Given no other options, I will choose reliably mediocre over dangerously stupid.
Unfortunately, we do not get to choose who we want to put in office, only between the options presented to us.
Pretending that we ever have the opportunity to do otherwise is a prescription for misery or revolution.
To everyone I like and respect:
Please do not suddenly reveal your secret fandom for Sarah Palin. I wish to continue liking you.
I will pretend she does not exist if you will.
I would like to produce a cable news show called Ghost Shark Communist. Every week's episode would feature 3 shocking stories about one the titular topics, but here's the gimmick: you don't know which fearsome terror you're learning about until halfway through the segment. Then, the big reveal with a loud splash page and a scream of GHOST, SHARK, or COMMUNIST!!!
So maybe we start by showing a Caribbean ocean scene, with beaches and sunbathers and innocent, meaty children playing in the surf, but then we pull back and see an old pirate ship run aground nearby. GHOST!
Then we have a story about a dying grandma whose pension is being seized by the progressive socialist government... of Atlantis! SHARK!
Back to the ghost pirates... They've invaded a sugar plantation and started a co-op garden! COMMUNISTS!
We'd get expert commentators and secret documents and all sorts of exclusive content that we made up on the spot, and every week would feature hushed portentious suggestions that these 3 forces were colluding to undermine the United States, or take away your freedoms, or put iodine in name brand cola or something. And we'd encourage you to phone your congressman.
Oh, it would be grand.
One could hope that in the age of the Internet, our national memory would be a little bit better than in times past - that past errors and successes would be handily recorded and remain available to the masses for their consumption, and that the people involved in those decisions would be justly rewarded or shunned for their performances.
(nicked from BoingBoing)
From The New York Times, November 5, 1999:CONGRESS PASSES WIDE-RANGING BILL EASING BANK LAWS
Congress approved landmark legislation today that opens the door for a new era on Wall Street in which commercial banks, securities houses and insurers will find it easier and cheaper to enter one another's businesses.
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The decision to repeal the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 provoked dire warnings from a handful of dissenters that the deregulation of Wall Street would someday wreak havoc on the nation's financial system. The original idea behind Glass-Steagall was that separation between bankers and brokers would reduce the potential conflicts of interest that were thought to have contributed to the speculative stock frenzy before the Depression.
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'The world changes, and we have to change with it,'' said Senator Phil Gramm of Texas, who wrote the law that will bear his name along with the two other main Republican sponsors, Representative Jim Leach of Iowa and Representative Thomas J. Bliley Jr. of Virginia. ''We have a new century coming, and we have an opportunity to dominate that century the same way we dominated this century. Glass-Steagall, in the midst of the Great Depression, came at a time when the thinking was that the government was the answer. In this era of economic prosperity, we have decided that freedom is the answer.''
Rush Limbaugh at the Wingnut Convention:
"We want every American to be the best he or she chooses to be. We recognize that we are all individuals. We love and revere our founding documents, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independent. We believe that the preamble of the Constitution contains an inarguable truth, that we are all endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life, liberty, freedom. And the pursuit of happiness," he said, pausing several times for enthusiastic applause.
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
For those of you who thought my last post was a little overly critical, let me just qualify that observation by saying that a) the critique is by no means restricted to Americans, or even westerners, as we all have our comparatively frivolous obsessions all over the world - and b) I wasn't the only one who pointed this comparison out. CNN spent Harry Potter Day talking about both the lines at bookstores and the lines at Iraqi gas stations in such a pointed fashion that I assume the producers there are not incapable of recognizing parallels.
Waiting for books is actually a proud American tradition - one that I have no interest in participating in or disparaging in and of itself. Legend has it that American fans of Charles Dickens would wait on the docks of New York harbor for the ships bearing each edition of Master Humphrey's Clock in hopes of hearing the deckhands shout out the fate of poor little Nell (SPOILER ALERT: She dies). Or so it has been described to me by a fellow purporting to be both my father and Very Knowledgeable in These Things™.
Americans wait in line 24 hours to learn fate of fictional boy wizard.
Iraqis wait in line 24 hours to learn if gas station has fuel to sell them.
| You are a Social Liberal (65% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (28% permissive) You are best described as a:
Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid |
I just realized something.
Free-market Capitalism is pouring your ketchup directly on your fries. Some get nothing, but the lucky ones on top get a huge, disgusting dose.
Socialism is putting your ketchup on the side. Everybody gets a little, but you leave a lot of ketchup stuck to the plate.
In lieu of any semblance of quality updates recently, here is a
Quote of the Day
There is a natural tendency to think that all opinions have some validity, and, by carefully plotting a conservative course somewhere between two representative arguments, you can make a serviceable approximation to something you could call “truth”. This is an admirable impulse, and often a constructive one, except if one (or both) of the positions is horseshit. Then, you’re fucked.
The always entertaining Jerry Falwell:
Throughout the book of Judges, God calls the Israelites to go to war against the Midianites and Philistines. Why? Because these nations were trying to conquer Israel, and God's people were called to defend themselves.
President Bush declared war in Iraq to defend innocent people. This is a worthy pursuit. In fact, Proverbs 21:15 tells us: "It is joy to the just to do judgment: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity."
One of the primary purposes of the church is to stop the spread of evil, even at the cost of human lives. If we do not stop the spread of evil, many innocent lives will be lost and the kingdom of God suffers.
21:2 Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the Lord pondereth the hearts.
21:9 It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.
Go on, tell me that image isn't funny.
21:19 It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and angry woman.
For a guy with 300 concubines, seems like Sol slept on the couch a lot.
21:22 A wise man scaleth the city of the almighty, and casteth down the strength of the confidence thereof.
21:23 Whoso keepeth his mouth and tongue keepeth his soul from troubles.
Or in the words of Mark Twain, "It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."
HOW YOU LIVE CHANGES YOUR BRAIN.
We tend to believe that the mind affects the body and the body affects the mind, although we do not generally believe that everything we do affects the brain. I am convinced that if someone was to yell at me from across the street my brain could be affected and my life might changed. That is why your mother always said, ‘Don’t hang out with those bad kids.’ Mama was right. Thought changes our life and our behaviour.
The VP of a company that has made a business out of stripping you of your privacy without your knowledge has been appointed to a Homeland Security panel on privacy.
Apparently this guy will "bring his courage and conviction to the board," and "fight the good fight, and ... surprise us with creative, fresh and unconventional thinking..."
*retching noise*
If there's one thing that historians absolutely love, it's eerie coincidences.
Mostly through Jason's influence (because my own reading habits are notoriously narrow unless acted upon by an outside force), I've become a fair-weather fan of Warren Ellis. He has some interesting thoughts on the lessons of Cabaret, re: Marilyn Manson's recent angsty references to it as nihilistic outsiderism.
The lesson of the 1930s is that, in a time of encroaching conservatism and creeping repression, the correct response is not to flush your fucking spine down the toilet.
Two very interesting articles on the nature of American style capitalism and democracy.
The paradoxes of corporate personhood.
How Europe and other nations have taken their democratic cues from the U.S., but may end up doing things their own way, thank you.
Exhibit A: John Stewart rips Crossfire a new one, calls Tucker Carlson a dick.
Exhibit B: CNN cancels Crossfire, Carlson disappears into obscurity. (membership required)
[CNN president Jonathan Klein] specifically cited the criticism that the comedian Jon Stewart leveled at "Crossfire" when he was a guest on the program during the presidential campaign. Mr. Stewart said that ranting partisan political shows on cable were "hurting America."I disagree with that last premise - people often want to be told what to think, even me. But blind partisan hatemongering (right after this word from our sponsors) IS bad. Kudos to CNN.Mr. Klein said last night, "I agree wholeheartedly with Jon Stewart's overall premise." He said he believed that especially after the terror attacks on 9/11, viewers are interested in information, not opinion.
I didn't want to lead off the blog with such an overt political post, but this won't be relevant for long, so I want to get it off my chest. Some people seem to be in a pissing contest over whose socioeconomic system is better at sending aid (or an appropriate amount of aid) to disaster-stricken people across the world. There are 2 basic camps forming: 1. America is stingy and evil and hypocritical, you neocon bastards, and 2. America gives enough therefore we kick ass therefore you should shut your hippie face.
Pardon the realist in me but can we stop the goddamn partisan sniping on this issue long enough to actually form a coherent plan on how to deal with the tsunami damage? Six months down the road we can examine what went wrong and where the deficits appeared and what positive gains were made. Until then, can we PLEASE all just agree that sending food, medicine and money to people who just saw their families towed out to sea is a POSITIVE THING? And that we should do more of it whenever possible because it is the RIGHT THING TO DO?
The defensive mode of "I gave at the office" attitude that the President and Powell like to trumpet does no one any good. Nor does the uncharacteristic lack of symbolic leadership in our President's response. I'm sorry, but when the president can't find the time to get off the ranch when the biggest natural disaster of the century comes calling, that really highlights a moral deficit that we don't need to be shining bright lights on right now. We dropped $15 billion in pork onto the airline industry after 9/11 and we can't pony up a tenth of that to ease the suffering of half a million people? These are honest critiques of our priorities and I think we need to examine them at length in the coming year.
By the same token - liberal humanitarians need to tone down the armchair-general rhetoric. Yes, we need to seriously consider sending more aid, but screaming that to the heavens before the aid agencies even know what logistics they'll be dealing with is stupid and hurtful. Give the system time to respond and judge the response based on need and results. The total world tally is up to 2 billion right now. If they need more, we'll deal with it. If not, good job, nations of Earth!
That said, The Red Cross is my favorite charity, with Doctors Without Borders a close second.
Redesign and official launch of the blog should be up by the end of the week.
