† Deconstructing Obama’s Cairo Speech: Contemplating Obama’s Cairo speech, The Washington Post’s Charles Krauthammer believes President Barack Hussein Obama “position[s] himself as hovering above mere mortals, mere country, to gaze benignly upon the darkling plain beneath him where ignorant armies clash by night, blind to the common humanity that only he can see”:

Traveling the world, he brings the gospel of understanding and godly forbearance. We have all sinned against each other. We must now look beyond that and walk together to the sunny uplands of comity and understanding.”

“[T]he problem with Obama's transcultural evenhandedness,” notes Krauthammer is that “[t]here are rights and wrongs in all human affairs … [b]ut that doesn't mean that these rights and wrongs are of equal weight.” He adds:

For all of his philosophy, the philosopher-king protests too much. Obama undoubtedly thinks he is demonstrating historical magnanimity with all these moral equivalencies and self-flagellating apologetics. On the contrary. He's showing cheap condescension, an unseemly hunger for applause and a willingness to distort history for political effect.

Distorting history is not truth-telling but the telling of soft lies. Creating false equivalencies is not moral leadership but moral abdication. And hovering above it all, above country and history, is a sign not of transcendence but of a disturbing ambivalence toward one's own country.

† Mortgage Loan Modification Less Than Advertised: The New York Times reports that “housing counselors in the New York area have fielded hundreds of calls along the lines of: ‘How do I get one of those 2 percent mortgages?’”:

The answer has often been, “Well, it’s not that simple.”

Housing advocates who work with homeowners in foreclosure or on the verge of it say that while the loan modification program could help thousands of New Yorkers, it has been slow to get off the ground and a majority of people who have applied for help have yet to hear whether they will receive it.

One thing is clear: Homeowners who have a HUD-approved housing counselor championing their cause are more likely to get a modification than those who try it on their own. Housing counselors say they often understand the program’s guidelines better than the people answering phones for lenders, so they know how to pursue a case aggressively.

The paper offers some tips gleaned from interviews with housing counselors - but they may or may not work, as no one seems to understand the guidelines for eligibility under the Obama administration’s dysfunctional homeowners’ bailout program. (Raise your hand if you want to entrust your healthcare to the federal government, too.)

† Never Mind Marxism. Will An Obama Administration Be Totalitarian?: Media Daily News reports that a May 26 article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal about the upcoming tax evasion trial of local resident Robert Kahre “drew dozens of comments from apparent sympathizers” and now “a federal grand jury has subpoenaed the names, phone numbers, IP addresses and other identifying information” about every one of these folks. Here’s more info from the paper’s editor, Thomas Mitchell, who calls the subpoena “[t]antamount to killing a gnat with an A-bomb”:

There was no indication what they were looking for or what crime, if any, was being investigated, just a blanket subpoena for voluminous and detailed records on every private citizen who dared to speak about a federal tax case. …

Our attorneys are now trying to see if we can limit the scope of the information sought.

What the prosecutors don't appear to understand is that we don't have most of what they are seeking. We don't require registration. A person could use a fictitious name and e-mail address, and most do. We have no addresses or phone numbers.

Mitchell wonders about the “time, effort and tax-funded expenses are being expended by the U.S. attorney's office to track down a bunch of posturing blowhards squandering their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination?” – but legal experts tell Media Daily News that the paper has a good case that “the subpoena violates the people's free speech rights because it's too broad” and that there is legal precedent supporting this argument.

† Skinny Is Out, Curvy Is In: In the fashion world’s equivalent of “Nixon goes to China” Alexandra Shulman, the editor of the British edition of Vogue,  sent what The Times of London is describing as a “strongly worded letter” to top designers in Europe and America that accuses them of forcing editors of fashion magazines to hire models with “jutting bones and no breasts or hips” by supplying them with “minuscule” garments for their photoshoots.” The paper reports:

In nearly two decades at the helm of Britain’s leading fashion magazine [she] has tended to side with the industry in the argument over the size of catwalk models.

In the past she has argued that “not many people have actually said to me that they’ve looked at my magazine and decided to become anorexic”. She still maintains that the use of thinner models is “not a health issue” but is simply out of step with what her readers wish to see.

Nevertheless, her decision to take on the top fashion houses has been hailed as a positive step by campaigners and by Baroness Kingsmill, who headed the Model Health Inquiry in 2007 for the British Fashion Council. …

Ms Shulman told The Times: “I don’t want to be too specific about it, but it was very recently. I found myself saying to the photographers, ‘Can you not make them look too thin?”

The problem had become more pressing in recent months. “Quite often I hear the fashion editor say when talking about one model or another, ‘I don’t think she will fit the clothes’. Some of the girls she was talking about … were already very thin.” …

Ms Shulman sent the letter to all the world’s major designers. Domenico Gabbana, John Galliano, Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen and Donatella Versace were all sent the missive noting her concerns. Designers at Burberry, Balenciaga, Valentino and Lanvin were also sent the letter.

She does not believe all designers are culpable, but said: “People say why don’t we use size 12 models. I can’t if I’m going to do any new Prada, Dior, Balenciaga or Chanel collections.”

Shulman  admits that Vogue is now frequently “retouching” photographs to make models look larger – which, of course, raises a whole ‘nother set of ethical concerns, though one could argue that fashion magazines are not expected to apply the same journalistic standards to their images as a news magazine.

† Sexists And The Feminists Who Enable Them: In a follow-up to her thoughts on David Letterman’s sexist and crass “jokes” about Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) and her 14-year old daughter, Willow, The New Agenda co-founder Amy Siskind discusses the larger implications:

It's not your mother's feminism. In fact, it's so revolutionary that the word "feminism" is being updated. The next wave is here. The players are different. The words are different. The asks are different. The weapons and tactics are different. Even the feel is different.

We knew it was coming. We just didn't know when or what it would look like. Quietly, cloaked in the unfortunate choice of David Letterman's words, the next wave has washed ashore, sight unseen by our national media. This explains why the media's constant query of "where are the feminists" is not being answered. The "feminists" are still there, yes. But the media is peeking under the wrong rocks as this next wave sweeps calmly over them and reaches our country's shore. …

Women who have had abortions are joining hands with those whose religion forbids it. Men who voted against Proposition 8 are joining hands with lesbian couples. Women who pulled the lever for a Republican are joining hands with men who voted for a Democrat. All uniting in the name of common decency and the desire to make things better for the next generation. It's a "how did we let it come to this" type of moment.