Politics and Culture

1. Mark Sanford: It's fair to say that anybody who preaches some sort of deprivation of pleasure, whether it be energy, sex, money, or meat, will have some moments of weakness. It's much better to say that something's that truly wrong is wrong and come short than to abandon the fight against it altogether. People overcome their weaknesses; they're much more likely to do so by maintaining the original principle.

2. It's fair for Mark Sanford to pay a political price, like political banishment. If he doesn't, then society is saying that it's "OK."

3. I went through every "Maria" in Argentina and came up with the most likely candidate, according to the criteria given (OK, she was first in google search):

Maria Silvana Belli, Miss Argentina 2008

3. What's the alternative to plain, old-fashioned shame? If there's no negative incentive, you need a positive one. Hence, North Carolina paying girls not to get pregnant. I guess this is supposed to counteract the opposite incentive of years of government support at about thirty or forty dollars a day.

4. I've said before that an Obama failure is the only thing that can revive the GOP. So far, Obama's exceeded every Limbaugh failure fantasy. The stimulus is an expensive joke, his foreign policy is helplessly naive, and his health plan will almost, literally, ruin everything.

5. Obama waited for the right time to condemn Iran. The right time for him is when 51% of the people think he should.

6. Liberals are sure to want some retaliation against Iran for comparing Obama to Bush. Nuclear incineration won't be enough for Keith Olbermann.