Sherry Chandler

The Washington Post and the Stanford University Political Communication Lab have collaborated on a study to test whether familiar facial features increases the likeability of a political candidate.

To do this, they took a pair of relatively unknown members of the U.S. House of Representatives – Ed Case of Hawaii and Mary Bono of California (I got my first shock right there. Who knew Mary Bono was still in Congress?) – and morphed their features to make them look more like more famous pols – Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Rudolph Giuliani, Kay Bailey Hutchinson, and Evan Bayh. These morphed candidates were given the name Paul or Paula Vaughn and fake bios that varied somewhat. For eample, sometimes the candidate was Democrat, sometime Republican. The result:

“No matter the gender or party affiliation of the candidate, changing the composition of the face from 20 percent Clinton to 40 percent Clinton is a significant plus,” Iyengar found. “Moreover, the effect occurs across different types of voters — men and women, Democrats, independents and even Republicans.”

But the more candidate Vaughn looked like McCain, the more likability dropped. And it wasn’t a “Beauty and the Beast” effect, though McCain’s age may have played a role. The morphs of Hutchison, a former University of Texas cheerleader, didn’t move the needle significantly. Nor did the morphs of the good-looking Bayh or Giuliani, who most agree must be content with inner beauty.

“But even when we limit the analysis to the Republicans,” Iyengar said, “the degree of similarity to Giuliani or McCain does nothing for Vaughn’s support, suggesting there’s something special about Hillary Clinton.”

The full report can be read here.

Anybody who’s known me long knows that I was raised Southern Baptist, and for whatever that was worth, it most assuredly did not include any pagan ideas of Carnival or popish notions of Lent. Some among us thought we were supposed to be purse-mouthed and repentant all year long, I think. Others found Carnival in the road houses every Saturday night and Lent on Sunday morning (coming down).

So it took me many years to understand what Mardi Gras was all about, not that I probably understand it yet. It’s a complex festival, and I hope it will come back in its full glory in time.

I understood Fats Domino well enough, however, – or thought I did. He has a new album, “Alive and Kickin,” with a timely review in this morning’s NYTimes:

That’s the way he still feels about New Orleans, although his house in the Lower Ninth Ward was severely damaged by the flooding after Hurricane Katrina. “As long as I’m in New Orleans, I’m not away from home,” he said in a rare interview at the uptown club Tipitina’s. He’s living in a suburban-style housing development in Harvey, La., but he intends to rebuild his house and return to the Ninth Ward as soon as he can. Asked about the prospects for his city, the perpetually optimistic Mr. Domino said, “Everything’s gonna be all right, I think.”

…

The album is being released as a benefit for the Tipitina’s Foundation, which has aided New Orleans musicians with everything from Internet service to new eyeglasses to more than $300,000 worth of new instruments. It is available from www.tipitinasfoundation.org.

“I think it’s a pretty good song, and it fits what’s happening now,” Mr. Domino said of the title track. Mr. Domino, who is 78, lost three pianos and most of his other possessions in the flood; afterward, looters took most of the gold records he earned in the 1950’s, when he was the second-best-selling singer after Elvis Presley. But when he was awaiting rescue, he said, “I wasn’t too nervous.” He added, “I had my little wine and a couple of beers with me; I’m all right.”

Here’s one Southern Baptist who will raise a glass to Fats and his city and hope that the spirit of New Orleans never dies from our land.

I learned watching Comment on Kentucky over the weekend that the local attitude toward Dubai and the ports deal may be a bit more tolerant than the national average. Turns out the sheiks of Dubai own a considerable chunk of Kentucky horse farm and have been spreading a fair amount of money around the area. The attitude seemed pretty unanimous: what’s good for the horse industry is good for Kentucky (and the nation).

For those of your wondering, however, why the United States can’t run its own ports, here is some more perhaps surprising information about Dubai from Open Source:

If Congress’ reaction to the ports mess is any indication, we’ve been blind-sided by Dubai. But while Congress tears their hair out over national security and xenophobia, the real story takes place on their shores, not ours.

Dubai is the fastest growing city on the planet. It’s not vast oil reserves that allows Dubai to bust out all over. Compared to brother-emirate Abu Dhabi, the oil reserves are actually running pretty low. The source is tourism and investment money that used to come to us

The tourism and investment money is Arab. What they used to invest here, they now invest there.

Eyelevel, for which you’ll find a link to the left, has been nominated for a South by Soutwest Web Award in the blog category.

Being highminded, I headed right for the amusement category, where I found Captain Capitalism.

Give it a look – easy lessons in how capitalism really works.

The tracing of the game trails that cross and re-cross our fields is one of our winter-time amusements. You can just see one to my right in this photograph of our alfalfa field. They’re there in every season, of course, but they’re easier to trace when the grass has died down. We like to speculate what the trails lead to and from and just which of our tenants may have made them. (Sometimes that’s easy – water, for example – but sometimes the tracks seem to just sort of meander along, sometimes they bifurcate and come back together as if two raccoons may have a different idea of the easiest way to get from A to B.)

I’ve never quite understood creationists’ anger at the thought of being part of the family of animals. I’ve always been comforted by the notion that I have such a fascinating variety of cousins and sisters on this Earth, and I am somewhat comforted by this evidence that we share our place with others who do not recognize our ownership — or even our stewardship. Goodness knows, we could use some help taking care of things.

Speaking of raccoons, Ursula is still around, though her kits thank goodness seem to have departed for greener pastures (though I fear at least one may have fallen victim to the highway). I did have some visions last year of being eye-brow deep in raccoons. Mostly, though, Ursula seems content with living in the outbuildings this year and she accepts my husband’s protection payments of odds of cat food and table scraps and for the most part stays away from the bird feeder and the trash bags. Just the occasional forays to let us know we can’t take her good will for granted.

–a little late perhaps, from Lance Mannion:

Does anybody remember, back when George W. Bush was asked who is favorite philosopher was and he replied, Jesus, did the reporter follow up?

Did the reporter ask Bush, “Why?”

“Which of Jesus’ teachings do you live by, Mr Bush? Judge not lest ye be judged? Blessed are the meek? Sell everything and follow me? Do not store up treasures on Earth?”

From Davis Sweet, Bush Fails to Stop War:

In what some are calling “the whine heard ’round the world,” George W-is-not-for-”whiner”-so-stop-saying-that Bush stamped his little feet this weekend and lectured the Iraqi people about the badness of their violence.

“You can’t just go around doing violence,” he said, wiping his nose on one of the many nearby flags. “It’s… violent!”

Read the rest.

[Update: From Baghdad Burning:

I remember visiting the mosque several years ago- before the war. We visited Samarra to have a look at the famous “Malwiya” tower and someone suggested we also visit the Askari mosque. I was reluctant as I wasn’t dressed properly at the time- jeans and a t-shirt are not considered mosque garb. We stopped by a small shop in the city and purchased a few inexpensive black abbayas for us women and drove to the mosque.

We got there just as the sun was setting and I remember pausing outside the mosque to admire the golden dome and the intricate minarets. It was shimmering in the sunset and there seemed to be a million colors- orange, gold, white- it was almost glowing. The view was incredible and the environment was so peaceful and calm. There was none of the bustle and noise usually surrounding religious sites- we had come at a perfect time. The inside of the mosque didn’t disappoint either- elaborate Arabic script and more gold and this feeling of utter peace… I’m grateful we decided to visit it.

We woke up this morning to news that men wearing Iraqi security uniforms walked in and detonated explosives, damaging the mosque almost beyond repair. It’s heart-breaking and terrifying. There has been gunfire all over Baghdad since morning. The streets near our neighborhood were eerily empty and calm but there was a tension that had us all sitting on edge. We heard about problems in areas like Baladiyat where there was some rioting and vandalism, etc. and several mosques in Baghdad were attacked. I think what has everyone most disturbed is the fact that the reaction was so swift, like it was just waiting to happen.

Update 2: Get your "George Dubai-ya Bush" bumper stickers here.]

The Killin’

They’re gray,
the house, the car,
the flowers in our yard,
all gray.

Sometime after while
the sun’ll come up
over the mountains
and slice the dirty fog.

Our noses burn.
Our eyes sting.
At night we cough and wheeze
and a body’s hair is never clean.

Yesterday,
Daddy said, “This here killin’
is how we make our livin’.
These dark holes
light the nation.”

We buried him this morning.

— Wanda D. Campbell, first published by Rogue Scholars 2005

*For R.T. and all those miners like him

From I See Invisible People:

Despite the much touted economic recovery, the use of food banks and soup kitchens has increased 8% since 2001 according to a Second Harvest, a national network of food banks, report. That’s backed up by a study from the US Department of Agriculture, who found that in 2005, more than 38 million Americans lived in “hungry or food insecure” households, an increase of 5 million since 2000.

As Terry says, billions a week for war in Iraq and tax cuts to the wealthy, but cuts to social welfare programs. And, as a nation, we are not paying attention.

This morning’s Washington Post has a pretty good explanation of how port security works or is supposed to work:

What do the companies managing U.S. terminals — most of which are owned by Asian and European shipping giants — do that is so important to protecting against terrorist attacks? And how much difference would it make if Dubai Ports World joined their ranks?

Administration officials have asserted in recent days that security at U.S. ports is the responsibility of the Coast Guard and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, with the terminal operators responsible for little more than transferring containers from ships to railroad cars and trucks.

That overstates the role government agencies play. “They’ve been saying that customs and the Coast Guard are in charge of security; yes, they’re in charge, but they’re not usually present,” said Carl Bentzel, a former congressional aide who helped write the 2002 act regulating port security.

I have more questions than opinions about this latest fiasco, starting with:

• In a world of globalization, can you even have national security? After all, our ports, both naval and air, are currently being run by foreign companies. And apparently our security may depend heavily on some third-world port that considers a chain-link fence sufficient protection.
• Is Bush a victim of his own fearmongering here?
• How cheap the irony that our game of democracy dominos in the Middle East depends so heavily on the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Ariabia?
• Are all these failures a result of incompetence or bad policy? Or both? See Kevin Drum on that one.
• Can a country with as many miles of borders and coast as ours actually ever be secure? What do we have to give up to achieve security?
• How cheap the irony that the party that celebrates Reagan for ordering Gorbachev to “tear down this wall” now sees the building of new walls not only in Israel but on our own border with Mexico? Is building a fortified embassy in Baghdad?

Which is not the same as saying we couldn’t be smarter about port and/or border security. If anybody was paying attention.

“Cats are not dogs!”…

“Cats,” proceeded the Pint of Bitter, “are selfish. A man waits on a cat hand and foot for weeks, humouring its lightest whim, and then it goes and leaves him flat because it has found a place down the road where the fish is more frequent.”

“What I’ve got against cats,” said a Lemon Sour, speaking feelingly, as one brooding on a private grievance, “is their unreliability. They lack candour and are not square shooters. You get your cat and you call him Thomas or George, as the case may be. So far, so good. Then one morning you wake up and find six kittens in the hat-box and you have to re-open the whole matter, approaching it from an entirely different angle.”

– from P. G. Wodehouse, “The Story of Webster”

[Update: A correspondent points a refutation from that most famous catblogger of all.]