped, I guess.

Okay, a line like this is good enough to get me blogging again

Rob Dreher:

We are all Georgians now, said John McCain, whose approach to the crisis with Russia differs from his opponent's chiefly in vehemence. Most Americans endorse that confrontational stance. Note that less than 1 percent of Americans serve in the military, which would have to do the fighting and dying should the tie-eating Thomas Jefferson of Tbilisi decide to keep poking the nuclear-armed Russian bear. That's not a coincidence.

A great read, but I don't think I support the larger message Dreher is pushing - that American intervention in foreign affairs is something to be viewed with suspicion. I agree that our role in policing small-time conflicts in areas outside our national interest should lessen, but I also feel that we must act to end crimes like genocide wherever they occur.

The problem is that our leadership, and the leadership of participant states in the aforementioned small-time conflicts, is quick to co-opt the mantle of human rights crusader when in reality other forces are at play. McCain's constant refrain to Georgia as "one of the first Christian nations" is one such example, as is Putin's insistence that Georgia was committing ethnic cleansing in Azbhakia and South Ossetia (and the Georgian statements asserting the opposite was true).

RIP

Dr. Robert Looby Bowe

BOWE, Dr. Robert Looby, 83, died August 11, 2008 at his home in Henrico County. Bob's devoted wife of 51 years, Mary Ellen Bowe, was by his side at his passing. He was born on January 25, 1925 in Worcester, Mass., to the late Jeffrey J. Bowe and Agnes Looby. Bob attended Boston Latin School and graduated from Boston College where he received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in physiology. He earned his Ph.D. in clinical physiology from the University of Tennessee Medical College. He then taught pharmacology and pathophysiology at the then Medical College of South Carolina in Charleston, S.C., and for 27 years at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, retiring in 1991. Bob was an avid reader, world traveler, and decorated army veteran, having served in World War II. In addition to his wife, Bob is also survived by their four children, Robert, Karyl-Leigh Megaw, Stephen, and Kristine Featherston and their respective families, including his grandchildren, Corey and Austin Mull, Christopher, Heather and Mark Megaw, and Miller, Robbie and Mary Bowe, as well as his stepgrandchildren, Meghan and Caroline Bandura. Bob is also survived by his brother, Jeffrey of Melrose, Massachusetts, and Jeffrey's wife, Marion, and numerous nieces and nephews. The family will receive friends at St. Mary's Church, 9505 Gayton Road, Richmond, on Saturday, August 16, at 11 a.m., memorial service to follow at noon. The family extends its heartfelt thanks to the Bon Secours Hospice. In lieu of flowers, please make memorial contributions to the Tuckahoe Volunteer Rescue Squad, 1101 Horsepen Road, Richmond, Va. 23229.

Seen in Richmond

My phone camera isn't as good as I thought it was; the SUV has a bumper sticker with a Confederate flag that reads "Why Apologize for Being Right?" Stuff like this rolled off my back when I lived here - now it just seems positively weird.

Creepy "frugal" idea #2

This one from Wise Bread:

A night with no electricity.  My daughter recently received the entire collection of Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  They are a great read for a budding frugalist as they tell of a time when people had to work hard and entertain themselves without the help of televisions and computers.  The books have even led to dinner-time discussions on how people lived without electricity, something my kids can barely fathom.  To give them some real-world practice we have a "power's out" night ever so often on Friday nights.  We turn out all the lights, and cut power to the television, the air conditioner (wait for it to cool down a bit), and computers.  We then look for ways to entertain ourselves.  We play board games by candle light, read stories out loud and "camp out" in the living room.  As an added benefit, the kids will be much better prepared the next time a storm rolls through and knocks out the power.

Sorry Jenny, we won't be enjoying the basic luxuries of civilization tonight, because we're "frugal". Won't that be fun?

Newell on Georgia

Another gem.

The Antichrist

In edition one billion of right-wing Christian crazy, it's been asserted by many (including Hal Lindsey, author of the millenialist classic The Late Great Planet Earth) that Barack Obama is the Antichrist.

Nevermind that the crazies have consistently predicted an Eastern European Antichrist (the Antichrist in the Left Behind series is Romanian). But aren't the crazies supposed to believe that the Antichrist's appearance on Earth is a good thing? Doesn't his appearance presage the Rapture, the culmination of the battle between Good and Evil, and the ultimate vindication of Christian theology?

So, in essence, if these people really believe Obama is the Antichrist, shouldn't they actually be voting for him?

Dividends

So the situation in Georgia and South Ossetia is one that's extremely complicated, and as I type this, Russian troops are apparently moving further into Georgian territory, complicating things even further. But here are the facts, as best as I have been able to ascertain them:

• Both the Georgian and Russian militaries were in forward positions, anticipating the conflict, well before it actually began.
• Under cover of the Olympic opening ceremonies, Georgia invaded South Ossetia, a province that has been de facto autonomous since the breakup of the Soviet Union but which Georgia views as part of its territory. Their justification was an increase in artillery attacks by Ossete separatists, shelling Georgian regulars across the border.
• The Ossete separatists are largely supported by the Russian military, who provide training, equipment, and high-level leadership to those rebels. Most of the Ossete civilian population hold Russian passports, as their autonomy is not recognized by the international community. Because of that, the Russians saw the Georgian incursion as an infringement on their sphere of influence and an attack on Russian citizens, leading to:
• A counterattack which repelled the Georgian offensive, advanced into Georgia itself (namely, the city of Gori). That's in addition to air and naval attacks on Georgian military bases across the country - justified by Russia as a measure to prevent further attacks on South Ossetia.

I'm also reading now that the Russian incursion into Georgia has seized a key east-west transportation corridor - basically the only link connecting the capital of Tiblisi to Georgia's ports on the Black Sea. This is the major transportation thoroughfare in Georgia - it's akin to Interstate 95 on the East Coast.

And that's where we are now - everything else is speculation. So I will speculate:

I think that, in 20 years, we will look back on this war and view it as the first shot in a series of small wars Russia will engage in to reassert its sphere of influence in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus. I'm not going to be a dramatic neocon and say this is the beginning of a Nazi-esque reemergence of Russia - rhetoric that we've seen from Bob Kagan in the WaPo and indeed, Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili this morning on CNN, who referred to Germany's assertion in 1939 that Poland had shot first in the conflict that started World War II (Russia asserts, correctly from all I can gather, that Georgia initiated these hostilities). But I do not think it's an isolated conflict; rather, the beginning of an arc of history.

You'll notice in these reports that the United States is not participating in the diplomacy going on here, at least not overtly. Negotiations are being handled by Nicolas Sarkozy in his capacity as EU president - although neither Georgia or Russia are EU members. And truly, we have no leverage or moral authority here. We invaded a sovereign nation ourselves not too long ago. And with our forces stretched to the limit in Iraq and Afghanistan, what kind of response can we promise the Russians for overstepping in Georgia?

The scary thing is that, according to some early reports and some observers of the conflict, it seems clear that the United States knew of the troop buildup on both sides, and it also makes logical sense that the Georgians would not have begun a military action without consulting with us. About 130 United States military advisers are in Georgia - it's a country completely dependent on us for protection. If we egged the Georgians onto this action knowing full well that we would not be able to adequately respond in case things went sour, it's an incredibly irresponsible foreign policy blunder by an administration that has distinguished itself in that regard in the past 8 years.

To add another dimension into this, Georgia is home to the only pipeline in the region not controlled by Russia, and Gazprom (the Russian national oil company) has significant investments in South Ossetia.

Of course, an international crisis during an American presidential campaign assures that the candidates will attempt to one-up themselves by delivering nut-grabbing statements. John McCain said "Today, we are all Georgians", a ridiculous statement as the average American likely can't point Georgia out on a map, and certainly would not be willing to commit American forces to fight and die for that country. He also asserted that Putin is interested in rebuilding the old Russian empire - not just the Soviet Union, mind you, but the Anastasia and Tolstoy-era entity. I'm not sure what that even means, to be honest. So, the McCain position on this incredibly complicated and delicate issue basically amounts to mindless sloganeering. Obama's not much better: after issuing as nuanced a statement as could be expected from a major-party presidential candidate, he was forced to backtrack after the Republicans questioned his manhood. All of this dick-waving is pointless, anyway, as we are in no position to influence these events in any meaningful way.

So basically, a lot of stuff is happening in a faraway place, and while we used to be able to put a stop to these kinds of events or at least slow them down, we are no longer able to because we're militarily unable to respond, morally not in a place to object, and economically paralyzed because of Russia's control of vast oil reserves, the contraction of which would certainly cause another spike in crude prices. Thank you, George Bush, for all of those things.

As always I'm learning about these things through a variety of blogs, including the Belgravia Dispatch, Matthew Yglesias, and John Cole.

Away

Sorry for having been away the past few days, but a busy workweek and a death in the family doesn't leave a lot of time for blogging. I'm in Richmond right now - my grandfather died two nights ago. I'll put up his obit as soon as it runs; he was an amazing man.

I have a lot of thoughts about the Russo-Georgian conflict, and I will try and post them sometime today.