*
I used to think life was too short not to say whatever you want, but now I'm starting to think that life is actually too long to say whatever you want.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
A Christmas anecdote
*
I was walking down a long hallway in the research complex where I work and spied a pleasant co-worker approaching me from the opposite side of a set of double doors. He is a pleasant fellow, as I mentioned, but sometimes just a bit too breezy in communication style to conform to my expectations for professional interpersonal communications.
I said to myself, "I'll bet this joker is going to say 'Happy Happy!" as a greeting when he walks by me, so I must restrain the demon within me that wishes to laugh in his face or even, on a cranky day, punch him in the neck. Yet also I must reply with an appropriate degree of Yuletide good will in order that I not mar or dent his high spirits."
So this gentleman straight-arms the double doors, bursting through immediately with the following tidings: "Have a Happy and a Merry!!!"
"Same to you!" I replied, and I really meant it at the maximum sincerity level of which I am capable in such exchanges.
As we walked our separate directions, I heard him saying, "I fully intend to... if only the weather will cooperate... murble snurble muf noff etc...."
Holiday Greetings from StuporMundi. Have a Merry and a Happy!!! It has been so decreed. Long live StuporMundi.
I was walking down a long hallway in the research complex where I work and spied a pleasant co-worker approaching me from the opposite side of a set of double doors. He is a pleasant fellow, as I mentioned, but sometimes just a bit too breezy in communication style to conform to my expectations for professional interpersonal communications.
I said to myself, "I'll bet this joker is going to say 'Happy Happy!" as a greeting when he walks by me, so I must restrain the demon within me that wishes to laugh in his face or even, on a cranky day, punch him in the neck. Yet also I must reply with an appropriate degree of Yuletide good will in order that I not mar or dent his high spirits."
So this gentleman straight-arms the double doors, bursting through immediately with the following tidings: "Have a Happy and a Merry!!!"
"Same to you!" I replied, and I really meant it at the maximum sincerity level of which I am capable in such exchanges.
As we walked our separate directions, I heard him saying, "I fully intend to... if only the weather will cooperate... murble snurble muf noff etc...."
Holiday Greetings from StuporMundi. Have a Merry and a Happy!!! It has been so decreed. Long live StuporMundi.
Monday, December 22, 2008
My last word on Rick Warren
*
Media coverage of issues like the ongoing hissy fit over Rick Warren can make me momentarily forget that the homosexual "community" is not really very homogeneous at all. This lulu, by a HuffingtonPost blogger named Chris Durang, is in my eyes really the nadir of self-marginalizing liberal political thought, and invites both knee-jerk derision and stereotyping even from a kind gentleman such as me. Although he acknowledges, with qualifications, that Pastor Rick "is good on the environment and on AIDS in Africa", Durang's overriding issue is he feels "hurt and upset" by Obama's decision to include Warren in the inauguration. The implication of Durang's argument is that politics are mainly about people's feelings, and that the feelings of gay people are more important the feelings of evangelical-minded people.
Today, as I skimmed over the decreasingly useful HuffPost I did notice some gay and liberal pushback against the guilt-by-association stuff that has been written about Obama. The best one, by Bob Ostertag, ceremoniously dismantles idea that gay marriage is a major political issue for most gay people. The issue, he says, is (as always) equal rights for everyone. Ostertag helpfully notes that weird evangelical beliefs about gay marriage are rooted in even weirder beliefs, such as that the God of The Universe literally sent his only Son to die for earthly sinners, however that might work. The substrate of Ostertag's text is some solid horse sense about political pragmatism from which I think liberals in general could benefit if they paid attention. Furthermore, in a nice act of journalistic integrity, Ostertag also provides some fuller context about Rick Warren's thoughts on gays, as extracted from a widely read beliefnet.com interview that I don't feel like linking to. The upshot is that Warren isn't quite the know-nothing cartoon character he has been painted as by the angry gays and liberals over the past few weeks.
The Ostertag piece is a bit long, but I strongly recommend it. He directly nails several points I was trying to make in my previous post, but he has the benefit of writing about gay and liberal activism as an insider (i.e., he actually knows what he is talking about from experience).
Media coverage of issues like the ongoing hissy fit over Rick Warren can make me momentarily forget that the homosexual "community" is not really very homogeneous at all. This lulu, by a HuffingtonPost blogger named Chris Durang, is in my eyes really the nadir of self-marginalizing liberal political thought, and invites both knee-jerk derision and stereotyping even from a kind gentleman such as me. Although he acknowledges, with qualifications, that Pastor Rick "is good on the environment and on AIDS in Africa", Durang's overriding issue is he feels "hurt and upset" by Obama's decision to include Warren in the inauguration. The implication of Durang's argument is that politics are mainly about people's feelings, and that the feelings of gay people are more important the feelings of evangelical-minded people.
Today, as I skimmed over the decreasingly useful HuffPost I did notice some gay and liberal pushback against the guilt-by-association stuff that has been written about Obama. The best one, by Bob Ostertag, ceremoniously dismantles idea that gay marriage is a major political issue for most gay people. The issue, he says, is (as always) equal rights for everyone. Ostertag helpfully notes that weird evangelical beliefs about gay marriage are rooted in even weirder beliefs, such as that the God of The Universe literally sent his only Son to die for earthly sinners, however that might work. The substrate of Ostertag's text is some solid horse sense about political pragmatism from which I think liberals in general could benefit if they paid attention. Furthermore, in a nice act of journalistic integrity, Ostertag also provides some fuller context about Rick Warren's thoughts on gays, as extracted from a widely read beliefnet.com interview that I don't feel like linking to. The upshot is that Warren isn't quite the know-nothing cartoon character he has been painted as by the angry gays and liberals over the past few weeks.
The Ostertag piece is a bit long, but I strongly recommend it. He directly nails several points I was trying to make in my previous post, but he has the benefit of writing about gay and liberal activism as an insider (i.e., he actually knows what he is talking about from experience).
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Josh Marshall makes a funny
*
His latest deep thought truly rises to the level of a wise saying:
"It's going to take a lot of money to make the rich people rich again."
His latest deep thought truly rises to the level of a wise saying:
"It's going to take a lot of money to make the rich people rich again."
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Liberal priorities
*
I said to LuMac the other day that I believe liberal ideas are too important to entrust to liberals. He was amused. Here's what I meant:
Everybody knows that liberalism and democracy are inseparable. Even neocon scum talk in terms of "liberal democracy" when criticizing nations whose authoritarian governments prevent U.S. corporations from stealing their national resources. Liberal ideas are that important: even fascist-leaning swine are forced to pay lip service to them as a desirable way of life. My observations and direct experience with self-identifying liberals have led me to conclude that liberalism became a very different thing in the late 1960s than it had been through the New Deal and earlier times.
Baby boom conformists searching for a unique identity put on liberalism the same way they slipped into their railroad-striped bell bottoms and tee shirts with the Zig-Zag man on them. The minuscule reproduction of a '60s rock show poster (upper left) shows an example of how readily liberal ideas --- in this case the doubly political overtones of the headlining group's name: Big Brother And The Holding Company --- were conflated with accouterments of youth counterculture lifestyle. In order to prove that one was a real hippie in the 1960s, and not just one of those white suburban phonies, the young person had to learn the liturgy of mainstream counterculture liberalism and talk about it earnestly enough to be considered Genuine. The more earnest you were, the more genuine you were. The idea was to never say or do anything to jeopardize your counterculture credentials in the eyes of people who were even hipper than you. Likewise, you could never pass up an opportunity to demonstrate that you were hipper-than-thou, and the easiest way to do that was to "make a statement." Turn everything into a political issue.
I'd guess that maybe 30 percent of the people I am characterizing here chose to calcify in their juvenile roles as rabble-rousing freaks, and the other 70 percent became Reagan Republicans after freaking out on dope, or catching an unpronouncable social disease, or growing tired of living like bums. I dropped out of college in 1973, as Watergate was boiling over in pus, then re-enrolled in 1977. Campus liberalism had changed significantly during that span. It was expressed strictly in terms of lifestyle choices, and I remember very little political awareness being expressed --- a bit of interest in U.S. atrocities in Latin America and some anti-corporation rhetoric published in the newspaper I edited as a senior. For most of my latter-day campus peers, the transition from a "liberal" lifestyle into a Reagan Revolutionary presented no real dilemma. As the disco era smeared into the Reagan era, any valuable core of liberal conterculture ideals defaulted into the hands of self-proclaimed "true hippies" who were retrenching in defiance of their fading youth.
To this day the survivors of the liberalism-as-lifestyle tradition don't understand that activities like making earnest statements and contriving political theater have no impact on policy formation. Worse, these obsolete schmoes do not understand how their anachronicstic and self-centered behavior helps to margnalize important ideas of which they purport, by implication of their acting out, to be the sole stewards. Unfortunately for the preservation and promotion of liberalism, many smart and articulate people of the baby boom generation act as if its more important to maintain their self-image than to applying presure in pragmatic ways.
In short, nobody who knows a goddam thing about how power works gives a fuck that Obama selected Pastor Rick Warren to offer the invocation at the inauguration. It's only "optics," as the celebrity pundits now like to say. The decision was a political calculation, just like one might expect from the smartest political strategic thinker we've seen since Kevin Phillips. Does anyone really remember who gave the invocation at Bush's last inaugural? Or his first one? Or either of Clinton's? Or Nixon's? Did the words spoken at those inaugurations by the Holy Men have any impact on policy formation?
I understand that gay people have their reasons for disliking or despising Rick Warren. I do not understand why high-visibility liberals would waste their time with fist-pounding denunciations of Obams's "poor judgment" in this matter if their intent is to "make a difference." Their petulance will not make a difference. But by co-opting Rick Warren for his inauguration, Obama is probably shielding himself from a significant amount of criticism from the middle should he decide, for example, to lift the ban on gays serving in the uniformed military forces.
In this case, the best suggestion I've read for a liberal response to this non-event comes from Atrios: if you're present at the inauguration and deplore the presence of Rick Warren, then turn your back on the invocation. It could be a silent bit of political theater that might actually be heard by the media. Meanwhile, I wish the marquee names in liberal blogging and commentary would try to grow up soon and get their priorities straight. The host of a religious invocation at a public event is not a good reason to "go to the mat," as the wrestlers say. They need to save their zeal for promoting core liberal policy priorities, like progressive taxation, full employment, sustainable economics, and law & order in the worlds of business and finance.
Update before I'm done writing: I predict a small number of inauguration attendees will be arrested for throwing shoes in Warren's direction.
I said to LuMac the other day that I believe liberal ideas are too important to entrust to liberals. He was amused. Here's what I meant:Everybody knows that liberalism and democracy are inseparable. Even neocon scum talk in terms of "liberal democracy" when criticizing nations whose authoritarian governments prevent U.S. corporations from stealing their national resources. Liberal ideas are that important: even fascist-leaning swine are forced to pay lip service to them as a desirable way of life. My observations and direct experience with self-identifying liberals have led me to conclude that liberalism became a very different thing in the late 1960s than it had been through the New Deal and earlier times.
Baby boom conformists searching for a unique identity put on liberalism the same way they slipped into their railroad-striped bell bottoms and tee shirts with the Zig-Zag man on them. The minuscule reproduction of a '60s rock show poster (upper left) shows an example of how readily liberal ideas --- in this case the doubly political overtones of the headlining group's name: Big Brother And The Holding Company --- were conflated with accouterments of youth counterculture lifestyle. In order to prove that one was a real hippie in the 1960s, and not just one of those white suburban phonies, the young person had to learn the liturgy of mainstream counterculture liberalism and talk about it earnestly enough to be considered Genuine. The more earnest you were, the more genuine you were. The idea was to never say or do anything to jeopardize your counterculture credentials in the eyes of people who were even hipper than you. Likewise, you could never pass up an opportunity to demonstrate that you were hipper-than-thou, and the easiest way to do that was to "make a statement." Turn everything into a political issue.
I'd guess that maybe 30 percent of the people I am characterizing here chose to calcify in their juvenile roles as rabble-rousing freaks, and the other 70 percent became Reagan Republicans after freaking out on dope, or catching an unpronouncable social disease, or growing tired of living like bums. I dropped out of college in 1973, as Watergate was boiling over in pus, then re-enrolled in 1977. Campus liberalism had changed significantly during that span. It was expressed strictly in terms of lifestyle choices, and I remember very little political awareness being expressed --- a bit of interest in U.S. atrocities in Latin America and some anti-corporation rhetoric published in the newspaper I edited as a senior. For most of my latter-day campus peers, the transition from a "liberal" lifestyle into a Reagan Revolutionary presented no real dilemma. As the disco era smeared into the Reagan era, any valuable core of liberal conterculture ideals defaulted into the hands of self-proclaimed "true hippies" who were retrenching in defiance of their fading youth.
To this day the survivors of the liberalism-as-lifestyle tradition don't understand that activities like making earnest statements and contriving political theater have no impact on policy formation. Worse, these obsolete schmoes do not understand how their anachronicstic and self-centered behavior helps to margnalize important ideas of which they purport, by implication of their acting out, to be the sole stewards. Unfortunately for the preservation and promotion of liberalism, many smart and articulate people of the baby boom generation act as if its more important to maintain their self-image than to applying presure in pragmatic ways.
In short, nobody who knows a goddam thing about how power works gives a fuck that Obama selected Pastor Rick Warren to offer the invocation at the inauguration. It's only "optics," as the celebrity pundits now like to say. The decision was a political calculation, just like one might expect from the smartest political strategic thinker we've seen since Kevin Phillips. Does anyone really remember who gave the invocation at Bush's last inaugural? Or his first one? Or either of Clinton's? Or Nixon's? Did the words spoken at those inaugurations by the Holy Men have any impact on policy formation?
I understand that gay people have their reasons for disliking or despising Rick Warren. I do not understand why high-visibility liberals would waste their time with fist-pounding denunciations of Obams's "poor judgment" in this matter if their intent is to "make a difference." Their petulance will not make a difference. But by co-opting Rick Warren for his inauguration, Obama is probably shielding himself from a significant amount of criticism from the middle should he decide, for example, to lift the ban on gays serving in the uniformed military forces.
In this case, the best suggestion I've read for a liberal response to this non-event comes from Atrios: if you're present at the inauguration and deplore the presence of Rick Warren, then turn your back on the invocation. It could be a silent bit of political theater that might actually be heard by the media. Meanwhile, I wish the marquee names in liberal blogging and commentary would try to grow up soon and get their priorities straight. The host of a religious invocation at a public event is not a good reason to "go to the mat," as the wrestlers say. They need to save their zeal for promoting core liberal policy priorities, like progressive taxation, full employment, sustainable economics, and law & order in the worlds of business and finance.
Update before I'm done writing: I predict a small number of inauguration attendees will be arrested for throwing shoes in Warren's direction.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Shoe-hurling hilarity [updated]
*
Even though some late-night TV jokers have made a few good funnies based on the Iraq shoe-throwing incident, I don't consider the attack to be all that entertaining. What hilarity: someone tried to assault the President of the United States with shoes! I'm sure there is all sorts of liberal "schadenfreude" justification for the cackling.
Would it have been funny if it had been President Obama at that podium in Iraq on Sunday? And if Obama had been hit? And if the shoes were rocks? Or hand grenades? And if the hurler was wearing a white hood? A regular laff riot! Hey, remember the "shoe bomber"? What was up with that guy anyway?!?
How the fuck does something like this happen in a controlled space in a war zone without the perpetrator getting a Secret Service bullet in the ear before he's done with his first follow-through?
Imagine how we all would have roared with laughter in 1963 if Kennedy had only gotten a dumdum bullet through the crown of his fedora instead of the crown of his skull. But that's not the way history played out. What did happen, though, starting in 1964, was a statistically improbable increase in naming newborn baby boys "Lee Harvey".
Update: shoe throwing is not just for laughing at. It's also a golden opportunity for narcissistic liberal sanctimony. Things like this tempt me to launch an "Oh brother..." feature on this blog.
Even though some late-night TV jokers have made a few good funnies based on the Iraq shoe-throwing incident, I don't consider the attack to be all that entertaining. What hilarity: someone tried to assault the President of the United States with shoes! I'm sure there is all sorts of liberal "schadenfreude" justification for the cackling.
Would it have been funny if it had been President Obama at that podium in Iraq on Sunday? And if Obama had been hit? And if the shoes were rocks? Or hand grenades? And if the hurler was wearing a white hood? A regular laff riot! Hey, remember the "shoe bomber"? What was up with that guy anyway?!?
How the fuck does something like this happen in a controlled space in a war zone without the perpetrator getting a Secret Service bullet in the ear before he's done with his first follow-through?
Imagine how we all would have roared with laughter in 1963 if Kennedy had only gotten a dumdum bullet through the crown of his fedora instead of the crown of his skull. But that's not the way history played out. What did happen, though, starting in 1964, was a statistically improbable increase in naming newborn baby boys "Lee Harvey".
Update: shoe throwing is not just for laughing at. It's also a golden opportunity for narcissistic liberal sanctimony. Things like this tempt me to launch an "Oh brother..." feature on this blog.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Bye, Bettie
*
A lot of stories like these have been published in the past day about the passing of Bettie Page, who died Thursday evening, December 11, in Los Angeles. In the various reports I've read or heard on the radio, Bettie is packaged as some sort of bellwether of the '60s sexual revolution or an "infamous" bondage model. I am not a Bettie expert, but I do know a little about her and her contemporaries in the figure modeling profession. The obits are generally heavy on caricature and short on context.
First, Bettie did not "set the stage for the sexual revolution"; that had been under way since World War II even if it was mostly excluded from Hollywood movies and the other popular media. Second, she was really not a superstar in her day. She was a popular figure model who posed in lingerie and various stages of nudity, but only one of many, and I strongly doubt that she was ever the most popular pinup model even during her heyday --- the early and middle 1950s. At that time, the colossal sex symbols were burlesque and strip-tease superstars like Tempest Storm, Blaze Starr, and Lili St. Cyr (prononced "Sincere"), some of whom were pulling down four-figure wages per week in Las Vegas while bedding first-tier entertainers and mobsters, not to mention the occasional state governor or president. Then there was also Marilyn Monroe, who really did traipse fairly unabashed sexuality into middle class consciousness via the movie screen. And third, Bettie was certainly not the most infamous cutie to pose in fetish gear, bondage poses, or catfight vignettes --- there were plenty who specialized in that market, as advertised "back of the book" in pulpy paper in men's "cheesecake" and "adventure" magazines. But that fact is known mainly to the original purchasers of such photos and to latter-day collectors, not to corporate journalists looking for a way to sensationalize a light, campy takeout on the death of a faded sex symbol.
Photographers and publishers made carloads of money selling copies of Bettie's likeness. She was left to deal with exploitation and broken marriages, and a past of sexual abuse by her father, by herself. I've read that even though she turned to Christianity at the end of the Eisenhower era and remained devout to the end, she never disowned or even expressed shame about her modeling career. That struck me as touching, and an indication of strong character.
News media have their reasons for sensationalizing Bettie now, possibly because it allows even NPR to talk about her "endless legs, tiny waist, and beautiful bustline" --- not to mention bondage and leather --- in respectable, well modulated tones of voice. I, as an admirer of vintage figure and pinup art, have my own reasons, and here they are:
In terms of anatomy alone, during her prime time, Bettie was a force of nature. Physically, every molecule of Bettie was in exactly the right place when she posed. Strictly speaking, the molecules were the product of her genetic heritage. But I feel that what arranged those molecules so exquisitely in front of a lens was her spirit. The magic had to have been her personality. A few of Bettie's contemporaries may have rivaled her "physical plant." Lili St. Cyr comes to mind, but her molecules radiate aloofness and even arrogance. Others, such as Rose La Rose and Betty Howard, exuded terrific personalities but may have lacked certain indispensable fine points, for example, below the knees and above the ankles. Winnie Garrett, my favorite model, was a tall, "flaming redhead" who by all accounts overflowed with personality, intelligence, and genuine niceness. No red-blooded American he-man could ask for more, then or now. But even so, I must admit that Winnie was a bit exotic-looking in the direction of "school marm"; that's fine by me, but it nevertheless falls short of Bettie's unfailing appeal to almost anyone with a Y chromosome.
As in the Irving Klaw snapshot above, from my photography collection, Bettie stands alone. She was not a trailblazer or a self-promoter: she was exploited for her charm and forgotten by some of those who profited from the light that her molecules reflected and her personality radiated. I can't remember ever seeing a picture of Bettie in which she looks tired, bored, or bitter. It's as if the camera brought her to life, and she returned the favor. Bettie was stunning without even a hint of self-importance. She could clown for the camera without seeming stupid or trivial. She was supremely generous --- not to her photographer, but to her audience. Look at any picture of Bettie: you can almost hear her Tennessee accent, thick as pine tar, declaring "Sir, I am so glad to be able to share this picture with you."
A lot of stories like these have been published in the past day about the passing of Bettie Page, who died Thursday evening, December 11, in Los Angeles. In the various reports I've read or heard on the radio, Bettie is packaged as some sort of bellwether of the '60s sexual revolution or an "infamous" bondage model. I am not a Bettie expert, but I do know a little about her and her contemporaries in the figure modeling profession. The obits are generally heavy on caricature and short on context.
First, Bettie did not "set the stage for the sexual revolution"; that had been under way since World War II even if it was mostly excluded from Hollywood movies and the other popular media. Second, she was really not a superstar in her day. She was a popular figure model who posed in lingerie and various stages of nudity, but only one of many, and I strongly doubt that she was ever the most popular pinup model even during her heyday --- the early and middle 1950s. At that time, the colossal sex symbols were burlesque and strip-tease superstars like Tempest Storm, Blaze Starr, and Lili St. Cyr (prononced "Sincere"), some of whom were pulling down four-figure wages per week in Las Vegas while bedding first-tier entertainers and mobsters, not to mention the occasional state governor or president. Then there was also Marilyn Monroe, who really did traipse fairly unabashed sexuality into middle class consciousness via the movie screen. And third, Bettie was certainly not the most infamous cutie to pose in fetish gear, bondage poses, or catfight vignettes --- there were plenty who specialized in that market, as advertised "back of the book" in pulpy paper in men's "cheesecake" and "adventure" magazines. But that fact is known mainly to the original purchasers of such photos and to latter-day collectors, not to corporate journalists looking for a way to sensationalize a light, campy takeout on the death of a faded sex symbol.
Photographers and publishers made carloads of money selling copies of Bettie's likeness. She was left to deal with exploitation and broken marriages, and a past of sexual abuse by her father, by herself. I've read that even though she turned to Christianity at the end of the Eisenhower era and remained devout to the end, she never disowned or even expressed shame about her modeling career. That struck me as touching, and an indication of strong character.
News media have their reasons for sensationalizing Bettie now, possibly because it allows even NPR to talk about her "endless legs, tiny waist, and beautiful bustline" --- not to mention bondage and leather --- in respectable, well modulated tones of voice. I, as an admirer of vintage figure and pinup art, have my own reasons, and here they are:
In terms of anatomy alone, during her prime time, Bettie was a force of nature. Physically, every molecule of Bettie was in exactly the right place when she posed. Strictly speaking, the molecules were the product of her genetic heritage. But I feel that what arranged those molecules so exquisitely in front of a lens was her spirit. The magic had to have been her personality. A few of Bettie's contemporaries may have rivaled her "physical plant." Lili St. Cyr comes to mind, but her molecules radiate aloofness and even arrogance. Others, such as Rose La Rose and Betty Howard, exuded terrific personalities but may have lacked certain indispensable fine points, for example, below the knees and above the ankles. Winnie Garrett, my favorite model, was a tall, "flaming redhead" who by all accounts overflowed with personality, intelligence, and genuine niceness. No red-blooded American he-man could ask for more, then or now. But even so, I must admit that Winnie was a bit exotic-looking in the direction of "school marm"; that's fine by me, but it nevertheless falls short of Bettie's unfailing appeal to almost anyone with a Y chromosome.
As in the Irving Klaw snapshot above, from my photography collection, Bettie stands alone. She was not a trailblazer or a self-promoter: she was exploited for her charm and forgotten by some of those who profited from the light that her molecules reflected and her personality radiated. I can't remember ever seeing a picture of Bettie in which she looks tired, bored, or bitter. It's as if the camera brought her to life, and she returned the favor. Bettie was stunning without even a hint of self-importance. She could clown for the camera without seeming stupid or trivial. She was supremely generous --- not to her photographer, but to her audience. Look at any picture of Bettie: you can almost hear her Tennessee accent, thick as pine tar, declaring "Sir, I am so glad to be able to share this picture with you."
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Land of Lincoln sanity checks
*
Governor Blagojevich returned to "business as usual" today, which for him is the administrative equivalent of spraying a tommy gun inside the capital rotunda hollering "Made it, Ma! Top of the world!" Meanwhile, most state officials are making serious noises about meeting to develop a framework to draft a resolution calling for the study of possibly impeaching our modern day Baby Face Nelson. Our remaining U.S. Senator, Dick Durbin, pulled a blindingly stupid PR stunt on Tuesday when he immediately called for a special election to fill Obama's vacant Senate seat. Dumb idea: the next Congress will have been in session for months by the time a special election is set up and concluded. Nobody even knows how one would be administered in Illinois under current circumstances. And a special election would open the seat to being won by any Republican skilled enough to play the backlash card of downstate resentment of corrupt city slickers. Anybody who thinks that couldn't happen is a fool: the Land of Lincoln is not as "blue" as celebrity journalists seem to think. If I were Obama, I'd be tempted to have Durbin skinned with poultry shears for throwing a special election on the table. Bonehead.
And Armageddon must be near: I agree with a Republican. Former governor Jim Edgar said on public radio Wednesday morning that he thinks a special election is a bad idea because it would get partisanship all stirred up at a time when we need two U.S. Senators in Washington. He also suggested that Blagojevich's successor appoint a panel to help select the new senate nominee. That could work, but I don't think it's necessary: the appointment power lies with whomever is governor or acting governor.
I figured that the legislature could have Blagojevich impeached by Christmas if there was a will to do it, but serious observers seem to think that impeachment requires hard evidence of criminality and a reasonable-doubt standard for guilt. I doubt it. They don't have to impeach Blagojevich for bribery: lawyers can figure it out. For example, if Blagojevich were insane enough to appoint someone to the seat, I believe he would be violating at least the spirit of Illinois state ethics laws in the conflict-of-interest arena. [Allow me to interject that anyone accepting a Senate appointment by Blagojevich now would be an imbecile... unless Blago pulled the supreme jiu jutsu move of appointing an Republican to the seat. Think about it. You heard it here first.]
The Attorney General, Lisa Madigan, can appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court to remove a governor who is incapable of performing his duties. Madigan has indicated that she is smart enough to wait for awhile, though, necessarily letting state government twist in the wind long enough so even a mischevous Republican justice might think twice about voting against a removal petition. (The Supreme Court decision must be unanimous.) Normally, I would have thought Madigan would have been a slam-dunk appointment to the Senate seat. But under these circumstances, and given her likely role as Blagojevich's putative executioner, the Lieutenant Governor might find it awkward to be seen as "rewarding" her for the kill.
I know that people smarter than me don't believe this is a serious danger, but he longer chaos persists in Illinois government, the better it is for Republicans here. At the state level, Illinois Republicans are pathetic: divided, devoid of viable leaders, and they stand for nothing except fueling resentment against Chicago. But nothing unites Republicans like chaos.
And it's also better for the national Republican Party: without a Democrat in Obama's seat by January, the new President has one less vote to beat down the twin menace of Mitch McConnell and "Diaper" Dave Vitter.
Editor's note: the illustration of James Cagney from White Heat is used above solely for nonprofit education and research purposes, and this fair use is believed not to diminish the commercial value of the image to the copyright holder.
Governor Blagojevich returned to "business as usual" today, which for him is the administrative equivalent of spraying a tommy gun inside the capital rotunda hollering "Made it, Ma! Top of the world!" Meanwhile, most state officials are making serious noises about meeting to develop a framework to draft a resolution calling for the study of possibly impeaching our modern day Baby Face Nelson. Our remaining U.S. Senator, Dick Durbin, pulled a blindingly stupid PR stunt on Tuesday when he immediately called for a special election to fill Obama's vacant Senate seat. Dumb idea: the next Congress will have been in session for months by the time a special election is set up and concluded. Nobody even knows how one would be administered in Illinois under current circumstances. And a special election would open the seat to being won by any Republican skilled enough to play the backlash card of downstate resentment of corrupt city slickers. Anybody who thinks that couldn't happen is a fool: the Land of Lincoln is not as "blue" as celebrity journalists seem to think. If I were Obama, I'd be tempted to have Durbin skinned with poultry shears for throwing a special election on the table. Bonehead.
And Armageddon must be near: I agree with a Republican. Former governor Jim Edgar said on public radio Wednesday morning that he thinks a special election is a bad idea because it would get partisanship all stirred up at a time when we need two U.S. Senators in Washington. He also suggested that Blagojevich's successor appoint a panel to help select the new senate nominee. That could work, but I don't think it's necessary: the appointment power lies with whomever is governor or acting governor.
I figured that the legislature could have Blagojevich impeached by Christmas if there was a will to do it, but serious observers seem to think that impeachment requires hard evidence of criminality and a reasonable-doubt standard for guilt. I doubt it. They don't have to impeach Blagojevich for bribery: lawyers can figure it out. For example, if Blagojevich were insane enough to appoint someone to the seat, I believe he would be violating at least the spirit of Illinois state ethics laws in the conflict-of-interest arena. [Allow me to interject that anyone accepting a Senate appointment by Blagojevich now would be an imbecile... unless Blago pulled the supreme jiu jutsu move of appointing an Republican to the seat. Think about it. You heard it here first.]
The Attorney General, Lisa Madigan, can appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court to remove a governor who is incapable of performing his duties. Madigan has indicated that she is smart enough to wait for awhile, though, necessarily letting state government twist in the wind long enough so even a mischevous Republican justice might think twice about voting against a removal petition. (The Supreme Court decision must be unanimous.) Normally, I would have thought Madigan would have been a slam-dunk appointment to the Senate seat. But under these circumstances, and given her likely role as Blagojevich's putative executioner, the Lieutenant Governor might find it awkward to be seen as "rewarding" her for the kill.
I know that people smarter than me don't believe this is a serious danger, but he longer chaos persists in Illinois government, the better it is for Republicans here. At the state level, Illinois Republicans are pathetic: divided, devoid of viable leaders, and they stand for nothing except fueling resentment against Chicago. But nothing unites Republicans like chaos.
And it's also better for the national Republican Party: without a Democrat in Obama's seat by January, the new President has one less vote to beat down the twin menace of Mitch McConnell and "Diaper" Dave Vitter.
Editor's note: the illustration of James Cagney from White Heat is used above solely for nonprofit education and research purposes, and this fair use is believed not to diminish the commercial value of the image to the copyright holder.
Where I've been
*
There's just too much to unpack in Illinois and national politics these days for me to try documenting everything I write here with links to source material. Part of the problem is that I've taken on an exciting new role in life that dominates my free time: raising a set of illegitimate triplets I unexpectedly sired last winter... er, I mean, helping to administer my aged mother's transition into assisted living. Both of these factors have crimped my substantive blogging output.
For the time being, just for the sake of writing something on a regular basis, I must devolve to basic punditry and speculation modes. Unfortunately, my posts will mainly be supported only by my background knowledge, the considerable amount of news reports that I blow through every day, my need to think like Machiavelli, and my joy in fabricating hypotheses and strategies.
I rarely expect anyone to take anything I say just on the basis of my own authority anyway, but now that the lack of time forces me to relinquish some of my documentary rigor, caveat emptor totally, OK? I don't like it, but I don't like shutting up even less.
There's just too much to unpack in Illinois and national politics these days for me to try documenting everything I write here with links to source material. Part of the problem is that I've taken on an exciting new role in life that dominates my free time: raising a set of illegitimate triplets I unexpectedly sired last winter... er, I mean, helping to administer my aged mother's transition into assisted living. Both of these factors have crimped my substantive blogging output.
For the time being, just for the sake of writing something on a regular basis, I must devolve to basic punditry and speculation modes. Unfortunately, my posts will mainly be supported only by my background knowledge, the considerable amount of news reports that I blow through every day, my need to think like Machiavelli, and my joy in fabricating hypotheses and strategies.
I rarely expect anyone to take anything I say just on the basis of my own authority anyway, but now that the lack of time forces me to relinquish some of my documentary rigor, caveat emptor totally, OK? I don't like it, but I don't like shutting up even less.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Blago blogging
*
I apologize if the title of this post isn't original to you. But it's new to me as of 21:08 CST.
It would be naive to think that a state governor has never tried to play high-stakes tit-for-tat with a Senate seat appointment. Wouldn't it? But what are we to think, really, of a state governor --- under federal investigation for at least 3 years with "imminent indictment" rumors swirling around the state for several months?
Stupid? I know it's "cute" to say so, and Blago may barely scrape into three digits, IQ-wise. But his reported behavior really can't satisfactorily be explained away that easily. Chutzpah may get a little closer to serving as a feasible explanation, if that word encompasses epic-scale obliviousness to the consequences of planning a criminal conspiracy without using code words and euphemisms. But what could account for such an Olympian disconnect from reality?
If Blago is really guilty of trying to shake down the President elect and even possibly Warren Buffett, then it's clear to me that he's criminally insane. The guy belongs in Arkham Asylum.
In TPM's fantasy movie about Blago, David Kurtz would cast Steve Carrell on the basis of appearance and the ability to portray cluelessness. But I'd recommend Michael Badalucco, who portrayed Baby Face Nelson in O Brother Where Art Thou. Badalucco would be perfect: more babyfaced than the gangster, like Blago; nuts the size of coffee cans, acting-wise; and a peerless performance as a bipolar criminal thrill-seeker. The photo above is the historical George "Baby Face" Nelson. I curse the World Wide Web for not having a readily available picture of Badalucco strutting his stuff with speeding sedans, tommy guns, and dairy cows.
I apologize if the title of this post isn't original to you. But it's new to me as of 21:08 CST.
It would be naive to think that a state governor has never tried to play high-stakes tit-for-tat with a Senate seat appointment. Wouldn't it? But what are we to think, really, of a state governor --- under federal investigation for at least 3 years with "imminent indictment" rumors swirling around the state for several months?
Stupid? I know it's "cute" to say so, and Blago may barely scrape into three digits, IQ-wise. But his reported behavior really can't satisfactorily be explained away that easily. Chutzpah may get a little closer to serving as a feasible explanation, if that word encompasses epic-scale obliviousness to the consequences of planning a criminal conspiracy without using code words and euphemisms. But what could account for such an Olympian disconnect from reality?
If Blago is really guilty of trying to shake down the President elect and even possibly Warren Buffett, then it's clear to me that he's criminally insane. The guy belongs in Arkham Asylum.
In TPM's fantasy movie about Blago, David Kurtz would cast Steve Carrell on the basis of appearance and the ability to portray cluelessness. But I'd recommend Michael Badalucco, who portrayed Baby Face Nelson in O Brother Where Art Thou. Badalucco would be perfect: more babyfaced than the gangster, like Blago; nuts the size of coffee cans, acting-wise; and a peerless performance as a bipolar criminal thrill-seeker. The photo above is the historical George "Baby Face" Nelson. I curse the World Wide Web for not having a readily available picture of Badalucco strutting his stuff with speeding sedans, tommy guns, and dairy cows.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Another reason why "Hoover" means "suck"
*
Josh Marshall has a few posts up today puzzling over the possible resurgence of the Herbert Hoover wing of the Grand Old Party. Given how unlikely it is that a "neo-Hooverite" pro-depression economic ideology will sweep the nation (like the Mudshark) anytime soon, Josh wonders whether the new Hooverite vanguard is motivated by
“strictly economic reasons (creditors can do well in a deflationary economy), moral reasons (need a good hard recession to re-teach the poor moral values) or just because they're economic illiterates....”
One TPM reader offered a fourth hypothesis that I think best explains why these creatures are trying to rally the party around the legacy of Herbert Hoover instead of swarming back under their rocks for a few decades. He says:
“Given the new demographic realities of the country, Obama's presidency must be a failure if Republicans are to ever emerge from the political wilderness. The more they obstruct, the more Obama and Congressional Democrats will be forced to water down economic policy. And a watered-down policy just won't cut it at this moment in history. This is sabotage, pure and simple.”
Oh goody --- I truly hope so! I think a Republican strategy like that would be outstanding for the country, especially without a Democrat supermajority in the Senate. Now, for progressive legislation to be enacted rapidly, some Republicans are going to have to vote with Democrats. And I’m certain they will do exactly that if they want their political careers to remain intact for long.
I think some people are forgetting that the GOP no longer has unified political leadership let alone any power to reward and punish. This may not have sunk in on Republicans yet. I can’t think of any reason why the likes of Olympia Snowe or Susan Collins would support a long Republican filibuster of, say, a national healthcare bill or an infrastructure program just because Mitch McConnell decrees it... especially since Democrats can wheel, deal, and threaten to gain the support of moderates who want a piece of the action. It's feasible that we could see the so-called "Gang of 14" working backwards, drawing its Republican members over to vote with Democrats.
For that matter, I can’t think of any good reason why a moderate Senate Republican wouldn’t consider shedding his or her toxic brand and switching parties. Obama’s magnanimity toward Lieberman, considered from this perspective, might be seen as a shrewd move to subliminally invite a few more conservative Senators into the Democrat tent. The opportunity to be treated with respect might have its attractions for a handful of the more reality-based Republicans.
Meanwhile, on CNN and Fox News, Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Shopper can enjoy the spectacle of Republican stalwarts creating gridlock in the Congress for purposes of burnishing Herbert Hoover’s legacy (i.e., The Great Depression). In the process, they may even learn that there is already a widely accepted modern name for neo-Hooverite doctrine: Reaganomics.
Josh Marshall has a few posts up today puzzling over the possible resurgence of the Herbert Hoover wing of the Grand Old Party. Given how unlikely it is that a "neo-Hooverite" pro-depression economic ideology will sweep the nation (like the Mudshark) anytime soon, Josh wonders whether the new Hooverite vanguard is motivated by
“strictly economic reasons (creditors can do well in a deflationary economy), moral reasons (need a good hard recession to re-teach the poor moral values) or just because they're economic illiterates....”
One TPM reader offered a fourth hypothesis that I think best explains why these creatures are trying to rally the party around the legacy of Herbert Hoover instead of swarming back under their rocks for a few decades. He says:
“Given the new demographic realities of the country, Obama's presidency must be a failure if Republicans are to ever emerge from the political wilderness. The more they obstruct, the more Obama and Congressional Democrats will be forced to water down economic policy. And a watered-down policy just won't cut it at this moment in history. This is sabotage, pure and simple.”
Oh goody --- I truly hope so! I think a Republican strategy like that would be outstanding for the country, especially without a Democrat supermajority in the Senate. Now, for progressive legislation to be enacted rapidly, some Republicans are going to have to vote with Democrats. And I’m certain they will do exactly that if they want their political careers to remain intact for long.
I think some people are forgetting that the GOP no longer has unified political leadership let alone any power to reward and punish. This may not have sunk in on Republicans yet. I can’t think of any reason why the likes of Olympia Snowe or Susan Collins would support a long Republican filibuster of, say, a national healthcare bill or an infrastructure program just because Mitch McConnell decrees it... especially since Democrats can wheel, deal, and threaten to gain the support of moderates who want a piece of the action. It's feasible that we could see the so-called "Gang of 14" working backwards, drawing its Republican members over to vote with Democrats.
For that matter, I can’t think of any good reason why a moderate Senate Republican wouldn’t consider shedding his or her toxic brand and switching parties. Obama’s magnanimity toward Lieberman, considered from this perspective, might be seen as a shrewd move to subliminally invite a few more conservative Senators into the Democrat tent. The opportunity to be treated with respect might have its attractions for a handful of the more reality-based Republicans.
Meanwhile, on CNN and Fox News, Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Shopper can enjoy the spectacle of Republican stalwarts creating gridlock in the Congress for purposes of burnishing Herbert Hoover’s legacy (i.e., The Great Depression). In the process, they may even learn that there is already a widely accepted modern name for neo-Hooverite doctrine: Reaganomics.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Holy crap: wait a minute!
*
I just discovered that today is the first anniversary of my astounding blog!
I truly believe this is the finest blog available on the web today that does not shove a PayPal "tip jar" or Amazon "wish list" down your virtual craw on the home page. I am able to provide this information and entertainment service to you, the public, free of charge owing to my hobby of robbing gas stations on the weekend.
I just discovered that today is the first anniversary of my astounding blog!
I truly believe this is the finest blog available on the web today that does not shove a PayPal "tip jar" or Amazon "wish list" down your virtual craw on the home page. I am able to provide this information and entertainment service to you, the public, free of charge owing to my hobby of robbing gas stations on the weekend.
Fantasy derivatives I'd like to buy
*
I wish someone would come up with a way to convert stupidity into an investment product. I'm not talking about bundled subprime mortgages or credit default swaps: the short sellers figured out a way to do that back in September. That was a bubble. I want a product that promises 20 percent growth annually out until about the time our distant descendants grow a third eye. I want someone to find a way to monetize Stupidity with a capital S.
Stocks plunged today on news that Ben Bernanke said the U.S. economy remains under "considerable stress." Because last Friday everybody thought the economy had turned the corner since the Dow climbed by 10 percent in 4 days. God damn Ben Bernanke for shattering the faith of the children. That was pretty Stupid of him. But not as Stupid as Wall Street Masters of the Universe who are shocked to hear that we're "officially" in a recession. Do you see the growth potential?
Unfortunately, I probably won't be able to invest in Stupid Pill Futures any time soon thanks to the socialist Obamislamofascists who are now poised to swarm the shining city on the hill like sheets of Keynesian cockroaches.
Tomorrow's news today: "Wall Street rebounds on bargain hunting." Here, have a Stupid Pill. The first one is free.
I wish someone would come up with a way to convert stupidity into an investment product. I'm not talking about bundled subprime mortgages or credit default swaps: the short sellers figured out a way to do that back in September. That was a bubble. I want a product that promises 20 percent growth annually out until about the time our distant descendants grow a third eye. I want someone to find a way to monetize Stupidity with a capital S.
Stocks plunged today on news that Ben Bernanke said the U.S. economy remains under "considerable stress." Because last Friday everybody thought the economy had turned the corner since the Dow climbed by 10 percent in 4 days. God damn Ben Bernanke for shattering the faith of the children. That was pretty Stupid of him. But not as Stupid as Wall Street Masters of the Universe who are shocked to hear that we're "officially" in a recession. Do you see the growth potential?
Unfortunately, I probably won't be able to invest in Stupid Pill Futures any time soon thanks to the socialist Obamislamofascists who are now poised to swarm the shining city on the hill like sheets of Keynesian cockroaches.
Tomorrow's news today: "Wall Street rebounds on bargain hunting." Here, have a Stupid Pill. The first one is free.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Joementum III: the owning
*
Up a little late tonight, insomnia blogging, so I'll share what I'm thinking about Joe The Lieberman. Here it is:
I'm not concerned about Joe Lieberman getting off with a wrist slap, and don't care about his advisor punking "the left" in a way that has Jane Hamsher all tied up in knots. Howard Dean thinks it's a smooth move by Obama, and Dean's logic makes sense to me. Joe can strut and fret his hour on the stage, if he likes, but Obama owns him. Basically Joe has a 2-year probation, and his only hope of even a whiff of relevance is to do exactly as Obama's crew directs him. Without Joe, Dems don't have a chance at a filibuster-proof majority; with him, they do. But there is an election in 2 years. If the Dems pick up the 60-seat majority then, Joe is irrelevant no matter what. If he goes off the reservation, though, Obama's' crew has no reason not to throw him to the wolves --- heave him out of the caucus at a well selected time. If that happens, Lieberman has no chance whatsoever of being re-elected in 2012. So I suspect Obama has Lieberman at quite the disadvantage, despite what the knee-jerk lefties think.
Back to you, Oil Can Harry.
Up a little late tonight, insomnia blogging, so I'll share what I'm thinking about Joe The Lieberman. Here it is:
I'm not concerned about Joe Lieberman getting off with a wrist slap, and don't care about his advisor punking "the left" in a way that has Jane Hamsher all tied up in knots. Howard Dean thinks it's a smooth move by Obama, and Dean's logic makes sense to me. Joe can strut and fret his hour on the stage, if he likes, but Obama owns him. Basically Joe has a 2-year probation, and his only hope of even a whiff of relevance is to do exactly as Obama's crew directs him. Without Joe, Dems don't have a chance at a filibuster-proof majority; with him, they do. But there is an election in 2 years. If the Dems pick up the 60-seat majority then, Joe is irrelevant no matter what. If he goes off the reservation, though, Obama's' crew has no reason not to throw him to the wolves --- heave him out of the caucus at a well selected time. If that happens, Lieberman has no chance whatsoever of being re-elected in 2012. So I suspect Obama has Lieberman at quite the disadvantage, despite what the knee-jerk lefties think.
Back to you, Oil Can Harry.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
More exoplanets!
*
The other day, Wired reprinted this picture of two exoplanets photographed at the Keck Observatory at Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The picture was first published earlier the same day, 13 November, in Science Express. The image actually depicts part of a three-planet exo-solar system hosted by the unglamourously named HR 8799, about 130 light years from Cafe Kopi. Planet "a" is not visible in this image. The Wired article provides some technical background on the photographic technique used as well as the planetary system. It was taken in the nonvisible infrared spectrum, which to me is not as cool as the visible-light Fomalhaut b picture I reproduced the other day. But it's still a direct observation rather than an indirect, inferred one, and it's a real, live exo-solar system!
I think the highest priorities relating to this discovery should be (1) assigning a cool name to HR 8799 and (2) developing new extraterrestrial markets for American automobiles and toxic financial assets.
The other day, Wired reprinted this picture of two exoplanets photographed at the Keck Observatory at Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The picture was first published earlier the same day, 13 November, in Science Express. The image actually depicts part of a three-planet exo-solar system hosted by the unglamourously named HR 8799, about 130 light years from Cafe Kopi. Planet "a" is not visible in this image. The Wired article provides some technical background on the photographic technique used as well as the planetary system. It was taken in the nonvisible infrared spectrum, which to me is not as cool as the visible-light Fomalhaut b picture I reproduced the other day. But it's still a direct observation rather than an indirect, inferred one, and it's a real, live exo-solar system!I think the highest priorities relating to this discovery should be (1) assigning a cool name to HR 8799 and (2) developing new extraterrestrial markets for American automobiles and toxic financial assets.
Saturday afternoon
*
These "guys" could have found something more comfy to do on 15 November in Champaign, Ill., because the wind was slicing through the intersection of Green and Neil at over 10 mph and the temperature was about 35 when I shot this.
The group's cause is self-explanatory from the sign on the left. The leaflets they handed me explain their view that Scientology is a "dangerous cult with a criminal past" that "uses brainwashing and intimidation to financially bankrupt its members." I did not tell them that, if their beliefs were true, that would put Scientology in a category similar to about half the organized religions I've heard of. But I don't have any problem with them having their say-so about cults on a college-town street corner in November 2008.
After kindly correcting my inexcusable assumption that they were observing Guy Fawkes Day ("no, that was on November 5th"), one of the "guys" told me that they wore the masks as a sign of solidarity with each other, and referred to the closing scenes of V. Another reason for the masks, unstated, may have been that they take L. Ron Hubbard's "Fair Game Law" seriously.
Photography notes: I grabbed this shot with my trusty Sony F717 snapshooter. Quickly processed the shot, uncropped, in Adobe Bridge to correct for overexposure and to recover highlight detail. I avoided "color correcting" the exposure to warm up the tones, though, because I wanted to try to depict how freakin' cold it was in that intersection. My exposure adjustment looked fine on screen in Bridge. But everything, colorwise, tends to change when I upload to Blogger. This is because I'm undereducated about color rendering on the web versus in a photo application on screen versus output from a color printer. I'll have to sit down and RTFM sometime.
These "guys" could have found something more comfy to do on 15 November in Champaign, Ill., because the wind was slicing through the intersection of Green and Neil at over 10 mph and the temperature was about 35 when I shot this.
The group's cause is self-explanatory from the sign on the left. The leaflets they handed me explain their view that Scientology is a "dangerous cult with a criminal past" that "uses brainwashing and intimidation to financially bankrupt its members." I did not tell them that, if their beliefs were true, that would put Scientology in a category similar to about half the organized religions I've heard of. But I don't have any problem with them having their say-so about cults on a college-town street corner in November 2008.
After kindly correcting my inexcusable assumption that they were observing Guy Fawkes Day ("no, that was on November 5th"), one of the "guys" told me that they wore the masks as a sign of solidarity with each other, and referred to the closing scenes of V. Another reason for the masks, unstated, may have been that they take L. Ron Hubbard's "Fair Game Law" seriously.
Photography notes: I grabbed this shot with my trusty Sony F717 snapshooter. Quickly processed the shot, uncropped, in Adobe Bridge to correct for overexposure and to recover highlight detail. I avoided "color correcting" the exposure to warm up the tones, though, because I wanted to try to depict how freakin' cold it was in that intersection. My exposure adjustment looked fine on screen in Bridge. But everything, colorwise, tends to change when I upload to Blogger. This is because I'm undereducated about color rendering on the web versus in a photo application on screen versus output from a color printer. I'll have to sit down and RTFM sometime.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
I await our new overlords from Fomalhaut b
*
This is pretty big news in the world I inhabit. The false-color image below documents the first direct photographic observation of a planet circling a star outside our home solar system. The planet, thought to be a ringed gas giant along the lines of Jupiter, orbits Fomalhaut (pronounced foam-uh-low, I think). It's located about 25 light years distant from good old Sol. All previously announced planetary discoveries outside our solar system have been made through supportable inferences based on astronomical spectral observations. (I'm oversimplifying here because I'm currently too tired not to.)
The planet has been named Fomalhaut b, although I have little doubt that it will some day be named after the prime contractor for the Hubble Space Telescope, which was used to make the discovery. An informed interpretation of the image can be found here.
I first became aware of Fomalhaut in one of the more obscure Philip K. Dick novels, but I can't remember which one at the moment. The Dickian future continues to take shape approximately on schedule. This discovery is really cool, and big, big news. I have spoken. Long Live StuporMundi.
This is pretty big news in the world I inhabit. The false-color image below documents the first direct photographic observation of a planet circling a star outside our home solar system. The planet, thought to be a ringed gas giant along the lines of Jupiter, orbits Fomalhaut (pronounced foam-uh-low, I think). It's located about 25 light years distant from good old Sol. All previously announced planetary discoveries outside our solar system have been made through supportable inferences based on astronomical spectral observations. (I'm oversimplifying here because I'm currently too tired not to.)
The planet has been named Fomalhaut b, although I have little doubt that it will some day be named after the prime contractor for the Hubble Space Telescope, which was used to make the discovery. An informed interpretation of the image can be found here.
I first became aware of Fomalhaut in one of the more obscure Philip K. Dick novels, but I can't remember which one at the moment. The Dickian future continues to take shape approximately on schedule. This discovery is really cool, and big, big news. I have spoken. Long Live StuporMundi.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Chronicles of VapoRub bioavailability 1(2)
*
As promised in a previous comments thread, this post presents my latest datum on VapoRub from the night of 8 - 9 November 2008. The investigation attempts to verify the rumored utility of VapoRub as a cough suppressant during sleep when it is applied to the soles of a person's feet and covered with socks.
Immediately before retiring last evening, I once again slathered a moderate amount of Vick's VapoRub on the soles of my feet. As in the experimental run of 7 -8 November 2008, I began with the left foot, using my right hand, then carefully drew on a clean, lightweight cotton sock (black/brown houndstooth check if you must know). I took care not to wipe any VapoRub off the foot onto the sleeve of the sock. I then repeated the same sequence on the right foot, this time applying the medicated goo with the left hand. The sensation, as in the previous experimental run, was both comforting and slightly annoying; the moisture felt a bit sloppy, but not to any extent that should dissuade your own experimentation. Also, to preserve my original methodology, I used the Vick's inhaler thingy before conking out.
The result of this run was that I had even a better night's sleep than during the first run, which itself was of a very high quality. For background purposes, it should be noted that I typically awaken briefly once or twice a night at the conclusion of one or two 90-minute sleep cycles. These awakenings are either used for (1) voiding or (2) confirming that it's not time to wake up yet, immediately heralding the start of a fresh sleep cycle. I judge sleep quality by how well rested I feel in the morning; normal interruptions do not detract from good basic sleep quality, but fewer interruptions do enhance the quality significantly. [Editor's note: StuporMundi provides this personal sleep information to document the metrics for sleep quality used in this study, not because he's a lifestyle exhibitionist.]
Without knowing the mechanism of the cough-suppressing effect, I have become confident that there is a direct correlation between this medical application and my enjoyment of a restful sleep despite my being gruesomely ill. Without hesitation, I will repeat the application until I have recovered.
I don't know if Big Otis was ribbing us about the feet being "conduits of health", but something like that idea is present in folk medicine. It is said that if you rub the bottom of your feet with garlic cloves, you will taste it in your mouth in about 20 minutes, even without sucking on your own toes. Or at least that's what I read in an email chain letter. I may try the garlic experiment at a later date.
BO, who is a trained and degreed scientist, also hypothesized that the cough-suppressing effect may simply be the same one you get by simply rubbing the stuff on your chest. Using the foot modality of delivery, I experienced no sensation of "mintiness" or "warmth" anywhere near the chest --- only in the nose tubes that sucked up the vapors from the inhaler. The onset of the effect must be slow or subtle; the last thing I remember before drifting off to sleep was to wonder if it was going to work, because I felt like I could start coughing at any time. Upon awakening in the morning, I had no impulse to cough, and no significant sensation of irritation in the lungs. And it is worth noting that, according to my memory, having VapoRub smeared over one's upper torso is quite annoying in terms of the "sloppiness" metric, and I also seem to recall that the torso application causes excessive sweating, which aggravates the discomfort of stewing in one's own mentholated, virus-infested sauce.
In this second run I added an observational phase in the morning. Checking the bottoms of my feet, there was absolutely no trace of greasy residue from the VapoRub. Assuming it had wicked into the socks, I checked. Neither sock felt the slightest bit greasy to the touch, and I smelled no hint of menthol. I did, however, smell the miasma of podobromidrosis, which I did not expect. No single mechanism cries out as an explanation for the conspicuous vanishing of all traces of the aromatic grease. Bioabsorption does not sound farfetched to this simple country editor, but as the scientific community always says, "more research is needed."
As promised in a previous comments thread, this post presents my latest datum on VapoRub from the night of 8 - 9 November 2008. The investigation attempts to verify the rumored utility of VapoRub as a cough suppressant during sleep when it is applied to the soles of a person's feet and covered with socks.
Immediately before retiring last evening, I once again slathered a moderate amount of Vick's VapoRub on the soles of my feet. As in the experimental run of 7 -8 November 2008, I began with the left foot, using my right hand, then carefully drew on a clean, lightweight cotton sock (black/brown houndstooth check if you must know). I took care not to wipe any VapoRub off the foot onto the sleeve of the sock. I then repeated the same sequence on the right foot, this time applying the medicated goo with the left hand. The sensation, as in the previous experimental run, was both comforting and slightly annoying; the moisture felt a bit sloppy, but not to any extent that should dissuade your own experimentation. Also, to preserve my original methodology, I used the Vick's inhaler thingy before conking out.
The result of this run was that I had even a better night's sleep than during the first run, which itself was of a very high quality. For background purposes, it should be noted that I typically awaken briefly once or twice a night at the conclusion of one or two 90-minute sleep cycles. These awakenings are either used for (1) voiding or (2) confirming that it's not time to wake up yet, immediately heralding the start of a fresh sleep cycle. I judge sleep quality by how well rested I feel in the morning; normal interruptions do not detract from good basic sleep quality, but fewer interruptions do enhance the quality significantly. [Editor's note: StuporMundi provides this personal sleep information to document the metrics for sleep quality used in this study, not because he's a lifestyle exhibitionist.]
Without knowing the mechanism of the cough-suppressing effect, I have become confident that there is a direct correlation between this medical application and my enjoyment of a restful sleep despite my being gruesomely ill. Without hesitation, I will repeat the application until I have recovered.
I don't know if Big Otis was ribbing us about the feet being "conduits of health", but something like that idea is present in folk medicine. It is said that if you rub the bottom of your feet with garlic cloves, you will taste it in your mouth in about 20 minutes, even without sucking on your own toes. Or at least that's what I read in an email chain letter. I may try the garlic experiment at a later date.
BO, who is a trained and degreed scientist, also hypothesized that the cough-suppressing effect may simply be the same one you get by simply rubbing the stuff on your chest. Using the foot modality of delivery, I experienced no sensation of "mintiness" or "warmth" anywhere near the chest --- only in the nose tubes that sucked up the vapors from the inhaler. The onset of the effect must be slow or subtle; the last thing I remember before drifting off to sleep was to wonder if it was going to work, because I felt like I could start coughing at any time. Upon awakening in the morning, I had no impulse to cough, and no significant sensation of irritation in the lungs. And it is worth noting that, according to my memory, having VapoRub smeared over one's upper torso is quite annoying in terms of the "sloppiness" metric, and I also seem to recall that the torso application causes excessive sweating, which aggravates the discomfort of stewing in one's own mentholated, virus-infested sauce.
In this second run I added an observational phase in the morning. Checking the bottoms of my feet, there was absolutely no trace of greasy residue from the VapoRub. Assuming it had wicked into the socks, I checked. Neither sock felt the slightest bit greasy to the touch, and I smelled no hint of menthol. I did, however, smell the miasma of podobromidrosis, which I did not expect. No single mechanism cries out as an explanation for the conspicuous vanishing of all traces of the aromatic grease. Bioabsorption does not sound farfetched to this simple country editor, but as the scientific community always says, "more research is needed."
Moron, off the wagon, or something else entirely
*
The adults are going to be in charge of the White House for only a few more weeks, unfortunately. I'm expecting a huge loss of dignity for the office of the presidency once Mr. Bush is gone.
Do you remember the Bush Administration's very first major lie, while Bush was still only President Elect? I do: click here if you don't.
Personally, I can't wait for the Obama team to tag the Resolute Desk; it would look so much more peppy that way. It would make Obama a President who I'd like to sit down with for an orange juice and baby greens.
The adults are going to be in charge of the White House for only a few more weeks, unfortunately. I'm expecting a huge loss of dignity for the office of the presidency once Mr. Bush is gone.
Do you remember the Bush Administration's very first major lie, while Bush was still only President Elect? I do: click here if you don't.
Personally, I can't wait for the Obama team to tag the Resolute Desk; it would look so much more peppy that way. It would make Obama a President who I'd like to sit down with for an orange juice and baby greens.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Socks full of Vick's VapoRub
*
In a comments thread for the Lieberman post on 7 November Big Rock Head suggested that I fill some warm socks with VapoRub and wear them to bed, or something, to treat my chest cold. Matter of fact, earlier yesterday I got email from VAR Of The DAR who suggested the same thing. I was feeling so miserable, and couldn't breathe, that I saw no harm in trying. So I greased up the soles of my feet and put on some socks, then went night-night. The damp chemical warmth was a little weird, but not too weird for Science.
Guess what? I had the best sleep of my illness. My airway stayed clear for the duration. This was not a formal scientific study because I also used a Vick's inhaler shortly before bed, and there was at least one other variable I temporarily forget (probably B&B). But I'm trying it again tonight. Will publish results sometime tomorrow, maybe with an update on my shaving razor field research!
In a comments thread for the Lieberman post on 7 November Big Rock Head suggested that I fill some warm socks with VapoRub and wear them to bed, or something, to treat my chest cold. Matter of fact, earlier yesterday I got email from VAR Of The DAR who suggested the same thing. I was feeling so miserable, and couldn't breathe, that I saw no harm in trying. So I greased up the soles of my feet and put on some socks, then went night-night. The damp chemical warmth was a little weird, but not too weird for Science.
Guess what? I had the best sleep of my illness. My airway stayed clear for the duration. This was not a formal scientific study because I also used a Vick's inhaler shortly before bed, and there was at least one other variable I temporarily forget (probably B&B). But I'm trying it again tonight. Will publish results sometime tomorrow, maybe with an update on my shaving razor field research!
Wise sayings
*
President Elect Obama could never bring Malia to Nana's apartment because it is not hypoallergenic.
President Elect Obama could never bring Malia to Nana's apartment because it is not hypoallergenic.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Wise sayings
*
A very special moose-droppings-themed "wise saying":
Obama and Biden were more civil to Sarah Palin than her own campaign staff.
A very special moose-droppings-themed "wise saying":
Obama and Biden were more civil to Sarah Palin than her own campaign staff.
Another way to solve the Democrats' Lieberman problem
*
I addressed this problem yesterday in a post where I shared a letter that I wrote to Senator Durbin about stripping "Tailgunner Joe" Lieberman of his Senate Homeland Security Committee chairmanship. But just now, after a night of no sleep, I had an even better idea: Obama should nominate Lieberman to be Ambassador to Israel. Then appoint a strong, knowledgeable Obama favorite to be Joe's highest-ranking deputy ambassador in order both to keep an eye on him and to be involved in all substantive matters.
This solution would be a three-fer for Barack: he could make a show of personal forgiveness and "reaching out" (which could, as an option, actually be genuine); he could delight both the Israelis and AIPAC by sending them our very own little Little Knesset Man (as the other BO calls him); and most importantly, he could finally rid the Sentate of this pathetic, creepy pest.
Bonus "fer": if Joe had not succeeded in bringing the Israelis along toward moderation and a netotiation framework after about a year, the President could tell the li'l fella his services were no longer required and then ceremoniously exterminate him altogether.
I addressed this problem yesterday in a post where I shared a letter that I wrote to Senator Durbin about stripping "Tailgunner Joe" Lieberman of his Senate Homeland Security Committee chairmanship. But just now, after a night of no sleep, I had an even better idea: Obama should nominate Lieberman to be Ambassador to Israel. Then appoint a strong, knowledgeable Obama favorite to be Joe's highest-ranking deputy ambassador in order both to keep an eye on him and to be involved in all substantive matters.
This solution would be a three-fer for Barack: he could make a show of personal forgiveness and "reaching out" (which could, as an option, actually be genuine); he could delight both the Israelis and AIPAC by sending them our very own little Little Knesset Man (as the other BO calls him); and most importantly, he could finally rid the Sentate of this pathetic, creepy pest.
Bonus "fer": if Joe had not succeeded in bringing the Israelis along toward moderation and a netotiation framework after about a year, the President could tell the li'l fella his services were no longer required and then ceremoniously exterminate him altogether.
Mind-numbing media duplicity
*
Republican hand-wringing about "one-party rule" in Washington is absurd enough even before you consider the childlike gullibility of celebrity pundits, such as those paid large salaries by "The Most Trusted Name In News" to cast GOP pearls before us swine. HuffingtonPost gives us a video in which Keith Olbermann (MSNBC) dutifully points out to the audience and unnamed CNN news personalities that it was in fact George W. Bush, not Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton, who most recently enjoyed the perks of one-party rule in DC. Does CNN truly not remember Denny Hastert and Bill Frist?
As an aside, on election night I noticed that CNN continually ran a screen graphic that stated Democrats need 60 Senate seats for a "majority." The corporate media bias in favor of Republicans runs, as The Boxtops sang, soul deep: the GOP rules the world from City Hall until Democrats can break Republican legislative filibusters. The trouble is that people absorb TV as reality. This past week alone, I've unexpectedly ended up in two short heated discussions when I suggested to people that TV news and commentary are not literally reality or even necessarily a close approximation of it. Even educated people seem preconditioned to sop up TV swill like tainted Chinese baby formula just because people with suave voices and professional makeup tell it to through an electric box perched in the the living room.
Republican hand-wringing about "one-party rule" in Washington is absurd enough even before you consider the childlike gullibility of celebrity pundits, such as those paid large salaries by "The Most Trusted Name In News" to cast GOP pearls before us swine. HuffingtonPost gives us a video in which Keith Olbermann (MSNBC) dutifully points out to the audience and unnamed CNN news personalities that it was in fact George W. Bush, not Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton, who most recently enjoyed the perks of one-party rule in DC. Does CNN truly not remember Denny Hastert and Bill Frist?
As an aside, on election night I noticed that CNN continually ran a screen graphic that stated Democrats need 60 Senate seats for a "majority." The corporate media bias in favor of Republicans runs, as The Boxtops sang, soul deep: the GOP rules the world from City Hall until Democrats can break Republican legislative filibusters. The trouble is that people absorb TV as reality. This past week alone, I've unexpectedly ended up in two short heated discussions when I suggested to people that TV news and commentary are not literally reality or even necessarily a close approximation of it. Even educated people seem preconditioned to sop up TV swill like tainted Chinese baby formula just because people with suave voices and professional makeup tell it to through an electric box perched in the the living room.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Moose droppings
*
Via HuffingtonPost, the following headline is found on an LA Times story: Sarah Palin's Clothes: GOP Lawyer Dispatched To Alaska To Retrieve Some.
I call dibs on the dirty undies, fool! WORD! B&B, suckers!!!
[LOL ROFLMAO JK]
Via HuffingtonPost, the following headline is found on an LA Times story: Sarah Palin's Clothes: GOP Lawyer Dispatched To Alaska To Retrieve Some.
I call dibs on the dirty undies, fool! WORD! B&B, suckers!!!
[LOL ROFLMAO JK]
Blogging surge
*
In case you're wondering, a severe cold plus OTC medicines plus liberal doses of B&B add up to favorable blogging conditions. Nevertheless, I still feel like the following:
In case you're wondering, a severe cold plus OTC medicines plus liberal doses of B&B add up to favorable blogging conditions. Nevertheless, I still feel like the following:
Rahm Emanuel: radic-lib
*
If anything there seems to be a proliferation of stupid talk now that Obama is President Elect. I heard a bite by John Boehner on the BBC World Service this evening (via local NPR affiliate; sorry, no link) complaining that Obama's first appointment --- Rahm Emanuel as Chief of Staff --- was "ironic" since Barack had promised to "govern from the middle." I guess Emanuel is being characterized by the corporate media as some kind of radic-lib who engineered the new Democratic House majority a few years ago. Coupla things:
First --- the "middle" is not whatever John Boehner thinks it is. And Obama can do whatever the fuck he wants without the blessing of John "Boner," as the BBC reporter pronounced it, because he'll be the fucking Unitary Executive soon. And Boehner needs to mind his own chief of staff, who rumor has it is possibly a gay Teletubbie.
Second --- Emanuel is no radic-lib, but a full-fledged member of the DLC. As such, he is closer to being a Rockefeller Republican than a Roosevelt Democrat. (And I'm not as worried about Emanuel as Mick at DLCWatch, either, for reasons given below.)
Third --- Emanuel had basically nothing to do with the 2006 Democratic insurgence back into the House. His defeated pet 2006 candidate, disabled veteran Tammy Duckworth, calls herself a "fiscal conservative and a social moderate" (i.e., a "new kind of Democrat" like the Clintons).* Significantly, Rahm is also responsible for this character getting the backing of the DCCC to run for the seat Mark Foley (another person reputed to have sexual impulse control problems) in Florida. Everybody who has closely followed Democratic politics for the past 6 or 7 years knows that Howard Dean is the unsung hero of the new Democratic majority, and that Everybody includes the President Elect.
Fourth --- I really think Obama is too smart to give his administration away to the DLC or any other faction. He knows where his contributions and volunteers come from, and it's not from the DLC. In fact, I believe the DLC may already be in hock to the Obama campaign for helping to bail Hillary Clinton out of some campaign debt. Although the following may be wishful thinking, I think as a former con law professor, Obama will strive for something analogous to a balance of power between the DLCers and traditional lefties in his administration. A coalition is a coalition, and it needs to remain intact to stay successful; by definition, they are formed by divergent interests to promote a candidate or a policy that they all are interested in. The coalition won't hold together unless every major faction --- including small campaign donors, collectively --- has a vested interest in the project. Other than Machiavelli Himself, who better to manage that sort of group than a community organizer?
Fifth --- The COS is really not a policy position; it's a execution position. The COS is there to things done, but they're the things that other people tell him to get done. Of course the COS is influential, but Obama is 10 times smarter than Emanuel, so I don't think Rahm will be in a position to do anything too pernicious while COS. If he pisses off too many members of the coalition, I'm certain that Obama would reassign him to other duties.
So, in conclusion, John Boehner is an ignorant jackass who needs to watch his mouf. Don't you agree? I do.
____________________
* I don't remember the exact amount of money, but Rahm wasted somewhere on the order of $2 million in DCCC funds trying to help elect Duckworth, but not surprisingly she was out-conservatived by her GOP opponent. I might expect to see Duckworth nominated by Obama for Secretary of Veterans Affairs, with Emanuel's blessing, which would be fine by me.
If anything there seems to be a proliferation of stupid talk now that Obama is President Elect. I heard a bite by John Boehner on the BBC World Service this evening (via local NPR affiliate; sorry, no link) complaining that Obama's first appointment --- Rahm Emanuel as Chief of Staff --- was "ironic" since Barack had promised to "govern from the middle." I guess Emanuel is being characterized by the corporate media as some kind of radic-lib who engineered the new Democratic House majority a few years ago. Coupla things:
First --- the "middle" is not whatever John Boehner thinks it is. And Obama can do whatever the fuck he wants without the blessing of John "Boner," as the BBC reporter pronounced it, because he'll be the fucking Unitary Executive soon. And Boehner needs to mind his own chief of staff, who rumor has it is possibly a gay Teletubbie.
Second --- Emanuel is no radic-lib, but a full-fledged member of the DLC. As such, he is closer to being a Rockefeller Republican than a Roosevelt Democrat. (And I'm not as worried about Emanuel as Mick at DLCWatch, either, for reasons given below.)
Third --- Emanuel had basically nothing to do with the 2006 Democratic insurgence back into the House. His defeated pet 2006 candidate, disabled veteran Tammy Duckworth, calls herself a "fiscal conservative and a social moderate" (i.e., a "new kind of Democrat" like the Clintons).* Significantly, Rahm is also responsible for this character getting the backing of the DCCC to run for the seat Mark Foley (another person reputed to have sexual impulse control problems) in Florida. Everybody who has closely followed Democratic politics for the past 6 or 7 years knows that Howard Dean is the unsung hero of the new Democratic majority, and that Everybody includes the President Elect.
Fourth --- I really think Obama is too smart to give his administration away to the DLC or any other faction. He knows where his contributions and volunteers come from, and it's not from the DLC. In fact, I believe the DLC may already be in hock to the Obama campaign for helping to bail Hillary Clinton out of some campaign debt. Although the following may be wishful thinking, I think as a former con law professor, Obama will strive for something analogous to a balance of power between the DLCers and traditional lefties in his administration. A coalition is a coalition, and it needs to remain intact to stay successful; by definition, they are formed by divergent interests to promote a candidate or a policy that they all are interested in. The coalition won't hold together unless every major faction --- including small campaign donors, collectively --- has a vested interest in the project. Other than Machiavelli Himself, who better to manage that sort of group than a community organizer?
Fifth --- The COS is really not a policy position; it's a execution position. The COS is there to things done, but they're the things that other people tell him to get done. Of course the COS is influential, but Obama is 10 times smarter than Emanuel, so I don't think Rahm will be in a position to do anything too pernicious while COS. If he pisses off too many members of the coalition, I'm certain that Obama would reassign him to other duties.
So, in conclusion, John Boehner is an ignorant jackass who needs to watch his mouf. Don't you agree? I do.
____________________
* I don't remember the exact amount of money, but Rahm wasted somewhere on the order of $2 million in DCCC funds trying to help elect Duckworth, but not surprisingly she was out-conservatived by her GOP opponent. I might expect to see Duckworth nominated by Obama for Secretary of Veterans Affairs, with Emanuel's blessing, which would be fine by me.
Writed a letter
*
I wrote this one to the only Senator I have left for the moment, Dick Durbin. Let's join me now as I express my opinion to him on an issue of the day:
Senator Durbin,
This evening I am writing to you in your capacity as a member of the Senate Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee. It is my understanding that Senator Lieberman may petition the Committee for the privilege of retaining his chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. If he does, I urge you to do everything in your power as a committee member to reject Senator Lieberman's request.
I believe that President Elect Obama's ability to provide leadership in the area of national security will be encumbered or undermined if Senator Lieberman is permitted to retain his committee chairmanship. My conclusion seems self-evident as Mr. Lieberman has actively worked with the Bush/Cheney administration and the McCain campaign to thwart the will of most U.S. citizens as well as your party on critical security and constitutional issues within the purview of his committee.
Again, I urge you to do everything you can to remove Mr. Lieberman from this important committee chairmanship and act to replace him with a Senator whose views and objectives complement and harmonize with Mr. Obama's.
Thank you.
You weigh in on this issue with your own voice, if you like, or sign the electronic petition available here. Personally, I don't care for web petitions, so I rolled my own for Senator Durbin to put in his pipe and smoke, if he likes. Notice the fancy way I expressed my concern to my Senator in terms of national security rather than pure "partisan bickering." Watch and learn, my impressionable disciples.
I know that if Lieberman defects to the GOP when stripped of his Democratic chairmanship, the Democrats will be one vote further away from a filibuster-proof majority. Too bad: he can't be trusted so he has to go. Furthermore, he has to be punished as an example to any Blue Dogs who may want to push back against the better intentions of President Obama. Democrats quickly need to relearn the homespun skills of arm-twisting and/or persuasion --- Tip O'Neill style, maybe --- for use on so-called "moderate" Republicans to break filibusters on Obama's SCOTUS nominations (for one example). True, there really are no "moderate" Republicans --- only ones who pretend to be moderate for the consumption of their home constituencies. But I'm betting those phony creatures might wise up a bit now as Bush heads for his Poppy's basement in Kennebunkport, Cheney heads for Arkham Asylum, McCain heads for well earned oblivion, and Palin heads for the political equivalent of a shallow grave. Lieberman can launch a U.S. Likkud Party for all I care.
I wrote this one to the only Senator I have left for the moment, Dick Durbin. Let's join me now as I express my opinion to him on an issue of the day:
Senator Durbin,
This evening I am writing to you in your capacity as a member of the Senate Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee. It is my understanding that Senator Lieberman may petition the Committee for the privilege of retaining his chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. If he does, I urge you to do everything in your power as a committee member to reject Senator Lieberman's request.
I believe that President Elect Obama's ability to provide leadership in the area of national security will be encumbered or undermined if Senator Lieberman is permitted to retain his committee chairmanship. My conclusion seems self-evident as Mr. Lieberman has actively worked with the Bush/Cheney administration and the McCain campaign to thwart the will of most U.S. citizens as well as your party on critical security and constitutional issues within the purview of his committee.
Again, I urge you to do everything you can to remove Mr. Lieberman from this important committee chairmanship and act to replace him with a Senator whose views and objectives complement and harmonize with Mr. Obama's.
Thank you.
You weigh in on this issue with your own voice, if you like, or sign the electronic petition available here. Personally, I don't care for web petitions, so I rolled my own for Senator Durbin to put in his pipe and smoke, if he likes. Notice the fancy way I expressed my concern to my Senator in terms of national security rather than pure "partisan bickering." Watch and learn, my impressionable disciples.
I know that if Lieberman defects to the GOP when stripped of his Democratic chairmanship, the Democrats will be one vote further away from a filibuster-proof majority. Too bad: he can't be trusted so he has to go. Furthermore, he has to be punished as an example to any Blue Dogs who may want to push back against the better intentions of President Obama. Democrats quickly need to relearn the homespun skills of arm-twisting and/or persuasion --- Tip O'Neill style, maybe --- for use on so-called "moderate" Republicans to break filibusters on Obama's SCOTUS nominations (for one example). True, there really are no "moderate" Republicans --- only ones who pretend to be moderate for the consumption of their home constituencies. But I'm betting those phony creatures might wise up a bit now as Bush heads for his Poppy's basement in Kennebunkport, Cheney heads for Arkham Asylum, McCain heads for well earned oblivion, and Palin heads for the political equivalent of a shallow grave. Lieberman can launch a U.S. Likkud Party for all I care.
Illness creeps across the land
*
I'm dealing with a 5-year cold event here, so I haven't felt like showering you with my well considered and smoothly phrased opinions about what happened on 4 November. I will try to check in this evening, but right now I'm all about some comfy rest in the blue recliner.
I'm dealing with a 5-year cold event here, so I haven't felt like showering you with my well considered and smoothly phrased opinions about what happened on 4 November. I will try to check in this evening, but right now I'm all about some comfy rest in the blue recliner.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Networks "calling" things "for" candidates
*
During recent national election evenings I've always been bemused by the concept of networks "calling" states for one candidate or the other. It's not the act of "calling" things, per se, but the way people react to these announcements. They're statistical projections only, twice removed from reality. Our only source for these network "calls" is an electronic box that transmits scripted interpretations of a third party's expertise to us in audiovisual format. That expertise is in turn based on the output of numerical models whose content is unknown to us out here in TV Land.
Back in 2000, when few people were looking in the middle of the night, one obscenely biased infotainment network started a stampede of network "calls" that declared victory for the candidate who, in fact, had fewer votes than his opponent. By morning, there was a mass media consensus that George Bush was our President Elect. It all happened in plain sight: the theft of a presidential election gained irreversible momentum because the herd of corporate news media said "me to" in order to share in the glory of the most awesome Fox News political "prediction" of all time.
I apologize in advance for any incoherence in this little essay; I am worried sick about systematic Republican efforts to disenfranchise Democratic voters, and the fact that virtually all of us mistake corporate network news as a reliable account of reality.
During recent national election evenings I've always been bemused by the concept of networks "calling" states for one candidate or the other. It's not the act of "calling" things, per se, but the way people react to these announcements. They're statistical projections only, twice removed from reality. Our only source for these network "calls" is an electronic box that transmits scripted interpretations of a third party's expertise to us in audiovisual format. That expertise is in turn based on the output of numerical models whose content is unknown to us out here in TV Land.
Back in 2000, when few people were looking in the middle of the night, one obscenely biased infotainment network started a stampede of network "calls" that declared victory for the candidate who, in fact, had fewer votes than his opponent. By morning, there was a mass media consensus that George Bush was our President Elect. It all happened in plain sight: the theft of a presidential election gained irreversible momentum because the herd of corporate news media said "me to" in order to share in the glory of the most awesome Fox News political "prediction" of all time.
I apologize in advance for any incoherence in this little essay; I am worried sick about systematic Republican efforts to disenfranchise Democratic voters, and the fact that virtually all of us mistake corporate network news as a reliable account of reality.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Rhetorical question
*
Did the morbidly overweight person in Espresso Royale this morning order a large "carmel" latte or a large "karma" latte?
Did the morbidly overweight person in Espresso Royale this morning order a large "carmel" latte or a large "karma" latte?
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
What Naomi had to say at Smith Hall
*
Through the good offices of someone resembling Lucius MacAdoo I learned that Naomi Klein was speaking at the University of Illinois this evening, so I hustled myself on foot through the whispering breezes to hear what she might have to say. I deliberately left the steno book and camera at home so I could pay undivided attention.
I'm guessing her remarks were sort of her standard "stump speech" about the origins of what she calls disaster capitalism, based on The Shock Doctrine. I own the book but haven't summoned the moxie to read it yet. I'll share with you a few tidbits that were new to me instead of trying to recap her speech.
Tidbit 1: the topic of her first book, No Logo, is how regular people have begun to get fed up with global brand names and what they represent, and how marquee logos like Microsoft, Wal-Mart, and McDonald's can become liabilities when they become inseparably associated with corporate incompetence, predatory business practices, and mistreatment of personnel.
Tidbit 2: the corporate elite and their "elected officials" immediately began using the September 11 attacks to tie the antiglobalization movemement to terrorism. As an antiglobalizaiton activist, she ended up joining many like-minded people in Argentina early in 2002 because the political climate in the U.S. and Canada began feeling uncomfortably oppressive. Argentina was experiencing the aftermath of a catastrophic economic implosion, so she and her pals could act like disaster capitalists and get real cheap rent.
Tidbit 3: the response of the Argentinian public to the 19 December 2001 meltdown amounted to a spontaneous effort to prevent itself from going into shock and succumbing to a fatal loss of social direction. They literally drove the President out of his palace by banging on pots and pans in a spontaneous demonstration of rage and solidarity. As corporations withdrew capital and tried to close factories, workers in more than 20 of them said, basically, take a hike if you like, Senor, but we're staying here and will continue to run these factories without you.
Tidbit 4: the shock doctrine consists of three phases of shock. First, the shock of a monumental catastrophe, whether a coup, a natural disaster, or a war. Second, the shock of economic collapse, in which the population is preoccupied with staying fed, sheltered, and clothed. Third, the shock of repressive police or paramilitary power to make an example of those who resist or vocally oppose the disaster capitalism project. The three-part shock functions to create a gap in a nation's conceptual continuity --- an amnesia about national identity, values, and aspirations. Latin America in the 1970s was the test bed for this business model. I remember the visceral impact, if not many specific facts, of outstanding reporting from Latin America done by NPR in the 1970s, back when it was actually an impartial and progressive force in journalism. They were reporting on sinister experiments in political economy being conducted by a cabal of University of Chicago right-wing economists, with a major assist from people with names like Nixon and Kissinger.
I arrived at Smith Hall promptly at 7:30 p.m. and the place was mobbed; standing room only. I'd guess there were at least 700 people on the main floor and in the balcony. And all of us had to bail out on Obama's commercial and/or the Phillies World Series victory to be there.
Sidebar: Klein's speech coincides with some blog material I am preparing that is based on some newspapers lining the inside a Navy machinist's chest that I bought (really cheap) at a St. Joe antique shop earlier this month. They are sections from a Kokomo, Ind., daily newspaper, one of which is dated 10 September 1973, one day before Chile's own September 11 in which the elected Marxist president was overthrown and killed in the world's first documented example of disaster capitalism.
Through the good offices of someone resembling Lucius MacAdoo I learned that Naomi Klein was speaking at the University of Illinois this evening, so I hustled myself on foot through the whispering breezes to hear what she might have to say. I deliberately left the steno book and camera at home so I could pay undivided attention.
I'm guessing her remarks were sort of her standard "stump speech" about the origins of what she calls disaster capitalism, based on The Shock Doctrine. I own the book but haven't summoned the moxie to read it yet. I'll share with you a few tidbits that were new to me instead of trying to recap her speech.
Tidbit 1: the topic of her first book, No Logo, is how regular people have begun to get fed up with global brand names and what they represent, and how marquee logos like Microsoft, Wal-Mart, and McDonald's can become liabilities when they become inseparably associated with corporate incompetence, predatory business practices, and mistreatment of personnel.
Tidbit 2: the corporate elite and their "elected officials" immediately began using the September 11 attacks to tie the antiglobalization movemement to terrorism. As an antiglobalizaiton activist, she ended up joining many like-minded people in Argentina early in 2002 because the political climate in the U.S. and Canada began feeling uncomfortably oppressive. Argentina was experiencing the aftermath of a catastrophic economic implosion, so she and her pals could act like disaster capitalists and get real cheap rent.
Tidbit 3: the response of the Argentinian public to the 19 December 2001 meltdown amounted to a spontaneous effort to prevent itself from going into shock and succumbing to a fatal loss of social direction. They literally drove the President out of his palace by banging on pots and pans in a spontaneous demonstration of rage and solidarity. As corporations withdrew capital and tried to close factories, workers in more than 20 of them said, basically, take a hike if you like, Senor, but we're staying here and will continue to run these factories without you.
Tidbit 4: the shock doctrine consists of three phases of shock. First, the shock of a monumental catastrophe, whether a coup, a natural disaster, or a war. Second, the shock of economic collapse, in which the population is preoccupied with staying fed, sheltered, and clothed. Third, the shock of repressive police or paramilitary power to make an example of those who resist or vocally oppose the disaster capitalism project. The three-part shock functions to create a gap in a nation's conceptual continuity --- an amnesia about national identity, values, and aspirations. Latin America in the 1970s was the test bed for this business model. I remember the visceral impact, if not many specific facts, of outstanding reporting from Latin America done by NPR in the 1970s, back when it was actually an impartial and progressive force in journalism. They were reporting on sinister experiments in political economy being conducted by a cabal of University of Chicago right-wing economists, with a major assist from people with names like Nixon and Kissinger.
I arrived at Smith Hall promptly at 7:30 p.m. and the place was mobbed; standing room only. I'd guess there were at least 700 people on the main floor and in the balcony. And all of us had to bail out on Obama's commercial and/or the Phillies World Series victory to be there.
Sidebar: Klein's speech coincides with some blog material I am preparing that is based on some newspapers lining the inside a Navy machinist's chest that I bought (really cheap) at a St. Joe antique shop earlier this month. They are sections from a Kokomo, Ind., daily newspaper, one of which is dated 10 September 1973, one day before Chile's own September 11 in which the elected Marxist president was overthrown and killed in the world's first documented example of disaster capitalism.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
As seen on Cesca
*
If I'd had a mush fulla merlot when I saw the photo below, I'd have spewed it all over the MacBook Pro:
The original was posted by Lindsay Beyerstein at The Campaign Silo. Cesca asks some reasonable questions:
How did the fetus get a flag in there? And why is the fetus inside of what appears to be a hand grenade?
I have another one: why does the fetus in profile look like a cross between Trig Palin and Barack Obama?
Update: readers with highly literate senses of humor may notice that my opening couplet appears to be inspired by the comic stylings of Basil Wolverton. I just noticed that myself.
If I'd had a mush fulla merlot when I saw the photo below, I'd have spewed it all over the MacBook Pro:
The original was posted by Lindsay Beyerstein at The Campaign Silo. Cesca asks some reasonable questions:
How did the fetus get a flag in there? And why is the fetus inside of what appears to be a hand grenade?
I have another one: why does the fetus in profile look like a cross between Trig Palin and Barack Obama?
Update: readers with highly literate senses of humor may notice that my opening couplet appears to be inspired by the comic stylings of Basil Wolverton. I just noticed that myself.
Joe The Plumber visits 2009
*
Let me be the first fourth-tier blogger to predict the obvious: if the Republicans do not find an effective way to steal the 2008 presidential election through perpetrating massive vote fraud, declaring martial law, launching nuclear war on Spain, or staging a violent coup, then it seems certain that we may expect Larry Flynt Publications to try recruiting Joe the Plumber to star as himself (or someone exactly like himself) in a series of pornos paired with a Sarah Palin lookalike.
Personally, I don't think Joe will go for the bait. Sure, he could probably make $300K-plus per film on the basis of his cashbox name and likeness, but he wouldn't be able to afford the taxes Obama would impose on that income. And that would be bad for the economy.
Let me be the first fourth-tier blogger to predict the obvious: if the Republicans do not find an effective way to steal the 2008 presidential election through perpetrating massive vote fraud, declaring martial law, launching nuclear war on Spain, or staging a violent coup, then it seems certain that we may expect Larry Flynt Publications to try recruiting Joe the Plumber to star as himself (or someone exactly like himself) in a series of pornos paired with a Sarah Palin lookalike.
Personally, I don't think Joe will go for the bait. Sure, he could probably make $300K-plus per film on the basis of his cashbox name and likeness, but he wouldn't be able to afford the taxes Obama would impose on that income. And that would be bad for the economy.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Moose droppings
*
The Palin campaign in pictures. One picture, in fact, covers the waterfront.
This is The Rest Of The Story, in case you have not read about it yet. Reality is even more disgusting than my sense of humor. Good day!
The Palin campaign in pictures. One picture, in fact, covers the waterfront.
This is The Rest Of The Story, in case you have not read about it yet. Reality is even more disgusting than my sense of humor. Good day!
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Wise sayings
*
It appears that Mickey Mouse may in fact vote, after all, but we still can't be sure about Jive Turkey.
It appears that Mickey Mouse may in fact vote, after all, but we still can't be sure about Jive Turkey.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Local color [updated]
*
RUDY SMASH!!! Now you know why the call him Rudy instead of Politey. Always be polite to Rudy.
Update: Uh oh! Looks like Big Otis will not stand idle while Rudy tries to bust up the joint. In pitched combat between the two, I'm afraid I'd have to put my money on Big Otis, but only because Rudy is 66 and doesn't have a heaping bag of Kellogg's OKs to strap on. Still, I'd bribe Rudy to take a dive, just in case Big Otis canna throw him "like a meatball."
RUDY SMASH!!! Now you know why the call him Rudy instead of Politey. Always be polite to Rudy.Update: Uh oh! Looks like Big Otis will not stand idle while Rudy tries to bust up the joint. In pitched combat between the two, I'm afraid I'd have to put my money on Big Otis, but only because Rudy is 66 and doesn't have a heaping bag of Kellogg's OKs to strap on. Still, I'd bribe Rudy to take a dive, just in case Big Otis canna throw him "like a meatball."
Friday, October 17, 2008
Second son of wise sayings
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After spending the past 10 days rewiring portions of my house I remembered why I own three sets of screwdrivers.
After spending the past 10 days rewiring portions of my house I remembered why I own three sets of screwdrivers.
Wise sayings, Jr.
*
I still can't decide whether I'd rather be part of the 5 percent or part of the 95 percent. Both are scary thoughts.
I still can't decide whether I'd rather be part of the 5 percent or part of the 95 percent. Both are scary thoughts.
SCOTUS does its job [updated]
*
This is welcome news on the pushback-against-election-theft front: the U.S. Supreme Court knocked down the Republican attempt to intimidate 600,000 new voters when they come out to vote on November 4. Now Mickey Mouse and Jive Turkey will be free to try voting, if they dare. And so will Deli Meat's little pals at college as well as Joe The Plumber, whose name is misspelled on the Ohio voter registration rolls.
Update. In the comments thread, Anonymous pointed out that the ruling actually came from the U.S. high court, not the Ohio Supreme Court as I'd originally written. Judicial restraint --- how about that?
This is welcome news on the pushback-against-election-theft front: the U.S. Supreme Court knocked down the Republican attempt to intimidate 600,000 new voters when they come out to vote on November 4. Now Mickey Mouse and Jive Turkey will be free to try voting, if they dare. And so will Deli Meat's little pals at college as well as Joe The Plumber, whose name is misspelled on the Ohio voter registration rolls.
Update. In the comments thread, Anonymous pointed out that the ruling actually came from the U.S. high court, not the Ohio Supreme Court as I'd originally written. Judicial restraint --- how about that?
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Politicians make some funnys
*
HuffingtonPost has put up a report from the annual Al Smith Dinner, where politicians get to clown with some well written jokes, a number of them having an actual biting or even self-satiric edge. I leave it to me to tell you that the dinner is a fundraiser for Catholic Charities since the fool writing for HuffPo failed to mention that. (I haven't watched the video; just read the text.)
McCain said "That One" is his pet name for Obama, and that Obama has reciprocated by giving him the pet name "George Bush." Obama told the gathering that "My greatest strength would be my humility. My greatest weakness is that it's possible I am too awesome." There's some funny stuff there, but it looks like a few of McCain's gags may have bordered on being a bit too ill-spirited for the Al Smith gig. Maybe I'm being judgmental. You decide.
Eight years ago Al Gore and George Bush attended this dinner. At that time, Gore joked that he invented the internet. Bush made the remarks about "the haves and the have mores" being his base, which were unfairly lifted out of context by Michael Moore and spliced into Farenheit 911. This probably happened because Michael Moore is fat.
HuffingtonPost has put up a report from the annual Al Smith Dinner, where politicians get to clown with some well written jokes, a number of them having an actual biting or even self-satiric edge. I leave it to me to tell you that the dinner is a fundraiser for Catholic Charities since the fool writing for HuffPo failed to mention that. (I haven't watched the video; just read the text.)
McCain said "That One" is his pet name for Obama, and that Obama has reciprocated by giving him the pet name "George Bush." Obama told the gathering that "My greatest strength would be my humility. My greatest weakness is that it's possible I am too awesome." There's some funny stuff there, but it looks like a few of McCain's gags may have bordered on being a bit too ill-spirited for the Al Smith gig. Maybe I'm being judgmental. You decide.
Eight years ago Al Gore and George Bush attended this dinner. At that time, Gore joked that he invented the internet. Bush made the remarks about "the haves and the have mores" being his base, which were unfairly lifted out of context by Michael Moore and spliced into Farenheit 911. This probably happened because Michael Moore is fat.
We Joe, you decide
*
One more link for the Joe The Plumber Files, this one from the New York Times, spied via TPM. I don't get it. Joe runs his own plumbing business, but he wants to buy a plumbing business. He appears to be afraid that his annual income will rise above $250,000 per year and that, therefore, he would have to pay more taxes on said income next year than he would have had to pay this year, had he bought a plumbing business other than the one he runs. He also doesn't seem capable of distinguishing between the gross receipts of a business he wants to buy and the taxable income that he might draw from that business.
Bah --- I grow weary of this nonsense! StuporMundi has spoken!
One more link for the Joe The Plumber Files, this one from the New York Times, spied via TPM. I don't get it. Joe runs his own plumbing business, but he wants to buy a plumbing business. He appears to be afraid that his annual income will rise above $250,000 per year and that, therefore, he would have to pay more taxes on said income next year than he would have had to pay this year, had he bought a plumbing business other than the one he runs. He also doesn't seem capable of distinguishing between the gross receipts of a business he wants to buy and the taxable income that he might draw from that business.
Bah --- I grow weary of this nonsense! StuporMundi has spoken!
Joe The Trojan Horse [updated]
*As Oil Can Harry hypothesized in a previous comments section on this blog, Joe The Plumber may have more in common with the McCain family than with us Main Streeters, Memory Laners, and other assortment of American flotsam. You see, Joe the Plumber thinks Social Security is a joke and "hates" it. Is it possible that Joe's resemblance to a dick is more than skin deep? Let's allow Joe himself to answer that.
Joe (from SkyNews): Speaking about his previous encounter with the Democrat, he said: "I asked the question but I still got a tap dance... almost as good as Sammy Davis Junior."
My sources say "yes." My sources, word- and picture-wise, are used for nonprofit research and education purposes as circumstantial evidence to support the hypothesis that Joe The Plumber may possibly be a racist dickhead.
Afterthought: Joe referred to the experience of seeing McCain and Obama talking to him on TV as "pretty surreal, man." Surreal. Don't you think it's a pretty elitist plumber who uses twenty-dollar words like that? Who does he think he is --- a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art (CIA) or something? And while I'm having afterthoughts, here's another one: does anyone think it's a fortunate coincidence that Senator McCain just happened to know about Senator Obama's audience with an everyman plumber at an Ohio political rally? Or that "[w]ithin six hours of the end of the presidential clash, Joe the Plumber T-shirts and baseball caps were on sale"?
Update: Oh the humanity! (Sorry about that. I generally try to avoid cliches like the plague.) Someone in the comments section of Lawyers, Guns and Money, where I found the link (after starting from Eschaton, for purposes of a complete cite) says the Martin Eisenstadt oppo material may be fishy. I don't know if it is fishy or not. And nobody is going to give a drizzle$#i+ about Joe The Plumber if the Dow loses another 1,000 points. But at the least it begins to look as if Joe The Plumber's 15 minutes of fame might be a media stunt brought to you by the McCain/Palin campaign. I say equal time for Josephine The Plumber! (She even talks like Palin!)
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Joe The Plumber oppo
*
Inspired by a comment in the previous comments thread by Oil Can Harry, I must interject a bit of reality into the procession toward a knee-jerk beatification (and, later, inevitable mockery) of America's newest sweetheart, Joe The Plumber.
The average annual salary for a plumber, as the editor of E&P claims in HuffPo, does not in fact appear to be $45,000. Here are some figures from WikiAnswers, which are more in line with my experience in hiring plumbers. A plumber's "helper" earns about $25 per hour, which would amount to $52,000 gross for a year assuming full-time employment and no benefits. A "decent" Journeyman (presumably a competent tradesman who can work independently with little supervision) earns $68 or more per hour. That would amount to more than $140,000 per year, assuming full-time employment. And a Master Plumber? Try $175 an hour. You do the arithmetic. Yes, I understand that many plumbing jobs may be cyclical, like constuction jobs. No, I do not know whether they receive healtcare benfits, paid vacation, etc. But it would seem that a journeyman plumber could work half time and make about $70,000 annually.
So which kind of plumber do you think our hero Joe might be? How many plumber's "helpers" do you think could be in a position to buy a plumbing business on a salary of $50,000 or $60,000 a year? On that salary a guy is lucky if he can pay his mortgage, make his car payment, keep a 12-pack in the fridge every weekend, and take a 2-week camping trip once a year. However, if Joe is a Master Plumber, earning $364,000 a year (i.e., working 8 hours rather than 10 or 12 a day), then he might have reason to be concerned about losing his Bush tax cut. And if that's the case, then he can eat shit before he gets any sympathy from me. Fuggin' plutocrat.
PS: here is a nice picture of Oil Can Harry for you. It is presented here for nonprofit education and research purposes only, in order to show you what the nemesis of Mighty Mouse looked like in the 1950s. Boss zoot suit!
Inspired by a comment in the previous comments thread by Oil Can Harry, I must interject a bit of reality into the procession toward a knee-jerk beatification (and, later, inevitable mockery) of America's newest sweetheart, Joe The Plumber.
The average annual salary for a plumber, as the editor of E&P claims in HuffPo, does not in fact appear to be $45,000. Here are some figures from WikiAnswers, which are more in line with my experience in hiring plumbers. A plumber's "helper" earns about $25 per hour, which would amount to $52,000 gross for a year assuming full-time employment and no benefits. A "decent" Journeyman (presumably a competent tradesman who can work independently with little supervision) earns $68 or more per hour. That would amount to more than $140,000 per year, assuming full-time employment. And a Master Plumber? Try $175 an hour. You do the arithmetic. Yes, I understand that many plumbing jobs may be cyclical, like constuction jobs. No, I do not know whether they receive healtcare benfits, paid vacation, etc. But it would seem that a journeyman plumber could work half time and make about $70,000 annually.
So which kind of plumber do you think our hero Joe might be? How many plumber's "helpers" do you think could be in a position to buy a plumbing business on a salary of $50,000 or $60,000 a year? On that salary a guy is lucky if he can pay his mortgage, make his car payment, keep a 12-pack in the fridge every weekend, and take a 2-week camping trip once a year. However, if Joe is a Master Plumber, earning $364,000 a year (i.e., working 8 hours rather than 10 or 12 a day), then he might have reason to be concerned about losing his Bush tax cut. And if that's the case, then he can eat shit before he gets any sympathy from me. Fuggin' plutocrat.
PS: here is a nice picture of Oil Can Harry for you. It is presented here for nonprofit education and research purposes only, in order to show you what the nemesis of Mighty Mouse looked like in the 1950s. Boss zoot suit!
Final-debate snipes [updated]
*
John McCain thinks autism is the same thing as Down syndrome. He thinks his running mate has an autistic baby.
John McCain said "We need to change the culture of America." In that respect, he has more in common with Osama than with Obama.
John McCain said several times that Barack Obama is "eloquent." I guess that's even worse than being "elitist."
Barack Obama joined in the fun tonight by talking with McCain's imaginary friend, Joe The Plumber. He missed a chance to pick up some stray Hillary voters by failing to invoke Josephine The Plumber, however.
Update: ZOMGZ! Joe The Plumber is actually real! Well, by those same standards, then so is Josephine. Except that I have no reason to think Josephine, in real life, was a stupid jackass.
John McCain thinks autism is the same thing as Down syndrome. He thinks his running mate has an autistic baby.
John McCain said "We need to change the culture of America." In that respect, he has more in common with Osama than with Obama.
John McCain said several times that Barack Obama is "eloquent." I guess that's even worse than being "elitist."
Barack Obama joined in the fun tonight by talking with McCain's imaginary friend, Joe The Plumber. He missed a chance to pick up some stray Hillary voters by failing to invoke Josephine The Plumber, however.Update: ZOMGZ! Joe The Plumber is actually real! Well, by those same standards, then so is Josephine. Except that I have no reason to think Josephine, in real life, was a stupid jackass.
Next up: vote thievery
*
Sadly for my record as a clairvoyant political strategist, but happily for the nation, it really does seem too late for Republicans to pull off a bait-and-switch ticket to any avail before election day. That fear is now trumped by a mundane but effective extralegal way that Republicans influence election outcomes: voter suppression schemes. What curdles my blood is the institutionalization of voter suppression plots through a cynical GOP "concern" about widespread voter fraud.
This one, unfolding in Ohio, has my gut in a small knot. I've hoped all along that so many people turn out on election day for Obama and Biden that no feasible amount of voter fraud could steal the day. And if we are fortunate enough get that far without a first-tier demonstration of the "shock doctrine," there are many more perils to occupy our vigilance. One involves a petulant, demented child-king and red buttons that he could push. The most worrisome by far, in my opinion, is that time-tested American response to the emergence of a new popular leader: someone takes a shot at him. And, finally, after an electoral victory and the cone of security provided by the USSS and others, there is the banality of evil: wingnut media assailants, enabled by supine celebrity corporate journalists and pundits.
I've recently been startled to notice how much I crave a return to normalcy in this country. Not the so-called normalcy associated with a "new kind of Democrat" who is actually a stalking horse for establishing the global hegemony of transnational corporations. Not the so-called normalcy of a humming economy based on information exchange, pointless consumerism, and manufacturing war materiel. I'm hoping for the normalcy of a functioning democracy and adversarial media, neither of which is any longer dominated by authoritarian ideologues and both of which re-legitimize the concept of liberalism. The startling aspect of my craving for such normalcy is that I haven't felt it since Jimmy Carter was the President.
Sadly for my record as a clairvoyant political strategist, but happily for the nation, it really does seem too late for Republicans to pull off a bait-and-switch ticket to any avail before election day. That fear is now trumped by a mundane but effective extralegal way that Republicans influence election outcomes: voter suppression schemes. What curdles my blood is the institutionalization of voter suppression plots through a cynical GOP "concern" about widespread voter fraud.
This one, unfolding in Ohio, has my gut in a small knot. I've hoped all along that so many people turn out on election day for Obama and Biden that no feasible amount of voter fraud could steal the day. And if we are fortunate enough get that far without a first-tier demonstration of the "shock doctrine," there are many more perils to occupy our vigilance. One involves a petulant, demented child-king and red buttons that he could push. The most worrisome by far, in my opinion, is that time-tested American response to the emergence of a new popular leader: someone takes a shot at him. And, finally, after an electoral victory and the cone of security provided by the USSS and others, there is the banality of evil: wingnut media assailants, enabled by supine celebrity corporate journalists and pundits.
I've recently been startled to notice how much I crave a return to normalcy in this country. Not the so-called normalcy associated with a "new kind of Democrat" who is actually a stalking horse for establishing the global hegemony of transnational corporations. Not the so-called normalcy of a humming economy based on information exchange, pointless consumerism, and manufacturing war materiel. I'm hoping for the normalcy of a functioning democracy and adversarial media, neither of which is any longer dominated by authoritarian ideologues and both of which re-legitimize the concept of liberalism. The startling aspect of my craving for such normalcy is that I haven't felt it since Jimmy Carter was the President.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
From a cave somewhere in the universe
*
This photo is a found object from the Astronomy Photograph of the Day widget that Mac users can install for free. A week or two ago I clicked past it thinking that it was an artist's conception of how the sky would look from some cave on a rocky moon orbiting Saturn. But last night I read the caption that the widget serves up on demand: was astonished that this is a genuine single-exposure photograph of the night sky shot right here in the good old USA.
The short story is that the photographer, one Wally Pacholka, lugged his gear to a remote cave and archeological site called False Kiva located in Canyonlands National Park, Utah. He waited for Terra to revolve the central band of the Milky Way into view, with Jupiter tagging along near the upper left of the cave arch. It looks like he used a fairly wide lens --- probably no longer than 50 or 55 mm (photo has no metadata, so I can only guess). The cave appears to be facing almost due south, judging from the orientation of the galaxy edge. The exposure is long, which was necessary to get any detail at all from the band of stars. Pacholka "painted" the inside of the cave with light from a flashlight during the long expusure.
Speaking as a photographer, I can tell you that this guy knows his stuff. Plus, speaking as someone who has dabbled in astronomy, it must have been flurking cold on location, even if it was mid-July. The photo above is copyright Wally Pacholka and is used here only for nonprofit educational or research purposes. The photo below, from the web site of a guy named Eric Zelermyer, shows a more routine view of False Kiva as seen during the day. But getting there is not routine, evidently requiring a certain degree of physical conditioning and foolhardiness to find within Canyonlands. The Zelermyer picture is copyrighted by the photographer and is displayed here for nonprofit educational or research purposes.
This photo is a found object from the Astronomy Photograph of the Day widget that Mac users can install for free. A week or two ago I clicked past it thinking that it was an artist's conception of how the sky would look from some cave on a rocky moon orbiting Saturn. But last night I read the caption that the widget serves up on demand: was astonished that this is a genuine single-exposure photograph of the night sky shot right here in the good old USA.The short story is that the photographer, one Wally Pacholka, lugged his gear to a remote cave and archeological site called False Kiva located in Canyonlands National Park, Utah. He waited for Terra to revolve the central band of the Milky Way into view, with Jupiter tagging along near the upper left of the cave arch. It looks like he used a fairly wide lens --- probably no longer than 50 or 55 mm (photo has no metadata, so I can only guess). The cave appears to be facing almost due south, judging from the orientation of the galaxy edge. The exposure is long, which was necessary to get any detail at all from the band of stars. Pacholka "painted" the inside of the cave with light from a flashlight during the long expusure.
Speaking as a photographer, I can tell you that this guy knows his stuff. Plus, speaking as someone who has dabbled in astronomy, it must have been flurking cold on location, even if it was mid-July. The photo above is copyright Wally Pacholka and is used here only for nonprofit educational or research purposes. The photo below, from the web site of a guy named Eric Zelermyer, shows a more routine view of False Kiva as seen during the day. But getting there is not routine, evidently requiring a certain degree of physical conditioning and foolhardiness to find within Canyonlands. The Zelermyer picture is copyrighted by the photographer and is displayed here for nonprofit educational or research purposes.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Potentially scary situation [updated]
*
I have fears that these Palin/McCain experiments with inciting mobs to violence could be the prelude to something unspeakably ugly. Consider what might happen if, in the next 2 weeks or so, that dark-skinned thugs appeared at Republican rallies and started scuffling with GOP nutbags in order to "defend" Obama. Those thugs would certainly be what the French call "agents provocateurs", and they would somehow, indirectly as hell, be on the payroll of some very, very bad people who have a very keen interest in making sure that Obama never sets foot in the White House.
It would create a public atmosphere ripe for backlash against Obama, not to mention much more sordid or violent potential impacts. The corporate media would be the enablers. I'm not saying it would even work. But think about how heinously effective such an idea could seem to desperate, criminal white men.
Update: in acknowledgment of anon in my comments section, here's a shot of actual paranoia ripped from the comments section of this Politico post:
Between 8:45 PM and 9:15 PM tonight (Oct 8) on Intrade, someone just bet a LOT of money against Obama winning the presidency. And I mean a LOT. His stock, which has been over 70 for a couple of days now and at 76 most of the time today dipped down to 64 or so in those 20 minutes under heavy betting before recovering immediately after 9:15 to 73... Very strange.. is there something someone knows?? What is the news tomorrow, JMart?" Posted By: intrade | October 08, 2008 at 11:54 PM
If you need me tomorrow, I'll be in the bunker with my 50 bottles of wine.
I have fears that these Palin/McCain experiments with inciting mobs to violence could be the prelude to something unspeakably ugly. Consider what might happen if, in the next 2 weeks or so, that dark-skinned thugs appeared at Republican rallies and started scuffling with GOP nutbags in order to "defend" Obama. Those thugs would certainly be what the French call "agents provocateurs", and they would somehow, indirectly as hell, be on the payroll of some very, very bad people who have a very keen interest in making sure that Obama never sets foot in the White House.
It would create a public atmosphere ripe for backlash against Obama, not to mention much more sordid or violent potential impacts. The corporate media would be the enablers. I'm not saying it would even work. But think about how heinously effective such an idea could seem to desperate, criminal white men.
Update: in acknowledgment of anon in my comments section, here's a shot of actual paranoia ripped from the comments section of this Politico post:
Between 8:45 PM and 9:15 PM tonight (Oct 8) on Intrade, someone just bet a LOT of money against Obama winning the presidency. And I mean a LOT. His stock, which has been over 70 for a couple of days now and at 76 most of the time today dipped down to 64 or so in those 20 minutes under heavy betting before recovering immediately after 9:15 to 73... Very strange.. is there something someone knows?? What is the news tomorrow, JMart?" Posted By: intrade | October 08, 2008 at 11:54 PM
If you need me tomorrow, I'll be in the bunker with my 50 bottles of wine.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Two short notes on 2d presidential debate
*
1. Obama seemed preternaturally composed and focused tonight, like a veteran airline captain telling the passengers that there will be some turbulence ahead --- someone who could inspire confidence in a captive audience exposed to peril.
2. McCain tonight was using this creepy, pseudo-earnest hissing whisper when trying to drive home certain points, a cartoon voice that Palin overused until it made me sick during her debate with Biden.
That's all. The first-tier bloggers will tell you the rest of what you need to know, including confirmation that Tom Brokaw is a has-been, and not a very bright one.
Editor's note to BD: yes, I know I'm supposed to be doing more important stuff than this evening, but I worked 10 hours and I got no neurotransmitters left. Some more will grow by tomorrow morning.
1. Obama seemed preternaturally composed and focused tonight, like a veteran airline captain telling the passengers that there will be some turbulence ahead --- someone who could inspire confidence in a captive audience exposed to peril.
2. McCain tonight was using this creepy, pseudo-earnest hissing whisper when trying to drive home certain points, a cartoon voice that Palin overused until it made me sick during her debate with Biden.
That's all. The first-tier bloggers will tell you the rest of what you need to know, including confirmation that Tom Brokaw is a has-been, and not a very bright one.
Editor's note to BD: yes, I know I'm supposed to be doing more important stuff than this evening, but I worked 10 hours and I got no neurotransmitters left. Some more will grow by tomorrow morning.
"Without preconditions"
*
I don't understand why Obama doesn't just decisively knock down this stupid Republican talking point that a party can enter negotiations with "preconditions." Setting preconditions for negotiations is a deliberate attempt to humiliate your negotiation partner. It is a way to win concessions without negotiating at all. Setting preconditions for a negotiation is disingenuous horseshit. It means that the party setting preconditions does not intend to enter the negotiation in good faith. Perhaps Obama could explain to the corporate media that "one thing John McCain doesn't understand is the definition of 'negotiate.'
I wonder how it would look if Obama agreed to another debate only on the precondition that McCain stop lying through his wooden teeth.
I don't understand why Obama doesn't just decisively knock down this stupid Republican talking point that a party can enter negotiations with "preconditions." Setting preconditions for negotiations is a deliberate attempt to humiliate your negotiation partner. It is a way to win concessions without negotiating at all. Setting preconditions for a negotiation is disingenuous horseshit. It means that the party setting preconditions does not intend to enter the negotiation in good faith. Perhaps Obama could explain to the corporate media that "one thing John McCain doesn't understand is the definition of 'negotiate.'
I wonder how it would look if Obama agreed to another debate only on the precondition that McCain stop lying through his wooden teeth.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Fire Prevention Week!
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Whilst quietly editing a journal paper by the picture window of Kopi my attention was involuntarily directed outdoors as about a mile-long parade of firefighting equipment suddenly blared its way up North Walnut. Fire trucks from Champaign, Urbana, Tolono, Pesotum, and obscure districts from around the county. A few cool antique ones. Giant hazmat response trailers. Some of these behemoths had slowly-rotating tri-lobal pinwheels with hemispherical luminaries, both functional and retro stylish.
I almost always hate parades. For some reason, I associate them with that really smelly, impacted mucus jelly that issues forth at the end of a long sinus infection (completely true). But fire engine parades during Fire Prevention Week are the exception. Who among us doesn't love fire engines? All that racket on this crisp, sunny morning carried me back to an early October day when I was about 4.5, tearfully threatening my Dad that if he did not let me ride on the fire engine I would not share my million dollars with him whenever I got it. The good news: I got to ride the fire engine. The bad news: I haven't shared my million dollars with Bunka yet.
Whilst quietly editing a journal paper by the picture window of Kopi my attention was involuntarily directed outdoors as about a mile-long parade of firefighting equipment suddenly blared its way up North Walnut. Fire trucks from Champaign, Urbana, Tolono, Pesotum, and obscure districts from around the county. A few cool antique ones. Giant hazmat response trailers. Some of these behemoths had slowly-rotating tri-lobal pinwheels with hemispherical luminaries, both functional and retro stylish.
I almost always hate parades. For some reason, I associate them with that really smelly, impacted mucus jelly that issues forth at the end of a long sinus infection (completely true). But fire engine parades during Fire Prevention Week are the exception. Who among us doesn't love fire engines? All that racket on this crisp, sunny morning carried me back to an early October day when I was about 4.5, tearfully threatening my Dad that if he did not let me ride on the fire engine I would not share my million dollars with him whenever I got it. The good news: I got to ride the fire engine. The bad news: I haven't shared my million dollars with Bunka yet.
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